Central Florida Live Events for June 2012

What a great two weeks for live events it has been, I am officially re-naming Central Florida the live event capitol of the universe! The Orlando International Fringe Festival set several all time records for ticket sales, award prizes, and attendance. Much of the credit for this success goes to the Fringe’s new producer Michael Marinaccio who brings a great new look for this year’s event and a great outlook for future Fringes. This is one of those deals where I wish I could have cloned myself so I might have seen more of this outstanding event. Great job Michael and one of the best production teams ever!

On to the immediate future, this weekend is filled with more great live events, on Sunday I will be attending the World Ballet Competition’s production of All Stars of Dance at Orlando’s Bob Carr Performing Arts Center. Accomplished ballet stars from Cuba, France, Japan, Russia, and the US will be performing at this one night only, one show only event. Tickets start at just $25 and are still available. Bob Carr Performing Arts Center is an excellent venue to watch all kinds of events with ease of use in stage set and scenic design installation.

On the note of great presentation and production, I recently had the opportunity of touring a local museum that is the home of the world’s largest private collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s works of art. Located on the north end of Park Avenue in Winter Park is the Morse Museum of American Art. With the recent completion of a new wing, the museum is home for one of the most spectacular collections anywhere. The grandeur of the former Long Island, NY estate of Louis Comfort Tiffany Laurelton Hall is brought to life through the lighting design and support displays in the museum. If you are a lover of all things Tiffany, this is a great place to visit this weekend.

A lot of great live events in and around the area this weekend, make it a point to partake in a few.

Title: A Great Week of Entertainment Ahead For Orlando

         Although the drama certainly isn’t over, the shortened NBA playing season is history for the Magic, now we can shift our focus to one of Orlando’s really unique sideshows, The Orlando Fringe Festival.  This installment marks the 21^st in a long line of memorable events.  From the unique, to the classic, to the weird and the wacky – “The Fringe” has it all.  According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Orlando festival is the oldest in the US.  Who knew?

            All the action begins this Wednesday, May 16^th and runs for 13 consecutive days and ends on Sunday May 28^th. Total attendance numbers are almost impossible to estimate as many of the performances and events are non-ticketed and actual gate counts are not recorded. Suffice to say, all the events are well attended. One of the many great aspects of the management of the festival is the performance rating system to allow parents the opportunity to determine if the acts are suitable for younger audiences. Many kids events and family friendly performances are also scheduled throughout the event. Having attended numerous events in the past several years, I consider myself an unofficial “Fringer.” This is a great festival that steps right up to the boundaries in avant-garde entertainment.

            From the wild and wacky to the classic and beautiful, the Orlando Ballet’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is scheduled for one day only, one show only, this Saturday at 11am.  This would be a great opportunity to see a wonderful performance with the entire family.  I recently had the pleasure of witnessing the performance by our local company in the production of, Swans:Black and White and in one word, wow! If the performance of this adaptation of the classic Swan Lake is any indication, Saturday’s performance of, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is sure to impress even the newcomers to this segment of entertainment.  With matinee performances and very reasonable ticket prices – do yourself and a loved one a favor and go to the ballet, you’ll enjoy it.

            A great entertainment week ahead for Orlando and the Central Florida area, I hope you get out and enjoy it.

Challenging Times

The live event promotion and production industry is challenging in the current economic climate.  Several international concert events have been scaled back in size, postponed, or completely cancelled in recent months.  The recent postponement of the Rolling Stones 50thAnniversary reunion tour is an example of the changing climate in live music concert touring.  Although the reasons cited were the health of some of the members of the band, other rumors have surfaced that lack of interest in US and European markets may have been a contributing factor. 

Some positive sign that some recovery is occurring in the music segment was the recent success of the production of The Coachella Music Festival in California.  According to Lily Angelle of tgdaily.com, one trend that was apparent, in addition to a fantastic hologram performance, was the joining of movie celebrities at this year’s event. Jack White made an appearance at this year’s festival and announced his partnership with Disney to compose the soundtrack to The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.  The movie is a remake of the 1949 film of the same name and is scheduled to open in US markets in May 2013.

In more regional terms and on the sporting events front, several challenges abound.  As a local Tampa Bay Rays MLB fan I have to be concerned at the live attendance I’ve witnessed at the home games.  Although the Rays are currently tied for first place in the AL East Division their home attendance seems very light.  Because my schedule has not allowed I have not had the opportunity to see a home game yet this year but plan on doing so in June.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  It looks as though the Tampa Bay Rays are not the only professional sports team struggling to bring attendance.  The Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL have also had challenging times filling seats last season.  The recent change in ownership of the Jacksonville team may breathe a breath of fresh air into one of the newer NFL franchises.