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Let’s go behind the scenes!

Lake Eola's deepest point reaches 80 feet. (Florida Memory)

Just like how busy it gets during the holidays, it is getting busy for the theatre and arts scene.

Hey, I’m News 6 Producer Brooke Savage, the Setting the Stage newsletter writer.

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I’m excited, because this week, we are really taking a deep dive into some upcoming shows (hence the old picture of the Lake Eola amphitheater above) and a very popular reality show trending right now.

I know, reality TV isn’t theatre or arts, but are you able to humor me a little bit? I’m always intrigued by what happens behind the scenes for any TV show! For reality TV, moments that seem like minutes could actually be 6 hours of filming for regular people!

Let’s get into what’s happening on the reality stage and the holiday stage.


🦑 Squid Game: The Challenge - What does it take to be part of such a brutal reality show?

This image released by Netflix shows a scene from the popular Korean series "Squid Game." Netflix announced "Squid Game: The Challenge," a reality competition show, based on the series. (Netflix via AP)

I got that answer this week from Dr. Kien Vuu, aka #330. Netflix’s original show, “Squid Game” had contestants playing children’s games until their death for a big cash prize. In the reality spinoff show, “The Challenge,” obviously contestants were not murdered, but the conditions looked stressful.

Dr. Vuu told us about his experience. He says the red light, green light game took up to 8 hours to film! Contestants actually had to pause for 15 to 45 minutes while drones and guards went around to see who was moving. If you paused in a squat like one player did, then it didn’t end well. He told us that’s why so many people got eliminated in that first game. He also talked about what the sets looked like and how the game really shows how people make decisions under stress. Check out the full interview!


🎻 Violectric Holiday show returning to Lake Eola as the park celebrates 100 years of music

Annual Violectric Holiday Show returning to Lake Eola Park in Downtown Orlando (Violectric)

For the 11th year, the female-led strings super-group, Violectric, will take the stage originally designed by women. Did you know two female architects designed the first stage at Lake Eola in the 1920s? One of them was the first female architect in Orlando, while the other once worked with Frank Lloyd Wright. I posted about the history of the stage, what it means to the Violectric founder, and what you can expect from Saturday’s Holiday show here.


🎅 Christmastime is here

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live On Stage!’ is coming to the King Center in Melbourne on Sunday, Dec. 10. (American Theatre Guild)

More specifically at the King Center in Melbourne. You can catch the touring production of A Charlie Brown Christmas for one day only on Sunday. I heard from Leah Windahl who plays Lucy in the show. She told me how she relates to her character, her favorite part of the musical, and I also posted ticket information here. Want even more Charlie Brown? This year, it’s the theme at ICE at Gaylord Palms. News 6 anchor insider guide, Crystal Moyer has been covering how it all came to life. Not an insider? It’s free to join.


🎶 What’s happening in show biz

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical at Osceola Arts - A heart-warming musical about an annual Christmas Pageant in a small town. Trouble-making kids want to star in the show, but first, they will make a few script changes. This show will be going on until Dec. 17.

🎄 Moonshine & Mistletoe at the Garden Theatre - The show takes place during the Great Depression. It follows the story of a son returning home with his wife and making amends with his parents just in time for the holidays. The show runs through Dec. 23.

👻 Phantasmagoria at the Dr. Phillips Center - The Victorian troupe will be telling ghost stories this weekend with their show, “A Most Haunted Victorian Christmas.” Other performances are taking place in Sanford, Ocala, Leesburg and DeLand.

🎙 Blake Lynch, aka @NurseBlake performing at Dr. Phillips Center - After graduating from UCF in 2014, ‘Nurse Blake’ started making funny videos as a way to cope with the stress of his nursing job. His videos resonated with nurses, nursing students, and healthcare workers, sparking his passion to get into comedy. He’s bringing his new comedy tour “Shock Advised!” to Orlando on Monday, Dec. 11.

💅 Mean Girls at the King Center - ✋ Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimized by Regina George. Monday and Tuesday next week, Mean Girls is coming to Melbourne. The musical will have all of the things you love about the movie, with a number of show-stopping performances. I also had the chance to hear from Reagan Kennedy. She’s part of the ensemble and she is the understudy for both Cady Heron and Regina George.


That’s a wrap for this week’s Setting the Stage newsletter.

If you have a show, exhibit, or artist you want to tell me about or feature, please, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at bsavage@wkmg.com.

I’d also like to say Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate! 🕎

I’ll see you in two weeks.

- Brooke 🎭


About the Author
Brooke Savage headshot

Brooke is a news producer and has been with News 6 since January 2018. She grew up in Coral Springs and graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. Before she came back to Central Florida, she worked in Fort Myers.

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