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Your weekend arts forecast: ‘Chicago’ in Tampa

Bill DeYoung

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A national touring company of the musical "Chicago" is at the Straz Center through Sunday. Publicity photo.

Bob Fosse’s idiosyncratic choreography is as big a part of the magic of the Chicago musical as the songs by Kander and Ebb. Probably moreso – it isn’t possible to think about Chicago, the stage musical or the hit movie version, without images of Velma and Roxie and their pals in all black doing those stylized, sexy dance moves.

Coming up on 50 years since the slinky jazz-age musical first appeared on Broadway, it’s back onstage at the Straz Center in Tampa through Sunday (times and tickets here). The national touring company is performing in Morsani Hall.

 

More theater

It’s the final weekend for the powerfully-executed historical drama The Agitators at freeFall Theatre. The curtain comes down on Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony with Sunday’s matinee. Read all about it here.

At Stageworks Theatre, the laugh-a-minute revenge comedy The Smell of the Kill is also winding down and will say goodbye after Sunday’s matinee. Tickets are here.

 

Jazz festival

Alexis Cole

The annual St. Petersburg Jazz Festival, a three-day, three-venue event, begins tonight (Thursday, Feb. 23) with a sold-out Palladium show featuring vocalist Alexis Cole, alongside St. Pete’s Helios Jazz Orchestra. Friday: Zach Bartholomew Trio – A Chick Corea Tribute at the Museum of Fine Arts; Saturday: A Wayne Shorter tribute concert with the Jason Charos Sextet, at American Stage. You can find all tickets and info here; Friday’s guest on our Arts Alive! podcast is festival director David Manson.

Talk about an embarrassment of riches: St. Pete’s versatile jazz singer Ona Kirei collaborates with La Lucha pianist John O’Leary tonight (Thursday, Feb. 23) at thestudio@620. Tickets.

 

More concerts

Tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Live, expect some booty shake shake shakin’ as Florida’s KC & the Sunshine Band, still fronted by singer and bandleader Harry Wayne Casey, performs. Tickets.

Friday at Ferguson Hall in the Straz Center: Phil Rosenthal, creator and star of the Netflix series Somebody Feed Phil (formerly PBS’ I’ll Have What Phil’s Having). Before he was known as a professional comic foodie, Rosenthal co-created, wrote and produced the long-running comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond. Tickets

Veteran comedians Rita Rudner and Robert Klein share Saturday’s bill at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets.

Wynonna Judd is at Amalie Arena Saturday, singing songs and telling stories about her late mother and the days they spent performing as the Judds. Brandi Carlile and Martina McBride are part of this show, too. Tickets.

At Ruth Eckerd Hall Friday and Saturday: Octogenarian Frankie Valli, and the “Four Seasons.” Tickets.

And Sunday brings Sarah McLachlan back to Ruth Eckerd Hall for her annual concert visit. Tickets.

We spoke with British folk legend Al Stewart in advance of his Sunday performance at the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater.

 

Downtown festival

North Straub Park will be packed with people over the weekend, as our friends from the Paragon Festivals company bring in the St. Petersburg Seafood & Music Festival, Friday 4-10 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. There’s a $5 admission fee (according to the Paragon website), with food for sale from local restaurants, live music from local bands and an arts and crafts marketplace. More info here.

 

The classics

Pianist Joyce Yang is back with The Florida Orchestra this weekend with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (Joyce and the orchestra performed Rachmaninoff’s 2nd last weekend). This Michael Francis-conducted concert also features Carl August Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, Inextinguishable. At the Mahaffey Theater Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and the Straz Center Sunday at 2.  Tickets.

Finals take place Sunday, at the Palladium Theater, for the sixth annual Tampa Bay Symphony International Composition Competition. This is a free, informal event (at 2 p.m.), at which the orchestra (conducted by Mark Sforzini) will play the four semi-finalists (out of 49 submitted) and ask the audience to decide which one they like best.

Your weekend arts forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst

Please add us to your mailing list – send all press releases and event info to bill@stpetecatalyst.com.

You can also submit your events to the Catalyst calendar, by clicking here.

 

 

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