Florida Culture for the NEW YEAR! By Josh Garrick 

Fantashique: “The Starting 20”
TODAY -- January 6 at 3 pm and 7:30 pm 
Central Florida’s Fantashique Dance Company presents “The Starting 20” featuring a showcase of talent, passion and dedication on the dance floor. Performing a variety of dance styles, including lyrical, jazz, and hip hop, these pre-professional dancers ‘bring it’ to the dance-floor as they share their talent for the whole family. Call 844.513.2014 or visit drphillipscenter.org 

Downton Abbey in Saint Augustine 
FINAL DAY - Jan 7
Downton Abbey is one of the most honored series on television, having received 12 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes and countless other awards. Now 36 costumes from the TV show are ‘posed’ in vignettes among the art and furniture at the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine. As the costumes reflect fashions from 1912 to the mid-1920’s, the Lightner Museum, renowned for its collection of Victorian Era fine and decorative art, is particularly suited to ‘welcome’ this unique exhibit. Call 904.824.2874 or visit lightnermuseum.org/dressing-downton 

“Native Gardens” at Shakespeare Center 
NOW to Feb 4 
Discover a new comedy of good intentions and bad manners by Karen Zacarías when cultures (and gardens) clash, turning neighbors into feuding enemies. A high-powered lawyer and his very-pregnant wife realize ‘the American dream’ when they purchase a house next door to the very traditional Virginia and Frank. A disagreement over a long-standing fence soon spirals into a war of taste, class, privilege, and entitlement where no one comes out smelling like a rose. Call 407.447.1700 or visit orlandoshakes.org 

Lillian Verkins’ Abstract Art -- “From Whence We Came”
Jan 11 to Feb 1 with Opening Reception Jan 11 from 5 pm to 7 pm 
In her art exhibit “From Whence We Came” at Seminole State College Fine Art Gallery, one of Central Florida’s great abstract painters refers to Carl Sagan’s expression, “We’re made of star stuff.” Her large works ‘explode’ with clouds of stars and a ‘big-bang’ of vibrant colors. Swirling and re-forming into new creations, she calls the paintings‘Spacescapes,’ and she promises some 3-D works as well. At 100 Weldon Blvd in Sanford, call 407.708.2040

Sandy Shugart in Concert in Winter Garden 
Jan 13 at 8 pm
Orlando's Sandy Shugart is the President of Valencia College, as well as a musician and poet. Many would see these as unrelated endeavors, but for Shugart, they are integral aspects of his life’s journey as the President of a successful and growing college. Believing that you have to touch people's emotions to change their beliefs, the multi-talented college president returns to the Garden Theatre with his musician/friends to create an evening of folk-influenced, acoustic coffeehouse-style music and song. Call 407.877.4736 or visit gardentheatre.org 

“Jake Owen -- The Good Company Tour”
January 18 at 8 pm 
This local boy “done good.” Known for his high-energy performances with a laid-back style, native Floridian Jake Owen has six No. 1 singles to date – the 2X Platinum anthem “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” Platinum-certified hits “Beachin’,” “Anywhere with You,” “Alone with You,” and “The One That Got Away.” The Vero Beach native recently released his fifth studio album, “American Love,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums. Join Jake at the Dr. Phillips Center by calling 844.513.2014 or visiting drphillipscenter.org

Neil Simon’s “Rumors” presented by CFCArts Theatre
Jan 19 to Feb 4 
Comic genius Neil Simon gives us a hysterical, door-slamming farce as four couples descend on the home of the deputy mayor of New York for his 10th wedding anniversary. BUT the host has accidentally shot himself. While the guests assume it was intentional, they spend the evening hiding the truth from other guests while trying to figure out what actually happened. The result is at the CFC Black Box Theatre in Winter Park. For tickets, call 407.937.1800 or visit cfcarts.com 

“The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” at Mad Cow Theatre 
Jan 19 to Feb 18
From the twisted, comic mind of Charles Busch, Mad Cow offers us a ‘straight-up,’ ‘no-holds-barred’ Manhattan comedy with a “mid-life crisis” at the heart of the play. Leading lady Marjory Taub lives a hollow, but dramatically opulent life in which she yearns to study philosophy but is stuck picking out chandeliers. Her luxuriously depressing life is given a second look, however, upon the arrival of an old friend. Call 407.297.8788 or visit madcowtheatre.com 

The LION KING
February 14 to March 11 
I’m writing to you about a musical that opens at the Dr. Phillips Center in mid-February, because tickets are on-sale NOW, and even with an extended run, there will be many performances that sell out weeks before the show opens. Twenty years ago, The Lion King won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and then went on to earn more than 70 major awards in New York and London alone. Re-produced in productions in over 100 cities, and seen by more than 90 Million people, The Lion King’s amazing success exceeds that of any Broadway show in history. The music, a fusion of Western popular music and rhythms of Africa, features Elton John and Tim Rice’s music from the animated film. Tickets starting at $35 may be purchased at drphillipscenter.org or by calling 844.513.2014

Josh Garrick is the Florida Arts Editor for Wandering Educators