SCENE BREAKER: Less Mame to love, a last-minute Lala and Pocahontas takes Manhattan

Here’s what’s behind the curtain this week in Tampa Bay theatre…

FROM THE DICK YORK, DICK SARGENT FILE: The actress regularly appearing as “Lala” in Jobsite Theater’s heartwarming comedy The Last Night of Ballyhoo was admitted to the hospital last weekend for a serious infection. After a hurried rehearsal, Ballyhoo’s assistant director, actress Amy E. Gray (Boeing Boeing at theStraz), stepped into the ailing actress’s costumes on a sold-out Friday night and played the role, script in hand, without missing a beat and to a rousing ovation at curtain call. Original Recipe Lala recovered in time for the following performance, and the hit play will continue through Sept. 28.

FRANKLY, IT’S GETTING HARDER TO HOLD BACK THE ENCHANTMENT: The sharp parody of Disney Princessism Disenchanted! has progressed from cabaret act to fringe festival show to hit booking in Tampa’s Jaeb Theater last winter, and now the musical is taking its next glass-slippered step forward: an Off-Broadway run that carries over from the Tampa production actress Lulu Picart (American Stage’s Rocky Horror Show and Hair) and music director Michael Raabe (freeFall's The Burnt Part Boys). The NYC cast also includes Tampa Bay’s own Alison Burns (RENT at American Stage and on tour). The nine-week limited engagement goes into previews Nov. 26, with Burns as Belle/The Little Mermaid/Rapunzel and Picart as Hua Mulan/Pocahontas/Princess Badroulbadour (yes, Badroulbadour). CL critic Mark E. Leib gave the Tampa production four stars.

DOING THEATER’S PART TO HALT PET OVERPOPULATION: Some low-down dirty despicable loathsome vile ignominious slimy no-good motherbeating nosepicking twelve-sandwich-eating bastard set fire to the Animal Coalition of Tampa last April, destroying the community spay/neuter clinic, killing three cats and earning an express ticket to the Hell of Vengeful Pets. Carrollwood Players will temporarily push aside some of the scenery for its current production of Little Shop of Horrors to hostLife Amplified PAWS UP, an “all ages” variety showcase with all proceeds going to the Animal Coalition’s fire recovery fund. The show features comics, poets and singers (one three years old) and starts at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

PARK PLAY WROUGHT: The Bay area’s de facto playwright laureate William Leavengood (Webb's City: The Musical) has just completed YELLOWSTONE, a family drama he describes as “perhaps my most personal play, and the most difficult one for me to write.” The two-time O'Neill playwright and Circle Rep alum says the even harder work begins now: readings, rewrites, and festival entries, and of course the search for production backing ...

SPEAKING OF MONEY ... Jobsite will learn this week whether the company has been named one of 10 American Theatre Wing National Theatre Companies for 2014, an honor awarded to “cutting edge theatre companies recognized for outstanding new play development, education and community engagement,” according to the ATW. Jobsite is one of only 40 finalists selected nationwide for the designation, which comes with $10,000 in “institutional support.” No word yet at press time, but if you hear a loud WHOOP! from the direction of the Shimberg Playhouse, you’ll know.