Awolnation, Pretty Lights added to Big Guava

   A bunch of new acts have been added to the lineup for this year's Big Guava Festival in Tampa.
   It's a decent group: DJ/producer Pretty Lights, electronic music stars Awolnation, pop-rock band Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, rockers Night Riots and Jacksonville band

Pretty Lights

Sunbears!
   There's no one on the roster of additional acts that rises to the stature of the previously announced The Pixies, The Strokes, TV on the Radio, Passion Pit, Jenny Lewis, and Ryan Adams. Also on the originally announced lineup are Hozier, James Blake, Cold War Kids, Banks, Run the Jewels, Death From Above 1979, Action Bronson, Big Data and Iration.
   The Big Guava Music Festival is slated for May 8 and 9 at the Florida State Fairgrounds and the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre.
   You can get two-day passes for $115. You get access to all the stages and unlimited midway rides for that price.
   Go to bigguavafest.com for tickets and information.

Ramsey Lewis concert moved to St. Petersburg's Palladium

   If you have tickets to the the upcoming concert featuring jazz great Ramsey Lewis and R&B great Philip Bailey, you're going to have to drive a few blocks farther than you planned.

Ramsey Lewis

   The Feb. 24 shows was supposed to be at St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater, but it's been moved to the Palladium.

   The Palladium's a great venue, older and much more intimate than the Mahaffey. It's at 253 Fifth Ave. N.

   Bailey, who's best known as the lead singer from Earth, Wind & Fire, will perform with Ramsey Lewis and His Electric Band. They'll be doing some Earth, Wind & Fire stuff, and the band will no doubt offer "The In Crowd" and other classic Lewis instrumentals.
   Tickets run $49.50-$69.50. Call 727-893-7832 or go to themahaffey.com for tickets. (Student tickets are available for $35 at the door only, with a valid student ID.) If you want to know more about the Palladium, go to mypalladium.org.

Bradenton-area actor sparks "The Buffalo Kings"

   When the world premiere of "The Buffalo Kings" opened at freeFall Theatre in St. Petersburg a few weeks back, two well-known Bradenton-area actors were part of the ensemble cast. Now there's only one, Katherine Michelle Tanner. The other, Jenny Aldrich, had to drop out for some personal reasons.
   The play, by Natalie Symons, has been a huge hit for freeFall. I runs through this weekend, and tickets are reportedly scarce.
   The acting's impressive all around. (Aldrich was replaced by long-time Tampa Bay area favorite Mimi Rice, who stepped in at the last minute and performed one show with script in hand.)

Tanner (left) and Aldrich (right)

   The script, about a family on New York state facing several crises, some of the  everyday variety and others life-shattering, has tons of delicious great moments and some good laughs, but it's unfocused. It's packed with inconsequential subplots (one about a bad hairdo takes up a lot of the 80-minute first act and then is simply dropped) and extraneous characters (one houseguest who nobody can stand has to stay because his car is snowed in, while everyone else seems to come and go at will.) Meanwhile, the most compelling relationship, the one between a teenage boy recovering from a hate crime and his grandfather who's in the early stages of dementia, never gets developed -- and then turns out to be the raison d'etre for the entire story.
    Tanner and the rest of the cast (which also includes the always terrific Brian Shea) make it pretty easy to overlook the script flaws. This is a handsomely mounted and wonderfully acted production of a play that's overflowing with promise but seems not quite finished.
   There are two shows Saturday and one Sunday at freeFall. Tickets are $21-$44. FreeFall is at 6099 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-498-5205, freefalltheatre.com.

Sarasota Ballet changes March program

"Shostakovich Suite"

   There's been a change in an upcoming Sarasota Ballet program. 

   The performance that's scheduled for March 27-30 was supposed to include Sir Peter Wright’s "Summertide."   That's out, and in its place is a revival of resident choreographer Ricardo Graziano’s "Shostakovich Suite."        The other pieces on the revised program are Paul Taylor's "Company B," which is based on music by the Andrews Sisters, and the world premiere of a new work by Graziano.
   "Summertide" is now slated for the November program.
   Call 941-359-0099 or go to sarasotaballet.org if you want to know more.

