Mary Damiano Photo by David Vance

Mary Damiano’s Arts Scene

The cast and accompanist of Scrooge in Rouge, a new musical take on A Christmas Carol, playing Thanksgiving weekend at Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale.

Scrooge in Rouge
Here’s another twist on a classic Christmas tale: the naughty musical Scrooge in Rouge: A British Musical Hall Christmas Carol, which will be presented at Cinema Paradiso November 27-29. This three-actor musical stars Rickey Graham, Varla Jean Merman, and Yvette Hargis portraying more than 20 characters between them. Scrooge in Rouge provides giddy games of gender, identity, reality and theatricality, all within the framework of the music hall at its early height in 1843, the year that Charles Dickens wrote his potboiler of a morality tale to make a quick quid. The site and era of this wickedly fun satire fast forwards to a tatty establishment in Victorian England, where the 20-member Variety Players presentation of their beloved musical melodrama A Christmas Carol becomes seriously hampered by 17 of the players falling victim to food poisoning. It would make Dickens, The Bard and every other thespian of repute proud to know that the diminished players opt for “the show must go on.” As the action to do so is ignited, in the truest sense of the overused phrase—hilarity ensues. Scrooge in Rouge runs for five performances Thanksgiving weekend, and the show is recommended for those over 18. Cinema Paradiso is located at 503 SE 6 St. in downtown Fort Lauderdale. For more information, visit www.fliff.com.

Playwright and actor Mark Della Ventura

Local Playwrights and Actors Team up for Staged Readings
South Florida playwrights and actors team up to present “An Evening of Free Staged Readings,” December 4 and 5, at 8 p.m., sponsored by Sixth Star Studios in Fort Lauderdale. The evening features staged readings of original one-act plays and monologues by local actors and playwrights Mark Della Ventura and David Michael Sirois, addressing topics like baseball, cashiering, funerals, and even the Miami-Dade Police Department. The cast includes South Florida actors Lela Elam, Manny Garay, Katie Gemignani, David Hemphill, Ashley Olberding, and Gladys Ramirez, as well as Sirois and Della Ventura. “An Evening of Free Staged Readings” will be presented at Sixth Star Studios, 31 NW 5 St., Fort Lauderdale. While admission is free, seating is limited.

Legendary performer Rita Moreno will perform at the Miniaci in Davie December 4 and 5.

Rita Moreno Does Cabaret
Legendary performer Rita Moreno will perform in South Florida in a special two-night engagement. “An Evening with Rita Moreno in Cabaret” will be presented Friday, December 4 and Saturday December 5 at the Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center on the campus of Nova University in Davie. A special VIP ticket for Friday night includes the performance and admission to a private reception with Moreno. Rita Moreno is one of a handful of performers to have entertainment’s quadruple crown—winning a Tony, and Oscar, a Grammy and an Emmy, during her illustrious career. The Rose & Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center is located at 3100 Ray Fererro Jr., Blvd., Davie. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.miniacipac.org.

Edwin Suarez and Esther Pardo will perform Flamenco at the Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida fundraiser December 5.

Ballet Company Holds Benefit
Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida will present an evening of dinner, dancing, wine, socializing and a silent auction—all with a Spanish theme. The event, a benefit fundraiser for the growing non-profit ballet company, will be held December 5, 6:30 p.m., at the company’s new studios on Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami Beach. The menu for the evening includes Spanish Paella by established chef Xavier Bonnafous, plus salad, dessert, and wine or other beverages. Guests will be treated to entertainment from the dancers of Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida, including excerpts of several Spanish ballets and other Spanish themed dances. Performances include Miho Yoshioma as the seductive gypsy in Esmeralda; Erin Simons-Brown performing the Kitri variation from, Don Quixote and Olga Mekhonoshina performing a variation from Paquita. Additional entertainment includes Flamenco dancer Esther Pardo, as well as a flamenco performance by the participants of the Flamenco division. Tickets are $40 per person, $70 per couple, and $240 for a table of eight. To purchase tickets, call 305-948-4777 or email artsballet@bellsouth.net before December 1.

Dorothy Morrison, part of the cast of The Trip to Bountiful, which will receive a staged reading by Conundrum Stages.

