Stageworks' production of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife features Kathi Grau, Petrus Antonius and Angela Bond. Charles Busch's comedy chronicles the midlife crisis of a stylish New Yorker whose long-lost childhood friend may not be what she seems. A Tony nominee for best play in 2001, it's something of a departure for Busch, known for campy comedies such as Psycho Beach Party and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. It opens Friday and runs through June 1 in the Shimberg Playhouse of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Shows are 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $15.50-$21.50. (813) 229-7827 or toll-free 1-800-955-1045.
A tribute to comic Ernie Kovacs
The Importance of Being Ernie was written by and stars Sean Sanczel, above, as Ernie Kovacs, a madcap TV comic of the 1950s and '60s. Today, Kovacs may be most remembered for dreaming up clever Dutch Master cigar commercials that featured his wife, Edie Adams, but his zany shows paved the way for Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Saturday Night Live and SCTV. Sanczel's tribute to Kovacs opens tonight and runs through June 1 at Gorilla Theatre. Shows are at 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $20 and $25, with a $5 discount Thursday. (813) 879-2914 or www.gorilla-theatre.com
Contemporary works complement piano recital
Pianist Jacques Linder includes music by a pair of contemporary composers in his recital this weekend. Along with works by Brahms, Debussy, Granados and Prokofiev, Linder will play Suite Sweet Errata by Linda Dusman, chair of the music department at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and Panels by Wesley Fuller, retired professor of music at Clark University, who lives in St. Petersburg. Linder performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the St. Petersburg College Music Center, 66th Street and Fifth Avenue N, St. Petersburg. Free.
