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Arts

Van Wezel releases 2005-06 schedule

The Sarasota performing arts center's upcoming season has a little something for just about everyone.

By JOHN FLEMING
Published August 14, 2005

Liza Minnelli, Linda Ronstadt, Eartha Kitt, Donna Summer, Natalie Cole, Nana Mouskouri and Roberta Flack are all in the 2005-06 lineup at Van Wezel Hall in Sarasota. Other musical highlights include the Dave Brubeck Quartet, the duo of Linda Eder and Michael Feinstein, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Dick Hyman, Paul Anka, Marvin Hamlisch and Arlo Guthrie.

Martha Graham Dance Company tops the dance schedule, which also has Pilobolus and Forever Tango. Featured in a series called "Conversations" are Garrison Keillor, Jack Klugman and Jane Fonda. Lily Tomlin appears in March.

In previously announced bookings, the Philadelphia Orchestra, with music director Christoph Eschenbach on the podium, and the Cleveland Orchestra, under conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, are among the offerings of Van Wezel's symphony orchestra series. The Russian National Orchestra plays an all-Tchaikovsky program. Leon Botstein leads the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in works of Martinu, Copland and Prokofiev.

The hall has 25 productions in its Broadway series, also announced previously. Movin' Out, the Twyla Tharp-Billy Joel dance musical, has the longest run, a week in February. Van Wezel will present several small shows at the Players Theatre, including Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit.

Van Wezel's 2005-06 season brochure and ticket order form will be mailed Sept. 16. Ticket purchases for performances after Nov. 19 will be available exclusively through mail order until Oct. 15. Tickets to the first 12 shows on the calendar are on sale now, as are tickets to Broadway shows. To purchase tickets or to get on the mailing list, call 941 953-3368 or toll-free 1-800-826-9303 or go to www.vanwezel.org

Sept. 17: Comedy Central Live! Drew Carey & the Improv All-Stars

Oct. 8: Berenstain Bears On Stage!

Oct. 24: Broadway Junior On Tour!

Oct. 25: Bjorn Again: The ABBA Experience

Oct. 27: David Sanborn & Chris Botti

Oct. 31: Billy Idol

Nov. 1: The Full Monty

Nov. 3: BREAK! The Urban Funk Spectacular

Nov. 4: Gallagher

Nov. 5: U.S. Army Field Band & Soldiers' Chorus (free show)

Nov. 5: DRUM!

Nov. 12: Sleeping Beauty

Nov. 18: The Bacon Brothers

Nov. 20: An Evening with Eartha Kitt with special guest Dick Hyman

Nov. 25-27: STOMP

Nov. 28: Czech Opera, Die Fledermaus

Dec. 3: Circus Sarasota

Dec. 4: An evening with Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra

Dec. 5-6: Oklahoma!

Dec 7: Dave Koz and Friends, A Smooth Jazz Christmas 2005 with Patti Austin, David Benoit and Jonathan Butler

Dec. 11: The Irish Rovers Holiday Show

Dec. 12: Christmas With the Mantovani Orchestra and Chorus

Dec. 12: Garrison Keillor: Lake Wobegon Days

Dec. 14: BLAST!

Dec. 15: Lee Greenwood & Crystal Gayle

Dec. 16-17: Broadway's Spirit of Christmas

Dec. 18: The Beach Boys Holiday Show

Dec. 19: Babes In Toyland

Dec. 19-24: Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit (at Players Theatre)

Dec. 27-28: Willy Bietak's Broadway On Ice starring Dorothy Hamill & Davis Gaines

Dec. 29: The Perlman Music Program Celebration Performance

Jan. 1: Salute to Vienna

Jan. 3: Bowfire

Jan. 4: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Jan. 9: Jo Dee Messina

Jan. 10: Mandy Patinkin with Paul Ford on piano

Jan. 12: Linda Ronstadt

Jan. 13: Sinbad

Jan. 14: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Jan. 14: The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Jan. 15: The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra

Jan. 15: Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed

Jan. 16: Roberta Flack

Jan. 17-18: Liza Minnelli

Jan. 19: The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial

Jan. 22: Pilobolus

Jan. 23: Helikon Opera, a Russian Evening of Opera

Jan. 27: The Cleveland Orchestra

Jan. 29: Steven Wright

Jan. 30: Michael McDonald

Jan. 31: Tap Dogs

Feb. 1: Sing! Sing! Sing! A Tribute to Benny Goodman

Feb. 1: Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant 40th Anniversary Massacree Tour With Abe Guthrie, Gordon Titcomb & the Massacree Band

Feb. 3: An Evening with Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder

Feb. 4: Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme

Feb. 5: The Shanghai Circus

Feb. 7-12: Movin' Out

Feb. 14: Kenny Rogers

Feb. 16: The Will Roger Follies: A Life In Revue starring Larry Gatlin

Feb. 17: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Feb. 20: Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra

Feb. 21: Dancebrazil: Retratos da Bahia

Feb. 22: Mark Russell: The Laughter and Song of Politics

Feb. 23: Donna Summer

Feb. 26: Our Sinatra

Feb. 28: Engelbert Humperdinck

March 1: The Polish Chamber Orchestra

March 3: The Russian National Ballet Company: The Sleeping Beauty

March 5: An Afternoon with Jack Klugman

March 5: An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin

March 6: Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore

March 7: The Philadelphia Orchestra

March 10: Martha Graham Dance Company

March 13: Russian National Orchestra

March 15: The Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of 1st Battalion the Black Watch and the Band of the Welsh Guards

March 16: An evening with Paul Anka

March 17-18: Forever Tango

March 19: Tony Kenny's Ireland

March 19: An evening with Marvin Hamlisch

March 28: Natalie Cole

April 1: Sleeping Ugly

April 3: An evening with Jane Fonda

April 6-9: Sarasota Jazz Festival 2006

April 8: The Duke Ellington Orchestra

April 8: Dick Hyman & Friends

April 9-15: Festival Diapente

April 10: The Ten Tenors

April 11: Thoroughly Modern Millie

April 14: Scrap Arts Music Mainstage Spectacular

April 18-23: My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy (at the Players Theatre)

April 20-21: David Copperfield

April 22: Nana Mouskouri

April 25-30: Sex and the Second City (at the Players Theatre)

April 29: Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 10:08:04]