When dancers take to one of the Straz Center’s stages, they display the skills they’ve honed through hours and hours of practice. They also can offer a glimpse into another culture. “Dance is education as well as entertainment,” said Kelly King, lead contemporary dance teacher at the Patel Conservatory. Case in point: Flamenco Vivo Carlota... Continue Reading →
Celebrate International Women’s History Month with Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman,” a No. 1 hit and a fitting soundtrack for 1972, a year highlighted by milestones for the women’s movement When ‘70s hit-maker Helen Reddy passed in 2020, most obituaries reported that three of her many hits reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.... Continue Reading →
Wigs used to give Dawn Rivard fits. Working as a window display artist, Rivard said she “loved everything about my it except the wigs, so I went on a hunt for someone to show me how to make the wigs look better because nobody in that fashion end had much knowledge.” What she found was... Continue Reading →
Wicked will finally appear on the big screen on Christmas day 2024. That’s about 12 years after the film was said to be “in development,” 20 years after the musical’s Broadway premiere and 29 years since Gregory Maguire published Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the novel from whence... Continue Reading →
Before you paint the town and see CHICAGO at The Straz, check out these fun facts and all that jazz about the long-running musical. CHICAGO is the longest-running American musical in Broadway and West End history. The Ambassador Theatre in New York City has been home to CHICAGO since 2003. CHICAGO is the second longest... Continue Reading →
All they wanted was a play that had a role for each of them. The play they created has been running for more than 40 years. It’s probably being staged even as you read these words. It’s an interactive-whodunit-murder mystery-comedy that was first produced before anyone used the word “interactive” to describe a theatrical experience.... Continue Reading →
Opera Tampa favorite Rochelle Bard made her company debut as Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine in 2009 under the baton of Maestro Anton Coppola. She has since graced the Straz Center stages in productions of The Merry Widow and Die Fledermaus and in Coppola’s 2011 Fond Farewells Concert. She has performed leading roles with companies... Continue Reading →
Something familiar. Something peculiar. Something for everyone. AN EXCLUSIVE FROM INSIDE, THE STRAZ CENTER’S OFFICIAL MAGAZINE Jim Gaffigan’s upcoming comedy special will appear to be a single performance, a seamless set of the comedian’s anecdotes and observations. The special, though, which will be taken from Gaffigan’s shows at the Straz Center’s Carol Morsani Hall, likely... Continue Reading →
Remember in the ‘90s when a bunch of punky ska bands like Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish were briefly popular with the mainstream? These may have been the most 90's bands to ever 90's. And then there were all these retro swing acts like Royal Crown Revue that also were briefly popular with... Continue Reading →
Ballet. Balanchine. The names are practically synonymous. In fact, it’s hard to imagine the former, in the U.S especially, without the prolific efforts of the latter. It’s also nearly impossible to overstate the importance of Lincoln Kirstein, a wealthy New Englander with a love of the arts. Kirstein provided the framework in which George Balanchine... Continue Reading →
In 1966, Broadway impresario Harold Hecuba stunned critics and audiences alike when he staged Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a musical. Hecuba’s audacious move created a sensation and the Hamlet musical was a hit. The celebration soon was overshadowed by scandal, though, when a group of mostly amateur actors claimed to have not only written the musical... Continue Reading →
The ‘new’ Straz is designed to have something for everyone The Straz’s expansion project will do more than give the performing arts center a bold new appearance. The philosophy behind the project sets The Straz’s direction – outward. Key concept artwork for the redesigned Straz Center campus. The $100 million project is designed to open... Continue Reading →
Countless venues, parties and events scheduled for the evening of Dec. 31 will insist that theirs is “the place to be” this New Year’s Eve. It’s all wishful thinking, no matter how much elaborate planning has gone into them. Way too many variables when humans are involved. Besides, one person’s THE place to be is... Continue Reading →
AN EXCLUSIVE FROM INSIDE, THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE STRAZ CENTER Yana Perrault’s career is soaring. Yana may be soaring herself, soon. She’s been picked to play the coolest Powerpuff Girl, Buttercup, in Powerpuff, a live action reboot of the ‘90s animated favorite. She’ll be at The Straz Dec. 28 through Jan. 22, holding down... Continue Reading →
It’s good that Aaron Castle likes Christmas music. The Tampa Bay Area actor is in the cast of the Straz-produced Plaid Tidings, the holiday-themed sequel to Forever Paid, and will be hearing, and singing, a set full of holiday tunes many, many times between now and Christmas. The cast of Plaid Tidings performing on stage... Continue Reading →
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" Groundbreaking playwright Lorraine Hansberry drew the title of her most famous work – A Raisin in the Sun – from the powerful poem Harlem, written by Langston Hughes about the promise of freedom in the Emancipation Proclamation remaining a... Continue Reading →
Caught in the Act celebrates Tina who last week, on Nov. 26, 2022, celebrated her 83rd birthday. When Tina Turner’s solo star finally ascended with the 1984 hit “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” it felt like a victory for anyone who had been hurt or held back in pursuit of a dream. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGpFcHTxjZs... Continue Reading →
AN EXCLUSIVE FROM INSIDE, THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE STRAZ CENTER James Lafayette wanted to play the bass – the double bass, to be precise. The instrument, though, was a bit too large for the preteen. The cello’s size, however, was just right. But he wanted to play bass. James Lafayette (pictured above) playing the... Continue Reading →
If Anais Mitchell chronicles her journey from indie-folk artist to Tony-award winning playwright and composer, she might call it How to Get to Broadway in 15 Grueling, Setback-Filled Years. Mitchell’s work places Greek mythological figures Orpheus and Eurydice in a dystopian world where the lure of stability draws desperate souls to the grim, cruel factory... Continue Reading →
Dirty Dancing was the little movie that could. Made for $5 million, Dirty Dancing grossed more than $200 million worldwide. Released on VHS early in 1988, it became the first movie to sell a million copies. Everyone remembers VHS's right? . . . Anyone? . . . okay, we'll see ourselves out. The movie also... Continue Reading →