Stay tuned — the songs of Alexander Sage Oyen

I was making my way into my almost-last Fringe show this past spring (Captain Discovery: The Edible Musical) when I was accosted, among the throng of eight or nine people crowding into a closet otherwise known as the Jamie Mykins Theater, by a young man wearing what looked something like a centurion’s helmet.

“I’ve got something for you,” he said, and he reached into his backpack and handed me a CD.

Book review: ‘Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein’

When playwright Wendy Wasserstein died in 2006, a lot of theater-lovers grieved. Many of them were people something like me – a woman, a baby-boomer, a product of the same kind of New England women’s college that Wasserstein attended and just a year younger, almost to the day, than Wasserstein herself.

So it was easy to believe that Wasserstein’s plays, especially her Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy The Heidi Chronicles, were about me and the people I knew.

Theater auditions: ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ in Cocoa Beach

Here’s an audition notice from the Surfside Players in Cocoa Beach. Note: This is for a movie presentation of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, not for the musical-theater version:

Auditions for web-based serial:

Here’s an audition notice for a web-based serial:

Local movie theaters to screen Shakespeare

Well, I missed the first installment (vacation beckoned), but several Orlando-area movie theaters will screen filmed versions of productions from London’s Globe Theatre this summer.

Enzian to show opera and ballet on screen this summer

Enzian has lots in store this summer for fans of opera and ballet, with six filmed operas and ballets beginning this weekend. Here’s the rundown:

National Theatre’s ‘Cherry Orchard’ to play in cinemas

Here’s another highly praised stage production coming to movie theaters — and another one coming to movie theaters that are not near here.

(Which leads me to the rant: What is wrong with the movie theaters in the Orlando area? Why can’t they devote one screen one night every few months to something I want to see?)

Anyway, here’s the news about The National Theatre’s Cherry Orchard:

Auditions: Casting call for web serial

Here’s an announcement of a casting call for a web project needing actors good with Elizabethan English:

Newest ‘Company’ revival to turn up in movie theaters

There’s been a spate of theatrical productions showing up on movie screens lately, but most of them have not made their way to Central Florida. (The hit Broadway revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Brian Bedford, is playing in only one movie theater in the entire state of Florida — in Vero Beach. Not so convenient.)

But the recent New York Philharmonic concert version of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company will make it to one  Central Florida screen — in Orlando — at 7:30 p.m. June 15. That’s at the Premiere Cinema 14 at Fashion Square Mall.

Help your favorite arts group through ‘The Arts Matter’ campaign

Want to raise money for your favorite arts group? Vote for it through United Arts The Arts Matter! campaign, which begins at 8 a.m. today (Wednesday, June 1) and continues through Tuesday June 14.

Here’s how to play:

Final, final results of Visual Fringe

Here are the final (yes, really) numbers from the Visual Fringe, which wound up selling 33 works of art, more than a quarter of what was on display at Lowndes Shakespeare Center during the course of the 13-day Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival.

Visual Fringe sells a bunch of artwork

Congratulations to Anna McCambridge-Thomas, who is bowing out after nine years as the head of the Visual Fringe. Here’s a list of the 31 pieces of art sold through this year’s Visual Fringe — about a fourth of all it had on display:

Radio Rickshaw plans live show at Fringe

For Fringers sitting around with no shows to see on Friday night (that’s tonight, in case you’ve lost track), here’s an alternative: Radio Rickshaw’s live show, to be recorded 6-30-7:30 p.m. from the Outdoor Stage.

Here’s more:

Good news for Orlando’s arts-center project

Orlando’s planned performing-arts center project received good news Wednesday: It’s a go, and construction is likely to start in June.

Here’s the story from the Orlando Sentinel’s Mark Schlueb and David Damron.

Visual Fringe to display more than 100 pieces of art

Visual Fringe, the visual-art aspect of the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, has been installed and will open Wednesday night with 128 works of art, most of them for sale. The exhibit will be in and around the Patrons’ Room at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Loch Haven Park.

Here’s a brief explanation of Visual Fringe, followed by a list of the artwork for sale:

Tony DeSare to open weekend at Cabaret Festival

Tony DeSare

Singer-pianist Tony DeSare seems to be all over the place these days — on Prairie Home Companion last weekend, playing with the New York Pops earlier this week. Now he’s set to headline the Orlando Cabaret Festival Thursday night through Sunday afternoon.

Here’s a little rundown on Tony and a link to his website:

The Fringe waxes poetic

Fringe fans who appreciate the word — and don’t we all? — may have already made the acquaintance of the festival’s poetry offerings. (It’s hard to sit in the beer tent on a Saturday night and not be part of the proceedings.)

But for those of you who may have missed it, here’s a guide to the Fringe’s poetry circuit — the Poetry Smackdown, the Toast-Off and the Fringe Poetry Vending Machine. The description comes from Tod Caviness, my friend and former Sentinel colleague, who makes much of this happen:

Fringe Fest seeking outdoor vendors

Here’s your chance to find an audience for those perfect cupcakes or try out your cornbread recipe on a wider public The Orlando Fringe is still looking for vendors to ply their trade (edible or non-) on what producer Beth Marshall calls the Green Lawn of Fabulousness — the green space between Orlando Repertory Theatre and Orlando Museum of Art in Loch Haven Park.

Here’s more from the Fringe:

Visual Fringe looking for artists (and arts-lovers)

Anna McCambridge-Thomas, who produces the annual, unjuried visual-arts show at the Orlando Fringe, is looking for artists to participate. If you sell your work, you get all the proceeds (although there’s an entrance fee to be part of the show). Drop-off dates are May 13 and 14. Here’s the whole story from the festival:

Broadway theater coming to a movie screen near you — if you’re lucky

Broadway productions of Memphis, last year’s Tony-winner for best musical, and the critically acclaimed revival of The Importance of Being Earnest are headed for movie screens across the country this spring.

Also coming: The recent New York Philharmonic concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, which starred Patti LuPone and a host of TV stars, including Neil Patrick Harris (as Bobby) and Stephen Colbert.