Spring Awakening - we want to know what you thought!

It seems some of the coverage of the show in the local media has only focused on some of the more titillating aspects of this winner of eight 2007 Tony Awards - including Best Musical.

Personally, I feel like it's one of the best things to hit Broadway in at least a decade. I also have a fairly long history with the source material, a college professor of mine (Dr. Ralf Remshardt) wrote a brilliant translation of the original Wedekind play while I was in grad school that I had an opportunity to see. A few years later I would produce that very same script with my company, Jobsite Theater.

It's the prerogative of the masses I suppose to get outraged, or rail against things they think are obscene. Still, the sensibilities of individuals and what they find offensive is very subjective. I feel like TBPAC has been nothing but up front about the show, and even gave season ticket holders the option to opt-out of seeing/paying for it. No one is trying to trick anyone and certainly any play, book, CD or movie should be avoided by someone who feels like they wouldn't care for it - whatever the reason. Others still deserve the opportunity.

I'm very curious as to what our readers might think of the performance on stage this week. If you see the show - which I honestly hope you do as it's groundbreaking, powerful stuff - I hope you might remember to come back here and let us know what you think. The only thing I'll ask is that we keep it fair and clean since this is an open blog.

Free: Scene on the Green showing of the original Oceans 11

TBPAC hosts our first free Scene on the Green event for 2009 next Friday with the original Oceans 11 (y'know, the one from the '60s with that Sinatra dude in it).

Pack a picnic and a blanket and come on down!

Win tickets to the opening night of RENT!

Text RENT to TBPAC (82722) before each performance of Spring Awakening (Dec. 30, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 31, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.; Jan 1, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 2, 2009 at 8 p.m.; Jan. 3, 2009 at 2 p.m.; Jan. 3, 2009 at 8 p.m.; Jan. 4, 2009 at 2 p.m. and Jan. 4, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.) for your chance to win a pair of opening night tickets to see RENT on July 7, 2009. A winner will be chosen at random during every performance of Spring Awakening, notified by text message and given further instructions on how to claim the prize.

Standard text-messaging rates from your carrier apply. Only one entry per device. Entries will be received daily up until the scheduled show time. Saturday and Sunday will each have two contests with one ending with the matinee performance and the other ending at the evening performance.

For complete contest rules, click here.

TBPAC's SMS technology is provided by our friends at Agile Communications.

Music Director/Pianist needed

Audition Notice

The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center is currently seeking a musical director/pianist for our upcoming production, WAIST WATCHERS - THE CALORIE-FREE MUSICAL. Responsibilities will be all rehearsals starting January 12 2009, play all shows (2/6/2009-5/10/2009) 8 show week (Tues-Sun), any brush-up music rehearsals/understudy put-ins.

Please contact Scott Belowsky directly to set up an interview.

Scott Belowsky
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
PO Box 518
Tampa, FL 33601
813-222-1279

The Love Project

Coming Feb. 13-15

In the Heights connection to Sesame Street

Now that I have a baby I'm officially a Sesame Street watcher. If you're a parent of an infant or toddler you too have sat through your share of Sesame Street. The other day I was watching and the "Murray has a little lamb" segment came on. For those of you aren't active watchers, this is a segment where the muppet, Murray Monster, visits a new school each episode. He has a little lamb, Ovejita, who speaks Spanish and provides clues about the school so Murray can guess. In any case, the hip-hop/rap theme song came on and I knew I had heard the voice before. After a second listen I placed it. It's the voice of Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda is the composer, original conceptor and star of Broadway's Tony Award-winning Best Musical In The Heights!

And there's your random fact for the day. Impress your friends! :)

Want a discount to Spring Awakening?

If you're looking for a discount on Spring Awakening tickets, which is coming to Tampa next week, just break out your cell phone and text MORITZ to TBPAC (82722) for the offer and promo code. Yep, I'm making you work for it!

Photo by Paul Kolnik

TBPAC's SMS technology is provided by our friends at Agile Communications.

F. Reed Brown's VOICES

Coming Jan. 9 - 11, F. Reed Brown's Voices.

For those who may have enjoyed the two sold-out runs of Vincent, this is the same actor (a USF alum, even) who has put this multi-person show together.

Crazy awesome Midnight Madness sale - 12/12!

Midnight Madness - 12/12. 12 noon to 11:59pm

See A Christmas Story for free, stay to get all your Xmas shopping done on a dime!

