FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 29, 2014
CONTACT:
Paul Bilyeu, 813.222.1050 ─ [email protected] or
Tara McNamara, 813.222.1059 ─ [email protected]
The Straz Center announces full 2014-2015 season
Most tickets on sale Aug. 30
TAMPA, Fla. — For the 2014-2015 season, the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts has
scheduled a marvelous line-up of touring Broadway blockbusters, a captivating opera series, a thoughtprovoking play series and an exceptional assemblage of dance, comedy, music and educational events. Tickets
for most 2014-2015 events will go on sale to the public on Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Straz Center Ticket Sales
Office and online at www.strazcenter.org. See attached schedule for a full chronological listing of events.
“Our season again offers the widest possible variety of high-quality, artistic programming,” said Judith Lisi,
president and CEO of the Straz Center. “From Broadway blockbusters to spectacular music and dance shows
and family-friendly fare, the Straz Center continues to be the leading presenter of performing arts in the
Tampa Bay area.”
The 2014-2015 season at the Straz Center includes:
MUSIC
The Straz Center’s 2014-2015 season includes a diverse lineup of music performances including the Cubanborn but Miami-based Tiempo Libre (Oct. 11, 2014) with their addictive rhythmic concoctions,
Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (Feb. 12, 2015) and The Hit Men (Feb. 11, 2015)
with their spot-on vocals and high energy interpretations of the hits of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Plus,
René Marie (Feb. 25, 2015) will pay homage to her idol with the concert I Wanna Be Evil (with Love to
Eartha Kitt) and in their first-ever collaboration, Zap Mama and Antibalas (Jan 22, 2015) mix the best of
African-inspired beats with soul-sonic vocals.
Additionally, the season will feature return engagements by classical crossover sensations Black Violin (Jan.
30, 2015) and 2Cellos (May 9, 2015). And in a choral treat for the holidays, Mediaeval Baebes Christmas
(Dec. 6, 2014) comes out of the mist with a procession of sacred songs for the season.
The ten-piece horn-driven band Late Night Brass will fill the Straz Center with their high-energy sound at a
New Year’s Eve celebration immediately following the performance of The Phantom of the Opera.
CLUB JAEB
One Monday night a month for eight consecutive months, Club Jaeb transforms the Straz Center’s Jaeb
Theater into a music space featuring folk, Americana, alt-country and other “hand-picked music that
matters.” Beginning its 10th Anniversary season, the Club Jaeb Series includes Brendan James (Oct. 27,
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2014), Heather Maloney (Nov. 17, 2014), Chris Pureka (Dec. 8, 2014) Seth Glier (Feb. 9, 2015) and
Lief Vollebekk (May 11, 2015). Plus, Club Jaeb veterans Jeffrey Foucault (Jan. 12, 2015), Kris Delmhorst
(March 2, 2015) and John Gorka (April 20, 2015) return to The Straz for the 2014-2015 season. Audiences
can come early for the 6:30 p.m. Monday Music Mingle, with light snacks and drinks before each Club Jaeb
performance.
THEATER
Entertaining and insightful performers and shows populate the Straz Center stages in 2014-2015 including
the returns of the always hysterical Seth Rudetsky’s My Big Fat Broadway Show (Jan. 17 and 18, 2015),
the clever, comedic and risqué SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody (Nov. 5, 2014) and the rib-tickling and
astute Men are from Mars – Women are from Venus LIVE! (Dec. 11-13, 2014). The season also includes
the witty and spellbinding one-woman multi-media show One Drop of Love (Nov. 8, 2014) from producers
Ben Affleck, Chay Carter and Matt Damon and Tea for Three: Lady Bird, Pat & Betty (Nov. 13-15, 2014),
a deeply moving and often humorous play that explores the final days of the fishbowl of First Ladydom.
After a long absence from the Tampa area, Mummenschanz (Feb. 24 and 25, 2015) returns to the Straz
Center with their bizarre and enchanting mix of mime-masque theater and performance art while
The Peking Acrobats (March 8, 2015), with their daring displays of agility, balance and flexibility, stretch
the limits of physical reality.
