The Sharon
 

Have you seen it yet??

The Villages Vmail - April 2015 - Home

OMG, Patti Lupone???? Really?! Does anyone else know how amazing that is? I'm back north, and renting out my new home, still working, but I'd kill to go to that concert!! Wonder what the ticket prices will be, and how they will be distributed? I'd also love to know how they got her!

I play in The Villages Concert Band and would love to play in the Sharon. However, I have a feeling that we will be "stuck" in the Savannah Center for eternity.

John

Proof they do pay attention to the annual surveys. How many times was a large venue requested to bring in headline performers. What a wonderful addition to The Villages.

It's a gift from the Morse family that emphasizes the importance of music, dance and all performing arts here. They are here to stay, and that's a good thing!

I am stoked, finally a decent venue. The Savannah is an embarrassment.

I'm a big fan of this developer, but I think that this is possibly the worst move hey've ever made. There is not enough parking around Spanish Springs Town Square as it is. How do they expect to have parking for the 1,000 or so additional people that are going to attend these events.

Rumors are out there that they are going to cancel the live entertainment on the square on the night of events in the Morse Center. if that happens I see massive protests.

I say tear it down and increase the parking areas.

I'm also disappointed that they didn't build a much bigger venue in another location so that they might attract some real big names. I'd love to see Eric Clapton or James Taylor come here. Ringo and his All Starrs also play in 10,000 seat venues.

Patti Lupone?? Really? I wouldn't go to see her for free.

Like I said, I'm a big fan of the developer. I think that what they have done here is nothing short of miraculous, but I think that they blew it on this one.

What kind of "headline performers" are they going to attract with a 1,000 seat venue? It's not a lot bigger then the Savannah Center with less parking.

Big mistake.

For parking, maybe they have a plan to shuttle people from other parking areas nearby, or maybe they plan to build a parking deck.

They know how to do this. Just wait.

[QUOTE=Dr Winston O Boogie jr;1036417]What kind of "headline performers" are they going to attract with a 1,000 seat venue? It's not a lot bigger then the Savannah Center with less parking.

It all comes down to cost......the "headliner" has a price and doesn't care if it"s a 1000 seat or 10,000 seat venue. I suspect the ticket prices will reflect that and I believe there are plenty of us willing to pay to see good entertainment. For those that don't want to pay the price, or park and walk (although I'm sure someone will figure out how to save parking spaces, it is SS isn't it) they don't need to attend. There will always be other venues for entertainment they enjoy. It's like everything else Villages, not everything is for everybody. They provide us with choices and we determine what we will support. The Sharon will live or die by the support it receives from us. I for one am excited it is here, my concern is will I be fast enough to get tickets.

Sort of reminds me of the old commercial I hated. The lady gets a new Wittnauer watch and remarks "I was really hoping for a Longine's". The new center is a dramatic upgrade from the Savannah center and will provide for more elaborate productions and more comfortable seating and better sound quality. It is golf cart accessible which will help with parking and they certainly could add a valet option to help as well. And it was paid for by the Morse family. I consider it a gift to the residents and the recognition that the Savannah center, while fine when the community was much smaller, is no longer adequate.

Acts such as you describe will always choose Orlando where they can book more shows over multiple days and still fill a large venue when they come to Central Florida.

Sorry you're disappointed. Might want to wait and see what is presented there.

I disagree about parking in SS. There's tons of parking, often unused behind the Rialto and hotel, and also behind the bowling alley.
No, you won't be getting a front row spot, but the square is not that big.

I do wish it was a bit larger than 1,000 seats, but it looks amazing from the video. And they will have no problem getting plenty of high profile acts and 2nd run broadway shows. But with limited seating, the prices will likely be premium.

I also believe these rumors about square entertainment being cancelled are completely false. So there will be no need to riot.

Ringo and his Allstar Band played in the King Center in Melbourne a few months ago. King Center only holds 2,000.

That's twice as big as what we have. I doubt that he'll ever come here.

Yea, that's what I want. Come to the square for an evening of free entertainment and have to take a shuttle from my parking space. This is a bad place for this. The square is already over crowded with not enough parking.

