The Mirror: v12 iss1

DANIEL FRANZESE

FROM ‘MEAN GIRLS’ TO LOVING MOTHER

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAUL REISER

Page 12

CLAUDIA CASTILLO

Page 18

DANIEL FRANZESE

Page 24

DIMITRI SHIKHOV

Page 30

RECORD 11 LGBT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TAKE OFFICE

Page 32

DOES YOUR HOME NEED A POST-COVID REDO?

Page 38

QUEENS OF THE BLUES

Page 42

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

Page 44

WHAT TO READ: ‘BEFORE WE WERE TRANS’ Page 50

BOOK REVIEW: BEASTS AND BEAUTY Page 52

CARS: 2023 LEXUS RX 350 Page 54

Pictured on the cover: Daniel Franzese. Photo courtesy of Daniel Franzese.

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Pictured: Paul Reiser

Photo by Dmitry Bocharov courtesy of Shore Fire Media.

BY GREGG SHAPIRO

When it comes to versatility, you’d be hardpressed to find another actor as adaptable as Paul Reiser. From his acting debut in 1982’s “Diner” (which was also writer/director Barry Levinson’s first movie) to his performances alongside Eddie Murphy in 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop” and Sigourney Weaver in 1986’s “Aliens,” Reiser effortlessly demonstrated his range. Since that time, he’s also become a fixture on television, co-creating the Emmy-winning sitcom “Mad About You” and keeping us guessing about which side he’s on in “Stranger Things,” to mention a couple of his many projects. For LGBTQ+ fans, it’s his role as Gordon, father of queer writer Hannah (Rachel Bloom) in Hulu’s brilliantly funny “Reboot,” that may officially earn him a following in our community. These days, Reiser is returning to his stand-up comedy roots heading out on a multi-city tour. He was gracious enough to make time for an interview to discuss his long career.

GREGG SHAPIRO: Twenty-twenty-two is the 40th anniversary of your movie debut in “Diner.” When you look back on it, how do you feel about the experience?

PAUL REISER: [Laughs] There was an event here that, I think, The Movie Channel put together a couple of months ago to celebrate the 40 anniversary, so a whole bunch of us got together — the actors in the cast. It was kind of staggering to think of it as 40 years. For me, it was absolutely the opening of everything. I was really just beginning. It was much sooner than I would have expected or reasonably hoped to have a break, as they call it. It happened by accident. I literally walked in with a friend and happened to stumble into an office where they were casting this movie, and the casting director thought I might be right (for the part). It was totally an accident and a bit of an education for me. That’s kind of how things happen. There is no more reasonable way that things happen. They’re often just silly accidents and coincidences and near misses, sometimes not a miss. That opened up everything for me. I had not even been out to LA ever. So, when I did come out, instead of just being a stand-up who you haven’t seen, you’re “that kid from the movie who’s on the poster” [laughs]. The movie, while not a mega-hit was very well-received critically, and by film aficionados. Over the years I’ve seen how much it has really meant to and stayed with people. There’s an audience, a lot of people, men and women, surprisingly, for whom the film was an important touchstone in their lives.

GS: Twenty-twenty-two is also the 40th anniversary of your stand-up debut on “The Tonight Show.”

PR : They were sort of tied together. I was not passed the ball. I was not invited yet to “The Tonight Show,” which was my only goal. I wasn’t particularly looking to be in a movie. I just wanted to get on “The Tonight Show” as a stand-up. Because

“Diner” was coming out, that was the week that they said, “You’re not just a stand-up. You’re a stand-up who is in a new movie that people are talking about. It literally opened the door from my standup, as well.

GS: You’re embarking on a stand-up tour in 2023. In the more than 40 years since your “Tonight Show” debut, can you please say a few words about the evolution of your stand-up. For example, are there things that you did jokes about then that you wouldn’t necessarily do again now?

PR: It’s funny. It’s an interesting evolution. My goal was always to be a stand-up. That was really all I had in mind. Because of “Diner,” things opened up and suddenly I found myself doing all these acting roles. They were great and I’m very grateful that they happened, but they kind of took me off track a little bit. I’m not in any way complaining. When “Mad About You” started, which was ‘92, and maybe the year before as we were developing it, I really wasn’t on the road. When the show started in earnest, I was just kind of consumed with it. When it was over, I was at a different point in my life. The net result was I didn’t do stand-up for what turned out to be 20 years. I didn’t mean to, but ‘92 to I guess 2008 or 9, I just hadn’t done it. Other than once in a while going up at a charity event or something, but not regularly performing. What’s funny to me now is that people know me from this show or that show but still, a lot of them go, “I didn’t know he does stand up,” which tickles me. I guess that’s fair enough. I haven’t been out there. Certainly, the world has changed, and sensibilities have changed. People are much more aware of taking responsibility for what they say onstage, which is good. But for me, personally, I was never someone who walked the edge. I wasn’t looking to ruffle sensibilities. I think the biggest change for me is as I’ve gotten older, your material and your perspective changes. When you’re 23, 24, and you’re wanting to be recognized, you want to make it, and be seen, it’s different [laughs] than when you’re in your 60s, and you have grown kids and you’ve been married for years. “Mad About You” came out of my act. I was talking a lot about having just been married. When I was invited to create a show, I said, “That’s the kind of show I would want to do. Something really small and intimate that’s just about a married couple.” Newlyweds are different than being together five years or ten years and having kids. With many comics, hopefully, your material changes as you change, as you grow. “Mad About You” was about this man and woman, but we had a lot of feedback and terrific response from gay couples, from men and women. It wasn’t just about men and women, it was about intimacy, it was about two people in a confined space. No matter how you slice it, however you come at it, that’s tricky. It was an education for me to realize that we were talking about something bigger than we even thought.

