April Montgomery

THE FANTASTICKS opened for the first time in a small Off-Broadway theater in Greenwich Village in 1960. It has enjoyed astonishing popularity and is still running Off-Broadway to this very day. Recently, the Winter Park Playhouse opened this timeless show to close out its 2015-2016 season.

I recently read that unless material comes out of living experience, it does not live. The truth of this premise resonated clearly when I attended preview night for Orlando Shakespeare's final play of its regular season, VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a show with an unmistakable heartbeat. 

It isn't often that an experience touches the complete range of emotions that we are capable of feeling as human beings. We buy a ticket for a show and think we might laugh at a comedy, shed a few tears in a drama or perhaps fall in love with a romance. But, is it possible to thoroughly feel all of these emotions from the same show? THE ADVENTURES OF PERICLES indeed makes this joyride of sensation possible and seamlessly entranced a willing audience at Orlando Shakespeare on opening night.

A tale of mysticism, betrayal, love and the ultimate choice. THE TEMPEST is arguably one of Shakespeare's most cohesive works, with its central plot all taking place on the same day in one location. The storyline is easier to follow than some of the Bard's earlier plays, which is brought to light by the acting and direction in the Orlando Shakespeare production that opened in Central Florida on Friday night.

Tony Bennett is an icon.  He has helped write music history and manages to reach generation after generation of fans. So, what is his secret?  Why is his music still relevant today and how do audience members continue to connect with him after all these years? I LEFT MY HEART: A SALUTE TO THE MUSIC OF TONY BENNETT, opened at The Winter Park Playhouse on Friday night, and helps to enlighten us with the answers to these questions and the magic of Tony's success. This show is everything we could ever want in a Tony revue, with hot fudge and sprinkles on top.

Salem, McCarthyism, witch hunts, high-school literature, Winona Ryder… all phrases that come to mind when someone mentions the 1953 Arthur Miller play, THE CRUCIBLE.  As we enter Central Florida Community Arts' opening weekend for this classic drama, BroadwayWorld got together with Director, Donald Rupe and Actor, Jake Teixeira, to find out how CFCArts plans to bring new life to THE CRUCIBLE and make this production a success in Central Florida.

Going to the theater is an intimate experience.  We are pulled out of our everyday lives and isolated realities to immerse ourselves collectively in a story.  We give over the reigns of control for a set amount of time and just absorb.  On rare occasions, we find a story that moves us so thoroughly that we see the world from a different perspective when we awake from the dreamlike state.  Mark St. Germain's latest masterpiece, DANCING LESSONS, is one of those compelling stories. It opened at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater this weekend with sold out performances.

What could be more exciting than a stage full of musical theatre students performing the roles they dream to play in the decade that lies ahead? Answer: Absolutely nothing.  I was one of the fortunate audience members to share in the experience of night two of the Dream Roles Concert, performed by the UCF BFA Musical Theatre Senior Class (with half the class performing on December 12 and the other half on December 13). From the opening medley to the finale, all of the students had stars in their eyes and a fire in their hearts.  UCF is known for attracting impressive talent and I can only imagine the pride felt by the staff, family and friends in the audience. I only wish I'd witnessed night one to have captured the complete essence of the pseudo recital.

FOREVER PLAID: PLAID TIDINGS is a holiday sequel to the 1990 Off-Broadway show, FOREVER PLAID, written by Stuart Ross. I have not seen the original show, but can now promise that it is totally unnecessary to have seen the original in order to enjoy the heaven out of the sequel. It is an uncanny and unsuspectingly hilarious holiday musical. The underlying plot is quite bizarre, but the script is so well written that no one seemed to care. The sequel continues from the original storyline, where a clean-cut, male quartet has been sent back to earth (following an unfortunate bus accident with a group of Catholic schoolgirls); this time to bring harmony and good cheer to an inharmonious planet.

The UCF School of Performing Arts is joining together its talent from the departments of music, theatre and dance to provide us with a unique evening of art in Orlando. For one night only, on October 4 at 7pm, the classic Stravinsky work, L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT (THE SOLDIER'S TALE) will be presented at the Visual Arts Building Auditorium on the UCF Campus. A collaborative show of this variety often carries the ability to transcend the space in which it is performed. With Halloween approaching in just a few weeks, a dance with the devil seems particularly fitting. In anticipation of the event, BroadwayWorld's April Montgomery got together with Director, Jim Brown, Music Director, Dr. Thad Anderson, Student/Actor, David Klein and Marketing Director, Heather Gibson, to get the inside scoop on this exciting, exclusive project.

One of the most beloved powers in the art of theatre is its ability to transport the audience to another time…another place…another era. The audience was delightfully and willingly transported at the opening of THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES at The Winter Park Playhouse on the evening of Friday, September 11.

I silently shuffle ball-changed under my seat as I waited for the show to begin. Opening night of the 2015/2016 season in the Winter Park Playhouse, with its intimate setting and alluring lounge, promised to be a delight.