Top 10 arts events for Sarasota-Manatee: Jan. 6-12

Editor’s note: Because of a positive COVID-19 test result among the production team, the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe announced after our deadline two-week delay for "Ruby," which will now begin Jan. 26.

World premiere by Westcoast Troupe

In the 1950s in Live Oak, Florida, a prominent and relatively well-off Black woman named Ruby McCollum killed a white doctor who had just been elected to the state senate. The trial attracted national attention and coverage by the celebrated writer Zora Neal Hurston, who wrote about it for a newspaper in Pittsburgh. The story has now been turned into a world premiere musical called “Ruby” by Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe founder Nate Jacobs and his brother Michael. Michael says he focused on the book while Nate is directing and created the music with Michael and Brennan Stylez, the musical director, who also created arrangements with Antonio Wimberly. The play, which begins Wednesday and continues through Feb. 27, features a large cast, led by Aleah Vassell as Ruby and Casey Murphy as Dr. Clifford Leroy Adams. For information: 941-366-1505; westcoastblacktheatre.org

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Artist Series presents piano recitals

Pianist Harumi Hanafusa is starting the new year off with two long-delayed programs for Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, she will perform a solo recital that features Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Ravel’s “Gaspard de la nuit,” as well as works by Chopin, Liszt and Debussy. And at 3 p.m. Sunday, she will join her sister, Mami as the Hanafusa Sisters Piano Duo, for a different program that includes Debussy’s “Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune” and Ravel’s “Bolero,” as well as other works to be revealed later. Both concerts will be presented in the Historic Asolo Theater at The Ringling, 5401 Bay Shore Rd., Sarasota. Harumi Hanafusa has been a leader in Japan’s classical music scene since her professional debut in the 1970s. Tickets for the two concerts are $40-$45. For more information; 941-306-1202; artistseriesconcerts.org

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A storm brewing in ‘Belleville’

Four students in the FSU/Asolo Conservatory are taking audiences through a thriller-like journey into a crumbling marriage in Amy Herzog’s “Belleville.” Set in a hip neighborhood in Paris, the plays is about a young American couple who are struggling to connect and just beginning to face the problems in their marriage. They are balanced by a young Sengalese couple who are their landlords. Guest director Jesse Jou stages the production after previously working with the students on “How I Learned to Drive” and “Drunken City.” The production stars second-year students Zoya Martin, Peter Raimondo, Jerald Wheat and Dreaa Kay Baudy. Performances are Tuesday through Jan. 23 in the Cook Theatre in the FSU Center for the performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. 941-351-8000; asolorep.org

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A piece of the Rach

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson first played Rachmaninoff’s challenge Piano Concerto No. 3 when he was just 15. His piano teacher told him that if he learned it then, “you’ll never be afraid of it.” Years later, it has become a standard part of his concert repertoire, a piece he has performed dozens of times. He will be playing it again this weekend with the Sarsasota Orchestra in the concert dubbed “Ohlsson Plays Rachmananoff.” He joins guest conductor Jeffrey Kahane, who will lead the orchestra in a program that also includes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. Kahaneis the music director of the Sarasota Music Festival, which is expected to return next summer, and he served as an artistic director advisor to the Sarasota Orchestra before it named Bramwell Tovey as music director designate. Concerts are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hlal, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $35-$98. 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

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A Coward classic at Island Players

A Noel Coward comedy classic helps the Island Players launch the new year. The company will present “Blithe Spirit,” which first opened in 1941 and became a long-running hit. Mark Shoemaker stars as Charles Condomine, who invites the medium Madame Arcati to his home for a seance, not expecting that she would conjure up the ghost of his first wife, Elvira, who wreaks havoc as she torments his second wife, Ruth. Seva Anthony plays Madame Arcati, with Abby Deenik as Elvira and Jan Wallace as Ruth. Jeffrey Steiger directs the play, which opens today and continues through Jan. 23 at the Island Playhouse, 10009 Gulf Drive, Anna Maria. Tickets are $25. Face masks are required. 941-778-5755; theislandplayers.org

