'Swan Lake' comes to JAX for an evening of enchantment

Looking for a classical New Years present?  Why not ballet tickets?  For only one performance, The State Ballet Theater of Russia comes to Jacksonville’s Times-Union Center for the Arts.  Come experience the full-length ballet - “Swan Lake” in four acts with one intermission.  Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

This full-scale production, set to the music of Tchaikovsky and based on Russian folklore and German legend, follows a heroic young prince as he works to free the beautiful swan maiden from an evil spell. The State Ballet Theater of Russia presents 55 of Russia’s brightest ballet stars to bring this romantic tale of true love to the Jacksonville Florida stage.

Founded by legendary dancer and former Prima Ballerina of The Bolshoi Theater Ballet, Maya Plissetskaya, The State Ballet Theater of Russia, now under the direction of award-winning dancer and Moiseyev dance company soloist Nikolay Anokhin, presents one of the greatest classical ballets of all time. 

“Effortless precision.” – Palm Beach Daily News “Full of enchantment!” – The New York Times.

“Swan Lake”
DATE: Friday, January 6, 2017
TIME: 8 p.m.

LOCATION: Times Union Center Performing Arts
      Moran Theater
      300 West Water St.
      Jacksonville, FL 32202

TICKETS: start at $17, and may be purchased online at FSCJ Artist Series, sponsored by Chase (the official presenter of the Jacksonville show), or by calling (904) 442-BWAY (2929) between 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday.  Discounts are available for groups of 10+ by calling (904) 442-2947 or emailing groupsales@fscj.edu.

'Come Blow Your Horn' starring the Booth family at the Alhambra

Remember to purchase your 50th Anniversary Book

If there is a “leading family” of Jacksonville theater, it may very well be the Booth family.  Marking their first time ever on stage together, Tod Booth, Lisa Valdini Booth and Jessica Booth will team up for the Alhambra’s production of the Neil Simon comedy, “Come Blow Your Horn”.  This was the first show ever performed at the Alhambra Theatre and Dining when it opened in 1967 so its reprisal is a fitting title with which to open the Alhambra’s 50th anniversary.  A limited run of only three weeks, tickets will be offered at a 50th anniversary price, just $50 for two seats.

Tod Booth was, of course, the most recent prior owner of the Alhambra, the nation’s longest-running professional dinner theater.  Mr. Booth has directed nearly every show at the Alhambra for the past 20-plus years and is currently the Creative Director for the theater.  During his early tenure, Booth starred in many shows, but has not taken the Alhambra stage since his 2012 role in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  Lisa Valdini Booth has taken the Alhambra stage on many occasions, starring in countless roles.  She has also been the advertising “the voice” of Winn-Dixie supermarkets and runs the Alhambra’s summer theater camps.  Their daughter, Jessica Booth, now a University of Central Florida graduate working on Broadway, started her acting career at the Alhambra at nine years old.  She, too, has been in countless Alhambra shows, including: Shrek the Musical and Cinderella.  But this is the first time the three of them have acted together at the Alhambra (or anywhere), making it a historic evening and another page for the Alhambra’s scrap book.

If you’ve ever wanted to see what the Alhambra Theater & Dining was/and is all about, you now have the opportunity to see pictures, read stories and browse beyond the iconic walls of this historic dinner theatre.  The colorful “Alhambra Theatre and Dining, 50 Years of Memories” hardback coffee table book, will be a wonderful addition to any home and is available for $39.99, when you attend this performance.

“Come Blow Your Horn”
DATES: January 4 – 20, 2017

PLEASE NOTE NEW SHOW TIMES: Evening shows Tuesday through Sunday start at 7:50 p.m.  Doors open at 5:50 p.m., and dinner will be served until 7:20 p.m.  Saturday Matinees begin at 1:15 p.m.  Doors open at 11 a.m. and the brunch ends at 12:45 a.m.  Sunday Matinees are at 1:50 p.m.  Doors open at 11:50 a.m. and the meal service ends at 1:20 p.m.

DRESS: “Gala Night” (Friday Jan. 6, 2017) attire is “Dressy / Formal”.  All other shows could be “Business Casual” or “Sunday Best”.  To see the menu, click HERE.

TICKETS: Regular tickets $35 each; or get “Celebration Tickets” for $50 per couple.  Ticket prices include: a plated dinner served to your table, an incredible show and prime parking.  Group sales of 20 + are available upon request.  Price does NOT include gratuity or orders from the bar.

LOCATION: Alhambra Theater & Dining
       12000 Beach Blvd.
       Jacksonville, Florida 32246
       (904) 641-1212

Clara White invites you to a White Harvest Fest

Clara White Missio

On Saturday, December 31, the community is invited to attend the 1st. annual White Harvest Farm Holiday Harvest Fest.  This event is just in time for the community to come and experience picking fresh collard greens, cabbage, specialty lettuce and much more before the New Year.  White Harvest Farm and Market is a community base farm/market where fresh and affordable produce is available immediately.  It’s fresh and wholesome from their “Farm to Your Table”.  There will be a farm tour, cooking demonstrations and entertainment that’s scheduled for 12 noon.

This initiative benefits the Clara White Mission and provides training to the community!  Come join White Harvest Farms as they Grow!  If there is inclement weather, the event will be held at White Harvest Farmer’s Market, which is next door to the farm at 4853 Moncrief Road.

