Miami Beach Botanical Garden Hosts FREE Performing Arts Events

Miami Performance and Visual Art Festival - July 26-29

The first of its kind, this free festival will offer workshops, artist's talks, performances and parties for four days. Presented by Edge-Zones, a non-profit arts organization, live performances will be presented to the public in a participatory discourse during the four-day program. This intensive contemporary arts event will take place at three different sites: Downtown Miami, the Miami Design District, and the Botanical Gardens. 

This innovative program will explore the breaking down of boundaries between visual art, music, dance and poetry. A dynamic dialogue between time-based art practice and its documentation will occur through a comprehensive exhibition of site-reactive installations. 

At 9:30 a.m. on the 26th, the festival will start with a meet-and-greet here at the garden, with artist's talks and lunch to follow until noon. Come to the garden to pick up a schedule of events, and visit the event website here.

On the 29th, performances, installations, and discussions at the garden will start at 9:20 a.m., with a free children's workshop at 10 a.m. Events continue until 8 p.m., where you can join the party with DJ Action Pat at 150 NE 40th Street, a pop-up performance space in Miami. 

Shakespeare Under the Sun - August 4 and 11, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily

The garden is hosting three outdoor plays produced by Arturo Fernandez of Ground Up & Rising. The first performance will be Julius Caesar, with two shows at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.  This is an hour-long, modern adaption of the Shakespearian classic. Ground Up & Rising is an award-winning,  non-profit theater organization with a vision "to replace the safe and already treaded with the avant-garde and risque." 

The producer, Arturo Fernandez, has been named as one of the Top 20 Artists Under 40 by the Miami New Times, and was given the 2010 Theater Visionary Award by the Miami ArtZine, amongst other accolades. Read more about Fernadez's performances and accomplishments here!

Start your weekend off right with a refreshing reminder of the performing talent Miami is known for. Some chairs will be provided, but everyone is encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to sit on and enjoy the zoysia grass. For more information, 305-673-7256, Ext. 201.

Performances to follow will be Macbeth on August 26 and September 2, and Danny & the Deep Blue Sea, September 16 and 30.

For more information, please visit the Miami Beach Botanical Garden website.

See International Musical Sensation "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Miami

Following a successful revival and tour in the United Kingdom, Actors' Playhouse will present it's own revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the award-winning hit that brought home eight Carbonell Awards for the company in 2000, from March 7-April 8, 2012.

Created by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the team that dreamed up Broadway hits such as Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a fun, hip, colorful and tuneful adaptation of the well-known Biblical tale of Joseph. The melodious, contemporary score features familiar songs like Close Every Door To Me, Any Dream Will Do, and Go Go Go Joseph. A favorite among Actors Playhouse's many award-winning musicals, the return of this colorful show validates that everyone's a dreamer, and through Joseph, audiences will experience a legacy of pure entertainment for the entire family.

"The return of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is something we have considered for a number of years," said Artistic Director David Arisco. "Now 12 years later with an entirely new cast featuring some of South Florida's top professional actors and a fresh approach to our staging and storytelling, we are proud to revive Joseph, one of Actors' Playhouse's biggest hits in our 25 year history."

Having had the opportunity to work alongside Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber himself, Josh Canfield, whose favorite credits include Claude in Hair (Germany), Baranaby in Sail Away (London), Luke in Next Fall (Caldwell Theatre), stars in the title role with Amy Miller Brennan as the Narrator and Nick Duckart as Pharaoh. With a professional cast of 21 adults, Joseph also features two rotating choruses of 30 local students from Miami-Dade and Broward County. Directed by David Arisco, with musical staging and choreography by Barbara Flatten and musical direction by Eric Alsford, the creative team for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat also includes set design by Michael Amico, original costume design by Mary Lynne Izzo, costumes adapted for this production by Ellis Tillman, lighting design by Patrick Tennent and sound design by Alexander Herrin.

Preview performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be held Wednesday and Thursday, March 7 and 8 at 8 p.m.  The show will open on Friday, March 9 at 8 p.m. and play through April 8, 2012. Evening performances will be held Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with afternoon matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. A special weekday matinee is scheduled on Wednesday, March 14 at 2 p.m.

Preview night tickets on the first Wednesday and Thursday are $37. Tickets for weeknights and matinees are $42, and on Friday and Saturday evenings $50. The theatre offers a 10% senior discount rate the day of performance and $15 student rush tickets 15 minutes prior to curtain with identification. Discounts are based on availability and exclude Saturday and Sunday.

Group discounted rates are offered for 15 or more through our group sales department. Single tickets may be purchased through the box office at 305-444-9293 or online at www.actorsplayhouse.org.

