Variations of Tchaikovsky's holiday ballet start to appear this weekend with three different productions.
At Ruth Eckerd Hall, The Chocolate Nutcracker, above, has performances at 7 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. $12, $17. 727 791-7400 or www.rutheckerdhall.com
West Florida Youth Ballet performs The Nutcracker at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Largo Cultural Center. $12-$15.50. (727) 587-6793.
Nutcracker in the Park is performed at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Straub Park, St. Petersburg. Blanket seating is free; grandstand, $5. (727) 827-3828.
"Moe" show in Sarasota
Louis Jordan's greatest hits - songs such as Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, I Like 'Em Fat Like That and Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby? - are presented in Five Guys Named Moe, a revue that opens the first subscription season by the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. The cast includes, front, Dean Wilson, and, back row from left, Halbert Jones, artistic director Nate Jacobs, Charles Lattimore and Michael Kinsey.
The company, which previously staged A Raisin in the Sun and The Cotton Club Revue, has about 400 subscribers for its premiere season. Other plays on the 2003-04 schedule are Black Nativity, Ain't Misbehavin' and Spunk. Performances are at Florida Studio Theatre's recently acquired second stage, the Gompertz Theatre (formerly Theatre Works), 1247 First St., Sarasota.
Five Guys Named Moe opens tonight and runs through Dec. 14. Shows are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13, and 3 p.m. Dec. 14. $21. (941) 954-4651.
