Put on your dancing shoes and quick-step down to Addition Financial Arena.
Dancing With the Stars is hitting the road with a live tour this spring, and it’s making a stop in Orlando on March 26, 2026. This year’s tour will feature Dancing With the Stars’ professional dancers performing a mix of exclusive tour productions and standout routines from the currently airing Season 34.
The tour allows fans to see the show off their screens and enter the ballroom in their hometowns, with pro dancers Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Daniella Karagach, Pasha Pashkov, Emma Slater, Ezra Sosa, Britt Stewart and Hailey Bills. And, for the first time in five years, pro couple Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson will join the live lineup.
Emmy award-winning choreographer Mandy Moore, who worked on projects like La La Land and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, will direct and choreograph the tour.
Season 34 has drawn more attention than past seasons, with a premiere episode that generated more than double the amount of viewer votes cast than that of the previous season, the show says. Celebrities that are still in the running for the win include Robert Irwin, Alix Earle, Jen Affleck, Andy Richter, Scott Hoying, Dylan Efron, Danielle Fishel, Jordan Chiles, Elaine Hendrix and Whitney Leavitt.
Tickets to see the Dancing With the Stars pros right here in Orlando go on sale Oct. 10 via Ticketmaster.
Oliver Morris and Casey Tregeagle in “Nosferatu” at The Ren (2024) Credit: Rachel Dresner
Whether your Halloween decorations have been up for weeks or you’ve been waiting patiently for that calendar page to turn, the time has come: Fall is here. So go ahead and start marking your calendar with all of the below dates, our picks for what we are somewhat arbitrarily defining as fall in Orlando — Oct. 1 through Nov. 11, or in other words, all the weeks between this, our Fall Guide, and the arrival of our Holiday Guide Wednesday, Nov. 12. — Pumpkin spicily yours, the OW editorial team.
???: Nosferatu
This is a sentimental pick for us, even through — as we type this — the Renaissance Theatre Co.’s immersive annual vampire extravaganza is on unexpected and unwelcome hiatus. The theater space has been shut down by the city after a surprise inspection revealed code violations, and there’s no clear timeline for reopening. And that sucks (wink wink) because Nosferatu is a dazzling, elegantly staged, carnal and campy delight year after year. For now, you can donate to the Ren directly or check out sister event V Bar as it haunts different venues around town like Plaza Live.
Saturday, Oct. 11: Leslie Jones
“Things are dark, but I want to give people a reason to laugh instead of cry,” says comedian and television star Leslie Jones. You know her from Saturday Night Live, the Ghostbusters reboot, her singular Olympics commentary, guest spots on The Daily Show, Supermarket Sweep v.2, or even her podcast “The Fckry” and now you can see her in person at the Plaza Live. Her comedy is audacious, unapologetic, topical and perfectly suited for the moment. 8 p.m., Plaza Live, 425 N. Bumby Ave., plazaliveorlando.org, $66-$178.
Oct. 11-12: Winter Park Autumn Art Festival
Celebrate local arts this fall at the 52nd Annual Winter Park Autumn Art Festival, the only juried fine art festival exclusively featuring Florida artists. Hosted by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, this weekender transforms Central Park into an outdoor gallery. Attendees can also enjoy live music, local entertainment, children’s activities and a welcoming festival atmosphere. Central Park, 251 S. Park Ave., Winter Park, winterpark.org, free.
Sunday, Oct. 12: Rocky Horror Picture Show 50th Anniversary
Oh Rocky, has the Dr. Phil got a shadowcast for you. To mark a half-century of the seminal, genderfluid, glammy midnight monster musical, Rocky Horror Picture Show screens at our most lavish downtown venue. Probably no rice-throwing during this one, but to make up for it, special guests from the film will be in the castle: Barry “Brad” Bostwick, along with accidental gothic style icons Nell “Columbia” Campbell and Patricia “Magenta” Quinn. VIP meet-and-greets seem essential. 7:30 p.m., Walt Disney Theater, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., drphillipscenter.org, $46-$300.
Tuesday, Oct. 14: We Wiggle Dolls: A DIY Puppet Cabaret (For Adults)
Brooklyn-born “DIY puppet cabaret” (go onnnnnn) We Wiggle Dolls comes to Conduit as part of a fall tour that promises to upend your notions of puppetry in the same way Miss Pussycat, Poncili Creacion and The Vourdalak did. We Wiggle Dolls push the art form forward, both technically — techniques and construction — and, obviously, thematically, as a more grown-up endeavor. Featuring on the night will be Naughty Little No Good, Puppet Parts Productions, Yellowlemonshapedrock and Chaz Lord from Drippy Eye Projections. You should enter this with no expectations. We certainly are …. 7 p.m., Conduit, 6700 Aloma Ave., Winter Park, conduitfl.com, $19.90.
