For The Florida Orchestra, it’s time for a masterful Masterworks concert. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade is top o’the bill this weekend, with narration by principal TFO percussionist John Shaw. Scheherazade is a symphonic work based on One Thousand and One Nights, aka Arabian Nights, a collection of early folk tales from the Middle East.

(The more famous ones are “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” “Aladdin and His Magic Lamp” and “Sinbad the Sailor,” but rest assured, there are more than a few barnburners in the book.)

Michael Francis conducts the program, which also includes Aaron Copland’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Appalachian Spring, as well as American Promise from composer Karen LeFrak.

The full concerts are Friday (7:30 p.m.) at Ruth Eckerd Hall, and Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at the Mahaffey Theater. Find tickets at this link.

The Mahaffey is the also the location of Inside the Music: Scheherazade tonight at 7:30. It’s a pay-what-you-can event, in which Francis takes the audience through Scheherazade, explaining how Rimsky-Korsakov structured the movements to tell the stories, with start-and-stop demonstrations from the orchestra.

Following an intermission, a full performance of Scheherazade. How about that?

Jazz without borders

Have you noticed that this venue frequently books cutting-edge guitar players from across the spectrum of genres? Acclaimed, Israeli-born guitarist Oz Noy leads the Oz Noy Trio, onstage Friday (8 p.m.) at Central Park Performing Arts Center in Largo. It’s progressive jazz with echoes of sinewy Texas blues, and the other players are drummer Dave Weckl and organist Brian Charette. Show’s at 8 and tickets are here.

Arturo Sandoval, Larkin Poe, Sheila E, Chis Botti and the Wood Brothers are among the headliners at this weekend’s 47^th annual Clearwater Jazz Holiday in Coachman Park. The music is Thursday through Sunday – find the full lineup, a ticket link and more, in this Catalyst story from Wednesday.

On theater stages

Tampa’s Jobsite Theater debuts a new production of Stephen King’s classic chiller Misery, in the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre, starting with a preview show tonight. It officially opens Friday, and runs through Nov. 8. Artistic director (and lead Misery actor) David M. Jenkins discusses the play in this Catalyst story, which includes a link for all showtimes and tickets.

At the Off-Central in St. Petersburg, Nick Payne’s tender drama Constellations debuts tonight and will run through Oct. 25. Find tickets and showtimes here. Logan Franke and Keith Batchelor, who play the star-crossed lovers Marianne and Roland, guest on Friday’s edition of our Arts Alive! podcast.

One night only at Tampa’s Stageworks Theatre: Jason F*cking Bateman, a comedy written by and starring Steven Demmler. It’s Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are at this link.

Halloween season treats

Onstage tonight at Ruth Eckerd Hall, the Vampire Circus describes itself as “a mix of circus cabaret and theatre,” and “the result of a fusion of Tim Burton and Cirque Du Soleil.” It’s got Cirque-style acrobatics, comical audience interactions, contortionists, jugglers, acrobats, clowns … and some dude named Count Dracula. Tickets for the 8 p.m. spectacle are at this link.

Saturday at FloridaRAMA, Performer Purgatory is a Halloween-season event blurring the lines “between theater, history and the supernatural.” The central idea is this, say the creators: Why was Fairgrounds so haunted it needed a new name? (You might recall that Fairgrounds was FloridaRama’s original moniker).

Combining live performance, storytelling and interactive experiences, Performer Purgatory also features Wordier Than Thou’s Haunted Bookshop, and Halloween and special effect makeup services by Alison Makesup.

The fun starts promptly at 8 p.m. It’s strictly 21+, and tickets can be located here.

Bandleader Billy Corgan, center, celebrates Smashing Pumpkins’ album “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” Sunday at Benchmark International Arena. Photo: Live Nation.

More concerts

Tonight’s Fernando Cruz performance at the Dali Museum is sold out.

Country music’s Dan + Shay appear at the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Friday. How ‘bout them hits: “Tequila,” “Speechless,” “All to Myself” and the Justin Bieber collab “10,000 Hours.” Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are at this link.

Those Texas rockers Toadies visit Jannus Live Saturday, with opening sets from Local H and Emily Wolfe. Tickets for the show (6 p.m.) are here.

Suicide Boys’ Grey Day Tour stops in Saturday at the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre. Tickets to see and hear the 6:30 p.m. performance by the New Orleans hip hop duo are here.

Saturday at the Yuengling Center, on the University of South Florida Tampa campus: Juntos y con Ritmo (“Together and With Rhythm”), an Hispanic Heritage Month concert featuring Cuba’s Gente de Zona, Grupo Manía and Alexandra “The Bachata Queen.” There’s to be a dance floor in the center of the arena. The concert begins at 7 p.m.; find tickets and more information here.

Tampa Bay’s Betty Fox Band performs at Saturday’s Good Folk Fest at the St. Pete Shuffleboard Club (aka St. Pete Shuffle). The event, a fundraiser for Creative Clay, will also feature vendors, an art auction, shuffleboard play, food trucks and more. Get all the info you need at this link.

The Smashing Pumpkins‘ Rats in a Cage tour, visiting Benchmark International Arena Sunday, promises “two unique sets” celebrating recent 30th anniversary of the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album, as well as other “unruly hits and dark treasures” (that from the band’s website). Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are at this link.

Let’s welcome back blues guitarist (and gumbo-maker supreme Bill Wharton, The Sauce Boss. He plays Safety Harbor Art & Music Center Sunday. Tickets for the 5:30 p.m. show (and onstage gumbo distribution) are here.

One more thing

A last-minute notification from the St. Petersburg art community: Beyond the Rainbow, a photography exhibit celebrating the local LGBTQ+ community and sponsored by the City of St. Petersburg, opens with a 6-9 p.m. reception Saturday at The Studio@620. Find out more at this link.

Coming soon

Oct. 19 Breaking Benjamin at the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre

Oct. 20: Fangs (staged reading) at the Beach Theatre

Oct. 21-Nov. 5 Broadway Series: Hamilton at Straz Center Morsani Hall

Oct. 22 Rocky Horror Picture Show Spooktacular Tour with Patricia Quinn at Straz Center Ferguson Hall

Oct. 22 Jake Owen at the BayCare Sound

Oct. 22 Live Dead & Brothers at the Capitol Theatre

Oct. 22 Guitarist Andrew York in the Marly Music Room, Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg

Oct. 23 Jessica Kirson (comedy) at the Capitol Theatre

Oct. 23 Cake at the BayCare Sound

Oct. 23-Nov. 1 St. Pete Opera: The Medium/Voices From the Other Side at Opera Central

Oct. 25 Teddy Swims at Benchmark International Arena

Oct. 24 The Florida Orchestra Pops in the Park at Vinoy Park

Oct. 24 Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue at Ruth Eckerd Hall

Oct. 24: Rachel Potter at Central Park Performing Arts Center

Oct. 25 Etta May (comedy) at Central Park Performing Arts Center

Oct. 25 The Florida Orchestra A Star to Remember at the Mahaffey Theater

Oct. 26 Drivn N Cryn at Skipper’s Smokehouse

Oct. 28 Steve Lacy at the Yuengling Center

Oct. 30 Chayanne at Benchmark International Arena

Oct. 30 The Florida Orchestra John Williams @ 95 at Straz Center Morsani Hall

Oct. 30. St. Pete Collective: The Music of James Taylor at New Tampa Performing Arts Center

Oct. 30 Sonic Live in Concert at the Mahaffey Theater

Oct. 31 Ghostbusters In Concert (film screening with orchestra) at Ruth Eckerd Hall

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