- February 17, 2026
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Celery Fields with Audubon Society
8:45 a.m. at The Celery Fields, 6799 Palmer Blvd., Sarasota
$20; Longboat Key Garden Club members $10
Visit LBKGardenClub.org/Events.
Join the Longboat Key Garden Club and the Sarasota Audubon Society for a morning of bird watching and exploring the grounds. Carpool opportunities from Longboat Key available.
Arts Advocates Luncheon: Ed Linehan
11 a.m. at Sarasota Yacht Club, 1100 Ringling Blvd.
$50
Visit ArtsAdvocates.org.
Arts Advocates luncheons at the Sarasota Yacht Club feature good food and company in a landmark location with a leading figure from Sarasota’s arts community. This week’s speaker is Ed Linehan, president of the vibrant Jazz Club of Sarasota, which produces an annual jazz festival and regular events at Florida Studio Theatre, Unitarian Universalists SRQ and Sarasota Art Museum.
Circus Sarasota: Epic
7 p.m. at The Big Top at Nathan Benderson Park, 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle
$40-$100
Visit CircusArts.org.
The Circus Arts Conservatory, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of circus arts and to educating the next generation of performers, presents its annual spectacle under the big top in Nathan Benderson Park. Ringmaster Joseph Dominic Bauer Jr. presides over a circus of performers that collectively hold 18 world records. Among them are “America’s Got Talent” veterans Sirca Marea-Le Cadre, nerdy comic Chris Allison and The Olate Family Dogs featuring rescue pups. Runs through March 8.
‘Wolf at the Door'
7:30 p.m. at FSU Center for Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
$40
Visit AsoloRep.org.
“Wolf at the Door” is one of two plays examining domestic abuse being presented in tandem at FSU/Asolo Conservatory by MFA students. In Marisela Treviño Orta’s’ magical-realist tale set on a ranch in Mexico, the arrival of a mysterious pregnant woman gives a scared, submissive wife the opportunity to stand up to her authoritarian husband. Runs through March 7.
The French Connection
7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Sarasota, 2050 Oak St.
$42 adult, $5 student
Visit ChamberOrchestraSarasota.org.
Joining the Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota in this concert are harpist Giuseppina Ciarla and clarinetist Asher Carlson as they play Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto and Maurice Ravel’s “Introduction and Allegro.” The orchestra is led by Robert Vodnoy, the longtime music director of the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra and the Northwest Indiana Symphony who has conducted all over the world.
‘How I Got Over: A Gospel Revue’
7:30 p.m. at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave.
$54
Visit WestcoastBlackTheatre.org.
This season, WBTT is reviving its gospel revue, "How I Got Over," which it premiered in 2017 at the National (now International) Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to critical and popular acclaim. Gospel standards such as "Amazing Grace," "When The Saints Go Marching In" and "Oh Happy Day" are delivered in the energetic fashion that WBTT is known for, accompanied by a live band. Runs through March 29.
‘Grandma Gatewood Took a Walk’
7:30 p.m. at Florida Studio Theatre’s Bowne’s Lab, 1265 First St.
$25-$59
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
Catherine Bush’s “Grandma Gatewood Took a Walk” explores one woman’s path of endurance, memory and self-reinvention. The play, directed by Nancy Rominger, is inspired by the real-life story of Emma Gatewood, the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail solo, at age 67. Runs through Feb. 27.
‘The Blue-Sky Boys’
8 p.m. at Florida Studio Theatre's Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St.
$39-$59
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
In 1962, President Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon.” How do you get there? Like an improv troupe with wicked math skills, NASA’s engineers and scientists cooked up the “blue-sky” method with wild brainstorming sessions. Deborah Brevoort’s fearless play celebrates these brainy oddballs. Directed by Richard Hopkins with Kate Alexander as associate director. Through March 15.
Alexander Calder: The Nature of Movement
10 a.m. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 1534 Mound St.
