Hamlet, Prince of Cuba

The Asolo Rep’s education department has scheduled an impressive array of talkbacks and lectures in conjunction with the theater’s current production of Hamlet, Prince of Cuba. The show has been presented in English for the past few weeks. Beginning May 3, the same cast will perform the show in Spanish with English supertitles.

I was highly impressed with this brisk, pared-down production, which is set in Havana in 1898. I was particularly moved by the performance of Frankie Alvarez in the title role. His risky, on-the-edge portrayal is riveting and so fresh that you think you’re hearing Hamlet’s famous monologues for the first time.

The cast will be featured on the Fox 13 Morning Show in Tampa on Thursday from 7-9:30 a.m.  Some cast members will have a talkback with the audience following Sunday’s matinee performance.

At 7 p.m. April 20, cast members and members of Tampa’s Cuban community will discuss the production, and the evolution of American culture in 21st-century Tampa. The discussion will be at Centro Asturiano de Tampa, 1913 N. Nebraska Ave.

On April 28, Hamlet cast member (and Sesame Street veteran)  Emilio Delgado will take part in a bilingual storytelling session for children six and under. It’s in the Asolo rehearsal hall at 10 a.m.

On May 2, a panel that will include playwright Nilo Cruz (who did the Spanish translation of Hamlet) will discuss the Cuban-American identity. The session is in the Asolo’s Cook Theatre at 5 p.m.

The first Spanish performance on May 3 will be preceded by a dinner benefiting the new Hispanic organization Unidos Now.

Congratulations to the Asolo for making such strong efforts to reach out to the Hispanic community during this production, which is the first bilingual production of a Shakespeare play ever mounted by a U.S. theater company.

Sarasota Film In Festival Spotlight

Movies shot in exotic locations in Asia, Europe and South America will be screened at the Sarasota Film Festival, which opens on Friday. But the lush cinematography in The Perfect Wedding showcases the tropical beauty of Sarasota, where it was filmed last year.

The movie, a gay romantic comedy about two men who meet at a wedding, will be screened at 2:15 p.m. Saturday at the Regal Hollywood 20.

The film was written and produced by part-time Sarasota residents Ed Gaffney and Suzanne Brockmann.  This was the first film venture for the two novelists (he earned an Edgar Award nomination for his legal thriller Enemy Combatant, while she is the best-selling author of several suspense series).

The project grew out of a conversation with their  actor son, Jason, who is gay.  “Jason was bemoaning the fact that so many films use gay characters for easy laughs or present being gay as a problem,” Gaffney says. “He mentioned that you never see a just a funny story of a couple of guys who happen to fall in love.”

In The Perfect Wedding, the budding romance between two young men is presented matter-of-factly. The guys’ mutual attraction is handled in the same manner as two other subplots involving straight couples.

“The screenplay was inspired by The Cosby Show, in that the humor in that show didn’t come from the characters’ race, and they never resorted to stereotypes,” Gaffney says. “It was universal.”

Jason Gaffney, who contributed to the script, will attend the Sarasota screening. He plays Gavin, who accompanies his friend to Sarasota to help prepare for his sister’s wedding. The cast also includes veteran Hollywood character actors James Rebhorn (Independence Day, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain) and Kristine Sutherland, perhaps best-known for playing Buffy’s mother on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Directed by Scott Gabriel, the film was shot at various locations in Sarasota and Osprey. Though it was made on a minuscule budget by Hollywood standards, it has the look and texture of a much more expensive film, which pleases Gaffney enormously.

He and his wife are also thrilled to be invited to screen the film at the festival.“It’s a great honor, and I’m excited that all the people who were so kind in helping get this film made will actually be able to see it,” Gaffney said.

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Mark Zeisler and JD Taylor in Red.

I need a spring break!

I’m worn out, but happily so, from attending six jam-packed days of cultural events and parties, many of which involved exciting collaborations between local arts organizations.

For example, the Asolo Rep and the Ringling Museum of Art are partnering to present Red, the crackling, stimulating  drama about painter Mark Rothko that opened Friday in the museum’s Historic Asolo Theater.

