ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A new Gasparilla-themed musical takes the stage Jan. 4-7, 7 p.m., at the Palladium at St. Petersburg College.
Tickets for “Gaspar! The Musical,” written by St. Petersburg playwright Bill Leavengood, ranges from $25 to $55 and can be purchased online.
In the musical comedy fictional pirate Jose Gaspar — and the namesake of the annual Gasparilla celebration in Tampa — finds himself to modern day Tampa Bay, while his counterpart, Joe Wright, a Florida politician running for governor, finds himself captaining Gaspar’s pirate ship, the Floriblanca, in 1723.
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“It’s about how well a cutthroat pirate does as a Florida politician and how a Florida politician does as a cutthroat pirate,” Leavengood told Patch.
He added, “The sort of spine of it is you have the Florida politician who’s not on the fence, but walking a tightrope because he wants to win, but he’s trying not to be completely coerced by these private interests who will support him if he gives them advantages. When he falls overboard, he realizes that as a pirate captain, he doesn’t need to worry about the things troubling him.”
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The show features various music, “torch songs, inspirational anthems, power songs,” he said. “It is just a rousing romp of a show. It’s just so much fun with brand new music and a whole new script and local references, of course.”
Working with the St. Petersburg Museum of History, Leavengood raised $32,000 from 40 different donors earlier this year to produce the show.
“We made it just by the hair of our chinny chin chin and it’s going really well,” he said. “But every expense has to be watched carefully.”
The museum is handling the promotion, accounting and payroll for the production, while the Palladium handles the venue and its technicians and house management, and the box office.
“And then I’m responsible for everything else,” Leavengood said.
The show features all “Florida home grown folks,” including four of the educator’s former students at Academy at the Lakes and Shorecrest Preparatory School.
“There are a lot of great people involved,” he said.
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