WOO HOO!

http://www.tbpac.org/madness/

$20 tickets to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when you donate an unwrapped toy!

Chitty flies into Tampa Tuesday through Sunday, Dec. 9-14, and she's bringing the holiday spirit along with her. For $20, you can see what The Miami Herald calls "a driving, floating, flying wonder" and help make a child's holiday a little brighter.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is offering $20 tickets for the Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday evening performances when you bring an unwrapped toy to the show. Visit the TBPAC Ticket Office (for the Tuesday performance, please visit the table located in the TBPAC Shimberg Courtyard, just steps from the Ticket Office windows) no sooner than two hours to show time on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, drop off your unwrapped toy and you can purchase a $20 ticket* for that evening's performance.

All of the toys collected will be donated to Metropolitan Ministries. For a list of suggested items, visit http://www.metromin.org/

*Discount tickets are available for remaining seats to the evening's performance you are purchasing. Discounted tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. One discounted ticket per toy. Limit 8 discounted tickets. Not applicable to prior sales. Cannot be combined with any other offer.

Sister's Christmas Catechism a hit with the Trib!

" Stefano made a wonderful nun ... serendipitous moments of ad-lib [made] the production sparkle ... Sister's Christmas Catechism is a nostalgic treat that everyone can enjoy — with or without confirmation." - The Tampa Tribune

Make sure to follow the above link to read the full review! Sister's Christmas Catechism is off tonight (12/3), but back on tomorrow through Dec. 21.

This just in: Jeff Dunham going on sale!

TBPAC will be presenting comedian Jeff Dunham at the at the St. Pete Times Forum (yes, you read that right - we're presenting it, but it's AT the Forum, not here) on March 22, 2009.

This show goes on sale TODAY (12/3) at 5pm for all TBPAC donors and will go on sale to the general public Friday, 12/5. You can buy as of noon from TBPAC.ORG, from the TBPAC Ticket Office window or by calling 813.229.STAR.

Here's a clip of Dunham introducing one of his favorite friends, Walter from his Spark of Insanity special:

Broadway on Turkey-day

Some people look forward to Thanksgiving football. I, on the other hand, grab a cup of coffee and turn on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It seriously doesn't feel like Thanksgiving until I've listened to Matt Lauer describe a giant balloon or two. (Is it wrong that I secretly find it thrilling to watch what happens when a gust of wind comes by? ... but I digress.)

Now to the good stuff... Broadway performances during the parade. Depending on what network you watch, there will be different shows highlighted. CBS will feature performances by the cast of Mary Poppins (who will be flying in for the 2009-2010 Tampa season), Grease and Clay Aiken in Monty Python's Spamalot (coming to Tampa in March 09). NBC will show performances by The Little Mermaid, South Pacific, In the Heights and Irving Berlin's White Christmas.

If you happen to miss any of these special performances, keep an eye out for the floats. There will be performances by the cast of the new revival of Hair as well as a songs from Broadway favorites Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel.

From all the bloggers of Culture Shock and the TBPAC... Happy Thanksgiving!

Opera Lover seeks advice from Dear Abby

From Nov. 21’s column:

DEAR ABBY:

Because I arrived late to an opera performance, I was forced to sit in the designated section for latecomers. Seated next to me was an attractive young lady with whom I had a pleasant conversation as we watched the televised first act. Afterward, of course, we took our assigned seats.

It is difficult for some of us art and opera lovers to find compatible friends with shared interests. My question is, do genteel younger women consider it foolishly ill-mannered, disturbing or offensive to be impetuously invited by an older, single gentleman (age 47) for an after-performance dinner or cocktail?

-- GIL IN HOUSTON



DEAR GIL:

Heck, no! And stop calling yourself old. It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.

You heard it from the expert Gil! Do you have a “special someone” you’d like to take to the opera? Opera Tampa’s The Barber of Seville is just around the corner on Dec. 5 and 7. Think of it as one of the “first romantic comedies.” Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!

- Kari G.

See a show this weekend!

Phantom of the Opera closes Sunday, but we're more than just Broadway! Here are two other shows gracing our stages this weekend:

Trent Armand Kendall in Picture Incomplete - a one man musical


Steve Solomon's My Sisters an Only Child

MetMin Phantom food drive update

MetMin weighs all of their donations, and guess what ... ?

