Get ready to have a TON of shows to choose from over the next few weeks!
Thank you for opening my email, I’m News 6 producer Brooke Savage, the writer behind this Setting The Stage newsletter.
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Let’s take a look at what you can expect to see in the theatre and art world over the next few weeks. There’s so much to be excited about!
🎭 The longest-running theatre festival of its kind is returning!
The 14-day immersive Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival is returning to Orlando with more than 100 shows, a free outdoor music festival, art displays, activities for kids, and so much more.
The yearly festival brings together local, national, and international artists. It starts next Tuesday and runs through May 27. There’s a lot you need to know about and shows from just about every genre. I put together a guide for you, to help you get around.
⭐Second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning
That’s where you can expect to see “Peter Pan” at the Dr. Phillips Center.
The musical follows the adventures of a young boy who refuses to grow up. Peter Pan and his fairy sidekick, Tinker Bell, leave the magical “Neverland” and return to the real world, where they meet Wendy, Michael, and John Darling. The kids go with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell to see Neverland, where they go on more adventures, meet the “Lost Boys” and defeat the evil pirate, Captain Hook.
Shows start this Tuesday and run through Sunday. Click here for details on the tickets.
🍳 While we’re on the topic of the Dr. Phillips Center, how about some brunch?
I recently had the chance to check out the new music venue, Judson’s Live, inside Dr. Phillips Center.
They’re now doing a brunch series, complete with a buffet and live music. When I went, it was a southern brunch theme. The next one is on Sunday, May 19. It will be a New Orleans brunch!
I posted the details about the new series here. (Hint Hint: potential Mother’s Day gift? 😉)
🎬ACTION! Movies coming to the City Beautiful?!
Wouldn’t it be so cool to see a movie or TV show based in Orlando?
Leaders in Orange County are working to make that happen. Ever since the state lost its film incentive in 2016, production companies have gone elsewhere to make movies. Leaders want to bring them back with a local incentive program.
They signed off on a working group that will look into that earlier this week. They include local leaders and people from Universal, Disney, UCF, Valencia College, and Full Sail University. A UCF film professor said it best during Wednesday’s meeting, “Central Florida has become a training center for jobs in Atlanta, Louisiana, and New York.”
News 6′s Troy Campbell posted about what this potential film incentive program would look like here.
🎫 Get your season tickets to see Broadway shows along the Space Coast
In March, I told you how the King Center in Melbourne announced the upcoming 2024-2025 Broadway season. The shows include “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Annie,” “Come From Away,” and “Pretty Woman: The Musical.”
Season tickets are now on sale. Click here for the details.
🎺 Back-to-back award-winning Central Florida jazz students are in New York for a competition
Jazz band students with the Osceola County School for the Arts are back in the Big Apple, hoping to win first place for the third time in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival.
They recently had a special workshop with one of New York City’s most in-demand trumpet players, Tatum Greenblatt. Click here to see what he had to say about the opportunity, and the band director also spoke about what it’s like to lead such a talented group of students.
We wish them luck this weekend in their competition, or I guess as they say in theatre, break a leg! Wait, do they say that in band?! 😆
🎶 What’s happening in show biz
🤘 Tonight - Sunday: Welcome to Rockville at Daytona International Speedway. Jelly Roll, Limp Bizkit, A Day to Remember (They’re from Ocala), Foo Fighters, Evanescence, Sum 41, and Slipknot are among the lineup.
🎸 This weekend: Baha Men and All-4-One are among the lineup of shows wrapping up this month at SeaWorld Orlando’s Seven Seas Food Festival, Tiffany, Sheena Easton, and Fuel are expected to perform next weekend.
🎙 Now - May 26: “The Bodyguard The Musical” at The Henegar in downtown Melbourne
🌹 May 15: Beauty and The Beast from Parkhurst Academy at King Center in Melbourne
😎 May 17-18: Bad Bunny at Kia Center in Orlando
That’s a wrap for this week’s “Setting The Stage” newsletter.
If you have any story ideas on the theatre and arts scene, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at bsavage@wkmg.com.
Also, happy Mother’s Day to all the awesome moms who subscribe to this newsletter. You are appreciated.
I’ll be back in your inbox in two weeks.
- 🎭 Brooke