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The SunPost 2008 Best Of South Florida Editors’ Choice / BEST OF OUR ADVERTISERS
Jackie
Gleason brought down the house when he drew the country’s headliners to
Miami Beach in the 1960s, and Matt Damon brings the paparazzi when he
downs a hot dog at Big Pink. Frank Sinatra
BEST SINGER/SONGWRITER Rachel Goodrich If you’ve ever bitterly lamented missing the opportunity to catch one of your favorite musicians before they “made it” and started selling out corporate-sponsored venues at $50 a pop, if you’ve ever had the petty desire to see a guitarist fix his/her own busted string instead of passing it off to a roadie, or if you’ve ever wondered what the shows were like way back when the artist thanked the crowd and even half meant it, then go see Rachel Goodrich. Now. She’s got the voice of a ’50s chanteuse and plays a mean everything, including kazoo. Whether you see her alone or with her band — which, by the way, features a whistler of perfect pitch and astonishing volume — it’s sure to be a damn good show. You can catch her most Wednesdays at Churchill’s and other Miami music holes. And hurry. Not that she’ll be passing her guitar off to some side-stage Neanderthal at Cruzan anytime soon but, you know, she might. The skeptical can check her out at myspace.com/rachelgoodrich.
BEST LOCAL BAND MADE GREAT The Postmarks Who would’ve thought that the swingingest Silverlake band would be born, bred and based right here in Miami? Not us, that’s for sure. And probably not anyone who frequents Spaceland either. But that’s what’s up with The Postmarks, who send us positively la-la. Fronted by the delightfully divine Tim Yehezkely, The ’Marks are making a mark all right, and not just in Miami and Los Angeles. In fact, the act’s been making tracks all over the whole wide world. With a free e-music series of monthly covers constantly adding to their oeuvre (their take on Bowie’s “Five Years” is exceptionally exceptional), and remixes by James Iha and Spookey Ruben of Ladytron fame rounding out their first LP, global domination seems assured. Not bad for a group who manufactures its deep, cool melancholy in a “heartbreak factory.”
BEST MUSIC FESTIVAL Langerado www.langerado.com “Oh, is this the way they say the future’s meant to feel? Or just 20,000 people standing in a field?” Pulp may have unknowingly described it best in its song “Sorted for E’s and Whizz.” Following the model of giant European music festivals, Langerado has grown into South Florida’s biggest and best outdoor weekend event. So, bring a tent or an RV and head out into the middle of the Everglades to commune with nature and get in touch with the most luscious green. This year, R.E.M. and The Beastie Boys headlined the show, with plenty of lesser-known bands keeping the crowds happy throughout the weekend across three stages. Food was plentiful, varied and inexpensive, and even the festival beer prices seemed reasonable to those used to SoBe prices. If you didn’t attend in ’08, be sure not to miss it in ’09. It’s hippytastic man!
BEST ART SHOW
Jorge Pardo’s House at MoCA
BEST EMERGING PAINTER Aramis Gutierrez Aramis Gutierrez brings painterly craft, literature, imagination and a self-representing knack for morbid pulp. There is nothing like painting to take us out of the everyday and into the realm of imagination. Gutierrez’s first exhibition, Even Now in the Final Hour of My Life, I’m Falling in Love Again, at David Castillo Gallery last February showed a talented young painter with a clear direction. Gutierrez’s quirky landscapes and magic Realist canvases mix the panache of Winslow Homer and the subtle colors of Gaugin, with lowbrow art plus literary references to everything from Gabriel García Marquez to Miami Vice. The best part is that his painting looks elegant and feels fresh. He’s definitely an artist to watch.
BEST PERFORMANCE ARTIST, MALE David Rohn Artist and performer David Rohn has developed his diverse original characters through time and perspiration. Whether as a transvestite at an Eighth Street motel; as Katzenjammer, an art dealer at a gallery in the Design District; as himself (at a moving performance at the Snitzer Gallery last summer); or more recently, as Esperanza (the tallest and purest bride in history) in his Marry Me Western Union series at Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art, Rohn is always intense, unpredictable and witty. Above all, he’s authentic.
