Arts + Entertainment 2.27.25 by The Observer Group Inc.

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Tropical tinderbox

“Anna in the Tropics” is set in 1920s-era Ybor City, a neighborhood of Tampa where cigars are still made.

Through historical research and a field trip to Ybor City, Asolo Rep brings a 1920s-era cigar factory to life.

MARTY FUGATE CONTRIBUTOR

Nilo Cruz’s “Anna in the Tropics” is bringing a heat wave to the Asolo Repertory Theatre stage. His Pulitzer Prize-winning play unfolds in the Tampa neighborhood of Ybor City in the 1920s.

Passions come to a boil after a family-owned cigar factory hires a new “lector” to read Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” aloud to the workers rolling cigars. That sounds like a magical-realist fantasy. But it’s a historically accurate detail.

At the dawn of the Great Depression, Tampa cigar factories hired professional orators who read great literature to their workers. It’s all true, though it seems strange to 21st century minds.

The world of Cruz’s play is radically different from our own. The Ybor City of 1929 is a lost world. For Director Marcella Lorca and her creative team, rebuilding that lost city has been a labor of love.

Many of the actors share the characters’ Latin heritage. Lorca herself was born in Cuba — just like the playwright. The scenic designer hails from the Philippines. Cruz’s play speaks to them. And they want to do it justice.

“We’re deeply committed to authenticity,” Lorca says. “We’ve all worked hard to realize this time and place, with meticulous research, evocative design and a deep reverence for the era’s cultural heartbeat in the world of this play.”

Lorca describes the play’s heartbeat as a rhythm of the characters’ inner and outer worlds. We’ll start with the visible world.

Here’s what you’ll see on stage after the curtain goes up ...

A TIME AND A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

Regina Garcia is a Chicago-based scenic designer and the head of the scenic design department at DePaul University. The set for the Asolo Rep’s iteration of “Anna” is her brainchild. It’s had a long gestation.

Garcia has nurtured a long love affair with this play. She’s wanted to design its cigar factory set for more than a decade — and actually started a Ybor City research folder long before this Asolo Rep production. Over the years, Garcia has collected photos, architectural drawings and historical nuggets. Why go to all that trouble?

“Because scenic designers are cultural magpies,” she says with a laugh.

“I certainly am! I did all that research just in case I needed it someday. I’m

so happy that I finally do.”

After Asolo Rep called on Garcia, her Ybor City research kicked into overdrive. She tapped the Library of Congress for historical diagrams, photos and floor plans. She gathered swathes of colors and the insignias of the era’s cigar boxes. That painstaking research serves Garcia’s work as a scenic designer. But research and design are not the same thing. Files bulging with historical photographs and floor plans make Garcia’s job easier. But they don’t do the job for her. What is a scenic designer’s job, exactly?

IF YOU GO ‘ANNA IN THE TROPICS’ When: Through March 13

Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

Tickets: $29-$95

Info: Visit AsoloRep. org.

Images courtesy of Adrian Van Stee

When 1920s-era factory workers hear the words of Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” illicit passions are unleashed and the inspiration for a new cigar label is born.

Garcia answers without hesitation.

“A good scenic designer serves the director’s vision,” she says. “That’s my job. A good director serves the play’s story. That’s Marcella’s job.”

Garcia adds that the director is always her guide in set design. But different directors guide her to very different places.

“Depending on the director, every production has its own unique goals and emphasis,” she says. “My job is to create an environment that amplifies the director’s choices. My set design for ‘Anna’ is my own work — but it’s a collaborative creation. The world we’ve created on stage reflects Marcella’s approach as a director.”

“Poetry in motion” is how Garcia describes Lorca’s approach. “Marcella thinks about space in a very poetic way,” she says. “Her direction is detail-oriented and movementfocused. Nobody stays in one place long. The characters keep moving. She’s constantly choreographing these moments of connection and separation between them.”

A static space would be a straitjacket for Lorca’s kinetic vision. Garcia’s flexible set frees the director up to keep the play moving.

“I designed the set for ‘Anna’ with Marcella’s sense of rhythm and choreography in mind,” Garcia says. “Our set allows for fluid movement. Its spaces contract and expand, depending on characters and the scene.”

LEARNING ABOUT HISTORY WITH A TAMPA ROAD TRIP

The story of “Anna in the Tropics” is fiction. The history behind it isn’t. Cruz’s play unfolds at a specific time and place; his characters reflect the unique subculture of Ybor City in 1929. That historical truth isn’t mere subtext. It’s the heart of the playwright’s storytelling. Lorca and her creative team strive to honor that truth. Rebuilding the Lost City of Ybor isn’t easy. But they try.

