Diversions 10.24.13

Diversions YourObserver.com

A&E

Actress Ann Morrison is a riot. PAGES 2 and 3

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

A&E

Sarasota Culture Collective kickoff party PAGE 6

FOOD&COOKING | MOORE CRABS

BLACK TIE

Key to the Cure. PAGES 11 and 16

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

Alan Moore says there’s an unprecedented occurrence in his 48 years in the industry.

So far, this stone-crab season he’s pulled no medium claws — all large and jumbo.

Mallory Gnaegy

SARASOTA GETS

CRABBY If stone-crab season is like Florida’s Christmas, then Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant is the North Pole.

FOOD&COOKING COVER STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: MERRILY ANN ROLLS ALONG

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

‘LEAD AN INTERESTING LIFE’ Sarasota actress Ann Morrison is more ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ than the orphan Annie.

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Mallory Gnaegy

“I just do my life and somehow a paycheck comes to me,” Ann Morrison says about her interesting and fulfilling life. “According to America’s standards, I must be poor, but I think I’m very rich.”

nn Morrison is a storyteller.

A conversation with the veteran stage actress quickly transpires into a solo performance. Two minutes in, and the 57-year-old already launches into a hilarious monologue about how she’s a nude model for Ringling College of Art and Design.

She laughs and mimics an artist: “I gotta get that shading under the saggy breast just right.”

Another laugh.

“You’re supposed to be quiet, and every once in a while I’ll start singing,” she says. “My mind talks. A monkey mind — it’s nonstop mind chatter.”

And then the next 20 minutes go by.

Morrison goes on an energetic tangent, speaking like a butterfly moves. She stays on one flower just long enough to get the idea across before moving on to the next. She tells of everything from her sabbatical to the Scottish Fairy Glen where she scattered her parents’ ashes to telling about her late, best friend, Linda Blom, an actress and writer who inspired Morrison to do and be more, and it just happens that Blom had Down’s syndrome.

And, like butterflies, she’s captivating to watch — she acts out all of these stories. One later learns that pieces of all of these stories are related to her solo work she writes and performs. Her writing comes from her life.

She lets out a deep, bright-eyed laugh while settling back into

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

3

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT her seat, and then suddenly, she reaches out to touch your arm, remembering the whole reason she’s here in the first place: to talk about her upcoming Hermitage performance at the Historic Asolo Theater.

Morrison is a Sarasota-based actress with a more than 35-year career spanning Broadway, OffBroadway and London West End stages — details she tends to downplay.

“Broadway is just community theater with loads of money,” she says with a smile.

These days, her focus is on writing and performing solo work.

Morrison had heard about Hermitage Artist Retreat, the venue that nurtures artists’ creativity by providing an inspiring environment from which to live and work for more than a month. But she thought that locals could never go there.

And then, the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County recognized her work as a local playwright and performer by granting her the John Ringling Towers Award in 2010. The opportunity to go to Hermitage Artist Retreat is open to locals who win this particular award. She split her visit into two parts throughout 2012.

“On the first day, I didn’t get anything done,” she laughs. “I just stared out the window and thought, ‘How does anyone work here?’”

But, by that evening Morrision accomplished the second installment of a three-part solo performance series that revolves around her Celtic heritage. It’s called “Movements of a Modron.”

The first part of her retreat was the beginning of summer when turtles were laying their eggs. She’d

IF YOU GO Artists of Our Time: Ann Morrison When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24 Where: Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road Cost: Tickets $5. Free for members and same-day museum ticket holders Info: Call 360-7399 Ann Morrison in the 1981 Broadway debut of “Merrily We Roll Along.”

Morrison in Asolo Repertory Theatre’s 2008 production of “Murderers.”

Courtesy photos

Morrison wins the John Ringling Tower Award in 2010.

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31; 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4; and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5

A few ways Morrison has lived an interesting life: • Morrison co-founded Kaleidoscope Theatre with executive director of the Hermitage, Bruce Rodgers. It’s a program to help developmentally disabled teens and adults create art.

• In November, Morrison won Best Actress for her piece “Linda Lovely Goes to Broadway” at the United Solo Festival. The other piece she wrote, “Trevor’s Fire,” was directed by her good friend, Blake Whalton. It won Best take daily morning walks, during which she met the sea-turtle volunteers who taught her about turtle tracks. Every day following, she’d see tracks and excitedly report them to the volunteers.

