An all-Ashton Sarasota Ballet weekend

It’s an all-Ashton weekend for The Sarasota Ballet, which returns for its sixth digital program this weekend. The lineup includes three pieces that have been performed before. Danielle Brown and Ricardo Graziano are featured in “The Walk to the Paradise Garden,” Victoria Hulland and Ricardo Rhodes are reunited as partners in “Valses Nobles et Sentimentales” and a varied cast is featured in “Facade,” which touches on a diverse assortment of dance styles from polkas to foxtrots. The program is available Friday through Monday. Tickets are $35. For more information: 941-359-0099; sarasotaballet.org/events/digital-program-6

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More:Sarasota Orchestra plans return to normal for 2021-22

Westcoast Troupe follows the ‘Pipeline’

The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe combines live theater and video for the Sarasota premiere of Dominique Morisseau’s timely drama “Pipeline.” The play, which WBTT originally planned to present live in the fall, is being filmed inside the theater and will then be shown in outdoor screenings in the theater’s parking lot Friday through April 30. Home streaming will be available May 1-23. The roughly 90-minute play is about an inner-city public high school teacher whose son is threatened with expulsion from an elite private boarding school after he attacks a teacher. It is directed by L. Peter Callender, an actor and artistic director of the African-American Shakespeare Company of San Francisco. Tickets are $20. For more information: 941-366-1505; westcoastblacktheatre.org

Actors say ‘I Do!’ at Manatee Players

Two of the busier local community theater actors are living out married life together in the Manatee Players production of “I Do! I Do!” Sarah Cassidy and Chris Caswell depict a years-long relationship between Agnes and Michael, from their first meeting through marriage, child-rearing into retirement and old age. The musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (creators of “The Fantasticks”) includes the song “My Cup Runneth Over.” Cassidy and Caswell have been featured in many shows in Sarasota, Venice and Bradenton theaters. “I Do! I Do!” opens today and continues through May 9. For ticket information: 941-748-5875; manateeperformingartscenter.com

Classical music greats 

If you missed the live performances last weekend, the Sarasota Orchestra is presenting a video for home streaming of its chamber ensemble concert “Mozart & Mendelssohn.” Stephen Mulligan, associate conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducts the program that features Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216 and Felix Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 9 in C Major. David Coucheron, concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony, will be the gbuest soloist on the Mozart piece. Home streaming is available today through Tuesday. Tickets are $10. 941-953-3434; sarasotaorchestra.org

‘Evita’ stars return to Asolo Rep

It’s the official opening weekend at Asolo Repertory Theatre for the outdoor show “Ana Isabelle & Friends in Concert: Stand Back, Sarasota.” It reunites several of the stars of Asolo Rep’s 2017 production of “Evita,” including Justin Gregory Lopez (who played Che) and the tango dancers Junior Cervila and Guadalupe Garcia, with their director/choreographer Josh Rhodes. Cast members say it will feature an eclectic mix of theater and Spanish songs as well as favorites from “Evita.” Previews continue through Saturday’s opening night, and the show runs through April 24 at the outdoor Terrace Stage, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. For ticket information: asolorep.org

Premiere musical at Booker High

After 21 years leading the theater department at Booker High School’s Visual and Performing Arts Center, Scott Keys plans to retire at the end of the school year. But before he goes, he’s offering the community an outdoor presentation of his latest original musical “Kingdom of Solitaire.” Keys wrote the book and lyrics to a score by fellow teacher Johnnie Mnich. (They previously wrote the Booker musical “Sleepy Hollow” in 2012.) The new show is about a world of conflict among members of the different playing card suits, and how one young boy, a loner, might have a chance to bring the world together. Performances are Saturday and Sunday at Booker High School, 3201 N. Orange Ave. Space is limited outdoors for safety and masks are required. For more information: bookervpa.ludus.com/index.php  

