Mary Damiano Photo by David Vance

Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

Have you noticed how busy January has gotten when it comes to arts events?  It seems like every night there’s a show opening, a great concert, a festival or something wonderful to go and have a great time.  Read this issue of MiamiARTzine.com and you’ll see what I mean.  From the gender-bending performance of Scott Turner Schofield to the aerial arts of Animate Objects Physical Theatre, from the world-class poets appearing at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival to a new world premiere by local playwright Michael McKeever, South Florida presents us with a vast horizon of diverse artistic pursuits.  So read all about them and pursue at will, because there really is something for everyone. 

The poster for Art Deco Weekend 2008, by Miami-based artist Philip Brooker

Art Deco Meets Broadway
Art Deco Weekend is going uptown—way, way, uptown—for its 2008 festival, all the way up to Broadway.  The theme will celebrate Broadway musicals from the 1930s and 1940s with “Anything Goes: Art Deco Taps its Toes,” and it will explore a time when Art Deco and Broadway collaborated.  The festival’s slate of events includes lectures, films, photographic exhibitions, antiques and collectibles, classic cars, art and crafts, guided tours, musical attractions, the third annual “Light Up the Drive” opening night parade and “Arf Deco Weekend” dog promenade, food vendors, as well as performances and hands-on activities for children. To complement the theme, a special discussion panel will star top Broadway producers Manny Kladitis, Leonard Soloway and Miles Wilkins. Playbill president Philip Birsh will present a lecture on Broadway history. The “Light Up the Drive” evening parade will feature as Grand Marshal Broadway legend Doris Eaton, the last living Ziegfeld girl. A new addition this year is the Little Miss Art Deco, a children’s beauty pageant that will feature tots done up like Shirley Temple.  Art Deco Weekend 2008 takes place Friday, January 18 and runs through Sunday, January 20 on Ocean Drive between 5th and 15th Streets in the historic Art Deco District.  For more information and a full schedule of events, call 305-672-2014 or visit ArtDecoWeekend.com.

Barbie Freeman as Eve in The Exiles

Gaining Momentum
Meet the dancers of Momentum Dance Company Sunday, January 20, 7 p.m. at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach.  The program is aimed at giving the audience a look at the dance process from the inside out.  Artistic director Delma Iles will introduce newly appointed associate artistic director Josée Garant, and new director of operations David Dacquisto.  Momentum dancers, an international group of artists, will each tell a little about themselves, their training, background and personal interests.  The dancers will warm up in a short onstage class conducted by Garant.  The audience will have a chance to interact with the dancers and choreographers, ask questions, share observations and offer feedback.  The audience will also see highlights of the 2008 repertory, including excerpts from The Exiles, the 1951 masterwork by Jose Limon, a choreographic take on the story of Adam and Eve, performed by principal dancer Danella Bedford with Brazilian Odman Felix; Grow!, which celebrates the passing of the seasons in a garden, a piece created by Iles in 2006; Brecht Suite, which evokes the nervous angst and unforgiving human drama of pre-war Germany through portraits set to cabaret songs by Berthold Brecht/Kurt Weil, also created by Iles in 1996 for internationally recognized Cuban ballerina Rosario (Charin) Suarez, when she first arrived in America. There will also be a sneak preview of Voices, a new work by Garant, a technically demanding trio set to a postwar string quartet by Shostakovich. Tickets are $15 general admission, $8 for students and seniors, available now at the Colony Theater Box Office, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach.  For tickets and information, call 305-858-7002 or visit momentumdance.com.

The cast of Altar Boyz at Actor’s Playhouse: Andrew Grosshandler, Jose Luaces, Ven Daniel, Christopher Hudson Myers, Xander Chauncey Photo: Christopher Jahn

Theatre Openings
There’s lots going on in theatre over the next two weeks.  Michael McKeever’s farce Suite Surrender is running through February 17 at the Caldwell in Boca.  For more info, read the story in this issue. caldwelltheatre.com.  Altar Boyz is at Actor’s Playhouse in Coral Gables through February 10.  It’s a musical comedy about a Christian boy band.  actorsplayhouse.org.  I Love a Piano runs January 23 through February 3 at Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale.  It’s a retrospective of the musical career of Irving Berlin.  www.parkerplayhouse.org.  Florida Stage has another world premiere with The Count by Roger Heddon, about a mysterious stranger who has gained influence over a patriarch. It runs January 25 through March 2.  floridastage.org.  Martin McDonaugh’s The Lonesome West comes to Naked Stage in North Miami January 24 through February 17.  It’s a dark comedy about two brothers living in their father’s house after his “accidental” death by shotgun. nakedstage.org. Inside Out Theatre Company in Fort Lauderdale has Tall Grass by Brian Harris, a trio of dark comedies with twist endings. insideout.org.  The musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels returns to South Florida for a stint at Broward Center; it’s based on the Steve Martin-Michael Caine movie about con men on the French Riviera.  browardcenter.org.