Fanatics of every ilk can let their freak flags fly as Evil Dead – The Musical (Nov. 13-15, 2014),
Potted Potter – The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff (March 13-15, 2015) and
One Man Star Wars Trilogy (April 24-26, 2015) storm the Straz Center season.
The hysterical and hopeful new musical First Date (Feb. 3-April 12, 2015) – part of the 2014-2015 Bank of
America Best of Broadway Tampa Bay Series – explores the chances we all take to find love.
COMEDY
The 2014-2015 season includes a host of uproarious folks including Jay Mohr (Sept. 20, 2014),
Anjelah Johnson (Oct. 16, 2014) and Ron White (Nov. 8, 2014), who will host a concert after party in the
Jaeb Theater featuring Margo Rey, the woman brave enough to marry him, who has become a Billboard
chart-topping singer/songwriter with a lush, enchanting voice.
SPEAKERS
From conservationist, biologist and Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin: Tales from the Field (Nov. 1, 2014) to
guidebook aficionado and radio and television host Rick Steves: Europe through the Back Door (Nov. 12,
2014), insightful speakers will grace the stages of the Straz Center in 2014-2015.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE!
Behind every great National Geographic story, there is a storyteller: the writers, photographers, filmmakers,
scientists, explorers and adventurers who bring the world home. The fifth season of this popular and
informative series will include On the Trail of Big Cats with Steve Winter, photographer (Jan. 20, 2015),
Extreme Planet with Carsten Peter, photographer (Feb. 17, 2015) and Islands of Obsession with Jim
Richardson, photojournalist (March 31, 2015).
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DANCE
The 2014-2015 season includes the explosive and unexpected Diavolo Dance Theatre (Nov. 2, 2014) and
Spain’s award-winning Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca (Nov. 16, 2014). The New Year brings the
celebrated contemporary ballet company Alonzo King LINES Ballet (Jan. 15, 2015), tap sensation
Savion Glover’s STePz (Feb. 26, 2015) and the scintillating Tango Buenos Aires (March 29, 2015) to the
Straz Center stages.
The season also includes the Straz Center’s own Next Generation Ballet in the perennial favorite
The Nutcracker (Dec. 13 and 14, 2014). Choreographed by NGB Artistic Director Peter Stark, this
production has “marvelous” costumes “with inventive, whimsical touches.” (Tampa Bay Times). From the
moment the lights dim, audiences are transported to a magical place filled with marching toy soldiers, a
growing Christmas tree, giant mice and crystalline waltzing snowflakes.
KID TIME and WEE FOLK
The Kid Time and Wee Folk series will delight younger audiences in 2014-2015. The Wee Folk series (ages 2
– 4) will feature Katie Adams’ Animal Safari Stories (Oct. 4, 2014), John Tartaglia’s ImaginOcean (Nov.
9, 2014), The Sandi Sylver Puppet Show (April 11, 2015) and Silly Sam the Music Man in Silly Sam’s
Music Box (May 2, 2015).
Included in the Kid Time series (ages 5 – 8) are Choo Choo Soul (Sept. 21, 2014), Fly Guy and Other Stories
(Jan. 24, 2015), Ivy & Bean (Feb. 15, 2015) and Dinosaur Train – LIVE! Buddy’s Big Adventure (May 16,
2015).
SPECIAL EVENTS
The Board of Trustees of the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts will host the Broadway Ball
on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014.
Take to the course on Monday, Nov., 17, 2014, at Fore the Straz, the Straz Center’s inaugural charity golf
tournament at Avila Golf and Country Club.
No season would be complete without Best of Tampa Bay. The area’s premier food event – a benefit for the
Straz Center’s education and mission-based programming and organized by the Producers volunteer group – is
scheduled for Saturday, April 11, 2015.
Celebrate Opera Tampa with other opera lovers at Opera Tampa’s Picnic in the Park (Nov. 2, 2014) in
Curtis Hixon Park and at the Opera Tampa’s 20th Anniversary Gala (date TBD).