Actors’ Playhouse subscribers receive guaranteed best seating and pricing, lost ticket insurance, generous membership benefits to Coral Gables’ finest restaurants and discounts on single tickets, among other benefits. To become a part of the Miracle as an Actors’ Playhouse subscriber, call 305-444-9293 or order online at www.actorsplayhouse.org.

Actors’ Playhouse is the nonprofit resident theatre company and managing agent of the historic Miracle Theatre on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. Actors’ Playhouse, which has brought home 70 regional Carbonell Awards for artistic excellence, is a Florida Presenting Cultural Organization and one of 22 major cultural institutions in Miami-Dade County.

In addition to its Mainstage season, Actors’ Playhouse offers a year-round season of Musical Theatre for Young Audiences, a National Children’s Theatre Festival, a Theatre Conservatory and Summer Camp Program, as well as educational arts outreach programs for underserved youth, and has initiated a Young Talent Big Dreams contest for children in partnership with The Children’s Trust.

Award-Winning Broadway Musical Next to Normal Now Showing at Actors' Playhouse

Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three 2009 Tony Awards, Next to Normal explores how one suburban family copes with crisis. With powerful lyrics and an electrifying pop-rock score of more than 30 songs, this intense, emotional and ultimately hopeful musical aims right for the heart with its story of a family coming to terms with its past and bravely facing its future. 


Actors' Playhouse is proud to be the first regional theatre in South Florida to produce the show following its long Broadway run and National Tour. Next to Normal will be presented at the Miracle Theatre through February 12.


The most talked about new show on Broadway, Next to Normal is the acclaimed and compelling hit-musical "that pushes Broadway in new directions," according to Rolling Stone magazine. Next to Normal's surging score, with emotional book and lyrics, tells the story of one woman’s struggle with manic depression and the toll it takes on her family.


"Next to Normal is the most powerful and riveting piece of musical theatre written in the last decade," said Artistic Director David Arisco. "I'm extremely excited to follow in the footsteps of last year's August: Osage County with a production of another Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Our cast, band, design and creative team are more than up to the task of taking our South Florida audience on this electrifying musical journey." 


Next to Normal features an impressive cast with strong ties to both the New York and South Florida theatre communities. Jodie Langel, playing Diana, premiered on Broadway as the role of Cosette in Les Miserables and later went on to play the role of Eponine. Now living back in South Florida, Langel's Broadway tour credits include the role of Bertrande in the Pre-Broadway tour of Martin Guerre, the Narrator in the National Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Grizabella in the National Tour of CATS. Mark Sanders, who was last seen as Perchik on the Broadway National Tour of Fiddler on the Roof, will play the role of Dan. Eddy Rioseco, a native Miami boy, will play the role of Gabe. Rioseco's New York shows include Fame (Nick), Mamma Mia (Pepper) and Wicked (Boq). 


Next to Normal features music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, and direction by David Arisco. 


The show opened on Friday, January 20 and will run through February 12, 2012. Evening performances will be held Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with afternoon matinees on Sunday at 2 p.m. A special weekday matinee is scheduled on Wednesday, January 25 at 2 p.m.


Tickets for weeknights and matinees are $40, and on Friday and Saturday evenings $48. The theatre offers a 10 percent senior discount rate the day of performance and $15 student rush tickets 15 minutes prior to curtain with identification. Discounts are based on availability and exclude Saturday and Sunday. 


Four-show flexible subscription packages are now available to the remainder of the 2011-2012 season for only $186; which includes: the international musical sensation that won Actors' Playhouse eight Carbonell Awards in 2001, including Best Musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (March 7 - April 8, 2012) with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice; the hilarious, new comedy Becky's New Car (May 9 - June 3, 2012) by Steven Dietz, as well as the World Premiere of a manly musical revue called Real Men Sing Show Tunes and Play With Puppets (July 11 - August 12, 2012) by Paul Louis and Nick Santa Maria.


Actors’ Playhouse is the nonprofit resident theatre company and managing agent of the historic Miracle Theatre on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. Actors’ Playhouse, which has brought home 70 regional Carbonell Awards for artistic excellence, is a Florida Presenting Cultural Organization and one of 22 major cultural institutions in Miami-Dade County. In addition to its Mainstage season, Actors’ Playhouse offers a year-round season of Musical Theatre for Young Audiences, a National Children’s Theatre Festival, a Theatre Conservatory and Summer Camp Program, as well as educational arts outreach programs for under-served youth, and has initiated a Young Talent Big Dreams contest for children in partnership with The Children’s Trust.


For more information please call 305-444-9293 or visit www.actorsplayhouse.org. Actors' Playhouse is located at 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables in the historic Miracle Theatre.


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Actors' Playhouse Kicks Off the 2011-2012 "You Can't Stop the Beat" Season with the Tony Award-winning Smash Broadway Hit-Musical Hairspray

It’s time to let your hair down and dance the night away as Hairspray, Broadway’s musical comedy phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture, opens at the Miracle Theatre on October 14. Winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score, Hairspray launches the Actors' Playhouse 2011-2012 "You Can't Stop the Beat" Season, aerosol-style.