“We pay homage to this time period with our costumes, the music and the textures of the set,” says Lorca. “Every element is as authentic as we can make it. It’s all designed to immerse the audience in the world of Nilo Cruz’s play and his characters.”

Lorca and her creative team recently immersed themselves in

that world — or what’s left of it. To get closer to historical fact, they took a field trip to a working cigar factory in Ybor City. In 2025.

Once inside, they observed master cigar rollers, learned about the trade’s traditions and even participated in a cigar-rolling workshop.

“Seeing these living traditions was incredibly moving to us,” says Lorca.

“It deepened our connection to the culture we’re re-creating on stage.”

Ana Kuzmanić’s costumes talk directly to the eye. They speak of Cuban heritage in a language of fabric and color. Their silent statement is eloquent — and a deft shorthand for Ybor City’s codes of status and identity.

The production’s sets and costumes capture the outer life of Ybor City in 1929. Music and language evoke the characters’ inner worlds.

Cuban composer Dayramir González created and performs the score for this Asolo Rep production. The mood of his music clues you into the characters’ inner lives.

“His music is a wordless form of storytelling,” Lorca says. “We worked closely together developing the dramatic themes and feelings of the songs. Every note reflects the characters’ emotions and experiences.”

Cruz’s pitch-perfect dialogue evokes his characters’ inner and outer worlds. Spoken language is the key to both.

Surprisingly, this Asolo Rep’s production didn’t need a dialect coach.

“The actors bring their own heritage and voices to their roles,” Lorca explains. “The actors speak with their own voices — not some accent they’ve learned how to imitate. Their characters aren’t strangers to them. They know exactly who they are.”

The Asolo Rep’s music, direction, set-design, costumes and characterizations are all true to life. But their historical accuracy is a means to an end. It’s not the point.

“Anna in the Tropics” is factbased fiction. It’s also a story about the power of fiction. Tolstoy’s words have a revolutionary effect on Cruz’s cigar factory characters. They don’t slavishly imitate the characters of “Anna Karenina.” But their stories start to rhyme. It’s an amazing transformation.

Thanks to the reality of the world on stage, it’s also believable.

“We’ve all worked hard to realize this time and place, with meticulous research, evocative design and a deep reverence for the era’s cultural heartbeat in the world of this play.”

— Marcella Lorca, director

Image courtesy of Adrian Van Stee

Jenyvette Vega, a married woman disappointed by her unfaithful husband, and Gabriell Salgado, the dashing lector who reads to factory workers, steal a kiss in Asolo Rep’s “Anna in the Tropics.”

Nicole Morris comes home to Sarasota with Twyla Tharp Dance

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

When Sarasota dancer Nicole Morris comes to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall with the Twyla Tharp Dance troupe on March 4, she won’t be able to give a speech thanking all the people who made it possible. It’s not an awards show, after all; it’s the 60th anniversary tour of the legendary dance company.

In Hollywood, Oscar winners are allowed just 45 seconds to say their thank-yous before the music starts. Based on a telephone interview, we think Morris would exceed the limit.

The music would cut Morris short, not because she’s long-winded, but because she’s grateful to a large number of people — her family, teachers, the New York City dance community, even the managers at Lululemon, where she has a “day job.”

She’d thank Mark and Ginny Hendry, who used to run Flex Dance Studios. Before the couple retired to Georgia in 2005, they trained hundreds of young dancers in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

After studying at Flex, Morris moved on to taking classes with Cheryl Copeland in Tampa and Sarasota Ballet. For academic studies, she originally enrolled in Sarasota High School, but transferred to Booker High’s Visual and Performing Arts magnet program. “VPA was just what I needed,” she says. “I’m super grateful. It opened my eyes to different styles of dance.”

Morris continued her education at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she earned a bachelor’s of fine arts. During her senior year, she spent a semester in New York City as part of the college’s arts program.

After graduating Florida State in 2014, Morris began the process of getting established in New York City. Morris wasn’t the first to discover that if you find a place to rent, you have be ready to move in the next day, or by the end of the week. Ditto for auditions and jobs.

Like many a struggling young artist, Morris spent her first month in

The legendary dance troupe celebrates its 60th anniversary at the Van Wezel on March 4.

But it also means a show can be seen by people different socioeconomic backgrounds, either because of low ticket prices or because a donor has purchased tickets. In any event, Morris was jazzed to be performing for the diverse crowd at “How Long Blues.”