BEST PERFORMANCE ARTIST, FEMALE María José Arjona María José Arjona belongs in the true tradition of performers. But we don’t live in the early 1970s of the Marina Abramović or Valie Export. Performance is still about physical and mental endurance, but instead of the big revolutionary gestures, Arjona seeks a more subjective, self-effacing resistance. We’ve all seen her feats — writing on a wall for hours, endlessly blowing red-soap-bubbles, hanging while strapped to a wall by a chord (playing the voice of historic performers to a one-sitter-at-a-time audience), placing eggs in equilibrium, singing over Edith Piaf’s “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” until her voice collapses, displacing sand from one place to another using only her hands and stamping “Remember to Remember” over and over on the gallery’s walls. For her dedication, persistence and inspired deliverance, Arjona is without a doubt our best female performer.
BEST AVANT-GARDE PERFORMANCE ART Camposition Studio@801 Projects The Jose Marti Building, Second Floor, 801 S.W. Third Ave., Miami 786-399-7375 www.camposition.org Octavio Campos has created a downtown haven for alternative art projects. “I am the fucking subversive in this town,” Campos says of himself. As well as hosting such nationally recognized programs as The Field and being a center for performance artists to work and perform, Camposition is attempting to build a community of artists to bring live arts and performance to the general population of Miami. “To not have progressive work at a high level in this town is a crime,” says Campos. “Every major city has that shit.” Camposition Studio will host the unofficial surprise birthday party for the city of Miami on July 26, celebrating Miami’s underground folklore. Check it out.
BEST PRIVATE GALLERY Gallery Diet 174 N.W. 23rd St., Miami 305-571-2288 www.gallerydiet.com Gallery Diet’s director Nina Johnson strives “to trim the fat, the fluff, the bloat and the empty calories from art-viewing regimens.” Since its debut in November 2007 with a show titled Particulars, Gallery Diet has consistently put on exciting exhibitions with packed openings. The gallery represents a small group of emerging and mid-career artists, and features a lecture panel series and visiting curator series. Lately, we had the opportunity to see performer María José Arjona’s White Series, definitely a first (in deliverance and attendance) for a Miami gallery. Johnson, a gallery owner/activist who really cares about contemporary art and who trained as a director assistant for Bernice Steinbaum, seems to incarnate a different sort of dealer: nongentrified, idealistic, energized, caring and accessible. Don’t miss Gallery Diet’s newsletter lunchtime.gallerydiet.com, featuring “interviews and conversations among artists, reviews of current exhibitions and even tips on travel to Mexico City.”
BEST HOUSE-BASED GALLERY Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art 158 N.W. 91st St., Miami 305-490-6906 French Miamian Carol Jazzar has produced well-thought exhibits inside her spacious, white, wooden shack-turned-art-space (right next to a beautiful tropical garden with a pool) at her own North Miami abode. During the past year, she has presented Tom Scicluna’s Gazebo, Luis García Nerey’s Babylon, Lilian Garcia-Roy’s Cumulative Nature and, more recently, David Rohn’s Marry Me Western Union performance series. She represents Guerra de la Paz, Lou Ann Colodny, Samantha Salzinger and Gizmo, among others. Jazzar’s house-gallery matters because it’s different, off the beaten path, and because Jazzar’s persistent commitment to programming quality has earned her the respect of Miami’s art community.
BEST PRODUCTION OF A PLAY The Lieutenant of Inishmore, GableStage A mad Irish militant has revenge on his mind when he learns of the death of his beloved cat, and a bloodbath ensues. That was The Lieutenant of Inishmore in a nutshell, and it was one bloody good time. Director Joe Adler and his cast, including Todd Allen Durkin, Ken Clement, Erik Fabregat, Kim Morgan Dean and Stephen G. Anthony, took the audience on a wild, cinematic ride in the tradition of Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino. Comedy and violence went hand in hand in last summer’s must-see show and it remains the best production of the past year.
BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL Urinetown, Actors’ Playhouse Actors’ Playhouse, Miami’s chief producer of musicals, had a rough season, from the laughable-and-not-in-a-good-way Altar Boyz to the over-the-hill cast and overproduced elements of Footloose. But when you start out your season with the perfection of Urinetown, perhaps there’s no place to go but down. As sparkly as just-scrubbed porcelain, the musical ode to paying to pee was the freshest musical production in years.
BEST ENSEMBLE From the Mississippi Delta, M Ensemble From the Mississippi Delta was a different kind of show for M Ensemble, the black theater company in North Miami — it wasn’t August Wilson and it wasn’t a soapy musical revue. But From the Mississippi Delta was a triumph because of the seamless acting of the cast — Carolyn Johnson, Carey Hart and Brandii Edwards — who took on a variety of roles to bring to life the true story of a woman who went from dirt-poor rape victim and prostitute to civil rights leader. Director Jerry Maple Jr. delivered his best work in years leading his talented cast through the rhythm required to make the piece a passionate, joyous celebration of life.
