Last year when we last met up with Mary Benzel, Executive Director at Van Wezel, Sarasota had just gone through a couple of ...

Lewis Van Wezel, an avid boater, wrote to Ringling Isles Inc. in 1939 for permission to build the structure where the Van Wezels stored a mahogany boat and housed the captain upstairs.

The future of the Van Wezel has been in question since plans were first announced by what is now known as the Sarasota Performing Arts Center Foundation to create a new 2,250-seat performing arts ...

The Van Wezel, she told Suncoast Searchlight, faced opposition before it was built, as well. “People thought it was foolish. People thought we didn’t need it,” Alpert said.

Here are the 10 concerts, comedians and celebrities we're most excited about visiting Van Wezel in 2024 and 2025, presented in chronological order. Event details are subject to change.

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall was built nearly 60 years ago to serve the citizens of Sarasota by providing an incubator for creativity in Sarasota – and a magnet for other artistic endeavors.

If you have a ticket to the Van Wezel for any performance through Dec. 2024 that was canceled, officials say you will be refunded to the original point of purchase.

As with recent big Broadway hits, Moulin Rouge! w ill have a longer run here than used to be the Van Wezel norm and will be onstage March 18-23, 2025. Katerina McCrimmon as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall will present Sarasota premieres and return engagements during the 2022-2023 season. Public on-sale is Saturday, September 10 at 10am.

The fate of the Van Wezel, a new downtown master plan and a new city manager are among the issues that will fall to the next Sarasota commission.