It was gratifying to see such a full home for Rachel Potter’s album-release live performance in late August on the Renaissance Theatre, close to Loch Haven Park north of downtown Orlando.
The live performance was a part of the theater’s “Broadway on the Ren” collection, which is including a much-needed element to our arts scene: Cabaret-style concert events by Broadway performers which are in an intimate setting, have an off-the-cuff vibe and are inexpensive (tickets for this present topped out at lower than $40).
Potter, who performed Peron’s Mistress in “Evita” and Wednesday in “The Addams Household” musical on Broadway, was celebrating the discharge of her album “Phases.” This specific live performance had one thing of a hometown reunion really feel to it, as Potter lived in Orlando for years. She carried out at Walt Disney World and graduated from the College of Central Florida.
Potter carried out medleys and mashups from exhibits like “Les Miserables,” “Matilda” and “Waitress,” usually joined by particular visitors who stay regionally — which served to show how deep the expertise bench is in Central Florida.
My private favorites: a harmonic “For Good,” with Ashley Espinoza, a hovering mashup of “Come What Could” and “The I Love You Tune,” with Joshua Waddy and Easton J. Curtis, and a triumphant “Animazement Trio,” wherein Potter, E.J. Cardona and Jamey Ray delivered to life three Disney anthems — “Simply Across the Riverbend” from “Pocahontas,” “Out There” from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Go the Distance” from “Hercules” — with gorgous overlapping musical layers.
A lot of these concert events on the Ren actually supply an up-close-and-personal expertise, together with a full bar (serving creative and pretty priced cocktails).
If you happen to don’t imagine me, take it from longtime Disney pianist and enthusiastic arts supporter Carol Stein, who posted afterward on Fb: “We’re so lucky to have so many alternatives for intimate concert events with world class expertise right here in Orlando. Help Reside Leisure!!”
I can’t wait to see who exhibits up on the Ren subsequent.
Rachel Potter brings Broadway ‘residence’ with Orlando live performance
Singhaus Scholarship
The Renaissance Theatre additionally was residence to this 12 months’s “Something Goes” cabaret, which raises funds for the Singhaus Scholarship for the Performing Arts — named in honor of performer Sam “Miss Sammy” Singhaus, costume designer Marcy Singhaus and humanities supporter Steve Singhaus, all of whom died lately.
Cheers to Central Floridians who confirmed as much as help this initiative; organizer Eddie Cooper studies the present introduced in additional than $12,000 for subsequent 12 months’s scholarship recipients — practically double final 12 months’s quantity. Finally, the group wish to elevate $20,000 every year for its awards, which go to college students occupied with efficiency and technical features of theater, music and dance.
“It was a magical night time, and we actually felt the love,” Cooper stated.
Individuals’s Alternative Award
Turning to visible artwork, Orlando Museum of Artwork has introduced that Kandy G. Lopez was awarded the $5,000 prize for profitable the Individuals’s Alternative Award at this 12 months’s Florida Prize in Up to date Artwork exhibit.
“It was an honor to be part of this present, and I’m actually completely happy to have been picked for this,” Lopez shared throughout her acceptance speech. “Even for me to choose my favourite artist on this exhibition was actually onerous, so to have the ability to come right here and win Individuals’s Alternative Award is actually candy. This artwork is for the neighborhood, and I’m proud to be acknowledged for it.”
The award, offered by AdventHealth, was determined by greater than 9,000 public votes forged all through the summer season whereas the annual exhibition was on view. A multimedia portrait artist primarily based in Fort Lauderdale, Lopez makes use of fiber to depict on a regular basis individuals of shade in a problem to conventional creative pictures.
“Her highly effective fiber portraits invite viewers to have interaction with complicated themes of illustration,” stated museum CEO Cathryn Mattson, “and we’re proud to see her work celebrated by so many in our neighborhood.”
This was the primary time within the Florida Prize’s historical past that the general public was capable of vote all summer season for a favourite artist. Colombian-born South Florida artist Nathalie Alfonso gained this 12 months’s juried prize for her site-specific, large-scale drawing set up.
Alfond Inn assortment
Sticking with the realm of artwork, the Alfond Inn in Winter Park has refreshed what’s on view from the Alfond Assortment of Up to date Artwork, curated by the Rollins Museum of Artwork. This bi-annual rehang brings greater than 100 works into the resort’s public areas — together with latest acquisitions and barely proven items.
This 12 months’s set up contains new multimedia works, work and prints. Among the many highlights: Michael Rakowitz’s large-scale sculptural tribute to misplaced Assyrian heritage, composed of Center Jap meals packaging and newspaper; a luminous vinyl work by Hank Willis Thomas that prompts historic reminiscence; and a shining instance of postwar abstraction from Deborah Remington, who’s at the moment having fun with a crucial resurgence within the artwork world.
“With this newest set up of gorgeous, complicated artworks, The Alfond Inn continues to make museum-quality artwork accessible to all guests to our resort and to the area people,” stated Michael Briggs, the resort’s managing director. “Our artwork program and our philanthropic mission are what really set The Alfond Inn aside from every other resort within the area, and past. Greater than a resort, we’re a cultural cornerstone with function, and we take delight in offering this culturally enriching service to our patrons.”
Winter Park Playhouse OK
In different Winter Park information, metropolis commissioners have given their remaining approval to a plan that might see town purchase the Winter Park Playhouse‘s constructing on Orange Avenue. The town will then lease the area again to the theater at a nominal price, permitting the Playhouse to renovate the area. Work already has began on the theater’s upgraded; whereas building goes on this 12 months, the Playhouse’s exhibits will probably be offered on the Lowndes Shakespeare Heart in Orlando.
Winter Park Playhouse renovation undertaking will get metropolis approval
Lake Choir at 100+
One other fast followup to an earlier article: The new Lake Group Choir studies that it has already attracted greater than 100 singers. The brand new refrain, for anybody occupied with singing, simply began up Aug. 19 and it’s nonetheless doable to hitch. The payment for the season, which culminates with a vacation live performance, is $100. Rehearsals are weekly in Clermont. Get extra info at lakecommunityarts.org.
Like to sing? Lake Group Arts will deliver new choir to Clermont
Rosen JCC reward
Lastly, the Jack & Lee Rosen Jewish Group Heart outdoors Lake Buena Vista has acquired $1 million from Andy Pargh to remake its auditorium.
Now often known as the Pargh Occasion Heart, the area feates theater-style seating for 600 and banquet lodging for greater than 350 visitors.
“This recognition is particularly significant because it continues the legacy of giving instilled in me by my dad and mom, who supported numerous Jewish and humanitarian causes all through their lives,” Pargh stated. “With this reward, I’m proud to assist remodel the Pargh Occasion Heart right into a vibrant area for celebrations, cultural programming and neighborhood engagement — serving as a real residence for the humanities in Southwest Orlando.”
Ofira Bondorowsky, CEO of the Rosen JCC, expressed her gratitude for the donation and stated it could assist the group broaden its creative choices.
“This reward helps our rising arts and tradition initiative and brings us nearer to our imaginative and prescient of building
the Rosen JCC as a artistic and cultural hub for Southwest Orlando,” Bondorowsky stated. “This second represents greater than a reputation change, it signifies a daring step ahead for the Rosen JCC.”
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