Mary Damiano Photo by David Vance

Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

Dick Van Dyke

Coconut Grove Playhouse Celebrates the Big 5-0
I have a confession to make:  I’ve always been in love with Dick Van Dyke.  He’s like the Cary Grant next door, suave but approachable, endearingly goofy but with Grant’s gift for physical comedy.  There is simply no better way to pass a rainy afternoon than marathons of The Dick Van Dyke Show, so timeless in all of its black and white glory.  Dependable, delightful, and in my opinion, vastly underrated, the man who has brought us so many delicious hours of entertaining television will be the man of the hour at the 50^th anniversary gala fundraiser for the Coconut Grove Playhouse.  The theatre will pay tribute to Dick Van Dyke on Saturday, March 25, at the Radisson Miami on Biscayne Blvd. Coconut Grove Playhouse will also honor my friend Charlie Cinnamon, who has contributed greatly to the arts in Miami.  CNN talk show host Larry King will also be on hand for the festivities.  For more information, visit www.cgplayhouse.org

Sweet Life
March should be declared Charlie Cinnamon month.  Three separate events this month honor Miami resident Cinnamon, a tireless arts publicist and contributor.  The night before Cinnamon is honored at the Coconut Grove Playhouse’s 50^th anniversary gala, he will be honored at the New Theatre’s fundraiser, “Miami Stories”, a clever dinner event at which theatre pieces about Cinnamon and fellow honorees Lili Estefan and Romero Britto will be performed by actors and directed by Ricky J. Martinez, associate director of New Theatre.  “Miami Stories” will be held Friday, March 24 at Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami. For more information, contact Pauline Goldsmith, 305-774-7390 or e-mail PaulineGoldsmith@aol.com

	Me and my friend Peter Aymonin at the Role Models event

Cinnamon was one of seven arts contributors honored earlier this month at the new Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass Mills at the second annual “Role Models…A Tribute to Arts and Culture”.  It was a classy and well-orchestrated event, that included fab appetizers by the newly open Grand Lux Café, and then dinner for an intimate crowd of 600 under a huge white tent, catered by BartonG.  In addition to the ceremony, which was hosted by Ivana Trump, there was a fashion show featuring the designer duds at the new shops, which include Coach, Ferragamo, Burberry, Hugo Boss, and Kate Spade. 

The Leather Tour
After the Role Models Event, a trip through the designer shops was in order.  I felt like I was in a movie montage, all dressed to the nines with two good-looking men—my husband and my friend Peter—traipsing in and out of the very pricey stores.  Everything was way out of our budget, so we entertained ourselves by caressing the buttery soft suede bags and inhaling the sent of leather pumps.  People probably took us for shoe fetishists.  At Coach, I was amused by the tables of brightly colored leather wallets and such languishing under signs proclaiming $149, just like the signs on the tables at Marshall’s that proclaim $9.99.  In one store, I picked up a shoe and glanced at the price.  I said to my husband, “I’m holding $1,500 in my hand.”  “Those shoes are $1,500?” he said, incredulously. He didn’t know such numbers could even be associated with shoes. “No,” I said.  “The shoes are $3,000, so each one would be $1,500.”   That night, I discovered that the Colonnade Outlets are definitely the place to go when your shopping list includes $3,000 leather shoes or a cashmere teddy bear.  Of course, things get balanced out by Crate & Barrel, where you can get a terrific area rug in a great citrusy color for 40 bucks.

The next morning, I was back at the Colonnade with my best friend Mary, browsing and marveling.  But the highlight of the day was an event called “Designers and Darjeeling”, a benefit for the Junior League.  Under the same white tent as the night before, we were among the ladies who gathered for the main attraction, actor James Denton, who plays sexy plumber Mike Delfino on “Desperate Housewives”.  Denton, who is as rugged and handsome looking in person as he is on the show, told the audience that one of the first things he was told upon getting off the plane in Miami was that he was too skinny (he is), and at the Q&A session, a woman told him he needed to let his hair grow so his on again, off again TV love Susan (Teri Hatcher) could run her fingers through it.  Denton spoke to the audience and answered questions for a good 40 minutes, and fans of the show will be happy to know that although they will face many trials and tribulations, it is the ultimate plan of the writers that Mike and Susan end up together.  Aww…

Theatre for Kids
The 11th Annual National Children’s Theatre Festival Fun Days will be held at the Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, March 25 and 26.  Children will enjoy hands on interactive cultural experiences, performances by the talented Actors’ Playhouse Musical Miracles performing youth group, who will sing songs from the musical Wicked, special activities include acting and make-up classes, interactive arts and craft tables, face painting and balloon art. Also scheduled to appear are the Jr. Orange Bowl Royal Court and the characters Puss-in-Boots, Cinderella, Tigger, Piglet and Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as musical stylings by Eliza Berse.  Admission for the Festival Family Days, is $15 per person for an all day pass.  Call 305.444.9293 for more information.

