Florida Spotlight: February 2008

The Orlando area has lots of comedy, drama, and music this month. Attractions at the Maxwell C. King Center include Four Stand-up Dads (February 5-10), featuring Dan St. Paul, Milt Abel, Tim Bedore and Kelly McDonald; the national tour of Camelot (February 19-20) starring Lou Diamond Phillips; and comedians Bill Cosby (February 16) and Jerry Seinfeld (February 23). Another good choice is Playfest (February 8-17) at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, featuring 10 days of new play readings, workshops, panel discussions, and keynote addresses from nationally recognized playwrights.

Further south, Black Valentine! (February 15-23 at the Atlantic Theater in Jupiter) promises a night of improvised sketch and musical comedy. Also good for a laugh — and a tear — is the musical The Full Monty (Maltz Jupiter Theatre, February 28-March 16), based on the 1997 film about six out-of-work friends who plan to get their lives back together even if it requires taking off all their clothes. In Miami, the University of Miami will present two dramas by Pulitzer Prize winner, Suzan-Lori Parks; The America Play (February 21 – March 1) and Mad Forest (February 20 – March 2) at the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.

Options at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center include the Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys (February 13-March 15); David Mamet ‘s comedy, Boston Marriage (February 21-March 9), about Anna and Claire, two bantering, scheming women of fashion who have long lived together on the fringes of upper-class society; and The Second City: One Nation Under Blog (February 23).

Also on the West Coast: John Heard, John Vickery, Susan Sullivan, and Gregory Harrison will star in Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers (February 10) at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota. It’s a docudrama about the classified Pentagon studies that were published by the Washington Post during the Vietnam War; SMASH (February 15-May 3) at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, is a sharp comedy about love, women, and revolution; In the Belly of the Beast (February 6-24) at the Florida Studio Theatre, Sarasota examines the criminal mind of Jack Henry Abbott, a foster child who was imprisoned at a young age and cut off from human contact for almost twenty years; and the beloved musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (February 15-March 16) at the Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers.

Also on tap this month: Two Sisters and a Piano (Mailman Hollywood Theatre, February 29-March 16) by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz is a piercing portrayal of two musical sisters, Maria and Celia, and their trials while under house arrest in their family home. Agnes of God (February 22-April 6) at Palm Beach Dramaworks offers a thought-provoking look at faith, reason, sacrifice, and redemption when a young nun is accused of murdering her own baby. The hilarious Capitol Steps (Raymond F. Kravis Center, February 19-March 2) will bring their special brand of political comedy to West Palm Beach. In a more historical vein, Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh (February 24-March 30) at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton examines the young queen during the French Revolution.