Go beyond the Fringe Festival
Tra-la, it’s May … and that means just one thing in Central Florida: It’s time for the annual Orlando Fringe Festival.
Actually, that’s completely wrong. May means far more than only one of Central Florida’s signature events. There are plenty of non-Fringe arts and cultural activities going on, no matter your artistic interest, and here’s a look at some of them.
For Broadway fans: Central Florida Community Arts will celebrate the magic of theater in “Night on the Red Carpet
II: Back to Broadway,” which will feature more than 220 performers onstage. The organization’s Community Choir, Dance Company and Symphony Orchestra will combine forces to present such memorable songs as “One Day More” from “Les Miserables” and “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha.”
The songs were chosen to have special meaning after the emotional turbulence of the pandemic-caused shutdown. Among them: “You Will Be Found” from “Dear Evan Hansen.”
“So many people felt lost, abandoned and forgotten during COVID. The inability to see friends was difficult for many,” says Brandon Fender, director of choral programs at CFCArts. “This song represents the feeling that we’ve all found each other again — or will find each other again after everything that’s happened — and that there is a place in the arts where each one of us can feel like we belong.”
The concert will be May 5-6 at Northland Church, 522 Dog Track Road in Longwood. Tickets start at $10; go to CFCArts.com/ Red-Carpet.
If the show inspires you to see an actual Broadway tour, remember that the touring company of “Beautiful” — the Carole King musical based on the songwriter’s life — stops at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts May 13-15. Go to drphillips.org for more information.
Local theater productions during the month include The Ensemble Company’s “The Normal Heart,” a dramatic look at the 1980s AIDS crisis, playing May 6-15 at Penguin Point
Productions in Oviedo (penguinpointproductions.com/tickets). Also, Winter Park Playhouse presents the lighthearted country-fried musical “Pump Boys and Dinettes” May 13-June 12 (winterparkplayhouse.org), and Celebration Theatre Company goes down to Bikini Bottom with “The SpongeBob Musical,” based on the cartoon character. It will be performed at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts May 6-15 (drphillipscenter.org).
For opera lovers: Opera Orlando’s next production, “Lizbeth,” tells the story of Lizzie Borden and her infamous ax. Did the 19th-century New Englander murder her parents? A jury said no, public opinion has never been as definite. The 60-minute opera, by Thomas Albert and Lindé Hayen Herman, is sung in English.
Ann McMahon Quintero will play the enigmatic title role, with conductor Noam Aviel leading musicians from the Alterity Chamber Orchestra. The show takes place May 20 and 22 at Harriett’s Orlando Ballet Centre, 600 N. Lake Formosa Drive in Orlando. Tickets are $50; go to operaorlando.org.
For cabaret lovers: Johnathan Lee Iverson will premiere “The Last Ringmaster: A Musical Journey
from Choirboy to the Big Top” at the Winter Park Playhouse May 18-19. As the title says, Iverson was a ringmaster with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In his youth, he sang with the Harlem Boys Choir. Playhouse patrons will remember him from the theater’s production of “Trav’lin: A 1930’s Harlem Musical Romance.” His most unusual credit? His name was the answer to a question on “Jeopardy!”
“The Last Ringmaster” will follow Iverson’s entertaining journey through story and song. Christopher Leavy accompanies, and tickets are $20 plus a drink from the bar. Go to winterparkplayhouse.org.
For music lovers: The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra has multiple concerts throughout the month. On May 7 and 8, it presents the enduring “Carmina Burana” with its magnificent “O Fortuna” in Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center. That’s followed a week later, May 14, by a visit from the John Pizzarelli Trio as the music master presents tunes from the Great American Songbook of standards. Tickets for each concert start at $35 at drphillipscenter.org.
Most intriguing of all: the Philharmonic will play at Creative City Project’s “The Seasons” May 27-28. Vivaldi’s four-part work will move the audience through the year, augmented by lighting, projections food and drink and special seasonal effects. (Hmm, should we bring an umbrella?) Tickets start at $35 for the show at The Plaza Live, 425 N. Bumby Ave. in Orlando; go to creativecityproject.com/ theseasons.
For comedy lovers: Wanda Sykes, the standup comic who has appeared on such TV shows as “Black-ish” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine,”
brings her comedy to the Dr. Phillips Center on May 12. You can check out what the recent Oscars host is finding funny these days; tickets start at $39.50, go to drphillipscenter.org.
The main preview of local acts at Loch Haven Park in this year’s Orlando Fringe Festival
And as for the Fringe:
has passed, but a special preview of local artists performing in the festival’s off-campus venues will take place at 8 p.m. May 9 at The Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive In Orlando. Tickets are $10 at eventbrite.com. National and international acts will preview at 7 p.m. the first night of the festival, May 17, in Loch Haven
Park, off Princeton Street between Orange and Mills avenues. Tickets are $15 at orlandofringe.org. The Fringe will run through Memorial Day, May 30.
Find me on Twitter @matt_ on_arts, facebook.com/ matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel. com. Want more theater and arts news and reviews? Go to orlandosentinel.com/ arts. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.