German pianist Markus Groh is the soloist in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Florida Orchestra. Groh, winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1995, is on an all-Russian program that also includes Stravinsky's Scherzo a la Russe and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. Music director Stefan Sanderling is on the podium for the first time in 2004. Concerts are at 8 p.m. Friday at Morsani Hall of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa; 8 p.m. Saturday at Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. $21-$45. 813 286-2403; toll-free 1-800-662-7286; www.floridaorchestra.org
- JOHN FLEMING, Times performing arts critic
An American original
David Mamet has written himself into the American theatrical canon with Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow, A Life in the Theatre and many other plays. It started with American Buffalo, the Chicago-born playwright's tale of what happens when three grifters botch a coin robbery (the title refers to an old nickel). In the Jobsite Theatre production, Ned Averill-Snell, left, plays the mastermind, Teach, and Paul Potenza is Donny, a down-and-out junk dealer. The play opens tonight and runs through Feb. 29 in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Shimberg Playhouse, Tampa. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. There is a question-and-answer session with the cast and crew after the Feb. 22 show. $15.50, $19.50. (813) 229-7827 or call toll-free 1-800-955-1045.
