A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival is getting its money's worth out of the Bard's timeless comedy – this production is the troupe's third rendering. The play's delirious plot, its fantastical characters, its themes of romance and friendship, and its spectacular settings lend welcome warmth to the recently chilly nights at Lake Eola. Love and loathing abound as human couples cavort through a dance of desire that's complicated by the incompetent meddling of some mischievous forest folk. Brad DePlanche's Bottom is tops, making a literal ass of himself with a mania that recalls the brilliance of Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams. (Through Sunday, May 1, at Walt Disney Amphitheater, Lake Eola Park; 407-447-1700; $10-$35)
— Al Krulick
Spunk!
It's not your typical dinner show: three tales by Zora Neale Hurston, distilled by George C. Wolfe into one musical, performed by the multiculturally and spiritually focused People's Theatre in front of a crowd that is first sated by a soul-food buffet. But who needs typical, especially when the entertainment is so captivating? Blues Speak Woman (played with red-dressed charisma by Mariel Jackson) hits all the right notes as she helps to narrate Hurston's stories of rattlesnake husbands, Harlem pimps and forgiving marrieds. A commanding cast finds the enchantment in these African-American folk tales. (Through Saturday, April 30, at Lua Loa; 407-426-0545; $22.50 with buffet)
— Lindy T. Shepherd
Ladies of Eola Heights
Indebted to wretched excess as much as any Michael Wanzie play, this drag drama also has a gentle subtext as it camps its way through the reunion of three elderly sisters facing their enigmatic father's funeral. The laughs are loud and deserved from the moment Ms. Ruby Locksdale (Tommy Wooten) enters the crapola-strewn set and commences her screechy reunion with sisters Pearl (Wanzie) and Opal (Doug Ba'aser). (Through June 18 at Footlights Theatre, The Parliament House; 407-540-0317; $15)
— Steve Schneider
Keeping Shadows: Masterworks of Photography from the Worcester Art Museum
It's difficult not to be wowed by at least one of the 100 images – dating from the mid-19th century to the present – in this traveling collection curated by the Worcester Art Museum. (This is its only stop in the Southeast.) Each photo is accompanied by an easily absorbed narrative that explains the significance of the photographer and the work. There are different ways in which the exhibit can engage the viewer: You can start by looking for perspectives on war (witness Robert E. Lee, days after the surrender at Appomattox), then shift your attention to portraits of luminaries like Truman Capote and Martha Graham. Whether you dwell on dates, techniques or subject matter (like technology, nature, poverty or places), give yourself time to get lost in this focused lesson. (Through May 22 at Orlando Museum of Art; 407-896-4231; $8)
— Lindy T. Shepherd