Her second part of the retreat was when the turtles began hatching. She’d find baby turtles struggling to get out of the nest, pick them up, put them in the water and fight off the seagulls. Of course, she acts out this whole story.

“We’d work and work and work,” she says of the two or three other

her parents’ ashes.

Premiere award.

• Morrison is fascinated with Druids and Celtic mythology.

She based the first solo play she ever wrote and performed in Sarasota, “Discourse of a Maid,” around this enamor.

‘Word Painting: Soliloquies Around an Easel’

• Morrison is a death walker. This is a Native American shaman term for someone who walks another person through the process of dying.

• Morrison decided to take a sabbatical to Scotland. A believer in Celtic mythology, including fairies, she wanted to find the Fairy Glen in which to scatter

• Morrison has starred in Broadway productions “Lovemusik” and “Merrily We Roll Along”; in OffBroadway productions “Forbidden Broadway” and “Goblin Market”; and in London’s West End’s “Peg.”

artists also in residence. In the evenings, they’d cook supper, sit out with a glass of wine and share their artwork.

“When you’re creating, it’s lonely,” she says. “Solo work is intimate and vulnerable, but you’re with a bunch of other artists in the same boat and you have to let go — it was a beautiful experience.”

Morrison thrives on the cooperative experience. In fact, if she had to boil her whole life, career and works down to one pot — it’d be explained by how she grew up. Her

father, Donald, taught visual and performing arts at Booker High School; her mother, Lizzi, did everything but sing; her sister, Sara, became a classical actress turned arts worker; and her late brother, Chris, was a photographer.

Morrison remembers her whole family working on her sister’s college art class project. Each family member chose a sculpture and had to describe that sculpture in art on-camera: their mom did a painting, poem and choreographed a dance about it; their

Where: Home Resource, 741 Central Ave., Sarasota Cost: Suggested donation $15 Info: Email mbush@homeresource.com to reserve a seat. father wrote a musical score for it; their brother photographed it; Ann interpreted all of it. That’s how the Morrisons usually work.

“I was under the impression that the world was about collaboration and cooperation, and when I finally went off to New York I was devastated to find out about the other c-word — competition,” she says.

But competition isn’t why she downplays her stage career. It’s because everything she does is interesting.

In fact, when Morrison teaches master classes to students aspiring to live a full career like her own, she passes along a piece of advice actress Jane Lapotaire once told her, “Lead an interesting life!”

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: HIGHLIGHTS

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

Photos by Mallory Gnaegy

Maxwell VanHoeij, 10, lives in Tallahassee; Chloe Hollands, 15, attends Manatee High School; Cypress Potter, 13, attends Haile Middle School

Salome Lachambre, 13, attends Laurel Nokomis

Young Sarasota violinists put the ‘super’ in Super Strings Twenty-five aspiring violinists play a Vivaldi solo from memory.

Proud parents stand in the corner snapping photos and videos. The youngest, age 10, hasn’t started middle school, and the eldest is deciding where she will study violin in college. These students make up the PMP/Suncoast Super Strings program.

The ensemble tunes its instruments, plays an A minor scale (the

key the solo is in) and finally plays together Saturday, Oct. 19, filling the music wing of Booker Middle School with a booming and energetic sound. The stand-in director, last year’s Sarasota County Teacher of the Year, Victor Fernandez, is impressed and pleased.

Fernandez is the stand-in director for two workshops, but he will pass the baton Jan. 2. The students will then play under the direction

of renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman during the PMP Sarasota Winter Residency. More than 30 other young musicians in the PMP String Orchestra will join them in concert.

The Perlman Music Program/ Suncoast initiated this program, in its first year, as a way to encourage the mentoring and performance of young students from this community.

Victor Fernandez works with the 11th and 12th grade students on ensemble and tempo.

YOUROBSERVER.COM // See video footage from the PMP/Suncoast Super Strings Program.

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: BACKSTAGE PASS

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by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

Ladd helps students perform moving work Weird sounds are coming from the Ruby Allen Studio. It’s 9 p.m. on a Wednesday. Every room in FSU Center for the Performing Arts is dark, except for one. Abnormal, deep-voiced moaning, angered yelping, high-pitched whirring, flirtatious wooing, and operatic caws are haunting the fluorescent-lit studio on the third floor. But, these sounds are par for students of FSU/Asolo Conservatory — it’s just another rehearsal with movement-anddancer professor Eliza Ladd.

