This little theater was fantastic. Very intimate. But don't let the size fool you! The sound…read moretranscends. It was a great space with not a bad seat in the house. The sound and lighting effects are phenomenal here. We popped in to visit a friend who had flown down from Broadway and we were treated to the sights and sounds of an amazing production: Lucky Stiff! Will be planning a trip back to the Sarasota area and will have to catch another show when we return. The prices were very reasonable for such an equity cast. Brava!

December 2025 - Been going here as annual supporters/members since 2021 when we moved. Had been at…read moreWalnut Street Theater in Philly for two decades and then in Long Island and on Broadway for 16 years. FST ------- WE LOVE IT!! Of course no pictures BUT we did get a little snake the other day and since I usually do only food reviews on Yelp....... here is one for the FST. Banana Ice Cream Sandwich (new) is fantastic!!! And the Pecan Pie with vanilla Ice cream is very good (in truth the pie is pecan covered on top but the pie filling is just a sugary gelatinous filling and could be improved....but it was slightly warmed and was very nice. (see pictures) We don't go here for the food, but a lite snack and drinks are awesome and convenient and fairly priced!!!

The Asolo Theater is currently showing Shakespeare Hamlet. It is the largest Equity theatre in…read moreFlorida, and the largest Repertory theatre in the Southeastern United States. Asolo Rep is a resident regional theatre company which also invites in guest artists. It works in conjunction with Florida State University's MFA Acting program, the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. This is a horse-shoe shaped theatre with 4 tiers of boxes and was modeled after La Fenice. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the building was the home theatre of the great Italian actress Eleonora Duse. In 1930, the Asolo Theatre was dismantled and put into storage. In 1949 the museum director of the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art learned of the theatre's existence and saw the theatre as an ideal acquisition for the museum. It's been in existence here for 67 years since 1958.

Stunning architecture, this building is from the 1500's in Oslo, Norway. It was transported to this…read morelocation & is truly remarkable how they are able to keep it up. There are very small parts of it that had to be reconfigured & restored that was damaged & didn't make the trip over, however about 85% of it is still in its original condition. It seats about 550 people & the acoustics are marvelous. My family & I went to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. As being someone who grew up going to broadway shows, this show transported me back to New York City! The friendliness of about half of the staff could be significantly better, nevertheless, everything else about this place was spectacular. Thanks Team Asolo Theater!

September 20, 2024 - two attending - Even after 75 years the magic must still be in the air and the…read morearea!!! The main theatre was ravaged and destroyed in Hurricane IAN so they are trying to rebuild and get back to normal - so while you buy tickets and attending you are helping out as well. (If you are not local i am sure they will take a check or card for no seat!! Give 'em a call) https://mailchi.mp/venicetheatre/opening-weekend-tickets-available?e=64b049ba14 REALLY enjoyed this clever & witty play with some very comical and talented characters and actors! Giving it 5 stars here but also a ZERO on the Daddy Z Meter. That is the best score since I did NOT nod off or fall asleep once because this was engaging throughout and really kept my attention and had me laughing!! BRAVO! (cross posting Yelp, Google, etc etc)

I love this place but their projectors' for the movies are very very dim. The stair lights may be…read morebrighter

The servers are all amazing. They are fast and work as one big team. The menu has many options…read moreand you can mix and match your "required" purchases. Our table had no problems with ordering and receiving drinks. We didn't order food but what we saw looked ok. The place is very nice inside. There is a separate lounge area inside the door that is convenient for waiting or chatting. We went for a concert and look forward to more in the future. The location is walking distance so we didn't need parking but you should have no problem finding a spot.

This place is the best live venue for comedy in Sarasota county. The beer is cold, the drinks are…read morefor the most part well made, the staff is friendly and fun. It's great that they serve throughout the show, too. The food is bar food. Best to have dinner before going to the show and enjoy some basic snacks. House rule requires a 2 item per person minimum. It can be any combination of food, sodas, or alcohol drinks. Extremely reasonable. And the staff is super helpful in guiding you. There is no bad view. The mood is dark, intimate and definitely full of laughs. Bathrooms are spotless and it's great to have it stocked. Definitely worth a visit for a great date night.

This is an event space where we went to to see a dance recital. Although it is small it serves it's…read morepurpose. It was cozy and intimate. We arrived after everything started and sat where we could find a seat for 4 people together. Our seat was located in the front but we did not want to disturb the show. It turns out the people who belonged in these seats came after we did. The usher told us we had to move but we negotiated with the other people and they took our unused seats up front. It's a cute little place but when you walk in you don't know who works there and who doesn't. The ushers should have something in letting you know they are an usher.

So, last night we wrapped up our week of Theatre with an absolutely phenomenal presentation of…read more"Spring Awakening" at Rise Above! This was the senior year production, and I got to tell you... I was blown out of the water by what these kids brought to the stage! This production has everything! Talent, great voices, impeccable, choreography, and a love scene that would rival any Broadway production. to everyone involved with this... Kudos and thank you for a marvelous night in the theater. Wishing everyone of you much success in your journey ahead. simply brilliant!

Saw LES MIS last night - a performance by super-talented high school actors & younger. It was well…read moreover a ten! The minimalist, effective sets & handling their setups was effective. The youth were superbly talented in their approach to this classic play, in full, glorious voice & touching roles well-played. Very hard to believe these were not professional actors - but then they were! It is brilliant, it shines, it is not to be missed if you can get on standby as the plays are all sold out at this point - but I got in, so tickets can be had... DO NOT MISS IT! Absolutely stunning in presentation, quality & presentation!