IF YOU GO

TWYLA THARP DANCE: DIAMOND JUBILEE

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 4

Where: Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail

Tickets: $50-$100.

Info: Visit VanWezel.org.

New York “couch-surfing,” camping out in the apartments of friends. Her point of entry to the dance world was Steps on Broadway. “It really becomes a community. It’s really quite small. It really is who you know,” Morris says.

During her first year in New York, she danced for a small company run by Jackie Nowicki called NOW. Since then, she’s performed in projects choreographed by Kristin Sudeikis, who stages immersive works at cultural events and has her own space called Forward Space. “She’s a monumental figure,” Morris says.

To make money, Morris has taught classes at Equinox gym and Pure Barre dance studio. She currently sells fitness gear at Lululemon, which accommodates her with a flexible schedule.

To keep in shape herself, Morris runs outdoors and takes yoga and Pilates classes when she’s not rehearsing for an upcoming show.

If juggling auditions, performing and sales sounds like a lot of running around for not much money, you’re right. But Morris is matter-of-fact about the hard work and minimal financial rewards involved in trying to make it as an artist in New York.

Rather than being resentful about the wash-rinse-repeat cycle of auditions and gig work, Morris sounds enthusiastic.

BREAKING THROUGH

TO THE BIG TIME

Some artists remain on the tryout treadmill for a long time, waiting for their big break. But at 33, Morris has gotten hers. She is one of just 12 dancers choreographer Twyla Tharp selected for her Diamond (60th) Anniversary Tour. In the world of dance, there are a handful of eponymous companies that can fill auditoriums — names like Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris and Tharp — and Morris is dancing with one of them.

Fortuitously for dance aficionados, the companies of both Mark Morris and Twyla Tharp are coming

to Sarasota the same week. The Sarasota Ballet is presenting the Mark Morris Dance Company from Feb. 28 to March 3 at FSU Center for the Performing Arts. Twyla Tharp Dance comes to the Van Wezel the next day.

This is the second Tharp program for Morris. The first was last June, when the company performed “How Long Blues,” which the New York Times called “a medley of precise ballet technique and muscular expression.”

Tickets for the show were just $25, and it took place at Little Island, a public pier over the Hudson River.

The dance-theater work was set to jazz music by T Bone Burnett and David Mansfield.

For “How Long Blues,” Tharp issued an open call for performers, but Morris got a private audition with just nine dancers. “People that I knew helped get me there. The audition felt exciting and fun. I kept making it through all the cuts,” she says.

Performed outdoors for three weeks over the water, “How Long Blues” was “a beautiful event. It was so accessible,” Morris says. When many people hear the word “accessible,” they think about ramps for wheelchairs.

COMING UP AT THE VAN WEZEL!

She finds her second engagement with Twyla Tharp Dance even more exciting. The Diamond Anniversary show consists of two works. The first, “Diabelli Variations,” made its premiere in the 1990s.

Set to 33 variations on a waltz by Beethoven, Morris calls it “a beast of a work. It’s filled with everything you can think of — ballet, modern, comedic elements. It’s super musical. The piece is true brilliance.”

The second work is “Slacktide,” which Tharp choreographed to “Augus de Amazonia” by Philip Glass. The music is performed live by Third Coast Percussion, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble from Chicago.

Being on tour with the legendary Tharp “is so rewarding,” Morris says. “But it’s very athletic. You have to be determined to do it.”

Speaking of Tharp, she says: “She’s so meticulous. It’s so inspiring to watch her change the seemingly small shift of a head, continuing to dig deeper about what the angle of the head should be.”

Listening to Morris, it’s hard not to be awed by her proficiency in the vocabulary of dance. Not all dancers can explain to the layman what they are doing. Morris is one of them. In addition to being a talented dancer, she has a dexterity with words.

Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall are iconic figures in entertainment, known for their significant contributions to late-night television, continuing to engage audiences through various media and live performances.

Courtesy images

Twyla Tharp’s 60th anniversary tour comes to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on March 4.

Sarasota native Nicole Morris comes to the Van Wezel on March 4 as part of Twyla Tharp’s 60th anniversary tour.

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

‘THE BARBER OF SEVILLE’

7:30 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.

$32-$155 Visit SarasotaOpera.org.

Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” is one of two operas in the Sarasota Opera’s 2025 Winter Festival that follow the adventures of Figaro, the clever servant of Count Almaviva, who uses disguise and trickery to help his master woo his beloved Rosina. “Barber” is considered the prequel to Mozart’s masterpiece, “The Marriage of Figaro,” even though it was written later. Runs through March 29.