GS: In your acting career, you have an incredibly varied resume including sci-fi standouts “Aliens” and “Stranger Things,” as well as a number of dramatic roles such as in “Whiplash” and “Fosse/ Verdon.” Do you prefer comedy or drama, or do you like them equally?

PR : I’ve never been a fan of these harsh divisions of comedy and drama. For me, the stuff that’s always been the most memorable

and the most impactful is the stuff that can straddle both. “Mad About You” was absolutely a comedy, but some of our most memorable stuff was when we did something a little bit more emotional. Similarly, when you’re in a not specifically comedy thing, sometimes the most impactful moments are when there’s a bit of levity, a bit of humor. Because, hopefully, nobody’s life is only drama, only comedy. I’ve always loved the actors that can tip back and forth in a moment’s notice. Tom Hanks and Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk. Those are the guys who are funny one second and then touching the next second and then funny, again. That keeps me engaged. That’s what life is. You could laugh at a funeral and you could cry at a birthday party. Anything can go in any direction. I’ve always loved finding something that enables you to hit both. You can’t always do it. (In) “Aliens,” certainly, there was no place to tell a joke. The show I’m doing now, “Reboot” on Hulu, is really fun because it’s totally a comedy. It’s about a comedy. There are funny characters and funny actors, and you’re there to make comedy. That’s new to me, to do a show about a comedy.

GS: You mentioned “Mad About You,” which was rebooted in 2019, and now you are starring in the Hulu series “Reboot.” Does this feel like an interesting coincidence to you?

PR: No [laughs]. I’ve never been a fan of reboots, in general. I always feel like if something’s done, it’s done. Helen Hunt and I thought long and hard about going back and doing the revisit. We didn’t call it a reboot because we weren’t trying to start it from scratch. We were just checking in. You haven’t seen these people in 20 years, what would that relationship look like now that they raised the child who was a handful and who’s leaving the nest? What has life done to these two people and this relationship in 20 years? That was the incentive that we thought would be really fun to explore. I don’t know that everything needs to be rebooted. The premise of “Reboot” was just because all these shows were being rebooted. That’s how “Mad About You” got to be done again. They came to us and said, “Everybody is looking to redo things that were successful.” We resisted until he came upon why we thought it would be fun to explore. Plus, for us, the fun of working together again was the appeal. We said we’d do it once, and I’m glad we did. Steve Levitan had this idea where these casts are getting back together, but what would it be like if nobody got along? What would people’s lives be like? Even though “Reboot” is about the making of a sitcom, it’s not so much about the sitcom at all. The actual sitcom is almost never seen. It’s about rebooting, to use the term, people’s lives. It’s about second chances. It’s about my character hopefully getting to be a better father to my adult daughter. One character is now sober and trying to be a professional and a grown-up. To go back to your other question about drama versus comedy, what I love about “Reboot” is it’s really funny. Everybody in it is really funny. But when I watched it, I was really surprised at how much I cared, as a viewer, about these people. I wouldn’t call it heavy drama, but it’s not joke, joke, joke. These are funny situations. These are people who I care about. I haven’t heard yet that we’re going to go back and make some more, but I hope we do because I think there’s a lot of stories to be told, and a lot of interesting characters to play.

“Reboot,” in which you play Gordon, is in the tradition of writers’ room comedies including “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “30 Rock.” How much of your writers’ room experience from “Mad About You” comes through in “Reboot?”

PR: It’s very lifelike. I always tell people, “You don’t have to have worked in television to enjoy the show, but if you have you will definitely get a kick out of it because it’s so true to life.” Some of this is just in the ethers, in the atmosphere. Writer’s rooms famously will lose two and a half hours ordering lunch [laughs]. Or the friction between everybody in a closed room and people offending people. All the dynamics. New sensibilities versus old sensibilities. Those things ring true. What’s fun for me is getting to play a guy who’s in charge of a show but I don’t really have the burden of being in charge of anything [laughs]. It’s Steve Levitan’s problem. It’s nice to just be playing that guy.

GS: “Reboot” includes a touching scene in which Gordon’s daughter Hannah (Rachel Bloom), comes out to him. Before “Reboot,” did you have an awareness of an LGBT following for your work?

