Glenridge Performing Arts Center Announces 2014-2015 Season
Includes Acclaimed Jazz, Cabaret, Comedy, Live Theater, and Community Performances
[Sarasota, FL: November 4, 2014] Now in its 11th year, the Glenridge Performing Arts Center (7333 Scotland Way, Sarasota) announces a season schedule even more robust than the last. The season is filled with an all-star jazz line-up, sizzling cabaret shows with Broadway singers, surprising comedy, musicians and live theatre from varied genres. Audiences are also be invited to enjoy their local favorites such as singers from the Sarasota Opera, the Pineview Jazz Band, and the Sarasota Concert Band.
Tickets for the entire season are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.GPACTix.com, or by calling the GPAC Box Office at 941-552-5325.
Highlights of the 2014-15 Season
The jazz line-up throughout the season, offered in collaboration with the South County Jazz Club, includes the legendary Four Freshmen, The Glen Miller Orchestra, The Larry Coryell Trio, Giacomo Gates, Nate Najar’s Jazz Holiday, and the unforgettable Cynthia Sayer and her jazz banjo.
Other highlights include the following:
- Canada’s first lady of musical theatre, Louise Pitre, best known for her Tony-nominated performance in Mamma Mia! on Broadway, will present “La Vie en Rouge” on March 7, a unique evening of songs evoking the romance of a Parisian café with songs in English and French.
- In “Fella Sings Ella” on February 18, the award-winning cabaret performing Scott Coulter sings songs made famous by the great Ella Fitzgerald.
- The New York Times declared Michael Brown “a young piano visionary” and “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” He’ll present a program of his own music on February 13.
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- “I’ve Got a Little Twist” is a musical celebration of the legacy of Gilbert & Sullivan created and performed by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players on January 31
- Dan Kamin’s Comedy in Motion, presented at GPAC on February 22, has been called a wicked evening of satirical fun by a “demented, charming and brilliant” performer.
- Dala, the acoustic-folk duo of Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther and darlings of the Canadian music scene are bringing their own fresh brand of acoustic pop music to GPAC on March 20.
- No one can guess what’s going to be said next in Lynn Trefzger’s off-the-wall audience interplay with a trunk full of comical characters. Don’t miss this season finale on May 14.
The Glenridge Performing Arts Center 2014-2015 Season Schedule
SARASOTA OPERA STUDIO ARTISTS IN CONCERT
Friday, November 14 at 8:00PM
All Tickets: $5
Let yourself be carried away in a program that will include arias, duets, and scenes from the 2014-2015 Sarasota Opera season as well as from some of opera’s most beloved works. These singers were chosen in national auditions to participate in the Sarasota Opera Apprentice and Studio Artist Program, one of the leading training programs in the U.S. for aspiring singers. Many of the alumni of this program have gone on to perform leading roles with the company as well as with major opera houses around the world.
Concert sponsored by:
The Glenridge Academy, Bunny Nesbit, Dean
Jane & Peter How
Elayne Kalberman
Jack & Lee White
STUDENTS FROM THE SARASOTA BALLET SCHOOL
Sunday, November 23 at 4:00PM
Tickets: $15/$10 GPAC Family
This showcase of students from The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory of Dance of The Sarasota Ballet will feature talented young dancers honing their professional skills in an intensive 8 year training program. Designed to teach committed and talented young students to become professional artists in the area of classical dance, the program is overseen by Ms. Margaret Barbieri, a former world renowned prima ballerina and Assistant Director to Mr. Iain Webb, the Sarasota Ballet Company Director. Many beautiful costumes will be provided by Sarasota Ballet Company. It’s a wonderful opportunity to support and see the stars of tomorrow!