CIRCUS SARASOTA 2025

7 p.m. under the Big Top in Nathan Benderson Park, 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle

$28-$80 Visit CircusArts.org.

Circus Sarasota returns to the Big Top in Nathan Benderson Park with a lineup of all new acts presided over by Ringmaster Joseph Bauer. Among the circus artists featured are tight wire artist Brando Anastasini, a 2024 Generation Next honoree in the Circus Ring of Fame, aerialist Eve Diamond, the Pellegrini Brothers hand balancers, juggler Noel Aguilar and the Flying Caballeros trapeze artists. Runs through March 9.

‘JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN’ 7:30 p.m. at FSU Center for Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail $40 Visit AsoloRep.org/Conservatory.

FSU/Asolo Conservatory presents newcomer Kimberly Belflower’s play about Georgia high schoolers who try to tell the difference between fact and fiction as they study Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” while confronting injustice in the world around them. Runs through March 2.

‘THE CHINESE LADY’

7:30 p.m. at The Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Road

$40 Visit AsoloRep.org/Conservatory.

Sarasota has some wonderful stages, and some of them are in unexpected spaces. FSU/Asolo Conservatory presents “The Chinese Lady” in the Wagon Room of The Ringling Museum of Art. Written by Lloyd Suh, whose “The Heart Sellers” is currently running at Florida Studio Theatre, “The Chinese Lady” follows Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to immigrate to America. Runs through March 2.

‘OFF THE CHARTS’ (ENCORE)

8 p.m. at FST’s Keating Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave.

$18-$42

Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

If you missed Florida Studio Theatre’s cabaret show, “Off the Charts,” you’ve got another chance. The show, which takes the audience on a tour of 20th-century pop music, with arrangements by Jim Prosser, has moved to the Keating Theatre for an encore performance. Runs through March 15.

Brooklyn, New York-based Mark Morris Dance Group performs at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall from Feb. 28 through March 3.

‘THE CANCELLATION OF LAUREN FEIN’

8 p.m. at FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St.

$25-$42

Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Written by Miami lawyer Christopher Demos-Brown, “The Cancellation of Lauren Fein” tells the story of a “woke” professor (Rachel Moulton) forced to defend herself against charges of racism and sexual molestation. Leave your assumptions at the theater door. Runs through March 15.

FRIDAY

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF’

7:30 p.m. at Venice Theatre’s Pinkerton Theatre, 140 Tampa Ave. W., Venice

$18-$40

Visit VeniceTheatre.org.

With a pulsating rock score, this musical about a teen of mixed heritage (half god/half human) has become a favorite among community theater companies. Join Percy Jackson on his quest to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt and prevent war on Mount Olympus. Runs through March 23.

‘3 DIVAS FROM BROADWAY’

7:30 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail

$41-$99

Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

Led by guest conductor Evan Roider, Sarasota Orchestra presents three leading ladies from Broadway — Alli

Mauzey, Scarlett Strallen and Dee Roscioli — performing hits of the Great White Way, including songs from “Wicked,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Funny Girl” and others. Continues through March 1.

‘THESE SHINING LIVES’

7:30 p.m. at The Crossings at Siesta Key mall, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail

$40 Visit TreeFortProductions.com.

Tree Fort Productions presents Melanie Marnich’s “These Shining Lives,” the true story of Catherine Donohue, a worker at the Radium Dial Company in Ottawa, Illinois, in the 1920s and ’30s. Donohue took her case against the watch company, whose employees were being poisoned by radium, all the way to the Supreme Court to prevent others from being poisoned the way they were.

MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP

7:30 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail

$35-$115

Visit SarasotaBallet.org.

Sarasota Ballet presents Mark Morris Dance Group. Morris, who founded his eponymous dance company in 1980, was called by violinist Yo-Yo Ma the “preeminent modern dance organization of our time.” One of the reasons the Brooklyn-based dance group is considered so outstanding is that it tours with its own musicians, the Music Ensemble. Runs through March 3.

DON’T MISS

JAZZ @ TWO: THE FOOT NOTE JAZZ SEXTET Vince DiMartino was supposed to play with Stiletto Brass during their Sarasota concert in October, but the show was canceled. Catch the legendary trumpeter in this Jazz Club of Sarasota program that also features Pete Baren Bregge, Greg Nielsen, Robert Nissim, Paul Gormley and David Pruyn, playing together as the Foot Note Jazz Sextet.

IF YOU GO

When: 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28

Where: Unitarian Universalists of Sarasota, 3975 Fruitville Road

Tickets: $15-$20

Info: Visit JazzClubSarasota.org.

