Florida Spotlight: November 2010
Broadway veterans Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan play the title characters in the new musical Bonnie & Clyde, featuring a book by Ivan Menchell, music by Frank Wildhorn, and lyrics by Don Black. Jeff Calhoun directs the show, at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota (November 16-December 19). Meanwhile, in Orlando, the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre is “Puttin’ on the Ritz” for the opening of the new Broadway Across America series as they welcome the loony Mel Books musical Young Frankenstein (November 30-December 5).
The word of the month in Miami: Kooza. No, it’s not a trendy new nightclub — it’s another feast of acrobatic whimsy from Cirque de Soleil. The touring show swings down from Canada for a U.S. premiere at Miami’s Bicentennial Park from November 12-December 5, and with it comes a return to Cirque’s roots. Expect to see breathtaking tightrope moves, precarious balancing acts and a healthy dose of humor from Kooza‘s “Trickster” and his cast of colorful clowns.
Nearby, come back down to earth as the University of Miami tackles one of theatre’s most complex heroines with their production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre (November 10-20). And at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, two lovers wade through the intrigues of old China in the Florida Grand Opera production of Puccini’s final work, Turandot (November 13-27).
Further up the east coast, the popular homegrown musical Vices: A Love Story returns at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton (November 7-December 12) after its premiere there last year. See the romantic lives of a young couple play out wordlessly through A.C. Cuilla’s choreography in this encore production. In Fort Lauderdale, the dance floor at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts gets a little more crowded with a visit from the touring ballroom showcase Burn The Floor (November 16-28), featuring a dizzying array of styles from waltz to swing. Meanwhile in Plantation, fiction turns to friction between a pair of writers in Donald Margulies’ drama Collected Stories at the Mosaic Theatre (November 11-December 5).
In Jupiter, a game of truth and consequences plays out behind closed doors as the classic Reginald Rose drama Twelve Angry Men holds court at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre (November 2-14), directed by Tony Award winner Frank Galati. North to Daytona, we find courtroom shenanigans of a brighter shade when the touring cast of Legally Blonde the Musical hits the Peabody Auditorium for a brief visit on November 6 before heading to the Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center November 8.
There’s still more touring musical fun to be had as the girl group hit Dreamgirls returns to Florida for shows at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa (November 16-21) and the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach (November 23-28). Also at the Straz, catch a little holiday cheer with Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (November 30-December 5), another touring slice of nostalgia featuring classic chestnuts like “Blue Skies” and the title song. For a more cynical take on the season, stop by the Gorilla Theatre for James Rayfield’s wry farce Christmas Stopping (November 18-December 12).
Fort Myers brings us back into the spirit with the high-kicking Rockettes as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular comes to the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall November 11-28. Elsewhere in the area, take your pick of turn-of-the-century tunes with the Venice Theatre’s production of Ragtime (November 2-28), or murderous motives in Florida Repertory Theatre’s staging of the Patrick Hamilton thriller Gaslight (November 30-December 19).
