Some best bets for spending your performing art dollars in the coming season

For those of us who don’t have an unlimited budget for performing arts and an unlimited amount of time to spend it, every new season exacerbates our dilemma: There’s just too much to do around here, so we have to pick and choose which shows we want to see. And the choices are increasing every year.

So with the caveat that everyone has different tastes, budgets and schedules, here’s a look at some of the not-to-be-missed shows of the 2017-18 season, which is just getting underway.

1. “A Little Night Music,” Manatee Performing Arts Center, Oct. 26- Nov. 12. Tough call, because Manatee Players also is staging “Nine” this season. But “A Little Night Music” gets the nod. Stephen Sondheim’s score is difficult and lovely, and the artists of Manatee Players love Sondheim shows and do them very well.

2. “In the Heights,” Westcoast Black Theater Troupe, Oct. 11-Nov. 19. Among musical theater lovers, Lin-Manuel Miranda was a big deal even before he created “Hamilton.” “In the Heights” is why. It takes place over three days in a predominantly Latin neighborhood of New York, and it’s paced with thrilling contemporary music. It won the Tony Award for best musical in 2008.

3. “Chita & Tune — Two for the Road,” Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Jan. 17. The night after the great Renee Fleming performs at Van Wezel, two performers who helped define the Broadway musical in the 20th century share the stage. Chita Rivera and Tommy Tune have 12 Tony Awards between them (Tune has 10, for performing, choreographing and directing). They’re both getting older (Rivera will turn 84 six days after this performance) but they wouldn’t be doing this concert tour if they couldn’t make it something special.

4. “Fun Home,” Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 28-Dec. 3. It’s not an exceptional Broadway season at the Straz, unless you’re heavily into Andrew Lloyd Webber. (The season includes three of his musicals.) “Fun Home” is worth getting excited about. The universally acclaimed musical, based on an autobiographical graphic novel, is perhaps the best musical of the past 10 years, with a heart-rending story and terrific songs. “The Book of Mormon” comes to the Straz just two days after “Fun Home” closes. If you haven’t seen “Mormon,” and if you can only see one of the two, choose “Mormon.”

5. “Moving Identities,” Sarasota Ballet, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, Jan. 26-29. The ballet’s first program of 2018 has a cool little twist. In two performances, Richard Grazaino’s “Valsinhas” is danced by an all-male cast and Robert North’s “Troy Games” will have an all-female cast. In the other two performances, “Valsinhas” will be all-female and “Troy Games” will be all-male. Maybe it’s a gimmick but it should be effective, especially for people who are able to see both versions. Paul Taylor’s “Airs,” which is special in its own right, is also on the program.

6. “Midori Honors Bernstein,” Sarasota Orchestra, Feb. 22, Neel Performing Arts Center, Feb. 23-25 Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. The great violinist Midori joins the orchestra for this concert that honors Leonard Bernstein, who would have turned 100 in 2018. The program includes Bernstein’s “Serenade After Plato’s ‘Symposium,’ ” the overture to Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” and Beethoven’s beautiful sixth symphony (“Pastorale”).

7. “Rhinoceros,” Feb. 9-April 14, Asolo Repertory Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts. The classic and highly entertaining absurdist classic by Eugene Ionesco isn’t produced often, and the Asolo production directed by Frank Galati is promising.

8. “Once,” Florida Studio Theatre, Nov. 8-Dec. 31, Florida Studio Theatre. An intimate and beautiful love story based on the even more intimate and even more beautiful film, start the FST season. The story tweaks the conventions of its boy-meets-girl template, and the music is often heart-breaking. “Once” kicked off a mini-trend of shows in which the one-stage performers play the instruments, with no additional orchestra.

9. “Much Ado About Nothing,” April 18-May 6, FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, Selby Botancial Gardens. The Asolo Conservatory staged “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” outside at Selby Gardens last year and it was a wondrous experience. “Much Ado” is arguably an even-better comedy and it should be a treat to see it under the stars in these beautiful gardens.

10. “The Crucible,” through Sept. 10, Players Centre for Performing Arts. Once every year right around this time, Two Chairs Theatre and the Players Centre collaborate on classic American plays from the mid-20th century. After a troika of Tennessee Williams plays, the two groups turn to Arthur Miller for this stunning drama, a still-timely allegory about unreasoned fear and persecution.

That’s an admittedly subjective list, and it leaves a lot of great shows and even entire deserving companies and programs (Island Players, Urbanite Theatre, Sarasota Contemporary Dance, The SCF Bradenton Symphony, the Ringling International Arts Festival and several others) out of the mix.

But if you can make it to those 10 shows, you’ll have an exceptional performing arts season.

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Some best bets for spending your performing art dollars in the coming season."