Conundrum Stages Presents Reading of Horton Foote Play
Conundrum Stages, now in its 5th year of showcasing local talent in staged readings of classic plays, will present The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote. The reading will be presented Saturday, December 5, 1 p.m., at the Broward County Library Galt Ocean Mile Reading Center, 3403 Galt Ocean Drive, Fort Lauderdale Beach. Admission is free. The Trip to Bountiful tells the story of Carrie Watts, an elderly woman who lives with her beleaguered son and her bossy daughter-in-law. After one argument too many, Carrie escapes the suffocation of their Houston flat, and sets out to go back to her childhood home. On the journey, she befriends a young woman traveling alone and reminisces about her younger years. Carrie’s son and daughter-in-law, with the help of the local police force, are in hot pursuit. But when Carrie arrives in her hometown, she doesn’t find what she expects. This reading of The Trip to Bountiful is directed by Paula Sackett and features South Florida actors Dorothy Morrison, Andre Gainey, Carey Hart, Kenyatta Browne, Gary Simpson, Justin Mellender and Edward Max. For more information, please call 954-537-2877.

Billy Crystal brings his autobiographical play 700 Sundays to the Arsht Center.

Billy’s Sundays
Billy Crystal will bring 700 Sundays, his Tony Award-winning Broadway blockbuster, to Miami as part of a six-city American tour of limited engagements. 700 Sundays, a play performed and written by Crystal with additional content by Alan Zweibel, comes to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County for six performances only beginning Tuesday, December 8 through Sunday, December 13. 700 Sundays, an autobiographical journey, is an original two-act play in which Crystal plays numerous characters that have influenced who he is today. It deals with his youth, growing up in the jazz world of Manhattan, his teenage years, and finally adulthood. It is about family and fate, loving and loss. “I have thought about 700 Sundays at least once a day since the last time I performed it in Australia two years ago,” says Crystal. “My love for these characters from the canvas of my life and the incredible connection that I feel with audiences while sharing this personal story have made this one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. I knew I wasn’t done performing it and I knew I’d like to bring the show back when the time felt right. I’m so happy to be playing Miami this fall.” For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.arshtcenter.org.

Ken Clement and Irene Adjan in the new musical Another Night Before Christmas at Actors’ Playhouse.

Theatre Openings
M Ensemble will kick off their 2009-2010 season with August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, November 12 through December 20. Gem of the Ocean is Wilson’s first installment in his 10-play “Pittsburgh Cycle,” chronicling African-American life in the 20th Century. Set in 1904, Gem of the Ocean introduces several characters who are referenced in later Wilson plays, including Aunt Ester, a healer who claims to be 285 years old; Solly Two Kings, who was born into slavery and scouted for the Union Army; and Citizen Barlow, a young man from Alabama searching for a new life and redemption. www.themensemble.com. Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables offers up a dose up holiday cheer with the new musical Another Night Before Christmas. A new take on the famous poem commonly known as Twas the Night Before Christmas, the musical concerns a dispirited social worker who takes in a homeless man who claims to be Santa Claus. Another Night Before Christmas runs December 4-27. www.actorsplayhouse.org.

Conductor James Judd

Master Chorale of South Florida Performs Handel’s Messiah
The Master Chorale of South Florida and the Broward Center present Handel's Messiah on Sunday, December 6 at 2:30 p.m. in the Au-Rene Theater as part of the Broward Center’s Classical Series. Maestro James Judd leads the Master Chorale in a special holiday performance of one of the most popular works in Western choral literature, which contains the "Hallelujah Chorus." Formed to ensure that world-class performances of major works written for chorus and orchestra remain part of South Florida’s cultural fabric, the ensemble is now in its sixth season. Tickets are $15, $35, $45, $55 and $75. For more information, visit www.browardcenter.org.

Photographer Kat Rabbitt will present her photo exhibition, “Gender Bender,” at Dennis Dean Galleries in Wilton Manors.

Gender Bender
Florida native Kat Rabbitt brings her photography exhibition “Gender Bender” to the Dennis Dean Galleries in Wilton Manors for a four-week engagement beginning Saturday, December 5. You can meet the artist at two opening weekend receptions, which will be held Saturday, December 5, 6-8 p.m. and Sunday, December 6, 1-3 p.m. Beverages and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Dennis Dean Galleries is located at 2440-B Wilton Dr., in Wilton Manors, upstairs from New Moon. The exhibition runs through January 4.

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