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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
ROGUES GALLERY
Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s tragicomic musical is a sideshow of colorful characters who took aim at the president.
MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER
A+E EDITOR
In the U.S., some people want to grow up to be president. Unfortunately, some people grow up and try to kill the president. It dates back to 1835. While President Andrew Jackson was attending a funeral, Richard Lawrence took two shots at the man nicknamed “King Andrew” for his royal pretensions.
Lawrence was an unemployed British house painter suffering from the delusion that he was a deposed king. That’s why he wanted to get rid of Jackson. He did not succeed. Then 67, the former military hero fought off his attacker with his cane.
Lawrence doesn’t get a role in “Assassins,” the musical that Scott Keys is directing at The Sarasota Players from April 29 through May 10. But nine other presidential assassins and wannabes do. They are the “stars” of this vaudeville-style show with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman. Why did the “Assassins” do it? More important, why should we care? At first audiences didn’t care. When Sondheim and Weidman’s musical opened Off Broadway in 1991, it ran for just 73 performances. Critics said the musical failed to hit its mark because it was too dark and too confusing. The latter criticism was also leveled against Sondheim and George Furth’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” which closed on Broadway in 1981 after just 16 performances.
But “Assassins” and “Merrily” both got a second life. Like a fine wine, Sondheim’s musicals seem to get better as they age. Or maybe it’s the audiences who grew better.
When it was revived in 2004 on Broadway, “Assassins” played to packed houses and won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. (“Merrily” would have to wait another 20 years for its vindication, winning the same Tony in 2024.)
The rogues gallery in “Assassins” starts with John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, supposedly for dishonoring the South and tearing apart the Union. History stops in 1991 with John Hinckley Jr., an aspiring singer/songwriter who shot Ronald Reagan to get the attention of actress Jodie Foster.
The characters aren’t presented in chronological order, and liberties
IF YOU GO
‘ASSASSINS’ When: Through May 10 Where: The Sarasota Players, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $35; $15 students. Info: Visit ThePlayers.org.
are taken with history. In “Assassins,” Booth kills himself, but he was actually fatally wounded by a soldier. Nor did alienated factory worker
Leon Czolgosz meet up with socialist Emma Goldman before shuffling off to Buffalo to kill President William McKinley at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. And California cult member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and accountant Sara Jane Moore never hung out together and traded notes about their reasons for taking aim
assassins the guns they use in their attempts, and the Balladeer (Jason Ellis), who tries to put crazy, violent actions into context for the audience.
One of the show’s most powerful numbers comes at the beginning.
at President Gerald Ford. Despite their on-stage coffeeklatsch, we never learn why two women of such diverse backgrounds both tried to kill the pride of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In Sondheim and Weidman’s pastiche of history, the assassins bare their souls to one another in humorous and heart-breaking vignettes in what appears to be a purgatory for this rare category of sinners.
The musical establishes a throughline with the help of the Proprietor (Brian Finnerty), who sells the
“Everybody Got’s the Right to be Happy,” a duet between Czolgosz (pronounced COHL-GASH)) and the Proprietor, deftly encapsulates the siren song of the American Dream that sometimes leads strivers to the shoals.
In“Unworthy of Your Love,” Fromme and Hinckley share a duet about unrequited love.
While Hinckley was obsessed with the actress who skyrocketed to fame as a teen prostitute in “Taxi Driver,” Fromme laments just being another one of cult leader Charles Manson’s female sidekicks, not his main squeeze.
SEE ASSASSINS PAGE 2
Jason Ellis is the Balladeer.
Images courtesy of Adrian Van Stee
Brian Finnerty is the Proprietor.
Caitlin Ellis plays Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme.
Craig Weiskerger portrays John Wilkes Booth.
With its dark themes and tawdry cast of characters, “Assassins” wouldn’t seem a natural fit for a community theater during America’s semiquincentennial year. But the Sarasota Players, now in its 96th season, has been provocative and fearless in the hands of a young team now led by Thayer Greenberg, managing artistic director and director of education.
In an interview in Mable’s Rose Garden at The Ringling on a recent beautiful April afternoon, Keys talked about his approach to directing the musical and what he wants audiences to take away from it.
Keys noted that the two words repeated most often in “Assassins” in both scene and song are “listen” and “connect.”
He continues: “In these shootings that we’ve been having, if the perpetrator survives, when psychologists go in and talk to them, they often ask, ‘Is there anything that would have stopped you?’ And the answer usually is, ‘If somebody had just listened to me, paid attention.’”
