Clint Black or Mickey Gilley? The Mousetrap or the movies? Crumbs from the Table of Joy or a Feast for the Eyes? Or do you just want to chill in the Valspar Chillounge? It’s all happening today, tomorrow and Sunday — check it out!
3/22
Clint Black. The mega-popular singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has been making country hits since the ’90s; this is his 30th anniversary tour. 3/22, 8 p.m., Mahaffey.
3/22-24
Florida Orchestra: Haydn’s The Creation. Nothing much here — just the creation of the world, from first light to the Garden of Eden. The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay joins the orchestra to perform Haydn’s choral masterpiece. Michael Francis conducts. 3/22, 8 p.m., Idlewild Baptist Church; 3/23, 8 p.m., Mahaffey; 3/24, 7:30 p.m., Ruth Eckerd. floridaorchestra.org.
Through 3/24
Valspar Championship. Tiger Woods isn’t playing this year’s tournament, but the Valspar Championship is still a don’t-miss event. The field is chock full of top golfers on the PGA Tour, including Paul Casey, the 2018 Valspar champion; Jim Furyk, whose jaw-dropping down-to-the-wire play (he almost beat Rory McIlroy) was a highlight of last weekend’s Players Championship; and Dustin Johnson, the current World Number 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. And as I wrote earlier this year in dRTB (10 Reasons You Have to Go to Valspar), there’s lots more than golf on tap, including a family fun zone (with everything from hula hoops to putt-putt to a Fortnite Zone), Valspar’s first Chillounge and Silent Disco, and the Valspar LIVE concert on Saturday night Mar. 23 featuring… Brad Paisley! 3/18-24, Innisbrook, 36750 US Hwy 19 N., Palm Harbor, valsparchampionship.com.
Gasparilla International Film Festival. The biggest (and arguably the best) of Tampa Bay’s many filmfests, GIFF continues through Mar. 24 with more than 120 films, a slew of talent in attendance, and a roster of panels with appeal for filmmakers and fans alike. This weekend’s lineup includes Hotel Mumbai (3/22, 8:15 p.m.), with Dev Patel and Armie Hammer in a film about the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai’s Taj Hotel; Amazing Grace (3/23, 12:15 p.m.), comprised of previously lost film footage of a now-legendary 1972 performance by Aretha Franklin; and the closing night feature, Family (3/24, 6:30 p.m.), starring Taylor Schilling of Orange Is the New Black Fame as a workaholic saddled with the care of a 12-year-old niece who runs away to join the Juggalos (aka fans of the band Insane Clown Posse). For info on passes, individual tickets, screening locations and a full festival schedule, go to gasparillafilmfestival.com.
3/22-4/7
The Mousetrap. Who doesn’t love a good Agatha Christie whodunnit? This one may be the most beloved of all: The production in London’s West End is the longest-running show in the history of the world! (It opened in 1952.). See what delicious tricks the mistress of murder cooked up in this country-house mystery where everyone’s a suspect. Stageworks Theatre, stageworkstheatre.org.
3/23
Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp! These rockin’ jammin’ piano-playin’ party people (including the legendary Bob Seeley, celebrating his 90th birthday) will make you wanna dance, shout and stomp right along with them (and maybe make you wish you’d kept up those piano lessons). 3/23, 8 p.m., Side Door at the Palladium.
3/23-24
Dunedin Seafood Festival. Local stone crabs, Maine lobster, fish tacos and more at 20 locations in Dunedin’s marina-side Edgewater Park, plus live music, local artisans, and plenty of wine and craft beer (this is Dunedin, after all). oldebaycafe.com/seafood-festival.
3/23-4/14
Crumbs from the Table of Joy. Lynn Nottage’s play is set in 1950s Brooklyn, where Godfrey, an African-American widower, has moved from Florida with his two teenaged daughters. Mix in an aunt with Communist sentiments; a new wife (a white German immigrant) for Godfrey; and narration by 17-year-old Ernestine (Alicia Thomas in her freeFall debut), and you’ve got the ingredients for a comedy/drama that’s been described by one critic as a cross between Tennessee Williams and Lorraine Hansberry. freeFall Theatre Company, freefalltheatre.com.
3/23-7/28
Museum of Fine Arts: Feast for the Eyes: European Masterpieces from the Grasset Collection. Forty superb Old Master paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries by major Italian, Spanish, German, and Netherlandish artists. mfastpete.org.
3/24
Mickey Gilley. The country music legend, aka “The Original Urban Cowboy.” 3/24, 2 p.m., The Palladium.
Through 3/24
The Business of Murder. We can’t tell you who murders whom, but we will reveal that one of the three characters in this twisty British suspense thriller is played by the only occasionally homicidal editor of this here publication. Gulfport Community Players, gulfportcommunityplayers.org.
Hundred Days. In this critically acclaimed musical memoir, creators and stars Abigail and Shaun Bengson explore a fundamental question: What if you were to live as if you only had 100 days left? Jaeb Theatre at the Straz Center, strazcenter.org.
