Culture Vulture / A Buffet of Delicious Arts
Key West Fringe’s brings its immersion theater to the Custom House, home of the Kew West Art and Historical Society, with a production of Edward Albee‘s “A Delicate Balance,” which opens this week at the Custom House. It’s the dirst time a theatrical production has been presented there, according to KWAHS Executive Director Michael Gieda. The Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is directed by Dennis Zacek and is “delicious and witty,” said Fringe artistic director Monnie King, who will play opposite her husband, PJ King. We caught the dress rehearsal last night and profound, maybe brilliant, are the words that come to mind. Watch for Mark Howell’s review.
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Steve LaPierre does it again. In A Tale of Two Cities, the multi-talented artist/musician offers Tropic Cinema patrons a look at Habana and Key West in plein air — and it’s almost as good as a tour. His style is almost-but-not-quite photographic realism (the paintings done in Habana are much more impressionistic) and his technique is superb, so I suspect just a bit of impressionist soul seeping through here. This work is as enjoyable as the stand-up bass he brings to The Love Lane Gang (still playing McConnell’s on Fridays 8 p.m. till midnight the sunset gig at Salute on Sundays).
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Speaking of the Havana-Key West cultural exchange, Greene Street Gallery owner and Conch Nance Frank has worked a miracle: don’t miss “Una Raza * One Race,” the Mario Sanchez /Cuban artists’ cultural exchange showing at a quartet – quintet, really, as coincidentally Stone Soup had scheduled a Cuban show opening tonight as well — of Keys venues including The Studios of Key West, beginning today (Feb. 20). Other venues are the Gato Building opening tomorrow 5-7, the Hemingway House, a short stroll from the Gato, tomorrow 6-8, and two more on Saturday: the Oldest House 5-7 and the Mel Fisher Museum 6-8. Stay tuned for a closer look at Alpizar and Tamayo (these artists are so famous in Cuba they go by only their last names, arts council E.D. Liz Young reported), who will show at the Gato.
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Opening in time for Valentine’s Day was a remarkable, really breathtaking show at Cocco & Salem Gallery at 1111 Duval, a show containing realistic still life’s, lush flora and fauna, gorgeous impressionist seascapes and very interesting abstracts — all by the amazingly versatile and accomplished Jim Salem. This show of “New Works” is accessorized by a variety of other paintings by Marylene Proner, Judith Zabar, Sean Callahan, and others, including a half dozen canvasses of hunky young men, one with a lovely rear view. The show runs through Feb. 25 and I recommend it; this relatively young gallery (although owned by longtime heavy hitters on the local art scene) is top drawer, right up there with Lucky Street, Gingerbread Square and a very few others in town.
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In the cooperative category, however (and we are fortunate to have some wonderful co-ops in town; Guild Hall and Island Arts come immediately to mind) there is always the matriarch of local galleries, the Key West Art Center at 300 Front St., where there’s always interesting art to be found. At a Valentine’s Day reception, watercolorist Leigh Burleson launched her first exhibition with a lovely collection of “Lasting Flowers.” The show is up through Feb. 26 and I recommend it, too.
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There’s been so much good theater in town this season. “Other Desert Cities” closed at the Waterfront last week, but it was wondrous and actually made me weep, not something I often do at the theater (movies, yes; theater, no). Bravos and bravos to all. Overlapping “Delicate Balance” is the Red Barn’s latest, a “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spile,” enthusiastically reviewed by out Diane Johnson last week
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Reports Skipper Kripitz: On Tuesday Feb. 18 at Virgilio’s (9 p.m.), acclaimed master guitarist Howard Alden joins Kripitz on drums “for some musical fun, along with some very special guests, including on the weekend the wonderful NYC singer/songwriter, Jeanne Gies. Alden “may be the best of his generation,” writes Owen Cordle in “Jazz Times.” He has substituted for Les Paul, as well as worked extensively with legends Joe Pass and Bucky Pizzarelli. Alden and Gies both dazzled audiences last winter, on their first visit to the Keys. (Most places in the world, a hefty cover charge would be levied to see this kind of touring performance!)” At Virgilio’s Howard and Skippo will also be joined by local music legends Larry Smith on keyboards and Christine Cordone on vocals.
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Jeffrey Birn of Gingerbread Square Gallery reports that Colorado artist Nyla Witmore, “an extremely accomplished and internationally recognized artist,” will be exhibiting her latest collection of oil paintings in a show titled “Travels,” which opened with a reception from 5:30 till 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb.17 and continues through Feb. 24. Says Birn, “Nyla Witmore’s impressionistic representations of ‘intimate’ Key West, Paris, Venice, Amsterdam and the Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival are fresh and alluring. Especially notable are her elegant brush strokes and sense of color.” Gingerbread Square Gallery is at 1207 Duval; it’s open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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That’s all for now — gotta fly!
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