Booth is a rarity among the characters in “Assassins” in that he appears to have been driven by
political motivations. Most of the shooters were overwhelmed by personal problems. If generalizations can be made, these characters came to believe that the odds of achieving the American Dream were stacked against them.
While Sondheim and Weidman are not without sympathy for the criminals, their musical is a carnivalesque fever dream of outlandish characters driven to desperation.
“It’s a sideshow, and they’re all kind of the freaks,” Keys says. “Now I know that sounds like such a hateful term, but that’s how they’re regarded, if they’re even regarded at all.”
The ethos of “Assassins” is perhaps best summed up in its song, “Another National Anthem.” As the characters lay out their respective reasons why they deserve a prize, the Balladeer breaks the bad news that one isn’t forthcoming:
Yes, you made a little moment
And you stirred a little mud
But it didn’t fix the stomach
And you’ve drunk your final Bud
And it didn’t help the workers
And it didn’t heal the country
And it didn’t make them listen
And they never said, “We’re sorry”—
Those who saw Keys’ production of “Parade” at Manatee Players in 2024 may find some similar themes in “Assassins.” Based on a real-life story about a Jewish man accused of murdering a young female worker at a Georgia factory in 1913, “Parade” is another showcase of Americana that limns the national chiaroscuro.
“I like these shows that make a statement about our country, our world, our political views, but in a very human way,” Keys says. “Whether in a comic or tragic way, we’re trying to get at the humanity of these people, and what led up to the act. It’s not the act itself. It’s not a show about watching these presidents get assassinated.”
In addition to more than 30 cast members in “Parade,” balloons play a supporting role. No spoiler here, but Keys puts one in “Assassins.”
“Balloons show up in my shows because they’re filled with breath and life,” he says. “I always find them to be a very powerful symbol.”
Keys’ production of “Assassins” features a different ending from the Off Broadway original and the Broadway revival. Although he doesn’t change songs or dialogue, Keys’ finale is more hopeful than other versions of “Assassins.”
If they were looking for immortality by trying to kill the president, most of the assassins fell short. The only two that can be considered household names are Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, perhaps because the presidents they killed were much beloved.
Nearly everyone alive on Nov. 22, 1963, can remember where they were when Oswald shot John F. Kennedy.
Hinckley didn’t win Jodie Foster’s love, but in an unlikely real-life coda, he has remade himself as a singer/ songwriter since being released from prison in 2022.
The image makeover seems to be working, especially among those too young to remember the 1980s. Keys says that when actor Kevin Moroney mentioned to a friend that he was playing Hinckley in “Assassins,” the person responded, “Oh yeah, the musician.”
Even if its streets aren’t paved with gold, it would appear that America is still the Land of Second Chances.
An
RETIREMENT
For more than two decades, Scott Keys was director of the theater program at Booker High School’s renowned Visual and Performing Arts Program, where he had been a teacher since 2000.
While he was directing and writing student productions at Booker, Key was active in local theater. His momentum has increased since his retirement in 2021.
Keys has directed plays at Florida Studio Theatre, Venice Theatre, Manatee Players and The Sarasota Players, where he recently joined the reconstituted board.
Last summer, Keys made his directorial debut at Asolo Repertory Theatre, an Actors Equity theater, with the children’s play, “A Year with Frog and Toad.”
Keys also appears on stage. His one-man show,“The Sequestered Jester,” was in the 2023 Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival. In April, he played the Narrator in Sarasota Players’ production of “Into the Woods,” Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s fairy-tale inspired musical.
One thing that Keys likes about directing and acting at Sarasota Players is the opportunity to work with his former Booker VPA students, including Managing Artistic Director Thayer Greenberg, Production Manager Brian Finnerty and actress Caitlin Ellis.
“To see this new generation of young artists forging a future for theater in this area just makes me so happy,” Keys says.
Although he has been approached for full-time jobs, Keys says he enjoys being a freelance director because it gives him the opportunity to work at different theater organizations in Sarasota, Bradenton and Venice.
After graduating Syracuse University’s musical theater program, Keys served as artistic director of the Weathervane Playhouse in Newark, Ohio, for seven years.
He then spent a decade in New York City, where he earned his MFA from NYU and worked at Playwrights Horizons. He and his partner, David Covach, decided to move to Sarasota in 1993 for its sunshine and its vibrant cultural scene.