PR: I’m not aware of “Reboot” impacting that. As I said before, with “Mad About You” I was heartened and grateful to see how deeply this show, which was about a heterosexual couple, how deeply it resonated with other couples and gay couples. We would hear it all the time. On the street, a guy would say to me, “That’s so true! Me and my husband or me and my boyfriend have been having that exact fight.” They’re not just men/women fights they’re two people fights.

GS: It was universal!

PR: It’s universal, and that’s always been true. That whatever is the most personal will end up being the most universal. That was one of the things I loved about “Mad About You.” We can talk about things that were so small and intimate because they actually resonated the most for people. I don’t know that I had a particular following or anything, but I certainly like to think that people can come to my stand-up show and nobody’s going to get hurt. As I said before, some people enjoy pushing the envelope, but that’s never been me. There’s no point in doing it if people aren’t having a good time and put at ease. I’m not here to make anybody uncomfortable.

Pictured: Paul Reiser

Photo by Dmitry Bocharov courtesy of Shore Fire Media.

Paul Reiser is performing at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 24.

“IT’S UNIVERSAL, AND THAT’S ALWAYS BEEN TRUE. THAT WHATEVER IS THE MOST PERSONAL WILL END UP BEING THE MOST UNIVERSAL”

CLAUDIA Art Studio Celebrates

Photo via Facebook.

CASTILLO Studio

Celebrates Milestone

BY JOHN HAYDEN

LAUDIA CASTILLO Art Studio is nestled in the heart of Wilton Manors along The Drive.

If you’re not looking, you may miss it. But if you see Claudia Castillo anywhere, you can’t miss her. Her bright smile and signature glasses invite you to say hi even if you’ve never met her, even if you have no idea she’s one of South Florida’s brightest stars in the art community.

Her art studio is celebrating its five-year anniversary and she talked with SFGN about what’s next and how far she’s come.

“These five years have been very rewarding and challenging at the same time,” Castillo said. “We all went through many difficulties during the pandemic, and I am so pleased with the support the community has given us and how we have been able to continue to provide beautiful artwork and unique gifts to this community in spite of the challenges faced.”

She’s also taken her work off The Drive and on the road.

“As an artist, I have grown tremendously now exhibiting in several countries in Europe and last year at the Florence Biennale. As you know I also give a lot of my time to this great city and have done numerous projects such as the liquor store mural.”

THE ART OF BEAUTIFICATION

Castillo’s creativity knows no bounds so it makes sense that she’s using her talents to make her mark on Wilton Manors’ public spaces. Most recently she added a few splashes of color up and down Wilton Drive by painting the parking meters in rainbow colors.

“I always felt there was something that needed to be done with the parking meter at the front of my studio. I would constantly hear from the public a lot of complaints about how ugly and unsightly they were. I realized that I could paint them with bright and bold colors to express happiness.”

She got permission to start with the meter in front of her studio.

The project quickly took on a life of its own.

“I cannot tell you how many tourists, families, and children came to me to tell me they love it and took pictures with the meter. Then they started to tell me that I should paint the rest of the meters on The Drive.”

City officials said yes and soon The Drive was alive with rainbows. But look closely and you’ll see each one is different than the one next to it.

“Each is painted with the same bright and bold colors however their order varies from meter to meter.”

People driving in or out of Wilton Manors using NE 4 th Ave/ Wilton Drive see her art during every trip. Castillo championed painting the Rainbow Bridge.

“The Rainbow Bridge was a labor of love that I was so happy to be able to complete for my friend [late Wilton Manors Mayor] Justin Flippen, as it was his last idea for our wonderful city.”

The “pocket park” across from Wilton Manors City Hall is also named for Flippen, and Castillo left her artistic mark there, too.

“I am also very proud to have my manatee sculpture on display at Justin Flippen Park.”

DEVELOPING ART

After years of planning, Wilton Manors is on the verge of a building boom. With more than 1,100 units tentatively planned, groundbreaking could be relatively soon. Castillo maintains twice in a row, one needs to get changed and creating new art is important in helping the city keep its small, artsy vibe.

“I hope the small town, quaint, inclusive character of this community is not lost in the future development and that the small businesses that make this community strong are considered and maintained.”

Part of setting that tone is through public art.

“Art is always necessary for any community, ours has more of it in a small area because of the character of Wilton Drive. Whatever the future brings, art will definitely be a part of it in architecture and public art as most developers understand that value.”

She takes an interest in anything related to the city. You’ll often see her at city commission meetings, business openings, special events and more.

As for the future, Castillo has her favorite materials and mediums.

“Painting on large canvases and exploring new materials that I can use to get the most vibrant colors in my artwork.”

But like so many artists, she has plenty of great ideas but not enough time.

“I never have enough time for all of the art projects that are in my mind. I will be traveling to Madrid in late October and to Barcelona in November to exhibit my work and I know the trip will again inspire me to develop new projects for the upcoming year. I hope that everyone can visit the studio in the next few months to enjoy our new collections of artist’s work, my artwork and all of the unique gift ideas for the holidays!”

