MegaCon is teaming
with Love Is Love to honor Pulse victims during the annual convention.
Here are recent posts at my blog, The Artistic Type, at OrlandoSentinel.com/ artistictype.
Pulse tribute
MegaCon, the Southeast’s largest fan-convention presenter, is teaming with Love Is Love to honor victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre during MegaCon Orlando, May 25-28 at the Orange County Convention Center.
A gallery will feature art from Love Is Love, a project created by Marc Andreyko of DC Comics.
That Friday evening, comic-book talent including Tom King, Scott Snyder, Mitch Gerads, Jason Aaron, Phil Jimenez, Dan Didio and Andreyko will participate in a fundraising cocktail reception and book signing, 7:30-10 p.m.
A live art auction, open to the public, will follow on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit the LGBT civil-rights organization Equality Florida.
The convention center is at 9400 Universal Blvd., Orlando. You can learn more at megaconorlando.com/ tickets.
Help school kids
A Gift for Teaching and “Matilda the Musical” are partnering to bring school supplies to needy children.
While the touring musical is in town, through Sunday at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center, theatergoers are asked to bring supplies to the downtown venue for distribution to local schools. The supplies needed include: packs of No. 2 pencils; loose-leaf paper packs; 24-count crayons; 12-count colored pencils; eight-count markers; and glue sticks.
Donors will receive a free gift from the show, about a fiesty schoolgirl, while supplies last. For more information, call 844-513-2014.
Cabaret festival
Mad Cow Theatre’s Orlando Cabaret Festival returns Saturday through May 21, on a smaller scale than in previous years but featuring a hometown favorite.
Davis Gaines, the Edgewater High School graduate who played the Phantom of the Opera in more Broadway performances than any other actor, will headline with a concert of showtunes and popular standards. That show is at 8:15 p.m. this Saturday, and tickets are $40.
Other concerts feature songs from the 1970s and ’80s performed by Hannah Benitez, Glenn Gover, Heather Kopp and Emily Sheetz. Tickets for those shows are $20; for details, call 407-297-8788 or go to orlandocabaret.com.
Mad Cow is at 54 W. Church St. in downtown.
Disney salute
Central Florida Community Arts’ annual spring concert will be at 7:30 p.m. today and Friday. With the title “When You Wish Upon a Star,” it should come as no surprise that the 400 singers, dancers and instrumentalists will present a revue of Disney songs. The tunes are taken from such films as “Mary Poppins,” “Peter Pan,” “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Moana” and “The Jungle Book.”
The show is at Northland Church, 530 Dog Track Road, Longwood, and tickets start at $10.
For more information, call 407-937-1800, Ext. 710 or go to cfcarts.com.