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Weekend stage forecast: ‘The Sunshine Boys’ at 620
Theater actor, director and educator Kevin Renken had a busy year in shows and behind the scenes. So he went in search of a play that features just two men, a play that he and his husband Bill Myerholtz could perform together.
Renken landed on Neil Simon’s 1972 comedy The Sunshine Boys. He and Myerholtz are doing the show, about the testy reunion of two aging vaudevillians, today through Sunday at The Studio@620, St. Petersburg.
Myerholtz, a retired attorney, has a rich theater background. Renken taught high school theater for 31 years, and is currently teaching part time at the University of Tampa. They met in a show 42 years ago.
“This was one more chance to not just play grandpas sitting on the porch swing while other people carry the play,” Renken explained. “A couple of characters our age – specifically our age – that the play is all about.
“And I think there are elements of it that are still universal, I really do. If you think about our determined usefulness as we get older. And the humor still works.”
There are four performances of The Sunshine Boys Nov. 21-24. Find the schedule and tickets here.
This is your final chance to see two excellent shows, as both are closing Sunday. In St. Petersburg, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop – about the last night in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King – is onstage today through Sunday at American Stage; Tampa’s LAB Theatre Company is winding down its production of Crazy Quilts, a dark comedy by Karen Fix Curry. It’s about a curious quilting club in Puget Sound, and there are five performances left between today and Sunday.
November’s edition of the monthly Radio Theatre Project show has been moved to freeFall Theatre, Monday at 7 p.m. Tickets available at the door.
And the comedy Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure continues at freeFall Mainstagethrough Dec. 15.
Black Violin (Kev Marcus, left, and Wil B.) perform Saturday at Morsini Hall, in the Straz Cener. Publicity photo.
Saturday: Bonnie, Ben and Black Violin
The venerable Bonnie Raitt is onstage Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater (tickets here); on that very same evening, quirky singer/songwriter Ben Folds is at the Straz Center’s Ferguson Hall (Tampa), sitting at the piano and taking requests via paper airplanes (we don’t know how it works, either). Tickets are here; and on that very same evening AGAIN (Saturday the 23rd) in the Straz Center’s Morsini Hall, it’s the classical meets hip hop duo Black Violin – Kev Marcus (Kevin Sylvester, violin) and Wil B. (Wilner Baptiste, viola). Tickets are here.
At The Pier
Spa Beach Park, at the St. Pete Pier, has free family events – movie screenings and music – Friday through Sunday:
Friday 6 -8:30 p.m.:
Down From Jersey (music) at 6 p.m.
Little Miss Sunshine movie at 7 p.m.
Sharknado movie at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday 12-8 p.m.:
Silly Sam (kids music) at 12 p.m.
Finding Nemo movie at 12:30 p.m.
Silly Sam (kids music) at 2 p.m.
Encanto movie at 3 p.m.
Music TBD at 5 p.m.
Free Willy movie at 6 p.m.
Jaws movie at 8 p.m.
Sunday 2-7 p.m.:
The Little Mermaid live-action movie at 12 p.m.
Music TBD at 2:30 p.m.
Aquaman movie at 3:30 p.m.
Music TBD at 6 p.m.
Waterworld movie at 7 p.m.
On-site parking is available for $2.50 per hour for up to four hours.
Giggly Squad: Sunday and Monday at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center. Publicity photo.
More concerts
Tonight at the Capitol Theatre: Fiery electric guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, a frequent bay area visitor. Tickets.
Tonight at Ferguson Hall (Straz Center): A Taste of Ireland’s Celtic Christmas show. Tickets.
The Suncoast Jazz Festival takes place Friday through Sunday at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort on Clearwater Beach. This story will tell you all about it.
Friday at the Mahaffey Theater: The K-Pop (Korean pop music) girl group Dreamcatcher. Tickets.
Friday at the Side Door Cabaret (Palladium Theater): Bay area singer/songwriters Ed Woltil and Kirk Adams, and their respective bands. Tickets. Woltil and Adams guest on Friday’s edition of our Arts Alive! podcast.
Saturday at the Side Door Cabaret (Palladium Theater): Pianist Zachary Bartholomew and his trio pay tribute to the music of Vince Guaraldi, including the classic score A Charlie Brown Christmas. Tickets.
Sunday and Monday bring Paige DeSorbo and Hannah Berner, co-hosts of the smash-hit dishy gossip podcast Giggly Squad to the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center. Tickets.
St. Pete Opera’s family production “Pinocchio” is at Opera Central this weekend. Photo: Jim Swallow.
The classics
St. Petersburg Opera Company’s 2024 production of the 60 minute storybook opera for children Pinocchio is in its final weekend at Opera Central, 2145 1st Street S. There are performances at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets.
Pianist Joyce Yang guests with The Florida Orchestra for Grieg’s Piano Concerto Friday (Straz Center Morsini Hall) and Saturday (Mahaffey Theater). The program also includes Brahms Symphony No. 2 and Ballade in A minor, Op. 33 by Coleridge-Taylor. Aram Demirjian conducts. Tickets.
Your weekend stage forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
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