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Stage Planner: 'Curious Incident' coming to Straz Center, Florida Orchestra shows and tickets

 
Playwright Simon Stephens adapted Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Playwright Simon Stephens adapted Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Published Nov. 2, 2016

BARK AND BITE: CURIOUS INCIDENT

The journey from hit Broadway play to theaters near you is often a long one. Hamilton won't make it to most of the 18 cities on its current tour schedule until fall 2017 at the earliest, with none closer to the Tampa Bay area than Atlanta.

After cleaning up since its debut in London in 2012, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time opened on Broadway in 2014. That garnered a 2015 Tony Award for best play. The U.S. tour, which started in September, comes Tuesday to the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa. It runs through Nov. 13.

Christopher Boone, 15, has been accused of killing the neighbor's dog. He uses his proclivity for math and science to find the real killer, all the while wrestling with his extreme social awkwardness and self-imposed rituals. That starting point leads to a poignant and painful journey of self-discovery that goes well beyond the dog.

British playwright Simon Stephens, above, read Mark Haddon's bestselling novel in 2004. The two later developed a friendship. Haddon asked Stephens to adapt Curious Incident for stage, "in much the same way as a surgeon doesn't want to operate on a member of his own family," Stephens said in a recent interview.

A vivid set and lighting scheme brings to life Christopher's thought processes, which also tell us something about how we all filter information and establish truths. 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. $31-$90. (813) 229-7827. strazcenter.org.

Read more with Simon Stephens at tbtim.es/stage.

BIG AND BOLD: JUPITER SYMPHONY, BENJAMIN BEILMAN

Mozart's last symphony, No. 41, still has scholars struggling for words. Composed after a tough financial period in 1788, the "Jupiter" symphony (no one can definitively say why it is so nicknamed, only that the name didn't come from Mozart) builds on everything the composer had done himself or learned from others, including Bach, Handel and the Haydn brothers.

Mozart died three years later at 35. The Florida Orchestra presents Mozart's Jupiter Symphony this weekend, with Michael Francis conducting. The program includes Stravinsky's Symphony in C — a defining neoclassical work also composed during personal turmoil (the deaths of his daughter, mother and wife) — and Prokofiev's Violin Concerto, featuring rising star violinist Benjamin Beilman, right.

Beilman, 26, has more than 20 cities scheduled this season in the United States, Europe and Australia. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2014 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, a 2012 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2012 London Music Masters Award.

Concerts are Friday at the Straz Center in Tampa, Saturday at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. $15-$45. (727) 362-5424. floridaorchestra.org.

SAVE A SEAT: ITZHAK PERLMAN

Tickets go on sale Monday for the Florida Orchestra's 2017 gala, featuring world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman. Perlman will perform Feb. 4 at the Mahaffey Theater, with the full orchestra and music director Michael Francis conducting. Selections will include the Theme From Schindler's List, As Time Goes By (from Casablanca) and the love theme from Cinema Paradiso, among others. Perlman has performed with the orchestra before, but not since the mid 1980s.

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It's a rare opportunity to see perhaps the world's most acclaimed violinist in an intimate setting. Gala packages include a preconcert champagne reception and dinner after the concert with Perlman and orchestra musicians. $50-$150, not including reception or dinner. (727) 362-5424. floridaorchestra.org.

STRING THEORY: SIMPLY THREE

The popular crossover trio Simply Three stops over at the Straz Center on Saturday. Glen McDaniel (violin), Nick Villalobos (double bass) and Zack Clark (cello) have covered Top 40 hits with urgency and showmanship, not to mention doing so in pastoral outdoor settings while slapping the bass like a set of bongo drums. More than 10 million have viewed their peppy cover of Swedish electronic musician Avicii's Wake Me Up. 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Straz Center's Ferguson Hall. $32.50-$42.50. (813) 229-7827. strazcenter.org.