At a pre-performance dinner, Michael Edwards, the Asolo’s producing artistic director, noted proudly that this is the first production of the Tony Award-winning play anywhere to involve a collaboration with an art museum.

Edwards said the partnership is “a perfect marriage of our missions,” and he praised Ringling Executive Director Steven High and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Matthew McLendon for their commitment to the project.  Their expertise has “revealed elements of the play that we otherwise would not have seen,” Edwards said.

As part of the collaboration, by the way, McLendon has curated a complementary exhibition, Luminosity, inspired by Rothko’s obsession with light.

The opening-night dinner and performance attracted an enthusiastic  number of museum and Asolo supporters, all of whom leapt to their feet to give actors Mark Ziesler and JD Taylor a prolonged standing ovation as the thrilling show ended.

Greenfield Prize-winner, Hermitage Artist Retreat resident and Sarasota Magazine cover star Sanford Biggers.

Big Week for the Hermitage

Talk about collaboration: the Hermitage Artist Retreat was presenting programs  all over town in a week that culminated with its Greenfield Prize Celebration Dinner  on Sunday.

Last Thursday, Codex, a provocative  exhibition by 2010 Greenfield Prize winner Sanford Biggers, opened at the Ringling Museum. The next day, at the Ringling College of Art and Design, the engaging, charismatic Biggers presented a multi-media lecture about his outside-the-box career.

On Sunday afternoon, the Hermitage and the Greenfield Foundation held a free symposium at Holley Hall that focused on breaking  the boundaries between art and music. The panelists included Joseph Melillo, the executive producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The Sunday night dinner, at Michael’s on East, attracted leaders of virtually every arts organization in town.  They heard a keynote speech by Robert Spano, the music director of the Atlanta Symphony, and were treated to a performance by pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, who later accepted his 2012 Greenfield Prize.

The prize includes a $30,000 stipend, and will allow Iyer to spend up to six weeks at the Manasota Key artist colony creating new work.  “The award will make a tremendous difference in my life in the coming year,” Iyer said. “It enables me to focus less on career and more on art and community…”

In the past few years, more than 100 visual artists, writers, composers  and playwrights have nurtured their creativity in the handsomely restored old-Florida cottages on the Hermitage’s waterfront campus. At the dinner, Executive Director Bruce Rodgers gave an update about what some Hermitage alumni are doing now. And it turns out their works are being seen and heard everywhere from Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera House to the concert halls of Europe.

It was nice to be reminded what a profound affect the Hermitage is having as an incubator of new and exciting art.

Van Wezel Unveils Broadway Season

If  everybody loved Broadway as much as Seth Rudetsky, the Van Wezel’s 2012-13 Broadway series would sell out in a few hours.

Rudetsky, a pianist, actor, author and host of a popular Broadway-obsessed radio show, was the hyperactive and hilarious host of the Van Wezel’s Broadway Series announcement party on Monday. He shared his encyclopedic knowledge of the most arcane Broadway trivia, introduced film clips and played “Name That Tune” with audience members.  Kudos to the Van Wezel for putting such a creative spin on the boring  announcement press conference.

The season is a blend of recent Broadway shows like The Addams Family,  Catch Me If You Can and Hair, as well as a 25th anniversary production of Les Miserables  and return engagements of A Chorus Line and Chicago.  For the full lineup, go to vanwezel.org.

On Stage Party

I raced from the Van Wezel to the Asolo for the last in the theater’s series of Starry Night’s parties. Most of these intimate events are held in patrons’ homes. But this elegant dinner was served on the Asolo mainstage (a much more cozy space than it appears from the audience).  Before dinner, guests were entertained  by interactive skits performed by FSU/Asolo Conservatory students dressed as characters from this season’s shows.

Katie Cunningham  had me grab a director’s bullhorn as we entered the world of the Hollywood comedy Once in a Lifetime. Portraying elocution teacher Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady,  Brendan Ragan was hilarious as he tried to guess where his guests were from. Luckily, nobody tried to recreate the famous vomiting scene from God of Carnage.

