Season tickets availble now for Sarasota's FST

   Season tickets are now on sale for the Florida Studio Theatre's 2013-14 mainstage season.
   They'll run you between $45 and $75 and they'll get you into all four mainstage shows.
   Season tickets holders get big discounts, but they also get first choice of seats and other benefits.
   FST will announce the other three shows in mainstage season on Sept. 22.
  That's also the day that single tickets for  "Spamalot," the first show of the mainstage season, go on sale. The single tickets will set you back $18-$49.
   "Spamalot," one of the most popular and acclaimed musicals of the past decade, opens Nov. 15 in the Gompertz Theatre. It's the Tony Award-winning musical based on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." It's directed by Bruce Jordan, who recently directed FST's hit staging of Steve Martin's "The Underpants." "Spamalot" will run through Jan. 5.
  You can order tickets by calling 941-366-9000, by visiting  www.floridastudiotheatre.org, or by visiting the FST box office

Gregg Allman Sarasota tickets on sale Sept. 6

   Tickets for Gregg Allman's upcoming concert in Sarasota will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6.
   Allman, the legendary Southern rock pioneer and former Manatee County resident, will appear at the Sailor Circus at 7 p.m. Jan. 8. Tickets are $100, $45 and $35, plus a $1 service charge.

Gregg Allman

   The venue only holds a couple of thousand people, and promoter Barbara Strauss said demand has been high even before the tickets are on sale. So if you want to go, you probably shouldn't wait too long.
    "I've sold $7,000 in tickets to my friends," she said. "It's a party every time he comes town."
   There will be an opening act or two, but they haven't been announced yet.
   You'll be able to get tickets by calling 941-355-9805, by visiting www.circussarasota.org or by going to the Sailor Circus box office. The Sailor Circus, which is part of Circus Sarasota, is at 2075 Bahia Vista Street, Sarasota.

Gregg Allman to play Sarasota Jan. 8

   Southern rock pioneer, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and former Manatee County resident Gregg Allman will perform in concert Jan. 8 at Sailor Circus in Sarasota.
   There aren't a whole lot of details available at this point, and there's no word on when tickets will go one sale. But they'll run you $100, $45 or $35.
   Allman's career has had its share of peaks and valleys since those legendary Allman Brothers Band albums of the '60s and '70s, and right now he's on a peak. His most recent album, "Low Country Blues," is one of the most celebrated of his career. His voice is in fine form and he's got a great band working with him.
   Information about when and where to get tickets should be available soon. We'll keep you posted.
  

Sarasota group presents readings of Williams plays

   You're not likely to find a better theater bargain than this.     

   Alleged Theatre Company is presenting readers-theater versions of four one-act plays by Tennessee Williams, arguably the greatest American playwright. And it's all free.
   The one-acts are "Portrait of a Madonna," "The Case of the Crushed Petunias,” "Mister Paradise" and "Wagons Full of Cotton." All four are directed by Cinda Goeken.
   It all gets going at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, in the lobby of Players Theatre, 838 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
   It's free, but donations are welcomed. The donations will go to the Players Theatre.
   This is only the second offering from the Alleged Theatre Company, which specializes in readers-theater productions of significant plays. Their previous  presentation was Paula Vogel's "How I Learned to Drive," which, coincidentally, is on the schedule for Asolo Rep's 2013-14 season.
   For more information call 941-729-7448.
  

Why Miley Cyrus' VMA performance was reprehensible

   Miley Cyrus gave a shocking performance at the MTV Video Music Awards show Sunday night. Everybody's talking about it today. And suddenly everybody in the world knows what "twerking" is.
   The outrage about how "provocative" the performance was comes off as disingenuous, at best. People who watched the VMAs knew, maybe even hoped, that something shocking would happen. That's probably one of the reasons they watched. (Saying you watch the VMAs to see who wins the awards is like saying you read Playboy magazine for the articles.) People chose to watch and then they complained because they saw exactly the same kind of performance and the same kind of scandal that highlights the VMAs many years.
   Almost everything that's written about Cyrus' performance mentions that she's "only 20" or "not yet 21" and a "former Disney star." But Britney Spears, another former Disney star, was the same age when she gave Madonna an open-mouthed kiss on the same show a decade ago. This is the kind of stuff that happens on the VMAs. We know that when we tune in.

Miley Cyrus at the VMAs

   If you're a parent who thinks your teenager will be damaged by watching something provocative, well,  how old were you when you listened to Jim Morrison (who at the time was only two years older than Cyrus is now) sing a song about a kid who rapes his mother and kills his father? How old were you when you listened to Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side"? Or when you watched countless hip-hop and hair-metal videos with strippers in them? This stuff is not new.
   And if you didn't want your kids to see sexy dancing by young women in scanty outfits, you shouldn't have let them watch the VMAs in the first place, 'cause it happens every year.
    But yes, it's right to be offended, and offended deeply, by Cyrus' performance. Not because it was provocative, but because it was a load of garbage. From the bizarre opening pose with the tongue sticking out, to the laughable sets and costumes, the clunky dancing and the gross and unsettling gestures, it was all just hideous. It was the clumsiest and most un-sexy thing on the VMAs since Michael Jackson kissed his "wife" Lisa Marie Presley in 1994.
   We shouldn't be so shocked that someone as young as Miley Cyrus performed so provocatively; we should be appalled that someone who's as talented and professionally polished as Miley Cyrus performed so amateurishly. That's what was so reprehensible. That's why it's a bad example for our kids.

   

Jimmy Fallon comes to Tampa in October

   The future king of late night TV is coming to Tampa.
   Jimmy Fallon will bring his "Clean Cut Comedy Tour" to Tampa Theatre at 8 p.m. Oct. 16.
   Three other comics -- Julian McCullough, Nate Bargatze and Nick Thune -- will open.
   Fallon, of course, is the current host of "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." But much more importantly, he's slated to replace Jay Leno as host of "The Tonight Show" in February.

Jimmy Fallon

   Tickets are $45 plus service charge, and they'll go on sale at noon Saturday through www.ticketmaster.com. They'll also be available at the Tampa Theatre box office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday starting Aug. 26.
   Tampa Theatre is at 711 N. Franklin St. in downtown Tampa. Call 813-274-8981 or go to www.tampatheatre.org for information.
   The show is presented by Ruth Eckerd Hall's "On the Road" program.

Individual "Book of Mormon" tickets available Sunday

   There hasn't been so much excitement about a Broadway musical coming to town in a long, long time.
   "The Book of Mormon," the universally acclaimed show that prominent critics have called "the best musical of this century" and "heaven on Broadway," opens its two-week run at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa on Nov. 12. Season subscribers got first dibs on tickets, but at least at the moment there are plenty left for people who want to see just this show.
   Individual tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 25. And actually, if you have an American Express card

"The Book of Mormon"

, you can buy tickets starting today and up until 9:59 a.m. Friday.
   Tickets are $69-$153.50 plus service charge. You get them by calling 813-229-7827, by going to www.strazcenter.org or by going in person to the Straz Center box office. The Straz Center is at 1010 N. MacInnes Place in Tampa.
   "The Book of Mormon," which comes from the same team that created TV's "South Park," won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score (Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone), Best Book (Parker, Lopez and Stone) and Best Direction (Casey Nicholaw and Parker).
    Straz Center officials are expecting this show to sell out, and sell out fast, so you're advised to get your tickets soon if you don't want to be left out.



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