NORTH PORT — Irene Baxendale just wants something to be done. After waiting years for investors to step forward and help her fund a 450-seat, Broadway-style dinner theater on Sumter Boulevard next to Interstate 75, Baxendale is as desperate as ever.

The 87-year-old entrepreneur and former entertainer hopes potential investors share her vision of a thriving tourist destination, one that harkens back to the “Roaring Twenties,” when entertainment was big and bold and performed live onstage.