Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

	Photo by David Vance

The New Colony
It’s always nice to witness history in the making, and I was thrilled to be in the audience Wednesday, January 18 for the first show to take place in the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach since the completion of its years long renovation. (Okay, it’s minor history but history nonetheless.) It’s been a long wait with many false starts, but let me tell you something—it was worth it. The new Colony is gorgeous, clean and spacious, with a color scheme that more reflects the tranquil shades of the beach and its art deco architecture. There’s a lot of aqua, blue-gray and peach, shiny steel and sophisticated angles. Anyone who remembers the Colony won’t believe it’s the same place. I have a feeling that some will miss the bohemian overstuffed red velvet look of the old theatre, but few can argue that the new look is spectacular. By the way, the show that christened the Colony was the first night of the Bud Light South Beach Comedy Festival, and the star was Kathy Griffin, who sent the packed house into side-splitting laughter with her tales of the red carpet at awards shows, run-ins with Demi and Ashton, and a hysterical encounter with Celine Dion. Kudos to Kathy, for breaking in the new Colony just right. By the way, the comedy festival continues through the weekend and includes free performances on an outdoor Lincoln Road stage.

Colony Manager Karen Caruso in front of the newly renovated theatre’s lobby doors. Photo by Mary Damiano

Release Your Inner Artist
Artist, author, entertainer and speaker Conni Gordon is offering a free art class Wednesday, Feb. 1 at the Miami Regional Library at Collins Ave. and 22 St. The class includes lessons, sketch supplies and a Connie Gordon course book. Those familiar with Gordon’s work praise her ability to bring out the inner artist in anyone. For more information about Gordon, visit www.ConniGordon.com.

Happy Birthday Wolfie
In celebration of the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the South Beach Chamber Ensemble will present “Music in Beautiful Spaces”, Sunday, Jan. 22, 4 p.m. at Miami Art Central. Tickets are only $5, $3 for students and seniors. Admission to the museum is free. For more information, call 305-455-3333 or visit www.sobechambleensemble.org.

On the Boards
Don’t miss a terrific pair of plays playing in Coral Gables. At the GableStage Theatre (www.gablestage.org) in the Biltmore Hotel, check out Address Unknown, a tense little thriller about what happens between two friends in the early 1930s when one returns to Germany just when Hitler is taking power. Avi Hoffman plays a Jewish art dealer while Ken Clement plays his gentile friend who returns with his family to Germany. The story takes place entirely through the letters the two men write each other, and the amazing thing about Address Unknown is the intimacy the actors create even though they never once speak to each other or interact. A few minutes away at New Theatre (www.new-theatre.org), there’s Paradise, a moving play about two teenage girls, one Jewish, one Arab, both residents of the Middle East, whose lives intersect at one fateful moment. The play does a wonderful job of giving both points of view in an age-old conflict, showing the commonalities of the two girls as well as showing the path and motivations behind actions we consider unthinkable.

	Bridget Connors and Samara Siskind in a scene from Paradise, now playing at New Theatre. Photo by Eileen Suarez

Opening soon: Breaking Up is Hard To Do, a jukebox musical comprised of the songs of Neil Sedaka, Jan. 27 at Actor’s Playhouse (www.actorsplayhouse.org); Cradle of Man, a world premiere at Florida Stage (www.floridastage.org) in Manalapan, also on Jan. 27.

Also, this is your last weekend to catch Moliere’s classic play, Tartuffe the Imposter, presented by FIU Theatre. The play runs through Sunday, Jan. 22, at the FIU Wertheim Performing Arts Center on the FIU campus. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 305-348-3789 or visit www.fiu.edu/thedan.

Miami Jewish Film Festival
For some entertaining and thought-provoking films and programming, check out the Miami Jewish Film Festival, which begins Saturday, Jan. 21 with an outdoor screening of Go for Zucker at the Miami Botanical Garden. The rest of the festival will take place in various venues in Miami. Visit www.caje-miami.org for a full schedule.

The Wacky World of Public Domain
Cinema Vortex chief programmer Barron Sherer delights in presenting wacking, quirky films you won’t find anywhere else. Case in point is his latest foray into the world of public domain films. “Consumption Junction” is Cinema Vortex’s first compilation film examining the American obsession of consumerism through eyes alien to our culture,
literally. Martians from the public domain cult classic Santa Claus vs. the Martians try their best to understand our culture while bombarded with a manic montage of TV dinners, mass production and credit cards, all with vintage film clips tripping through American consumer culture from its tentative beginnings in the 1930s to its explosive
development after World War II. “Consumption Junction” screens Friday, January 27, 7 p.m., at Wolfosonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Admission is free. For more information, call 305-614-5700 or visit www.cinemavortex.org.

Songweaver
Miami singer and songwriter Amy Carol Webb will perform at Arts at St. Johns Saturday, Jan. 28. Webb is a popular singer and musician, and the evening will feature her eclectic mix of folk, rock, country and blues. For more information, visit www.artsatstjohns.com.

For the Love of Dance flamingo is home at last

A Flamingo Comes Home
In 2001, beautifully painted flamingos began appearing all over Miami Beach, part of the city’s Flamingos on the Beach program. Patrons commissioned and sponsored the flamingos to create this public art exhibit. After the initial exhibit, the flamingos were moved to various locations and are still on parade around the city. A very popular flamingo, called For the Love of Dance, was commissioned by the Burstein Family Foundation and designed by artist Noel, and during the initial event was on display at the Jackie Gleason Theatre and later moved to 18th Ave. and Washington St. Although the flamingo took a hiatus recently to be restored, it’s back in all its vibrant glory for all to see and admire.