Your weekend arts forecast: Making spirits bright

So this is Christmas …

You’d better not pout, I’m telling you why. Very few tickets remain for the St. Pete theatrical celebrations of Christmas, but if you hurry it up, you might get lucky.

What does that mean? It means that The Night Before, freeFall Theatre’s cozy musical play about friends singing and reminiscing together as a blizzard rages outside, is sold out tonight and Friday.

Some tickets remain for both Saturday performances (2 and 7 p.m.), but they may well be gone by the time you’re reading this. Check the website here for availability.

Matthew McGee wrote The Night Before (with musical wizard Michael Raabe), but he’s not one of the actor/singers. Instead, McGee is wrapping up a week-log “mini-tour” of Wonderful Life, produced by American Stage and traveling from one venue to another across town.

The one-man adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life has been an almost total sell-out since it began Dec. 15; as of today (Thursday, Dec. 22) there are four remaining shows, all at the Catherine Hickman Theatre in Gulfport.

Tonight is sold out, but at press time there were tickets left for Friday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (2 and 8 p.m.). Check the website here for availability.

“Plaid Tidings” is onstage this weekend at the Jaeb Theatre. Photo: Straz Center.

Plaid Tidings, the holiday-themed sequel to the harmony-singing musical comedy Plaid Tidings, continues through this weekend in its Straz Center-produced incarnation at the Jaeb Theatre (that’s in Tampa).

Showtimes are 2 and 7:30 p.m. today and Friday, and 2 p.m. Saturday. Find tickets here.

Those angelic Celts

All about that good old Irish craic: Louise Barry, Searlait NÍ Caiside, Olivia Bradley, Michaela Groth and Katie Sweeney are the harmony-singing and Yuletide-celebrating Celtic Angels, bringing their Christmas show to Clearwater’s Capitol Theatre tonight at 7. As you might have surmised, it’s a combination of high-octane dance (from a professional Irish step company) and warm, toasty music. Tickets and info are here.

Enchant will remain at Tropicana Field through Jan. 1. Photo: Bill DeYoung.

Looking for something to do with the extended family?

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park (600 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa) has that whole winter wonderland thing going on with its Winter Village, open daily through Jan. 4. There are choo-choo train rides for the little ones, singalongs, storytelling, Santa stuff and more. Admission is free; there’s a fee for ice skating on the makeshift rink. Details are here.

And of course, the immersive Enchant is up and running inside St. Pete’s Tropicana Field, with four million lights creating a holiday maze. Ice skating is available here, too. Here’s the website for all you need to know (it’s open daily through Jan. 1).

Your weekend arts forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst. 

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