When you think of Celia Cruz, bright colors come immediately to mind. She presented herself as a resplendent figure, clad in primary-color stage costumes, always smiling broadly and infecting audiences with her strident voice and salsa rhythms. Her career spanned six decades, and in that time she innovated Latin music and transformed her ever eye-catching looks, from Fifties bouffant glam, to au naturel Seventies Afro-chic, to late-period technicolor glitz that would delight and inspire legions of drag queens to come. Celia might be gone just four years ago, our city mourned by turning out in thousands for her memorial at the Freedom Tower but she will never be forgotten. Pay your respects and celebrate her larger-than-life legacy at todays opening of ¡Azucar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz
Fans can admire costumes from every phase of her career, dresses from Fifties Cuba right up to the Narciso Rodriguez gown she wore at her last public appearance. There will be photographs, personal documents, rare footage, and of course, lots of music.
Thu., May 17, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.