Downtown Arts District hosts the annual Dia de Los Muertos & Monster Party Credit: courtesy image
Thursday, Oct. 16: Día de los Muertos & Monster Party
Downtown Art District’s spooky arts party returns with the 16th Annual Día de los Muertos and Monster Party at CityArts. The evening opens with two dynamic exhibitions: a Día de los Muertos showcase featuring traditional ofrendas and catrina dolls, and a monster-inspired gallery of spooky art by local and international artists. Outside on Pine Street, the festivities spill into a lively block party with food, drinks, entertainment and vendors. A frighteningly good time for all. 6 p.m., CityArts Orlando, 39 S. Magnolia Ave., downtownartsdistrict.com/ddlm, free.
Orlando Ballet kicks off their 2025/2026 season with a double dose of classic Tchaikovsky chestnuts. Of course The Nutcracker will dance in the winter holiday season, but starting things off this fall is the romantic Russian composer’s elegant and lovelorn Swan Lake, featuring choreography by Christopher Stowell and live scoring from the Orlando Philharmonic. Past productions of this iconic heartbreaker have never failed to impress, so expectations are high. Steinmetz Hall, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., drphillipscenter.org, $43-$200.
Spooky Empire (2024) Credit: Matt Keller Lehman
Oct. 31-Nov. 2: Spooky Empire
Alongside the likes of Halloween Horror Nights, Phantasmagoria and Nosferatu, one of the ghoulish gems in Orlando’s Halloween crown has to be Spooky Empire. This horror-focused fandom fest provides hearty attendees with cosplay, vendors, panels and film screenings by the metric ton. But this year — and we really mean it this time — is all about the celebrity guests. It’s a terrifying bonanza with the likes of Elvira, Parker Posey, David “Art the Clown” Thornton, Chris Jericho, Method Man, Bill Moseley, Tom Savini, Nivek Ogre from Skinny Puppy, several Jasons, the cast of It, Frank from Hellraiser … we could go on, but go see for yourself (if you dare). Hyatt Regency Orlando, 9801 International Drive, spookyempire.com, $40-$299.
Sunday, Nov. 1: Beer Bacon & BBQ
Altamonte becomes the promised land for carnivores as the Beer Bacon & BBQ Festival sizzles. The name pretty much says it all; the focus is squarely on the array of roughly 40 craft beers ready for quaffing as well as meaty decadence of the bacon and barbecue (or both!) varieties proffered by local spots like Smoke in the City BBQ, Phat Ash Bakes, Big John’s Rockin’ BBQ, Heart and Soul Food Truck and more. There will be live music and games, but you might be too blissed out in a porky food coma-slash-nirvana. 2 p.m., Cranes Roost Park, 274 Cranes Roost Blvd., Altamonte Springs, beerbaconandbbq.com, $41.93.
Wednesday, Nov. 5: Doug Stanhope
Amid the bounty of righteous comedic anger we’ve got headed our way this fall, Doug Stanhope stands tall as perhaps the one radiating the most confrontational fury. Stanhope, like a latter-day Bill Hicks, is not afraid to alienate — or maybe provoke thought — as he rails against the fractured American way, clad in a rumpled thrift-store suit like a crooner with nothing to lose, with maybe a dash or two of Howard Beale for spice. 6 p.m., Funny Bone, 9101 International Drive, orlando.funnybone.com, $54-$84.
Jonathan Van Ness Credit: courtesy image
Saturday, Nov. 8: Jonathan Van Ness
Queer Eye star and ethereal delight Jonathan Van Ness is setting out on another leg of their “Hot & Healed” stand-up tour, on the fashionable heels of the release of their debut comedy special, Fun & Slutty. Van Ness promises a new and different take from what fans saw on Fun, considering the bleak current sociopolitical landscape. “It’s a lot of Republican stuff. It’s a lot of trans commentary on living as a gender-nonconforming person in this time,” Van Ness told GLAAD, describing their new material. “I’m also dealing more with racism than I ever have … white people … honey … we got to talk about it.” 8 p.m., Hard Rock Live, 6050 Universal Blvd., entertainment.hardrock.com, $48-$142.
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After a decade of dancing, decadence and décolletage, Orlando’s award-winning Corsets & Cuties burlesque troupe is taking an extended final bow, kicking off their 10th and final season Sunday, Aug. 26, with a star-studded celebratory show at the Abbey.
I recently talked with founding director-producer Jaimz Dillman about her company’s achievements over the past 10 years, as well as her life before the Cuties and her decision to hang up the corset and move on to the next stage of her career.
A native of Winter Springs, Florida, Dillman graduated from Seminole High School and studied improvisation at Sak Comedy Lab before becoming an entertainer at Universal Orlando, performing as a Ghostbuster in the streets and inside Nickelodeon’s Game Lab. She worked her way up through special events like Halloween Horror Nights and Grinchmas into stage management, and acted as an audience warm-up host for iVillage tapings.
