https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1JgHLQsg0 A charming little video clip from 1970 surfaced recently. It’s a local TV news story about a Minneapolis teachers’ strike and in it, an 11-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson voices support for the teachers. It was probably the last time Prince did an interview without his guard up. Prince wasn’t a “no interviews” guy, but... Continue Reading →
Donated Instruments Feed Children’s Musical Souls
When children are given musical instruments for the first time, chances are they will make godawful rackets with them. They will leap about, yell and scream, and make noises those instruments never were meant to make. They will laugh heartily, get bored and move on to the next amusement. Some of those kids, though, will... Continue Reading →
Orbison’s Hit Song Finds Its Place in Namesake Musical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crOyhjL2e9s Pretty Woman: The Musical celebrated the first anniversary of its premiere by adding the Roy Orbison number from which it took its name to the curtain call. That’s right – a whole year of performances were staged minus the rock ‘n’ roll classic after which the show was named. Where the movie soundtrack featured... Continue Reading →
Treya Lam Considers Their Latest Album ‘A Conversation’ On Their World View
Photo: Anna Azarov Photography Treya Lam’s album, Good News, doesn’t lack for sonic detail. Lam, though, believes those details are the icing on the cake. “I want to create works that can stand on their own in the barest form,” Lam said. “My approach to songwriting is kind of rooted in that idea. Whether it’s... Continue Reading →
Celebrate Billie Holiday, Other Artists During Jazz Appreciation Month
April is Jazz Appreciation Month and, frankly, jazz could use more appreciation. American jazz musicians are revered the world over but even the music made by recognized masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus is considered a niche market in the states, a genre the general public generally avoids. What little radio... Continue Reading →
‘LET IT GO’ Is a Difficult Song to Let Go For Billions
Idina Menzel is Broadway’s contemporary Queen of the Showstoppers. With "Take Me or Leave Me" from RENT, and then with “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, Menzel turned songs into events, thrilling theater audiences and even more listeners via original cast recordings. Her most celebrated hit, though, originated in the Disney animated film Frozen. That song, “Let... Continue Reading →
Like an Unfinished Puzzle, The Tales of Hoffmann Opera was Incomplete when Composer Offenbach Died
Although known as a composer of operettas – he wrote nearly 100 of them – Jacques Offenbach’s best known work is a full-scale opera, The Tales of Hoffmann. Built around the writings of German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, the opera has become one of opera’s premiere works. Composer Jacques Offenbach photographed by Nadar in the 1860s... Continue Reading →
Many Classics Borrow from the Masters of Classical
When Chuck Berry sang “Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news,” the line appeared to be drawn. On one side was classical music: staid, stodgy, the stuff your music appreciation class forced you to hear. On the other side, popular music, in this case the then-relatively new genre of rock ‘n’ roll: wild, fun,... Continue Reading →
ARTISTS WE LOVE: Sylvester, the other Queen of Disco
During disco’s late ‘70s popularity peak, Donna Summer reigned supreme. She landed 14 singles in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100, four of which reached No. 1. She had three consecutive No. 1 albums on The Billboard 200 album chart. Summer’s music and legacy are celebrated in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, which played... Continue Reading →
ARTISTS WE LOVE TO LOVE: Donna Summer
Broadway was about the only place Donna Summer’s music didn’t dominate during her late ‘70s hit-making heyday. The jukebox musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical finally brought the Queen of Disco’s catalog to the Great White Way. It would be difficult to overstate Summer’s popularity from the mid-‘70s through the early ‘80s. She had 11... Continue Reading →
An Alt-Holiday Playlist with No Mariah, Bing, Frosty or Rudolph
In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas. Actually, it’s not so much a feeling as a sound. And that sound is currently dominated by Christmas music. Or maybe we should say holiday music, or winter music, since a bunch of these “Christmas” songs don’t mention Christmas: “Frosty the Snowman,” “Winter Wonderland,” etc. Call it... Continue Reading →
Let’s Celebrate Violin Day – Even If It is Stringing Us Along
It’s the time of year when the holidays are coming at us fast and furious. We just got through with Thanksgiving and now it’s time for Christmas and all the decorating and cooking and gift buying and gosh! I’m tired just thinking about it. And then we have to make New Year’s Eve plans. It... Continue Reading →
A Whole New World: Crafting a Season
A small but mighty coterie of Straz staffers gathers the selections that make each year’s season announcement a much-anticipated event. At the start of every year, as sure as the Florida gardenias blossom, The Straz announces a new season. Every year that season blends old and new, funny and serious, musical and non-musical, spectacular and... Continue Reading →
In Honor of National One-Hit Wonder Day, We Present The Wondies!
One-hit wonders are fascinating. Some are once-in-a-generation synchronizations of material and cultural climate — the music-industry equivalent of being in the right place at the right time. Others are just, you know, funny. Despite their various origins, styles and critical receptions, though, they’re all related via that one weird similarity: They are all songs attributed... Continue Reading →
From Opera To Spanish Rhythms, Straz celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
Tampa has a long history tied to Latin cultures, dating back to 1539 and the arrival of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto to the Tampa Bay region. That historical tie continues more than 470 years later when the Straz Center for the Performing Arts participates in National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15... Continue Reading →
Music, Go-Go Boots and Miniskirts Set The Tone In Shout!
As the hemlines rose, so did the footwear, the miniskirt exposing more thigh as its fashion first mate the go-go boot rose to conceal the calf. The effect was anything but modest, though. The miniskirt and go-go boot create visual shorthand for a particular time and a particular sort of person – young, female, single,... Continue Reading →
They’ve Got This Covered: 10 Unique Takes on Classic Broadway Tunes
It’s not unusual to see favorite songs from Broadway productions on the pop charts. Beloved compositions have made the transition from the stage to mainstream culture’s consciousness since The Great White Way’s ‘40s and ‘50s heyday. Those looking for distinctive or quirky reinterpretations of musical-theater classics sometimes have to look a little deeper, though —... Continue Reading →
Tampa Area Couldn’t Help Falling In Love With Elvis
Elvis Presley performed in Tampa near the beginning of his career and near the end. On May 8, 1955, you could have seen a vibrant, 21-year-old Elvis at the Homer W. Hesterly Armory, singing “That’s All Right.” General admission was $1. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDUn9APBp4L/ Twenty-one years later you could have seen a pudgy, sweating-to-get-through-the-show, 42-year-old Elvis at... Continue Reading →
ARTISTS WE LOVE: When Aretha Sang Opera At The Grammys
When you least expect it, great moments happen. This is one of those tales made that much greater because “the moment” involves Aretha Franklin. The year is 1998, the 40th Grammy® Awards at New York City’s majestic Radio City Music Hall. The evening was chockful of great performances, unexpected wins and unforeseen surprises, such as:... Continue Reading →
We Celebrate The Ultimate Squeeze Play – The Accordion
We’re going to take a not-so-wild guess that what you know about accordions likely falls somewhere between Lawrence Welk and “Weird Al” Yankovic. And if you don’t know who either of those two men are, we’re happy to accommodate – June is National Accordion Awareness Month. Mothers and Fathers get only a day, but the... Continue Reading →