$28
Visit Selby.org.
Each year, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens stages a blockbuster show in its Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition series. This year, Selby is showcasing artist Alexander Calder and his abstract moving sculptures, dubbed “mobiles.” Calder’s interest in suspension provides a provocative pairing with Selby’s collection of epiphytes, or air plants. Runs through May 31.
St. Barbara Greek Festival
11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 7671 Lockwood Ridge Road
$5; kids under 12 free
Visit StBarbaraFestival.org.
The 42nd annual St. Barbara Greek Festival returns with Greek dishes and beverages, pastries, live Greek music, the St. Barbara Hellenic Dancers and all things Greek. The "Glendi" also features a variety of vendors under huge tents. Tours of the St. Barbara church will be available. Raffle tickets for a 2026 Mercedes-Benz are $100 (2,200 tickets maximum are being sold). Continues Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
'Tina: The Tina Turner Musical'
1 and 6:30 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail
$101-126
Visit VanWezel.org.
This wildly popular tribute to Tina Turner was canceled in 2024 after Hurricane Milton ravaged the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. It’s finally here in all its glory. This Tony-nominated musical follows Anna Mae Bullock's escape from poverty in the rural Tennessee to her rise as husband Ike Turner’s sexy sidekick in the 1960s and her emergence as a global superstar totally in control of her own show. Runs through Feb. 22.
Jazz at Two: Scotty Wright
2 p.m. at Unitarian Universalists SRQ, 3975 Fruitville Road
$20
Visit JazzClubSarasota.org.
Sarasota favorite Scotty Wright returns to Jazz at Two, taking his audience on a smooth ride into the weekend with jazz, from blues to bossa nova to straight-ahead jazz. Joining him are Judi Glover on piano, Michael Ross on bass and Mark DeRose on drums. TGIF!
A1A The Official Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show
7 p.m. at Riverview Performing Arts Center, 1 Ram Way
$27-$59
Visit SunEvents.com.
If there is indeed a cheeseburger in paradise, this band knows how to find it. Named for Jimmy Buffett’s 1974 album that was in turn inspired by the Florida highway, A1A claims to be “The Official and Original Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show.” Formed in 1991 by vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Jeff Pike and drummer and harmonica player Scott Nickerson, founder of the first Jimmy Buffett Parrot Head Club, this band received Buffett’s blessing long before he died in 2023.
‘Wildflowers’
7:30 p.m. at Dingbat Theatre Project, 7288 S. Tamiami Trail
Pay what you will preview Feb. 19; $35 afterward
Visit DingbatTheatre.org.
Performed in Dingbat Theatre Project’s new “Bakyard,” “Wildflowers” is a raucous celebration of female country music singers from June Carter Cash to Shania Twain. Expect the unexpected at Luke Manual’s Dingbat, which is like fringe theater in a black box, and now a backyard. Runs through March 21.
‘Exit, Pursued by a Bear’
7:30 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
$30
Visit AsoloRep.org.
Written by Lauren Gunderson, one of the most produced playwrights in the U.S. today, “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” tells the story of a woman who takes revenge on her husband after years of abuse. Presented by MFA students at FSU/Asolo Conservatory, the dark comedy contains mature material. Runs through March 8.
Fine Art Returns to Longboat
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Town Center Green, 1718 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key
Free
Visit ArtFestival.com.
The fifth annual Longboat Key Festival of the Arts returns to the Key. Free admission. The fine art show, which will benefit the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce, is set to feature 100 artists working in a variety of media. Visitors can connect with artists at the show to hear about the creative process.
SCD In-Studio Series: Terrance Jackson
3 and 7 p.m. at Sarasota Contemporary Dance Home Studio, 1400 Blvd. of the Arts, Suite 300
$20
Visit SarasotaContemporaryDance.org.
If you didn’t see Asolo Rep Education Director Terrance Jackson’s one-man show, “Did You Not Know?” at the 2025 Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival, here’s your chance to see the Booker VPA alum up close and personal as he plays eight different characters.