To see more of her work online, visit ClaudiaCastilloArtStudio.com

Claudia Castillo and wife at their gallery space. Image via Facebook.

Rainbow Manatee sculpture on display at Justin Flippen Park. Image via Facebook.

Claudia painting a parking meter in the city of Wilton Manors. Photo courtesy of Chris Caputo.

Daniel Franzese’s Love Letter to His Mother

BY GREGG SHAPIRO

Out of all the characters in the classic 2004 movie comedy “Mean Girls,” gay teen Damian, portrayed by out actor Daniel Franzese, had a special place in the hearts of LGBT folks of all ages.

He was funny, flamboyant, and, ultimately, relatable. It was a role that firmly put Franzese, who grew up in South Florida, on our collective radar. His portrayal of Eddie in HBO’s acclaimed series “Looking,” only increased his queer acting cred. More recently, Franzese was a competitor on “RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race.” In the midst of all that, he was making his popular comedy “Shit Italian Moms Say” video series on YouTube, which has garnered views in the millions. Now transformed into a one-man stage show called “Italian Mom Loves You,” co-written by Franzese and Jacques Lamarre, lucky audiences in South Florida had the Buona Fortuna of experiencing the character of Antoinette (based on Daniel’s mother Denise) live and in person when it opened at Boca Black Box Center for the Arts, 8221 Glades Road in Boca Raton, in December. I spoke with Franzese about the show shortly before Thanksgiving over breakfast at Peter Pan Diner.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Franzese

GREGG SHAPIRO: Even though you had already been in a few movies before the release of “Mean Girls” in 2004, for many LGBT people your portrayal of the character of Damian was something of a breakthrough. When you look back on that experience, how do you feel about it, and what does it mean to you to be associated with Damian?

DANIEL FRANZESE: That’s a great question. At first, I didn’t know what it was going to end up meaning for me. Three years in, it was kind of like, “I don’t want to talk about ‘Mean Girls.’ Let’s talk about something else.” Six years in, it’s like, “Don’t you remember I was in that?” and everybody else is like, “Your movie’s old!” But after 10 years it became a classic. Around the 10th anniversary, I got a letter from someone that said, “When I was in 8th grade, I was beaten up for being chubby and tortured for being a sissy. Then your movie came out, and on the first day of my 9th-grade year, the popular senior girls walked up to me and said, ‘You’re like Damian. Come sit with us.’” He said (in the letter), “Thank you so much for being something I could point to and say that’s me.” I’m so proud of that. I realized that Damian was popular because he never got pushed in a locker, never got his head dunked in a toilet, and was able to survive and breathe and live just by being authentic. I was dealing with that personally at the same time. I came out after I got that letter. That was a big experience for me. Because I opened up about it, so many people felt comfortable talking about how it affected them. Now that we’re approaching the 20th anniversary, I’m learning even more new things. This director, Assaad Yacoub, who directed “Cherry Pop” right out of college, then went on to direct more than 50 drag queen music videos including Eureka O’Hara’s new video and Trixie Mattel’s “Hello Hello” which won the Queerty Award. I had worked with him before on Bebe Zahara’s video “Banjo.” When we were at the Queerties, he was holding his award and he came up to me and he was crying. He said, “I want to let you know that I grew up in Dubai. In Dubai, all gay content it’s cut out of everything. But because Damian never had a kiss and was in that sweet spot between ‘I know I’m gay’ and ‘I haven’t tried anything yet,’ it made it past all the censors.” I started hearing more stories like that from places where gay content doesn’t get in. This was a character that 20 years ago made it through.

GS: That’s really a credit to the writer Tina Fey.

DF: Absolutely! Also Mark Waters, the director. They both explicitly told me that Damian was in that sweet spot. As an actor, that was such a rich place to play.

GS: Are you still in touch with any of the “Mean Girls” cast members?

DF: Yes. We just did an online reunion during the pandemic with Katie Couric. That’s the last time we all saw each other. I keep in touch with Jonathan Bennett and Lacey Chabert. Amanda Seyfried, as well. Lacey’s awesome. She just sent my mom her whole clothing line.

GS: I really loved the HBO series, and subsequent movie, “Looking.” I found it to be groundbreaking and honest, and I was crushed when it was canceled. What did playing Eddie in “Looking” mean to you?