Ladd is one of the rare New York City natives who has evolved from one art form to another in her diverse career: percussion to solo acting work; singing to writing; dancing to spiritual practice training; teaching to visual art making; and any combination of the above. The Harvard-educated 47-year-old has settled on teaching and creating multidisciplinary performances that involve all of those things.

This particular evening, the interim professor is working with nine of the 12 second-year students to help them characterize their roles for upcoming “The School for Lies” production. It’s early in the rehearsal process.

Ladd works from a school of acting that involves “freeing the instrument,” which means allowing actors to tap into an authentic, emotional and organic place, by freeing them from habit. It’s experimental.

IF YOU GO ‘The School for Lies’ Adapted from Molière’s “The Misanthrope” by David Ives, directed by Greg Leaming.

When: Opens 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 29, and runs various times through Sunday, Nov. 17 Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, Cook Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail Cost: Tickets $28 to $29 Info: Call 251-8000 or visit asolorep.org To learn more about Eliza Ladd, visit her website at elizaladd.com.

Mallory Gnaegy

“Words are one of the layers — there are a lot of other layers,” Eliza Ladd says. Here she works with students to free their instruments.

For instance, the graduate students act “narrow,” “wide,” “backward” and “forward.” They take on id-like creatures. For “forward,” one student is bent over at the waist, arms extended from the head and feet pointed inward, moving in quick small steps while saying “mew, mew, mew” in the upper range of his voice. It’s his expression of for-

ward.

“I am cultivating a sense that they can express big and experience big by exploding their bodies, their feelings and their literal physical expressions out,” she says.

Ladd calls it “harvesting seeds.” The actors then select pieces or details of these big movements and narrow them

down to smaller traits that he or she will embody when playing his or her character. “‘The School for Lies’ has some big feelings,” Ladd says.

“There are big characters in it, and to house big characters, you have to have actors who can let themselves be big.”

Brian Owen, in acting “narrow,” twists the trunk of his body

and steps his feet across each other on angles. From this, he hones the bigness down to an ants-in-his-pants-esque trait for his character, Philinte, in “The School for Lies.”

Ladd explains that characters have a particular way they want to influence what happens in a story, and it can be communicated through the choices an actor makes, not just the script.

“I’m helping them be conscious with their choices,” she says.

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YOUROBSERVER.COM // See a few clips from Eliza Ladd’s coaching rehearsal with the FSU/Asolo Conservatory students.

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: HIGHLIGHTS

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

Young Sarasotans enjoy fun and cultured evening Sarasota Opera House was the place to be Saturday, Oct. 19.

Young, stylishly dressed Sarasotans headed to the Sarasota Culture Collective kick-off party.

The intimate group of more than 80 attendees enjoyed a full bar and light bites, while DJ Solo entertained.

Then, the trendy guests made their way to their seats where they were treated to a preview of the season to come. Sarasota Ballet dancer Danielle Brown performed Dominic Walsh’s contemporary and sultry “Dying Swan” in a backless dress. Then Sara-

sota Opera Studio Artists Jennifer Townshend and Jon Jurgens previewed the upcoming comedic operetta, “Die Fledermaus.”

At the party’s end, guests weren’t ready to leave. They extended the night at Selva Grill.

Eventually all parted ways, and the new friends will meet again at the next Sarasota Culture Collective function: Sarasota Ballet’s “Balanchine & Ashton” Nov. 23, at Sarasota Opera House, with a pre-show event starting at 6:30 p.m. To learn more about Sarasota Culture Collective, visit ThisWeekInSarasota.com.

Sarasota Ballet dancer Danielle Brown performs Dominic Walsh’s “Dying Swan.”

Corinne Deckard and Jaszy McAllister

Jason Webb, Anna Lipa, Aaron Muhl and Deanna Ferguson

Jessica Fuesy and Bart Lowther

Sarasota Opera Studio Artist Jennifer Townshend

Kristofer Geddie and Ariel Blue

Marisha Ramtertaap and Jean Morrow

Photos by Mallory Gnaegy and Nick Friedman

Ricardo Rhodes, Ricki Bertoni and Edward Lewis French

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

7

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: REVIEWS

There’s no doubt about it — hearing chamber music in a chamber is the way to go.

Unlike the austerity of a concert hall with hundreds, if not thousands, of seats, the warmth a private home gives to a recital or small ensemble concert is the right setting. In fact, it’s the setting most composers of this rich repertoire envisioned when they wrote the music.

The Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota usually presents its performances in the intimate space of the Historic Asolo, the charming Italian renaissance hall that was reconstructed here in Sarasota and is a beautiful setting for this kind of music. But, even better is the Weisenborne/Fischer residence, with its trio of grand pianos, two pipe organs — yes, pipe organs — and space for about 50 people on chairs and couches to hear recitals the way they were meant to be heard.

Sunday afternoon, violist Stephanie Block and pianist Yi-Fang Huang treated us to an appealing program of challengingly virtuosic music spanning the 19thand 20th- centuries. By the way, if Block and Huang sound familiar, Courtesy photos it’s because they’ve Stephanie Block both performed in the Sarasota Music Festival, during which Lee Dougherty Ross, artistic director of the Artist Series Concerts, heard them. She hired them to return to town for this special recital. Good thing, too — they’re spectacular performers.

The 19-year-old violist, who is as proficient and poised a speaker as she is a musician,

FILM // ‘Short Term 12’ ”Short Term 12” is an engaging film about fractured people. Most of them are kids living in a group foster home. But one of the most troubled individuals is a young woman who’s in charge of their wellbeing.

Grace (Brie Larson) is a supervisor, who, along with her boyfriend, Mason (John Gallagher Jr.), tends to and befriends atrisk teens. Their wards all have one thing in common ... immensely sad eyes. Somewhere along the line, life has not been kind to these broken souls.

When Grace and Mason are behind closed doors, we glean insight into their own lessthan-perfect pasts. Although Mason has reached a level of resolve, Grace’s emotional wounds are bubbling just beneath the surface of her façade. She’s masterful at helping others but powerless in helping herself.

The arrival of a deeply disturbed teen, Jayden (Katlin Derer), particularly piques Grace’s concern. She manages to crack Jayden’s seemingly impenetrable defensive mechanisms by sharing unspeakable truths about her life. When Jayden reads a beyond-

unsettling fairytale from her journal to Grace, there is a horrifying revelation.

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// The Artist Series Concerts: Stephanie Block, viola, and Yi-Fang Huang, piano

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MUSIC

and the excellent pianist led us adroitly through four pieces of music starting with three selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” arranged for viola and piano by Vadim Borisovsky, who was a violist in the Moscow Conservatory’s Beethoven Quartet in the last century.

To my ears, Borisovsky’s arrangement, especially of Juliet’s sprightly theme played on the viola, was like hearing a soprano aria sung by a baritone, turning the nimble teenager into a mature woman who’d put on a few pounds over the years. Still, Block and Huang played it beautifully, with the pianist lending solid support to the violist’s rich, large sound.

Yes, there were a few slips in the viola’s intonation, especially when she played sul ponticello (using the bow on the bridge of her instrument). But this is a small point because, overall, the playing was superb.

Vieuxtemps’ “Elegy” showed the duo off better, allowing them to play long, luxurious legato lines and still breathe in all the right places. Brahms’ Sonata in E-flat had all the romantic, stunning sound the composer, who was intensely fond of the viola, infused into his music. Think of Brahms, and think rich and warm. Block’s tone is all that and more, and she has a virtuoso’s way of plowing into the depths of her instrument to bring out all the passion Brahms asks for without any instrumental mugging or arrogance.

Finally, as something of an encore, the duo played the “Tango,” an arrangement by Efrem Zimbalist Sr. (the violinist, not his son, the actor), of music by Sarasate. Here, both Block and Huang were able to dig into the guts of the music with the violist, especially, sounding like a sexy Carmen who sings on the lower strings.

We don’t often get to hear viola recitals and, while there may be a lot of viola jokes out there, her playing is no joke at all. We hope she and Huang, who also plays the viola when not sitting at the piano, will stick together as a Duo. And we look forward to hearing them back in Sarasota, perhaps in a return to the Sarasota Music Festival.

— June LeBell

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DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

// FOOD&COOKING: MOORE CRABS

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor (continued from page 1)

SARASOTA GETS CRABBY If stone-crab season is like Florida’s Christmas, then Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant is the North Pole.

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Photos by Mallory Gnaegy

“The phone rings off the wall,” Alan Moore says before imitating the excited patrons. “‘What day are you going to have them? What time are you going to have them? Are you going to have them the first day?’” He checks some traps he put off the dock by the restaurant (right).

lan Moore of Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant slips up.