The firemen of GableStage’s production of Fahrenheit 451, which is the subject of a documentary airing on WLRN Photo: George Schiavone

Fiery Documentary About Local Theatre
How do you adapt a classic work of literature to the stage? And what impact do the performing arts, specifically theater, have on students? The answers lie in the riveting 60-minute documentary about the creative process behind live theater, which deals with the entire process of mounting Fahrenheit 451 at GableStage in Coral Gables.  The documentary will take viewers on a rare behind the scenes look at what it takes to get that standing ovation when the curtain draws at the end of the final scene.  Several cameras capture the relationship between the actors, set and sound designers and the director of the production, Joseph Adler.  GableStage has consistently been at the foreground of bringing a variety of cutting-edge plays to South Florida. Each season, they select one play, which is performed (in addition to their regular audience) for thousands of students from Miami-Dade public high schools and middle schools.  Director/editor Walter Collins and his crew were given complete access to the entire process.  In addition to behind the scenes footage the program provides interviews with Adler, the cast, designers, comments from students, several commissioners as well as writer Ray Bradbury.  Fahrenheit 451: The Making of a Play will be broadcast Monday, January 28, 7 p.m. on WLRN Channel 17.

Music and Mime
The Cleveland Orchestra Miami residency enters its second year at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami-Dade County this month with a week of subscription concerts featuring works by Dvořák, Debussy, Mozart and Stravinsky.  In addition to the concerts, Cleveland Orchestra will collaborate in an educational process for Miami musicians at New World Symphony and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, including master classes, reading sessions of new music and access to Cleveland Orchestra’s working rehearsals.  Also, the Orchestra will provide educational concerts for fifth grade students, Musical Rainbows for younger school children, and high-school coachings for older students.  A highlight of the residency will be “The Mozart Experience” at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, January 27 at 2 p.m., in which the orchestra, under the direction of conductor Jayce Ogren, will team up with artists from the Magic Circle Mime Co.  The event will combine mime and music in an imaginative way to introduce young audiences and their families to the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Audiences will enjoy excerpts of Mozart's famous works, including “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”, “Overture to The Impresario”, “Papageno's Song” from The Magic Flute, and more.   The one-hour family concert, which is recommended for children ages 7 and up, is designed for families to enjoy high-quality, kid-friendly orchestral music, offering parents the opportunity to educate their children and enrich their lives through exposure to the musical arts. For more information and tickets, call 305-949-6722 or visit www.carnivalcenter.org.  Music lovers interested in Cleveland Orchestra performances in Miami can be added to the priority mailing list by calling 305-372-7747 or e-mailing miami@clevelandorchestra.com

Cristóbal Gabarrón, with one of the 11 sculptures he created to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Don Quixote

The Don, Up Close and Personal
The Miami Beach Botanical Garden will present an exhibition by Spanish artist Crisbόbal Gabarrόn of the “Don Quixote” sculpture series with a reception on Thursday, January 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. with the artist. The reception is free and open to the public. Students of the Theatre Arts Department of Florida International University will perform excerpts from Don Quixote and songs from the musical The Man of La Mancha.  Gabarrón, a painter and sculptor, is considered one of the most interesting and representative Spanish creators of recent artistic generations. He created the 11 sculptures in the series as a tribute to the 400th anniversary of the first publication of El Quijote by Miguel de Cervantes. Each sculpture represents a primary character of the classic novel, including Don Quixote de la Mancha, Rocinante, Sancho, Dulcinea, The Mill, The Priest, Montesinos, The Innkeeper, Maese Pedro, El Bachiller Sanson Carrasco, Don Miguel de Cervantes.  Born in Mula, Murcia in 1945, Gabarron began his artistic profession in 1964 when he began composing figurative works influenced by nature and the rural setting of Castile. From these natural pieces, Gabarrón quickly moved towards the abstract. His work has been featured in more than one hundred exhibitions, both personal and collective, and he has participated in prestigious biennials, and been awarded numerous prizes throughout the world. His work has been published in some 30 books.  The “Don Quixote” exhibit at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, sponsored by the Gabarrón Foundation, continues until February 7.  The Miami Beach Botanical Garden is located at 2000 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach.  mbgarden.org.

Mosaic Goes for Home Run with Triple Play
The Mosaic Theatre’s Richard Jay Simon has come up with a unique solution to a problem too many artistic directors in South Florida face: How to get younger audiences into the theatre.  With three plays left in the season, Dirty Story by John Patrick Shanley, A Body of Water by Lee Blessing and Wrecks by Neil LaBute, Mosaic is offering free Triple-Play subscriptions to the first 100 individuals between the ages of 25-40 that request their tickets by February 1. All you need is proper ID, so money can no longer be a "barrier to entry" for young professionals interested in broadening their cultural horizons. The hope is, of course, that Triple-Play subscribers will like what they see and become regular patrons of the Mosaic.  It might even whet their appetites for other cultural venues.  Richard tells me that about 65 people have already taken him up on the offer, so if you want in, act fast.  To sign up, call or 954-57-STAGE or e-mail Naomi@mosaictheatre.com