With help from Covach, who is now costume shop manager at Asolo Rep, Keys has earned a reputation around town as a natty dresser.
Janet Combs
Scott Keys is a board member and freelance director at Sarasota Players.
ASSASSINS FROM PAGE 1
Image courtesy of Adrian Van Stee
In The Sarasota Players’ production of “Assassins,” Brian Finnerty (upper left) plays The Proprietor, Caitlin Ellis is Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Craig Weiskerger is John Wilkes Booth and Jason Ellis is the Balladeer.
“To see this new generation of young artists forging a future for theater in this area just makes me so happy.”
— Scott Keys
Artist William Kelley paints the colors of his mind
The canvas of the Sarasota-based world traveler is big, and his palette is bold.
MARTY FUGATE CONTRIBUTOR
William Kelley is a Sarasota-based painter and global thinker. His imagery explores questions of memory, identity and what the Romans called genius loci — the spirit of a place. He thinks big — and he paints big.
A visit to Kelley’s downtown studio begins with wine and conversation. He’s not big on art theory, but he’s a natural-born storyteller. His tales wander through travel, epiphanies and long-ago sunsets.
His large-scale paintings tell their own stories. They fill his studio walls like vast, open windows. They’re not realistic, but they’re oddly immersive. How does he do it?
“I’m basically a color person,” Kelley says. “Everything begins with color. That’s been my whole story.” It’s actually many stories. Over five decades, Kelley’s artistic odyssey has taken him across continents, subjects and scale. His art has seen many changes. But he always speaks in the language of color.
Kelley traces his mastery of color to Siesta Key. He moved there in 1983; his wife, author Susan Kelley, joined him after they married in 1989. Their beach house had a panoramic view of the Gulf of Mexico. Nature’s Technicolor glory deeply influenced Kelley’s art — sunsets especially.
Once the sun touches the Gulf horizon, it takes about two-and-ahalf minutes to disappear. A short span of time. But Kelley saw glimpses of infinite change.
“Gulf light refuses to stay still,” he says. “The colors go crazy as the sun sets. They change every second.”
To capture the sunset’s mercurial color shifts, Kelley did up to six studies a night. He’d tape watercolor paper to the seawall by his house and sprint like a relay racer, painting from sheet to sheet as the sun set.
He’d then merge those studies in a single oil-on-canvas painting. A time-lapse image, not a freeze-frame. The eye reads its overlapping colors as motion. That was Kelley’s goal.
“I wasn’t just painting one moment of the sunset,” he says. “I painted all the moments together. It’s how I paint time.”
In 1991, Kelley opened a gallery in downtown Sarasota’s Jack Dowd building, a lively hub of artists, entrepreneurs and outsiders. He met
Special
a lot of people there. They show up in Kelley’s work.
“Arts Day, Sarasota” (1991) is a bustling street packed with musicians, friends and historical figures. A playful composition. Kelley compares it to The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” album cover.
But some faces are blurs of color — like they’d moved when the camera clicked. It makes them feel oddly alive. And in a way, they are. The year 1991 is 25 years in the past. In this painting, it’s always the present.
Kelley was still painting time. But he was now capturing cultural history. Not desolate cliffs and sunsets, but slices of human experience. His figurative art had transformed. His landscapes would too.
FLORENCE, PARIS AND BEYOND
In the late 1990s, Kelley and his wife began spending part of the year in Florence. His studio overlooked the Ponte Vecchio and the Tuscan hills. The view was drop-dead gorgeous — and it got him out of his studio.
He roamed the countryside, painting landscape after landscape. Imperceptibly, those landscapes grew. After a visit to Paris’ Musée de l’Orangerie, they took a giant leap.
That museum boasts eight enormous Claude Monet paintings — a day in the life of a lily pond. They’re on display in a huge circular gallery. Kelley stepped into that circle. And had an epiphany.
Monet’s paintings aren’t picture windows to look through. They’re
portals that imaginative viewers could enter. “That’s how I wanted to paint,” he says. “I knew it instantly.”
Once Kelley returned to Florence, he followed in Monet’s footsteps. He launched a series of large-scale landscapes. These were immersive — but it wasn’t just a question of size.
The focus sharpened. Colors didn’t bleed. Trees and hillsides took on a faceted clarity. These new vistas went beyond realistic — they were hyper-realistic. Critics and collectors noticed. Kelley continued on this new direction. But Monet wasn’t his only artistic influence.