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Dominic Walsh

In the Sarasota Ballet rehearsal studio last Saturday, company members listened intently as choreographer Dominic Walsh critiqued their run-through of his ballet Bello.

“That was great, the partnering is really coming along nicely,” Walsh said. But then he suggested a long list of tweaks, from the way a shoulder was bent to the way a leg should be pointed. He told one dancer she needed to be more alluring in a particularly sensual part of the ballet.

“You can even mouth the words  ‘Are you coming to bed?,’" he told her. “This is your Meryl Streep moment.”

Walsh, however, wasn’t in the rehearsal hall. He was a thousand miles away in Texas, watching the dancers via Skype on a computer.  The dancers huddled around an iPad in Sarasota as they conversed with him.

As a technophobe who has barely learned how to send a picture on my phone,  I was amazed at how smoothly this “virtual” rehearsal unfolded.  As long as the dancers stayed within certain boundaries on the floor, Walsh could see every move they made, with crystal-clear reception.

And what moves they made!  Bello, which will be performed April 13-14 in a program that will also feature Nine Sinatra Songs by Twyla Tharp and George Balanchine’s Serenade, is both elegant and earthy, and it’s sure to get a passionate response.

Though abstract in form,  it is a tribute to a now-deceased dancer friend of Walsh’s. The  main character reflects on his life through his relationship with the influential women in his life.

A former principal with the Houston Ballet, Walsh formed his own company, the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, and he serves as Sarasota Ballet’s resident choreographer.

The upcoming performances are at the Sarasota Opera House. For ticket information, go to sarasotaballet.org.

Glorious Celebration of DeRenzi ‘s Anniversary

Maybe it was appropriate that a blown fuse briefly interrupted Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi’s 30th anniversary concert on Sunday night at the Sarasota Opera House. Because this was an electrifying,  thrilling performance that left the cheering audience breathless at the end.

DeRenzi conducted a full orchestra on the Opera House stage, as principals and chorus members sang excerpts from several operas, incuding Fidelio, Norma and La Forza del Destino.

I was hoping that DeRenzi might offer a few words of reflection about his remarkable tenure with Sarasota Opera. Maybe he did that at a post-concert reception. More likely, he wanted this glorious music to speak for itself.

Westcoast Black Theatre Expanding its Season

If you’re one of the passionate fans of the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe,  you’ll have a lot more to love next season.

Because of audience demand, the company is adding a week to the run of each of its four productions next year. The company is also opening a month earlier, in November.

The opening production is an original show, Nate Jacobs’ ‘50s Jukebox Revue,  which celebrates such artists as Fats Domino, Little Richard and The Platters.

The troupe will perform its third play by Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson, Jitney.  Set in 1970s Pittsburgh, it’s about a group of cab drivers who search for meaning in their lives.

The musical revue Soul Crooners 2 is a followup to one of the company’s biggest hits.  “People have been asking to bring back Soul Crooners, but I thought it made more sense to do a new version,’’ Artistic Director Nate Jacobs said.

The season ends with It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, a Tony Award-nominated musical revue that explores the development of blues music from its African roots to the present.

 

With the Selby Botanical Gardens as the perfect tropical backdrop, organizers of the Sarasota Film Festival unveiled their diverse and intriguing 2012 lineup on Monday.

Encompassing 230 movies from 30 countries, the festival  is larger and more wide-ranging  than ever, said director Tom Hall. Running from April 13-22, the festival will feature 14 U.S. or world premieres.

Oscar-nominated actor Frank Langella will attend the opening-night screening of his new film, Robot and Frank, in which he co-stars with a robot.  Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings and Lost) and rising young actress Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism) will appear at the screening of their new horror thriller, The Day.

Another movie in the horror genre, V/H/S,  will get the second annual Terry Porter Award, named  in honor of the late and beloved manager of the Video Renaissance store.

As a fan of provocative director Todd Solondz  (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness) I’m eager to see his new film, Dark Horse,  which will be the festival centerpiece.

