Create
Your weekend arts forecast: It’s a holiday traffic jam
Roll over Tom Turkey, and tell Big Santa the news.
Sure it’s only Thanksgiving weekend, but two holiday-season traditions are already back with us for 2022 – albeit with different names.
Enchant, which opens Friday inside Tropicana Field (it being the off-season for baseball) has been coming to St. Pete since 2020. It still has four million lights, shaped into forests, homes, maze fences, giganto giftboxes and more, under the otherwise-darkened dome. There’s still a “snowy” rink for family ice-skating.
The centerpiece was, and is, a 100-foot Christmas tree, and this year it’s going to be lit by Mayor Ken Welch, Friday at 6 p.m. (Friday hours are 5:30-10:30 p.m.).
Look closely, though, and you’ll discover that this Hallmark Channel-sponsored event – which runs concurrently in several American cities in November and December – has a new name this year. On previous visits, it was called Enchant Christmas.
Christmas is still a big part of the enchantment – it’s just not part of the title any more.
Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker, an annual visitor to the Mahaffey Theater for a decade or more, took the last two years off because of Covid concerns. The professional troupe returns for three shows Friday and Saturday, as Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet. Info and tickets here.
Theater stages
George C. Wolfe’s 1986 satire The Colored Museum has enjoyed a successful run at American Stage, but the curtain is coming down – the last performances are tonight at 7, Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Info and tickets are here.
Friday night, freeFall Theatre opens its holiday musical: Matthew McGee’s The Night Before, which premiered in 2021. The warm ‘n’ fuzzy cast for this season is: Sara DelBeato, Michael Raabe, Hilary Lewis and – new for ’22 – Robert Spence Gabriel. Info and tickets are here.
Concerts & comedy
Drive-By Truckers founder, songwriter, singer and spokesman Patterson Hood has solo acoustic shows Friday and Saturday (that’s two separate concerts) in Tampa, at the Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing. Look elsewhere in the Catalyst today for our conversation with one of the South’s premier rock ‘n’ roll artists.
Florida-raised comedian Daniel Tosh is onstage at the Mahaffey Theater Saturday, with shows at 7 and 10 p.m. He is best known for his Comedy Central series Tosh 2.0. Tickets are here.
Sunday’s 7 p.m. event at Ruth Eckerd Hall is billed as the Allman Family Reunion. Devon Allman, son of Gregg, is the main man here, with his band the Devon Allman Project. Participant include Duane Betts (son of Dickey), Donavon Frankenreiter, Maggie Rose, George Porter Jr. (from the Meters), Jimmy Hall (the co-founder of Wet Willie), Larry McCray, Alex Orbison (son of Roy) and the River Kittens. Tickets are here.
New art exhibit
The Shape of Dreams is the new exhibit at the Dali Museum, making its debut Friday. Here’s our story about the exhibit, from Tuesday.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday. The Catalyst returns Saturday.
