Hot Tickets

We do know who's starring in Florida Rep's offering this month, David Hare's Amy's View. TV and stage actress Carol Lawrence, who's become a friend of the theater company, stars as actress Esme Allen in this comedy/drama about a grande dame of the British stage who's facing trying times. It's onstage March 19-April 11.

Stars of the contemporary art world are the focus when the von Liebig hosts Selections from the Rubell Family Collection of Contemporary Art. Artists included in the Miami-based collection include Clemente, Haring, Basquiat, Fischl and Koons; the collection has been referred to as Miami's "best-kept secret," and our chance to get in on it will be March 27-May 8.

And finally this month, mark March 13 for the Lee County Reading Festival, which will welcome a number of authors, many from Florida. At press time, children's authors Jack Prelutsky and Dan Yaccarino and Henry Ford biographer Douglas Brinkley were among the names scheduled.

April

Florida Rep's producing artistic director, Robert Cacioppo, has been hard at work writing a musical revue based on the songs of the late, great Johnny Mercer ("Moon River," "Skylark," "That Old Black Magic"). He'll put it on its legs, as theater folk say, with a premiere production April 23-May 16; the title of the show is Too Marvelous for Words, and the Rep hopes it has the success of an earlier revue of theirs, Fascinatin' Gershwin.

Mamma Mia! That's the long-running Broadway hit based on the songs of Abba, and it comes to the Barbara B. Mann stage April 20-25. Critics may have thought the storyline was slight in this piece about a mother and her soon-to-be-wed daughter, but fans of songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus won't care much about that, since they'll all be swaying in the aisles to Dancing Queen and Money, Money, Money.

On a more serious note, the Southwest Florida Symphony and its 100-voice chorus fill the Barbara B. Mann April 30 and May1 with Brahms' German Requiem Then the symphony welcomes the "Singing Policeman," Daniel Rodriguez, who's developed a following after his performances in New York of The Star-Spangled Banner and God Bless America following the 9-11 attacks. The Brooklyn-born tenor comes to the Mann April 16 and 17.

Two more offerings this month: the Naples Museum show Changing Hands-Art without Reservation: Contemporary Native American Art from the Southwest, organized by New York's American Crafts Museum, which displays cutting-edge works in clay, glass, fiber, jewelry, metal, wood and mixed media, April 8-July 31; and the fourth annual Fort Myers Beach Film Festival, set for April 28-May 2, which welcomes new indie filmmakers and offers more free screenings on the beach.

Go for Baroque

Thanks to the Bach Ensemble and its founder and president, Vic Silvestri, this season Southwest Florida audiences will be able to enjoy the baroque stylings of Handel, Vivaldi and Johan Sebastian himself. Silvestri began the vocal group last year as a tribute to his son Marc's godparents, who loved adventure-they joined the Peace Corps in their 50s-and classical music. After a solid first season, the group is now under the artistic direction of Ronald Doiron, music director at St. William Church. The ensemble performs four concerts, including a holiday concert in late November as part of the United Arts Council's Celebration of the Arts month. A retired professor of communication studies, Silvestri began taking voice lessons in Boston "at the age of 58" and developed his singing voice as a labor of love. Although the group's almost 40 members are all accomplished vocalists, singing baroque is new to most. Last year, Silvestri says, "We spent a fair amount of time learning to sing the long lines." This year, under Doiron's guidance, he expects more progress. "As singers of this kind of music, we're in a constant mode of discovery," he says.

Live from Fort Myers

The Florida Repertory Theatre is famous for dramatic energy, and its new associate director, Bari Newport, should help keep the voltage high this season. A one-woman dynamo, Newport directs-including Steve Martin's Underpants last month-acts, casts plays and heads up the theater's children's program. She'll also oversee the Congress Jewelers Play Reading Festival to showcase new work. Still in her 20s, she's had a long career, which began when she saw a Manhattan production of Annie and pestered her parents to let her audition. Driven by "wanting to change things and create things and lead things," she began producing and directing as a teen-ager, winning awards and recognition. Newport, who has a master's degree from the University of Iowa, worked in Los Angeles before moving to Fort Myers. She says that adopting a toy poodle, Zippers, alleviated some of the culture shock, and she's flourishing here. She recently appeared in the cast of Veronica's Room, and says that reminded her of what theater is about: "It's the rush you get-those couple of moments onstage when you lose yourself."

Dancing Queen

After a dose of international acclaim last year, Melinda Roy plans to spend this season in the studio with her students at the Fort Myers dance school she co-founded, Gulfshore Ballet. "I'm putting my Miss Melinda hat back on," she says. Last year was a whirl of excitement for the Sanibel resident. After being nominated for a Tony for her choreography for the Broadway musical Urban Cowboy, she was asked to choreograph a musical that Tommy Tune created for a Holland America cruise. Still, she says, "I really missed my students." Her school, which has just under 100 students, has an impressive staff of classically trained dancers. "This year I'd like to diversify a bit and bring in some other forms of dance," Roy says. Thanks to her experiences on Broadway and as the principal dancer for the New York City Ballet, she can call on some big names for teaching visits and guest appearances at the school's annual fund-raising gala in March-including, perhaps, friend Joey Pizzi, associate choreographer for Best Picture winner Chicago. Although Roy continues to attract buzz and big-league offers of work, she says, "I hope to be here for a good long stretch."

Feasting on Film

Film lovers can look forward to seeing more than the usual Hollywood blockbusters this season, thanks to the SW Florida Film Society and its president, Jane Dunn. After Dunn moved to Florida from the Twin Cities, she discovered other cinema buffs accustomed to independent and foreign films. The group is leasing screen space from the Pavilion Cinema 10 in north Naples and plans to eventually construct its own facility. For Dunn, the appeal of independent cinema lies in "some indefinable quality that makes you think about that film a long time after you see it." A passionate supporter of the arts, Dunn was a co-chair for Gators Galore and the Wet Paint Auction. At its launch last season, the society partnered with the Marco Island Film Festival to show several Chinese-language to sellout crowds. "We were astounded," Dunn says. "That's the sort of appetite for film we believe is here."