In Hairspray it's 1962—the '50s are out and change is in the air. Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion—to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, The Corny Collins Show and, overnight, is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity. But can a plus-size trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the program's reigning princess, win the heart of heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her 'do? South Florida audiences will be swept away by this international smash-hit musical, piled bouffant-high with laughter and romance – and enough deliriously tuneful songs to fill a nonstop platter party.

The Actors’ Playhouse production, which runs through November 13, features Actors' Playhouse's own Carbonell Award-winning Artistic Director David Arisco as Edna Turnblad, Tracy's larger-than-life mother. Arisco has a long history of acting and directing and was last seen onstage in 2004 starring as Tevye in Actors' Playhouse's production of Fiddler on the Roof. He promises that despite his varied resume, audiences have never seen him like this before!

"Hairspray is the most exciting, fun-filled Broadway musical of the last decade.  We've assembled a stellar cast, the areas top designers, and I'm even willing to dress up like a woman and return to the stage to bring our community the most joy they'll have in the theatre in years," Arisco said. "This infectious musical, even more than the original movie or the latest film release, is exactly what theatre lovers need to escape from the doom and gloom that surrounds us today. As The New York Times said 'If life were everything it should be, it would be more like Hairspray. It's Irresistible.' "

Multitasking Arisco, who is also directing the production, along with the assistance of Choreographer Barbara Flaten and Musical Director David Nagy, has assembled a dream cast to back him up on stage including Hairspray veterans Joline Mujica, a Miami-native and University of Miami Alumni, as heroine Tracy Turnblad, and Matthew Ragas as heartthrob Link Larkin. Ragas was part of the National Tour and Mujica starred in two other regional productions of the show. Hairspray's star-studded cast also features Miami-native Ronald Duncan returning home to play Seaweed, Avi Hoffman as Arisco's husband Wilbur Turnblad, Avery Sommers as Motor Mouth Maybelle, Kim Cozort as Velma von Tussle, Julie Kleiner as Penny Pingleton, Celia Merendi as Amber von Tussle, and Christopher A. Kent as Corny Collins.

Hairspray is based on the New Line Cinema film written and directed by John Waters, who served as a creative consultant on the musical comedy. With an original score by Academy Award-nominated Marc Shaiman (who co-wrote the music and lyrics for the acclaimed animated musical, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, PG-rated Hairspray will have viewers young and old shimmying in their seats as they enjoy toe-tapping hits such as "It Takes Two," "Welcome To The 60's," "Without Love," "I Can Hear The Bells," and "You Can't Stop The Beat." It's hair-hopping family fun in dazzling color and style.

Scenic design is by Sean McClelland; the set coordinator is Gene Seyffer; costume design is by Ellis Tillman; lighting design is by Patrick Tennent; the sound is by Alexander Herrin; wig design is by Gerard Kelly.

Preview performances of Hairspray will be held Wednesday and Thursday, October 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. The show will open on Friday, October 14 at 8 p.m. and play through November 13. Evening performances will be held Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with afternoon matinees on Sunday at 2 p.m. A special weekday matinee is scheduled on Wednesday, October 26 at 2 p.m.

Preview night tickets on the first Wednesday and Thursday are $37. Tickets for weeknights and matinees are $42, and on Friday and Saturday evenings $50. The theatre offers a 10 percent senior discount rate the day of performance and $15 student rush tickets 15 minutes prior to curtain with identification. Discounts are based on availability and exclude Saturday and Sunday.

Group discounted rates are offered for 15 or more through our group sales department. Single tickets may be purchased through the box office at 305-444-9293 or online at www.actorsplayhouse.org.

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For kids of all ages who have ever had a bad day: Actors’ Playhouse presents "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"

Aaron Goldenberg (center) as “Alexander” in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Photo by Alberto Romeu

Back by popular demand to kick off the 2011-2012 Actors' Playhouse Theatre for Young Audiences Season is "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." The play is based on the award-winning children's book of the same name, and adapted for the stage by the book's author, Judith Viorst, into this marvelous musical that is wacky, wild and wonderfully wise.

Alexander knows it is going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day when he wakes up with gum in his hair and he is right. Things only get worse as the day goes on: his best friend bails on him, there's no dessert in his lunch bag, there's lima beans for dinner and kissing on TV! The only reasonable response is to move to Australia.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, with book and lyrics by Judith Viorst and music by Shelly Markham, will play at the Miracle Theatre from September 30 through November 19, 2011. Performances are Saturdays at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $17 for adults and children and can be ordered online at www.actorsplayhouse.org or through the Box Office at 305-444-9293. The Actors' Playhouse is located at 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, FL 33134.

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