Sarasota's Banyan Theater Company announces 2015 season

Tanner in "The Amish Project"

   Two years ago, Sarasota actor Katherine Michelle Tanner delivered one of the most amazing performances local theater goers have ever seen. The play was the American Stage production of Jessica Dickey's "The Amish Project," which is based on a mass murder in an Amish school in 2006. Tanner played all seven characters, male and female, from young victims to the killer's wife to townspeople only peripherally involved. No one who saw that performance will forget it.
   Those who missed it will have another chance. "The Amish Project," with Tanner reprising her roles, is part of the recently announced Banyan Theater Company season.
   Banyan produces shows only in the summer. "The Amish Project" is the second show of the Banyan's 14th season.
   All shows in the Banyan season are in the Jane B. Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts in Sarasota. A three-show subscription costs $70, a two-show package is $52 and single tickets are $28.50. Go to banyantheatercompany.com for information and tickets.
  

    Here's the season schedule:
  

  "Art" by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, June 25-July 12
   The winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1996 Olivier Award for Best Comedy revolves around friends who argue over the artistic value of a painting.
   

   "The Amish Project" by Jessica Dickey, July 16-Aug. 2
    A devastating and beautiful play that gives an intriguing glimpse into Amish culture and compels the audience with our own capacity for forgiveness and condemnation.


   "My Old Lady" by Israel Horovitz, Aug. 6-23
   Horovitz (the father of Beastie Boy Ad-Rock) has written more good plays than most people have seen. This one, which was made into a movie starring Kevin Kline and Maggie Smith, is one of his best. It's about a financially struggling middle-aged man who inherits an apartment in Paris and finds that French law says the tenant can stay there until she dies. He has no choice but to move in with her.

Five Finger Death Punch heads 98Rockfest lineup

   Five Finger Death Punch heads the recently announced lineup for this year's 98Rockfest.

Taylor Momsen of the Pretty Reckless

   The hard-rock concert is set for April 24 in the Amalie Arena in Tampa. The other bands on the program are Rise Against, Breaking Benjamin, the Pretty Reckless -- who sure seem to be performing in the Tampa area a lot lately -- and Nothing More.
   There's a free pre-show on the west plaza of the arena that starts at
2 p.m. and features performances by 98ROCK’s Skratch n Sniff, Sleepwave, Beartooth and Young Guns.
   Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 30. They'll run you $25, $39 and $59. VIP packages start at $169. There's a service charge on top of all those prices.

   Call 800-745-3000 or go to amaliearena.com.

   

Pixies, Strokes headline Tampa's Big Guava festival

   The lineup for this year's Big Guava Music Festival was announced Friday, and it's a great one.

   The Strokes are the nominal headliners. They're great live, but the lineup also includes the Pixies, one of the most important bands of the past 30 years, and TV on the Radio, the phenomenal avant garde rock band.

   Other big names include the electronic indie band Passion Pit, indie darling Jenny Lewis, alt-country icon Ryan Adams, Irish singer-songwriter Hozier and British electronica artist James Blake.

The Pixies

   Also scheduled are Cold War Kids, Banks, Run the Jewels, Death From Above 1979, Action Bronson, Big Data and Iration.

   Other acts are likely to be announced later.

   The Big Guava Music Festival is slated for May 8 and 9 at the Florida State Fairgrounds and the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre. Besides the music, there's going to be craft beer and food trucks, and the fairgrounds' midway will be open.

   You can get two-day "early bird" passes for $89 right now, but there's a limited number available. At 10 a.m. Jan. 23 the price will go up to $115. You get access to all the stages and unlimited midway rides for that price. 

   You can also get premium tickets with a bunch of perks and extras for $325 today, and $350 starting Jan. 23.

    Go to bigguavafest.com for tickets and information.