Michael Raabe News

The Night Before imagines four friends snowed in Florida on December 23. They make the best of an odd weather situation, gathering around the piano for a night of fun, music, and games, accompanied by a surly house cat named Stephen Sondheim.

The first live standings have been announced for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Tampa Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

There’s always something to do at freeFall! This holiday season features a remount of last year’s smash hit holiday musical from the minds of Matthew McGee and Michael Raabe. The Night Before plays freeFall November 25 through December 24. See photos from the production.

Subscriptions and single tickets are now on sale for freeFall's 2022/2023 season. Two world premieres, the return of a holiday favorite, A Sherlock Holmes adventure, A Neil Simon romantic comedy and an exciting co-production with our friends at Ebony Rep in Los Angeles makes up just some of the exciting programming Tampa Bay audiences can experience for as low as $29 a month.

After successful one night musical events featuring the talents of Eleri Ward and Ann Morrison, Resident Musical Director Michael Raabe finishes out freeFall's current season with three exciting cabarets featuring local favorites that have played Broadway and beyond.

Under Matthew's direction, The Night Before stars actors/musicians Hillary Lewis, Sara DelBeato, James David Larson, and Michael. It tells the tale of these four friends

freeFall Theatre's all-new holiday offering is a world-premiere musical comedy written by Michael Raabe and Matthew McGee. There's no place like home for the holidays. It's snowing in sunny Florida when a group of friends and a surly house cat named Stephen Sondheim gather around the piano for a night of fun, music and games.

freeFall's most ambitious season ever will offer special events for the month of November including an all-new cabaret starring Alison Burns and Lulu Picart and a screening of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan hosted by Matthew McGee. 

The small cast is made of fantastic tap dancers. It features Kyra Smith (Ruby), Alex Jorth (Dick), Ephie Aardama (Joan), Tyler Fish (Captain/Hennesy), Erick Ariel Sureda (Lucky), and Kristina Huegel (Mona Kent). The production is designed by Tom Hansen, costumes by Costume World Theatrical, sound design by Steve Kraack.

freeFall opens their 2021/2022 season with the classic musical comedy Dames at Sea directed by Eric Davis, musically directed by Michael Raabe and choreographed by Kristie Kerwin (Broadway's Dames at Sea 2015).

freeFall Theatre Company announces their 2021/2022 season. The 6 mainstage shows are Dames at Sea, The Night Before, Fatboy, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, A Skeptic and a Bruja and a summer production to be announced very soon.

This unique, interactive walk-through (fully accessible) experience will let you step into Block's stunning retellings of nine classic fairy tales. Through a series of nine spaces, designed by a team of scenic designers, audiences will have the opportunity to interact with the environments in surprising ways. Guests will move through the experience with their own party.

It's a cabaret, with songs both bouncy and torchy, but it’s more than that.  It’s like a quirky collage, a found object performance piece. And there's nothing else quite like it.

“She wanted them the way she needed the earth and the flowers and the sky and the sea from her tower room and food and sleep and warmth and light and nights by the fire and poetry and the stories of going out in the world and almost being destroyed by it and returning to find comfort and the real meaning of freak.” -an excerpt from SNOW from THE ROSE and THE BEAST Throughout the last year, freeFall Theatre who is no stranger to inventive staging found a way to make use of their performance space by providing Outdoor Musical Revues. Allowing the company to recoup some lost revenue due to the global shutdown, freeFall took to the streets so-to-speak and provided the surrounding community with joy through song. By implementing a Drive-In aspect to live performance a stage was constructed in the parking lot adjacent to the courtyard, and patrons could purchase tickets or a “parking spot” and by dialing in on their car radio be able to hear what was being presented on stage.

This innovative, cutting-edge experience will allow guests to explore Francesca Lia Block's bestselling novel. This summer, step into an experience like none other. Through visual storytelling, theatre design, multimedia, and augmented reality – enter the world of The Rose and The Beast.

freefall's drive-in concert series continues with Leonard Bernstein's Broadway playing April 2 through March 9, 2021. This salute to one of America's most beloved composers is the perfect show for the whole family to enjoy.

freefall's drive-in concert series returns with Scott and Patti: Get a Real Job! playing January 22 – February 14, 2021.

The nominees have been announced for the 2020 Theatre Tampa Bay Awards! 25 plays and 5 musicals were eligible for nomination before the remainder of the 2019-2020 season was cancelled in March.

freeFall Theatre, American Stage, Jobsite, Stageworks and a slew of community theatre companies all promise exciting shows this year.

There's just one final week to submit votes for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Tampa Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Vote today to make sure your favorite local theatre's achievements and performers are recognized!