Hundreds gathered yesterday at the St. Pete Yacht Club for this annual event. The MC this year was Ernest Hooper, Chief Communications Officer for United Way Suncoast and co-leader of the Poynter Institute's "Write Field" program.

The 2026 Ben Fisher Alumni Mentoring Award winner this year was Jason Warner, a 2010 graduate of this south St. Pete Independent Middle School. (academyprep.org) After graduating from Tampa Prep in 2014 and UCF in 2019, Jason now holds a management position with Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc. in St. Pete. He is the first graduate in Academy Prep's 29-year history to be elected to the school's Board of Trustees. #academyprep. #stpete #stpetefl #radiostpete

Today on Arts Alive!, say hello to John T. Wolfe and Laura Guley, members of the cast of the
new freeFall Theatre musical, What a Glorious Feeling! Running through Oct. 4, the show by Jay Berkow is a behind-the-scenes look at the classic 1952 movie musical Singin’ in the Rain.
Things were in an uproar, backstage at MGM, when hoofer, actor and singer Gene Kelly and his creative partner Stanley Donen co-directed and choreographed the feel-good movie about
Hollywood’s awkward transition from silent films to “talkies” in the 1920s.

Kelly was the hotheaded, hard-driving Hollywood star, and Donen, who was his dancing equal, had been living in Kelly’s shadow long enough. Things come to a head in What a Glorious Feeling! In between song and dance numbers, that is. New York musical theater actor Wolfe plays Kelly, while Guley – a Florida native who also calls the Big Apple home – is Debbie Reynolds, the fresh-faced ingenue Kelly and Donen want for their movie.

With Justin Michael Lopez as Donen, and Caroline Lynch Desmarais playing Jeanne Coyne, the woman who tests the men’s friendship, What a Glorious Feeling! is a mile-a-minute showcase of tap dancing, Broadway hoofing and even a bit of ballet.

Berkow has clearly done his homework, as just about every fact, figure and fun detail in the
show turns out to be true (this reporter looked it up). This, really, is the story of how Singin’ in
the Rain got made.

(Production photos by Thee Photo Ninja)
This Arts Alive! interview, due to a technical snafu, was conducted via Zoom (audio only).

#artsalive #stpetecatalyst #billdeyoung #radiostpete #stpetersburg #freefalltheater #whatagloriousfeeling