Category: Tampa Bay

First-class gesture by the Tampa Police Department and the University Mall Foot Locker to donate all those back-to-school shoes to the children of the three women who tried to help the dying TPD officers nearly two months ago. Even Police Chief Jane Castor, a very busy woman, found time to stop by and meet the families as they shopped. 

Two points.

It was hardly coincidental that media were on hand to chronicle the shopping spree involving the women and eight of their children. Orchestration for a good cause. TPD was further underscoring that the death of those two officers will be much more than an unspeakable tragedy and a horrific reminder of a vile outgrowth of a dysfunctional culture. 

TPD is saying, in effect, that the two fallen officers will be the catalyst of an ongoing and ever-ratcheting campaign designed to combat the “no-snitch” ethos prevalent in too many African-American neighborhoods. Indeed, while the black women who tried to aid the officers and called 911 have been on the receiving end of community-wide praise and gratitude, they have also received threats for violating the spirit of the “no-snitch” norm. TPD is saying murdered Officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab did not die in vain. Inroads into countering the “police snitch” mentality will ultimately make for safer communities. That will be the slain officers’ legacy. Not just tragedy, widows and orphans.

The other point: Surely, there was a time when people weren’t so rewarded, honored and feted for doing the right thing. For doing a thing that was so right–not ignoring the dying when every second was a life-or-death tick–that the only alternative was to do the inhumane and dishonorable. Surely.

There are a lot of compelling reasons–starting with the economic viability of this region–why the transit referendum, even during a recession, warrants merit. And passage. And, frankly, any issue that is eclectically supported by both the Sierra Club and the Tampa Bay Builders Association, among others, ought to have a leg up.

Now that the Straz Center’s home-grown musical, Wonderland, is officially booked for Broadway next spring, its president, Judy Lisi, can reflect — however briefly — on what it took.  

Lisi was neither awed nor assured about the prospects of the Center’s first Broadway Genesis Project product winding up on the Great White Way. “Something like this — from here to Broadway — was always a long shot,” explains Lisi. “But it was our objective to bring the ‘long shot’ in. I wouldn’t have gone into this (BGP) thinking we couldn’t do that. We have a great creative team and great facilities.”

The BGP, for those who missed the first act, is the most ambitious project in the 23-year history of the Center. The goal is nothing less than the Straz literally growing its own Broadway-caliber productions. From scratch. It’s how elite arts centers build their reputations. And the Straz, the largest performing arts center in the Southeast, is not ambition-challenged — even during a serious recession.

The Straz certainly has wherewithal. There’s the aforementioned creative team, and its state-of-the-art facilities include a “perfect, Broadway-type theater” in the 1,042-seat Louise Lykes Ferguson Theatre, technical and production capabilities, a costume shop and rehearsal studios. It’s also blessed with a large subscription base, a track record of group and individual sales, responsive audiences and major-market media. For several years the Center had been setting aside BGP money — about $3.5 million — to properly fund a made-in-Tampa production worthy of Broadway aspirations and a world premier.

It worked.

And after successful runs at the Straz and at Houston’s Alley Theatre, the audience-lauding musical — now retitled Wonderland: A New Alice. A New Musical Adventure — has been reworked and tweaked for prime time. All par for the ultimate course, points out Lisi.

“It went through the development process it needed,” she says. “That’s why we call it Broadway Genesis. You need that lab time to look at it clearly and objectively.

“And it became clear to us that the story line was confusing,” adds Lisi, referring to some of the dynamics between Alice and her daughter. “That was our marching orders. Make it more clear, more emotional. Make it a show about second chances. That especially resonates in our fast-paced world, where we’re all balancing and juggling.”

According to Lisi, the production has dropped some minor subplots and added two songs. And for those who appreciated the Queen of Hearts’ Sarah Palinesque send-up, there’s another political morsel embedded.

“No, we didn’t have a tea party before,” says Lisi. “Now Act I has a bizarro tea party.” 

Next up for Wonderland will be a two-week, Broadway preview at the Straz Jan. 4-16. Cast and crew will be here in November. It opens April 17 on Broadway at one of the Nederlander chain theaters.

“The Nederlander organization believes in it so much,” says Lisi, “it is partnering with us.” Indeed, just to have a theater guarantee is a major accomplishment. Reportedly, there’s a backlog of about 30 shows that can’t get one.

It’s not often that Tampa has to reference Hillsborough County for an enlightened approach to problem-solving. But when it comes to dealing with street solicitors, most notably panhandlers, the city needs help. And a role model.

The county has a law that makes it a misdemeanor to solicit donations — whether the charitable or the panhandling variety — on road medians and street corners. It’s a common-sense approach to a public-safety issue. But the county’s three cities — Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City — have no such law. And just across the bay, St. Petersburg recently banned the same sort of solicitations along its major roadways. Something about traffic hazards and public safety. Can’t always synchronize solicitations and inevitable green lights, you know.

