THERE’S CAUSE FOR APPLAUSE

Between the Winter Park Playhouse, the Annie Russell Theatre and the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts, Winter Parkers don’t have to go far to see a professional musical comedy, a top-notch college production or a live concert in just about any genre you can name.

THE WINTER PARK PLAYHOUSE

It’s been 17 years since the song-and-dance team of Roy Alan and Heather Alexander brought some show-biz sizzle to Winter Park. And patrons of their Winter Park Playhouse are grateful for the unapologetic escapism provided by the musical productions staged in the unassuming Orange Avenue venue, which is the only professional theater in Florida that specializes in musicals and cabarets.

“You can see how they’re transformed from when they come in and when they go out,” says Alan, the artistic director. A native of Texas, he’s been tap-dancing for 60 years. After high school, he lived in Manhattan for 13 years, finding work in such Broadway hits as Pirates of Penzance and Nine.

Alan and Alexander met in Jacksonville in 1991 when both were performing in a dinnertheater production of Singin’ in the Rain. Alexander adored theater but her father insisted that she study something more practical. She earned a business degree from the University of North Florida — which proved to be a smart move.

Alexander manages the theater while Alan coordinates the productions. After marrying, they relocated to New York City for a year — but it was a difficult place to raise children (they have four). They were lured to Winter Park by its beauty, culture, schools and proximity to theme-park jobs.

In 2000, they founded the Master Class Academy to provide instruction in dancing, acting and singing. Two years later, Alan and Alexander sold the school and leased a small space from the new owners to establish the nonprofit Winter Park Playhouse.

By 2003, when their production of the offBroadway musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change packed the house, they knew they’d found a winning formula with musicals. In 2009 the theater moved next door, increasing the number of seats from 73 to 123, and expanded again in 2014, doubling in size to 10,000 square feet with a new lobby, bathrooms and dressing rooms.

More than 18,500 people annually attend performances at the venue, while another 11,500 — primarily underserved populations such as disadvantaged children and mobilityimpaired seniors — are reached through classes or community performances.

The theater’s Mainstage Series kicked off earlier this year and continues with Crazy for Gershwin (July 30 through August 23), The

Stage veterans Roy Alan and Heather Alexander (above) offer unapologetic escapism with fun and frothy musical productions at the Winter Park Playhouse. Guitarist and empresario Chris Cortez (below) hosts top-notch concerts representing every genre imaginable at the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts.

Book of Merman (September 25 through October 17) and Christmas My Way: A Sinatra Bash (November 12 through 21 and December 1 through 18).

The Winter Park Playhouse is located at 711 North Orange Avenue, Winter Park. Call 407654-0145 or visit winterparkplayhouse.org for more information.

THE ANNIE RUSSELL THEATRE

The historic Annie Russell Theatre at Rollins College was built in 1932, a gift from philanthropist Mary Curtis Bok in honor of her dear friend, renowned stage actress Annie Russell, who had retired to Winter Park and become the college’s theater director.

Despite continuing health problems and the stress inherent in completing a new facility, Russell plunged ahead with preparations for Robert Browning’s In a Balcony, which would open the theater and mark Russell’s return to the stage in the role of the queen. The 360-seat proscenium theater — now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places — is said to be haunted by the ghost of Russell, who died in 1936.

The upcoming 89th season includes all Pulitzer Prize-winners, including Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon (September 24 through October 2) Sweat by Lynn Nottage (November 12 through 20); and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (February 11 through 19, 2022). The Annie’s 89th season concludes with an April 15 through 23, 2022 run of Next to Normal by Tom Kitt (music) and Brian Yorkey (book and music).

The Rollins Department of Theatre & Dance also offers a student-directed Second Stage Series at the Lyman Black Box Theatre, a temporary facility on the second floor of a college-owned former office building at 203 East Lyman Avenue.

The Second Stage Series was previously held in the aging Fred Stone Theatre, which was demolished earlier this year to make way for a new theater and dance complex funded in part by a $3 million grant from the Tiedtke family’s Florida Charities Foundation. The new complex should open sometime next year.

The Annie Russell Theatre is located at 1000 Holt Avenue, Winter Park. Call 407-6462145 or visit rollins.edu/annie-russell-theatre for more information.

THE BLUE BAMBOO CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Guitarist Chris Cortez penned a song in the late 1980s about a man with no arms, whom he saw painting with his feet. “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it,” goes the chorus.

Cortez, cofounder, president and CEO of Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts, lives those words. He has persevered along the long and winding road of a musical career, no matter the odds or obstacles.

At his funky nonprofit concert hall, which opened in 2016, he has united Central Florida’s vast reserve of musical talent with appreciative audiences. Five years into the venture,

The Winter Park Playhouse (above), located on Orange Avenue, draws more than 18,500 people annually to its shows and reaches thousands more through community outreach programs. The Annie Russell Theatre (below) on the campus of Rollins College is one of the region’s most beautiful performing arts venues and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

he’s producing up to 300 shows annually — in every genre imaginable — that collectively gross about $300,000 between ticket sales and sponsorships.

“It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and the most rewarding,” says Cortez, a Cincinnati native who moved to Orlando at age 2 with his family, including his mother, Virginia “Ginny” Cortez, a founding member of what is now the Orlando Repertory Theatre.

His father, Joe, a Martin Marietta technical writer, gave the talented 9-year-old a $13 guitar and (perhaps inadvertently) launched the career of a jazz player, pop vocalist, record producer and entertainment empresario.

After graduation from Edgewater High School, Cortez played with various Top 40 bands and performed at Walt Disney World, including a regular gig with Kids of the Kingdom. He also played guitar with a jazz fusion group called, prophetically, Blue Bamboo.

The combo, which was the house band at a downtown Orlando nightclub called Daisy’s Basement, allowed Cortez to polish his artistry. In 1986, however, he left Central Florida for almost 30 years, during which time he played in house bands, directed music at a casino and produced more than 30 CDs.

He met Melody, his wife and partner in Blue Bamboo, in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2015, at a career crossroads in Houston, the couple saw opportunity in the form of a 6,000-square-foot yellow warehouse on Kentucky Avenue. Music now is a mission; thanks to a $10,000 grant from the City of Winter Park, Blue Bamboo presents at least 25 free concerts yearly and others that raise money for local charities.

The Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts is located at 1905 Kentucky Avenue, Winter Park. Call 407-636-9951 or visit bluebambooartcenter.com for more information. n

The charming and unpretentious Winter Park Golf Course clubhouse (above), built in 1915, has been maintained and features a working fireplace and oak floors. The adjacent pro shop, which was renovated in 2011, features exposed wood on the interior walls salvaged from a starter shack built in 1914 and from a previous remodeling project in 1967. The 2,480-yard, par-35 course (below) was reconfigured in 2016. One of the more noticeable changes: undulations on the fairways and reconfigured bunkers.