On Stage

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre opened the musical comedy MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT, by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, at 11 Old Mission Avenue. It will run through October 13. For tickets and information call 904-825-1164 or visit www.limelight-theatre.org. There will be a hot time in the old town through the middle of October, especially if you are in the audience of Spamalot. This 2005 Tony Award winning musical is based on “Monty Python & the Holy Grail”, a 1975 film in which King Arthur and his knights undertake a quest for the golden chalice …

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM Good old Charlie Brown is back and will be in residence until September 22 at St. Marys, Georgia, on stage in the 1987 musical “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown! Less than fifty miles north of Jacksonville, you can enjoy the colorful creations of the late Charles Schulz, with Charlie of course, along with Snoopy, Sally, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and other favorites. Why has this musical endured and why has “Peanuts” pleased so many generations, young and old? Perhaps because there is a little Charlie Brown in each of us. Everyone has failed, or …

The Artist Series’ 16th Annual Test Drive Your Seats event is Wednesday, September 18th at the Times-Union Center at 300 Water Street, Jacksonville, FL 32202, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Current Broadway season ticket holders can pick up their ticket packets, exchange their tickets, buy single tickets for family and friends, and “test drive” their seats. Patrons who want to purchase season tickets can come out to see the venue, see which seats are available, and become season ticket holders on-site! Attendees can also register to win a pair of season tickets to the upcoming Broadway in Jacksonville Season. …

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” opened last weekend at ABET and will run through September 22, at 716 Ocean Boulevard, Atlantic Beach. For reservations, call 249-7177 or visit abettheatre.com. This is a delightful revival of Rupert Holmes’s musical murder mystery romp. Holmes took Charles Dickens’s unfinished novel of the same name and created a musical set in London’s Music Hall Royale in the late 1800s. In this play within a play, all the actors are British, and are performing “Drood” for the evening’s entertainment. Dickens completed only six of twelve episodes; the script follows …

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM Players by the Sea opened David Mamet’s GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS in their studio theatre, at 106 Sixth Street in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. This play will run through September 7, call 248-0289 or visit playersbythesea.org for reservations. Players offers theatre fans a rare opportunity to see a Pulitzer Prize winning play (1984). We say ‘rare’ because only six of the Pulitzer winners in the past twenty have been done on local stages. Players will raise our percentage with “Rent” and “Angels in America” scheduled for later during the current season. Be forewarned, Glengarry is a …

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM Shakespeare is back in Theatre Jacksonville’s Summer Classic, after an absence of several years while TJ presented some other interesting classic choices to appreciative audiences. The Classic precedes the season opener and is offered at special ticket pricing of $15.00 for the general public and $10.00 for students and TJ season subscribers. “As You Like It” is one of the Bard’s comedies that has not been done for a long time in this area and is a wonderful way to end the summer on a fun note. Done in period costume, it is the …

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM Jacksonville Beach’s Players by the Sea held its annual end of the season Pelican Awards ceremony on Saturday August 17, at their theatre. The event is like a local version of the Tony Awards, although, believe us, much funnier than the Tonys. The Pelicans are several things: a celebration of theatre, a family party for theatre lovers and volunteers, and an acknowledgement by Players of the priceless value of the volunteer hours given throughout all phases of production and support. From acting to backstage tech, concessions, construction, the list goes on and on and …

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM Fabulous New York singer/entertainer Dorothy Bishop brought her show to Jacksonville and the Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre for what was billed as a two-night performance August 9, 10 but due to the demand for tickets, was held over for a third night on August 11. It was no surprise it was a sold out show, as Ms. Bishop, a Jacksonville native, has brought her act to town on several previous occasions and she has a lot of fans in this area. Last year’s appearance was equally successful. Dorothy has family here and likes to …

by DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM “You will laugh your socks off when you see this play” we had heard from a couple of people after they had seen a preview performance of “The Dixie Swim Club”. By golly, they were right, and if anyone finds a pair of socks in row B, please turn them in to the office. A perfect end of summer play, it will be on stage at 12000 Beach Boulevard until September 15. Call (904) 641-1212 for information and reservations. This breezy comedy, written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, has an all-female …