BEST DIRECTOR Paul Tei, 4.48 Psychosis, Naked Stage No one could accuse Paul Tei of backing down from a challenge. Besides directing the insightful Some Girls at Mad Cat, the theater he founded, he delivered big time at Naked Stage, taking on Sarah Kane’s stream-of-consciousness piece about suicide and mental illness. The play was a blank canvas waiting for a director’s unique vision, and Tei went all Jackson Pollock on us, showering the audience with enough color, texture and substance to make 4.48 Psychosis one of the most powerful productions in a long time.
BEST MUSICAL PERFORMANCES The Cast of Urinetown Allan Baker’s greedy corporate president, Jim Ballard’s just-this-side-of-lecherous cop, Cherilyn Franco’s spunky preteen, Rachel Jones’ pragmatic public toilet matron — just some of the standout performances from Urinetown, the season’s only locally produced musical worth seeing.
BEST ACTRESS Lela Elam, In the Continuum, GableStage Lela Elam has been wowing South Florida audiences for years now in featured and supporting roles, sometimes being the only worthwhile part of the production. Her lead role as a young, pregnant woman whose baby daddy has infected her with HIV in the GableStage production of In the Continuum was gutsy and heartbreaking, and would have been enough. But the production also required her to take on many different roles, from girls in the hood to a well-meaning social worker, with little more than a change in posture and accent. The performance nabbed Elam a well-deserved Carbonell Award.
BEST ACTOR Gordon McConnell, Blackbird Gordon McConnell is a brilliant actor — heck, he was even fascinating just sitting on a stool as a framed portrait of John Mitchell in Martha Mitchell Calling at Actors’ Playhouse. But McConnell is most interesting when he gets to play slime, as he did in Blackbird at GableStage. As a man who unexpectedly comes face-to-face with the young woman with whom he had a sexual affair when he was 40 and she was 12, McConnell turned in his trademark dichotomy of a performance. He’s the only actor who can pull off the arduous task of making a child molester sympathetic to the point where you have to remind yourself, “Wait a minute, he’s a pedophile!”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Kim Ehly, Fill Our Mouths, New Theatre Although Fill Our Mouths had more than a mouthful of missteps, both in its writing and its world premiere production at New Theatre, it did boast the incandescent performance of Kim Ehly, which shone brightly through a lot of theatrical muck. As a deaf chef, Ehly learned sign language for her role and was the most believable actress on the stage — so believable, in fact, that many who saw the show were surprised to learn afterwards that Ehly is not a deaf actress, just a talented and mesmerizing one.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Adam Simpson, The Lonesome West, Naked Stage Adam Simpson’s breakthrough performance occurred earlier this year in The Lonesome West at Naked Stage. As Father Welch, a young priest trying to save the souls of the hard-drinking, hard-living residents of an Irish village, Simpson embodied a complex man prone to ridicule and a crisis of faith. He was especially mesmerizing in a monologue that, in the wrong hands, could have been a giant bore, and demonstrated what an actor can achieve with the right material.
BEST THEATER COMPANY Naked Stage Those über-imaginative folks at Naked Stage had a very good season. There was the feisty and funny production of The Lonesome West, Martin McDonough’s story of two feuding, Three Stooges-esque Irish brothers. Then there was 4.48 Psychosis, an acid-trippy production that was a marvel of design, audacity and creativity. But the group’s crowning achievement came early in the season, with the 24-Hour Theatre Project, a fundraiser in which six local playwrights chose titles out of a hat and wrote a short play that would begin rehearsals just 12 hours later for a performance 12 hours after that. Twenty-four actors and six directors from all over South Florida joined in the fun, and together everyone made magic happen.
BEST SOUND DESIGN Marty Metts, 4.48 Psychosis, Naked Stage Newcomer Marty Metts made a big splash in the Naked Stage production of 4.48 Psychosis. Metts’ sound design for the fascinating yet disturbing piece about mental illness and suicide included sound effects, trippy music and Pink Floyd, raising the sound from a design element to a co-starring role.
