Kay Kipling

Sarasota

Arts Editor at Sarasota Magazine

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Articles

A World Premiere Play Takes a Look at a Black Family Facing Change, Both Within and Without

3 weeks ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

A piece of Harlem is coming to town this month with the world premiere of playwright Nia Akilah Robinson’s From 145th to 98th Street at Urbanite Theatre May 30-June 29. Not that you need to know much about the New York neighborhood to appreciate Robinson’s play, which centers on the Curtlys, a Black family moving from the historically African American community to the Upper West Side in search of better opportunities for their children.
WBTT Taps Its Way Into the World Premiere Musical 'Syncopated Avenue'

1 month ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

When you consider what goes into conceiving and producing a brand-new musical, you have to be impressed that Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s artistic team—and its board and supporters—come together to put forth the effort and the hard work, as they did with Ruby last season and are now doing to close this season, with the show Syncopated Avenue.
'Beetlejuice' Blasts Into the Van Wezel With Demonic Energy

1 month ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

You can use up a lot of energy being dead, as the cast members in the current national tour of the musical Beetlejuice, now playing at the Van Wezel, must surely have discovered. To say that this adaptation of the 1988 Tim Burton film starring Michael Keaton is running on high-octane fuel would be an understatement.
The Sarasota Film Festival Honors the Creator and Star of 'Godfather of Harlem'

1 month ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

As the 2025 Sarasota Film Festival heads into its closing weekend, it’s welcoming to town two creatives involved with the same show: Chris Brancato, executive producer and creator of the MGM+ show Godfather of Harlem, and a new star of the show’s fourth season, Rome Flynn, playing new-to-town real-life drug lord Frank Lucas.
Asolo Rep's 'Good Night, Oscar' Introduces the Talented, Troubled Oscar Levant

2 months ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

There are probably, unfortunately, many younger people who don’t know who Oscar Levant was. But for the Asolo Rep audience, chances are a good number recall the musician, raconteur and pianist, as famous for his talk-show television appearances as for his performances in concerts and onscreen. So they should find playwright Doug Wright’s compacted look at Levant, Good Night, Oscar, now onstage at the Asolo, a refresher, and often refreshing, look at the amusing but troubled Oscar.
The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Announces Its 2025-26 Broadway Season

2 months ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

After a 2024-25 Broadway season whose sizzle was somewhat dampened by cancellations due to Hurricane Milton, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall surged back post-cleanup with shows like Moulin Rouge and the upcoming Beetlejuice. Now, executive director Mary Bensel has announced the coming 2025-26 season, with hopes for no repeats of storm damage.
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe Pays Tribute to Tap with a Brand New Musical

2 months ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

Come and meet those dancing feet… no, not the tapping toes of the classic musical 42nd Street, but a different street entirely in Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s world premiere tap dance revue Syncopated Avenue. The show is the brainchild of the troupe’s artistic director Nate Jacobs, spurred on by his meeting several years ago with a young dancer named Lamont Brown while both were working for Norwegian Cruise Line.
Gulf Coast Community Choir Marks 25 Years with a Fundraising Concert

2 months ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

The volunteer singers of the Gulf Coast Community Choir have been lifting their voices in performance for 25 years. Along the way, they’ve also helped to lift the area’s nonprofits, donating proceeds from an annual fund-raising concert to beneficiaries including All Faiths Food Bank, Pines Nursing Home, and Children First, among many others.
Florida Studio Theatre Aims for the Big Time with 'Jersey Boys'

2 months ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

Jersey Boys exists as one of not that-many Broadway musicals that goes beyond the term “jukebox” when presenting the memorable hit songs of a musical performer or group. In telling the story of the rise and fall of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the show gets us inside the times, place and forces that shaped them and their music. No wonder it’s been a critical success as well as a popular one since debuting 20 years ago.
Urbanite Theatre's 'No One Is Forgotten' Is an Intense Experience

2 months ago | sarasotamagazine.com | Kay Kipling

"Intense" is the word that best describes No One Is Forgotten, now onstage at Urbanite Theatre in its Florida premiere. This two-hander play by Winter Miller is in your face from the outset. Centered on two women alone in a grim and anonymous cell—in what part of the world, we don’t know—Urbanite’s production immediately tosses us into their predicament, up close and personal.