Registry Tampa Bay

Dance, music, theater, art, basketball and beautiful cars — all this in just three days? Here’s your guide to 10 must-attend events during this jam-packed weekend.

  1. BEACON ’19 Contemporary Dance. If it feels like you’ve been waiting a year for another BEACON, you have. (More than a year, in fact; the last one was in January 2018.)  But if the infrequency of public performances from this invaluable collaborative dance project whets our appetite, that’s not so bad, as it reminds us of the indelible impact of high-caliber contemporary dance. Look for another fascinating evening in this year’s edition, where one of the most intriguing offerings is a work called “Doors,” which brings together two dancer-choreographers (BEACON co-founder Helen Hansen French and Alex Jones of projectALCHEMY); a playwright (Sheila Cowley); a sound designer (Matt Cowley); a lighting designer (Joseph Oshry); a sculptor (Mark Aeling, who recently made a splash with his public art installation for the new St. Pete police station); and a painter (Ana Maria Vasquez: her paintings of the US/Mexico border inspired the piece, and she’ll also be painting on the dancers right before the performance). I can’t wait for these “Doors” to open, and for whatever else BEACON has prepared for its hungry audience. 4/5, 8 p.m., The Palladium.
  2. Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. An all-male troupe that rocks tutus and tights with equal elan, The Trocks manage to pay homage to classical ballet and make fun of it at the same time. 4/5, 7:30 p.m., Straz.
  3. NCAA Women’s Final Four. Tampa gets to play host for the third time to the biggest event in women’s college basketball. 4/5-7,  Amalie Arena.
  4. Safety Harbor Songfest. What was once a blissed-out weekend by the water has morphed into a different kind of festival: three nights of concerts, each in a different small venue: Friday at the Safety Harbor Art & Music Center (the non-profit beneficiary of the fest), with Eliot Bronson, the Currys and the Seth Walker Trio; Saturday at the Margaret Heye Great Room at Ruth Eckerd Hall, with a lineup including Shawn Mullins and the Randall Bramblett Band, among others; and Sunday at Safety Harbor’s Crooked Thumb Brewery, with a lineup including Delta Rae and the Lionhearts. You can buy tickets to individual concerts or a pass to all three. safetyharborsongfest.com.
  5. Festivals of Speed. Over 300 exotic cars, motorcycles, watercraft and luxury brands, both vintage and contemporary, from Porsche, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Aston-Martin, BMW, Mercedes, McLaren, and more.  4/7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg, festivalsofspeed.com.
  6. Florida Orchestra’s Raymond James Pops Series: Ragtime, Blues and All That Jazz. Trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling solos in works by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and more. Jeff Tyzik conducts. 4/5, 8 p.m., Straz; 4/6, 8 p.m., Mahaffey; 4/7, 7:30 p.m., Ruth Eckerd. floridaorchestra.org.
  7. James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art: The Cultural Connections of Edward S. Curtis. In the first three decades of the 20th century, American photographer Edward S. Curtis traveled the country to document “vanishing” Native American cultures with his cameras, producing thousands of images. His respect for Native people was ahead of his time, and the relationships he nurtured allowed for information-gathering that would have otherwise been lost to history. 4/6-7/21, thejamesmuseum.org.
  8. Woodson Chamber Concerts. Spend a sublime Sunday afternoon listening to Florida Orchestra members play chamber music in the artful surroundings of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum. 4/7, 3 p.m.: Clarinet, Viola and Piano Trio, with Natalie Hoe, Jonas Benson and Brett Douglas. Woodson Museum, 2240 9th Ave. S., St. Petersburg. floridaorchestra.org.

And catch these last two shows before they close: 

9. The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised].For its 20th anniversary season, Jobsite brings back one of its biggest hits, in which all of the Bard’s 37 plays plus a few sonnets are squished into 90 minutes. The irrepressible comic virtuosos (and quick-change artists) David Jenkins, Shawn Paonessa and Spencer Meyers star in this take-nothing-seriously Shakespearean send-up. Final performances Friday and Saturday at 8, Sunday at 4Jobsite Theater at the Straz.

10. 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. Tickets available for final performances Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. (Friday night sold out.) Stageworks Theatre, stageworkstheatre.org.

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