The intellectual distance between Steve Martin’s early, catchphrase-heavy stand-up comedy and his first full-length play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile might seem great. Fear not, though, as fans of his early, funny stuff should recognize the same absurdist spirit that ran through Martin’s early routines in Picasso. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCYzJu12zI “He used a lot of irony. He... Continue Reading →
The term “guilty pleasure” seems as though it should refer to dark, twisted impulses, descriptions of which are best left to gothic horror writers. OG gothic horror queen Morticia knows everyone's guilty pleasures. Instead, it means we like some bit of entertainment deemed insignificant by the critics and acquaintances we’ve made our cultural overlords: a... Continue Reading →
SHE COULD HAVE SUNG ALL NIGHT She was the voice of Deborah, Natalie and Audrey. Her lilting soprano delivering “Somewhere,” “Wouldn’t it be Loverly” and “Hello Young Lovers” in the film versions of West Side Story, My Fair Lady and The King and I, respectively. For her work on The King and I, Nixon was... Continue Reading →
The final Straz-produced presentation of the season is Avenue Q, and actor Spencer Meyers is going to have his hands full. Literally. Full of fabric and foam. Spencer will have his hand inside the puppet head, puppet heads, actually, of two of the musical’s characters – Princeton, a recent college graduate looking for his purpose... Continue Reading →
There weren’t just nuns on stage Thursday night at Nunsense: A-Men’s return to the Jaeb Theater. Members of the Tampa Bay Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence attended the Straz-produced musical comedy which features misters as sisters cracking wise and singing their habits off to raise money to bury fellow nuns who succumbed to a bad batch... Continue Reading →
‘Mozart of Madras’ to play The Straz With his concerts at The Straz nearly sold out, renowned composer A.R. Rahman, two-time Oscar® winner for soundtrack and original song from Slumdog Millionaire (2008) is still an unknown to many, though many recognize his music when they hear it. So, in the spirit of putting everyone on... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbrmBotVIGw Late Night host Stephen Colbert called director Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, now in theaters, “the most Baz Luhrmanny Baz Luhrmann film.” Luhrmann’s films hit the screen like a hallucinogen-laced glitter bomb, so we kind of know what to expect in that respect. But what’s that got to do with Elvis Presley? Elvis wasn’t averse to... Continue Reading →
The art of origami might mean more than you think Photo: Ned Averill-Snell Mother Nature loves to fold. Flowers, wings, you name it. Just look at us, human beings: our brains and guts are wrinkles doubling back on themselves; proteins, the building blocks of life are intricately folded amino acids. And if those amino acids... Continue Reading →
Harper Lee’s seminal novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, was published 62 years ago on July 11. Somewhere between 40 million and 50 million copies of the novel have been sold. It has been translated into 40 languages. A movie version (about which Harper wrote adoringly) premiered Christmas Day 1962 and was an immediate commercial and... Continue Reading →
Matthew McGee didn’t set out to be the Tampa Bay area’s most popular drag performer. When he entered Georgia’s Valdosta State University in 1994, he wanted to be “a character actor like Christopher Lloyd,” McGee said. McGee’s appreciation of an entertainer known as “The Brazilian Bombshell” started him down the path to sequins and stiletto... Continue Reading →
The National Hurricane Center began naming tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean in 1953. Meteorologists say naming these storms helps people remember them, helps make communication about the storms more effective and, ideally, helps people stay safer when a storm makes landfall. The lists of hurricane names now is generated and maintained by the World... Continue Reading →
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkF2umwn_jt/ It’s been 16 years since Paul McCartney turned 64. McCartney gave that milestone added significance when his song “When I’m 64” was released on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. Released the month McCartney turned 25, the song is a whimsical imagining of what the Beatles bassist must have then... Continue Reading →
June 13 is National Sewing Machine Day and if you’re wondering what that has to do with the arts, meet Anne Rosato. Anne makes and designs costumes for a living. Straz audiences first saw her work in the recent production of Little Shop of Horrors. Like any professional, the tools of her trade are important... Continue Reading →
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 →
Patel Conservatory classrooms sometimes play host to Broadway actors, Grammy®-winning musicians and world-renowned dancers. These performers aren’t there to sign autographs. They’re in the classrooms and studios to share their knowledge and experience with Patel students. Guest instructor Beth Gibbs, associate professor of music and director of choral studies at Florida Southern College, leading a... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Call them what you want, rags-to-riches or fairy tales – either way, My Fair Lady and Pretty Woman, both playing The Straz over the coming weeks, are contemporary variants of a familiar plot. An uptight man of particular stature brings under his wing a woman who many considered tarnished and makes her over. During the... Continue Reading →
If the face and name are familiar, that’s because Janet Dacal starred as Alice in Wonderland, the Broadway musical that had its origins at the Straz Center. She returns to our stage starring in the Tony Award®-winning The Band’s Visit, a musical about Egyptian musicians who find themselves stranded in a small Israeli town. Janet’s... Continue Reading →