CONSTITUENTS
As always, the Straz Center will play host to numerous local performing arts organizations including the
Tampa Bay Symphony (Nov. 2, 2014, Feb. 22, 2015 and April 26, 2015). And, there will be a full season of
exciting performances by The Florida Orchestra including, among many others, The Ben Folds
Experience, featuring high-energy performances of Folds’ new piano concerto, along with orchestral
arrangements of many of his pop hits, and Pixar in Concert, featuring clips from Pixar’s 14 animated films
in stunning widescreen high definition while the TFO performs the music live.
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The following series and events have previously been announced:
BROADWAY
The 2014-2015 Bank of America Best of Broadway Tampa Bay Series features the Tony Award®-winning
Best Musical Revival Pippin (April 14-19, 2015), new productions of family favorites Rodgers +
Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Oct. 21-26, 2014) and Annie (Feb. 17-22, 2015), the exciting worldwide
sensation Dirty Dancing-The Classic Story On Stage (Dec. 2-7, 2014) the record-breaking smash hit
Motown The Musical (March 17-22, 2015), the awe-inspiring feats of The Illusionists™-Witness The
Impossible (May 26-31, 2015) and, just in time for the holidays, Cameron Mackintosh’s spectacular new
production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera (Dec. 17, 2014 – Jan. 4, 2015).
In addition to the eight-show Broadway season and back by popular demand following its record-breaking
two week engagement in 2013, the multi-Tony Award®-winning musical from the creators of South Park,
The Book of Mormon, will return for a limited engagement, Jan. 20-Feb. 1, 2015.
The Straz Center will also present an encore engagement of the classic tale Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
(May 5-10, 2015).
FLORIDA OPERA FESTIVAL
Under the baton of Artistic Director and Conductor Daniel Lipton, the main stage line-up for the 2014-2015
Florida Opera Festival presented by Opera Tampa includes full-scale, grand opera productions of Giuseppe
Verdi’s Rigoletto (Feb. 13 and 15, 2015) and Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (March 13 and 15,
2015). In a “you saw them here first” opportunity, New Voices in Concert (Jan. 18, 2015) will showcase the
four exceptionally gifted young opera singers of the Opera Tampa New Voices.
And, straight from his starring role in Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, tenor Marcello Giordani (Feb. 28,
2015) arrives at Opera Tampa for a spectacular solo performance. Hailed as “… the greatest leading tenor of
his generation” (Opera News), this Italian opera phenom is without question, a singer not to be missed.
JOBSITE THEATER PLAY SERIES
With every engaging production Jobsite Theater solidifies its reputation as a dynamic, cutting-edge theatrical
force unlike any other in the Tampa Bay area. As a theater company, Jobsite fearlessly keeps a finger on the
pulse of new and challenging work. Jobsite’s 2014-2015 season features The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Sept.
3-28, 2014), Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (Oct. 29-Nov. 23, 2014), Twelfth Night (Jan. 7, 2014-Feb. 1,
2015), Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (March 4-29, 2015), Annapurna (April 29-May 24, 2015) and
Occupation (July 8-Aug. 2, 2015).
TICKETS
Single tickets for most performances in the Straz Center’s 2014-2015 season will go on sale to the public
Aug. 30, 2014, at the Straz Center Ticket Sales Office and online at www.strazcenter.org.
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Season tickets for the Broadway series, the Florida Opera Festival series, the Jobsite Theater play
series, the Club Jaeb series, the Kid Time and Wee Folk series’ and National Geographic Live! series
are now available. Those interested in subscribing should call the Ticket Sales Office at 813.229.7827
or 800.955.1045 outside Tampa.
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Single tickets for most Broadway shows will go on sale Nov. 30, 2014. Single tickets for The Book
of Mormon go on sale to the public on Aug. 17, 2014. Single tickets for Rodgers + Hammerstein’s
Cinderella go on sale to the public on Aug. 24, 2014. Single tickets for Dirty Dancing – The Classic
Story on Stage go on sale to the public on Oct. 19, 2014. Single tickets for The Phantom of the Opera
go on sale to the public on Sept. 21, 2014.
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Single tickets for Florida Opera Festival performances go on sale to the public Nov. 2, 2014.
For more information about the Straz Center and its upcoming events, visit www.strazcenter.org.
Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are subject to change without notice.
PAC2014-000
The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts and its programs are funded in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural
Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners; the Tourist
Development Council/Hillsborough County; and the City of Tampa.