The strong documentary field is headed by Ethel, a tribute to Ethel Kennedy by her daughter,  Rory, who will introduce the film. The festival and Sarasota Ballet are teaming to present  several  dance-related films, including “First Position,” a documentary about an international ballet competition.

On the festival’s closing night,  Joe Berlinger, nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar this year, will present his new work, Under African Skies, about Paul  Simon’s Graceland album.

More stars will be added to the festival’s celebrity lineup as the event  gets closer, said Festival president Mark Famiglio, who promised  some “big, bold” announcements to come.

In its 14th year, the festival  has felt more accessible and focused on films rather than parties in recent years. In part that’s because the economic downturn forced the festival to cut its budget and jettison events like the black-tie gala. I particularly love the conversation series with guest artists, a program Hall called the festival’s “hidden gem.”  This year, Langella, Solondz and Kennedy are scheduled to take part in the series, and more names may be added.
I’m also impressed that , even in these challenging economic times, the festival has not only maintained but expanded its education and outreach programs. There will be 13 free programs for students in the festival’s youthFEST  program. The festival has also announced partnerships with the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the State College of Florida and several local non-profit organizations.

Tickets for films, passes and packages go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday at the festival box office inside the Regal Hollywood 20.  Tickets may also be purchased online at sarasotafilmfestival.com.

Both organizations announced their 2012-13 schedules this week, the Asolo at a town hall reception in its theater, and the ballet at a press conference on the University of South Florida campus.

The Asolo season will be an all-American affair, featuring new and classic works by American playwrights.  The season opens two weeks after the November presidential election with the musical 1776, about the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

“After what promises to be divisive election, I thought it would be an appropriate time to do a show that can help heal,  one that reminds us of our collective strength and identity,” said Michael Edwards, the Asolo’s producing artistic director.

A native of Australia and now a U.S. citizen, Edwards said he has a love and passion for aspects of American life that native-born residents may take for granted. That’s why he’s launching a five-year initiative at the Asolo  to explore the American character.

The Asolo’s winter repertory season will open in January with the classic George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart comedy  You Can’t Take it With You.  Set in the Depression, the show focuses on the chaos that ensues when the daughter of a  free-thinking Manhattan family falls for the son of a conservative Wall Street executive.

“Considering the economic times we’re in, it’s a timely play that examines what’s really important in life,” Edwards said.

It will be followed by David Mamet’s lacerating Glengarry Glen Ross, set in the cutthroat, unscrupulous world of high-stakes real estate sales.  Then comes Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles, about a an art history professor trying to balance her career and family life, and Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park, a comedic look at race relations that pays homage to Lorraine Hansberry’s  A Raisin in the Sun.

All four of the winter rep plays have one thing in common: each is the winner of a Pulitzer Prize.

The season will also include a new comic murder mystery by Ken Ludwig, the author of Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo.  The play,  The Game’s Afoot,  is a show-business mystery revolving around William Gillette, a real-life actor who became famous for portraying Sherlock Holmes.

The Asolo will also do two world premiere works, to be announced later, as well as the dance musical Pulse,  which was originally scheduled for this season but then delayed.

Greg Leaming, the director of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, announced the four plays that the graduate students in the program will be performing next year. The season opens with the Shakespearean comedy about love and mistaken identity, Twelfth Night, and also includes another classic, George Bernard Shaw’s Candida. Two contemporary works will  be in the mix, Annie Baker’s The Aliens,  a delicate drama about friendship, and Diana Son’s Stop/Kiss, about a kiss between two women that leads to tragedy.

BALLET GOING TO KENNEDY CENTER, AND TO THE CIRCUS

The Sarasota Ballet has been invited back to the Kennedy Center. And this time, the dancers will have the stage to themselves.

Sarasota Ballet will perform at the Washington, D.C. landmark in June 2013 as part of the “Ballet Across America III” festival. The company made its Kennedy Center debut last fall in a collaboration with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet.
“To be invited back straight-away, and this time on our own, is tremendous,” Artistic Director Iain Webb said at the Tuesday press conference.

