OK, it’s a reduced list this week. We all need to lose a few, especially those of us who have been eating bread and pasta for two weeks like yours truly. But you can’t go wrong with any of these five events, which are worth like two points each at least, adding up to… a top 10! Here they are, in chronological order.
Wait Until Dark. Like to be scared out of your wits? Frederick Knott’s hit play should do it, as anyone can attest who’s seen the 1967 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn as the blind heroine battling a murderous con man and his cronies. It ought to be even scarier live, and Stageworks has the excellent Betty-Jane Parks in the leading role. I have a hunch she’ll kill it. Thurs. 9/26, 8 p.m.; Fri. 9/27, 8 p.m. (Opening Night); Sat. 9/28, 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun. 9/29, 3 p.m. Performances continue through 10/13. stageworkstheatre.org.
Literary Roast of Ernest Hemingway. Wordier Than Thou hosts a posthumous roast of the eminently roastable Papa Hemingway. Expect many short declarative sentences and an appearance by The Man himself. Fri. 9/27, 7 p.m., Studio@620, studio620.org.
The Florida Orchestra Opening Night. TFO’s “Bigger, Bolder Beethoven” season in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth gets off to a rousing start with a program featuring his Leonore Overture No. 3, plus Gershwin, Grieg, Mason Bates and Ravel. Fri. 9/27, 8 p.m., Straz Center; Sat. 9/28, 8 p.m., Mahaffey Theater; Sun. 9/29, 2 p.m., Ruth Eckerd. floridaorchestra.org.
Studio@620 Dance Hall Festival: Momentum Choreographers Showcase with projectALCHEMY. It’s always exciting to see what the innovative dancer/choreographer Alex Jones comes up with for his company, projectALCHEMY. In this program, he introduces us to the voices of six emerging choreographers in the Tampa Bay area, including new works by Dakota Kuharich, Rachel Lambright, and Luis Torres of the 2019 Momentum Choreographic Mentorship program, and Carissa Bishop, Heidi Brewer, and Fernando Chonqui of projectALCHEMY. Sat. 9/28, 7:30 p.m. & Sun. 9/29, 3 p.m. studio620.org.
The Turn of the Screw at freeFall. freeFall Theatre gets into the spirit of the scary season with this adaptation by the American playwright Jeffrey Hatcher of Henry James’s chilling tale of a governess trying to protect her two young charges from evil forces — which may or may not be emanating from the governess herself. freeFall Artistic Director (and charismatic actor) Eric Davis and Emilee Dupre, so good in freeFall’s Cabaret and Crumbs from the Table of Joy, co-star. Timothy Saunders directs. Fri. 9/27, 8 p.m.; Sat. 9/28, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun. 9/29, 2 p.m. freefalltheatre.com.