“On Christmas Day …” he says, quickly noticing his mistake. “I mean, the first day of stone crab season.”

The error makes sense.

“It is like Christmas Day,” he says of the yearly Oct. 15 start of stone-crab season.

The phones ring nonstop.

Hoards of Sarasotans and tourists make the pilgrimage to Longboat Key. The quiet, peacock-laden, clapboard-housefilled, historic Longbeach Village bustles beginning Oct. 15. The waterfront restaurant, which is open limited hours just four days a week in the off season, opens daily. A normally quiet dining room is full of patrons donning bibs.

Santa Claus, who in this scenario is a tall and laidback Moore, can be seen hustling around the restaurant delivering claws to good boys and girls. Like Santa, he doesn’t sleep the night before the big day. And, instead of cookies, you might find him pulling a steaming hot claw from the cooker and indulging — for quality-testing purposes, of course.

Moore has been in this business since long before he was even a thought. His grandfather on his dad’s side, Jack Moore, started the stone-crab industry

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

9

// FOOD&COOKING on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the late ’40s. Jack Moore and his wife ran seafood markets. And in the late ’60s, Moore’s late father, Pete; mother, Mary; and late uncle, Hughey Moore, built what is now the oldest familyowned restaurant on Longboat Key. Moore says it’s the oldest in Manatee County. Currently, Moore, his brother, Paul, and stepbrother Robert Hicks own it — and have run the staple for 20-plus years.

It’s the week before stonecrab season begins, and Moore ambles in a little before 4 p.m., donning a black short-sleeved button-down with an appropriate fish-and-crab print. He’s drinking tea from a mug with the restaurant’s big red crab logo. Moore says he spends the off-season fixing up the building, and he will occasionally get out on the water himself.

He remembers being on his dad’s boat as a child, pulling traps and getting pinched by crabs — back then, they had to pull the traps by hand. But Paul Moore was always more of a crabber, and Moore and Hicks ran the restaurant side of things.

In the ’70s, the Moore family had a boat and ran 3,000 to 4,000 traps. They have since sold the boat, and these days, the family works with a number of loyal crabbers.

“They’re a strange breed, like most commercial fishermen,” Moore says fondly. “They do it because they love it. They like

What is a stone crab?

Courtesy photos

Left: Richard Moore, Michael Raines and Paul Moore build crab traps in the restaurant's early years.

Top: Stone Crabs get pulled right from the steamer. This is Moore's favorite time to eat them. being on the water, don’t have to answer to anybody and just have to pull traps.”

He becomes slightly downcast, and explains one of his longtime Bradenton-based crabbers — Michael J. O’Leary — died last month. Moore went to high school with him.

It speaks to the deep roots at Moore’s. And, with that history, comes a carefully honed knowledge of the product. Moore says that’s why Moore’s does it the best in the area. His family has put the time into developing their knowledge.

For instance, he has his crabbers take the water temperature where each crab is pulled. The crabs are then cooked according

to the water temperature. And, the claws are removed from the ice and washed daily to prevent any spoils. It’s a careful science.

The catch is pretty steady year to year — he doesn’t remember any particularly bad or good years. Although some articles reported that last year was a “bad season” for stone crabs, Moore reports that it wasn’t bad — there just wasn’t a variety in the size of claws. They were mostly medium-sized.

He’s not worried.

“It’s cyclical,” he says.

This season, he says the catching is a little slower here and in the Everglades, but that it’s good up North — and he expects that with a few cold fronts, it will pick

up in the next couple of weeks.

But he has observed an unprecedented occurrence in his 48 years in the industry.

“There are no medium claws to be found, which is very, very odd,” he says.

Usually, in a 100-pound load, he’ll have 50% medium claws, 30% large and 20% jumbo. This year he’s seeing 60% large and 40% jumbo claws.

It increased the market price slightly, but people didn’t seem to mind the pricing. They still arrived in legions. And Santa always delivers.

“It’ll shake out,” he says. “The crabs (we’re getting) are beautiful; they’re fresh; and everybody loves them.”

YOUROBSERVER.COM // See a video of Alan Moore talking about his family’s heritage and legacy.

