"American Idiot" energizes Straz Center in Tampa

  No matter how much you love musical theater, you have to be wary when Broadway takes on punk music. The kind of polished appeal of a Broadway show and the rough intensity of punk simply seem antithetical.

A scene from "American Idiot"

  The current US tour of “American Idiot” -- which is at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa through Sunday --   banishes such wariness.
   “American Idiot” is of course built around the 2004 album by Green Day, a sort of rock opera that details the lives of young. angry suburban kids. Broadway director Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening.” “Thoroughly Modern Millie”) worked with Green day front man Billie Joe Armstrong to transfer the music from disc to stage.
   The show feels like something brand-new right from the start. The set looks like yet another of black-gray walls with metal scaffolding deals that theater designers use to evoke urban grit, but when the dozens of TV monitors scattered across the back drop start flashing Bush-era images it immediately feels fresh.
   And when the great on-stage band – spread out across the stage, not tucked into a corner – churns out the nasty opening guitar chords of the title song and the exuberant cast snarls out the lyrics, you know that this is punk music taking over Broadway, not Broadway taking over punk music.
   You probably won’t be able to follow the plot in any detail unless you know the album well. A lot of the lyrics are indecipherable, and the snippets of dialogue (credited to Mayer and Armstrong) are well-written but aren’t enough to fill in the narrative.
   But you get the gist and you feel the music, and that’s plenty.
   The cast is young -- some are still in college – but they’re all strong actors, singers and dancers. Friday night’s performance even featured an understudy (Brandon Kalm) in a central role of Johnny, the character who seems to be patterned on Armstrong’s stage persona, and he turns in really charismatic performance.
  “American Idiot” won Tony Awards for set and lighting design, which it deserved, but the choreography is just as impressive. Steven Hoggett has designed intricate dances that look carefree. There’s also a gorgeous and astounding aerial dance segment.
   The one disappointment was the curtain call in which the ensemble – each member strumming an acoustic guitar – sang a bland version of “Good Riddance,” Green Day’s most familiar mainstream hit. It’s a good song but a far too lackadaisical a choice. It felt like something you’d see on parents night at a performing arts high school.



Details: 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 19, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. Tickets: $44.50 plus service charge and up. Information: 813-229-7827 or www.strazcenter.org.

Fuzion Dance, Jazz Juvenocracy perform in Sarasota

   Sarasota-based Fuzion Dance Artists are teaming up once again with Jazz Juvenocracy, a group of accomplished high school-aged jazz musicians, for two shows this weekend.
   It's the third collaboration between the two groups, and it might be their last. Jazz Juvenocracy is disbanding because of a dearth of incoming young talent. 

Fuzion in "Eleanor Rigby"

   This show's called "Rhapsody, Rhythm, and Romance -- The Unforgettable Standards" and it features dances choreographed by Fuzion artistic director Leymis Bolanos Wilmott set to classic popular songs.
   Performances are at 8 p.m. tonight and 2 p.m. tomorrow -- that's Friday and Saturday, May 17 and 18 -- and then May 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. at Glenridge Performing Arts Center on Palmer Ranch, 7333 Scotland Way, Sarasota.  Tickets are  $25. 941-552-5325 or www.gpactix.com.

Tampa's amphitheatre has yet another new name

  The Tampa concert venue formerly known as the 1-800-GARY Amphitheatre has a new name.
  It's now the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre.

Officials show off the new logo

  It's the fourth name in the venue's nine-year history. It opened as the Ford Amphitheatre, then became the 1-800-ASK-GARY in 2010, and then was briefly called Live Nation Amphitheatre until Live nation, the company that operates the amphitheatre, found a new naming sponsor.
   The new name was announced today.
   The MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre is at the Florida State Fairgrounds, at 4802 US Highway 301 North in Tampa.
   

Free admission Saturday to Sarasota's Ringling Museum

   Saturday (May 18) is International Museum Day. The theme for this year, I'm told, is "Museums (memory + creativity) = social change."

   I have no idea what that means, but that's OK. A  cool thing about International  Museum Day 2013 is that the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota is offering free admission all day. The Ringling Museum of Art features one of the country’s premier collections of Baroque art,  including large-scale paintings by Peter Paul Rubens in the Rubens Galleries, and a growing collection of contemporary art.  The museum encompasses 21 galleries, plus the  permanent installation called "Joseph's Coat, "  a Skyspace created by internationally renowned artist James Turrell. So getting to see all that for free is really cool

   The Ringling Museum of Art is at 5401 Bayshore Road, Sarasota. It's open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily, and until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. The usual admission price is $25 for adults, $5 for kids 6-17, $20 for seniors. After 5 p.m. on Thursdays adults can get in for just  $10. Call 941-359-5700 or visit www.ringling.org.