Image courtesy of Christopher Duggan

SATURDAY

‘CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA/ PAGLIACCI’

7:30 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.

$39-$162

Visit SarasotaOpera.org.

The Sarasota Opera’s 2025 Winter Festival features the double bill of “Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci,” an adulterous duo staged so often together that they are known as “Cav” and “Pag,” for short. “Cav” takes place on an Easter Morning in a small village in Italy while “Pag” is a play within a play and is the mother of all sad clown stories. Runs through March 29.

‘LIFE’S A BEACH’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Bowne’s Lab Theatre, 1265 First St.

$15-$18

Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Florida Studio Theatre’s Improv Troupe performances are a sure-fire way to have a fun Saturday night without breaking the bank. Whether you’re a snowbird or are mystified by Sarasota’s roundabouts, arrive with a good sense of humor as this indefatigable troupe uses audience suggestions to poke fun at the folks and byways of paradise with sketches, music and games. Weekends through March 22.

‘DEATH OF A SALESMAN’

7:30 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton

$29 Visit ManateePerformingArtsCenter. com.

What’s old is new again as Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” explores the fallout from chasing the American Dream on Willy Loman and his family in the classic drama that is as relevant today as when it premiered in 1949. Runs through March 9.

SUNDAY

‘HARP ROYALTY’

4 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 2050 Oak St.

$43-$63

Visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org.

This program by Artist Series Concerts brings together four of the country’s most celebrated harpists — Hannah Cope Johnson, Eleanor Kirk, Phoebe Powell and Katherine Siochi — each of whom began their career in Sarasota.

NEIL BERG’S 115 YEARS OF BROADWAY

7 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail

$47-$68 VanWezel.org.

OUR PICK

‘FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE’

Written by Clarke Peters, “Five Guys Named Moe” tells the story of Nomax, who is down on his luck because his girlfriend has left and he’s broke. Suddenly, the titular characters step out of a 1930s-style radio to give him encouragement. Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe last presented the musical tribute to R&D pioneer Louis Jordan in 2011. Runs through April 6.

IF YOU GO

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 5

Where: Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe Tickets: $22-$52 Info: Visit WestcoastBlackTheatre.org.

It’s baack! “Neil Berg’s 115 Years of Broadway” brings together the great shows from the history of the Great White Way performed by its brightest stars. There’s a reason why audiences keep coming back for more.

MONDAY

THE TEMPTATIONS AND THE FOUR TOPS 40TH ANNIVERSARY

7:30 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail $65-$105 Visit VanWezel.org.

For fans of Motown, the Detroit label founded by Berry Gordy in 1959, the music never gets old. We’re not sure where the 40 comes from in this program’s title (perhaps it’s the anniversary of the touring show), because both these groups have been at it for more than 60 years. The Temps and the Four Tops perform their greatest hits, complete with the wardrobe and syncopated dance steps that are their hallmark.

WEDNESDAY

‘BAD BOOKS’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Bowne’s Lab, 1265 First St. $25-$46 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Directed by Kate Alexander, “Bad Books” offers a nuanced take on America’s 21st-century culture wars. Both sides claim to be fighting for “the children.” Rothstein’s play considers the unspoken, ulterior motives behind the fight. Runs through March 28.

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 7:30 pm

Riverview Performing Arts Center | 1 Ram Way, Lords Avenue in Sarasota Grammy Award-winning LAGQ consistently play to sold-out houses worldwide. Their inventive, critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground.

John Dearman Douglas Lora Bill Kanengiser Matt Greif COMING APRIL 19

with a

of my spirits!” –Faye, age 83

Howard Millman put Sarasota on the national theater map

Howard Millman, who died Feb. 14 at age 93, rescued one theater and inspired two others.

For many years in the theater world, there was London’s West End, Broadway and everybody else. Regional theater, even in bustling metropolises like Chicago and Los Angeles, was dismissed as second rate or a stop on the way to the Great White Way. Sarasota? A little speck on the map.

But Howard Millman changed that theatrical landscape. Millman, who died on Feb. 14 at age 93, rescued the Asolo Repertory Theatre, now Florida’s largest Actors Equity theater, from the brink of financial disaster. He also helped inspire the creation of two other theater companies in town — Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe and the revival of Sarasota Jewish Theatre.

“Howard challenged the idea of what regional theater could be,” says Michael Riedel, longtime theater critic for the New York Post, author and radio personality.

Millman, who also led theater companies in Rochester, New York, and Pittsburgh during his career, was part of a movement among regional theaters to become nonprofit and experimental, Riedel says.

