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Eckerd sets up TV actor's show

By BARBARA FREDRICKSEN
Published November 18, 2006

Wow. Score two more big ones for the new talent-sharing partnership between Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater and the Show Palace Dinner Theatre.

In the newest deal, Eckerd is sending television and movie star Tony Danza and the 1970s and '80s rockers Sha Na Na to the Hudson venue in March.

"Tony does a song and dance show with a little standup (comedy)," said Bob Rossi, Eckerd's entertainment director. "It's a regular supper club show, with a six-piece band."

Sha Na Na (Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay) will do two high-energy nostalgia shows March 19. Danza will do two shows March 21.

"Tony Danza is the biggest name we've ever had at the Show Palace," said Nick Sessa, co-owner of the popular Hudson venue. "Women love him."

Danza (born Antonio Salvatore Ladanza in Brooklyn) started out as a successful boxer but switched to television when a casting director spotted him at a gym. He won a Golden Globe for supporting actor in his role as Tony Banta on the sitcom phenom Taxi (1978 to 1983).

He then starred as housekeeper Tony Micelli in the popular, long-running comedy Who's the Boss? (1984-1992).

Word has begun to spread about the Eckerd-Show Palace connection, Rossi said.

"The good thing is, now the industry is starting to ask," Rossi said. Since the announcement about the partnership in early September, performers' agents have begun to call Rossi about placing shows there, he said, especially when their clients are in the area and have an open date.

"They'll call and say, 'You're not available at Ruth Eckerd Hall, but what about that place up north of you?' " he said. "They want to pick up an extra date on the way out."

That's fine with Nick and Sal Sessa. The first such booking, Joe Piscopo on Jan. 7, is nearly sold out, Nick Sessa said. Mere rumors about the Danza show prompted calls for tickets, he said.

Tickets for Sha Na Na are $49.50 for dinner and show; for Danza, $69.95, both plus tax and tip. Call (727) 863-7949 in west Pasco. Elsewhere, call toll-free 1-888-655-7469.

Goblins were good

The goblins were kind to Richey Suncoast Theatre on Halloween night. The theater's Murder Mystery Show attracted 180 patrons, plus extra donations, raising $1,920 to benefit the second annual Shakespeare by the River festival in February, said Charlie Skelton, president of the theater's board.

The format of the festival has been changed from last year's and from the original plans.

Skelton had hoped to do a musical version of The Two Gentlemen of Verona as the festival's centerpiece, but the audition didn't draw enough men to play all the roles.

So he contacted Tampa Bay area actor/director Rick Bronson, who has performed and directed at Richey Suncoast many times, and asked whether he would bring his acting troupe to New Port Richey and do the hilarious The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

The local version will be free, thanks to the recent fundraiser and a grant from the city of New Port Richey.

Unlike last year, the shows will be presented in midafternoon, instead of at night. Those of us who went to the outdoor night show last year were so bundled up by the second act that we looked like a field full of haystacks.

The festival's evening entertainment will be a British film of The Two Gentlemen of Verona shown on the new movie screen inside Richey Suncoast Theatre, which has a reliable heater in case of cold.

A small group from the Society for Creative Anachronism will demonstrate sword fighting and fashions and have a torchlight tourney at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and 17.

If it turns cold, we can always huddle around those torches.

[Last modified November 17, 2006, 22:55:36]