Mere months after being evicted from its home in downtown Sarasota, the group behind the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre is producing shows in Manatee County.

The Professional Learning and Theatrical Organization (PLATO) landed a new performing partner, the Ramada Waterfront on N. Tamiami Trail, between Whitfield and Bayshore Gardens.

Performances will be held in the Harborside Ballroom that has been transformed into a 150-seat theater.

PLATO's first production in the new space is Alan Jacobson's "Waist Watchers: The Musical." It opens today and runs through Jan. 6.

Directed by Kyle Ennis Turoff, the comedy of song parodies is about four women and their love/hate relationships with food, dieting and exercise. It has been favorably compared to "Menopause, The Musical."

"It speaks to everybody, especially around the holidays with everybody worried about what they're eating," Turoff said. "There's lots of humors but in the end it's also a very affirming piece."

"Waist Watchers" includes songs such as "I Hope I Lose It," to the tune of "I Hope I Get It" from "A Chorus Line"; "Botox Queen" (ABBA's "Dancing Queen"); "Viagra" ("Maria" from West Side Story"); and "I Feel My Butt Squeeze" (Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move.")

The cast features local favorites Sharon Ohrenstein, Cara Herman, Helen Holliday and Jillian Godfrey.

Details: Nov. 15-Jan. 6, Ramada Waterfront Harborside Ballroom, 7150 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets: $35. Information: 941-363-1727 or www.platoarts.org.

Wade Tatangelo, features writer, can be reached at 941-745-7057. Follow Twitter.com/wtatangelo