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FLOORING

WALLCOVERINGS

This culinary delicacy is indigenous to the West Coast of Florida and the Florida Keys. Stone-crab season runs Oct. 15 through May 15. Its name comes from its hard shell, and because the species hides in rocks. You harvest only the claw, and return the crab to the water. The crab has two types of claws — one with molars for crushing food; and a serrated claw used for ripping. They are scavengers and filter feeders that can’t swim — so it’s frowned upon to take both of its claws, although it is not illegal. The crab can regenerate its claws in a year, and the claw regains 95% of its original size. They are nomadic and move in groups, like lobsters.

What’s it taste like?

This crab claw tastes like a cross between Maine lobster and Maryland blue crab. The mild slightly salty and sweet crab has a distinctive, meaty texture that’s flaky (not firm like a lobster).

Moore says some Northeasterners only eat warm crabs with butter sauce, and, because the customer is always right, he’ll serve it that way upon request.

But, the best way to eat it is cold with mustard sauce.

Recipe:

Alan Moore will gladly share his top-secret family recipe for mustard sauce. He quickly rattles off the ingredients: It calls for mayo, spicy mustard, lemon juice, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and a touch of horseradish. And, just when you think you’re getting the gold — “I won’t tell you how much of each, but that’s it!”

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// HOME&GARDEN: ARCHITECTURAL APPRECIATION

by Heather Merriman | Black Tie Assistant Editor

The private party for the introduction to The Center for Architecture Sarasota was held at Gary and Beth Spencer’s home, designed by Guy Peterson.

Photos by Heather Merriman

 Michelle Young, Cynthia Peterson, Heather Chapell, Wilson Stiles, Lily Chapell, Jim Keaton and Alan Sprintz with the $85,000 Heather Chapell donated to CFAS.

Courtesy

The Center for Architecture Sarasota debuts at Spencer House Opening Sarasota is a nonprofit organization formed as part of a partnership with The University of Florida School of Architecture and Sarasota County.

During the event, Heather Chapell, wife of the late Don Chapell, donated $85,000 to The Center for Architecture Sarasota.

CFAS hosted tours of the Spencers’ “Perforated House” Sunday, Oct. 20, for the debut of its membership campaign.

 Tre Michel, Gary and Beth Spencer and David Steiner  Dr. John and Patty Quirk with Mary Kenealy-Barbetta and County Commissioner Joe Barbetta

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Photo Courtesy of Cliff Roles

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INSIDE: Meet Me at the Barre PAGE 15

YourObserver.com

Andie Rosenberg and Linda Dooley

Co-Chair Dr. Allison Silver, Scott Collins and Co-Chair Sally Schule

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

Lori Lawson with her pink poodle, Gigi Pink peacocks decorated the counters of Saks Fifth Avenue

Michelle Brault and Jenny Thompson Alday

by Heather Merriman | Black Tie Assistant Editor Saks Fifth Avenue was bustling with a sold-out crowd of 700 people wearing all shades of pink Thursday, Oct. 17, for Key to the Cure. Not only was this year’s event the most successful with money raised for Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation, but it was the last year that the event will be held in the current Saks Fifth Avenue location, which will be opening its new store in The Mall at University Town Center next October. As a surprise and a thank you to guests, General Manager Joel Ellzey and staff revealed the

plans for the new location.

Guest mingled while enjoying food stations and the signature pink cocktail, as well as afterhours shopping. An array of entertainment was offered for guests to enjoy, including “The Boobies,” in which completely concealed and anonymous writers take a look at you, and type up a personalized assessment of what they think your look says about you, all in good taste, of course.

Sally Schule, Dr. Allison Silver and Nikki Taylor co-chaired the event.

Linda and Dr. Thomas Doan

Photos by Heather Merriman

Ashley Dooley, Sarah Michelle Murphy and Erin Hart

Michelle Thibreich, Jackie Oberfest and Krista Toomre

BLACK TIE COVER PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Nicole Behar and Lee Sax

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// BLACK TIE: COLUMN

Live Musical performances that Entertain, Engage, and Inspire

OF SARASOTA SARASOTA

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BLACKTIE&TALES

by Black Tie Staff

Saturday–November 2–7:30 p.m.

Sunday–November 3–2:00 & 7:30 p.m.

In the Historic Asolo Theater at The Ringling Museum of Art

KAREN AKERS

Molly Schechter Courtesy

WELCOME TO THE MOULIN ROUGE

Tony Award nominee,

Broadway, cabaret, film singer with pianist DON REBIC

“Akers Sings Porter – Anything Goes!”

