Superheroes and operas come to the Tampa Bay area
If you're into superheroes, as almost everyone seems to be these days, you're no doubt jazzed about the "Batman v. Superman," the new blockbuster movie with an all-star cast (Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Jena Malone, Jeremy Irons and many, many more).
If you're a super fan of superheroes and you don't mind a bit of a drive, you might want to head up Tampa to catch what they're calling "Tampa Bay's most immersive 'Batman v Superman' movie experience" in the IMAX theatre at MOSI. It's the only IMAX dome theater in Florida.
Screenings start March 24, which also kicks off a month-long "Superhero Festival" at MOSI, with all sorts of programming about crime-fighters with amazing powers.
Tickets are $13.95 for adults, $11.95 for students and seniors and $10.95 for children age 12 and younger. You can get premium tickets that get you a choice of seats and other goodies for $19.95. Call 813-987-6000, or go to mosi.org.
Sarasota Opera seasons
Sarasota Opera has announced its schedule for fall 2016 and winter 2017. The fall productions are Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" (Oct. 28-Nov. 14) and Dean Burry's "The Secret World of Og," presented by the Sarasota Youth Opera on Nov. 12.
The 2017 winter season starts with Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" (Feb. 11-March 25), and continues with Rossini's "The Italian Girl in Algiers," (Feb. 18-March 24), Poulenc's "Dialogues of the Carmelites" (March 4-25, 2017) and Montemezzi's "The Love of Three Kings (March 11-26, 2017). Call 941-328-1300 or go to sarasotaopera.org.
Ringling at the Oscars
"Big Hero 6" won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film last year. Twenty-nine graduates of Sarasota's Ringling College of Art and Design had worked on that film. And the award for Best Short Film, Animated went to another Ring
ling alum, Patrick Osborne, for his movie "Feast."
This year, the Best Animated Feature Film winner was "Inside Out." The team that created it included 13 Ringling College grads: Katherine C. Bickley, Justin M. Farris, Robert S. Gibbs, Catherine B. Hicks, Alexander J. Marino, Alonso Martinez, Lucas Martorelli, Amber L. Martorelli, Andreas Procopiou, Gwendelyn C. Enderoglu, Jaime R. Landes Roe, Michael W. Sauls and Jessica R. Torres.
That's 43 Ringling grads who helped create Oscar-winning films in just two years. The total enrollment of the college is only about 1,200, so that's mighty impressive.
A different Ringling
The Ringling (the art museum and the other facilities on its campus) has announced the lineup for this year's Ringling International Arts Festival (RIAF 2016). The festival brings four days of unusual, virtuosic performing arts to the Ringling each year.
This year's RIAF is set for Oct. 13-16 in spaces throughout the Ringling. The artists are:
Israeli cellist Matt Haimovitz, performing "The Bach Suites: A Moveable Feast," which combines six Bach cello suites with works by Philip Glass, Du Yun, Vijay Iyer, Roberto Sierra, David Sanford, and Luna Pearl Woolf.
Gravity & Other Myths, an Australian acrobatics ensemble.
Doug Elkins Choreography, etc., performing a work that the New York Times called one of the top 10 dance pieces of 2013.
eighth blackbird, a Chicago-based group that has won four Grammy Awards, performing a program of new and diverse music from six living composers.
Lucidity Suitcase International, with a one-man show titled "17 Border Crossings" that weaves together real adventures of international border crossings.
Circo Aereo & Thomas Monckton, who combine classical clowning and contemporary circus.
LMnO3, a comedic trio that celebrates the power of female relationships in their work "B.A.N.G.S: made in America."
Tickets for each performance are $35 Call 941-360-7399 or go to ringling.org.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Superheroes and operas come to the Tampa Bay area ."