Relocations, renovations, expansions, returns and farewells: There was a lot of moving and shaking going on all year on Orlando’s arts scene. Here’s a look at what made headlines throughout 2025.
JANUARY: Pictured at the entrance to the Lowndes Shakespeare Center, Jim Helsinger celebrates his 30th year with Orlando Shakes. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
JANUARY
Orlando Museum of Art found itself party to a curious lawsuit at the start of the year. The owners of artwork attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat, which was seized by the FBI while on view at the museum in 2022, sued their insurance company over the $19.7 million claim they filed on the art. The insurer refused to pay, citing in part the doubts that the art is legitimate, and the case remains unresolved.
In related news, Aaron De Groft, the museum director during the ill-fated Basquiat scandal, died at age 59 of undisclosed causes. He had been fired after the FBI raid, and later sued the museum, which in turn had sued him. Following his death, both lawsuits were dropped.
In local leadership news, Jim Helsinger celebrated 30 years as artistic director of Orlando Shakes, and Orlando’s Playwrights’ Round Table, growing as an organization, named Chuck Dent as its first executive director.
FEBRUARY: The Blue Man Group performs in downtown Orlando during Immerse 2025. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
FEBRUARY
The free Immerse arts festival returned to the streets of downtown Orlando for a 10th installment after a three-year hiatus, bolstered by more financial backing from city and county government.
On a far more somber note, Central Florida cultural leaders took their place on the world stage. Representatives of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center in Maitland joined dignitaries, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Britain’s King Charles III, in Poland for ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp.
MARCH: Alan Jackson played to a packed Kia Center crowd during his Orlando stop on his “Last Call: One More for the Road” tour. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
MARCH
Orlando Shakes hired former Orlando Ballet executive director Cheryl Collins as its new executive director, and the Melon Patch Players in Leesburg moved into a new home: The old Tropic Theatre in the heart of the Lake County city’s downtown.
Meanwhile, country superstar Alan Jackson bid Orlando farewell with a rip-roaring concert at Orlando’s Kia Center on his final tour before retirement.
APRIL: The “Cobalt and Citron Tower,” the centerpiece under the skylight in the Council of 101 Grand Gallery by world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly, will stay in place for the next decade. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
APRIL
The uniquely intimate Theater on the Edge reopened in its venue south of downtown after a three-year hiatus, while the music stopped at Jellyrolls dueling piano bar when Walt Disney World closed the establishment. Jellyrolls representatives spent the rest of the year looking for a new location, but haven’t announced a reopening yet.
Staying put is the “Cobalt and Citron Tower,” the Dale Chihuly glass sculpture that serves as the centerpiece of Orlando Museum of Art’s atrium. The museum announced a new loan agreement with the Lowndes law firm that will keep the sculpture sparkling in Orlando for 10 more years.
Orlando Gay Chorus marked 35 years of making music, while Central Florida Central Arts made interim executive director Justin Muchoney’s leadership of that musical organization official.
The city of Winter Garden announced new plans for the vacant Garden Theatre that did not include a theater season, as many had hoped. And in a sign of the political climate, Orange County canceled its diversity, equity and inclusion grant program for cultural organizations.
MAY: Pastor Alltalk (Thandolwethu Mamba) leads a lively call-and-response number in the Opera Orlando production of “Treemonisha.” (Courtesy Ashleigh Ann Gardner via Opera Orlando)
MAY
After disappointing patronage for the 2024 Orlando Fringe Festival, attendance stabilized at the Loch Haven Park-based theater extravaganza, with about 55,000 festivalgoers spending $467,225 on tickets.
In a joyous and jubilant production, Opera Orlando presented the Florida premiere of “Treemonisha,” a historically significant “forgotten opera” from rag king Scott Joplin that was written more than a century ago.
Blue Bamboo Arts Center opened in the former Winter Park Library.
And actors, singers and dancers found new roles in theme parks as Universal Orlando opened Epic Universe, with interactive character meet-and-greets and two new high-tech theatrical shows themed to “How to Train Your Dragon” and the Harry Potter “Fantastic Beasts” franchise. Not to be outdone, Walt Disney World reopened a revamped version of its “Little Mermaid” stage show and debuted a production themed to Disney villains.
JUNE: Scotty Jordan performs in the courtyard at Church Street Market in downtown Orlando as a part of the DTOLive! program on June 25. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
JUNE
DTOLive, the initiative that brings free live music, art exhibits and other forms of entertainment to downtown Orlando’s public spaces, was renewed for a second year. The program, a partnership between United Arts of Central Florida and Orlando’s Downtown Development Board, provided hundreds of free performances during its first year.
Orlando Museum of Art’s Council of 101 raised a record amount of money, presenting the institution with $540,000. And International Drive got a new dinner-theater show when “The Speakeasy Murder” opened for (funny) business.
JULY: Orlando’s Ginger Minj, the flashy alter ego of Joshua Eads, won “RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars.” (Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for MTV)
JULY
Ginger Minj, the drag persona of Orlando resident Joshua Eads, won the 10th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.” She would later kick off her nationwide “Hokus Pokus Live” tour here in the City Beautiful.
Enzian Theater hired Wade Neal as its new executive director, and arts groups were caught by surprise as the state suddenly changed the way it distributed grant money — the first of other changes that left most cultural organizations worse off.
