Your Weekend Top 5

1. If you’re nuts for musical theater, Sarasota Orchestra’s pop series opener is right up your (Shubert) Alley. “Bravo Broadway” features Doug LaBreque (Phantom of the Opera, Showboat), Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast) and Lisa Vroman (Les Miserables) backed by the full orchestra. Friday and Saturday night at the Van Wezel; tickets at sarasotaorchestra.org.

2. Wendy Wasserstein’s brilliant, funny and touching coming-of-age play, The Heidi Chronicles, winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for best play, is opening at the Asolo Rep Saturday night. Take your daughter or granddaughter!

3. Laugh it up with FST Improv Saturday night in the Goldstein Cabaret—and every Saturday night through Feb. 23. Tickets are just $12; get yours at floridastudiotheatre.org.

4. Three thousand runners are expected Saturday morning for the 10th annual New Balance Ringling Bridge Run. Will you be among them? It benefits the Sarasota Family YMCA.

5. Race to 1418 Main St. today through Monday for the annual Boutique Blowout Sale—save up to 80 percent on high-fashion finds from The Met, L. Boutique, T. Georgiano’s and Juno and Jove.

Next Week

The remarkable Momix promises to dazzle its Van Wezel audience Tuesday evening with its newest multimedia experience, “Botanica.” Get a taste of this wildly inventive production in the opening photo, above. Tickets at vanwezel.org.

Acclaimed classical pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns to Sarasota Tuesday night for his next “Keyboard Conversations” at the Jewish Federation. This time he’ll explore the romantic music of Chopin. Tickets at (941) 371-4546 ext. 100 or jfedsrq.org.

The Sarasota Ballet’s new Inside the Studio backstage lecture series kicks off next Thursday evening with choreographer Will Tuckett, who’ll provide a sneak peek of his new work that the ballet will premiere in early February.

Chef Mattison guides you through a four-course gourmet beer-pairing dinner next Friday night at Mattison’s Forty-One. It’s sponsored by the Junior League of Sarasota. Tickets are limited; get yours now at jlsarasota.org.

Free and Free-ish

While you’re downtown this weekend,  stop by Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art to see stunning paintings by Brooklyn-based artists Jackie Battenfield and Deborah Brown. The show’s titled Town and Country. Shown here, Brown’s Birds and Bags.

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