Kelley points to a panoramic canvas — a mountain bursting with psychedelic color. Imaginary? No. He says it’s “Mont Saint-Victoire” (2008), a very real mountain in southern France. It seems oddly familiar. What’s the story?
“That’s Cézanne’s mountain,” he says. “I painted it once. He painted it 200 times or more. I don’t know how he did it.”
Kelley studied this mountain on site and painted it in his Florence studio. And then painted many more. He was growing as an artist. His landscapes also grew — along with their hypnotic power.
How did Kelley do it? What was his secret?
Observation. Unflinching vision. Really looking at what you’re painting with laser-like attention. Monet did it with water lilies; Cézanne did it with his mountain; Kelley did it with everything he painted in this
The Arts Advocates Gallery inside the Crossings at Siesta Key mall is open every Saturday from 2-4 pm featuring the works of Sarasota Colony artists, the Florida Highwaymen, and changing monthly exhibits.
Event
A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Beth Arthur
May 2, 1-2 pm
Arts Advocates Gallery
Beth Arthur, an historic member of the Sarasota Art Colony, turns 100 this year. She spent six decades working as a contemporary artist. Beth and her daughter Robin Draper will participate in this special event celebrating Beth and her work.
Luncheon
Scholarship Awards
May 14, 11 am-1 pm
Sarasota Yacht Club
Ten students from Sarasota and Manatee counties will each receive a $5,000 scholarship for their arts studies. Meet them, view their work, see their performances, and cheer on these talented young people during this inspirational luncheon.
Artist Talk Meet Art Venti
May 19, 4-6 pm
Arts Advocates Gallery
Art Venti will talk about his incredibly meticulous and wonderful technique of applying layers of color to the fascinating surreal landscapes he has "imagined" and brought to life.
IF YOU GO
WILLIAM KELLEY STUDIO
Where: 1990 Main St. Sarasota. By appointment only. Info: Call 941-504-7235 or visit WilliamKelleyArt.com.
misty mountains in the distance. It’s a beautiful scene. A distillation of many vistas. It’s everything Kelley loves about this place. It’s the valley of his dreams. And he obviously dreams in color.
The title came from a Florentine art supplier, who studied the painting and quietly said, “This is my soul.”
MEETING BBC STAR
SISTER WENDY
This linear narrative of Kelley’s artistic path is an editorial fiction. His actual talk didn’t take a straight line. This natural-born storyteller spoke of many things. Of his benediction from Sister Wendy Beckett, the artcritic nun with a global audience on the BBC. Of his close encounter with AC/DC frontman, Brian Johnson. Of his near-death experience in a car accident coming back from Tampa airport.
new series. Each brush stroke got his full attention. That captured the viewer’s attention.
“Tuscan Soul” (2009) took it one step further. It’s a vista of the Panzano Valley — but not a place you can visit. It only exists in Kelley’s mind.
“I combined several landscapes,” he explains. “Same valley, different viewpoints, one painting.”
Where Kelley’s sunsets layered time, this work layers space. Not a shattered Cubist effect. It’s more like the Panzano Valley’s greatest hits.
Rolling hills, their contours marked with grooves like giant melted records. The grooves are a vineyard of pyrotechnic grapes. Trees with leaves of electric blue and lemon yellow rise up between the rows. Violet,
Long story short: Kelley’s still here. And he’s still painting. His latest painting sits on an easel. A new sunset. It’s still a work in progress.
Kelley smiles. That isn’t new. He’s always smiling. What makes him smile? Why is he so happy?
“Because the studio’s my happy place,” he says. “When I paint, I’m in Zen land.”
That “land” spans Florida beaches, Tuscan hills and far-flung landscapes. His immersive paintings distill, time, space, memory and every color of the rainbow.
Kelley’s paintings always begin with color.
They never go to the same place.
Courtesy images
The colors of William Kelley’s “Tuscan Soul” are rainbow-hued.
During one of his trips to Italy, William Kelley was able to spend time with famed art historian Sister Wendy Beckett.
Image courtesy of Susan Kelley
THURSDAY
SAXOPHONE SPLENDOR
11 a.m. at Sarasota Yacht Club, 1100 John Ringling Blvd.
$75
Visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org.