DF: I came out the same year that I got offered “Looking.” To me, that was so affirming. To not only work in a place where everybody cared about acting, but also to be in a place where it was cool to be gay. We had one straight PA, and we made fun of him [laughs]. Michael Lannan, one of the creators, took me to breakfast and said, “We want to offer you this role. You’re going to be pursued by one of the lead actors. He’s going to find you

irresistible. You’re going to have HIV but you’re never going to get sick. He’s not going to like you in spite of it, he’s going to like you because of it.” I was like, “Oh my God, this is music to my ears.” As a queer person who’s always striving for equality, diversity, and inclusion, it was so incredible. What was remarkable about it was that my character was the first to have an HIV storyline in six years. The previous one was Gloria Reuben on “ER.” Because of that, ever since we found out about HIV, the number of infections were lowering every year. But after they were on TV, they started going up again. They found out that there’s a direct correlation between how stories are being told about LGBTQ people and how the information is being disseminated. Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation made me an ambassador because I’m friends with her grandson. They asked me to be the celebrity that presented the media playbook on HIV and AIDS to MSNBC with GLAAD. That set me on this whole journey a life of service. I learned so much about Miss Taylor and her legacy. She was an unbelievable movie star. A complete tabloid star. A sought-after woman. A businesswoman. She was famous for her taste in luxury items and jewelry, and was a trendsetter. Yet, so generous, such a fighter. She had an illegal drug ring running out of her mansion for her friends that needed it. She’d show up in full Elizabeth Taylor drag with no cameras and kiss people with lesions on their faces and tell them they were worthy and loved. Even up to her last days, she sat in a wheelchair at The Abbey, a gay club in West Hollywood, with a portrait behind her, telling all the gay people how much she loved them. She was such a champion for us. She’s an inspiration to me to this day. How much can I do? What can I do? I add service to my work, my stand-up, and my performance. We have messages in this play about infidelity and bullying and acceptance that I maybe wouldn’t have put in if I wasn’t thinking in the way of legacy.

GS: It’s been said that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Would you say that Italian mothers, your mother Denise included, would agree with that statement when it comes to your “Shit Italian Moms Say” videos?

DF: I would say it’s 50% imitation, the other 50 is a prank. Above anything I’ve ever done, I still cackle at this character. It’s almost like I put a bucket of ice above the door, and she opened the door. The play breathes life into a lot of people who are gone already. We have 85-year-old women in tears going, “I was sitting with my sister again. I was sitting with my mother. You reminded me of my grandma.” A lot of our idiosyncratic dialogue is old world mixed with new world. We keep it alive as our generation, but it was theirs. And it’s done with love.

GS: I love the way Italian mom Antoinette slips in the Yiddish words “alter kocker” in the “Florida is Like One Big Game of Frogger” episode. Between the food and the family drama, are Italian mothers all that different from Jewish mothers?

DF: Jewish people are very close to us. It’s familiar to us. We share words. Brooklyn brought us all together. We say “arugula” and you say “ruggelah” [laughs].

GS: When did you know you wanted to bring Antoinette alive onstage as you’re doing at the Boca Black Box Center for the Arts in early December?

DF: I’ve always tried to find a way to do something like that. Even though I did “[Secret] Celebrity Drag Race,” I’m not a real drag queen, in that regard. I don’t think I could make a living out of it. I was thinking, “How do I do

this for the stage? There’s got to be some way.” Years went by. Then I ended up doing this game show that the comedian Deven Green hosts on Revry. Jacques Lamarre, who is this Connecticut-based playwright, who writes all of Varla Jean Merman’s shows, hit me up. He saw me doing the Italian mom on the game show. He’s written three or four full-length onewoman shows about Italian women. He said, “I write for Italian women and drag queens.” I met with him at the Florida Creativity Conference in Tampa, and I stayed with him for the weekend, and we talked about what I thought the play should be about. We took a couple of months, and he gave me the first draft of the script which we co-wrote – it has my jokes, my characters, and my storyline. He married it in such a beautiful way. He put his own twisted and fun spin on it. We came up with concepts for monologues and fine-tuned the comedy and edited it. It was a big collaborative effort, along with the director Michael Schiralli, who directs for Jackie Hoffman and Coco Peru. Michael and I would ask my mother to tell a story and then we’d telephone it to Jacques. Jacques would come back with something that was part Denise and part Antoinette.

GS: You recently performed “Italian Mom Loves You” in Connecticut.

DF: It was a smash hit. People drove from four to six hours away. People were tailgating from Staten Island. People drove from Albany, Boston, to Pittsburgh. It was unbelievable. They would come in groups of cousins. It was loving and beautiful and so much fun to perform. They brought me back, again, a month later for Italian Heritage Month, and we had an encore presentation. We elevated the show, and tightened some of the acting, costumes, and whatever. The plot line of the show is that it’s an hour and 45 minutes before her mother’s surprise 85th birthday party. She’s cooking up a storm, but she’s dealing with the fact that her son’s getting married, her daughter’s going to college, her ex-husband wants to bring his girlfriend over, and she’s worried about all her friends’ problems, along with a potential real estate transaction to move to Boca to retire. The first hour is all jokes and then it gets into the story more.

GS: What does it mean to you to be performing for the hometown crowd?

DF: South Florida theater means a lot to me. I got my equity card here. I did my first play here. I did my first Broadway tour here. I did my first movie here. I did my first commercial here. I was nominated for a Carbonell Award when I was 21. I have such a connection here, that I couldn’t wait to come back and do something theatrical. I do stand up at the Miami Improv from time to time, but this is different. This is coming back and doing a play.