Co-Produced by the Sarasota Ballet and GPAC
HOLIDAY HARMONIES
Sunday, December 7 at 3:00PM
Tickets: $15/$10 GPAC Family
A barbershop quartet—four men singing barbershop—it’s the quintessential image: what the general public is picturing in their minds when they hear the phrase “a cappella.” But whether it’s a chorus or a quartet, the ringing sounds or those locked-in chords, men’s barbershop singing has earned the right to be that quintessential image by being evocative, thrilling and exhilarating. This wonderful afternoon of music and merriment will three separate quartets of smooth singers—The Best of Times, The Key Tones, and the Afternoon Delight quartets—will include a jolly portion of your favorite holiday songs and carols. Join us in the lobby for a FREE HOLIDAY DESSERT RECEPTION after the show!
Produced by the GPAC.
PINE VIEW JAZZ BAND
Saturday, December 13 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $15/$10 Jazz Club, GPAC Family
Tap your feet and snap your fingers to the sound of Pine View School’s awarding winning Jazz Band. From sounds of the 20’s to music of today, let’s take a musical journey that reminds us why we love the sound of a Big Band! You won’t believe these are teenagers, including our featured vocalists, singing music of Sinatra, Judy Garland, Michael Bublé and more! Sit back and bask in the sound of 15 brass and woodwinds. You don’t want to miss this!
The Pine View Jazz Band has received Superiors, the highest rating, at state competitions for the past 5 years straight!
THE FOUR FRESHMEN
Sunday, December 14 at 2:00PM
Tickets: $35/$30 Jazz Club, GPAC Family
The Four Freshmen and the legendary sound that began in 1948 with Bob, Don, Ross, and Hal, continues to bring their unique brand of vocal harmony to audiences worldwide. This American male vocal band quartet blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds in Top 40 hits such as Lullaby of Birdland, It’s a Blue World, Poinciana, Angel Eyes and more.
What dominated the airwaves and sparked romance throughout the 1950’s, inspired others such as the Beach Boys and Manhattan Transfer, and is still alive today in performances delivered by Brian, Stein, Curtis, and Bob, the 21st century rendition of The Four Freshmen.
NATE NAJAR’S JAZZ HOLIDAY
with special guest Harry Allen
Saturday, December 20 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $20/$15 Jazz Club, GPAC Family
Co-Produced by the GPAC and South County Jazz Club
“Nate Najar’s Jazz Holiday” with special guest Harry Allen on tenor saxophone. Also featuring John Lamb on bass, Mark Feinman on drums and introducing James Suggs on the trumpet. We’ll be swinging some Holiday favorites along with Bossa Nova and as usual a healthy dose of Ellington, including some of my adaptations from the Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker.
BRUCE MERKLE CABARET
Sunday, December 28 at 7:30PM
Tickets: $ 20/$15 GPAC Family
Bruce Merkle graduated from Booker VPA High before hitting the big time in Los Angeles where he has experienced remarkable success. He has been seen on TV in How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, Nickelodeon’s Victorious, Love Bites and The Tonight Show.
LARRY CORYELL TRIO
Saturday, January 17 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $20/$15 Jazz Club, GPAC Family
Larry Coryell has been described by Whitney Balliett as “the most innovative and original guitarist since Charlie Christian.” His playing is fresh and exciting giving standards and jazz standards a unique treatment that only a true master can give. He will be joined by Mark Neuenschwander on bass and Tracy Alexander on drums in this performance.
As one of the pioneers of 60’s – 70’s jazz– perhaps the pioneer in the ears of some — Larry Coryell deserves a special place in the history books. He brought a unique sensibility to jazz electric guitar playing in the 1960s, a hard-edged, cutting tone, phrasing and note-bending that owed as much to blues, rock and even country as it did to earlier, smoother bop influences. A true eclectic, armed with a brilliant technique, he is comfortable in almost every style, from the most decibel-heavy, distortion-laden electric work to the most delicate, soothing, intricate lines on acoustic guitar.
Co-Produced by South County Jazz Club and GPAC.
