Events not to miss in 2017

Goodbyes are never easy. But for many, bidding farewell to 2016 couldn’t come soon enough. The last 12 months, filled with political turmoil, tragedies and entirely too many celebrity deaths, have been trying, to say the least. But the best way to move on is to look   forward — and the start of a new year is the perfect opportunity for a fresh start.

So if you’re feeling a little worn down from this last year, we’ve put together a list of a few of our favorite upcoming arts and entertainment events and milestones to look forward to in 2017. Sayonara, 2016 — we knew ye all too well.

JDub’s Three-Year Anniversary

When: 1 p.m. Feb. 11

Where: Sarasota County Fairgrounds, 3000 Ringling Blvd.

Tickets: $100 VIP; $35 for early bird; $40 after Jan. 15 and $45 at the door

Info: Call 955-2739.

Time flies when you’re having beer. JDub’s Brewing Co. will celebrate three years of brewing local craft beers this February. To mark the occasion, the brewery will host a beer festival at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds, featuring a Pros vs. Joes theme that will include more than 40 professional breweries and dozens of home-brewing operations. Join in the festivities with unlimited samples of beer from both, and vote for your favorite professional, home-brewed and overall favorite brew. Plus, try food from various on-site vendors.

Feeling fancy? Limited VIP tickets include early admission; access to the VIP tent; a 750 mL bottle of JDub’s special-release anniversary beer; a guided tasting session of specialty beers not available at general admission and free admission to the after-party, hosted at the brewery and featuring live music by So Flow and the Spazmatics. To top it all off, the festival will benefit the Humane Society of Sarasota, which will be on location with dogs available for adoption.

‘Marc Chagall, Flowers and the French Riviera: The Color of Dreams’

When: 10 a.m. Feb. 12

Where: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 811 S. Palm Ave

Tickets: $20; free for members

Info: Call 366-5731.

This February, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens offers visitors an opportunity to view never-before-seen floral paintings by the late modernist artist Marc Chagall. The exhibit, “Marc Chagall, Flowers, and the French Riviera: The Color of Dreams,” will mark the first time these paintings have been publicly displayed. Included among them is the 1937 masterwork, “The Lovers,” on loan from the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, as well as “Bouquets of Lilacs at Saint-Paul” and “Couple with Lilies of the Valley,” loaned from a private collector, which have also not been publicly exhibited, and personal items, including vases and archival photographs.

Whiskey Obsession Festival

When: March 29 through April 1

Where: Various locations

Tickets: $45 to $195 for the grand tasting; other events individually ticketed

Info: Visit Whiskeyobsessionfestival.com.

Entering its fifth year, the Whiskey Obsession Festival is back and bigger than ever. In fact, this year, the event will become the largest festival of its kind in the country. Featuring 2,500 guests, whiskies from around the world and 25 different classes and tastings spanning four days, Whiskey Obsession lives up to its name.

This year, things kick off with a dinner at the Sarasota Yacht Club, followed by a cocktail academy with industry experts, a VIP dinner, tasting and discussion with whiskey panel experts and of course, the grand tasting and after-party. New this year, the festival wraps up with a downtown street party featuring live music, food and drinks.

Steve Martin and Martin Short

When: 8 p.m. Feb. 10

Where: Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail

Tickets: $205 to $255

Info: Call 953-3368.

Leave it to Steve Martin and Martin Short to title their joint performance “An Evening You Will Forget For the Rest of Your Life.” These two comedy giants take the stage together to speak, perform comedy and play banjo alongside Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. 

‘The Originalist’

When: Jan. 18 through March 7

Where: Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail

Tickets: $30 to $95

Info: Call 351-8000.

Whatever happened to the political middle? This insightful play, written by John Strand and directed by Molly Smith, begs the question, using the late controversial Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as the story’s central figure. His interactions with his legal clerk — and political polar opposite — illustrate the type of civil disagreement Strand says is disappearing from American culture.

‘Ideation’

When: 8 p.m. Jan. 27

Where: Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St.

Tickets: $28; $20 for younger than 40 and $5 for students

Info: Call 321-1397.

In its third production season, Urbanite Theatre continues to bring contemporary, thought-provoking theater to Sarasota. Formed two years ago by Brendan Ragan and Summer Dawn Wallace, the black-box theater has hit its stride, offering its employees full-time work and securing a 10-year lease in its current location, a permanent workshop and set-storage facility and an apartment for cast housing — not to mention the long list of sold-out performances and accolades.

Its upcoming production, “Ideation,” continues the theater’s mission. Playwright Aaron Loeb adds a touch of dark humor to a suspense thriller, in which corporate consultants collaborate on an enigmatic — and morally ambiguous — project, questioning the notions of right and wrong. 

‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’

When: 7:30 p.m. March 4, 7, 15 and 24; 1:30 p.m. March 12 and 18

Where: Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.

Tickets: $19 to $125

Info: Call 328-1300.

The Sarasota Opera presents this 1953 opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc, which tells a harrowing, fictionalized version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne. Set during the French Revolution’s infamous “Reign of Terror,” a group of Carmelite nuns were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their religion. Centered on Blanche de la Force, who joins a Carmelite order to devote her life to God, her story explores the true meaning of faith.

Ashton, Graziano and Tuckett

When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27

Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail

Tickets: $35 to $110

Info: Call 359-0099.

Sir Frederick Ashton’s series of waltzes was created in 1947 — and lost until its revival in 1986. See the Sarasota Ballet perform the piece onstage, celebrating the swooning score by Ravel. Resident choreographer Ricardo Graziano presents the return of his popular 2014 ballet, “Before Night Falls,” and Will Tuckett’s “Changing Light” will close the program.