Artist Series Concerts pairs emerging artist Valentin Kovalev on saxophone with Joseph Holt on piano. A native of Siberia, Kovalev developed his unique classical style by studying in Russia, France and the U.S. He played Carnegie Hall during the 2023-24 season. Holt served as artistic director of Choral Artists of Sarasota for 15 years and has been a conductor, pianist, educator and arranger. The program includes music by Bach, Rachmaninoff, Bizet and Piazzolla. Lunch will follow the performance and a cash bar will be available.
‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’
7:30 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
$37-$99
Visit AsoloRep.org.
At Asolo Repertory Theatre, what’s old is new again under Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein. Director Rothstein breathes new life into “Fiddler on the Roof,” the feelgood musical set in a Russian village circa 1900, by casting actor/ musicians. Famous from both stage and screen, “Fiddler” follows Tevye’s efforts to find husbands for his daughters as he balances the traditions of the past and the opportunities of the present. Runs through May 24.
‘LIES, SPELLS & OLD WIVES’ TALES’
7:30 p.m. at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave.
$50 Visit WestcoastBlackTheatreTroupe. org.
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe founder and Artistic Director Nate Jacobs teams up with his brother, Michael Jacobs, again for “Lies, Spells & Old Wives’ Tales.” The musical comedy plays off the sayings, stories and beliefs passed down from one generation to the next. Stay for the grand finale. Runs through May 17.
‘BIRTHDAY CANDLES’
8 p.m. at Florida Studio Theatre’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St. $46 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
OUR PICK
MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ AT THE CABARET: HOT CLUB SRQ
Known for their style of Gypsy Jazz inspired by Djano Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, the string ensemble Hot Club SRQ is made up of Keven Aland on violin and vocals, John McLaughlin on guitar and Glenn Stevenson on bass. They can change their tune quite quickly, easily transitioning from an exuberant swing to a hypnotic ballad. Doors open for beverage and dinner service at 6:30 p.m.
IF YOU GO
When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 4
Where: FST’s John C. Court Cabaret, 1265 First St.
Tickets: $40
Info: Visit JazzClubSarasota.org.
DON’T MISS FOUNDATIONS OF ROYALTY
This wide-ranging program marks the culmination of the Sarasota Ballet’s 2025-26 season. It includes three ballets staged by Margaret Barbieri, assistant director of Sarasota Ballet. The first is the dramatic chess-inspired “Checkmate,” choreographed by Dame Ninette de Valois, who chose Barbieri to dance the Black Queen during her days as a principal at Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in London. Also on the program are Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Birthday Offering” and Sir Peter Wright’s “Summertide.” Runs through May 2.
IF YOU GO
7:30 p.m. Friday, May 1
Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. $35 and up Visit SarasotaBallet.org.
Don’t let the kids spend weekends glued to digital devices. Bring them out to Florida Studio Theatre for family oriented fare. A 50-minute program of short plays written by grade schoolers from around the world features professional actors bringing heroes of all kinds to life.
SUNDAY
ONE LIGHT, MANY VOICES
4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave. $45 Visit KeyChorale.org.
“Birthday Candles” stars Sarasota favorite Rachel Moulton as Ernestine Ashworth, whose 17th birthday celebration does a time warp and moves ahead to her 18th, 41st, 70th and 107th birthdays, all with the same cake. This Southeastern premiere is directed by Kate Alexander. Runs through May 17.
FRIDAY
‘SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING NEW’
10 a.m. at the Sarasota Art Museum campus of Ringling College, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail $20 Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.
Curated by Rangsook Yoon, “Something Borrowed, Something New” features major modern artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, David Hockney, Yoko Ono, Kara Walker and Ai Weiwei. Their works have been loaned by private collectors in Southwest Florida to SAM for the show, which runs until Sept. 27.
THEATRE ODYSSEY’S STUDENT
TEN-MINUTE PLAYWRITING FESTIVAL
2 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton
$30 Visit TheatreOdyssey.org.
When Shakespeare said, “The play’s the thing,” could he have ever imagined that the Ten-Minute Play would be the thing? Probably not, but it is indeed a thing. In this student edition of its popular TenMinute Playwriting Festival, Theatre Odyssey gives the next generation of playwrights a chance to develop their muscles. One of these eight young playwrights will be awarded the $1,000 Verna Safran Prize. Runs through May 3.
AMERICA
7 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
$56-$141
Visit VanWezel.org.