[QUOTE=Mikeod;1036428]Sort of reminds me of the old commercial I hated. The lady gets a new Wittnauer watch and remarks "I was really hoping for a Longine's". The new center is a dramatic upgrade from the Savannah center and will provide for more elaborate productions and more comfortable seating and better sound quality. It is golf cart accessible which will help with parking and they certainly could add a valet option to help as well. And it was paid for by the Morse family. I consider it a gift to the residents and the recognition that the Savannah center, while fine when the community was much smaller, is no longer adequate.

Acts such as you describe will always choose Orlando where they can book more shows over multiple days and still fill a large venue when they come to Central Florida.

Sorry you're disappointed. Might want to wait and see what is presented there.[/QUOTE

A gift to the residents? Do you think that the Morse family will not make money from this? There's nothing wrong with a business making a profit but this is not a gift for the residents. It's an opportunity for the Morse family to make more money. And they'll make that money by inconveniencing all of the residents that are not interested in shelling out big bucks for the likes of Patti Lupone.

Live entertainment 365 nights a year is a big feature of The Villages. It's bad enough when they have market night and you can't find a place to park. I can imagine what it's going to be like when there's an event in The Sharon.

Tear it down and build a real venue where there's enough room.

A couple of shows announced but nothing on when or where tickets will be available. Any one have a clue?

Who's coming? Adele? Andrea Bocelli? Brian Setzer? BB King? Maybe we'll get the Rolling Stones.

Again, plenty of parking within walking distance of the venue. Heck, even a shorter walk than most major performance venues, Orlando included.

The perception that SS does not have enough parking is just not true. The included map highlights the parking lots.

I guess / hope The Sharon will be good for property values for those that own homes walking distance to square.

High Rise Parking Garage
 

Instead of all the single car parking lots that are behind the shops in the town squares, why not put in high-rise parking garages. It certainly would hold 6 to 8 times the number of cars. Leave the on street parking to handicap only &/or golf carts. Many times I take a pass on things going on in the squares simply because I get tired of cruising the streets looking for a place to park. If curtailed parking is a means of crowd control. it's working.

it makes too much sense lucky

Schedule, prices , info.
The Sharon | The Villages Sharon L. Morse Peforming Arts Center | Tickets and Upcoming Performances

Doc, I think you have made your point, let it go...................

Will be busy during Snowbird season and that will never change, but I give them thanks for the non-congestion the other 8-9 months a year. That is our full-timers "season".:wave:

The website indicates dates the tix go on sale and they will be available at the same box offices we used for Savannah.

I'm with Boogie on the parking issue and the venue being too small. Once upon a time there was talk of building a true regional arts center. This was squashed when the Morses announced plans to renovate the Church on the Squares. I believe this was a great disservice to us all.

The prices seem to be over valued. $150 for Patty L??? $150 for Springsteen, yes; for the Stones, yeppers. But not even for Meat Loaf would I pay that amount and my all-time favorite song is Paradise by the Dashboard Lights. We obviously won't be getting the Bolshoi or the Kirov but the Moscow Company is third-rate at best. Here's hoping the price reflects the talent. A philharmonic from Northern Poland? Really? The Pirates of Penzance? That was old when I was a kid.

Now that I've done my complaining, I have no doubt I will attend some events here. Even a third-rate ballet company is better than none, especially if performing a ballet I dearly love such as Cinderella. Patty L, no. Crystal Gayle, maybe. The interior does look lovely and the sound system is supposed to be superb. So, looking forward to some events and hope to see some of you there.

The only thing I'd be vaguely interested in would be the Million Dollar Quartet, but as you say, not for that kind of money. Other than that I see a few third rate orchestras, a bunch of washed up stars, and some impersonators ripping off the public with big names.

But I do agree, The interior of the building looks fantastic and from what I understand the whole thing is state of the art. The sound system is supposedly phenomenal.

Parking would not be a problem if the show started at 9:00pm.

Why complain about a top notch venue that gives us options for our entertainmenr dollar? Parking will work itself out. And it's a nice chance to have a night out for dinner and a show.

And we have Publix parking all the way to Winn-Dixie.

Doc and Red, why be so pessimistic? Why do you have to try to kill something before you've even seen it or gone to a show. All your complaints about the talent, the venue and the parking are just speculation. I, for one, am very excited that we are getting a venue to attract the kind of shows that an area with a population of over 125,000 deserves.