“They weren’t going to be tryout houses and or where Robert Goulet did ‘Camelot’ one more time,” he says. “Instead, they were experimental. They did new plays and commissioned plays. It was a great moment.”

Unfortunately, some of those regional theaters now face tough times after saddling themselves with high overhead by building expensive new facilities. Meanwhile, audiences in some areas didn’t return to theaters after Covid lockdowns or grew weary of season subscriptions for lineups that were either too predictable or too edgy.

That hasn’t been the case for Asolo Rep, which Millman led not once but twice. He was first managing director from 1968 to 1980 and then returned to the company, which was facing financial difficulties, if not ruin, as producing artistic director from 1995-2006.

On its Facebook page, Asolo Rep said that Millman pointed to the 1996 production of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” as the show that tipped the scales in

“He was a pragmatic visionary and the architect of much of what is so glorious in our arts community.”

— Carole Kleinberg, SJT artistic director

favor of the company’s survival.

“But his understanding of the complexities of repertory theater, his deep ties to the Sarasota community and his unwavering belief in the power of theater is ultimately what saved Asolo Rep. It is his shoulders we stand upon today.”

When Millman retired from Asolo Rep in 2006, he left the company with a surplus of $800,000 and a healthy subscription base.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Millman was first bitten by the theater bug as a child when his grandmother took him to the Yiddish theater.

His first appearance on stage came in “Faust” as an undergraduate at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, in 1949. Millman earned a bachelor’s degree in theater from Hartwick, a master’s from Purdue University and was an “ABD” (all but dissertation) Ph.D. from Florida State University, where he finished his coursework in 1960.

After stints with the U.S. Army as both a soldier and a civilian, Millman first joined Asolo Rep in 1968. In addition to managing the company, he directed a dozen plays before leaving to become executive director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater in 1980.

The next step on Millman’s theat-

rical road trip was Rochester’s Geva theater, where he served as producing artistic director. During his tenure, he transformed the theater from a small storefront operation to a 500-seat facility that continues to prosper today.

It was at the Geva that the future critic Riedel caught the theater bug himself at a production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” which he attended with his ninth grade English class.

When one of the actors had a stroke and couldn’t perform, Millman stepped in to play the role of the father, Joe Keller. After the family learns that Keller had manufactured faulty airplane parts during World War II, where his pilot son Larry perished, he kills himself.

“I’ll never forget it as long as I live,”

Monday, Mar. 3: 10:30 am Church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Rd, Sarasota 3:00 pm Venice Presbyterian Church, 825 The Rialto, Venice

James Nyoraku Schlefer, Shakuhachi (Japanese flute)

James Nyoraku Schlefer is a Grand Master of the shakuhachi and one of only a handful of non-Japanese artists to have achieved this rank. He is a professor of World music courses at New York City College of Technology (CUNY). He is an artist in residence at The Hermitage Artist Retreat. GLOBAL ISSUES I

Tuesday,

Riedel recalled during in interview in Sarasota, where his parents have a home. “I wasn’t a theater person. I had never seen a straight play before. It transformed my life.”

In the first act of “All My Sons,” Millman read from a script but he went “off book” in the second because he knew that it was necessary to deliver a convincing performance.

Riedel later met Millman in Sarasota after a reading of Riedel’s 2015 book, “Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway.” That’s when he learned that Millman had stayed up all night rehearsing the lines for the second act of “All My Sons.” He was also able to tell Millman, “You changed the course of my life.”

He wasn’t alone. Millman encouraged educator and actor Nate Jacobs to found the now-thriving Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe in December 1999 to tell stories of the African American experience. Jacobs was long on talent, but not as experienced with accounting and fundraising.

When WBTT was facing insolvency in 2009, Millman came to the rescue by brokering a meeting between Jacobs and banking executive Christine Jennings.

Jennings initially agreed to take on the job of WBTT consultant for six months to try to help the theater company, which didn’t have a permanent home, was $150,000 in debt and was without financial management systems. She ended up becoming executive director and staying for five years, helping to set the stage for growth and the acquisition of its own performance and rehearsal space.

In previous interviews, Jacobs has referred to Millman as his “mentor.”

But in an emotional Facebook post on Feb. 15, Jacobs referred to Millman as his “theater father.”

Wrote Jacobs: “He mentored me into the founder and director I am today, helped me secure our first executive director, Christine Jennings, and stood with me and our present executive director, Julie Leach, and watched over the future of WBTT until his last breath!”