When three U.S. Air Force “brats” living in Britain in the 1970s decided to form a rock band, they named it for their homeland. Together, Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek and Gerry Beckley hit the top of the U.S. and American charts over and over with such hits as “Sister Goldenhair,” “Horse With No Name,” “I Need You” and “Daisy Jane.” Whether “Muskrat Love” was a low or a high point is still being debated. Bunnell is still on the road with the touring band, Beckley retired from touring in 2024 and Beckley died in 2011. But the hits come to life with Bunnell and a new generation of talented musicians.
ALEXANDER CALDER:
THE NATURE OF MOVEMENT
10 a.m. at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 1534 Mound St. $28 Visit Selby.org.
In this year’s Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is showcasing artist Alexander Calder and his abstract moving sculptures, dubbed “mobiles.” Calder’s interest in suspension provides a provocative pairing with Selby’s collection of epiphytes, or air plants. Runs through May 31.
SATURDAY
‘THE PIRATE SHIP AND THE SEA MONSTER & OTHER WINNING PLAYS’
10 a.m. and noon at FST’s Keating Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave. $12 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
Led by Jamal Sarikoki, a choir of more than 150 voices will ascend the altar as Key Chorale and the choirs of First United Methodist Church and Church of the Redeemer join forces for a program celebrating the power of the human spirit with sacred word and song.
MONDAY
ANCIENT ART FROM CYPRUS AND THE MEDITERRANEAN
10 a.m. at The John and Mable Ringling Art Museum, 5401 Bay Shore Road Free with $30 admission; Mondays free Visit Ringling.org.
In 1928, circus magnate John Ringling moved beyond collecting Baroque paintings with a major acquisition of more than 2,000 pieces of Cypriot art at the Anderson Galleries in New York. For the first time, Ringling’s treasures have a permanent home in Gallery 12 after a decadelong project.
WEDNESDAY
GREAT ESCAPES 6: ‘STARRY NIGHT’ 5:30 p.m. at Holley Hall. 709 N. Tamiami Trail $48 and up Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.
Love classical music but don’t feel like getting dressed up for a formal concert at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall or Sarasota Opera House? Then Sarasota Orchestra’s Great Escapes series is just the ticket for you. Held in Holley Hall, these concerts start at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays so you can dine after the show. They run between 60-75 minutes. “Starry Night” features guest conductor Christopher Confessore who will wield the baton as the orchestra plays selections such as “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Stardust” and Joseph Straus’ “Music of the Spheres” in what is guaranteed to be a celestial evening.
Image courtesy of Frank Atura
Sir Peter Wright’s “Summertide” is one of three ballets in Sarasota Ballet’s Program 7, “Foundations of Royalty,” which runs May 1-2 at Sarasota Opera House.
Asolo Rep’s ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ makes its own kind of music
The actors are the orchestra in Peter Rothstein’s delightful reimagining of a Broadway classic.
MARTY FUGATE
THEATER CRITIC
“Fiddler on the Roof” has played at theaters around the globe since 1964. He’s finally come to the Asolo Repertory Theatre. In this inventive production, he’s not playing alone.
The music-makers aren’t hiding in the orchestra pit. The 26 actormusicians carry their instruments in plain sight. They make their own kind of music — live, on-stage and in character as part of the action. It’s a new spin on a Broadway behemoth.
Joseph Stein wrote the musical’s script; Jerry Bock composed the songs; Sheldon Harnick penned the lyrics. It’s based on Sholom Aleichem’s short stories about Jewish life in Anatevka, Russia, in 1905. Said shtetl is balanced as precariously as the titular rooftop fiddler.
On the ground level, the milkman Tevye (Jeremy Radin) tries to marry off his three oldest daughters. Sounds simple. But the village’s tapestry of tradition makes it complicated. Yank the wrong thread and the fabric rips.
Tevye pulls thread after thread. When the tapestry finally tears, it’s not his fault. The Czar has decided to kick the Jews out and make Russia Great Again. Director Peter Rothstein creates an intimate space. The villagers feel up close and personal under his direction.
Radin’s Tevye is a likable, pious, hard-working patriarch. He’s gentle with his daughters but sometimes loses his temper. His Tevye is a funny, down-to-earth character — and he instantly wins over the audience.
Tevye’s wife, Golde (Lisa Meert), is equally devoted to God, Jewish tradition and practical thinking as her husband. Teyve is a dreamer with heaven on his mind; she holds the household together with earthly horse-sense. (She’s the Alice to Tevye’s Ralph Kramden.) In a marital domino effect, their three older daughters fall in love and fall away from tradition.
