The Straz Center education program readies local high school musical theater talents for the big time with the Broadway Star of the Future program. Winners get a chance to wow Broadway producers and directors in NYC for their shot at the title – and potentially launch their careers with a Jimmy® Award. We all know... Continue Reading →
Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 and the invention of the black marching band style In 1989, when the French government needed an act to represent American music for their 200th anniversary Bastille Day celebration marking French independence, did they choose Madonna? No. Michael Jackson? No. New Kids on the Block? Quintuple nope. They chose Florida... Continue Reading →
Tosca slays, creating some great legends Early critics sometimes panned Puccini’s Tosca, tossing it on a slagheap of criticism that included dismissing it as a “shabby little shocker” that was, in a word, vulgar. But what are you going to do? Haters gonna hate. Audiences love this opera, and it contains three meaty main roles... Continue Reading →
An intimate chat with National Geographic photojournalist Ami Vitale Ami Vitale photographing during monsoon. © Michael Davie Photojournalist Ami Vitale, who appears at The Straz March 28 for the final talk in our National Geographic LIVE! season, had a revelation standing in the middle of the Second Intifada. She’ll tell you all about it—and how... Continue Reading →
When Moses Pendleton, the superstar co-founder of Pilobolus and dance maker extraordinaire, was a wee lad, one of his jobs on the family dairy farm was to feed the veal calves a nutritious milk supplement. The name of the supplement? Momix. Pendleton returned to this physical memory later when he choreographed a solo for the... Continue Reading →