Elvis (2022) 2h 39m / PG-13 / Musical, Drama

Date

Jul 20 2022

Location

Tampa Theatre
711 N. Franklin Street, Tampa, FL 33602

The newest film from Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann is a lush, spectacular portrayal of one of the biggest sensations in the history of music! Elvis explores the life and music of Elvis Presley, starring Austin Butler as the hound-dog himself and Oscar® winner Tom Hanks as his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Cinematic and sweeping in scope, Elvis’s story is seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager. As told by Parker, the film delves into the complex dynamic between the two, spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. Central to that journey is one of the significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge).

Elvis and Tampa go waaaaay back. The photograph on the cover of Elvis’s debut album was taken at a concert at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory on Howard Avenue (now the Glazer Family Jewish Community Center). In fact, before Tom Parker was Elvis’s manager, he was Tampa’s dogcatcher and the head of the Humane Society – and a relentless hustler. He had a sideshow featuring dancing chickens (cruelly left standing on sawdust-covered hotplates) who “performed” to music. He was friends with Obediah Gaines Finley, the long-time manager of Tampa Theatre, and frequently did independent advertising for us – what we’d now call “street team” promotions, like walking up and down the sidewalk with a sandwich board, driving a covered wagon advertising a Western through downtown or, reportedly, walking a baby elephant around on a leash and allowing it to relieve itself extensively in front of the building. Quite the character. So it’s only right that Elvis, a brand-new and contemporary look at a music icon, should play at the Theatre so closely connected to his Barnumesque manager. And if you take a silent moment before the show and breathe deeply, maybe you can still smell the elephant…

 


Organizer

Tampa Theatre
Phone
813-274-8981
Email
gargoyles@tampatheatre.org
Website
https://tampatheatre.org/

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