I have been volunteering both on and off stage as well as seeing shows at the players and I have…read morealways had a blast. The staff here is amazing and always very kind. Service wise, I have never had a negative experience here and performances are always great, considering that it's a community theatre. I would also recommend volunteering if you can, it really helps the theatre out and it's allot of fun working with and meeting new people every show you do.

This is my first FL business I've written as it's been 15 years since I've been there, mostly went…read moreto FL as a kid. I went to Hanover, MD this past Saturday & had a lot of complaints. Until after halftime intermission, I was going to slam them with a 1-star review, but 2nd half was solid with the best thing near the end being motorcycles in a sphere that went around in circles. They started with 2 motorcycles, & we were all glued to went 5 motorcycles went in there going around quickly in that sphere. In spite of a few positives, there were a litany of things that annoyed me. I paid for 2 tickets for my girlfriend & I for $23 each, so not too bad, as a group was going, & I thought it sounded pretty cool. I remember going to the circus when I was a little kid & found it enjoyable. I was willing to give it a chance thinking it sounded pretty cool, & to be fair, ome aspects were cool. But the show itself was more sizzle & not much steak. We walked in the tent in Arundel Mills parking lot on a mild 60's outside April day. Garden Bros advertised "Climate controlled". When I bought tickets on 3/17, I figured if it was seasonable weather on 4/11/26 in 60's, it'd be comfortable, or on the off chance it was unseasonably hot around 90 F in April which it will hit this Wednesday or unseasonably cold in 40's, tent was going to be a comfortable "climate control." In spite of comfortable temps outside, it was very hot in there in concession areas as well as arena itself. Also, food & drinks concessions had no prices on them. I don't like businesses that don't have prices on them. Some from our group bought food &/or drink, most of us didn't. Per what people said, hot dogs were $9 each, & bottled water was $6. $6 bottled water is comparable to a Capital One Arena pricing in DC. I wasn't surprised it was a rip-off. At least at any of the sports/concert arenas, prices are clearly listed so you know whatever probably ripoff you're paying. But here, you buy water, hot dog, popcorn, soda, etc., you're at the mercy at whatever they charge you unless you ask. Staff was also were aggressively yelling cold drinks, etc. I found this to be annoying too. If people want food or drink, it was clear that it was there, so they don't need to yelled to advertising the drinks. I also think the "climate controlled" is technically not false advertising; I believe they purposely "climate controlled" to be hot in there so people would buy more drinks. They also had various knickknacks like toy swords that light up & other junk made in China. Not only were the junky toys out in the entrance area, they were yelling out & holding up the brightly lit items throughout the show, which at times was distracting from the show. Kids are going to beg parents for the bright lit items during the show, or the kid is thirsty (which they & adults too would be in the very hot arena) &/or hungry. $23 reasonable price, but a total money grab over all the other stuff. We didn't fall for any of the extras, but we were annoyed by the aggressive sales & heat. In terms of the show itself, the first half especially was very amateur stuff. There was this stupid Junior the Clown, who came out between acts, who was annoying. I don't think I would've found much of his nonsense funny even as a kid; most of kids weren't laughing. The theme of the show was using various movies & the themes of each act was somehow related to the movie. Like for Wicked, they didn't defy gravity, but they were on ropes high up amongst other things, which was pretty good. For Star Wars the light sabers they were using didn't light up. They were just metal bars they were fighting each other. They were selling all kinds of crap that lit up, so you'd think they could've made a light saber that actually lit up...LAZY. It wasn't a big deal as we laughed about that nonsense. Further, the video graphics were terrible. You could see the panels & not good graphics. The movie scenes in the background moved quickly; like a few seconds per scenes they were using. I'm wondering if they could get away with a few second scene as I imagine they probably didn't get permission to use the movies in the show, but who knows. Also, sound quality wasn't so good on some of the non-sensical dialogue between Junior the Clown & the movie executive guy, but just as well as they sucked anyway. Also, don't expect animals like back when I was kid in the 90's. PETA ended that at some point in the early 21st century. I had kind of hoped there was some humane way to have an elephant in the mix, but I guess not. They had cute ponies, which looked miserable, outside going around in circle attached to metal bar kids rode on. If you're going to go, which I don't recommend, just don't say I didn't warn you. Be ready for heat, have plenty of money to shell out especially you have kids. I recommend eating & being well hydrated before going in, which my girlfriend & I were.

The talent was great, though it was more of a soft burlesque with 3 really impressive stunts (the…read morecannon shooting the man, the dirt bike stunt & the ariel acrobats, it eas more a themed dance musical as well. Again, while the talent was great, I guess we were expecting more like circus with more extremes/stunts/animals vs dancing. We purchased tickets the morning of the circus. The 1st show was at 4:30 which is what we bought tickets for. Drive 1.5 hours only to be told that the show is canceled due to the firemarshal not being there to OK to performance. Ok, so we tool around des moines for 3 hours, waiting for the 7:30 show. We get in & after some back & forth, they did adjust our seats & let us move up to a better spot due to the zero communication of the cancelation. The 1 star is solely for the staff & over priced toys + concessions. $15 for one snowcone, $10 for stale popcorn, $20+ for any of the toys, the tickets we purchased on Groupon stated the bounce houses & kids zone were included in our tickets. We went to play in the bouncehouses, only to be told, we see your Groupon says this, but that doesn't count or work for us. You need to pay extra. Um, no ma'am. Honor what my tickets say. Honestly ridiculous. It was 100° in the tent, which, whatever, we will survive. But the warm bottles of water were also $6 each. Bizarre to me.