A touch of classical humor

You can expect a few laughs with the latest Sarasota Orchestra Great Escapes concert “Comedy Tonight.” Guest conductor Christopher Confessore leads a concert that is designed to lift spirits with pieces from a wide range of works. There’s the Stephen Sondheim classic “Comedy Tonight”; a suite from the HBO hit “Curb Your Enthusiasm”; “Galop” from Suite from the Comedians, and a John Williams march from the comedy film “1941.” There’s also Prokofiev’s “Sneaky Pete and the Wolf” (with narration by Peter Schickele, and a Shostakovich twist on “Tea for Two.” Concerts are Wednesday through Jan. 16. The Jan. 12 and 14 concerts will be presented without intermission. All performances are in Holley Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $42-$65. 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

New plays for the 21st century

Fans of new plays will want to spend some time at American Stage in St. Petersburg which launches its sixth annual 21st Century Voices: New Play Festival. It will feature four new plays selected from more than 400 submissions around the world. Unlike last year, the 2022 festival will be presented live and in -person in the Raymond James Theatre. The plays selected are “Saudades” by Fernando Segall, about an American woman searching for her long-lost Brazilian mother; “Zu’s Earth” by Sidney Rushing about the after effects of the African Diaspora in 1970s Mississippi, “Go Down Moses” by Dana Leslie Goldstein about free speech oni a college campus; and “Brown Girl in The Ring,” by the company’s new Producing Artistic Director, Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj. He describes it as a play about a mother and son in Jamaica in the early days of the AIDS epidemic in Jamaica. The presentations are Friday through Sunday. A weekend pass is $75, and individual readings are $20.22. Patrons must show negative COVID tests results or proof of vaccine and wear masks 163 3rd St., North, St. Petersburg. 727-823-7529; americanstage.org

Two approaches for ‘Hare & Tortoise’

Florida Studio Theatre’s Children’s Theatre series launches its latest production, “Hare & Tortoise” with many performances already sold out. The play is a retelling of one of Aesop’s best known fables about two friends who have different approaches to just about everything. Jackson Janowicz plays the Hare opposite Gracie Gilbert as Tortoise in the play written by Brendan Murray. It will be presented Saturdays and select Sundays through Feb. 26 in the Bowne’s Lab, 1265 First St., Sarasota. Patrons 12 and older must show a recent negative COVID test result or proof of vaccine and masks are required for all audience members ages 6 and up. For more information: 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org

Musicals and drama fill FST stages

Florida Studio Theatre is a busy place these days with five shows running in its different spaces. The company is giving audiences plenty of options for celebrating the new year. On New Year’s Eve, Friday, there are performances of the doo-wop cabaret hit “The Wanderers” and the country crossover musical “Friends in Low Places” at 6 p.m. FST Improv rings in the new year a little early at 7:30 p.m. with the special holiday production of “Resolution Rewind” (also presented on Saturday). And at 8 p.m. you can get into the party spirit with the musical “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” which features a long list of early rock hits. A full slate of performances will be presented New Year’s Day, including the world premiere play “America in One Room” by Jason Odell Williams. It’s a comedic drama inspired by a national conference that brought together hundreds of people from diverse backgrounds and ideologies to talk about important issues. For details and ticket information: 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org

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A musical salute to a disco diva

There’s going to be some “Hot Stuff” on stage when the national tour of “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” arrives Tuesday at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. It’s a biographical musical about the young girl from Boston who grew up to become the queen of disco with such hits as “Love to Love You Baby,” “Bad Girls,” “MacArthur Park,” “No More Tears,” “On the Radio” and “Last Dance.” The show features three women playing different aspects of Summer’s life and career, and the company includes Porter Lee Anderson II as Andrew Gaines. Anderson grew up performing in shows at Sarasota area theaters, including the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. Performances are Tuesday through Jan. 16 at the Straz Center, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. 800-955-1045; strazcenter.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Top 10 arts events for Sarasota-Manatee: Jan. 6-12