Manatee Players offer evening of one-acts

   The Manatee Players are offering an anthology of one-act plays later this month. It'll be the first production in the Kiwanis Club of Bradenton Studio Theater at the Manatee Performing Arts Center.
   The six plays, directed by Russ Carthy, are "Things That Go Bump in the Night," "Walter," "The Greatest Role," "Walgreens" and "GOS Lady." The features actors are Caroline Cox, Dan Coppinger, Alice Cotman, Amy Dop, Jay Poppe, Bob Weintraub, Laura Morales, Philip Croome, Miriam Ring, Jo Kendall, Fatima Paula and Juliana Ortiz. 

    Performances are at 8 p.m. Aug. 23-24 at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. Tickets are $15. Call 941-748-5875 or visit www.manateeplayers.com.

Metal gods GWAR to rock Tampa's Ritz

GWAR

   Oderus Urungus, Balsac the Jaws of Death, Jizmak Da Gusha, Beefcake the Mighty and Pustulus Maximus are coming to Tampa.
   They are GWAR, the Antarctica-based gods of satirical heavy metal. They'll be at the Ritz Theatre in Ybor City Nov. 5.
  This is band you really ought to see at least once in your life.
   Besides, this could be your chance to sample Impaled Ale, the beer created for the band by Tampa's Cigar City Brewing, which also made a beer inspired by Bradenton's Have Gun, Will Travel.
   Whitechapel, Iron Reagan and A Band of Orcs open. Tickets for go on sale Aug 2. They're $20 in advance, $23 day of show. You can buy them here:  www.daddykooltickets.com/osconcert-GA/product_info.php?products_id=1147

 

 
    

Tony Bennett comes to St. Petersburg's Mahaffey

   One of the classiest singers in music is coming to St. Petersburg.
   Tony Bennett will make his Mahaffey Theater debut on Feb. 12. Tickets go on sale at noon Aug. 9. They'll set you back $65-$150.

Tony Bennett in 2011

   Bennett will be 87 by the time he gets here, but he's still drawing great reviews and enthusiastic audiences for his concerts. He usually tours with a small combo so that he can sing whatever he and his audience are in the mood for.
    For tickets, call 727-893-7832 or go to www.themahaffey.com.
  

  

Sarasota Opera tickets on sale Aug. 1

   Single tickets for the Sarasota Opera's 2013-14 season go on sale Aug. 1.
   The season opens Nov. 1 with Johann Strauss Jr.’s operetta "Die Fledermaus." It will be sung in English with a translation by Marcie Stapp. Benjamin Britten's "The Little Sweep" follows, opening  Nov. 9.
   The Winter Opera festival opens Feb. 8 with a new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s "Il trovatore."
   "The Barber of Seville" by Gioachino Rossini opens Feb. 15, followed by Richard Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman"  March 1 Jerusalem by Giuseppe Verdi. Verdi's  Jerusalem opens March 8.
   In addition, Sarasota Opera will present four concerts designed to highlight great songs, arias and scenes beyond this season’s repertoire.
   On Nov. 12, singers from "Die Fledermaus" will present the "Operetta Concert,"  featuring some of operetta’s most popular melodies.

Sarasota Opera artistic director Victor DeRenzi

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2013/05/19/4531204/sarasota-opera-announces-new-season.html#storylink=cpy

   On March 5, Sarasota Opera will explore the past and present of American opera at the "American Opera Concert," performed by Sarasota Opera’s Apprentice and Studio Artists.
   March 18 brings the annual "Artists Choice Concert." Principal and studio artists will perform their choice of the best of opera and Broadway.
   Bringing the 2014 winter season to a close will be "The Verdi Concert" on March 23.
   For now, tickets will for now be available online only, at www.sarasotaopera.org. For information. call 941-366-8450, ext. 1

Maze, Frankie Beverly reschedule St. Petersburg show

    If you were planning to go see Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly

Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly

at the Mahaffey Theater on Sept. 15, well, we may have some bad news for you.
   They're still coming, but the date has been changed. It's scheduled for 8 p.m. Sept. 27 instead. The original date was a Sunday and the new one's a Friday, so maybe that's a good thing.
   Ticket are on sale now. Prices range from  $49.50 to $79.50. You can get tickets and information by phone at 727-893-7832 or online at at www.themahaffey.com.

Read more here: http://heraldbuzzworthy.blogspot.com/search?q=maze#storylink=cpy

  
  

"Spring Awakening" rocks at St. Petersburg's freeFall

   "Spring Awakening" was kind of the "Rent" of its time -- a rock musical with classical roots that caught fire, especially with younger audiences.

    FreeFall's "Spring Awakening"

   St. Petersburg's freeFall Theatre is ending its 2012-13 season with a stunning production of the groundbreaking 2006 musical.
   In fact, the production, which features a phenomenal cast headed by Pinellas County native/Broadway star Rachel Potter, a great six-piece band scattered around the space and an imaginative in-the-round staging directed by Eric Davis, outshines the play itself.
   "Spring Awakening" takes a 19th-century German melodrama about adolescent sexuality, and adds modern music by Duncan Sheik (with a book and lyrics by Steven Sater). Part of the appeal is the unabashed anachronism, as 19th-century school kids grab microphones and belt out contemporary pop-rock show tunes.
   The songs are great but the emotional impact of the story is blunted. The presence of some 20 songs interrupts the narrative, and the plot is so extreme and so dated that the characters' very real tragedies, which include suicide and a death from an illegal abortion, can leave you shocked but not genuinely saddened. Besides, it's hard to buy these 20-something actors as school children who don't make the connection between sex and pregnancy, even after they've had sex and gotten pregnant.
   Still, the plot's involving, the songs are catchy and smart and the acting, singing, dancing and staging make for a powerful evening.
   Potter (who had healthy roles in "The Addams Family" and "Evita" on Broadway and in the national tour of "Wicked") and Chase Peacock (who was in "American Idiot" on Broadway) head a phenomenal cast of charismatic and athletic young actors with gorgeous voices. And Lisa Kay Powers turns in a typically wonderful performance. (Powers and Steve Garland, who's also good, play all the adult roles.)
   The in-the-round staging is effective and involving, but it has a drawback. Some people if the audience end up with bright white light shining directly into their eyes through much of the shows. For long stretches, some audience members had to shield their eyes and peer through their fingers to watch the action.
  It runs through Aug. 18 at freeFall Theatre, 6099 Central Ave., St. Petersburg.  7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $39 and $46. For information call 727-498-5205 or go to www.freefalltheatre.com.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2013/07/18/4612243/spring-awakening-opens-in-st-petersburg.html#storylink=cpy

   
   
   
   
   

Queen, Green Day shows visit St. Petersburg

   The music of Green Day and Queen is coming to the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. Green Day and Queen are not.
   The Mahaffey has just announced that the touring production of "American Idiot," the musical based on the Green Day album, is stopping in for a one-night stand on April 8. 

"American Idiot"

   The next week, on April 16, Gary Mullen & the Works, a tribute band with a solid reputation, will offer "One Night of Queen."
   We can't tell you a whole lot about Gary Mullen & the Works, but "American Idiot" (which came through Tampa earlier this year) is a wonderful show, with inventive staging and, of course, lots of great songs.
   Tickets for both go on sale at noon Aug. 2. "American Idiot" starts at $39.50; the Queen thing start at $37.50. Call 727-892-5767 or go to www.themahaffey.com.