Dine at Bradenton-area restaurants, support Manatee Players

   On Monday, May 20, you can support the Manatee Players by dining at any (or all) of 11 Bradenton-area restaurants. All you have to do is go to any of the eateries below and let your server know you're there to support the Manatee Players, and the restaurant will donate part of your bill.
   Participating restaurants include:
   Alvarez Mexican Restaurant, 1431 8th Ave. West, Palmetto. 941-729-2232. (Lunch or dinner.)
   Anna Maria Oyster Bar, all locations. (Lunch or dinner.)
   Atlanta Bread, 6401 Manatee Ave. West, Bradenton. 941-792-1380. (Lunch or Dinner.)
   Fav's Italian Cucina, 419 12th St. West, Bradenton. 941-708-3287. (5-8 p.m.)
   Halfway at Anna Maria Oyster Bar, 6906 14th St. West, Bradenton. 941-758-7880. (Lunch or dinner.)
   Hooters, 4908 14th St. West, Bradenton. 941-758-1175. (Lunch or dinner.)
   Michael John's Restaurant, 1040 Carlton Arms Blvd., Bradenton. 941-747-8032. (Dinner.)
   Papa Giorgio's, 7644 Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota. 941-358-6654. (4-9 p.m.)
   Pier 22, 1200 First Ave. West, Bradenton. 941-748-8087. (Dinner.)
   Tarpon Pointe Grille, 801 Riverside Drive East, Bradenton. 941- 746-8700. (Lunch or dinner.)
   YachtSea Grill, 101 Riverfront Blvd., Suite 120. Bradenton. 941-896-9660. (Lunch or dinner.)

Rodriguez thrills Tampa crowd with his presence.

   On Thursday, Tampa audiences got their first chance to see Rodriguez, who shot to stardom last year when the Oscar-winning documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" detailed his life and career.
   The story is that he released a couple of albums in the early '70s that tanked, so he gave up music and returned to blue-collar life in Detroit. But then it turned out he was revered in South Africa. He didn't know, and people there thought he had died.
   People in the capacity crowd in Ferguson Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts Center in Tampa -- including a healthy contingent of South Africans --  shouted "We love you!" and "You're amazing!" between songs and applauded when he repeated the same phrases back.

Rodriguez

   It seemed obvious they were responding to the man they knew from the movie more than to the actual concert and the music. Rodriguez writes very good songs, folk-based but with a jazz edge, and an extremely pleasant voice. But his show was extremely low-key (he's going blind, and had to be led to the microphone, so he didn't move much), and his stage banter consisted of VERY old jokes (two cannibals are eating a clown and one says, "does this taste funny to you?") and unexceptional aphorisms ("free love is too expensive," "hate is too strong an emotion to waste on someone you don't like"). His three-piece backing band was professional but unexceptional.
   Still, his performance and his stage persona were extremely appealing during his own songs. Covers (Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things," Little Richard's "Lucille") didn't fare as well.
   Whether you've seen the movie or not, there's something about the 70-something Rodriguez on stage that makes you cheer for him. That the actual music wasn't electrifying didn't matter; Rodriguez himself
electrified the crowd. They came to be in the presence of the Sugar Man. His wry smile, and his kindly, almost shy, demeanor were enough to enthrall them. Good music was a bonus.
  
  

Sarasota theater looking for new short plays

  If you can write a play in the next couple of months about some people who are middle-aged or older, it might get presented by The Players Theatre. 
  The Sarasota theater troupe will produce a Senior Play Reading Festival Oct. 12-13. The festival is looking for non-published plays, between one and 10 minutes long, revolving around characters who are least 45 years old. 
  The festival is accepting entries through July 31.
  Send entries to The Players, 838 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34236, Attn: SSS Play Reading Festival. The titles of the winning plays will be posted on The Players website by Sept. 6. 
   For information, call 941-365-2494 or visit
www.theplayers.org.


Here are some guidelines: 
-- Playwrights have to live in Florida
-- Keep in mind that the actors are all 55 or older.
-- No more than eight performers in any play.   
-- Manuscripts must be typed and bound.
-- Include a biography of the playwright.
-- No more than three scripts per playwright.
-- No musicals.