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN Sevim Abaza, 4.48 Psychosis, Naked Stage Sevim Abaza’s lighting design for the Naked Stage production of 4.48 Psychosis was dark and delicious, psychedelic and psychotic, and instrumental in making the show a complete sensory experience.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN Ellis Tillman Ellis Tillman is the go-to guy for costume design in Miami. In the past year, he designed the futuristic ragamuffin fashions of Urinetown at Actors’ Playhouse, the sleek contemporary look of The Little Dog Laughed at GableStage, and everything from hoop skirts to possum and sheep costumes for the Summer Shorts Festival at City Theatre. He designs with a mix of realism and whimsy, and his designs do what good costume design should do: help to illuminate the character.
BEST SCENIC DESIGN Lyle Baskin, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, GableStage A cozy little cottage in the Irish countryside was the incongruous setting for the bloodbath of the sinisterly funny play The Lieutenant of Inishmore, but scenic designer Lyle Baskin didn’t stop there. His set for the show illustrated different locales and brought a good chunk of Ireland into the GableStage.
BEST THEATER MVP Joseph Adler As artistic director of the GableStage Theatre in Coral Gables, Joe Adler directs all of the plays at the theater, something he does very well. But it’s his generosity and support of the arts that really make him an MVP. Not only is Adler often in the audiences of other South Florida theaters (he tries to see everything his production schedule allows), he also contributes his own money to help support many of those theaters, and his name can be found among the donors listed in theaters’ programs. Adler is generous with his theater, too, often donating the space to other organizations. Want to do a staged reading of a play? Call Joe. Want to put on a fundraiser for your theater company? Call Joe. Ground Up and Rising, Theatre by the Book and Naked Stage are just a few of the organizations that have benefited from Adler’s generosity over the past year.
BEST RAUNCHIEST NIGHT AT THE THEATER Spiegelworld: Absinthe and The Gazillionaire’s Late Night Lounge When Spiegelworld invaded Miami Beach last winter, it upped the local raunch factor considerably. Its bawdy, tantalizing, circus-themed Absinthe, which featured a naked girl in a bubble and erotically charged acrobats, was good dirty fun. Then, just when you thought it couldn’t possibly get any dirtier, it opened the free-wheeling, no-holds-barred The Gazillionaire’s Late Night Lounge, a show that was hosted by the smarmiest emcee one could imagine. In fact, it was so deliciously raw that we can’t wait for its return engagement this year.
BEST REASON TO BE A LITTLE LATE ON OPENING NIGHT The Curtain Speech at Actors’ Playhouse Of course, one should always make the curtain of any performance, but one could be forgiven for coming a little late to opening night at Actors’ Playhouse and missing the curtain speech. The onstage proceedings routinely begin up to 30 minutes late; the audience must then sit through the curtain speech delivered by Executive Director Barbara Stein, who brings the show’s sponsors on stage, bestows plaques and poses for photo ops with said sponsors. It goes on and on and on, to the point where many theater insiders who’ve been down the curtain speech road with Ms. Stein in the past now turn it into a game, guessing how long she’ll talk and timing the speech. If it’s under 11 minutes, it’s regarded as a good night.
BEST THEATRICAL EVENT Lavender Footlights Festival: An Evening with Douglas Carter Beane The future of the Lavender Footlights Festival, the annual play-reading festival featuring gay and lesbian themed-plays, seemed uncertain. After five years, the event changed hands and was shortened considerably — never a good sign. But the new producers came up with a brilliant idea, a theatrical version of Inside the Actor’s Studio featuring prominent Tony-nominated playwright Douglas Carter Beane. The enlightening interview, conducted by Miami Herald theater critic Christine Dolen, was interspersed with staged readings of scenes from Beane’s plays, offering an insight into the playwright’s work that no mere talk could have. The producers honored Beane with the first-ever Ovation Award for his significant contribution to theater, and a classy reception was followed by the first-ever reading of the first act of Beane’s new play, The Nance. The whole concept came together beautifully, and the once-dim future of Lavender Footlights is now blinding.
BEST NUDE SCENE Avenue Q It’s hard to beat a nude scene in a play, even harder when it’s (gasp) full-frontal puppet nudity. Avenue Q gave Miami audiences that and more, including the two puppets, Princeton and Kate Monster, who surrender to lust and engage in some vigorous, jaw-dropping, satisfying sex. It was one of the funniest scenes of a very funny musical, but if you missed it, don’t worry — Avenue Q will be coming to Fort Lauderdale later this year.
BEST THEATRICAL SEASON Broadway Across America A classic musical, a beloved cultural phenomenon, reimagined quintessential Sondheim, a goofy spoof and trash-talking puppets — the Broadway Across America series had diversity on its side in its most recent season at the Arsht Center. With fabulous touring productions of My Fair Lady, Rent, Sweeney Todd, Spamalot and Avenue Q, Broadway Across America outdid itself with one of its strongest seasons in recent memory.
