january 2
Miami Heat: Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, and the rest of the Heat stars take on those wicked New Jersey Devils tonight at 7:30 at the Miami Arena (721 NW First Ave.). As of this writing, the Heat were 21-7 (ranking at the top of their division) and had just defeated cross-state rivals the Orlando Magic by twenty points. When Coach Riley's boys meet all-star guard Robert Pack, center Shawn Bradley, and the rest of the Devils, victory should be assured -- or else: The Devils are 6-18 (ranking next-to-last in their division). Tickets cost $15 and $29. Call 530-4400.
friday
january 3
Gulfstream Horse Racing: Beautiful Gulfstream Park (U.S. 1 between Hallandale Beach Boulevard and Ives Dairy Road, Hallandale) opens its 1997 season of thoroughbred racing today with the $75,000 Hallandale Handicap and the unveiling of two million dollars in improvements, including new simulcasting areas, a new winner's circle, and renovations to its Turf Club. Grandstand admission is free for today, as are parking, a racing program, and a scratch-off prize ticket; attendees can also enjoy price rollbacks on food items. Gates open at 11:00 a.m., with post time for the first race at 1:00 p.m. Races continue daily (except Tuesday) through March 16. Call 931-7223 for details.
Youth Gospel Explosion: Youth choirs from across Dade County join the Miami-Dade Community College North Campus Gospel Choir for this second annual gospel extravaganza tonight at 6:00 at the New Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church (1350 NW 95th St.). Admission is free, and donations to benefit the Inner City Youth Center's scholarship fund are welcome. The Center's goal is to keep inner-city students in school and drug-free while providing them with tutoring, job skills, and safe recreational activities. The singing itself will rock you right out of your seat. Call 800-438-1341 for more information.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Edward Albee's Tony and Drama Critics' Circle award-winning blood-sport-within-a-play opens tonight at the Coconut Grove Playhouse (3500 Main Hwy.). Stage and screen star Elizabeth Ashley and acclaimed actor Frank Converse portray Martha and George, a faculty couple at a small New England university, who, during an all-night drinking party, continually aim at one another's jugulars with merciless verbal acuity, much to the chagrin of their guests (but to the shock and delight of the audience). Tickets cost $30 and $35. Performances run at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (except January 14), with a 2:00 matinee on Sunday and on selected afternoons through January 26. Call 442-2662 for scheduling and reservations.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus: The Greatest Show on Earth returns to the Miami Arena (721 NW First Ave.) for a nine-day run. This year's main attraction is the much-ballyhooed Airiana the Human Arrow, a young woman who launches herself into flight from a giant crossbow. Also on the bill are trapeze artists the Flying Vargas and the Flying Tabares families, hair-hanging artist Marguerite Michelle (yes, she is suspended in midair by her hair), British animal trainer Graham Thomas Chipperfield, Swedish equestrian family the Svensons, high-wire walkers the Quiros family of Spain, flying dog team K-9s in Flight, Kenyan strongman Samson Power, Kyrgystan's thundering Eshimbekov horsemen, a troupe of Chinese acrobats, and a bevy of clowns and dancers in the world's largest juggling display. Tickets range in price from $9 to $30. Performances run weeknights at 7:30 p.m. (no show on Monday), Saturday at 11:30 a.m., 3:30, and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 1:00 and 5:30 p.m. through January 12 (plus a 10:30 a.m. show on January 9). Call 530-4400.
saturday
january 4
Mame: Morgan Brittany stars as the exuberant and eccentric Auntie Mame, who teaches her orphaned ten-year-old nephew how to eat from the banquet of life ("Live, live, live!"), in this five-time Tony Award-winning musical (on its 30th anniversary tour), running today at 3:00 and 8:00 p.m. at Bailey Concert Hall (3501 SW Davie Rd., Davie). Brittany is perhaps best known for her role as the tempestuous Katherine Wentworth on the Eighties CBS hit series Dallas; since that show ended in 1987, she has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero. Tickets cost $28 and $30. Call 888-475-6884.
Contemporary Abstractions: The Center for Visual Communication (4021 Laguna St., Coral Gables) takes a sweeping survey of contemporary abstract art in its latest exhibition. "Contemporary Abstractions," on view through January 15, features works by Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Elizabeth Murray, Helen Frankenthaler, Claes Oldenburg, Al Held, Richmond Burton, Mary Heilmann, Bill Jensen, Julian Lethbridge, Richard Mangold, and Sean Scully. Highlights include Jasper Johns's colorful Green Angel, Richard Diebenkorn's textural Ochre, and Howard Hodgkin's Gossip, recently featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (It's a good week for exhibits -- see also Tuesday, Wednesday, and "Art," page 55, for information on a Basquiat show.) Admission is free. Center hours are 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Call 446-6811.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus: See Friday.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: See Friday.
