Michael Raabe News

Preempted from freeFall's 19/20 season, this much-anticipated world-premiere musical by freeFall's artistic director Eric Davis and resident music director Michael Raabe finally takes its turn on June 2. OZ explores the genius of L.

Preempted from freeFall’s 19/20 season, the world-premiere musical OZ by freeFall’s artistic director Eric Davis and resident music director Michael Raabe finally takes its turn.

International drag chanteuse Varla Jean Merman is a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown! After the craziest time in memory, the loosest gal in town is at loose ends. What's a distressed diva to do? Tease her hair, steal someone's Ativan, and get on with the show, of course!

The latest standings as of Monday, December 19th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Tampa Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 12th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Tampa Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Tampa Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

Allow me if you will a little indulgence as I set the scene. The year is 2020, the Global Pandemic that has riddled the world, and the country as we know it to shutter/ shelter in place. Like many Performing Arts Organizations, the folks at freeFall Theatre, known for their motto “Just escape awhile...” and their inventive way of producing live theatre, was struggling to find the best outlet to keep producing, while safely doing so for both performers and patrons alike. Producing Artistic Director Eric Davis and Director Matthew McGee began discussions about how to safely produce a Christmas Show that was full on Christmas versus just taking place around Christmas. In the past freeFall has produced works such as Peter & The Starcatcher, and The Lion in Winter that work for Christmas shows, but are not necessarily Christmas shows. They have also in the past produced A Christmas Carol, but being inventive, Eric Davis and company wanted to shake things up a little, and if any theatre is well known for doing just that, its freeFall. So you can say the show itself was born out of a challenge, and freeFall delivered ten-fold. The Night Before was such a hit, freeFall decided to bring it back this season for the second year in a row, with some new adaptations and new characters.

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.