September Numa's Notes

Hello Friends and Neighbors,

This September marks my 10th anniversary at the Florida Theatre. My wife Laurie and I rolled into town on Sunday night of Labor Day weekend, and here we are ten years and 1,219 shows later.

On my first day of work, I went out to lunch, returned, and was told, “You just missed Larry Wilmore .” That was a confusing statement to process at first. Still, it turned out that Larry Wilmore was indeed in Jacksonville, scouting locations for a Showtime TV special that would ultimately be filmed in front of a live audience at the Florida Theatre on October 25 and air before election day. It was an auspicious start.

Some of the more than 1,000 shows since then that stand out in my mind are: The O’Jays on 4/20/13, a concert that was also part of our very first Benefit Gala; Crosby, Stills and Nash just a month later on 5/17/13 (Stephen Stills’ guitar playing was on fire); New Year’s Eve 2013 with Gregg Allman and JJ Grey (JJ brought his “A Game,” and Gregg had a new band that was smoking); Peter Frampton on 9/30/2014 (he came off stage and said it was the best night of the tour); the two Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts in April 2015 (it makes me so happy that every time it’s on TV I see so many faces in the audience that I know personally);

Kacey Musgraves on 7/24/15 (the music was terrific, but the band had these cool retro Urban Cowboy suits with electric lights built-in); Eddie Izzard on 12/3/15 (how he makes standup comedy about the English Reformation funny to Americans is beyond me); Katt Williams on 7/7/2017, taped for Netflix (the first 10-15 minutes is all about Jacksonville and it kills, I always wonder what non-Jaxsons think); Pilobolus dance company on 3/21/17 (they made giant stage-sized shadow puppets of the Main Street Bridge and Spiritualized Life, the statue in Memorial Park); and Todd Rundgren on 5/22/17 (one of the best concerts that nobody saw in the last few years).

Believe it or not, I cannot get to every show we do, and one of the standout concerts I missed was Jason Isbell on 5/12/2015. One of the most significant changes over the last ten years has been an increase in the number of performances that the theatre itself presents. Organizations and promoters still rent the theatre, but the performances presented by the theatre have increased from 50 just ten years ago to 141 this year, plus more than two dozen other arts education events that we sent out to the schools.

One of the hallmarks of our programming is to book the Florida Theatre with everyone in mind so that at least once a year, there is something you won’t want to miss. I hope we have been successful, and we’d love to hear about the shows you loved on our social media channels. (Facebook , Twitter, and Instagram .)

?The Florida Theatre is one of the most attended theatre venues in the country, consistently ranking #5 for theatres with up to 2,000 seats, and running an institution like this is a team sport. I work for a committed Board of Directors with a very talented professional staff and a group of volunteer ushers. Hundreds of people are involved in this effort, and I will inevitably leave someone out if I start naming names. Let me say that the community owes every one of those people as many thanks as I might be due.

But enough about the past! There is great stuff coming. Later this year, we are opening a brand new 3,000-square-foot donor lounge. The entrance will be off the second-floor lobby and open to all members and donors of the theatre. Stay tuned for more information. Then, next year, we’re going to close for four months and restore the decorative plaster and paint the interior; replace the aging heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system; and gut and repair all of the existing bathrooms. Stay tuned for more information on that, too.

In the meantime, great shows are also coming, and below are my thoughts on the coming month.

April 20 - 22 - Jim Gaffigan

By the time you read this, you will already know that these dates have moved to April. (Due to a production conflict, Jim Gaffigan’s shows on September 8, 9, and 10 at the Florida Theatre have been rescheduled.) If you did not get your tickets yet, that’s good news! Officially, he’s a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Unofficially, at least from my viewpoint, he’s a “comic’s comic.” He acts sometimes, has published books, and has had his own TV show, but unlike some comics that transition into other work, he still excels on the live stage. He even received the American Comedy Award for Best Concert Comedian in 2014 and has six Grammy Award nominations for his comedy albums. His material is observational humor about family, fatherhood, laziness, food, and religion, and it’s generally “clean” and family-friendly. The Florida Theatre is the perfect venue for a star like this. As of this writing, we have four shows on sale, and they’re selling well, but don’t forget: it’s always worth a phone call to the box office on show day to see if anything opened up or returned. Call us at 904-355-ARTS (2787).

September 13 - Collective Soul and Switchfoot

It’s an old-school rock show and a double bill at that. Originally from Stockbridge, Georgia, Collective Soul formed in 1992 and had their first hit with the indie single “Shine” in ’93. Their first three albums also featured the singles “December,” “The World I Know,” “Where the River Flows,” “Precarious Declaration,” and “Listen,” which all reached No. 1 on the mainstream charts, and “Heavy,” from their fourth album, spent 15 weeks at the top of the charts too. Switchfoot (it’s a surfing term) is originally from San Diego. They found early success in the Christian rock scene, but don’t let that fool you. They’re a rock band. They started crossing over to the mainstream when they had four songs on the soundtrack of the movie?A Walk to Remember?and then scored hits of their own with “Meant to Live” and “Dare You to Move” from their 2.6 million selling major label debut, The Beautiful Letdown.

September 15 - BAT The Official Meat Loaf Celebration

If you were here for last year’s show, you know that BAT is so much more than just a “Meat Loaf Celebration.” Created and produced by Paul Crook, who was Meat Loaf’s Music Director and guitar player, and sanctioned by Meat Loaf himself before he passed away this past January, the show features the Neverland Express, Meat Loaf’s band, fronted by vocalist and American Idol Season 13 winner Caleb Johnson. The band stays close to the original recordings and rocks out with Caleb Johnson delivering the fury of a Meat Loaf concert while putting his own interpretations on classics such as?"Bat Out of Hell," "Paradise By the Dashboard Light,"?and?"I Would Do Anything for Love."

September 16 - Judy Collins

I’m telling you right now that if you like singer/songwriter music of the 60s and 70s, someday you will be sad you missed this show. Judy was here a few years ago with Stephen Stills; if you were here, you know her voice was amazing. Since her first release in 1961, she has released 36 studio albums, nine live albums, 4-holiday albums, and 21 singles, including what many consider to be the definitive versions of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and “Chelsea Morning,” Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire.” The Library of Congress even selected her recording of the standard “Amazing Grace” for preservation in the National Recording Registry. Even though she’s a Grammy Award-winning recording artist whose material covers folk, country, pop, rock, and show tunes, her most recent album, Spellbound (2022), is her first album of original material. Go figure.

September 29 - Blue’s Clues & You! Live on Stage

It’s an epic theatrical adventure based on Nickelodeon’s live-action/animated TV series. Our hero Josh is conjuring up a magical theater show, but he needs the audience’s help to solve Blue’s clues and find out what he needs to make a show. With Broadway-style song and dance, this production pulls out all the stops, including making a rainbow with Magenta, making a music video with Rainbow Puppy, and floating in outer space, all without leaving the theatre. If you have a young child or grandchild in your life, this is a great afternoon excursion and intro to the magic of theatre.