“Josh Recommends” for the Week of August 4, 2018 By Josh Garrick 

Gigolo: The New Cole Porter Musical at the Winter Park Playhouse 
NOW to August 19
In this World Premiere production, “Gigolo” uses Cole Porter songs to tell the tale of a handsome playboy and his ‘relationships.’ Inspired by the life of Porfirio Rubirosa, the musical features 25 Cole Porter classics including, “It’s De-Lovely,” “You’re The Top,” “Let’s Do It” and many more. Rubirosa’s life was seen as “a smorgasbord of anecdotes, capers and aphorisms; a cascade of models, movie stars, dictators and sporting rivals…a veritable field-guide to living well.” Tickets are $15 to $42. Call 407.645.0145 or visit winterparkplayhouse.com

Theatre UCF: Human Error – A Main-Stage Production of the Pegasus PlayLab 
August 23 to 26
Part of Theatre UCF’s Pegasus PlayLab, a new theatre festival dedicated to developing plays by emerging playwrights, this is an opportunity to be involved in new play development with playwrights from across the country. This fully staged ‘dramady’ was first seen at Playfest 2017 at our own Orlando Shakespeare Festival. In the new play by Eric Pfeffinger, a fertility clinic mistakenly implants Madelyn and Keenan’s embryo in someone else, only to find an unlikely relationship forged between the two couples … who come from very different backgrounds. Visit theatre.ucf.edu/tickets.php or call 407.823.1500 

Gypsy’s Mama Rose ‘Sings Out’ in Winter Garden 
August 24 to September 16 
One of the great American musicals – Gypsy – will open the Garden Theatre season in Winter Garden on August 24. Featuring the world’s most overbearing stage mother ‘Rose,’ the musical tells the story of Rose’s struggle to find stardom for her daughters. Daughter June runs off to Hollywood leaving Louise to step into the act’s main role, eventually transforming into the glamorous Gypsy Rose Lee. The score includes the huge Broadway hits “Let Me Entertain You” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” and the production includes some of the greatest talent in Central Florida including direction and choreography by Tom Vazzana, Andrea Canny as Mama Rose, Andrea Stack as Louise, and Arcadian Broad as Tulsa. Call 407.877.4736 X 0 or visit gardentheatre.org. 

“Summer Evenings with André” Presented by Art & History Museums-Maitland
August 25 at 7:30 pm 
It seems that J. André Smith, founder of the Maitland Art Center, was not only an architect and artist, but also a playwright. This summer, the A&H is presenting three Saturday evenings of play readings (with adult themes) for ages 13 and up. The evening of August 25 includes “A Shadow Falls on Beaverbrook,” a murder-mystery unraveled through a series of water-colors by Frank Besedick; and “The Golden Tomb.” On a journey to a digging party in Egypt at the invitation of an Egyptian Prince, what could go wrong – especially when love is involved? Tickets are $25 and $28 Call 407-539-2181 or visit artandhistory.org

United Ballet Theatre (UBT) presents "The Athletes of Art" 
August 26 at 3 pm 
Finally we are offered a performance that ballet-lovers have known about forever – a ballet performance in which the dancers are presented as finely trained ATHLETES. And that is exactly what they are. Renowned dancers – including Artistic Director Joseph Gatti – will present master-works of choreography from Marcelo Gomes and George Balanchine, among others. UBT is dedicated to showcasing and preserving dance artists by focusing on the artists’ health through cross-training and alternating days of rehearsal intensity. Presented at the Dr. Phillips Center; for tickets visit unitedballettheatre.org

Fine Art Photography Exhibit -- “Margaret Bourke-White's Different World”
NOW to August 26
As a young photographer, the trail-blazing Margaret Bourke-White pursued a (then-unique) documentary vision. Her photographs of Russia were the first images produced by a foreign artist in that country under Stalin. Later, following her pioneering role as a woman photo-journalist in World War II, she produced startling and emotional images of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, resulting in some of the most powerful photographic works of the 20th century. At the Cornell Art Museum at Rollins College, call 407.646.2526 or visit rollins.edu/cornell-fine-arts-museum/exhibitions/2018/margaret-bourke-white.html
 
Margaret Bourke-White, (American, 1904–1971), Bolshevik Babies in the Nursery: AMO Automobile Factory, 1931, Photogravure print, 16 in. x 20 in

“Enchanted Fairy Doors” at Leu Gardens 
NOW to Sept 23 
If your kids have reached the age when bedtime story-time has become a series of ‘sophisticated questions,’ a visit to Leu Gardens is in order as this ‘exhibit’ of 15 “Fairy Doors” has found its way to Leu Gardens. Located at 1920 N. Forest Ave in Orlando, the beautiful 50-acre gardens (where the fairies live) will inspire your child’s imagination about mythical forests and secret gardens. Just find the ‘enchanted’ doors and let your child’s creativity do the rest. Admission is $10 adult, $5 child (ages 4 to 17). Leu Gardens’ Members and children 3 and younger are FREE. Visit LeuGardens.org or call 407.246.3622.

Josh Garrick is the Florida Arts Editor for Wandering Educators