The would-be Queen of Christmas has been unseated by Little Miss Dynamite. Mariah Carey usually has the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 this time of year with her holiday perennial “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” a song best described as “unavoidable.” This week, though, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has... Continue Reading →
Name-dropping in conversation is annoying. Name-dropping in song is, well, that can be pretty annoying too. We’re looking at you, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” We’ll light the fire if someone will tie this song to a stake. (We won’t even look at Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger.” Die in a ditch, “Moves Like Jagger”!)... Continue Reading →
A struggling actor auditioned for a part as a singer. The director didn’t choose her but did advise her to add “singer” to her resume, a tip that proved prescient. Within a couple of years, the actor was a celebrated vocalist, headlining the ritziest nightclubs around, drawing ecstatic reviews and, whaddaya know, starring on Broadway.... Continue Reading →
The Choir of Man is set in a British pub. The beer the pub is serving is distinctly Floridian. In place of U.K. standbys Guinness Stout and Newcastle Brown is a brew reflective of the Sunshine State and the Tampa-based brewery that makes it. The beer, Sun Runner, was created and produced by Tampa’s highly-regarded... Continue Reading →
The Backstreet Boys at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards. (Photo by Glenn Francis/Pacific Pro Digital Photography) Fun fact: The average age of the Backstreet Boys is 47. For four of the five group members, it’s been 30 years-plus since they were legally boys. The baby of the group, Nick Carter, is 43 and passed into... Continue Reading →
A performance at our Arts Legacy Remix: Hispanic Heritage Celebration in 2022. The impact and influence of Hispanic culture in Tampa is undeniable. Actually, make that Hispanic cultures, since the term Hispanic covers a lot of acreage, physically and socially. The description is applied to people from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POrnc_tFPo Deejay Young, a Tampa native and touring cast member of Hamilton at The Straz this past season, sent three chairs turning on NBC’s The Voice Monday night with his falsetto rendition of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work.” Judges John Legend and Gwen Stefani hit their red buttons less than 20 seconds into Deejay’s performance,... Continue Reading →
Do you remember the 21st night of September? I don’t. I’ve racked my brain trying to remember something significant about 9/21 and I got nothing. The question is the opening lyric of Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1978 hit “September.” According to Allee Willis, who co-wrote the song with Maurice White and Al McKay, EWF’s founder/leader... Continue Reading →
A sensation on London’s West End, The Choir of Man begins an extended stay here at The Straz on Tuesday, Oct. 3. For those who haven’t Googled it yet, The Choir of Man is a theatrical stage presentation that’s structured a bit differently than most theatrical stage presentations. It’s a play – there are characters... Continue Reading →
Due perhaps to the carpet-bombing publicity campaign mounted for the Barbie movie, you may not have noticed that Sunday, Aug. 6, is National Sisters Day. It’s unlikely seeing the movie would jar your memory either, as Barbie’s sisters are barely mentioned. Skipper, you’ll learn, broke through to the real world and it was “chaos.” She... Continue Reading →
The audiences attending the upcoming Patel Conservatory productions of The Little Mermaid Jr. likely will include many youngsters already familiar with the story, either from Hans Christian Andersen’s book or from the beloved 1989 animated Disney film. Disney’s had a good deal of success with stage adaptations of hit animated films such as Mermaid and... Continue Reading →
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Snow and gloom shouldn’t be issues but rain and heat? Hoo boy. Pictured: a typical summer day in the great state of Florida. The Patel Conservatory staff members (“these couriers”) responsible for couriering summer... Continue Reading →
Lizbeth A. Borden was a frequent theatergoer. Single and wealthy, Borden often attended performances in New York City and Boston, travelling from her home in Fall River, Mass. Ms. Borden passed in 1927. Had she lived a few years longer, she would have had the opportunity to see herself portrayed on stage. The Lizzie Borden... Continue Reading →
Warning: the following article may contain multiple versions of the same pun on the word “weird.” You’re welcome. On July 20, 1969, in a first for humanity, the preservation of society and the progress of civilization itself, mankind landed on the moon. Almost 10 years prior to that, on Oct. 23, 1959, a much more... Continue Reading →
Bill Berloni estimates he has trained and shined a spotlight on nearly 400 dogs over the last 45 years. Your purebreds and your designer breeds are all well and good, but if you want the job done right – and if that job is acting – get yourself a mutt. That’s the advice of Bill... Continue Reading →
JAGGED LITTLE PILL is about a lot more than one woman’s anger. Alanis Morrissette was not rock’s first angry woman. We know, get the smelling salts. Leslie Gore wasn’t having it on “You Don’t Own Me," all the way back in 1963. That same year, Betty Everett told the jerk “You’re No Good,” an emotion... Continue Reading →
For its first decade or so of existence, Detroit-based record company Motown was the American Dream in excelsis. Founder Berry Gordy nurtured his small, local business into a worldwide success. Gordy was smart, resourceful and hard-working. Most importantly, he knew white kids could dig R&B just as much as the black kids. The label’s slogan,... Continue Reading →
In 2022, Angelica Ross took on the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago, making her the first openly trans woman to play a lead role on Broadway. Earlier that same year, L Morgan Lee became the first openly trans woman to be nominated for a Tony® (Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical)... Continue Reading →
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 →