With all of our efforts, and the generosity of the Phantom folks, we provided Met Min with a TON of food -- literally -- more than a ton, actually -- 2400 pounds! That's almost a ton and a half!

Remarkable!

-sb

Sir David Frost on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Sir David Frost was the special guest last night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, promoting the DVD of the original interviews between him and Richard Nixon.

There is also a national tour out of the play based on those 28 hours of interviews that spanned 12 days, Frost/Nixon, which stars Stacey Keach and is coming to Tampa Feb. 17-22. A Ron Howard film is also coming out soon starring Frank Langella and Martin Sheen - the original cast of both the London and Broadway productions.

Get a $5 ticket with a food donation this Wed. or Thu.!

If you were here last night, or were leaving Downtown between 5:30 and 6:30, you probably saw the line wrapped around TBPAC. All of those folks brought non-perishable items to benefit Metropolitan Ministries food bank, and in return they could purchase a ticket to Phantom for $10.

The drive was a rousing success -- we filled two 55 gallon barrels and three 20 bushel stage hampers! 1,000 people came down, each bringing at least one item and many bringing cases or multiple bags of food.

Since it was so successful, in the spirit of the season of giving, we're gonna do it again!

Tomorrow night and Thursday night, if a patron brings a non-perishable food item to the TBPAC Ticket Office, they will receive a voucher to purchase a ticket to Steve Solomon's My Sister's an Only Child, for just $5. This hilarious follow-up to his previously sold-out engagements of My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy plays in the Jaeb Theater Nov. 19-23.
The show will have you in stitches and you'll feel great because you'll be helping poor and homeless families receive a holiday meal, or perhaps just help them to have dinner one night this week.

In their 2008 fiscal year Metropolitan Ministries:

• Sheltered 101 families
• Sheltered 38 single women
• Served over 20,000 Outreach families with 61,500 children
• Provided over 21,000 families with holiday assistance

Help them continue to bring a little holiday cheer to those in our community who need it most.

SPREAD THE WORD! Send this on to colleagues, friends and family.

-sb

Picture Incomplete opens this year's Off Center Series - this weekend!

I have a special attachment to the Shimberg Playhouse. Of all five halls at TBPAC, I likely spend the second-most amount of my time in the building in that room (the first of course being my office).

The Shimberg hosts a lot of events, but my attachment is mostly to my own Jobsite Play Series as well as the Off Center Series.

Before Jobsite ever began working in the Shimberg, I watched shows in the Shimberg Playhouse (then the Off Center Theater) that I couldn't have seen anywhere else in the region.

In the 10 years I've been in Tampa I've seen gripping solo work like Danny Hoch's Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop (my first Off Center show). I've been delighted by the female clown troupe Gams on the Lam (twice). I've had the opportunity to take workshops from the Gams and from Shawn McConneloug and Her Orchestra. There have been puppets, gay Jewish jugglers and a one man play about an artist who cut his ear off as written by Spock and performed by a USF alum. Karla Hartley has done an outstanding job bringing quality, innovative work to TBPAC year in and year out.

The importance of work like this can't be overstated. Truly, this sort of work exists no where else in the region. Like much of what we do at TBPAC, you simply won't find it anywhere else.

It's often difficult to attract an audience to unknown plays even by known local or national companies. It can be far more challenging to attract an audience to unknown work by unknown players.

To be blunt, in these difficult financial times work like this is often among the first to be put on the cutting block - despite how mission-oriented it might be. It's economics, plain and simple. It's why we're trying to make such a push for this year's series, so that's not even an option.

The first of this year's Off Center Series is this weekend. It's Picture Incomplete - a one man musical. I spoke to Karla last night, and she tells me how great the show sounds from the rehearsals they've already had in the building. Some TBPAC patrons may even remember Trent Armand Kendall from his performance in Diva Diaries a few years back. He's a driven performer who is taking time from his other gig - part of the national tour for The Color Purple - to bring his show to us in Tampa this weekend.

Not to hard sell or anything, but there is a special offer on this year's series for just $49 for all four shows available through this weekend. It's a great deal, check it out if you're interested. Trent is also offering a free workshop on Friday on the subject of creating a musical.

Chitty auditions are FULL

The child auditions for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang are now FULL. We cannot accept any more applications. Thanks for your interest, and we hope you can see the show!