Vincent, Leonard Nimoy's one-man play about artist Vincent van Gogh, returns to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center this weekend, after playing to sellout crowds there in 2003. Actor F. Reed Brown, a Tampa native, again portrays the dual roles of the brilliantly mad postimpressionist and his brother Theo, Vincent's only friend and benefactor. "Brown does an admirable job of portraying the tortured Vincent, but his finest moments are as Theo, the grief-stricken yet defiant brother who defends and defines Vincent as an artist who was misunderstood, abused and ultimately driven to destroy himself," wrote St. Petersburg Times reviewer Lorrie Lykins in 2003.
Vincent, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday; also 8 p.m. Jan. 13 and 14 and 2 p.m. Jan. 15, Shimberg Playhouse at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa. $18.50. 813 229-7827 or toll-free 1-800-955-1045; or www.tbpac.org
Jobsite tackles "History'
It's a play that's been hundreds of years in the making.
The Complete History of America (Abridged), the latest offering from Tampa's Jobsite Theater, takes audiences on an irreverent ride that starts with the birth of the nation and runs up through current times.
It's the third Jobsite visit to the "Complete" series, written primarily by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor. The first two installments, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) and The Complete Word of God (Abridged) were among the most popular shows in the company's history.
The script is designed to be updated and localized, so director Katrina Stevenson and actors Shawn Paonessa, Jason Vaughan Evans and David Jenkins - the team that brought us the previous productions - have added plenty of material to the original, which premiered in the '90s. As Paonessa points out, without the updating, the most topical material would be Dan Quayle jokes.
The Complete History of America Abridged runs Friday through Jan. 23 in the Shimberg Playhouse at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N W.C. MacInnes Place, Tampa. Show times: 10 p.m. Friday and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sunday. $18.50. (813) 229-7827 or toll-free 1-800-955-1045; www.tbpac.org
Will Rogers remembered
Actor Jason Edwards is well-aware that some people who come to The Will Rogers Follies, a Life in Revue at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre may have actually seen the cowboy philosopher, who died in a plane crash 70 years ago.
"That's even more of a challenge for me," Edwards said during a break in rehearsal last week.
Edwards has played Rogers six times before, not counting a stint he did as country singer Larry Gatlin's understudy in the role on the national tour. He twirls a lariat, strums the guitar, sings, acts and does a little footwork, just like Rogers himself.
Follies has Rogers returning from heaven to put on one more show with his frequent backer, Florenz Ziegfeld. The show is based on Rogers' life - his happy marriage to Betty Blake (Kelly Atkins); his four children (Teddy Toye, Alexis Beetz, Evan Julian, Matthew Romeo); his dad, Clem (Allan Baker); and his friend Wiley Post (Chuck Cantrell). Rogers' long and prolific stage, movie and radio careers, as well as his more than 4,000 newspaper columns, are remembered in the show.
Ziegfeld's dancers - seven women and five men - provide glamor.
Set designer Tom Hansen has built the stage-width lighted stairs for the Ziegfeld Girls, and also painted an original portrait of Rogers on the opening curtain.
The Will Rogers Follies, a Life in Revue shows matinees and evenings Friday through Feb. 20 at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson. Dinner and show, $39.50; show only, $28.45; 12 and younger, $21.95 and $16.95, all plus tax and tip. Call (727) 863-7949 in west Pasco; toll free elsewhere at 1-888-655-7469.
