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Top 10 arts events in Sarasota-Manatee: May 13-19
Sarasota Orchestra ends season, circus performers soar high and Westcoast troupe salutes female soul singers and more are among week s arts highlights.
Sailor Circus goes to the movies
If you missed the live performances of the Sarasota Sailor Circus’ “A Night at the Movies,” you still have a chance to experience some of the thrills and excitement from the comfort of your home. The production, which uses Hollywood for some inspiration, is available for home streaming beginning today. Long known as the Greatest “Little” Show on Earth, Sailor Circus features young performers performing on the flying trapeze, cloudswing, acrobatic roller skating, rolla bolla, Roman rings, high wire and more. “The show features a nice mixture of all of the traditional circus disciplines mixed with innovative and high-energy acts,” said head coach Miguel Vargas. Digital
Heard in such a compact format, some of the songs sound similar with lots of repeated choruses that are less captivating from your theater seat than when you’re dancing to them in a club or at a wedding. But Jacobs’ cast – Syreeta Shonteé, Ariel Blue, Stephanie Zandra and Delores McKenzie – performs them with great spirit and a style that echoes, without mimicking, the originals.
And it is clearly a nostalgic throwback for members of Saturday’s opening night audience, who were eagerly dancing in and around their seats and clapping along to just about every song. The choreography by Donald Frison is filled with lots of hand gestures, turns, struts and shimmies.
An ogre sings outdoors in ‘Shrek’
“Shrek, the Musical,” the stage version of the hit animated film, is usually produced with a cast of roughly 30 playing everyone from the green ogre named Shrek to dozens of fairy tale characters. All of them will be on hand, but in a different way in a new outdoor production presented by the Dingbat Theatre Project. All the actors play multiple characters and manipulate a variety of puppets. It is staged by founder Luke Manual McFatrich (he also plays Dragon) and is choreographed by Brian Finnerty (who also plays Lord Farquaad). Cory Woomert plays Shrek, Alyssa Goudy is Princess Fiona and Derric Gobourne Jr. is Donkey. The cast also includes Noelia Altamirano, Amanda Heisey and Jamie Molina. Performances are outdoors at the Bazaar on Apricot and Lime, 821 Apricot Ave., Sarasota, at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and May 13-15. Tickets are $25 or $50 for blanket seating for up to four people. For more information: dingbattheatre.org
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is thrilled to continue its Light Up the Night! open-air concert series with Sistas in the Name of Soul. This celebration of the female soul and R&B artists of the 70s (and some from the late 60s) will run from Saturday, May 8 through Sunday, June 6.
Featured vocalists for the show are Ariel Blue, Syreeta Shonteé, Delores McKenzie and Stephanie Zandra. Audiences will enjoy hits by renowned artists such as Freda Payne, Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Donna Summer and The Pointer Sisters. Favorites will include I m So Excited, Midnight Train to Georgia, Respect, Bad Girl and Band of Gold, among many others. The performance will be enhanced by brand new dance routines created by WBTT s Resident Choreographer Donald Frison.