The troupe is one of only nine companies from throughout the country invited to participate in the third annual festival.  The company, which under Webb has gained a national reputation as a leading exponent of the work of Sir Frederick Ashton,  will showcase Ashton’s ballets at the festival.

The company will also perform several  Ashton works in Sarasota during the 2012-13 season, including his witty full-length ballet, La Fille mal Gardee and Symphonic Variations.

The season will open in October with Sarasota Ballet presenting the renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company. In November, Sarasota Ballet will dance its first Taylor work, Company B, an exuberant piece performed to the music of the Andrews Sisters. The  program will also include a reprise of Christopher Wheeldon’s There Where She Loves.
December means The Nutcracker, but not the one you’re used to seeing. Sarasota Ballet is creating a new production that will salute Sarasota’s circus heritage. In this version, set in the 1930s, young Clara meets John Ringling at a New York Christmas party, and is transported not to the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy, but to the magical world of the circus at its Sarasota winter quarters.

“This is Sarasota’s Nutcracker, and in fact, it should be a production for the entire state,” Webb said.

After debuting at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall with a live orchestra, the production will move to Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall.  Zev Buffman,  Ruth Eckerd’s president and CEO, attended the press conference and said he was “blown away” by Sarasota Ballet’s “delicious idea.”

As a veteran booker at various facilities, Buffman said he’s seen many productions of the holiday ballet classic, “and some of them are getting pretty old. This Nutcracker is really going to make a statement.”

Rounding out the season will be performances of Sir Antony Tudor’s Lilac Garden and resident choreographer Dominic Walsh’s Neapolitani, as well as a program of dances by company members Ricardo Graziano and Kate Honea.

Ali Wentworth at Sarasota’s Barnes & Noble.

For nearly an hour on Saturday, uproarious  laughter erupted from the back of the Sarasota Barnes & Noble, where author and actress  Ali Wentworth regaled an overflow audience with anecdotes from her new book, Ali in Wonderland.

In hilarious detail,  Wentworth talked about growing up among the Washington elite,  her experience in Hollywood while performing in such TV series as  In Living Color and Seinfeld, and her marriage to ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos.

Wentworth and her husband, George Stephanopoulos

Wearing her blond hair pulled back and sporting an ivory top and blue slacks,  the 47-year-old Wentworth  combined the look of Grace Kelly with the wackiness  of Lucille Ball as she entertained nearly 100 fans at the book signing. Some sat on the floor  when the store ran out of chairs.

Normally, a Sarasota Barnes & Noble might not be on a celebrity author’s book tour (After all, Wentworth has chatted on air with Jay Leno, Charlie Rose, Bill Maher and the ladies of “The View” in recent weeks.)  But it helped that Wentworth could also visit her mother, Longboat Key resident Muffie Brandon Cabot, who happens to be a major figure in Ali in Wonderland.

Cabot was Nancy Reagan’s social secretary, and Wentworth’s father and stepfather were both political journalists. So it was normal for people like Jackie Kennedy and Henry Kissinger to drop by when Wentworth was a child. Kissinger even towed her across the family’s swimming pool on occasion.

“He was probably bombing Cambodia at the time, but I liked him because he had a nice, wide back to hold on to,” Wentworth said.

During the Watergate era, the family became suspicious that its phones were being bugged. “My siblings were horrified, but I was delighted at the thought of having a built-in audience to perform for,” quipped Wentworth, who was already dreaming of a career in show business.

Despite her mother’s reservations, after graduating from Bard College, Wentworth fled Washington for Hollywood,  where she performed for three years on In Living Color and later played Jerry Seinfeld’s girlfriend in the famous “Soup Nazi” episode.  She has appeared in such films as Jerry McGuire and It’s Complicated, and was a frequent guest panelist on pop-culture segments of  The  Oprah Winfrey Show.

When a friend tried to set her up on a date with Stephanopoulos in 2001, she initially demurred, having little desire to meet a renowned symbol of the world of politics and journalism that she’d rebelled against.