MICHAEL LASSER & FRIENDS
That Stardust Melody: The Songs of Hoagy Carmichael
Saturday, January 24 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $22.50/$17.50 GPAC Family
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Peabody award-winning author and pundit Michael Lasser returns to GPAC with his amazing friends, songstress Cindy Miller and pianist Alan Jones to celebrate the musical genius of the great Hoagy Carmichael.
An attorney-at-law and a composer, Hoagy Carmichael was an intriguing mix of contradictions who, when all was said and done, wrote as many classic American songs as any of his great contemporaries. If he fell just short of Jerome Kern and George Gershwin, he was certainly the equal of Frank Loesser and Harry Warren.
In a thirty-year career, Hoagy emerged as an unlikely mix of the down home and the sophisticated – the young fellow from Bloomington, complete with Hoosier twang, and the New York jazzman at home in the big city. Although he was a composer, he wrote a lot of lyrics for which he never took credit. He also acted and sang in movies, even though he said he sang “flatsy through the nose.” Flatsy or not, such songs as “Star Dust,” “Georgia on My Mind,” and “Rockin’ Chair” are among the great standards that continue to survive, generation after generation.
GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA
Sunday, January 25 at 2:00PM
Tickets: $35/$38 GPAC FAMILY
The great band leader and trombonist Glenn Miller said, “A band ought to have a sound all of its own. It ought to have a personality.” Decades after his disappearance over the English Channel, his band, with its unique jazz sound, is still performs and is considered one of the greatest bands of all time. Re-formed in 1956, the Glenn Miller Orchestra plays an average of 300 live dates a year all around the world.
For one foot-stomping, swing in your seat afternoon, they’ll be all yours in the best jazz club in Sarasota – our own intimate GPAC theatre.
I’VE GOT A LITTLE TWIST
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players
Saturday, January 31 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $30/$25 GPAC Family
It’s where The Mikado meets The Music Man. Where the HMS Pinafore sets sail for Brigadoon. Where The Pirates of Penzance take shore leave On the Town. It’s I’ve Got a Little Twist—a one-of-a-kind show that proves the Gilbert & Sullivan repertoire is as fun, fresh, and full-of-life as, well, three little maids from school! See for yourself as New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players celebrates the legacy of Gilbert & Sullivan in American musical theater, featuring favorites from Rodgers & Hammerstein, Bernstein, Sondheim, Lerner & Loewe, Meredith Willson, and Jerry Herman. Life is a cabaret and so is this show—and as we all know, it’s always more entertaining when you add a little twist.
“New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players mission statement is ‘giving vitality to the living legacy of Gilbert & Sullivan.’ I’ve Got a Little Twist does just this and in the process gives one of the freshest and most heartfelt performances that I’ve seen the company do in years.” -Daniel Kelley, nytheatre.com.
MICHAEL BROWN, Classical Pianist
Friday, February 13 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $20/$15 GPAC Family
The New York Times declared Michael Brown “a young piano visionary” and “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” Equally committed as a pianist and as a composer, Mr. Brown is the First Prize Winner of the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition. As a composer, The New York Times called him, “a confident young composer with a talent for precision” and described his work as “darkly alluring.”
Brown’s unique artistry stems from this composer/performer duality, and is reflected in his creative approach to programming, where he often interweaves the classics with contemporary works and his own compositions.
“FELLA SINGS ELLA” with SCOTT COULTER
Wednesday, February 18 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $27.50/$22.50 GPAC Family
Lauded for his soaring high notes, purity of tone and way with a lyric, Scott Coulter has been called “the male Ella Fitzgerald.” This multi-award-winning vocalist dedicates an entire evening to the First Lady of Song and lovingly puts his own stamp on Fitzgerald classics from the Great American Songbook. Shedding light on the life story of the greatest female jazz singer of all time, this alluring program features “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “Mack The Knife,” “Embraceable You” and many more favorites. It’s an unforgettable musical tribute you won’t want to miss.
