The normal time to make your wish list is before Christmas, not after.
But if your wishes involve live entertainment, you think in longer terms. Santa's not going to leave a production of "Death of a Salesman" under your tree, so there's no sense putting it on your Christmas list.
So this is a wish list for the coming year and beyond -- developments I'm hoping to see that would make the arts and entertainment scene in Bradenton even greater.
1. One more Leonard Cohen concert tour. His 2013 concert in Tampa was perhaps the best I've ever seen in 50 years of avid concert-going. There's a sacred atmosphere to Cohen's performances. He has two recent albums, so another concert would seem possible.
2. Relief from sound problems in the Manatee Performing Arts Center. Several great Manatee Players productions have been marred by sound glitches. Some actors are barely audible or there's a blast of feedback. The technical demands of sound design, especially in musicals with large casts wearing body mics, is always a struggle. Even the top professionals say so. That doesn't make sound problems any less annoying for the audience.
3. Small professional theaters. In many cities, small professional theaters fill the gap between community theaters and those that have to adhere to Actors Equity rules and pay scales.
There are almost no such theaters in the Bradenton-Sarasota area. The gap between community theaters and professional theaters is small here because the community theaters are excellent, but non-Equity pro theaters would produce different kinds of plays and would give local actors a chance to earn some money.
4. An end to "Broadway" tours that aren't. Non-Equity companies tour the country with big-name shows. They rent the major performing arts centers and use the term "Broadway" to sell their shows. Most aren't bad, but the difference in quality is obvious. "Annie," which comes to Tampa's Straz Center for the Performing Arts in February, is billed as a Broadway show, but it's non-Equity.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.co/martinclear.
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