Repo! The Genetic Opera is a new horror movie musical set in a near-future earth where an epidemic of organ failures brings big business to a biotech company that offers organ transplants for a price — those who miss their payments are earmarked for repossession and hunted by evil Repo Men. 7:30 p.m., Tampa Theatre, $9 adults/$8 students with ID/$7 seniors and military. Pictured below: Paris Hilton as Amber Sweet in Repo! The Genetic Opera.
Of Montreal brings their intellectual synth-pop and outrageously theatric stage show to The Ritz Ybor, the second half of a national tour in support of Skeletal Lamping, the band's ninth and latest studio album. New York brother-and-sister-led indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces open. 7 p.m., Tampa, $17.
Henry B. Plant Museum welcomes author Les Standiford, who gives a talk about and signs copies of his new book, The Man Who Invented Christmas: The True Story of How Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. A champagne and hors d’oeuvres reception kick-off the events. 6 p.m., Plant Hall, University of Tampa, $20 Henry B. Plant Museum members/$25 general (includes admission into the Victorian Christmas Stroll).
Dr. John Bannon leads the St. Petersburg College Band through a program of works that includes Bach/Moehlmann's Prelude and Fugue in g minor, Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze, Paul Dukas' Fanfare to precede La Peri, Haydn Wood's Mannin Veen, "Dear Isle of Man", Howard Hanson's Dies Natalis II and Victor Herbert's "March of the Toys" from Babes in Toyland. 7:30 p.m., SPC Music Center, free.
Business coach and fourth-generation business owner Tom Shay offers tips on marketing, sales, customer service and how to survive and thrive in the current struggling economy. Noon-1 p.m., the Courtyard on Beach Boulevard, Gulfport, free; to RSVP, e-mail specials@localshops1.com.
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2008.