Congratulations, millennials. Your past has become nostalgia. Case in point: High School Musical turns 20 this year. Those fictional East High students now are in their mid-30s with careers, mortgages and kids of their own, as are many of the Disney Channel movie’s real-life fans. Case in point: Natasha Herrera Brown, Straz’s media relations manager,... Continue Reading →
There is something inherently beautiful about human beings making music together. Differences and divisions dissolve in the warm glow of musical camaraderie. It follows then that gathering 15 grown-ups to play an instrument most people haven’t touched since elementary school is a noble effort. Further, getting that group to play the beloved traditional folk number,... Continue Reading →
An Exclusive from INSIDE magazine Listening to jazz vocalist Samara Joy sing, it’s a struggle to equate her voice and her age. Samara, who turned 26 in November, sings with the authority of someone twice her age – and with twice her experience. Her voice has a depth and richness of tone that ordinarily comes... Continue Reading →
In 1967, a 16-year-old from Tulsa, OK., quietly shifted the landscape of American literature. Susan Eloise Hinton, known more publicly as S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders from her bedroom while still in high-school. What began as a response to the fractures she observed among her peers—the invisible line between those with privilege and those without—became... Continue Reading →
It would be easy to assume that every dance ensemble in the Western Hemisphere is presenting The Nutcracker this time of year. For quite a while, one of the few that didn’t was St. Louis’ Center of Creative Arts, to the annual dismay of then-head of its dance department, Antonio Douthit-Boyd. Next Generation Ballet’s Nutcracker... Continue Reading →
The origins of some of these National Whatever Days/Weeks/Months are a bit hard to trace. September was deemed National Piano Month, though, by the National Piano Foundation in 1991. So there. Sure, it seems as if you just finished or got through putting up your decorations from World Piano Day, March 29 (or March 28... Continue Reading →
Next Generation Ballet’s Summer Intensive is a perennial event for Gabriella Yudenich. Since 2018, the former soloist with the Pennsylvania (now Philadelphia) Ballet has shared her talent and experience with the young dancers in Next Generation Ballet’s Summer Intensive. Gabriella Yudenich performing Myrta in Giselle. The culmination of the Summer Intensive is its showcase, Friday,... Continue Reading →
July is National Anti-Boredom Month. We don’t know who chose July, but their reasoning seems sound. It’s the middle of summer and going outside means being blinded by the sun and swamped by heat and humidity. Better to stay inside where it’s air-conditioned. Soon, though, staring at screens (or the walls) loses its luster. You... Continue Reading →
Future stars shone on Broadway Monday night as the Jimmy Awards saluted some of the most promising young thespians from across the U.S. Jimmy Awards showcasing young thespians across the US. Photo by Angela of York. Zayda Martin and Jayden Vega, this year’s winners of Straz Center’s Broadway Star of the Future Awards, were among... Continue Reading →
Late one cold Thursday afternoon, a seamstress boarded a Montgomery, Ala., city bus for the ride home from work. As the bus filled up with more passengers, African-American riders, including the seamstress, were ordered by the driver to move to the back to allow white riders to be seated. Nearly every aspect of life in... Continue Reading →
They aren’t called intensives for nothing. A class of Patel Conservatory theater students is currently immersed in rehearsals for a production of Shakespearean spoof Something Rotten! The rehearsals follow a week of master classes and guest artists, theater professionals with real-world experience. The students are enrolled in Patel’s Broadway Intensive, a four-week program that culminates... Continue Reading →
Stage fright is the scourge of many performers across all disciplines. Performers who suffer with it can at least know they’re in good company. Barbra Streisand flubbed some lyrics at a 1967 Central Park concert and didn’t perform live again for nearly 30 years. Laurence Olivier, the actor’s actor, became so rattled playing Othello that... Continue Reading →
Jamie Allan’s performances marry illusion and technology to create astounding magic events, such as a Mercedes-Benz appearing out of thin air or making a helicopter disappear and reappear on the deck of a cruise ship. Jamie Allan His fascination with magic, though, was sparked by one of the oldest tricks in the book: the disappearing... Continue Reading →
At Straz, we’re witness to class after class of performing arts students attending Patel Conservatory, learning dance, theater and, of course, music. An organization founded by husband and wife music teachers takes music learning into their community and sponsors events to encourage music education. Every child should have the opportunity to play music: That belief... Continue Reading →
Mark Leib was familiar with the real-life setting of his play When the Righteous Triumph, the long-gone Woolworth on Franklin Street in downtown Tampa. “That’s the Woolworth I used to go to as a child,” Leib said. “I remember that lunch counter from my childhood. “It never occurred to me that black people weren't allowed... Continue Reading →
The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble played a handful of dates in the U.K. late last year, opening its program with the work of Wendy Carlos. Moog is an instrument brand, specifically, not an instrument. But the groundbreaking sonic simulators made by Moog were such a step into the future that the electronic keyboard feels to... Continue Reading →
We all know Leonard Bernstein’s celebrated musical, West Side Story, but what about Candide, the seldom-staged opera eclipsed by its exuberant overture? Opera Tampa opens its new season on Jan.31 with a rare production of Candide, which begins with Bernstein’s single-most performed work, a rollicking hodgepodge of themes and break-neck tempos that hint of what... 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 →
After ripping open holiday presents on Wednesday, don’t pack away those red and green decorations just yet -- The Straz Center has more holiday fun in its stocking. Cirque Dreams Holidaze, the longest-running cirque holiday spectacular, will dazzle in Morsani Hall Thursday and Friday, Dec. 26-27. The Broadway-style production is an infusion of contemporary circus... Continue Reading →
The city sounds familiar but the accent isn’t what you expect. When the Straz’s new senior director of guest services mentions he’s from Boston, you expect the steamrolled vowels endemic to the U.S. city’s natives. Anthony Winter-Brown’s accent is decidedly English, though. He’s from the other Boston, the original, actually, In Lincolnshire. In the U.S.,... Continue Reading →