A show’s journey to the stage

Producer Tom Kirdahy, who won a Tony Award for the musical “Hadestown,” talks about putting a show together in the Hermitage Artist Retreat program “From Creation to Production: Where It all Begins.” Kirdahy also produced the Tony-nominated “The Inheritance,” which won several Olivier Awards for London theater, and he was a producer of several plays by his late husband, playwright Terrence McNally. He will be chatting with Hermitage CEO and Artistic Director Andy Sandberg, who won his own Tony in 2009 as a producer of the Broadway revival of “Hair.” They will chat at 6 p.m. Friday at the Hermitage Beach, 6660 Manasota Key Rd., Englewood. The program is free with a $5 registration fee. Hermitageartistretreat.org

Actors sing Broadway hits at Selby

The Players Centre has been finding some success with outdoor performances. It’s latest presentation, “Day to Night,” which is being presented today through Sunday at Selby Botanical Gardens, is sold out. The Broadway on the Bay program is designed to explore a day in the life through a variety of Broadway show tunes. Director Dewayne Barrett and musical director Bruce Ensinger are working with a cast that features Brenna Griffith, Chip Fisher, Tanner Fults, Kelly Leissler, Eliette Rogers and Debbi White. Even though the live performances are sold out, there is a home streaming option. The video will be available beginning Monday and can be viewed for up to a month. For ticket information: 941-365-2494; theplayers.org

New Music closes with piano concert

New Music New College closes its season with a hybrid event at 8 p.m. Saturday. Pianist Vicky Chow, who is unable to travel to Sarasota, is filming a concert exclusively for the program, which will be streamed free on YouTube and the New Music website. It also will be screened, for free, in the Mildred Sainer Pavilion on the New College campus to an audience limited to 50 people chosen in a lottery. The concert features work by Tomeka Reid, Michael Abels, Caroline Shaw, Philip Glass and Steve Reich. A free artistic conversation on Zoom will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday. For more information: newmusicnewcollege.org/vicky-chow

Sarasota Opera closing weekend

This is the final weekend for the spring season of the Sarasota Opera, which is offering live performances of two rarely seen one-act works – Rossini’s “Il signor Bruschino” and Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” If you miss them live at the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, you will have another chance to watch them. Both productions are being video recorded and will be made available for home streaming beginning May. For ticket information: 941-328-1300; sarasotaopera.org

Choral Artists travel outdoors

With their Sunday afternoon concert “Come Fly With Me,” Choral Artists of Sarasota touch on something many people have missed during the pandemic – travel. The one-hour concert at 4 p.m. at Phillippi Estate Park, 5500 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, features 32 singers performing such favorites as “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” “Girl from Ipanema,” “I Love Paris” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” Artistic Director Joseph Holt leads the group. Nancy’s Bar-B-Q will have a food truck on site. Audience members should bring lawn or beach chairs. Picnic tables may be reserved. Tickets are $25 per car and are sold only in advance at 941-387-4900; choralartistssarasota.org. 

Group author signing

Eight award-winning romance authors will gather together for a group book sale and signing session from 1-3 p.m. Friday at the Bazaar on Apricot & Lime, 821 Apricot Ave., Sarasota. The authors are Sarah Andre, Rachel J. Good, Jacie Floyd, Victoria Hinshaw, Tara September, Rena Koontz, CA Miconi and Karen Dean Benson. They each touch on different aspects of the romance category, including science fiction, historical fiction and suspense. For more information: bazaaronapricotandlime.com

Cabaret shows extended at FST

With seating limited for social distancing, Florida Studio Theatre has been regularly selling out the two cabaret shows running in its largest theaters. Singer Carole J. Bufford is holding forth with her latest show “Vintage POP!” in the Keating Theatre, where she performs through May 16. Her show features pop hits that cover most of the 20th century. And in the larger Gompertz Theatre, Nygel Robinson, Madlyn McHugh and Michael Maricondi star in “Three Pianos,” a tribute to pianist-singer-composers, like Elton John, Billy Joel, Carole King and Sara Bareilles. The show has been extended through May 23. For tickets: 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org