“I said, ‘Well, first of all, isn’t he gay?’”  Wentworth recalled. “And secondly, I didn’t care about politics, and figured he’d be the last person I’d be interested in. I was holding out for Hugh Grant or Matthew Perry.  Besides, George  had dated the entire island of Manhattan by then. But I thought it might be a nice party story to say I once went out with George Stephanopoulos.

“So I agreed to meet him for lunch. But I didn’t even shave my legs, and just wore some black pants and a white oxford shirt. Not very romantic.”

However, over some “mayonnaisey crab sandwiches,” she found herself enchanted.  “I would have gone downtown to the courthouse and married him right then,” Wentworth said.

She didn’t have to wait too long. Two months after the lunch, Stephanopoulos proposed, and they married six months later. His father, a Greek orthodox priest, performed the ceremony. 

“His father did the pre-marriage counseling, too, and it was kind of weird to have your father-in-law ask  if you have renounced Satan, ” Wentworth said.

The couple lives in Manhattan with their two young daughters, though Stephanopoulos, the co-host of Good Morning, America, commutes to Washington on weekends to host the Sunday morning show “This Week.”

“I  told him he might as well become a recurring character on (the ABC sit-com) Cougartown, too, Wentworth joked about her husband’s workaholic ways.

Though some might find them an unlikely pair,  Wentworth said their marriage works because “on the base level, we agree on everything that’s most important. And we’re different enough that it doesn’t ever get dull. I learn a lot from him, I have such respect for him.  And I make him laugh a lot. Our pillow talk doesn’t revolve around politics. It’s not like I’m sitting there saying,  ‘Oh, tell me more about Mitt Romney!’”

Every article about Wentworth seems to describe her as wacky or quirky (OK, even I fell into that trap).  “As an entertainer, I’m fine with that, but that’s not all I am,” she said, smiling. “I think I have some depth, too. And I think George gives me some credibility.”

Wentworth has described Ali in Wonderland as a kind of love letter to her mother, who was taking care of her daughters while she attended the book signing.

“She is somebody who never let anything stop her,” Wentworth said. “She’s been very successful in many different careers , and she instilled in her children the belief we could do whatever we wanted. She’s also an unbelievably generous and helpful friend, and I think I inherited that from her.

“I’m a better cook than she is, though.  When I just left my children with her for lunch, I thought, ‘Oh, no.’”

Near the end of her appearance, someone asked Wentworth if she’d be attending her old friend Seinfeld’s sold-out performances at the Van Wezel on Saturday.

“No, we see him all the time in New York, and his kids go to school with our kids. I’m so over Seinfeld,” she joked.  “I’m glad he sold out the Van Wezel, but I’ve sold out Barnes & Noble.”

Leif Bjaland

I’ve been covering the arts in Sarasota for more than 35 years,  and I’ve never experienced a more emotional event than Leif Bjaland’s final concert with the Sarasota Orchestra.

Bjaland received the first of many standing ovations from the capacity audience at Van Wezel on Sunday when he took the podium to conduct the concert’s opening piece, the prelude to Wagner’s Die Meistersinger.

But the applause really became thunderous, and audience members began wiping away tears, when concertmaster Daniel Jordan gave a moving, heartfelt tribute to Bjaland near the concert’s end. He praised him not only for his artistry but for his humanity, describing him as not only a great boss, but a great friend to all the musicians.  He said he hoped Bjaland would return one day as a guest conductor, a suggestion that produced another roar from the audience.

A clearly touched Bjaland then took the microphone–reluctantly, he said, for he worried that he couldn’t keep his emotions in check. But in his typically eloquent style, Bjaland thanked the musicians and the audience, then took the podium for the final time to conduct Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.

After the final note, audience members leapt to their feet again, and demanded numerous curtain calls. In the final one, Bjaland turned toward the orchestra, made a deep bow, and with a final wave to the audience, he was gone.