GS: In our pre-interview correspondence, you mentioned being “on set.”

DF: I did a PrEP commercial. It’s going to air during “Drag Race.”

GS: You’ve mentioned “Drag Race” a couple of times. Did appearing on the show “Secret Celebrity Drag Race” (as Donna Bellissima) change you in any way, and if yes, how so?

DF: It did. I didn’t understand when Ru said, “The power that you have in drag you have out of drag.” I’ve really been able to inform myself. Donna felt like she was worth something. Donna felt beautiful. I knew that she knew what she wanted. I’m more collaborative, but Donna was the boss. I’ve taken that with me. I kind of put things together now a little bit differently. I’ve been painting my nails. I had roadblocks and certain biases about femininity in myself. Doing this broke those walls down. None of it really matters. I’ve been having a blast.

GS: In spite of now being known as the “Don’t Say Gay” state, Florida, and South Florida in particular, is the birthplace of gay playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter Tarell Alvin McRaney (“Moonlight”), as well as being where you, Randy Rainbow, and President Barack Obama’s inaugural poet Richard Blanco were all raised. Ginger Minj from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is also from Florida. With that in mind, do you have any thoughts about what’s Florida?

DF: I went to conversion therapy here. When I was here, I felt the pressure, the “don’t say gay” of it all, but that’s why I’m back. That’s the job of a gay person, a gay Christian at that, is to come back and shine your light in places that you felt were darker so it’s easier for someone else. Everywhere I go, when I go on tour, I spend money in all the little queer spaces. I tip the queens and I tip the bartenders and I buy people shots, because I’m so grateful for my community, for my siblings. I will always be a part of anything that South Florida ever calls me to do. I plan on moving here and one day raising a family here. My nieces and nephews are all in school here. When I go to Washington, I talk to the senators from here. Because I am a constituent. Even though I don’t vote here yet until I own property, I’m still here and queer. At this point in my life, I’ve realized how much representation can do. I’m queer, I’m fat, and Italian, and those are the things I want to work on. Even in the Italian lexicon, they don’t highlight women enough and they never highlight gay people enough. That’s what I’m doing with this play. It’s a queer son’s love letter to his Italian mother. I think people will see that love. The best thing an LGBTQ+ person can be in this world is an example of love.

Photos courtesy of show photographer.

BREAKING BARRIERS TO CARE

CAN Community Health (CAN), a not-for-profit, community-based organization with clinics in Florida, Arizona, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, has provided specialized medical care for over 30 years. What began as a small health clinic founded by our trailblazer Susan Terry in 1991 off East Ave. in Sarasota, FL, has now transitioned into a national healthcare organization serving those affected by HIV, STDs, and Viral Hepatitis.

We provide the below services through Ryan White grants, STD prevention funding, the 340B Federal Drug Discount Program*, and philanthropic fundraising. As a result, we can provide the following services to all our clients regardless of their ability to pay.

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• Ryan White Services

• Education and Outreach for Sexual Health and Harm Reduction

• Medical Mobile Units

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• LGBTQIA+ Friendly Services

Programs like these provide quality care, increase viral suppression, lower rates of STD/Hep C infections and improve quality of life in communities. We continue to seek collaborative relations with local, state, and national partners to remove treatment barriers for all individuals in care.

Our incredible clinical and support staff members provide a safe space in geographically diverse areas that are accessible to community members. We are most proud of the elite medical care we provide, speaking volumes about the passion of our teams. One of the most telling elements of care in HIV services includes the ability to link, retain, and sustain individuals in care. CAN is wholeheartedly committed to offering exceptional care and specialized medical services to every community member.

As one of the region’s most extended providers of HIV care with 30 years of experience, we have been tapped by the CDC and HRSA to provide technical assistance opportunities for others throughout the country on best practices.

* The 340B program allows organizations like CAN Community Health to stretch resources and offer a full continuum of care to underserved and uninsured patients, including people living with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.

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RUSSIAN EXPAT SEEKS TO FORM

LGBT MICRONATION

BY JOHN MCDONALD

Interested in a little nation building are we?

Well, if you’re queer then look no further than the Rainbow Republic. It’s a micronation, designed for the LGBT community, to essentially bring all elements of existence under one domain.

“The existing LGBTQ communities mostly focus on one or several particular goals – to protect LGBTQ rights or to promote LGBTQ values,” said Dimitri Shikhov, 33, who serves as Secretary of State for the Rainbow Republic. “However, we want to create a comprehensive political, social, economic and cultural ecosystem for LGBTQ community with its own political structure, businesses and financial system, civil society, culture, etc.”

Micronations are tiny spots in cyberspace typically claimed by an entity as sort of a rebellion against societal norms. Locally, a 1982 effort by a group of fed-up Key West residents to start the Conch Republic is a well-known example.