A LATE-IN-LIFE LOVE WHOSE

ARDOR NEVER FADED

Jacobs was one of several members of Sarasota’s arts community who took to Facebook to express their grief upon Millman’s death. They remembered him not just for his stewardship of Asolo Rep, but for his 25-year-plus love affair with his wife, Carolyn Michel, whom he met when she was performing at Asolo.

Sarasota author Robert Plunket, the longtime gossip columnist for Sarasota Magazine and author, recalls that Michel and Millman were “just

like teenagers” when they fell in love. Recalls Plunket, who first became friends with Michel through fundraising for AIDS, “It was an office romance, so they had to keep it quiet.” Plunket, known for being plainspoken, said in an interview, “Howard was living in an awful condo near the Asolo because he wanted to be close to work. Then he met Carolyn. They were so well matched. Their interests and tastes were so in line with each other. They became one of the town’s power couples.”

That power couple turned out to be instrumental in the revival of the Sarasota Jewish Theatre in 2021. SJT Artistic Director Carole Kleinberg wrote on her Facebook page, “It is with immense sadness that I say ‘sleep well fair prince’ to Howard Millman. Carolyn Michel and Howard shared a deep and abiding love for over 26 years.”

Continued Kleinberg: “He was a pragmatic visionary and the architect of much of what is so glorious in our arts community. He shaped Asolo Rep, nurtured Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, supported and encouraged Sarasota Jewish Theatre. He changed my life. He changed Sarasota.”

Kleinberg, a former professor of theater in the Chicago area and the former director of education and outreach at Asolo Rep, revived the Sarasota Jewish Theatre in 2021 with the guidance and support of Millman and Michel.

Michel is scheduled to appear in SJT’s upcoming production of Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers,” which runs from March 19-30.

According to Plunket, Michel had been weighing dropping out of the production because of Millman’s declining health. “But Howard encouraged her to stay in the play. He said it would be good for her, good for the theater and good for audiences,” Plunket said.

“She’s still processing the loss,” Plunket said of Michel. “Luckily, she has a big St. Louis family who has swooped in to help her. They are politically active, Jewish and artsconscious. Howard fit right in with them.”

Millman’s paid obituary noted that he loved his family, including his son and daughter-in-law David and Paula Millman, his late daughter Devora Millman and granddaughter Jessica Millman. “He loved his sister Barbara (deceased) and brother-in-law George Goldsmith and the Goldsmith nieces and nephews,” the notice reads. “And he loved Carolyn Michel’s Hirsch/Lieberman family who embraced him as their own.”

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Westcoast Black Theater Troupe founder Nate Jacobs is shown with his mentor, the late Howard Millman, and former WBTT Executive Director Christine Jennings.

Howard Millman and his wife, Carolyn Michel

Orchestra’s Masterworks delivers melange of flavors

Conducted by Miguel HarthBedoya, the concert featured a haunting performance by sax soloist Steven Banks.

GAYLE WILLIAMS

MUSIC CRITIC

The Sarasota Orchestra’s Masterworks concert on Feb. 21 at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall overdelivered on its promise of a “melting pot of music.” We were served a diverse tumult of sounds, styles and statements, which often delighted and sometimes tugged on heart strings.

The four popular dances of Jimmy Lopez-Bellido’s “Fiesta!” immediately grabbed the spotlight with infectious rhythms largely from an array of percussion. However, the Morse code voices scattering from winds through brass kept the ears alert too.

Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya charmed the audience with his commentary on Lopez-Bellido, whom he’d known as a teenager. Both are from Peru, and HarthBedoya is clearly his champion. Lopez-Bellido has built an impressive body of work. “Fiesta!,” his most popular creation, drives forward on a mix of Afro-Peruvian sound and an excellent use of orchestral color with provocative results.

The highlight of the evening was a performance of Billy Childs’ Concerto for Saxophone (“Diaspora”) commissioned by saxophonist Steven Banks and conceived in tandem as a symphonic poem to portray the forced African diaspora. That’s a lot to ask, but Childs is an awardbedecked composer-performer famed for capturing a uniquely American voice.

The three contiguous sections draw inspiration, and a narrative, from three poems (“Africa’s Lament” by Nayyirah Waheed, “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay and “And Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou). In addition to the concert program notes, both composer and soloist notes on “Diaspora” can be found online, along with recordings of live performances.

The concerto is an epic expanse, superbly structured and performed with deep conviction by a soloist who was born to the music and became one with the message. From the opening theme on soprano saxophone, there was love and freedom of the Motherland, as the section is titled.

Banks brought a delicious flow of melodic joy over an evolving froth of bubbling fragments from the orchestra. The music is its own signature, only hinting to direct the thoughts to Africa or what is to come as the contrasts deepen in intensity.

