It’s hard to talk about Magic City without discussing its place in the shadow of Mad Men. We watched the premiere of Magic City immediately after a new episode of Mad Men, which seemed counter-productive. Like eating a steak and then realizing you have to eat a cheeseburger as well…
Microtheater Miami: Speed Dating for Theater Lovers
You’d think that giving the job of the Miami City Ballet director to a Cuban-born, Miami-raised, seasoned dance pro would be just about the least controversial move a South Florida arts organization could make. But you’d be wrong.Miami City Ballet named Lourdes Lopez as the successor to Edward Villella, company…
Last week on Dancing With The Stars, Martina Navratilova was eliminated. We had a lot of fun making jokes that Martina would be the first eliminated, but… um… yeah, that’s pretty much it. Not to say she wasn’t memorable, but we almost submitted this recap before realizing we called her…
A cheer catchier than the material girl’s new song that chants MDNA rang through the streets of Coconut Grove last evening. Calls of “Give it back, give it back” could be heard reverberating off the facade of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, which was shuttered in 2006 and left to decline…
The 36th annual Carbonell Awards were handed out amid shrieks and thunderous applause from the audience at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Only one pair of presenters was impaired — or aided, you choose — by alcohol, and there was just the right amount of surprise in most…
I’m just going to come right out and say it: I am a wimp. A pansy. One of those girls who has to ask men to open jars and help get her luggage down from the overhead compartment. I’ve never been naturally gifted when it comes to sports, and I’ve…
Tonight, South Florida’s biggest names in theater will gather at the Carbonell Awards, our regional version of the Tonys.But in Coconut Grove, another theater-minded group of people will gather in an attempt to resuscitate a former venue for live performance: the Coconut Grove Playhouse.”Give It Back” has called for concerned…
A Cuban society woman turned inept American housekeeper drags a recalcitrant mop bucket across the patio between her awkwardly spread legs. A wide-eyed dilettante, her bird-like frame wrapped in tropical hues, reads a nuclear fallout shelter’s user manual — including bits about what to do with your radioactive hair –…
Last night’s launch of the Centro Cultural Español’s (CCE) Microteatro por Dinero felt a bit like speed dating for theater lovers. It even included some of the pitfalls of public courtship CCE could easily have avoided. It obliterated the concept of the fourth wall and placed viewers on stage along…
New Theater’s Property Line: War in the burbs
Apparently nobody got eliminated from Dancing With The Stars last week. Yawn. What’s the point of this show if it’s not to revel in everyone’s slow but gradual elimination?Not that the first star-booting will be much of a surprise. Face it, Martina Navratilova is going to be the first one…
Juan C. Sanchez’s Property Line, which had its world premier last night for New Theatre at the Roxy Performing Arts Center, is a funny, briskly structured, and character-driven tale of loss, culture clash, and possession set in Miami.Sanchez, who is a New World School of the Arts grad, and a…
Long before Julie “Catwoman” Newmar played a robot in the short-lived ’60s TV sitcom My Living Doll (episodes of which have just been released on DVD, if you’re into that sort of thing), another, different kind of mechanized gal was breaking somebody’s heart. Her name? Coppélia.She was the creation of…
Carpe diem: seize the day. You guys know that saying, right? That’s what we did when we found out the Wayans Bros. were going to be in town.Shawn and Marlon Wayans touched down for three days of stand-up shows at the Miami Improv. So naturally, Cultist scurried over, pulled all…
The M Ensemble’s Harlem Duet deftly tackles race and sexual politics
The Coconut Grove Playhouse doesn’t look like a building that’s worth over $20 million. After nearly six years of disuse and neglect, its windows are broken, its sides are graffiti-tagged, and pieces of the building are literally falling off.But $20 million in Miami-Dade county bond funds have been allocated to…
Inspired by Shakespeare’s Othello, Djanet Sears’ Harlem Duet, which opened this weekend and is performed by the M Ensemble at the Light Box at Goldman Warehouse (404 NW 26 St., Miami), is a production that tediously tows the line of racial identity, sexual politics, and mental illness in the black…
A couple of weeks ago, we heard that Stephen Glover, aka Steve-O, of Jackass fame, would be at the Miami Improv. We weren’t just excited; we were intrigued. The man we have seen staple his testicles to his thigh is going to do a stand-up show? We expected a rehash…
Have you read your Chekhov lately?Well, these guys sure have. The phenomenal Pig Iron Theater has been invited to perform in Miami as part of the MDC Live! Performing Arts Series March 23 and 24.Their funny and accessible comedic melodrama Chekhov Lizardbrain will be playing in the Colony Theater in…
GableStage’s A Steady Rain: Well-acted, poorly written
Hey, listen: we’re busy people. Between recapping Basketball Wives episodes and learning our ABCs, the truly important stories slip right through our fingers sometimes.Miami natives, Yamil Piedra and Johnny Trabanco (collectively, A Pair of Nuts) were featured at last weekend’s South Beach Comedy Festival. They deserve quite a bit of…