In the Rainbow Republic’s case, uniting a specific community is very much needed considering many parts of the world still shun LGBT people, said Shikhov. A Russian expat living in the eastern European country of Georgia, Shikhov knows this all too well.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law an expanded version of the country’s “LGBT propaganda” regulations, which bans gay public expressions and places heavy fines on the promotion of homosexuality.

“The Rainbow Republic decisively condemns further LGBT-related restrictions in Russia,” said Shikhov. “I see it as another step against Russia’s civil society, freedoms and human rights. It is especially painful for me because I have Russian origin. Russia has a rather big LGBT community, and obviously these people are severely discriminated against. However, I truly believe that the dictatorship will

collapse one day, and Russia will enter the community of free and democratic nations.”

Shikhov said the success of another micronation – Liberland – inspired him to form the Rainbow Republic. Presently, the Rainbow Republic has 10 citizens and a dozen supporters. Those interested in joining can fill out an application for citizenship found on www.rainbowrepublic.world

The Rainbow Republic has only been in existence for a couple of months and there are plans to start a cryptocurrency, but for now it uses the U.S. dollar and cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Tether. The possibility of acquiring physical space, as Liberland did on the banks of the Danube River, is more of a long-term goal.

“We understand that without a physical territory we can’t offer some benefits that traditional states can offer,” Shikhov said. “At the same time joining a micronation allows one to get a new identity for those who are disappointed in traditional states. Joining a micronation is like joining a community of like-minded people, but it’s not just a club, but a comprehensive ecosystem with its own political, economic and social structure.”

The opportunity to register a business or marriage in a micronation is of great value to those who live in countries where LGBT existence is forbidden, Shikhov notes. The Rainbow Republic goes so far as to accept “group marriages” – a risky venture Shikhov is willing to take.

“Well, a few decades ago promoting LGBT values was risque too, and in some countries it still is,” Shikhov said. “Moreover, whether we recognize it or not, but group unions do exist. We don’t impose group marriages or somehow specially promote them, we simply want our citizens to enjoy the freedom of choice.”

Photo courtesy of Dimitri Shikhov.

Record 11 LGBT Members of Congress Take Office

BY JOHN MCDONALD

After a protracted battle for the speaker position – eventually won by California Rep. Kevin McCarthy on the 15th vote – the 118th Congress of the United States was sworn-in on Jan. 7, 2023. A record 11 members identify as LGBT, 10 of which are Democrats. Four of the 11 are entering their first term. Here is a brief on each member:

DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI)

The elder statesman of this group was first elected to Congress in 2011 after becoming the first out gay mayor of a state capital city. Cicilline, 61, serves as co-chair of the Equality Caucus and represents Rhode Island’s first congressional district. In 2015, he authored and introduced the Equality Act, which expands the 1964 Civil Rights act to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

MARK POCAN (D-WI)

Pocan, 58, a small businessman and union member, represents Wisconisin’s second congressional district. He assumed office in 2013 and co-chairs the Equality Caucus.

ANGIE CRAIG (D-MN)

A former journalist, Craig, 50, is the first out lesbian with children to serve in Congress. Entering her third term as Representative of Minnesota’s second congressional district, Craig and her wife Cheryl Greene have four children.

MARK TAKANO (D-CA)

Taking office in 2013, Takano became the first gay man of Asian descent in Congress. He represents California’s 41st congressional district. A former longtime public school teacher, Takano, 62, is the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

CHRIS PAPPAS (D-NH)

Elected in 2018, Pappas, 42, represents New Hampshire’s first congressional district. A native of the Granite State, Pappas co-owns the Puritan Backroom, a popular restaurant in Manchester.

SHARICE DAVIDS (D-KS)

The first LGBT Native American elected to Congress, Davids, 42, is entering her third term representing Kansas’ third congressional district. She is a member of the Ho-Chunk people and a former professional mixed martial arts fighter.

RITCHIE TORRES (D-NY)

Elected in 2020, Torres became the first gay AfroLatino in Congress. The 34-year-old represents New York’s 15th congressional district, one of the smallest districts and poorest in the nation.

BECCA BALINT (D-VT)

The first out lesbian to serve in Congress from Vermont, Balint, 54, won election in 2022 for the state’s only congressional seat.

ERIC SORENSEN (D-IL)

A former meteorologist, Sorensen is the first out gay man elected to Congress from Illinois. The 46-year-old won the 2022 election for Illinois’ 17th congressional district.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Congress continued

ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA)

Elected in 2022 from California’s 42nd congressional district, Garcia was the first out gay Latino to serve as mayor of Long Beach. Born in Peru, the 45-year-old is an avid Marvel Comics fan.

GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY)

One of the most controversial figures to ever step foot inside the Capitol. The Republican was elected in New York’s third congressional district in 2022. After much self-admitted embellishment of his biography, it’s hard to know what is true about Santos (Is that even his name?).

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Does Your Home Need a Post-COVID Redo?