Scott Coulter’s exceptional cabaret performances earned him both the 2001 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) Award, as well as the 2001 Bistro Award for Outstanding Male Vocalist.
Comedy in Motion with DAN KAMIN
A Cheap Evening of Expensive Theatre
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Tickets: $20 /$15 GPAC Family
A couple of years ago Dan Kamin showcased Charlie Chaplin’s classic comedy at Glenridge in Funny Bones. Now he’s back to showcase his own twisted comic ideas in Comedy in Motion—A Cheap Evening of Expensive Theatre. Dan trained Robert Downey Jr. for his Oscar-nominated performance in Chaplin and created Johnny Depp’s comedy moves for Benny and Joon. In Comedy in Motion he takes you on a hilarious tour of the performing arts, lampooning everyone from pompous opera singers to sleazy magicians. It’s a wicked evening of satirical fun by a “demented, charming and brilliant” performer.
GIACOMO GATES, Jazz Singer
Saturday, February 28 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $30/$25 Jazz Club and GPAC Family
Blessed with a full-bodied and mellifluous voice, extraordinary rhythmic precision and an unerring sense of lyricism, Giacomo Gates’ total command of the vernacular, boundless creativity and exuberant passion of jazz sets him apart from nearly every other vocalist on the scene.
Gates is truly an entertainer, delivering music for all ages and styles along with witty patter and stories about the music so that every performance becomes a fun lesson in jazz history. With repeat engagements at major clubs in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, D.C., LA, New Orleans, and San Francisco, Gate’s enormous appeal and popularity are obvious.
He sometimes vocalizes as an instrument – trombone, trumpet, bass, and improvising bass lines or drum sounds in support of the piano solos. Giacomo states “Some of my favorite singers are Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster and Lester Young. They were singing through the horn. If that isn’t singing, I don’t know what is!”
“LA VIE EN ROUGE” with LOUISE PITRE
Saturday, March 7 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $27.50/$22.50 GPAC Family
Experience the romance of a Parisian café through the heart and soul of a treasured Broadway leading lady. In a career that spans theatre, television and concert stages across North America and Europe, Canada’s first lady of musical theatre, Louise Pitre, may well be best known for her Tony-nominated performance in Mamma Mia! on Broadway. Yet, it was her award winning portrayal of legendary French singer Edith Piaf that first catapulted her to national fame in 1992.
Pitre is dazzling audiences again performing selections from the world’s favorite French composers and the hit shows that earned her accolades, including Piaf, Les Miserables, and Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris. We invite you to Paris … for an evening at the GPAC. This enchanting new concert is sung in both French and English.
Louise is the winner of a National Broadway Touring Award, a New York Theatre World Award, a San Francisco Theatre Critics’ Award, a Betsy Mitchell Award and four Dora Mavor Moore awards, all for best performance by a leading actress in a musical.
She has released a new all French CD, La Vie en Rouge, in addition to three solo CD’s: Shattered, All of My Life Has Led To This and Songs My Mother Taught Me. She is heard as Fantine in the Paris Cast recording of Les Misérables and as Ulrika in the Kristina cast recording.
“Louise Pitre is sensational … She just doesn’t just sell a song, she lives it.”
CYNTHIA SAYER, Jazz Banjo
Saturday, March 14 at 8:00PM
Sunday, March 15 at 2:00PM
Tickets: $22.50, $17.50 Jazz Club, GPAC Family
Contemporary, edgy, and soulful, Cynthia Sayer breaks all the banjo player stereotypes as she single-handedly brings the 4-string banjo to the forefront of jazz. Celebrated as the top 4-string banjoist in the world today and praised for her “drive and virtuosity” by the New York Times, Cynthia is a founding member of Woody Allen’s New Orleans Jazz Band with whom she played and toured for over 10 years.
