Weekend stage forecast: Maniscalco and America

The expressive (and explosively funny) Italian-American standup comic Sebastian Maniscalco is onstage Saturday at Amalie Arena. Having sold out Madison Square Garden several times this year, Maniscalco is used to playing in big rooms, broadly. His wide-eyed comedy is intensely physical.

After acting in The Green Book and The Irishman, he wrote and starred in the 2023 film About My Father (with Robert De Niro in the paternal role).

He also stars in the Max series Bookie, which will launch its second season Dec. 12.

In a recent interview with Buffalo’s One Bills Live, Maniscalco mused about his early days. “For me, it was a slow grind. This thing didn’t happen overnight. I started in 1998, waitin’ tables at the Four Seasons Hotel. I did that for seven years while I was cuttin’ my teeth doing standup comedy.

“Then I graduated to the comedy clubs, just making a living, payin’ the bills … it’s tough, you’re bouncin’ around the country – airplanes, different beds, you wake up … you gotta stay loose and work out. I do a lot of physical humor, so my body needs to be in tip-top shape.”

Tickets for Saturday’s “in the round” show can be found here.

And still more yuks

It’s a good weekend for standup comedy, as Brian Regan returns to the Mahaffey Theater tonight, with very few floor seats left at press time (check tickets here).

Nurse Blake, tonight at Ruth Eckerd Hall: Viral phenom Blake Lynch, a registered nurse discovered that laughter is indeed the best medicine. Tickets.

Atsuko Okatsuka, tonight at the Tampa Theatre: Her HBO standup special The Intruder (directed by Tig Notaro) was named “Best Debut Special of 2022” by the New York Times. Tickets.

Matt Mathews, Friday at the Mahaffey Theater, is a social media juggernaut, with 4.8 million followers on TikTok and over 2 million followers on Instagram. “Growing up a broke, gay kid from the south I always dreamed of being a performer, but let’s be real, those big dreams don’t typically come true,” he said. “Thankfully, I decided to take the risk and bet on myself as a comedian.” Tickets.

Ben Brainard, Friday at the Capitol Theatre. With nearly 3 million TikTok followers, Florida-born Brainard’s trademark bit is “The Table,” at which he portrays different American states, talking with one another in an attempt to iron out their differences. Tickets.

Sheng Wang, Saturday at the Tampa Theatre, is a Texas-based comic whose 2022 Netflix special, Sweet & Juicy, was directed by Ali Wong. Tickets.

Still America

There was a time, in the early-to-mid ‘70s, when the trio America epitomized that era’s soft-rock California sound, with crystalline three-part harmonies, catchy melodies and sparkling, radio-friendly singles produced by crispness and clarity by legendary Beatles producer George Martin.

A lot of water, of course, has gone under the bridge since “Sister Golden Hair,” “Tin Man” and those other unforgettable hits (including, of course, the pre-Martin breakthrough “A Horse With No Name”).

Dan Peek left the group in 1977 – he died in 2011 – and just recently, Gerry Beckley (“I Need You,” “Daisy Jane, “Sister Golden Hair”) retired from the road. This leaves Dewey Bunnell to lead the America that will visit the Mahaffey Theater Saturday.

Bunnell – he’s the voice of “A Horse With No Name,” “Ventura Highway” “Sandman” and “Tin Man” – fronts a touring band that makes those yesteryear harmonies shine. (Oddly enough, Bunnell is a native Englishman.)

Released in July was Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975, with Martin himself conducting an orchestra behind the original three-man America.

Find tickets for Saturday’s concert here.

More concerts

Cuban guitarist Renesito Avich headlines the Clearwater Latin Jazz Festival Sunday at the Baycare Sound. Photo provided.

Tonight: The phenomenal guitarist Keller Williams plays Skipper’s Smokehouse. Tickets.

Tonight: Belinda Womack and Family Christmas at freeFall Theatre. Tickets.

Tonight: Kings X, with Sound & Shape, at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets.

Friday: Americana singer/songwriter and guitarist Cliff Eberhart at the Craftsman House Gallery. Call (727) 323-2787 for tickets.

Friday: The Next Big Thing at the Baycare Sound, with The All-American Rejects, Something Corporate, Dayglow, Judah & The Lion, Gigi Perez and Jonah Kagen. Tickets.

Friday: At The Studio@620, jazz singer Scotty Wright with the Fil Lorenz Orchestra. Tickets.

Saturday: Australian acoustic guitar master Tommy Emmanuel at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets.

Sunday: The annual Clearwater Latin Jazz Festival at Baycare Sound, with Renesito Avich, O Som do Jazz, Mauricio Rodriguez & the MJR Latin Project and others. It’s free.

Sunday: The band Whiskey Myers at the Mahaffey Theater. Tickets.

Sunday: At Ruth Eckerd Hall: Bowzer’s Holiday Rock ‘n’ Roll Party, with Peter “Herman” Noone, the Tokens, Joey Dee and others. Tickets.

Sunday: In the Spirit of John Lennon, with vocalist Drew Harrison and pianist Tommy Consentino, in the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre. Tickets.

James Putnam and Ashley Whiting in “The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical” at Stageworks Theatre. Image: Stage Photography of Tampa.

On theater stages

Some would say you can never have took much of It’s a Wonderful Life, the 1946 Christmas classic by director Frank Capra. Tampa Bay’s got two vastly different adaptations going on at the same time: Wonderful Life, a one-person tour-de-force, is at American Stage (with Producing Artistic Director Helen R. Murray playing every role), and Tampa Repertory Theatre’s It’s a Wonderful Life – A Live Radio Play is onstage in the Shimberg Playhouse, at the Straz Center.

Colleen Cherry and Jeremy Douglass, two of the creative drivers behind the Tampa Rep show, guest on Friday’s edition of the Arts Alive! podcast.

British actor David Payne is onstage in the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre tonight and Friday with the one-man show A Christmas With C.S. Lewis. We spoke with Payne earlier this week (here’s that interview link).

Now at freeFall Theater: Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure (info and tickets here).

Now at Stageworks Theatre: The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical (info and tickets here).

Symphonically and otherwise

Tonight: Tampa Oratorio Singers with Handel’s Messiah, at the Church of the Ascension in Clearwater. Tickets.

Sunday: St. Pete Baroque in the Marly Music Room, Museum of Fine Arts (1 p.m. matinee). Tickets. 

Saturday: The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay with Handel’s Messiah Singalong, at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter. Free (pre-registration requested here).

Saturday (2 and 7 p.m.): A live orchestra plays along to the movie Elf at in Morsini Hall (Straz Center, Tampa). Tickets.

Sunday: 3 p.m., The Florida Orchestra Holiday Brass Quintet at Clearwater’s Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church. Free-will offering.

Sunday: Tampa Oratorio Singers “Carols of the Season,” 7 p.m. at Cathedral Church of St Peter in St. Petersburg. Tickets.

Your weekend stage forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section. 

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