Mary Damiano Photo by David Vance

 Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

New World School of the Arts students star in Rising Stars, a gala fundraiser celebrating the school’s 20th anniversary

Reaching for the Stars
New World School of the Arts continues their 20^th anniversary celebration with NWSA Rising Stars, a gala showcasing the talented students at the school.  The fun begins Friday, March 16 with a visual arts exhibition at the New World Gallery in downtown Miami from 5-7 p.m., followed by a musical extravaganza at Gusman Center for the Performing Arts at 7 p.m., with a reception across the street at the Alfred I. DuPont Building at 9 p.m.  The work on exhibit will be based on the theme “Interpretative Self Portrait”. The exhibition will consist of 40 pieces of juried work; 20 from the high school and 20 from the college. The work represented will come from their fields of study; drawing, electronic intermedia, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. On stage at the Gusman, students from NWSA’s Dance, Music and Theater Divisions will perform a non-stop production of Broadway, classical, and dance showstoppers.  Rising Stars will also honor alumni, including Wen-Shuan Yang, a Taiwanese-born NWSA graduate who is currently performing with New York’s ZviDance Company and as a guest artist with the Keigwin+Company.  Yang will soon be seen in her film debut in Across the Universe, a musical directed by Julie Taymor and choreographed by Daniel Ezralow, and has been seen as soloist in the Lincoln Center Festival chamber opera production of Silver River, and the Metropolitan Opera production of, directed by Zhang Yimou.  For more information and to purchase tickets, visit mdc.edu/nwsa.

Bruce Linser

The Actor as Playwright
Actor Bruce Linser is currently appearing in The Lion in Winter at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton, but Linser will be donning his playwright hat when his play, Synergy, gets a staged reading Monday, March 12, at the GableStage Theatre in Coral Gables.  Some of the finest actors in South Florida have assembled for the reading, including Brandon Morris, Antonio Amadeo, Terrell Hardcastle, Kathryn Lee Johnston, Annemaria Rajala, Peter Haig, and Daniel Gomez.  The reading starts at 7:30 p.m. and is free to the public.  gablestage.org.

Miami Modern architecture in North Beach

MiMo Walking Tours
MiMo, the nickname for the style of architecture called Miami Modern, which flourished after World War II, is often overshadowed by the Art Deco of Miami Beach.  Art Deco is sleeker, while MiMo tends toward whimsical.  North Beach abounds with examples of MiMo, and there’s no better way to explore this delightful blast from the past with a walking tour.  Tours resume in North Beach Saturday, March 3 at 10:30 a.m. and continue on the first Saturday of each month until August.  The tour meets at 1181 71 St. and lasts nearly two hours.  The cost is $20.  Credit cards are accepted.  For more information, call 305-865-4147 or
visit gonorthbeach.com.

Director John Waters

An Explosion of Art
Art Explosion 2007, a two-week gay and lesbian arts festival, kicks off Saturday, March 3, 6-9 p.m., at ArtServe, 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale.  The opening will give guests the opportunity to meet the many artists whose work will be exhibited, and will include book signings, dance and vocal performances.  Tickets for opening night are $5 and the exhibition will be at ArtServe through March 16.  There are many other Art Explosion events during the two-week festival, including a John Waters film retrospective at Cinema Paradiso on Tuesday, March 13.  Three of Waters’ cult classic will be shown, Pink Flamingos, Polyester and Hairspray, which all star late actor Divine.  The evening is hosted by Misty Eyez and while tickets are $5 per film or $10 for all three, if you come in drag you get in free. Also, Miami Beach’s own David Leddick will perform his show Presenting Gilda Lilly: My Years in Hollywood at Cinema Paradiso on Sunday, March 11, at 8 p.m.  I saw this show at the Deauville a few months ago, and David Leddick is charming and hilarious as a fictional movie queen from the golden age of Hollywood.   Tickets for Presenting Gilda Lilly are $25, and can be purchased by calling 877-877-7677.  Art Explosion is presented by ArtsUnited, an organization that promotes and showcases the work of gay and lesbian artists.  For information about Art Explosion 2007, contact Chuck Williams, ArtsUnited1@aol.com.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol Lecture at MAM
Bob Colacello was editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine for 12 years, so he knew the eccentric pop artist well.  Colacello has also written books on Warhol, and will share his experiences working under Warhol and how the art of portraiture has evolved in a lecture at the Miami Art Museum Saturday, March 3 at 11:30 a.m.  The lecture will take place in the museum’s auditorium and seating is limited, so get there early.  miamiartmuseum.org.

Waiting by Silvius Krecu, part of the new show at ArtRouge Gallery

Exhibition of Nudes at Art Rouge Gallery
The nude female body is being showcased in the new exhibition at Art Rouge Gallery, which features drawings in mixed media on paper and also paintings in oil on canvas by Enrique Sierra and Silvius Krecu of the United States and Ashot Asatrian of Armenia.  All three artists use the female body as one of their greatest sources of inspiration. Their fascination extends beyond the raw form of the female body, but by society’s perceptions of that form and how those perceptions have changed throughout history and culture. The exhibition runs through March 25 at Art Rouge Gallery, 3275 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables.  artrouge.com.

Jerry Gulledge and Gary Marachek in La Cage Aux Folles at Actor’s Playhouse Photo: Alberto Romeu

Theatre Openings
One of the most produced musicals in history, The Fantasticks, gets the Public Theatre treatment in Broward beginning March 3.  The story is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet.  The Fantasticks runs through April 1.  publictheatre.com. If you remember the 1980s, then you remember Molly Ringwald.  See the ex-Brat Packer kick up her heels in Sweet Charity at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, March 6-11.  kravis.org.  Actor’s Playhouse in Coral Gables, which specializes in big splashy musicals, continues their season with La Cage Aux Folles, which runs March 9 to April 8.  actorsplayhouse.org.  Sol Theatre in Fort Lauderdale pushes the envelope once again with their production of Beirut, a futuristic love story, which opens March 9.  soltheatre.com.  Downtown West Palm Breach’s gem, Palm Beach Dramaworks, is back with Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, the story of an adulterous affair told in reverse.  It runs March 9 to April 7.  palmbeachdramaworks.org.  Broadway comes to Broward Center March 13 with The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a musical about---well, you figure it out.  It runs through March 25.  browardcenter.org.