“Perfection! Her voice has never been more lusterous or full-bodied nor her expressive wingspan so wide.”

—THE NEW YORK TIMES

Sat/Sun–November 16 & 17–7:30 p.m.

Saint Saens | Tchaikovsky | Brubeck Carmichael | Jobim | Anderson, Piazolla | and more With additional support from Herald-Tribune Media Group, Iberia Bank, WUSF Public Media, The Observer Group, and Spotlight Graphics

941-360-7399

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GETTING CLOSE …

T

he home of Jane Bennett and Steve Thompson turned into the famed Moulin Rouge Saturday, Oct. 12. The themed party was just one of many fun parties the couple has thrown — last year was James Bond-themed. The evening, with lighting and entertainment by LJ Event Productions, featured a fire-eater, “Moulin Rouge” playing on a screen and guests dressed to the nines in costume. Seen in feathers, corsets and other perfected outfits were Steve and Bev Murray, Zara Barrie, Eduardo Anaya, Frances and Spyder Broussard, Monica Miller, Rob and Angela Smithson and Dylonn Cole.

T

Seven straight sell-outs …

Jewish Family and Children’s Service annual gala featuring the Sarasota Orchestra Dec. 15 is sold out at the patron level for the seventh consecutive year, which must be some kind of a record. Cancellations are not unheard of, however. Get your name on the wait list by calling Stacy Quaid at 366-2224, Ext. 142 … Changing of the Guard … News from the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation meeting is that this year is the last for Ann Charters, who has chaired the Women in Medicine event since its inception. She is passing the baton to Deb Knowles and Charlie Ann Syprett for 2015 … Watts of love … After announcing the news of their upcom-

ing bundle of joy — a baby girl in March — on Facebook, Danny and Fondren Watts were swarmed with well-wishers at Key to the Cure … This honey does … Nick Ferguson takes his “honey do’s” so seriously that he was late arriving to Key to the Cure, because he was taking a Pure Barre class at his wife, Sara’s Pure Barre studio … Fifth Avenue friends … It was nice seeing former Saks Fifth Avenue coworkers Iris Starr, Sally Schule, Eric Cross and Tania Cross hugging it out at Key to Cure … Hey, that’s my line! … After flashing her fab sparkles from fiancé, John Simon, Mary Anne Servian revealed that his quote to the Sarasota Observer about the State Street garage — “They’re arguing about how to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic” — was her line!

S TIDBIT

RASTRELLI CELLO QUARTET

Tickets/details 24/7 at www.artistseriesconcerts.org

Lou Bertha McKenzie-Wharton, Phil King and Alex Miller

he committee for Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center’s “The Art of Caring for Children” convened Oct. 14 to put the finishing touches on the event, set for Nov. 17.

It benefits the Sally and Sam Shapiro Babies and Children’s Health Clinic, which will provide health care to thousands of local children. Alex Miller and Ron Giarusso are co-chairs, with the Shapiros and Betty Schoenbaum serving as honorary chairs. Local arts organaizations performing at the event include Circus Sarasota, Players Theatre, Sarasota Ballet, Sarasota Opera, Sarasota Orchestra Wind Quintet and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. For more information, call Doris Pomeranz at 365-4545.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

13

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY ‘A NIGHT OF MASQUERADE’ Benefiting The Payton Wright Foundation | Saturday, Oct. 19, at The Francis

Photos by Heather Merriman

Keith Martin with Stephanie and Dee Dix

Brian and Kym Berceau

Derek Lersch, Savanna Wright, Nicole Grant, Hannah Grant and Sydney Wright

Black Diamond Burlesque provided entertainment for the evening.

Michael and Melanie Reddell with Stephen and Kim Gillett

Michelle Cherp and Lindsey Schuster

Stephanie Laidig and Tony Begley

Jennifer Rust and Kathleen Gratz

Dr. Bob Morelli and Jim Wilson

PHOTO BY FRANK ATURA

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Forging Connections An inter-institutional project between Ringling College of Art and Design and State College of Florida featuring joint-exhibitions by Theo Wujcik and Kirk Ke Wang

DIVERSIONS

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY

Oct. 25 - Dec. 11, 2013 Theo Wujcik: New Paintings

LE PETIT MARCHÉ

Selby Galleries I and II: The prolific and unpredictable painter Theo Wujcik created an entirely new body of work specifically for this solo show at Selby Gallery.

