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Planet Spiegel
Collins
Park
is the temporary home for Spiegelworld, and you’re
invited to visit
By Dan Hudak
 |
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This big top
will host the sexiest circus in town Dec.
20-Feb. 17. |
Given
its offerings, it’s a wonder Spiegelworld didn’t
come to Miami Beach sooner. Acrobats. Absinthe.
Jewish comedians. Cuban music. Bizarre, off-the-cuff
improv comedy. Sounds perfect for both the locals
and the tourist bohemia we so often pride ourselves
on being. Yes, the next two months are going to be
fun indeed.
Inside the Spiegeltent, currently erected at Collins
Avenue and 22rd Street, there are 3 tons of teak,
cut-glass panels, mirrors and more velvet
than you’ve ever wanted to see in one place. As the
headquarters of one of the world’s more eccentric
traveling entertainment venues, the 350-seat tent is
both glossy and gaudy, something producer Ross
Mollison hopes will appeal to patrons of his $2.5
million event.
“We’ve never produced the show here before, but we
think it’s a perfect fit for the city,” Mollison
said, adding that this is the first time he’s
presented the show outside of
New York City,
where he’s had more than 158,000 attendees in the
past year. “Miami is a very multicultural
destination, and it has the perfect climate for our
offerings. It feels like the timing is right.”
Timing is certainly one of the most important
elements of Absinthe, a Cirque du Soleil-style
acro-burlesque variety show set in early
20th-century
Europe
that debuts Dec. 20. According to Mollison,
Absinthe is a smaller, more comedy-oriented
production than one would expect from a Cirque show,
and it’s “a very sexy show, but it’s not
gratuitous,” he said. “The performers are
brilliantly talented people who are also quite
beautiful.”
Absinthe
runs for one hour and 45 minutes and is presented
“in the round,” meaning there are no obstructed
sightlines and the audience almost becomes part of
the show. “It’s like going back in time to an old
school carnival carousel, and inside is the Moulin
Rouge and this wonderful, old-style European piece,”
Mollison said.
Expected to be equally offbeat and quirky is The
Gazillionaire Late Night Lounge, an R-rated
improv comedy show featuring music and sketch
comedy. The Lounge opens for the first time Jan. 4.
“It’s darker, crazier, edgier comedy,” said the
Gazillionaire himself, Voki Kalfayan. “I want to
push envelopes as much as I can, and let the show
evolve so it becomes perfect for a
Miami
audience.”
“It’s almost like a talk show, like Borat meets
Jimmy Kimmel,” Mollison added. “The idea is to have
the Gazillionaire there, hosting it like a TV show
with a band playing musical interludes, and he
brings in special guests throughout the week, and
each night it’s something different.”
How different each show is depends on the audience.
Although the format of some of the skits is planned
ahead of time, there’s no script and much of the
content is improvised. Also, because so many local
performers are used (a Miami casting call was held
in September), what happens truly depends on who’s
performing.
For example, during a recent performance, Kalfayan
noted that one of the performers was pregnant, so
when the Gazillionaire was doing interviews with the
audience there would be a secret word. Every time
the word was spoken, the pregnant woman would come
out and do a lap dance for the interviewee. “We
probably won’t have a pregnant lap dancer in Miami,
but you never know,” Kalfayan said.
Perhaps slightly less raunchy will be the Jewish
Princesses of Comedy, which begins Dec. 21
inside the Spiegeltent and runs through Jan. 13.
Comics Cory Kahaney and Jessica Kirson will be
joined by some of New York’s
top Jewish comediennes as they kvetch about
husbands, family, sex and weight issues in a show
peppered with vintage footage of the original queens
of comedy, including Belle Barth, Jean Carroll and
Totie Fields.
Outside the Spiegeltent, local organizations Miami
Light Project and FUNDarte will present the Global
Cuba Festival, which will feature contemporary Cuban
music every Sunday at sunset for six weeks beginning
Jan. 13. Grammy nominees Dafnis Prieto and Tiempo
Liebre are among those scheduled to perform.
“Every element of Cuban music you can imagine will
be presented in the concerts,” said Rebekah Lengel,
marketing director for Miami Light Project. Lengel
also said the eclectic lineup of musicians has
people “really excited to hear these artists.
They’re very well-known inside their own circles,
and they’ve worked with some very notable musicians
throughout their careers.”
Spiegelworld will be presented at
Collins
Park
near
22rd Street
and
Collins Avenue
in
Miami Beach
from Dec. 20 to Feb.17. Dinner is available at the
200-seat on-site Oasis Restaurant, provided by the
Raleigh Hotel. Ticket prices and show times vary
depending on the event. For more information, go to
spiegelworld.com or call Ticketmaster at
305-358-5885. |
