Weekend arts forecast: The famous Mr. Ed • St Pete Catalyst

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Sheeran

Well, the "intimate" Ed Sheeran concert Friday at Ruth Eckerd Hall sold out in a finger-snap, and remaining tickets for Big Ed's "big" show Saturday at Raymond James Stadium are going for large "resale" prices.

Before Ed Sheeran was anybody you’d even think about, there was Evan Dando, the temperamental singer/songwriter and pop songsmith behind the Lemonheads, the Boston band critics predicted would be the biggest of the 1990s, and which ultimately never became the biggest anything at all (like so many critical favorites, the Lemonheads’ plaudits never translated into record sales). Still, he's a one of a kind talent and an American original.

Dando is on a solo acoustic tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the acclaimed It's a Shame About Ray album. Tonight at the Capitol Theatre, he opens for England's Psychedelic Furs, with original singer and frontman Richard Butler.

Speaking of veteran British bands, singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy remain at the core of the heavy rocking outfit The Cult ("She Sells Sanctuary"), playing Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall. They’ve been at it since 1984, two years before the Psych Furs had their best-known American hit, "Pretty in Pink." Tickets for the Psychedelic Furs/Evan Dando here. Tickets for The Cult here.

Kountry Wayne

The inimitable Margaret Cho has a Friday show in the Straz Center's Ferguson Hall. The Catalyst spoke with the tart-tongued comedian earlier this week.

Comedians Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Earthquake share time on the Amalie Arena stage Sunday. It's part of their cross-country collaboration, the "Straight Jokes! No Chaser Comedy Tour." Tickets.

Kennedy and Jimmy Failla are on tour together; they’re at the Capitol Theatre Saturday. Tickets.

Sunday at the Mahaffey Theater, it's Millen, Georgia-born viral comedian Kountry Wayne, aka Wayne Collier, whose skits on Facebook and Instagram have made him a bona fide social media star. He co-hosts the comedy clip show I Love Us on BET+, and has a memoir out now, Help is on the Way. Tickets are here.

At the Off-Central (St. Pete) The family show The Revenge of the Space Pandas is entering its final weekend. Find tickets here.

Ranney Lawrence directs a re-worked version of the musical Crowns Saturday and Sunday at the Jaeb Theatre, inside Tampa's Straz Center. Regina Taylor was inspired to write the play after reading the photography book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats. It's a gospel story that center around the word "hattitude."

The fall 2022 Straz Center production took three Theatre Tampa Bay awards. Tickets for this weekend's three performances are here.

Next door, in the Shimberg Playhouse, the madcap cabaret Jobsite's Alice is in full swing. Tickets are here. Composer and musical director Jeremy Douglass is Friday's guest on the Arts Alive! podcast.

And it's a Straz Center triple-header, as the Broadway tour of the musical Jagged Little Pill opened Tuesday and continues through Sunday in Morsani Hall. It's centered around the music of Alanis Morrisette – but you knew that, didn't you? Tickets.

Prometheus and friends – the characters in LAB Theater Project's drama Fire Thief – will say goodbye after this weekend's performances. Find tickets here.

Last week's Both Sides of the Bay Cabaret at freeFall Theatre sold out; it's back onstage Saturday, at Stageworks Theatre. Read all about it, and find tickets, here.

There's been a bit of runoff from the recent Tampa International Fringe Festival: Between Friday and Sunday, these shows will be repeated at the Fringe Theater, inside Tampa's Kress Building: Cat Lim's Deepest Darkest Secrets, The Barn Identity, RAT MAN HAPPY PLACE, Jon Bennett: AmeriCan't, The Evolution of Consciousness and The Sackquel: Sponsored Superhero. Times and tickets are here.

The Florida Orchestra is performing Wagner's "Ring Cycle" Saturday and Sunday, in a Readers Digest condensed (non-operatic) arrangement. Music director Michael Francis talked it over with us earlier this week.

World music at the Palladium Sunday from guitarist Kafkasso and his band of musicians and dancers. Read about it here.

Hank Williams Jr. is back on the road and performing at the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Friday. Tickets.

The Weekend arts forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst.

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