Gulfstream Horse Racing: See Friday.
sunday
january 5
The Blue Angel: The Cinema Vortex film series opens the year with the film that made Marlene Dietrich a star. Joseph von Sternberg's 1930 classic, screening today at noon at the Alliance Cinema (927 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach), stars Dietrich -- an unknown actress when cast -- as Lola Lola, a promiscuous nightclub singer who sexually humiliates and virtually destroys a prim and vulnerable schoolteacher, played by Emil Jannings, the first actor to win an Academy Award. Highly atmospheric, the film drips with decadence and sexuality. Admission is four dollars. Call 531-8504.
Gladys Knight: She began her musical career in Atlanta as a gospel shouter at the age of four. While in her teens, she founded one of Motown's most successful vocal groups. Now she celebrates her 45th year in show business. After dabbling in acting, Gladys Knight returns to the music charts with her second and latest solo album Just for You (the followup to 1991's Good Woman), which features the songwriting and producing chops of Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, among others. The album includes covers of some of Knight's favorite songs, such as Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes' "If You Don't Know Me By Now," the Spinners' "Love Don't Love Nobody," and the recent Boys II Men hit "End of the Road." Knight takes the stage tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale). Tickets range in price from $28 to $39. Call 954-462-0222.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus: See Friday.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: See Friday.
Gulfstream Horse Racing: See Friday.
monday
january 6
Guarneri String Quartet: It's a bit of a drive, but if you are up to the trip, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach) hosts an evening with one of the world's most celebrated string quartets, their second South Florida appearance in a month. Tonight at 8:00 p.m. the world-renowned Guarneri -- violinists Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley, violist Michael Tree, and cellist Davis Soyer -- perform Mendelssohn's Quartet in D major, Faure's Quartet in E minor, and Schubert's Death and the Maiden. Tickets range in price from $15 to $55. Call 800-KRAVIS-1.
Cesar Pelli: The School of Design at Florida International University inaugurates its lecture series this semester with the Cooperativa Ceramica d'Imola lecture by well-known architect Cesar Pelli at the Coral Gables Congregational Church (3010 DeSoto Blvd.) tonight at 7:30. Pelli will conduct a lecture entitled "Architecture: An Art of Response," and will discuss his current projects in South Florida and around the world. Admission is free. Call 348-3178.
Gulfstream Horse Racing: See Friday.
tuesday
january 7
Jackie Mason: Get out your flak jackets! The barbs fly tonight as acerbic comedian Jackie Mason performs his latest show, "Direct from Broadway," at the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts (1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach). A former cantor and rabbi, Mason has been honored for his strong commitment to the Jewish people. In 1990 Oxford University established a postgraduate lectureship in contemporary Judaic and Hebraic studies in his name, and in 1991 Mason was honored by then-Israeli deputy foreign minister (and current Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu for his support of the Israeli people during the Persian Gulf War. Mason has also been called an "equal-opportunity offender," since no one is spared his lampoons. Tickets cost $29 and $43. Performances run through Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Call 673-7300.
ARTS Week '97: More than 120 young actors, musicians, dancers, vocalists, photographers, visual artists, and writers from across the nation convene in Miami for a week of performances, exhibitions, classes, readings, and workshops this week. ARTS Week is the final phase of the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts's annual ARTS (Arts Recognition and Talent Search) program, which provides scholarship opportunities for talented high school seniors. Highlights include an art exhibition opening today (a reception will be held tomorrow at 5:30) and running through January 10 at the Miami Art Museum (101 W. Flagler St.); an evening of theatrical monologues and musical theater selections at the University of Miami's Ring Theatre (1314 Miller Dr., Coral Gables) Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; and a lecture by actress-dancer Cyd Charisse on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the Ring Theatre. All events are free and open to the public. Call 377-1140 for a complete schedule.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus: See Friday.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: See Friday.
Contemporary Abstractions: See Saturday.
wednesday
january 8
Art Miami 1997: What better way to keep last month's rampant commercialism going than with a huge art shop-o-rama disguised as a serious art show? The seventh annual Art Miami expo descends upon the Miami Beach Convention Center (1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach) with representatives from hundreds of local, national, and international galleries and featuring works by Keith Haring, Nam June Paik, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fernando Botero, Wifredo Lam, Christo, Niki de Saint Phalle, Rebecca Horn, Louise Nevelson, Karel Appel, Guillermo Kuitca, Robert Rauschenberg, and many others. Admission is ten dollars. The show opens with a private reception tonight and continues tomorrow and Saturday from noon to 9:00 p.m., Sunday from noon to 7:00 p.m., and Monday from noon to 6:00 p.m. Call 539-3000.
Cyber Painting/Digital Conception: Technology and art come together in the works of local artist David Kudzma, on view through January 26 at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood (1650 Harrison St., Hollywood). To create the twenty pieces in the exhibition "Cyber Painting/Digital Conception," Kudzma used a video camera to transfer magazine photographs, original drawings, and paintings by other artists onto his computer screen. He then combined and manipulated the images, made laser printouts that he mounted onto canvas, and painted over the prints with acrylics. The resulting works look computerized but have an organic feel. Admission is free. Center hours are 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. Call 954-921-3274.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus: See Friday.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: See Friday.
Gulfstream Horse Racing: See Friday.
Contemporary Abstractions: See Saturday.
ARTS Week '97: See Tuesday.