Benefiting Temple Beth Sholom Schools Thursday, Oct. 17, at Michael’s On East

Artist Talk & Preview: Thurs., Oct. 24, 7 pm Opening reception: Fri., Oct. 25, 5-8 pm Director’s Tour: Mon., Oct. 28, 11:30 am

Oct. 25 - Jan. 15, 2014 Human Tide State College of Florida Fine Art Gallery: An installation by Kirk Ke Wang Opening reception: Fri., Oct. 25, 5 - 8 pm

For more information visit us on the web: www.ringling.edu/selbygallery 122919

Detail: Theo Wujcik, Dragon, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 90”x84”; photographer Joe Triana.

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S s w au 14 ie rm 20 ev lede r ee p ie F Fr val re D i fo St be Fe mins

Co-Chairs Deb Goldberg and Courtney Rosenthal

Verdi’s American Home

 Lucy Ledezma and Lauren Holt

Don't miss the laughter, fun & well-known melodies of The worlD'S moST popular opereTTa!

Die Fledermaus JohaNN STRauSS, Jr. | Nov 1, 5, 7, 13 8pm | Nov. 3, 15 1:30pm at the historic Sarasota opera house, Downtown Sarasota performed in english | featuring

The Little Sweep BRITTEN

youth opera

nov 9 (5:30pm) nov 10 (12:30pm)

TBS Schools Director Kavita Vasil, Vickie Inglese, Claudia Pertosoff and Dina Smith

THE LiTTLE SwEEp MeDia SponSor

paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural affairs, and the Florida Council on arts and Culture.

Stacey Bloom, Kyla Weiner and Tanya Ramos

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SeaSon SponSor

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(941) 328-1300 | SaraSotaopera.org

Allison DiPlacido and Kim McLeod

Stacey Edelman, Alyson Hanan and Daniela Kaskey

Photos by Heather Merriman

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

15

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// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY

2013

 Ted Cooke, Mike Marraccini, Will Ryalo, Bob Maloney and Alan Trench

MEET ME AT THE BARRE Benefiting Sarasota Ballet Monday, Oct. 14, at FSU Center for the Performing Arts

Food & Wine November 8 - 9, 2013  Proceeds from Meet Me at the Barre will be donated to the ballet’s shoe fund.  Sara Sardelli and Lauren Walsh

Select Winemakers from around the world and renowned Chefs come together to collaborate with The Resort at Longboat Key Club in a celebration of food and wine in an event that will dazzle your eyes and thrill your palate.

VINTNER DINNERS Friday, November 8

A unique evening of culinary delights. Choose from four vintner dinners, hosted by guest winemakers at scenic locations throughout The Resort at Longboat Key Club. $135

STONE CRAB CELEBRATION & WINE TASTING Saturday, November 9

Vikki Iovino, Pat Fennessey and Lydia Landa

Linda Jennings and Vicki Eckl

This event is the highlight of our Festival weekend. Our talented culinary staff will prepare and serve dishes from tasting stations that showcase our fabulous West Coast of Florida, and of course, the reason for the season—plenty of stone crab claws. This promises to be a night of foodie fun and great wines. $200 CELEBRATION PASS includes attendance to: Choice of one Vintner Dinner on Friday, November 8, Passion of the Pig on Saturday, November 9 Festival Demonstrations (Taste Like a Master,

Wine Blending Class, The Art of Cooking) on Saturday, November 9 and Stone Crab Celebration on Saturday, November 9. $350

To benefit

Thanks to our Media Sponsor

For event reservations and information, please call 387-1675.

Visit us at www.longboatkeyclub.com.

Lucia Almquist, Peggy Abt, Hillary Steele and Retta Wagner

Photos by Heather Merriman Bacchus Observer ad 2013.indd 1

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10/17/13 2:02 PM

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY

(continued from page 11)

Steel Barcomb, Lauren Graham and Craig Barcomb

Judy Nimz, Georgina Clamage and Eileen Wallace

Paula Ippolita, Alisa Pettingell, Amy Sankes and Laura DeLeo

Pamela Porter, Miriam Zeigler, Agnes Lauwagin, Lynn Kisser and Alicia Larkins

Julie Hunnel and Eric Peters

Andrea Kamego and Vanessa Villalvazo from Yellow Strawberry offered temporary pink highlights.

Photos by Heather Merriman

Montana Taplinger and Ashley Jantzen

Have your cake...

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