I was honored to attend a post-concert party for Bjaland, along with many of Sarasota’s artistic directors,  including  Sarasota Opera’s Victor DeRenzi,  Sarasota Ballet’s Iain Webb and Key Chorale’s Joseph Caulkins. Bjaland said he was  grateful to have worked  in a community with such accomplished, creative leaders. They in turn told me they’d all been inspired by Bjaland’s vision and his collaborative nature.

We may never know the exact reasons that caused the orchestra management and Bjaland to part ways. Bjaland, who doesn’t have a new job lined up yet, hasn’t commented about why he’s leaving. The most-rumored scenario is that Bjaland fell out of favor with the board,  which felt he’d  become too close to the musicians during labor negotiations a few years ago.

I wonder if board members had any second thoughts as they observed the outpouring of affection for  Bjaland from the entire community.  I hope they realize how lucky all of us were to have had him in our midst for the last 15 years.

Turner Exhibit Opens at Ringling’s Selby Gallery

An unusual exhibit of the works of  British artist William Turner opens this week at the Ringling College of Art and Design’s Selby Gallery.  And if an art collector’s dream comes true, the works might one day be on permanent display in their own Sarasota museum.

The exhibit, running from Feb. 24 through March 28, features pre-publication proofs and folios from the collection of  Sarasota resident Douglass Montrose-Graem.  The works “reveal a unique insight into how a genius develops the initial sketch into a finished product–the published engraving,” Montrose-Graem said.

Turner (1775-1851) is one of England’s most renowned and innovative artists, and is considered a forerunner of Impressionism and abstract art.  Extremely prolific, he produced nearly 20,000 watercolors, oil paintings and etchings. His favorite subjects included dramatic storms and awe-inspiring landscapes.

Montrose-Graem’s collection includes nearly 1,500 of Turner’s works on paper and a Turner oil sketch. He says it is the largest Turner collection outside of England.

Montrose-Graem once operated a  Turner museum in Denver, and he hopes to resurrect it in Sarasota.  The non-profit museum he envisions would be constructed in an urban complex that would also encompass shops and restaurants. He says the museum would  “appeal to the five senses,” and would be a site where Sarasota performing arts groups could present programs.

Though Montrose-Graem says he has several potential  investors lined up, “we need someone to step up and make the first commitment,” he said.
 

As a big fan of the Asolo Rep, I thought I knew everything about the organization. But even I was amazed to  discover the breadth and depth of its outreach and education programs.

My knowledge increased at the Asolo’s first-ever Theatre Arts Youth Education luncheon, held last week at Michael’s on East.  I knew immediately this would be an interesting luncheon when, in addition to name tags, all guests received “report cards” with our table designation (I was happy  that my card directed me to  table “P for Perfect”).
Brian Hersh, the Asolo’s education and outreach director, was the affable host. He introduced a terrific video that gave us a visceral sense of how life-changing these programs are for the students they reach.

And the Asolo reaches more than 14,000 middle and high-school students a year in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Some of the students come to the Asolo for student matinees, while in other cases the Asolo comes to them, with such productions as this year’s Hamlet Redux, a scaled-down, 60-minute version of the Bard’s drama.

The education department also encompasses Kaleidoscope, which serves the developmentally challenged, Lend Us Your Voice, which helps students create their own plays, and a student journalism program about theater criticism.
Hersh said most of the students served have never seen a performance of live theater before, and nearly all of those surveyed after performances say they’re eager to see another.

The emotional high point of the video was a scene involving deaf students who watched a production of Hamlet Redux  in which FSU/Asolo actors were paired with performers who signed. At the end of the play, the kids in the audience began waving their arms wildly above their heads – the hearing-impaired version of vociferous applause.

Michael Edwards, the Asolo’s producing artistic director, praised Hersh and his education team for making the program such a standout.  Edwards also talked about the Asolo’s upcoming production of Hamet, Prince of Cuba.

Most of those performances will be done in English, but several will be performed by the same cast in Spanish. The Spanish-language student matinee was the first to sell out, Edwards noted proudly. For he committed to this project because he felt the Asolo had an obligation to build bridges to the Hispanic community.