House of Hamill
8 p.m. at Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court
$30
Visit WSLR.org.
Pennsylvania-based House of Hamill was a Grand Prize winner in the 2024 John Lennon Songwriting Contest for “Banks of the Brandywine." Their latest release, “Wildfire,” brings the trio’s three-part harmonies into full bloom and features original songwriting. Runs through Feb. 22.
‘The Mirror Crack’d’
7:30 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
$31-$77
Visit AsoloRep.org.
Former Asolo Rep Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards directs Rachel Wagstaff’s adaptation of the classic spy novel, “The Mirror Crack’d," a period drama set in a quiet English village. When the gentry fete a Hollywood siren and her entourage, a murder occurs that only Miss Marple can solve. Runs through March 14.
‘La bohème’
7:30 p.m. at Sarasota Opera, 61 N. Pineapple St.
$43.26-$185.40
Visit SarasotaOpera.org.
Composed by Puccini in the 1890s, ‘“La bohème” follows the seamstress Mimi and her struggling artist friends in 1830s Paris. One of the world’s most beloved operas, “La bohème’" served as the inspiration for Jonathan Larson’s Broadway musical “Rent” and the movie “Moulin Rouge.” More than a century after its debut, the opera continues to win new fans with its heartrending tale of love, poverty and loss. Runs through March 28.
‘Life’s a Beach’
7:30 p.m. at Florida Studio Theatre’s Bowne’s Lab, 1265 Main St.
$17-$20
Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
Watch as talented FST Improv performers poke fun at Sarasota rituals and customs including the annual snowbird migration, confusion about who has the right of way in a roundabout and dogs in strollers. Did somebody mention never-ending construction? It’s all grist for the tropical mill in “Life’s a Beach.” Runs weekends through March 23.
Handel, KIng, Alford
3 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 3131 61st St.
$5
Visit SuncoastConcertBand.org.
Now in its 93rd season, Suncoast Concert Band has evolved from its trailer park roots to a concert band of seasoned musicians who know how to entertain an audience. Led by Robert Stoll, the band will play the works of Handel, King and Alford. Call 941-907-4123 to reserve your ticket in advance and please be sure to dial the right number.
Sarasota Youth Orchestras: Side-by-Side Concert
4 p.m. at Riverview Performing Arts Center, 1 Ram Way
$16
Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.
You saw Sarasota Orchestra Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero on the Super Bowl conducting young musicians during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl HalfTime Show. Now, see him do the same thing in real life as he conducts both the Sarasota Orchestra and its Youth Orchestra as they play “side-by-side” in what promises to be an inspiring, uplifting performance.
Retrospektiv
7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 1031 S. Euclid Ave. $30
Visit ENSRQ.org.
Has it really been 10 years since violinist Samantha Bennett and percussionist George Nickson, both former members of the Sarasota Orchestra, founded their ensemble dedicated to contemporary classical music? Those who want a sampler of enSRQ’s greatest performances should get thee to its “Retrospektiv” concert, where you’ll find aficionados of modern classical music, loosely defined as works composed after 1975.
Il Divo By Candlelight
7 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail
$143-$431
Visit VanWezel.org.
Since its inception 20 years ago, Il Divo has embodied classical crossover and sold more than 30 million albums. The iconic quartet leans into romance and heartache for its “Il Divo by Candlelight” tour, which opens with Phoenix-based string trio Simply Three.
'Neil Berg’s 116 Years of Broadway
7 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
$41-$81
Visit VanWezel.org.
Looking for a way to get over the “hump” on Wednesdays? Look no further than Neil Berg’s rousing ode to 116 Years of Broadway. The reviews from civilians and theater geeks alike always express surprise at its high quality. But you don’t get to the big time with a tribute show (Berg also has one dedicated to rock ‘n’ roll) unless you know how to do it right.
