Miami can’t seem to get enough flamenco. And the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts has been ground zero for satisfying that desire, bringing in numerous international flamenco stars and festivals. Like this year’s eighth annual Flamenco Festival inside the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall. The star…
Irony, along with brevity, can be the soul of wit. But if it’s done poorly, irony is the bailiwick of unimaginative writers who can’t see past the most obvious cognitive dissonance. The psychiatrist who needs a psychiatrist, the professional matchmaker whose love life is a shambles, and the self-help guru…
In the immortal words of Heath Ledger’s Joker, “Why so serious?!” With sea levels rising, epic traffic issues, and rising housing costs, Miamians need some comic relief. Luckily, the South Beach Comedy Festival (SBCF) is coming up, so we’ll have plenty of chances to practice our gleeful guffaws. This year’s…
Georges Bizet’s life was tragic enough for an opera. The composer of the iconic work Carmen died at the young age of 37, well before fame had found him. Even the work for which he’s best known was panned by critics, who were shocked by the low-life characters. A prostitute,…
Organizers Hannah Baumgartner and Diego Salterini — co-founders of Dance Now! Miami — created Miami Open Stage for talented Miami choreographers to showcase their new work. They also intended it as a venue for dance enthusiasts looking for a chance to discover what’s happening on the ground floor, and to…
Named after the group of laborers that mounts plays in the woods in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this Austin-based collective launched in 1995 after its members, then undergrads at the University of Texas, studied the Bard in barns. It was all part of a summer retreat called Shakespeare at…
Forty-eight hours before the curtain rises, director James Danner, assistant director Déa Julien, and production designer Rachel Libeskind take a short break at the Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI). They’ve been at the artist-run space, nestled among culturally disparate downtown locales such as Club Space and Museum Park, since Thursday, making…
If your S.O. would love to spend Valentine’s weekend at the ballet, but to you that sounds like a total bore, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo may be a happy compromise. This all-male, drag version of classic ballet has been charming audiences around the world for almost 40 years,…
A high-intensity drama about spirited Spaniards seems like such a good fit for Miami City Ballet, you’d think company artistic director Lourdes Lopez ran out looking for Carmen. But in a way it was Carmen that came to her. As the centerpiece of MCB’s third program of the season, this…
We’re a country of snap judgments. In the court of public opinion, we render verdicts with the same knee-jerk immediacy that we employ to consume news. It’s all headlines and tweets. We lack the time, inclination, and attention span to go beneath the surface. Twelve Angry Men delves deeper. Reginald…
There’s no better cure for boredom than a group of people breaking out into song and dance. In ordinary life, that would be strange and random — especially since flash mobs are no longer a thing — but in the theater, it’s a sheer marvel. We enjoy the songs that…
Ray Sullivan’s Miami Contemporary Dance Company, one of Miami’s most celebrated and inventive dance ensembles, celebrates its 15th birthday with a premier performance at the Colony Theatre this weekend. Sullivan has entitled the evening “Light.” He offers his audience not only a mediation on light but also portrait of the…
It was the Shepard Fairey murals at Wynwood Walls that first caught Justin Peck’s eye. The choreographer went to Wynood Walls looking for inspiration, and he certainly found it. Fairey’s murals feature prominently in Peck’s latest piece, Heatscape, which will premiere at the Miami City Ballet in March. “[Fairey] works…
In 1992, Disney took a chance on a little story about scrappy newsboys who formed a union and changed the industry. The movie, Newsies, bombed in the theaters. But nearly two decades later, Disney adapted the movie to a live-action musical and began to reap the rewards of their hard…
Tuesday night in Wynwood, interested possible applicants, proud previous winners, and engaged Miamians gathered at Gramps for the Knight Arts Challenge Kickoff event, sponsored by Infraculture. A major funding project of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Knight Arts Challenge awarded $2.29 million to 47 projects last…
Seth Meyers is one funny dude. You don’t need to watch NBC’s Late Night or even have to know his previous work on Saturday Night Live, where he spent 13 years as head writer, to enjoy a night with him. You do, however, need to get a kick out of…
When Seth Meyers was tapped to take over Late Night, it wasn’t that surprising. Already a year into the gig, and Meyers has been able to set himself apart from his predecessors Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, and David Letterman, by injecting his own brand of witty humor into Late Night…
Like few other rivers, the Nile has captured humankind’s imagination from antiquity to today — a source of life and inspiration, but of conflict as well. Just ask the men and women who integrate the group of performers, educators and activists known as the Nile Project. Incredible music springs from…
This week Tigertail Productions presents its second ScreenDance Miami festival, which will highlight mostly local choreographers and filmmakers who are working with movement and dance on film, and dance on camera. Many dance makers are experienced with using video and film to record and preserve dance compositions and performances, or…
There’s a thin line between painting and directing. Both inherently visual mediums, painting and directing can often inform each other. Vincent Gallo, Steve McQueen, and Jean Cocteau all had their creative starts in the visual arts, before moving on to direct plays and films. For local playwright Wendy White, the…
When dancing in tandem with the elements, anything can happen, which is part of the beauty of The National Water Dance Project’s site-specific performance on Saturday, taking place on the sand and on the edge of the water in North Beach. “The sand, the water, affects the way the body…
As GableStage prepares for the opening of Choir Boy, its fourth Tarell Alvin McCraney production in as many seasons, artistic director Joseph Adler can’t stop himself from talking about the playwright and Miami native. “I’ve known him since he was in high school at New World, and I’ve watched his…
