Mary Damiano Photo by David Vance

 Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

Spherical Glass Sculpture by Henry Richardson

Art in Bloom
MiamiARTzine.com and the Miami Beach Arts Trust have once again been invited to be sponsors of the fifth annual Art in Bloom, an arts event presented at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden in conjunction with Art Miami.  The team at MiamiARTzine.com will be out in full force at the preview reception on Thursday, January 4, from 6 to 9 p.m., so come on out to this terrific, free event, meet, greet and enjoy the art.  The reception will also feature an 8 p.m. performance by Momentum Dance Company of an environmentally themed dance. Visitors can enjoy Art in Bloom at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden from January 4 to 8, in conjunction with Art Miami. Installations outdoors on the Great Lawn include a spherical glass sculpture by Henry Richardson of Massachusetts, bamboo installations by Brad Hallock, and indoor sculpture, painting and installations by Ani Villanueva, Skip Van Cel and other cutting edge contemporary artists. The exhibit, with Carol Jazzar as curator, runs parallel and is supported by Art Miami, to showcase emerging local talent.  Art in Bloom 5 is free and open to the public. The Miami Beach Botanical Garden, owned by the City of Miami Beach and operated by the Miami Beach Garden Conservancy, is located at 2000 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach.  For information, call 305-673-7256, ext. 206 and visit mbgarden.org.

Theatre League President Meredith Lasher and Raphael de Acha, who was honored the Pioneer Award by the South Florida Theatre League

Theatre League Holiday Party
The South Florida Theatre League honored its own at their annual holiday party with the presentation of the Remy Awards, named for Rem Cabrera, Theatre League founder and cultural administrator of the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Department.   Local playwright, arts supporter and Theatre League secretary Tony Finstrom was honored with the Service Award for his dedication to both the Theatre League and the South Florida arts community. Raphael de Acha, founder and former artistic director of New Theatre was honored with the Pioneer Award for his career in theatre.  If you’ve been thinking about joining the theatre League, now’s a great time, not only are there lots of great benefits, but the league’s Unified Auditions are coming up.  The Unified Auditions allow members to audition for many artistic directors of area theatres at once. For more info on the Theatre League, visit theatreleague.net.  For more photos of the South Florida Theatre League holiday party, visit the photo gallery.

Back by Popular Demand
Three Angels Dancing on the Needle, which had a short run in October, will return in January to Deluxe Arts, 2051 NW 2 Avenue in the Wynwood District from January 11-28.  This is an encore of the inaugural production of Square Peg, a new theatre company.  Three Angels was written by exiled Iranian playwright Assurbanipal Babilla and directed by Michael Yawney.  The play is described as a controversial comedy about pure love, pure lust and all the impure thoughts in between.  Three Angels will be paired with Nerves, a short movement piece that compresses a lifetime of bad dates into 15 minutes.  Nerves was inspired by playwright Charles Mee and developed and created by Square Peg. Showtimes are Thursdays through Saturday, 8 p.m. and Sunday, 2 p.m.  For more info and to make reservations, call 786-214-6040.

Steve Gladstone and Avi Hoffman in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, playing through January 7 at the Park Vista Theatre in Boynton Beach

Theatre Openings
The musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the inaugural production from Avi Hoffman’s New Vista Theatre Company, opened December 21 and runs through January 7 at Park Vista Theatre, 7900 Jog Road, Boynton Beach.  A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is about a Roman slave who tries to gain his freedom through a series of favors. For tickets, call 1-888-284-4633 ext. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The GableStage Theatre in Coral Gables opens David Mamet’s comedy Romance on December 30, running through January 28.  Romance is a courtroom comedy that lampoons lawyers, judges, gays, chiropractors, Arabs and Jews. There will be a special New Year’s Eve dinner and a show package available, which includes tickets to Romance, a champagne supper at the Biltmore.  All proceeds benefit the GableStage’s educational programming. Visit gablestage.org for more information.

Steel Magnolias, the popular comic weeper by Robert Harling about the relationships between the women who frequent a small southern beauty shop officially opens January 5 at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton and runs through February 11.  For more info, visit caldwelltheatre.com.

Palm Beach Dramaworks begins the new year with Trying, a play by Joanna Glass.  Set in the 1960s, Trying is about a former attorney general and the young woman who becomes his assistant.  Trying runs from January 5 to February 11. For more information, visit palmbeachdramaworks.org

Chita Rivera will appear at Carnival Center in Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life

Kick off the new year with one of the greatest stars of all time when Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, comes to Carnival Center. Written by Terrance McNally, the show chronicles Chita’s journey from aspiring ballerina to Broadway legend and includes numbers from West Side Story, Chicago, Bye Bye Birdie, and Kiss of the Spider Woman.  Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life runs January 2-7 at the Ziff Ballet Opera House.  For more information, visit carnivalcenter.org.

Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus Pumps Up the Holidays
It may be December, but I must send an unabashed valentine to the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus.  It was a big week for the guys.  Not only did they make their TV debut Sunday morning on WTVJ with Kelly Craig, but on Tuesday, December 19, they performed their annual holiday show for the first time at Broward Center for the Performing Arts.  This one-night-only event had been sold out for some time, with nearly 600 available tickets snatched up by fans and folks who know a good thing when they see it and didn’t want to be left out of what was sure to be a spectacular concert.

Of course, the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus did not disappoint.  The show, “Holly Jolly Holidays, was flawless from beginning to end.  There were so many incredible moments and performances, including Mark Martin’s rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman”, which was very Michael Buble; Daniel Gibson’s spirited “Go Tell It on the Mountain”; the “Mr. Santa” number, a sort of rewrite of “Mr. Sandman”, which combined healthy doses of naughty and nice; and a stirring rendition of “The Little Drummer Boy”, featuring the magnificent vocals of Alex Crotts.

But the big moment was the closing song, “O Holy Night”, done by soloists James Perkowski and Daniel Gibson and accompanied by the chorus.  There are hardly words to describe the way their voices soared together and filled every inch of the theatre. Every member of the audience was on their feet the moment the song ended for a standing ovation that lasted several minutes, and would have gone on longer had the chorus not launched into an encore.

The Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus has a lot of stuff coming up.  They’re holding auditions in January; check out the Arts Opportunities page in this issue of MiamiARTzine.com for more info.  In February they’ll star in the 5^th Annual South Florida Choral Festival.  And in March, they’re off to Los Angeles by special invitation to perform with Donna Summer.  That gig grew from their performance at April’s Carbonell Awards at Broward Center, when they so impressed host Florence Henderson that she began singing their praises on the west coast.