Her solo career has taken her well beyond these New Orleans roots as a dynamic performer, instrumentalist and vocalist, and whose eclectic, swing-based shows embody the rarely heard range and versatility of the 4-string jazz banjo. Sayer has played with a variety of leading jazz, popular, & roots artists, including Bucky Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Wynton Marsalis, Les Paul, Bill Cosby, Marvin Hamlisch, Kenny Davern, Charlie Giordano (Springsteen’s E Street Band), Milt Hinton, Marian McPartland, John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), and many others.
Sayer has accumulated numerous awards and honors, including induction into the National Banjo Hall of Fame. The Dresden International Jazz Festival awarded Cynthia their Festival Trophy, describing her as “a pioneer of a new banjo style… an exceptional artist who, without showy gimmicks, captivates and excites her audiences.”
Accustomed to standing ovations at nearly every concert she performs, Sayer loves her GPAC fans who fill the hall to bursting every time she visits GPAC.
DALA
Friday, March 20 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $22.50, $17.50 GPAC Family
Dala, the acoustic-folk duo of Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther and darlings of the Canadian music scene are bringing their own fresh brand of acoustic pop music to the world. Juno nominees and winners of the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine of Dala write and sing in harmony best described as angelic.
Drawing upon influences like The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, Dala write songs that are both catchy and insightful. Amanda’s ethereal soprano voice blends seamlessly with Sheila’s velvety alto, creating the lush harmonies that have become their trademark. The sheer joy with which they perform is infectious, turning first-time listeners into instant fans. Dala are equally entertaining between songs, telling funny and down to earth stories that make every show unique.
“There’s nothing pretentious about Dala’s music; it’s stripped down and laid bare. That’s not to say it is without polish – far from it. Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther have worked hard to exploit every facet of their extraordinary musical blend, and it would be just as at home in a 1960s coffeehouse as it is now on the contemporary concert stage.” -Andrew Craig, Host of CBC “Canada Live”
SARASOTA CONCERT BAND – “HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD”
Saturday, March 21 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $ TBA
Come celebrate with the Sarasota Concert Band in their 60th season. Launched by the greatest showman on earth, John Ringling, himself… this magical ensemble of woodwinds, brass and percussion will take you to a galaxy far, far away with music from Star Wars. Listen to Scarlett O’Hara yearning for home with “Tara’s Theme” from Gone with the Wind. Take a cruise with Capt. Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of The Caribbean. And be surprised by the twists and turns of movie magic under the baton of Maestro William Barbanera.
On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson
A Glenridge PAC production with professional cast and direction.
Performance dates to be released January, 2015.
On Golden Pond is a play written by Ernest Thompson in 1979, although it is most popularly known in the film adaptation of 1981 with Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn and Jane Fonda in the starring cast. The plot focuses on aging couple Ethel and Norman Thayer, who spend each summer at their home on a lake called Golden Pond. During the year the story takes place, they are visited by daughter Chelsea with her fiancé and his son in law. The play explores the often turbulent relationship the young woman shared with her father growing up, and the difficulties faced by a couple in the twilight years of a long marriage.
LYNN TREFZGER, Humorist
Thursday, May 14 at 8:00PM
Tickets: $20/$15 GPAC Family
Lynn Trefzger’s off-the-wall audience interplay with a trunk full of comical characters is riotously funny. Vocal illusions and her award-winning comedic sensibilities bring life to a drunken and lovable camel, a grumpy old man, and a feisty little girl, among others. Improvisational and spontaneous, her performances are tailor-made and audience members are often at the center of the fun.
Lynn has received many awards and nominations throughout her career Variety and Comedy Entertainer of the Year, Funniest Female, and a “People’s Choice Award” by the Ohio Arts Presenters Association.
Bit’s Heroes: Bit Risner Trumpet & Vocals
Saturday, May 30 at 8:00pm
Jazz prodigy Bit Risner presents the music of her heroes: great trumpeters Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie, and vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and more.