Margot and Warren Coville, major supporters of the education program, received an award at the luncheon, as did Teri Hansen of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, which helped revive the student  touring program in 2008.

Asolo’s Yentl Gets Air Time On NPR

Singer-songwriter Jill Souble. Photo by Kristine Larsen.

The Asolo’s current production of Yentl (read Kay Kipling’s review here) got some national publicity recently when it was the focus of a report on NPR.

 The Asolo production, as you may know by now, bears little resemblance to the Barbra Streisand film, about a young girl who passes as a boy so she can study at a Yeshiva school. The plot of the play is much closer to the original Isaac Bashevis Singer short story.  Instead of Papa, Can You Hear Me?, the production features new music by singer/songwriter Jill Sobule.

Sobule told NPR’s Guy Raz that she views Yentl as being about a transgender woman’s coming-of-age.

“There was no word for it back then, but I think [she] was transgender,” Sobule said of the title character. “I mean, it’s several times in the book where the father says to her, ‘You have the soul of a man and the body of a woman.’”

Singer was critical of the singing in the Streisand film. In the Asolo staging, none of the characters sing on stage. The music is a kind of offstage Greek chorus. Sobule  thinks Singer  would like her version, because her music “keeps the spirit of the play and has a sense of humor.”

Sobule, by the way, will be giving a concert of her songs at the Asolo on Feb. 13.

Michelle Obama in Sarasota on Thursday.

I wanted to  offer  Michelle Obama some words of support  in Sarasota on Thursday. But it was she who ended up giving me an encouraging  pat on the back.

“We admire and respect the work you do, and the example you set,” I told the First Lady as I posed for a picture with her in Caren and Dick Lobo’s bayfront home. “So remember that when the crazies get you down.”

“Thank you, but I don’t let any of that get me down, ” Mrs. Obama said, flashing a magnetic smile as a photographer clicked away. Later, during a 20-minute speech before 300 in the Lobos’ back yard, Mrs. Obama was a dynamic and forceful  advocate for her husband’s policies and his re-election bid.

“You’re here because you know that we stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country,” she told the enthusiastic crowd. “You know that in less than a year, we’re going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come.

“And make no mistake about it, whether it’s healthcare, the economy,  whether it’s education or foreign policy, the choice we make will determine nothing less than who we are as a county–but more importantly, who we want to be. Who are we? Will we be a country where opportunity is limited to just the few at the top? Or will we be a place where, if you work hard, you can get ahead, no matter who you are or how you started out?”

Wearing a sleeveless black dress with silver accents, Mrs. Obama spoke under a tent and against a backdrop of U.S and Florida flags.  Her visit lasted about an hour, and encompassed the photo sessions and a private reception with some of the higher-end donors (donation levels started at $500).

Security was tight but relatively unobtrusive. Off-duty policeman patrolled Bay Shore Road in front of the house, and all visitors were searched with electronic wands before entering.  As the luncheon guests enjoyed roast beef sliders and salmon satay,  several police boats bobbed in the bay.

Referring to Barack Obama at various times in her remarks as “your president”  “my husband” and  “Barack,” Mrs. Obama she spoke extensively about his accomplishments, from bringing troops home from Iraq and abolishing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to pushing for equal pay for women and passing healthcare reform.

“But now, there are folks out there actually talking about repealing that reform,” she said, talking about the health care legislation. “Are we going to stand by and let that happen?”

“No,” shouted the crowd.

“Are we going to back to the days when insurance companies could deny our children coverage because they have a pre-existing condition like cancer or diabetes or even asthma?”

“No,” audience members yelled, with even more passion this time.

As the cheers continued, she told the crowd  it was “time for us to get moving. It is time for us to get it together, to get to work. Stop complaining and worrying. We need to stand up and work.”

And then, referring to the “I’m In” slogan printed on questionnaires that each audience member received, she asked repeatedly, “Are you in? Are you in?”

She beamed and applauded as audience members shouted, “Yes.”

“Because I am so in,” she said. “I am so very in.”