This Week in A+E: April 28 to May 4

Ballet and dance take center stage in Sarasota this week, and there will also be heaping helpings of top notch musical theater on the menu.


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  • | 5:00 a.m. April 26, 2022
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Monessa Salley and Sarasota Contemporary Dance are ready to take on Cuban Project: Historias, the brainchild of artistic director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott.
Monessa Salley and Sarasota Contemporary Dance are ready to take on Cuban Project: Historias, the brainchild of artistic director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott.

Thursday

Our Pick

Cuban Project: Historias

It's a story Leymis Bolaños Wilmott has been waiting her entire life to tell. Bolaños Wilmott, the artistic director of Sarasota Contemporary Dance, is taking on the weighty topics of immigration and family memory in Cuban Project: Historias. The dancer and choreographer is interpreting the tales of her parents and countless other Cuban-Americans who emigrated to the United States as part of Operacion Pedro Pan back in the 60's.

When: 7 p.m. April 28, 29 and 30; 2 p.m. May 1
Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
Tickets: $10-$45
Info: SarasotaContemporaryDance.org.

Andares (Pathways) by Makuyeika Collective Teatral
7:30 p.m. at Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road
$25-$35
Visit Ringling.org.

Settle in for a dramatic work in the Spanish Language. The Ringling welcomes the Makuyeika Collective Teatral, which is dedicated to presenting original works inspired by the narratives of Mexico's indigenous people, for a play that shines a spotlight on life in the country's most remote areas. Runs through Saturday.

'Titanic: The Musical'
7:30 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W.
$30-$38
ManateePerformingArtsCenter.org.

Icebergs are on the house. This unlikely hit centered around one of the 20th century's most deadly disasters won five Tony Awards — including the award for Best Musical —during its original run on Broadway.  Run aground and sink or swim with passengers from all levels of the Titanic's stratified society. Runs through May 8.

 

Friday

‘Beauty and the Beast Jr.’
7 p.m. at Studio 1130, Crossings at Siesta Key, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail
$15
Visit ThePlayers.org.

Support the actors of tomorrow as The Players Kids Next Gen presents the Beauty and the Beast Jr. The precocious young performers will hit all the notes in the beloved classic. If you can't make the Friday performance, there will be a pair of showings — at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. — on Saturday.

The Sarasota Ballet will close out its season with a program that includes choreography by George Balanchine, Mark Morris and Kenneth MacMillan.
The Sarasota Ballet will close out its season with a program that includes choreography by George Balanchine, Mark Morris and Kenneth MacMillan.

Don't Miss

Serendipitous Movement

The Sarasota Ballet closes out its season with Serendipitous Movement, which will feature programs set to the music of Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Scott Joplin. 

The show will also feature the final performances of longtime principal dancer Victoria Hulland, who joined the company in 2007 and will be retiring at the close of the season.

The first ballet of the evening, "Serenade," is choreographed by the late, great George Balanchine. The second ballet, "The Letter V," marks the first time that the Sarasota Ballet has performed a Mark Morris choreography number. And the final ballet on the bill, "Elite Syncopations," is a Kenneth MacMillan routine that hasn't been performed locally since Hulland's first season with the company.

When: 7:30 p.m. April 29; 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 30
Where: Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.
Tickets: $35-$115
Info: SarasotaBallet.org

 

Saturday

Antonio Chen Guang, Piano
7 p.m. at State College of Florida Recital Hall, 5840 26th St. W., Bradenton
$40
Visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org.

Antonio Chen Guang has won several awards for his skill including the Scriabin Prize and the Rome Prize, and he also was named the winner in the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition. The immensely talented pianist will be the first act in State College of Florida's Pianopalooza series occurring in April and May.

The Legend of Georgia McBride 
3 and 8 p.m. at Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First. St.
$36
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org 

Elvis has entered the building. Come on down for this play about a struggling Elvis impersonator who learns that they may have to expand their horizons to continue in show business. Runs through May 22.

 

Sunday

The cast of Laughing Matters: Nick Anastasia, Richie McCall, William Selby and Jenna Cormey. (Courtesy photo: John Jones.)
The cast of Laughing Matters: Nick Anastasia, Richie McCall, William Selby and Jenna Cormey. (Courtesy photo: John Jones.)

A Tribute to Barbra
7:30 p.m. at Jervey Theatre, 140 W. Tampa Ave., Venice
$38
Visit VeniceTheatre.org.

Memories. They light the corners of your mind. Sharon Owens is going to jog your subconscious as she takes you through the best of Barbra Streisand all in the course of one evening. Runs through Monday.

Laughing Matters 
3 and 8 p.m. at John C. Court Cabaret, 1265 First. St.
$36
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

The hit musical sketch comedy show is back for its sixth edition, and the performers have a lot of topical humor to share for Sarasota residents and guests alike. The show is inspired by the culture and politics of today's world, and it takes on broad targets in the interest of making the largest amount of people laugh.

 

Monday

Seeing the Invisible
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point, 337 N. Tamiami Trail, Osprey
Free with museum admission
Visit Selby.org

You'll need to download an app before you go, but once you arrive, you'll be treated to an exhibition of contemporary artworks created with augmented reality. Several modern masters including Ai Weiwei and Refik Anadol have pieces included in the exhibition. Seeing the Invisibile has been ongoing since last September, but it only has a few months left before it wraps up in August.

Tuesday

Images of Dance
7 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.
$25-$45; children $10
Visit SarasotaBallet.org.

The Sarasota Ballet Studio Company and the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory are teaming up to stage their annual celebration of dance. Music from Mozart and Vivaldi, among others, will serve as the backdrop, and choreography by Arcadian Broad, Richard House, Emelia Perkins and Lindsay Fischer will provide the structure.

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
7 p.m. at Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court
$10-$12
Visit WSLR.org/Fogartyville

Celebrate the late Pete Seeger's birthday with musician Robert Killian and a screening of a documentary centered on the folk giant's life and times. Seeger passed away at the age of 94 in 2014, but the causes he fought for and believed in are still very topical in contemporary society.

Wednesday

‘Murder at the Juice Joint’ presented by DraMature
Florida Cultural Group
5 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 3rd. Ave., Bradenton
$12
Visit ManateePerformingArtsCenter.org.

It's another whodunit, but this one is based in the Prohibition era of the Roaring Twenties. Can you solve the mystery before the final curtain? Let your imagination be the judge and jury.

Pinky’s Players Present ‘Great Stories Well Played on a Bench’
7:30 p.m. at Jervey Theatre, 140 W. Tampa Ave., Venice
$20
Visit VeniceTheatre.org.

The bench is the conceit here, and the cast of this variety show will take you through stories alternately humorous and heartfelt all centered on park benches, bus stops and the like. Runs through May 5

Boz Skaggs
8 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 7777 N. Tamiami Trail
$52-$87
Visit VanWezel.org.

Boz Skaggs is coming to town for one night only. Skaggs was an early member of the Steve Miller Band, and he's been touring and releasing music as a solo act for five decades. The gifted guitarist shines on rock, jazz and blues music, and his most recent album "Out of the Blues" was released in 2018. 

WBTT New Playwright Series
7:30 p.m. at Donelly Theatre, 1012 N. Orange Ave.
$47, $20 student or active military
Visit WestcoastBlackTheatre.org.

It's the world premiere of two one-act plays — "From Birmingham to Broadway" and "Float Like a Butterfly" — at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. The first play, by Tarra Connor Jones, centers on the talent and drive of Nell Carter, and the second, written by Nate and Michael Jacobs, is based on the tumultuous life of Muhammad Ali.

 

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