White Harvest Farms & Farmer’s Market
   Holiday Harvest Fest
    Ju’Coby Pittman/CEO
Date: Sat., December 31, 2016
Time: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Location: 4850 Moncrief Road
     Jacksonville, Florida 32209
     Office: (904) 354-4162

'Fences' from Stage Aurora Theater then and now in theaters

Original post: January 2013    Updated: December 28, 2016

Not since “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” has Stage Aurora Theatrical Company put on such an impacting drama production, yet “Fences” has the dynamics of true theater.  Fences impacts the audience to interpret the feelings of each character, and to interact with every emotion that pours from the stage.

If nothing else (but there is much more) Stage Aurora started ‘Fences’ promptly at 7 p.m. for those who gathered together for this Tony Award Winning presentation.  Thanks to Darryl Reuben Hall for bringing this production to JAX, FL, in 2013.  “Why do people build fences?” was a question that was answered as: “To keep people out or sometimes; To keep them in.”

The stage-set is modestly created; nonetheless, it well resembles the time and area of Southern living around the 1950’s (yet the movie takes place in Pennsylvania).  The dialogue and story-line takes the audience way back to a time when Blacks could reminisce of ‘so-called’ hard times which could also reflect on some modern day occurrences.  And yes, this writer remembers the corner A&P grocery store.

Eugene Lindsey (Troy Maxson) recited his many lines like it was an actual conversation from moments in the actor’s own life.  Troy is a character who you could easily “love to hate”.  He may remind you of an Uncle that wasn’t the most popular guy at the family bar-b-que.  [2016-Director/Actor, Denzel Washington, could also be a contender for an academy.]

Shauntel Robinson (Rose-Troy’s wife) exuded real tears in her compelling speech to Mister Troy in Act Two.  Her tears were so emotional that the audience could feel all the pain that she pours out from her soul.  The crowd was clearly on her side and the “bat” might have been swung right at Troy’s head, if it were a black woman in today’s society.  Many of the people in the audience wanted to “whup-up” on Troy during this portion in the play.  [In the 2016 movie, Viola Davis should win an academy award for her outstanding role.  The woman had snot flying.]

The script is very extensive and NONE of the actors missed their lines.  A couple of quotes from the show are: “You got to learn how to take the crooked with the straight” and “You either have to grow into it or you gotta cut it down to fit ya.”  See if you are able to spot where these lines come in during the program.

‘Fences’ lets the audience know how times use to be and also shows how some parent/child relationships may get misunderstood in today’s society.  The relationship between Troy and his son Lyons (Joiakin Joe Foster) may be interpreted as, “I’m not your Friend – I’m your Father” role.  Where should the compromise be in this type of relationship?

This drama should be seen by all (some language may have to be explained to children beforehand, but the words have become second nature in the world today.)  'Fences' is now showing in a theater near you and is a must-see.  {Video clip: Broadwaycom FENCES Broadway production clip featuring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in 2011.}

Caravan's 2016 'A Christmas Carol' was great at the Times Union

Twas six nights before Christmas and the Jacksonville’s Times-Union Center had “A Christmas Carol” that came to town on Monday December 19, 2016.  If you didn’t get a chance to see it in 2014, then you wouldn’t be able to compare it to the spectacular show that was in town this time.  Kudo’s go out to Shonda Thurman who played a beautiful-black Christmas Past (photo not available), Bob Cratchit portrayed by Dan Chevalier, Ryan Schisler took on the role of Christmas Present, and a magnificent performance of Scrooge given by the wonderful sounding Andy Harvey.

This celebrated Charles Jones’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was rich with live ensemble music, alive with color and movement, and was created to tell this great and enduring tale in a manner that people of all ages enjoyed.  Woven throughout this classic tale are beautiful new arrangements and moving renditions of holiday songs such as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Wassail Wassail,” “Good Christian Men Rejoice,” “Away in a Manger,” “Greensleeves,” “The Boar’s Head Carol,” and many more.  Featuring a cast of 23 performers, an orchestra, and Broadway-style scenery and costumes were stunning; the audience enjoyed everything that this holiday-classic group presented.

The Nebraska Theatre Caravan, the professional touring wing of the Omaha Community Playhouse, has been touring Charles Jones’ delightful adaptation of A Christmas Carol since 1979.  The Caravan’s Carol is probably the most widely produced production of Dickens’ in the nation, annually performing for more than 100,000 people in more than 60 cities across the country.  One of the many reasons for the success of the Caravan’s production of A Christmas Carol is this unique re-telling of the oft-told tale.  It is enormously enhanced by the beautiful sets of James Othuse, which recreates 1886 London, and gives the entire production the effect of being a Christmas card that comes to life.

When Charles Dickens wrote his “ghostly little tale” in 1843, he couldn’t have known that A Christmas Carol was destined to become one of the most beloved holiday classics of all time.  The heartwarming tale of A Christmas Carol depicts Ebenezer Scrooge, whose values are focused exclusively on profit and his conflicts with the struggling Cratchit family, whose tragic problems typified the working class during the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England.  The touching climax is based on Dickens' belief that the ills of a greedy world can be healed by brotherhood and unselfishness.  A Christmas Carol remains one of the most powerful and vivid illustrations of the necessity of good will in human conduct.

There are a few more productions in 2016, that you might be able to see this year, if not, make plans to attend next Christmas.