Calling Aspiring Shakespeares
Palm Beach Dramaworks is soliciting scripts of full-length plays by Florida writers for its sixth annual Playwrights Festival. The winning entry will receive a staged reading July 24, accompanied by a $500 cash prize. For details, contact 561-514-4042 or palmbeachdramaworks.org.

Maureen McGovern in Little Women

Spotlight on Theatre
There’s a lot to see at area theatres over the next two weeks.  This Tuesday, March 14, catch the musical Little Women, complete with its Broadway star Maureen McGovern at Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale.  The show runs through March 26.  Also at Broward Center, there’s Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, a show, dinner and dance at the New River Room, opening Wednesday, March 15.  It runs through March 26.  On Thursday, check out Painted Alice at the Mad Cat Theatre, a whimsical tale about a painter who eats a bad mushroom and falls into her canvas, loosely based on the work of Lewis Carroll.  It runs through April 8. Call 305-576-6377 for more information. Up in Manalapan, the Florida Stage Theatre opens Beyond the Rainbow, a musical about Judy Garland’s Carnegie Hall concert in 1961.  It runs through April 23.  That same night The Coconut Grove Playhouse opens About Time, the story of an older couple’s relationship charted through their meals and snacks over the course of one day, starring Theodore Bikel.  It runs through April 2. Next week, Plantation’s Mosaic Theatre opens the Florida premiere of Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice on March 23. It’s a comedy about poker players and their demons, and it’s directed by Mad Cat founder Paul Tei.  It runs through April 9.  And in Pompano, the Curtain Call Playhouse opens with Noel Coward’s Private Lives, which runs March 24 through April 2.  Call 954-784-0768 for information.

	Frances Sternhagen

Benefit Reading
Renowned actress Frances Sternhagen will appear at Florida Stage Theatre in Manalapan in a reading of Joan Vail Thorne’s  The Things You Least Expect, a benefit for the theatre.  Sternhagen may be most widely known to audiences from her TV appearances as Cliff Clavin’s mom on “Cheers” and Charlotte’s mother-in-law on “Sex and the City”, but her career has spanned film and a multitude of stage roles, which have earned her two Tony Awards.  Sternhagen is no stranger to Florida Stage—she starred in Vail Thorne’s previous play, The Exact Center of the Universe.  There will be two presentations of the reading, Tuesday, March 28 at 2 p.m., and that evening at 7 p.m.  The afternoon reading will be accompanied by a champagne reception in the theatre’s lobby; the evening reading includes a cocktail reception and dinner with the cast and playwright at the Ritz-Carlton.  All proceeds benefit Florida Stage’s mainstage and educational programs.  For more information, 561-585-3404 or visit www.FloridaStage.org. 

Discussing the River of Grass
The Urban Environment League of Greater Miami will present Michael Grunwald, an award-winning reporter for the Washington Post and author of The Swamp - The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise Tuesday, March 21, at the historic Miami River Inn, 118 SW South River Drive, Miami at 6 p.m.  A wine reception will be held at 6:45 p.m., with dinner following the discussion.   Copies of The Swamp, published by Simon & Schuster, Inc., will be available for sale and signed by the author. The Swamp chronicles the Everglades’ history, the way the River of Grass has been abused and efforts to preserve it.  Admission $25 for UEL members, $30 non-members.  Seating is limited.  RSVP: Miami River Inn: 305-325-0045, e-mail: Miamihotel@aol.com. Reservations required by Friday, March 17. A limited number of seats are available at no charge for the 7:30 discussion session only. For more information, call UEL at 305-532-7227.

Spring Concert
The Young Musicians’ Orchestra, under the direction of Reuben Blundell, will present its spring concert on Sunday, March 19, 4 p.m. at Congregation Bet Breira, 9400 SW 87 Ave., Miami. The 35-member orchestra, comprised of musicians age 8 to 18, is under the umbrella of the Coral Gables Congregational Church (CGCC) Community Arts Program (CAP) Conservatory for the Arts, which provides a well-rounded after-school curriculum including musical training to children also from age 8 to 18. The March 19 program will include the following works: two pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, The Art of Fugue (excerpts) and the first movement from Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor; Heitor Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasilieras No. 9 and Mother & Child by William Grant Still.  Two violinists from the CGCC CAP Conservatory for the Arts and the New World School of the Arts, Ginger Jiron and Sheena Gutierrez, will also perform.   The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Coral Gables Congregational Church Community Arts Program, 305-448-7421, extension 33.