An outdoor Leonard Bernstein tribute

Leonard Bernstein’s love affair with New York City continues with St. Petersburg’s freeFall Theatre  revue “Leonard Bernstein’s New York,” which is presented as a drive-in concert, with patrons watching from their cars. It features songs from “West Side Story,” “On the Town,” “Wonderful Town” and more. Artistic Director Eric Davis directs Emanuel Carrero and Julia Rifino. Michael Raabe is the musical director. “Leonard Bernstein’s New York” runs through May 9 at 6099 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. Tickets are $75-$99 per car (with up to four occupants). Solo tickets are also available for $35 the day prior to each performance. 941-727-498-5230; freefalltheatre.com

A modern ‘Caesar’ for streaming

The second-year students in the FSU/Asolo Conservatory usually spend the end of the school year preforming Shakespeare outdoors at Selby Gardens. Because of coronavirus, this year they are featured in a video production of “Julius Caesar,” adapated and directed by Jonathan Epstein, who switches genders, splits some characters and gives it a timeless setting. There are some familiar outdoor settings in a few scenes. The video is available for home viewing through Monday. Tickets are $25, $10 for students. Epstein says no other play “speaks to today’s world and the complex interrelatedness of the personal and political” as directly as “Julius Caesar. For ticket information: asolorep.org

Siblings play siblings at Venice Theatre

It seems like natural casting. Siblings Casey and Kiley Berkery play a brother and sister in Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald’s off-Broadway musical “john and jen” at Venice Theatre. It follows the relationship between the siblings and a mother and a son, while exploring themes of love, healing and letting go. The musical traces the lives of John and Jen from the 1950s through the 1990s. The Berkerys have been seen in a variety of shows at Venice theatre. Final performances of “john and jen” are Friday through Sunday in the Jervey Theatre, where seating is limited and socially distanced and face masks are required. Tickets are $25. For more information: 941-488-1115; venicetheatre.org

Ringling highlights a Japanese artist

There’s a lot of recently added artwork to experience at The Ringling, led by “Graphic Awakening,” an exhibition of work by Saitō Kiyoshi. It is comprised of recent donations of Saitō works from Charles and Robyn Citrin to The Ringling and other collections. It is the first comprehensive exhibit of the artist’s work in the United States and focuses on prints created in the 1940s and 1950s. After World War II, Saitō became one of the main figures of the modernist Creative Print movement. This new exhibit joins three others that recently opened: “Frans Hals: Detecting a Decade,” “Larry Rivers: Boston Massacre” and pieces by abstract artist Sam Gilliam. 5401 Bay Shore Rd., Sarasota. For more information: ringling.org

Art and nature merge at Selby Gardens

Art and nature combine once again in the colorful new Selby Botanical Gardens exhibit, “Roy Lichtenstein: Monet’s Garden Goes Pop.” Continuing through June 27, it features Lichtenstein’s takes on garden paintings by Claude Monet, and both artists are represented around Selby with a variety of outdoor exhibits and plant displays in the conservatory. Previous artists featured in the Jean and Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series, which began in 2015, include Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, Andy Warhol and Paul Gauguin. Selby is at 1534 Mound St., Sarasota. For more information: 941-366-5731; selby.org

Badlands to Bradenton

It’s only taken 35 million years to bring the Badlands to Bradenton. The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature is opening the exhibition “Badlands to Bradenton: Lessons from the Field,” which looks at how nature has changed in Nebraska over time. The museum says Nebraska once looked like the Everglades of today, but it eventually dried up, and the remains of the mammals who made their homes there have been captured in fossils. Since 2011, the museum has partnered with the Toomey Foundation for the Natural Sciences to take more than 50 Manatee County teachers on paleontology expeditions and learn lessons they have brought back to their classrooms. Now the public can learn for themselves. 201 10th St., West, Bradenton. 941-746-4131; bishopscience.org

Jay Handelman, arts editor and theater critic, has been an editor and writer at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune since 1984. Read more of his arts and entertainment stories. And please support local journalism by subscribing to the Herald-Tribune.