The Vero Beach Theatre Guild opens its new season this weekend with the 1995 off-Broadway comedy “Sylvia.” Directed by Ben Earman, it follows a stray poodle-lab cross from Central Park into the home of a couple of empty-nesters. Played by a human actress – in this case, Abby Bolduc – Sylvia becomes devoted to her new master, raising the hackles of the master’s wife. Daniel Hall plays Greg, the financial trader smitten with his new friend; his wife Kate, played by Heather Stapleton, is an English teacher who has declared a no-dog zone in their newly unencumbered coupledom. As the tensions rise, three characters intervene – a dog-walker, a socialite and a marriage counselor, all played by Austin Peer. Michael Naffziger designed the set; he’s the drama director at Indian River Charter High School.
Stapleton and Bolduc shared the stage in “Sweet Charity” two years ago, also directed by Earman. Bolduc was also in Earman’s “Hairspray” in 2015.
Earman, born and raised in Vero, is a graduate of the University of Tampa who taught high school drama in Port St. Lucie. He is now community relations director at the Senior Resource Association.
“Sylvia” runs through Sept. 25.
Next Friday, Sept. 23, at Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce, The Second City comedy troupe and the media organization Slate stage “Unelectable You,” a new comedy political revue that the Chicago Tribune called “exceptionally smart and funny” in a review last month.
Various comics play all the major characters from Obama to Melania. The show bills itself as “completely unbiased.” A mesh of sketch comedy, music and improv, the two-hour show takes a look at Clinton and Trump and the media circus surrounding them, in ways we apparently haven’t yet. The show – like the election, they infer – is pay for play: You offer cash for a scene of your choosing. When that annoyed some in the audience, the troupe added a tagline – it would donate the tips to Planned Parenthood, like it or not.
The East Texas blues singer and guitarist Beautiful Bobby Blackmon is playing Earl’s Hideaway Sunday afternoon. Though his grandmother called the guitar a “starvation box,” Blackmon has been able to make a living playing a brand of jukebox blues he calls “downhome Southern soul blues.” It’s the style you’d hear driving through Alabama or Mississippi, as he once told the Orlando Sentinel. Blackmon has played with B.B. King and opened for Buddy Guy. Sunday, he’ll take the stage from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Earl’s is an outdoor bar – beloved by bikers, by the way – on the river in Sebastian.
The Reality – the Tampa-based, often trippy funk and reggae trio – just released their debut album, Rhetoric, and they’re coming to Kilted Mermaid Friday night to share some cuts from it. The group features Dan Jones on guitar and vocals that range to near-falsetto (he also keeps a well-worn trombone by his side); Caleb Bone adds his space bass to much of the music, and also sings; and Logan Charles III plays drums. As one critic pointed out, raving over the album, The Reality’s influences go way beyond Jamaica and include Cake, Nine Inch Nails and Frank Sinatra.
If you’re anywhere near Riverside Park Saturday evening, drop in on Riverside’s Live in the Loop free concert series where Ed Shanaphy and Friends will be playing as crowds gather for the Howl at the Moon singalong inside. Shanaphy often plays from his vast repertoire of standards in Riverside Theatre’s lobby before the Main Stage shows. He’s an accomplished pianist who in his long career segued from playing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra to publishing two national music magazines. He accompanies his dulcet-toned daughter (and our music writer) Kate Shanaphy Maingot. Ed Jr. will be playing drums, back from a summer of teaching tennis in Martha’s Vineyard; Taddy Mowatt is on bass.
Friday night, in Orlando, ukulele great Jake Shimabukuro is playing at Plaza Live. If you missed this young genius last year when he played the King Center and Kravis, you’ll have to add a little to your drive but the music experts I know say he is one not to miss. Shimabukuro is releasing a new album, “The Nashville Sessions,” with tour regular Nolan Verner on bass and Evan Hutchings on drums; both are well-known session musicians who met up with Shimabukuro and just jammed for a week. The result is a mixture of jazz and driving rock, all of it original. No doubt, his Orlando appearance will bring some of that jam back to life.