After leaving Universal and Sak, Dillman says she and fellow actress Lori Babson Jessup were looking for a regular outlet for performing, and encountered “a void.”
“We found … women who maybe didn’t fit the princess role anymore, because we’ve grown out of that ingenue stage,” Dillman says. “We were now moms; we were not quite in the fairy godmother stage. There was a need, but there was no opportunity.”
Through Wade Hair’s Breakthrough Theatre, they presented Red Light: The Bad Girls of Broadway, a cabaret of risqué showtunes that was a hit of the 2012 Orlando Fringe. Dillman wasn’t originally supposed to appear in that show, but when a performer dropped out, Hair encouraged her to go on stage.
“I was over the moon,” Dillman recalls. “It was a really, really happy accident. He knew that I had the passion to perform. I just had never been given the opportunity, because I wasn’t cookie-cutter … I was always the comedy, the comic relief, [so] to be included in something that’s kind of sultry and burlesque and bawdy, I was like, ‘Yes, give it to me!’”
That sold-out run eventually led to the birth of Corsets & Cuties, which debuted in 2014. Early members who came from Red Light included Risa Risque of Blacklist Babes and Jax, who is still with the cast today. “The goal was to give people who had a passion and a talent for performing, but no place to do it, that very outlet.”
Corsets & Cuties sold out their very first weekend before ever having a performance, which Dillman says “reinforced our belief that there was something needed in this community that we seem to hit on that wasn’t being already provided. … We were very proud of being able to present all body types, all levels of talent, men, female, trans performers. We’ve had gay, straight, bi — everything on the rainbow. I’m very proud of [our] representation, and opening stages to those who want to perform.”
When Dillman’s co-founder moved away, she was unexpectedly handed the reins and has since guided the troupe beyond Fringe to performances at spots including the Venue (R.I.P.) and Theater West End in Sanford. Corsets & Cuties also supported the community with fundraising for breast cancer awareness, victims of the Pulse shooting and victims of a warehouse fire.
After a decade observing burlesque audiences, Dillman says they’ve “become a little bit more educated as to what burlesque is. When we first started, I remember some of the first shows at the Venue that the crowd was just crazy, hooting and hollering and screaming, and sometimes they were just talking amongst themselves,” she recalls. “I think the audiences have kind of gone along with us on the ride, and maybe evolved and grown up a little bit along the way with us.”
Given her troupe’s long history with the Fringe, it’s no surprise that Dillman has some sharp words regarding Gov. Ron DeSantis’ scapegoating of the Festival for his veto of all state arts funding.
“It hurt my heart to hear him belittle Fringe and reduce it to such a nasty, dirty sentence,” she says. “Bringing it down and reducing it to something that’s ugly and dirty takes so much away from the talent and the passion and the empowerment that a show like we do gives to these performers. … We are much more than what reductive statements like that make us out to be.”
Since the Cuties began, Orlando has spawned nearly a dozen other burlesque groups, so Dillman says she no longer feels like she’s hosting the only platform for “misfits,” noting that “the theme parks have taken a huge step in going outside their their boxes that they used to keep everybody in, and that has been a huge thing, I think, in the scene.” So, Dillman says she simply decided that “10 years sounds good,” calling it both “a nice round number” and “a long time to herd cats.”
Directing The Vagina Monologues “showed me that there’s more I can and more I want to do,” says Dillman, adding that she’s interesting in creating “more socially conscious theater” when not occupied by her day job in catering sales. But she promises Corsets & Cuties will live on in amateur shows and community-fostering all-star productions. “I can’t see what the future holds. I just know that it looks pretty great.”
Orlando Ballet spills the beans on their 2024-2025 season
Orlando Ballet announced the lineup for their 2024/2025 season Wednesday, and it’s chock full of crowd-pleasers.
The season, running from Oct. 17 through May 4, 2025, kicks off this autumn with Romeo & Juliet, from there segueing into holiday tradition The Nutcracker and then Peter Pan in early 2025.
Here’s the full rundown: Romeo & Juliet: Oct, 17-20 The Nutcracker: Dec. 6-22 Peter Pan: Feb. 20-23, 2025 Balanchine, Graham, Pires: (as in George, Martha and Alysa) March 27-30, 2025 Giselle: May 1-4, 2025
The Ballet’s behind-the-curtain series, Uncorked, happens three times in the midst of this season: Sept. 26, Nov. 7 and Jan. 23, 2025.
Single tickets for these productions go on sale Tuesday, May 28, through Orlando Ballet.
Additionally, Casanova, the final act of the 2023-2024 season,runs May 16-19 at Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center. It’s an 18+ production. (Spicy!)
