Staff Report
For the remaining shows of the 2017-2018 season, the Straz Center for the Performing Arts has great seats still available for select nights for its touring Broadway blockbusters to celebrate its 30th anniversary season.
Tickets are available online at www.strazcenter.org, by phone and in person at the Straz Center Ticket Sales Office.
“We are proud to offer such a spectrum of performing arts next season,” says President and CEO Judy Lisi.
“We’re expanding our community events and broadening our programming in a way that is so exciting for the Tampa Bay area. We’ve included a lot of community feedback about what people want to see at their performing arts center, and we feel like we’ve achieved a solid representation of what inspires and entertains.”
The 2017-2018 season at the Straz Center includes:
CABARET
Broadway stars come to The Straz for a series of intimate evenings of song. The series includes the Tony®- winning star of stage and screen Laura Benanti (Feb. 11, 2018), comedian, actress and Saturday Night Live star Ana Gasteyer (March 18, 2018) and Broadway musical and SMASH star Megan Hilty (April 22, 2018).
MUSIC
The Straz Center’s 2017-2018 season includes an eclectic lineup of music performances including international sensation Gobsmacked! (Jan. 24, 2018), featuring a joyful mix of beatboxing with knock-out harmonies; Take Me To The River: Memphis Soul and Rhythm & Blues Revue (Feb. 2, 2018) brings a journey through the soul of American music with artists featured in the Netflix documentary of the same name; and America’s Got Talent finalists Sons of Serendip (April 12, 2018) bring their serene, ethereal interpretations of pop music using voice, harp, piano and cello.
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.
The Club Jaeb Series includes John Gorka (Jan. 22, 2018), Dana Louise (Feb. 26, 2018), Anna & Elizabeth (March 26, 2018), Dead Horses (April 23, 2018) and Shannon McNally (May 21, 2018).
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 eighth season of this popular and informative series will include View from Above with Terry Virts, NASA astronaut (Jan. 16, 2018), A Wild Life with photographer Bertie Gregory (March 8, 2018) and Standing at the Water’s Edge with Cristina Mittermeier, marine biologist and photographer (April 3, 2018).
DANCE
The 2017-2018 dance season includes international sensation Dance Theatre of Harlem (March 3, 2018).
The season also includes the magical, joyous ballet Cinderella (May 5-6, 2018).
BROADWAY
The Straz Center’s 2017-2018 Bank of America Broadway at The Straz season continues with The Color Purple (March 6-11, 2018), Waitress (April 24-29, 2018), as well as The Bodyguard (March 20-25, 2018).
Forever Plaid (Jan. 12 – March 11, 2018) will be presented in the Jaeb Theater as part of the 2017-2018 series.
The season will also include encore engagements of Riverdance – The 20th Anniversary World Tour (Jan.19-21, 2018), the spectacular new production of The Phantom of the Opera (Feb. 14-25, 2018), Beautiful –The Carole King Musical (March 27-April 1, 2018), The Sound of Music (June 5-10, 2018) and The Illusionists™ Live from Broadway™ (June 15-17, 2018).
OPERA TAMPA
Under the baton of Artistic Director and Conductor Daniel Lipton, the line-up for the 2017-2018 Opera Tampa season promises big plans, bold choices and bloody consequences. The series includes full-scale, grand opera productions of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Feb. 2 and 4, 2018), Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (March 2 and 4, 2018) and Verdi’s Macbeth (April 13 and 15, 2018). This season engages the senses with powerhouse operas designed to thrill opera lovers and our growing fanbase of newcomers to the form.
JOBSITE THEATER PLAY SERIES
Jobsite Theater is dedicated to the creation of socially and politically relevant theater and the pursuit of performing it to the broadest possible audience. Through all forms of theater – be it experimental, new plays, contemporary works or the classics – Jobsite inspires their community to become not just consumers but true citizens. Jobsite’s 2017-2018 season features Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Jan. 17-Feb. 18, 2018), an adaptation of one of the most influential pieces of 20th century literature, 1984 (April 25 -May 20, 2018) and the contemporary classic Dancing at Lughnasa (June 13 – July 8, 2018). The season also sees the return of Israel Horovitz with one of his newest plays, Man in Snow (March 7 – April 1, 2018).
TICKETS
Single tickets for most performances in the Straz Center’s 2017-2018 season are available online at www.strazcenter.org, by phone and in person at the Straz Center Ticket Sales Office.
Those interested in subscribing should call the Ticket Sales Office at 813.229.7827 or 800.955.1045 outside Tampa.
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.
The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts and its programs are funded in part by the City of Tampa; the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners; the Tourist Development Council/Hillsborough County; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
