George todayOr perhaps I should say ‘Opening The Floodgates with George’ for sitting down with this actor, photographer, printer, poet, musician, singer, and artist as in one who finds art everywhere in life, I find myself pinned back in my chair by the tangential tales unleashed by my simple question: Would you tell me about your early life, George?

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I have always been a fan of the incredible artifacts and magnificent paintings associated with organized religion. Not to mention the structures built to house these wonderful collections. Some of the world’s greatest treasures were created in the name of God, and The Cloisters of the Ancient Spanish Monastery is no exception. Quite frankly, I was ecstatic that such an incredibly beautiful and historical place existed right in our own backyard. interior

The Cloisters (which by definition is a covered walk with an open colonnade on one side, that runs along the walls of buildings that face a quadrangle) is to my mind, one of the most peaceful and beautiful configurations in a place of worship. The Cloisters here are not only magnificent, but also have an incredibly intriguing history. 

Gateway to_PeaceGenerally, most of the museums everyone seems to be familiar with are due east. But as Horace Greeley once said: “Go West, young man!” I agree with ol’ Horace, go west indeed – to the Coral Springs Museum of Art.

Tucked away in the suburbs, CSMOA is a hidden treasure and a source of important and stimulating exhibits. Let’s start with the International Peace Garden. Five international artists created the sculptures for the Peace Garden. Each piece was sculpted from a stone from their home continent...

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--

Of cabbages--and kings--

And why the sea is boiling hot--

And whether pigs have wings."

I do not know about the pigs with wings deal, but the time has come for our sand, seas and sidewalks to start aboiling: Yes, folks, we are teetering on the brink of summer in the city.

With multi-homed friends packed up to cooler climes, year ‘round Floridians are face to face with several torpid months without that pesky social life to get in the way of solitary pursuits. Mitchell Kaplan’s Books & Books establishment is way ahead of us and on the job of travel agent for that inner journey.

Book lectures...

Syndee Winters as “Nala” and Jelani Remy as “Simba”As spectacles go, it's, well, spectacular. It's The Lion King, of course. Trawled in 853.8 million dollars as of April this year, highest grossing Broadway show of all time, according to whoever puts this stuff in Wikipedia. And judging by the roars of approval from the packed house at the Arsht Center the other night it's going to be doing very well during its Miami run.

If you're not entirely comatose you'll know that the brilliant work of director and costume designer Julie Taymore is the driving force behind The Lion...

Seraphic FireWrapping up its 10th season with a festooned Latin bow, Seraphic Fire, under the clever artistic direction of Patrick Dupré Quigley, offered south Florida audiences an unlikely program of late Renaissance and Baroque compositions from Mexico, Bolivia and Peru. The “Treasury of the Mission Road” package contained 14 pieces, both instrumental and choral, from known and unknown composers of distinctly Spanish origins, some born in the Americas taught by Spaniards, some from Spain traveling to the new world, all steeped in sacred European musical traditions. 

Quigley made effective use of the entire hall and kept his singers fluid, moving them like certain chess pieces across the board into various configurations to wring the most out of each colorful composition.  

Jenny Larrson and John Beauregard/photo Karim ArabiaOn a beautiful day at noon I drive south from my home on South Beach to a warehouse dance studio in S. Miami. It looks like the typical warehouse district with trucks everywhere. As I get out of my car I can hear the sounds of the Crosstown String Quartet coming from inside Building B. Their door opens to expose dancers in rehearsal for this weekend's concert. Typical dancers, they are working in odd bits of clothing, hair in disarray, sweaty. These dancers include those in wheelchairs. Wheelchairs? Yes. This is the Karen Peterson Dance Company.  

And then there are the musicians who are accompanying them...professionals who play all over Florida; with the symphony, the ballet, and of course with their own group Crosstown String Quartet. Sitting in a corner on folding chairs, they create a beautiful sound in this high ceilinged box of a place. 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote the short story, Pulitzer winner Nilo Cruz adapted it and wrote the lyrics and Stephanie Ansin is producing it at her Miami Shores Playground Theatre.

It's A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, a children's show, with eight good Equity actors, that plays just as well for grown ups. A fantasy, of course, but such fun.

A simple tale: two children on a Caribbean Island find an angel who has fallen from the sky. He can't talk and doesn't remember his name. The children shelter him from a storm, but their parents discover the angel and the father puts him on display to the islanders, selling his eyelashes and feathers in return for the Angel's prayers. There's a happy ending, of course, but getting there is the theatre art that has no age limit.

Peter Lord      Queen Victoria. Charles Darwin. Pillars of British history. Get ready to see the reputation of these venerable figures pillaged with flair – and figures made out of clay, silica and latex – by Peter Lord, co-founder of Aardman Animations. The name doesn't ring a bell? Then you're probably more familiar with the Bristol native's 2000 directing venture, the animated charmer Chicken Run, which portrayed a poultry farm as a prisoner-of-war camp and gave Mel Gibson one of his last reputable gigs before he flew the coop career-wise. Movie buffs cannot talk about animation without mentioning...

Omar Prince      I met him at the opening night of Mosaic Theatre's A Measure of Cruelty. He's slim, dark haired, designer stubbled, fortyish I'd guess, and very charming. And he has this really cool name: Omar Prince. It's his real name, and that's good, because he's an actor.

Time only for a short chat, we agreed to swap emails, and I found out that: Omar Prince is a member of AEA, AFTRA and SAG and is in therapy, a state in which he believes all actors should reside.

He's an only child, born in Havana and raised in front...