But Tampa has stayed tethered to a skewed, First Amendment rationale. How do you allow charity groups to solicit donations while preventing panhandlers from asking for spare change? Well, you just can’t. But you can make everybody wear a brightly-colored Home Depot safety vest.

County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, again proving that a common-sense, progressive Republican doesn’t have to be a political oxymoron, is trying to find a way to bring Tampa, among others, into uniform compliance.  

He wants a meeting of county and city officials to address the apparent increase in roadside solicitors in Tampa and the safety issues — Day-Glo vests notwithstanding — inherent wherever intersection- and traffic-median solicitors hit up motorists for money. He’s also willing to brainstorm about alternate ways to help charities and those down on their luck.

“I think everyone agrees, including the ACLU, that a street corner is not the proper place for those services to be provided,” underscored Sharpe.

Judy Lisi, president of the Straz Center, doesn’t typically traffic in baseball metaphors. But she acknowledges Straz’s made-in-Tampa musical Wonderland is now rounding “third base”–as it heads for Broadway next season.

Now called Wonderland: A New Alice. A New Musical Adventure, the show had successful runs in Tampa and Houston, followed by upgrading revisions and “tweaks.” It will open in New York next April at one of the Nederlander chain theaters. Prior to that, it will return to the Straz for a two-week run of previews Jan. 4-16.

“Broadway theaters are in such demand right now,” explains Lisi. “There’s a backlog of 30 shows that can’t get a theater. Just getting there is reaching third base. But we obviously want the home run. It has validated (through Straz’s home-grown Broadway Genesis Project) what we’re trying to do. The Nederlander organization believes in it so much, it is partnering with us.”

In order for Wonderland to hit that homer, it will need a successful Broadway run, underscores Lisi. “Making it to Broadway is obviously big,” notes Lisi, “but once you’re there, you either make it or you don’t. It needs to play for at least a year or two for any kind of (investor) return.” Future scenarios could entail touring (the Straz has worldwide rights) and even a movie.

“If this does well, our vision of other producers bringing their work here can be realized,” says Lisi. “Plus it’s a great thing for Tampa. We get visitors from all over. It further positions Tampa as a place with a vital arts scene. Nothing makes a reputation like getting one of your own to Broadway.”

And one other subplot. If Wonderland enjoys Broadway success, it could still be running and attracting national acclaim when the Republican convention comes to town in 2012. And, yes, the Straz Center is likely to be front and center as a major event venue. But, no, don’t look for a reprise of Oh! Calcutta! or a customized version of It’s A Mad, Mad GOP World to be playing at Ferguson Theatre in late August of 2012.

We may take it for granted because it’s in our back yard and has that marketing chutzpah name, but the St. Pete Times Forum continues to earn honors from those who rank concert venues for their drawing power. In Pollstar’s Top 100 Worldwide Arena Venues List, the Forum is ranked 1st in Florida, 4th in the U.S. and 12th in the world in its 2010 Mid-Year Special Edition. The 21,500-seat facility sold more than 231,000 tickets from January through June 2010.

And as we know, the Forum hosts more than concerts. Back in December, it hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four in volleyball. Next year it will host the NCAA Men’s Basketball first- and second-round games. The following year is the Republican National Convention and the NCAA (hockey) Frozen Four. The NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four will be back in 2015.

Sometimes you add by subtracting.

Last week’s Tiger Bay Club of Tampa luncheon was a good example. It was a forum for county commission candidates to subject themselves to some Q&A scrutiny. But with more than a dozen candidates accepting invitations (and, no, Ken Hagan was not among them) it was just too many. Better to divide up the districts into two separate events. More questions. Perhaps a follow-up. Answers with some semblance of detail. Otherwise, you get boilerplate and platitudes. And those not adept at 30-second sound bites are not going to fare well. They didn’t.

Still no Phi Beta Kappa chapter at USF. Disappointing. Again. Apparently USF was done in by a graduation rate (49 percent) and a student-to-faculty ratio (27-to-1) that were less than preferred. And expected.

OK, USF is not an Ivy or a Stanford, a Vanderbilt or a Florida, which has had its chapter since the 1930s. We get that. But FIU–with a graduation rate of 46 percent–is in?

Last week’s Parade magazine listed the top 50 “American Original” landmarks across the U.S. They ranged from the bizarre to the hilarious. They’re all also bigger than life. Much bigger. From (#25) “The World’s Largest Baseball Bat” in Louisville, Ky., to (#7) “The Giant Sundial” in Carefree, Ariz., to (#34) “The World’s Largest Teapot” in Chester, WV. And right there at #33, our own Channelside Bay Plaza Splitsville, home of “The Giant Bowling Pin.”

We’ll take it. Could have been “The World’s Biggest Confederate Flag.”