David Darrow’s Motel is a poor, young, self-effacing tailor who eventually stands up for himself. Tevye’s eldest daughter, Tzeitel (Rachel Gubow), loves him. She cries her eyes out when Tevye uses a matchmaker to marry her off to Lazar Wolf (Jason Pintar), the town’s rich, pompous butcher, who is a widower.
Tzeitel’s tears melt her father’s heart — and Tevye breaks the marriage deal with a tall tale of a dream featuring the ghost of Lazar’s dead wife.
The radical ideas of Trent Dahlin’s Perchik don’t sound so radical today, but they foreshadow the first Russian Revolution of 1905.
IF YOU GO
‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’
When: Through May 24
Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail
Tickets: $31-$97
Info: Visit AsoloRep.org.
Daughter No. 2, Hodel (Noa Luz Barenblat), falls head-over-heels for Perchik — and the feeling is mutual. They don’t even ask for Tevye’s permission to marry — just his blessing. (He gives it anyway to save face.)
But though he’s loosening the threads of tradition, Teyve has to draw the line somewhere. He does by forbidding his third daughter, Chava (Linda Bard), to marry Fyedka (Maxim Chlumecky) — a gentile and by definition, a threat to Anatevka. When Chava disobeys, Tevye casts her out of the family.
Tina Stafford’s Yenta reminds me of Imogene Coca. Her wisecracking matchmaker always gets a laugh.
The Constable (Christian T. Douglas) is the not-so-gentle gentile lawman in charge of Anatevka. He wants to be seen as a nice guy. He warns Tevye that the Czar’s planning to expel the Jewish villagers. It takes an army of talent to raise a village. The Asolo Rep has one.
Howard Tsvi Kaplan’s costumes evoke the worn, tatty clothing of a subsistence community.
Matthew R. Meckes’ music direction hits it out of the park. This is “Fiddler” unplugged — and his arrangements are exactly right.
Danny Pelzig’s choreography keeps the cast in perpetual motion.
When Tevye dances with joy, that’s just who he is — it’s naturally expressive body language. Showstopping numbers like the “Bottle Dance” at Tzeitel and Motel’s wedding flow from Jerome Robbins’s original choreography.
Matthew R. Meckes’ music direction makes Bock and Harnick’s tunes sound like folk music, not show tunes.
Kate Sutton Johnson’s scenic design is outstanding. Her Anatevka is surrounded by an expressionist forest. Dead, forked limbs in wintertime; leaves descend from the rafters in spring.
It’s a strong production — and it’s built on a strong foundation. The creators of “Fiddler on the Roof” found a throughline in Aleichem’s stories. They created a vehicle to crack jokes worthy of the Marx Brothers.
But Rothstein’s version never succumbs to kitsch. It uses humor to deal with the pain of family and community ties being torn apart by antisemitism and political upheaval.
“Fiddler on the Roof” is a musical about a lost world. Anatevka is a fictional village. But it stands for many real ones.
The communities that “Fiddler” celebrates are long gone. Asolo Rep’s production makes sure you’ll never forget them.
Neuro Chal-
lenge CEO
Jennifer Bitner, Denise Verheul and Barbara Gahry
Wendy Foster, Gary Houseworth, Kathy Collums and Tim Clarke
Harold Marks, Paul Caciolo, co-Chair Matt Walsh, Mark Esbeck and Robert Kingan
Barron and Patty Schimberg
Event co-Chair Tom Koski and Sherry Koski
Photos by Lori Sax Traci Willingham, Hallie Peilet Young and Shon EwensMette Milland, Toni Schemmel, Deb Kabinoff, Scott Taylor and Gana Gilkey
En Plein Air Wine Dinner
Cookie Bloom with Marie and Warren Colbert and Francine Webb
Linda and Dick Dickinson
Photos by Lori Sax
Sarasota Art Museum Executive Director Virginia Shearer, Arkady Medovy and Maryann Meyer
Michael and Marcy Klein with Frank Martucci
Matt Sauer, Ryne Johnson, Community of the Year Award-
Poffel
Photos by Lori Sax President and CEO of Goodwill Manasota Donn Githens, Laurie O’Loughlin and Spencer Schulman
Kim Glogovsky, Brian Coleman, assistant team leader of White Glove Service Goodwill Manasota receiving the Robert W. Rosinsky Achiever of the Year Award, and Donna Evans.
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