Banks delivered a haunting cadenza as the orchestra faded like the sight of land disappearing on the horizon. The sense of bewilderment and then desolation was palpable. As the narrative proceeded through “If We Must Die” and finally to “And Still I Rise,” we hear growing anger through the orchestral language and the voice of the soloist.

Switching to alto saxophone, Banks reentered in response to martial brass and agitation over a long gong roll and conversed with the orchestra in a fractured giveand-take rising to a crisis.

A multiphonic outcry from Banks pierced the air amid strikes powered by the fortissimo bass drum and percussion array. The urgency of their musical negotiations clears the way to a quiet brave resolve. Banks mastered the technical demands and the shifting moods with clarity and purpose.

The final section, an uplifting hymn theme, warmed the stage.

Clearly nodding to the influence of the Black church, in which so many found a haven, the music is a transformation of the earlier African lament.

The orchestra gathered energetically around this strong voice leading the way. It is a triumphant journey in which Banks, the soloist, emerged as the clear hero. The entire ensemble could rejoice in this performance. And Sarasota audiences can count themselves lucky to have heard it live.

The remaining two works on the program — Richard Strauss’ “Suite from Der Rosenkavalier,” Op.59 and Maurice Ravel’s “La Valse” — completely shifted the mood to fin de siècle Europe. These performances were each resplendent with their beauty and obvious charms.

Strauss’ rich harmonies and brilliant high court style in his sweeping waltz theme was paired with Ravel’s French attitude, a modern experimentation of sound and structure. A little bent sidewise perhaps, but a lovely sweep nonetheless.

Harth-Bedoya sealed the deal, conducting without score and bringing out the best this orchestra offers. Bravo to all.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2025

ROCK THE ROOF

Saturday, Feb. 22, at the West Parking Garage at Sarasota Memorial Hospital Benefiting Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation

After a reschedule due to the hurricane trifecta, Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation held its annual dance party, Rock the Roof, on Feb. 22, on the roof of the West Parking Garage at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

With co-Chairs Jennifer Kucera, Melissa Perrin and Heather Wrigley posting lively and high-spirited videos on social media, there was no reason to experience FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

About 1,000 guests turned out for the Y2K-themed event dressed in colorful attire, including signature tracksuits by Juicy Couture, trucker hats by Von Dutch and denim designs by Miss Sixty. Many conversations centered around one big question: Were these outfits pulled out of the back of closets or were they found at thrift stores?

Met with clear, crisp weather, the party under the stars sported a high of 64 degrees at its 7 p.m. start time and a low of 54 degrees by 11 p.m., when the event came to a close. Hot chocolate and coffee were served as people entered and exited the elevators, and only a few “it’s freezing” complaints were overheard.

Guests enjoyed unbridled fun as they danced and sang along with bands including Midlife Crisis and Cassandra and the Ear-resistibles that literally left the roof shaking underfoot. Sarasota local DJ Baaler entertained and closed out the event to thunderous applause and cheers. Rock the Roof is a signature event and proceeds support Women and Children’s Services at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

— JANET COMBS

Photos by Lori Sax

Alison Guerrero, Monica Barth, Jaime Pietak, Dana Moretta and Pam Collado

Britt and Noah Riner

Julie Polaszek and Angie Nicholson

Gigi and John Kovach with Asya and Timothy Stuart

Ray Pietak and Joe Collado

Sally Schule and Phil Mancini

Co-Chair Melissa Perrin and Ruth Manire

Alysha and Jeremy Shelby

Carl Troiano, Keith and Felicia Povich and Charlotte Stewart

Skip Swan and Steve Dixon

General Director Richard Russell with Larry and Carol English Lewis Solomon and Janet Stern Soloman

Photos by Janet Combs David Epstein and Tamara Jacobs

Cheryl Schwarzwaelder, Paula Schleicher and Nicole Rhodes

Tyler McCool and Jake Lockwood

Barbara Shaver, Sara Little, Bob Evans and Joan Smith

COOKING FOR WISHES

Max Bladford with Norm Wedderburn, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish Southern Florida The event committee and co-chairs of the 15th annual Cooking for Wishes held on Feb. 20 at Circus Arts Conservatory

Steve Knopik, Jack Daniels, Jeff Sedacca and Michael Klauber

Rick and Linda McCampbell with Ken and Cindy Cornacchione; the gents have been friends for 68 years.

Photos by Janet Combs

Matt and Kayla Fenske cook for Table 25.

Dawn Spencer, Katherine Harris and Judy Kozlowski