AUGUST: Purple ducks dotted the Central Florida landscape in honor of Orlando Family Stage’s centennial. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
AUGUST
Celebrating its 10th season, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts announced a multimillion-dollar expansion onto property near its downtown campus, which could see a new theater join the existing halls. Meanwhile, also celebrating 10 years, Opera Orlando moved into a new headquarters in west Orlando.
A new community choir joined the cultural landscape as Lake County Arts started up with singers rehearsing in Clermont. And purple ducks popped up around Central Florida as part of Orlando Family Stage’s centennial celebration.
SEPTEMBER: Revelers dance to the beat of the drums at the fifth Latin Performing Arts Festival, presented at Maitland Art Center by Winter Park-based Open Scene in September 2025. (Courtesy Open Scene)
SEPTEMBER
Open Scene’s fifth Latin Performing Arts Festival, relocated to Maitland Art Center and for the first time presented for free, was hugely successful with patrons literally dancing in the streets.
The historic Maitland Art Center was also in the news when it announced a major expansion, its first in more than 50 years; the project broke ground the following month. Also getting a facelift: Osceola Arts in Kissimmee, which announced it would close for a year to undergo a transformative $16 million remodel.
Meanwhile, in Orlando, the Renaissance Theatre was forced out of its home when the city shut down the venue for code violations. The Ren would close out the year with performances in the former Fringe ArtSpace venue on Church Street.
OCTOBER: There’s quite a kerfuffle in Edward Gorey’s “The Bug Book,” part of “Phantasmagoria XVI: Hauntingly Whimsical Tales.” (Courtesy Chris Bridges via Phantasmagoria)
OCTOBER
Orlando’s Phantasmagoria troupe became part of the national celebration of the centenary of writer-illustrator-designer Edward Gorey with the world premiere of a theatrical adaptation of his stories.
In Winter Park, the Rollins Museum of Art broke ground on its new, much larger downtown facility. Also on the move: Capone’s Dinner & Show brought more actors to International Drive when the long-running Kissimmee theatrical attraction reopened in a new location at Dezerland Park. And Central Florida Vocal Arts called off a plan to rent space from Blue Bamboo Arts Center, forcing the organization to scale back a critical Orange County grant.
Speaking of Blue Bamboo, founder Chris Cortez stepped down from the organization to focus on his health.
At the Dr. Phillips Center, former board chairman Jim Pugh was honored for his visionary and dogged work in bringing the arts center to fruition, while National Geographic named the center’s much-lauded Steinmetz Hall one of the world’s most remarkable theaters.
A pair of anniversaries were celebrated: Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park celebrated its golden anniversary by opening the exhibit “Crealdé at 50,” and acclaimed Orlando vocal group Voctave celebrated its 10th anniversary with a Steinmetz Hall concert.
NOVEMBER: Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows, a longtime haven for Orlando’s actors, closed for good. (Orlando Sentinel file photo)
NOVEMBER
After 35 years of entertaining guests with madcap mysteries, Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows staged its last whodunit on Nov 4.
A pair of projects, set in Orlando, underperformed on the national stage. The movie “Christy,” about Central Florida boxer Christy Martin’s triumph over domestic abuse, struck a chord with its audiences — but was a financial flop.
Broadway musical “Queen of Versailles,” telling the story of Jackie Siegel’s quest to build the country’s largest private home in Windermere, opened Nov. 9 after a Boston tryout and a month of previews in New York City — but closed Dec. 21 after just 65 performances.
Closer to home, the Annie Russell Theatre at Rollins College debuted a play about famed Eatonville author Zora Neale Hurston, the Roth Jewish Community Center in southwest Orlando debuted its refreshed Pargh Event Center, and The Center debuted Q Fest, a theater and film festival celebrating Central Florida’s queer community.
Two more anniversaries were marked: Timucua Arts Foundation turned 25, and Central Florida Community Arts celebrated its 15th season.
DECEMBER: The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts introduced the Frontyard Holiday Festival. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
DECEMBER
The Dr. Phillips Center unveiled a free Frontyard Holiday Festival, with food, drink, movies, live performances, snow and Santa, while Opera Orlando presented free performances of its popular “All Is Calm” as a community gift.
In the face of so much funding uncertainty, United Arts of Central Florida set the highest goal ever — $10 million — for the region’s most important cultural fundraiser.
And in a salute to the 60th anniversary of the “Charlie Brown Christmas” TV special and Orlando Family Stage’s local and national productions of the stage adaptation, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings proclaimed Dec. 9 “A Charlie Brown Christmas Day” locally.
Artist Grady Kimsey, honored as an Art Legend of Orange County, is pictured surrounded by his work. (Courtesy r. smith)
IN MEMORIAM
Central Florida lost many contributors to its cultural landscape this year. Among them: Actor Yara Williams, who died in February; drag artist Chadwick Pace, known as Divine Grace, who died in April; Snap! founder and art curator Patrick Kahn, who died in April; dance pioneer and Orlando Ballet forefather Russell Sultzbach, who died in May; acclaimed artist Grady Kimsey, who died in July; playwright and food writer Joseph Hayes, who died in July; artist and arts writer Josh Garrick, who died in September; and drag artist Addison Taylor, who died in December.
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https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/12/26/2025-in-review-the-year-on-the-orlando-arts-scene/
