Just before sunset, comedian Lisa Corrao loads up a backpack full of snacks and libations for the night ahead. She throws in a sweater in case it gets chilly. “And an umbrella,” she says via phone from New York. “You can never forget an umbrella.” It’s just another night on…
The Florida Grand Opera (FGO) returns this weekend to the Arsht Center with a production of Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. The classic and enduring comedic opera established many of the guidelines and parameters we’ve come to know from the opera buffa and it is one of the few works…
Jessica Lang is inspired by artistic collaborations. Her pieces testify to the transformative power of movement, music, and visual composition coming together to create a mesmerizing performance. All of that will be on display this weekend when Lang’s troupe debuts in South Florida at the South Miami-Dade County Cultural Arts…
The Knight Arts Challenge South Florida 2015 People’s Choice Awards nominees are live. The community can vote now through November 17 via text message for one of four selected Knight Arts Challenge finalists to receive $20,000 to fund their projects. It’s a text-to-vote campaign: pick your favorite group, and text…
Perhaps one of the most important artistic development institutions in the country, Miami’s YoungArts program has nurtured the burgeoning careers of over 20,000 alumni since its founding in 1981. Now, the organization announces the launch of a new residency dedicated exclusively to contemporary dance, inaugurated by renowned YoungArts alumnus Desmond…
The Knight Arts Challenge South Florida 2015 People’s Choice Awards nominees are live. The community can vote now through November 17 via text message for one of four selected Knight Arts Challenge finalists to receive $20,000 to fund their projects. It’s a text-to-vote campaign: pick your favorite group, and text…
When you read about all the impressive things comedian and actress Margaret Cho does in the span of a year — both the volume of activity, level of impact, and quality of its humanity — it’s hard to think of her as anything other than a role model. It seems…
Marissa Alma Nick, the director of Miami’s ALMA Dance Theater, stands in the middle of her dimly lit studio among her company of dancers. “You have two choices here,” she says. “You’re either the murderer, or you’re the victim. But both characters require you to lose total control of your…
Miami City Ballet opens its season Friday night at the Arsht Center with a program that is representative of what artistic director Lourdes Lopez calls a major milestone for a ballet company of its size — 30 years as Miami’s resident ballet company. It will be a season that tips…
If you listen to NPR or are a fan of stories told out loud, then you’ve probably heard of The Moth. Created by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, the storytelling program has been around for more than a decade. “I started The Moth in New York in 1997 and…
The Toxic Avenger is one of the greatest bad movies of all time. It’s a film best appreciated after hours, in a dorm room, and under the influence of something. It’s also the signature title in the durable canon of B-movie distributor Troma — a studio that, among other sundry…
For the fourth year in a row, Dance Now! Miami fronted by Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini will be presenting the Daniel Lewis Sampler. In partnership with Miami Dance Futures and Florida Dance Education Organization, Dance Now! puts on the annual showcase of local work as a snapshot of both…
This week, MDC Live Arts brings the explosive energy of Combinado Argentino de Danza to Miami for their U.S. debut, featuring a series of pop-up performances and residency workshops, culminating in a performance at Miami Beach’s Colony Theater on Saturday. Founded in 2011 by artistic director Andrea Servera, Combinado Argentino…
When former Miami City Ballet prima ballerina, Mary Carmen Catoya, debuts as Arts Ballet Theatre (ABT) of Florida’s principal dancer, it will be a double reunion of sorts. Years ago, she danced with ABT’s guest choreographer, Alberto Méndez, in his work Tarde en la Siesta. “I did many ballets with him,”…
Perhaps one of the most anticipated Broadway shows to come through South Florida this year is the musical about two unexpecting lovers, Once. What originated as a 2006 Irish film was later adapted into a 2012 Tony-winning musical performed on stage with a cast that can not only sing, but…
In his San Francisco hotel room, John Cleese has been catching up on American politics. He’s been getting to know a handful of our presidential candidates through his TV set, and, of course, like any sentient being on this planet, he has an opinion about Donald Trump. “He is a…
The thrill of experiencing a Broadway musical production starts long before the actors take the stage. It begins the moment audience members take their seats on plush velvet chairs. The warm lights flicker off, and excited voices hush at the sound of the orchestra tuning its instruments. A few taps…
The War on Terror is now older than most middle-schoolers, yet it seems that nobody gets it. Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t. Bashar El Asad doesn’t. And the US military, which this past weekend bombed a hospital in Afghanistan most certainly doesn’t know what the hell is happening. Therein lies the…
Emily and Amir, the couple at the center of Ayad Akhtar’s combustible tragicomedy Disgraced, live well. They reside in an enviable apartment on New York’s Upper East Side, with, per the script, “high ceilings, parquet floors, crown molding — the works.” There’s a marble fireplace, a terrace, lustrous light slanting…
Daily, Michelle Grant-Murray regularly steps into the varied roles of mother-wife-daughter-teacher-dancer-choreographer, so it is no surprise that her latest solo work, Kahina, A Tangled Root, is an exploration of the female body in all of its complex manifestations. “I started working on it as an investigation of my own body…
“You may not believe it, but there are people who go through life with very little friction or distress.” This is how Charles Bukowski opens “The Aliens,” a poem that succinctly captures the mindset of the world’s tortured, anxious, depressed throngs. The renegade poet seems to suggest that these men…
“I have found that the workshop provided an uncensored, unfiltered platform for us to express our thoughts and emotions related to our combat experiences,” says Anthony Torres. “Sharing stories not only normalized our similar experiences, but we realized our work could prove a useful tool in de-stigmatizing veterans issues such…