Why can't we see that this will be the kind of cultural attraction that we've been starved for for years? This will be a very good thing thing for Spanish Springs and will draw customers in from not only the Villages, but the surrounding area as well. I see the possibility of major improvements to both the retail and dining options as the new venue takes hold and continues to offer a variety of music, stage and dance performances.

Well today's Daily Sun should put to rest the RUMOR about cancelling Square entertainment..... The Sharon opens April 30 and the Gator Paw Band is scheduled for the Square.

I guess some of us complain because we think that it could be so much better.

I love The Villages. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I think that the developer has done a magnificent job is almost every aspect of lie here. The one place that I'd say they are weak is in entertainment. I'm sick and tired of seeing DJs and people singing to tracks in the squares. By my definition, that is not live entertainment. It's people playing recordings.

They bring a lot of old washed up entertainers into the Savannah and charge exorbitant prices to see them. The reason for that is that the venue is too small. The Sharon with all of it's state of the art technology is only 150-200 seats larger. This, in my opinion was a big mistake. They should have build a much larger facility in an area that wouldn't inconvenient so many residents who choose not to attend a particular show. A larger venue would have allowed them to bring in people like Springsteen and others that have been mentioned here. It also would have kept the costs reasonable for a lot of the second and third rate entertainers they bring in.

As far as the parking working itself out, I have no idea how that is supposed Sorry, but you'd still have a huge problem. First of all, people in The Villages go home and go to bed at 9:00. I play at events that are scheduled from 5-9 and half the people are rushing out at 8:00. Take a look at the squares most nights. Half the people never hear the fourth set.

Even if you did sell out events that start at 9:00, people don't arrive at 9:00 for a 9:00 show. People come to the area early, have dinner and go to the show at nine.

Parking is going to be a major problem. It's not going to work itself out. It's already a problem when there is market night and Rocky and The Rollers are playing, people are in Gator's Dockside and Margarita Republic watching football and a popular movie is playing at the theater. People are going to be parking a quarter of a mile away.

As luckylilly says, multi level parking garage would make a lot of sense. But I don't see that as The Villages style. It would be unsightly. But then again, the huge orange wall on the west side of Town Square is not the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

And on a night when The Sharon has an event the event book in the square could be one of the singers backed by a karaoke band who has a history of not requiring seats in the square to be roped off leaving more parking for The Sharon.

Again, tons of parking available.

I'm not into plays and such but I think the performing arts center is a great addition to the villages but it would be better served had it been located elsewhere, not the square. I see future parking and crowds as a forth coming nightmare.

MY problem is that I want more than third-rate or beginning ballet companies and we could have had that had the Morses kept their word and assisted in building a true performing arts center with seating for over 2,000. I'm sorry but I don't consider out-of-date musicals, performers who were in their prime 30+ years ago, etc. the type of entertainment "an area with a population of over 125,000 deserves."

We're a reasonable driving distance from both Tampa and Orlando. We could have easily drawn some of our audience from there. Given what we have, the bookings could be better -- the Miami Ballet Company has a better rep than the Moscow Festival. I'm just disappointed with the entertainment selections made so far. If this is the type of "cultural attraction we've been starved for for years," we have a big problem cause we're going to be paying a premium for mediocrity at best.

Yes, I'm spoiled. I came from a metropolitan area with great concerts and cultural events. But I also enjoyed the venue at the Concord Pavilion, which was a very small venue, where we enjoyed great jazz, light opera, rock/pop concerts from those not quite in their prime but not total has-beens, either.

Hopefully, they will improve with time but only if we let them know we're willing to pay for GOOD entertainment, not mediocre. Sadly, I doubt this will happen. People will pay through the nose just to have something here. Those of us who care about quality will be considered naysayers, whiners, complainers. So be it.

The parking is a wait and see type of thing, so I'll be quiet about it. The list of entertainment is out and it is pretty sad for the prices being asked so far.

Parking garages can cost from $10,000 to $30;000 per parking space.
500 spaces = $5 to $15 million -- Any takers???

In the final analysis this venue was created because the "Family" wanted it.
It will never operate at a profit and will require constant subsidies.
We are very fortunate to be in a place where the Developer is willing to share some of the profits and is culturally sensitive.

Aesthetically speaking I think a parking garage would look out of sorts in the village. However the developer could make it look like another building as they have with so many other things it might work. But is it cost efficient for 3 or 4 months out of the year