BEST REHAB The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach 305-673-7300 Stay in showbiz long enough, and no matter how loud you croon “no, no, no,” chances are you’ll still have to go to rehab. The theater named in honor of gluttonous funnyman Jackie Gleason is no different. Built in the early 1950s, the hands of time had robbed it of its luster. After a deal to convert the theater into a permanent home for Cirque du Soleil fell through, the Miami Beach Commission awarded entertainment giant Live Nation a contract to run the landmark building. Renamed The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater, the venue went from losing money faster than a street junkie to earning the city a million dollars per year. No longer your grandmother’s Jackie Gleason, the new Fillmore opened in December after a $3.5 million rehab by hosting three nights of Latin sensation Ricky Martin. There are three new orchestra levels, VIP lounges with 12-foot-high murals, 11 bars and an upgraded stage. In just the last six months, Live Nation — the world’s largest live music company, producers of such big-name acts as the Rolling Stones, The Police, Coldplay, U2 and Madonna — has already brought to town Kid Rock, Morrissey, Debbie Harry, Margaret Cho and Bill Maher, among others. Because Miami Beach residents no longer have to travel for world-class live entertainment, The Fillmore Miami Beach is the best rehab of the year.
BEST ARTS PHILANTHROPIST Adrienne Arsht Just when the sounds of people bitching about the financial state of the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts became deafening, philanthropist Adrienne Arsht swooped in with a $30 million check. The gift was enough to save the over-budget venue and change its name to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Although $2 million was earmarked to pay back some of Carnival Corporation’s 2006 pledge (Carnival execs wanted a partial refund since the company’s name would be taken off most of the building; it will, however, get to keep its name on the Studio Theater, the bridge between the building and the Art Deco Tower), Arsht’s donation has breathed new life into the center and excited people. Still, Arsht’s huge gift, while extremely generous, isn’t likely to affect her lifestyle. After her husband, Myer Feldman, a lawyer for John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, died last year, she sold Totalbank to Banco Popular Español for $300 million. Perhaps she’s not only Miami’s favorite philanthropist, but its hottest bachelorette, too.
BEST
PLACE TO PLAY CHAOTIC POKER 401 N.W. 38th Court, Miami 305-649-3000 You’ve gotta love a place that features pictures of greyhounds in human clothes with playing cards on its billboard ads. It’s so cute. It’s not quite so cute and cuddly inside the poker room, as retirees and blue-collar workers compete for $20 and $30 prizes uttering expletives in two languages at the friendly, yet rough-and-tumble tables. And poker etiquette? Forget it. A house rule decrees that only English can be spoken while the game is in play. That rule is constantly ignored. For some old-timers who have lived in Little Havana for decades, Spanish is the only language necessary. And folding out of turn is a fairly common occurrence, too. Management has vowed to get stricter with the rules, and since the introduction of no-limit, table play has been somewhat less crazy. But we like the Wild West nature of Flagler Dog Track. It’s just funny — and so Miami.
BEST BOWLING Lucky Strike Lanes 1691 Michigan Ave., Suite 115, Miami Beach 305-532-0307 www.bowlluckystrike.com Playing with balls is always a lot of fun and, for a trifecta of reasons, this South Beach venue is one of the best places in town to indulge in this pastime: 1) It has a great bar; 2) it has yummy food; 3) the servers are the cutest girls around and they wear the sexiest little black uniforms with knee-high argyle socks. Oh, and of course, there is the bowling. Make sure to book lanes in advance for evening games, as this place can get pretty busy. And you never know, perhaps a celebrity may stop by, such as Sen. Hillary Clinton, who held a fundraiser here while she ran for president.
BEST COMEDY VENUE Miami Improv 3390 Mary St., Suite 182, Coconut Grove 305-441-8200 www.miamiimprov.com Although the Fillmore Miami Beach and the Seminole Hard Rock are the places to see the superstars of comedy perform at highly inflated prices, the Miami Improv in Coconut Grove still maintains its lead as the place to watch professional comedians perform each night. There are free open-mic nights, where you can catch the best of local funny guys and gals before it costs big bucks to see them at a larger venue. The two-drink minimum will not be a problem for most chuckle fans, and the food is well worth a try — but try not to spit it at your fellow patrons because you’re laughing so hard.
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