BY RICK KARLIN

We’ve been cooped up in our homes for nearly two years. Many people used that time to tackle remodeling projects while others… let’s just say those sofa cushions look well-used. With the holiday season upon us, you may have visitors for the first time in years. Does your place need to be spruced up? There are simple steps to give your home a facelift.

GET A HANDLE ON THINGS

Change out the handles on your doors and cabinets. One of the newest trends for homeowners is choosing materials that are antimicrobial and easy to clean. Certain metallics, such as copper, brass, and bronze, have natural antimicrobial properties and are seeing a boost in popularity. These materials kill germs and bacteria on their own without the need to constantly use chemical sprays and wipes. Smart homes are also incorporating touch-free technology to stop the spread of germs. Hands-free sinks and toilets, smart thermostats, automated lights, and voice-controlled smart devices allow people to stay comfortable while also limiting what they touch around the house. Other than installing these materials and gadgets, there’s plenty you can do to update your home and give it a fresh look with minimal effort. Here are a few quick and easy fixes.

COLOR YOUR WORLD (OR AT LEAST YOUR WALLS)

One of the easiest ways to update a room’s look is to change the wall color with paint or wallpaper. Both are also relatively inexpensive changes that can yield big results. As a response to the

pandemic, people are opting for calm colors to create a tranquil space at home. Green is the big color this year, opt for a pale lime or an earthy sage. To continue the theme of tranquility, choose muted and subtle wallpaper patterns in neutral tones. On the other end of the spectrum, bold designs like dark accent walls and patterned wallpaper are also popular, and the two techniques can work together. Adding a dark, moody color for an accent, in dark forest green, perhaps, can not only add visual interest but can change the perception of a room’s dimensions. If you’re one of the many people working from home for a greater portion of your career, consider painting your work area in a more vibrant tone to help boost your creativity and output. Bright colors also pop in those Zoom meetings.

BED, BATH & BEYOND

Refresh your bath with a new shower curtain and towels. Paint it an unexpected color. This is a room where you can go a little crazy. If you don’t like the tile, there are special paints that you can use, or check out one of those all-in-one pieces from Bath Fitter. If you have a little headroom above your shower curtain, try hanging the shower rod a few inches higher, you’ll be surprised how much taller it makes your ceilings feel. Add a luxurious custom headboard. Measure the width of your bed and have a piece of plywood cut at a lumber yard. Go to a craft store, such

EXPERIENCE THE MUSIC

as JoAnn Fabrics (you know not to shop at Hobby Lobby, right?), and buy batting and fabric. Cover the plywood with the fabric and batting, add a hanging bracket on the back and you have a luxurious headboard that would cost big bucks in the store for less than $100. For an even easier fix, take an old headboard and upholster it following the same format.

Without a lot of effort, you can give your house a facelift and be assured that it’s ready to welcome guests again.

EXPLORING INNER SPACE

If you are working from home more often, it’s more important than ever to create a workspace that is separate from your home space. This can be as easy as placing two bookshelves perpendicular to corner walls to create an “office.” If your guest room doubles as an office, consider investing in a good-quality Murphy bed. They’re usually not much more expensive than a superior quality sofa sleeper, take up less floor space, and are a lot more comfortable to sleep on. Or turn the closet in the guest into a contained office that you can close off when you have guests.

LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE

Add a sophisticated touch to your home with some backlighting. Install a luminous strip behind the television, above your kitchen cabinets, or under the bed. Place a small spotlight or clip-light behind a plant or use one to bounce light off a wall. Update your kitchen lighting or get rid of those builder-grade ceiling fans and invest in something sleek and efficient. Changing out fixtures is fairly easy, just make certain to cut the power to the circuit first or hire a handy person to do the job for you. You can even change the fixtures in rentals, just store the old one and switch it back when you move.

Feb. 15: The Parker

Feb 18: Tennessee Williams Theatre

March 22: The Parker

March 23: New World Center

March 25: Tennessee Williams Theatre

April 26: The Parker

SOFA, SO GOOD?

Has your coffee table seen better days, pocked with scratches and a bit rough around the edges? You could replace it with something inexpensive from Ikea, but it’s just as easy to give it a facelift. A quick sanding will allow you to re-stain it or paint it. Add a bit of wallpaper to the back of bookcases or paint the back a contrasting color. Look at your seating. If it’s in decent shape, but just slightly worn, consider buying those stretchy slipcovers you see advertised on Facebook all the time. They don’t hold up for a long time but are so inexpensive you can replace them often. If the sofa is well-made, you can also have custom slipcovers made. Most can now be made with machinewashable fabrics.

SOMETHING’S AFOOT

Does the carpet match the drapes? If so, you can bet one or the other needs to be replaced. The days of matchy-matchy are long gone. As is wall-to-wall carpet, especially here in South Florida. Look under that carpet and see what kind of flooring you have. If it’s a decent tile or hardwood, expose them and have them cleaned if necessary. Then buy an area rug to define space. There are great buys to be had at HomeGoods and Ikea. If your rugs or carpeting are in decent shape, they probably would benefit from being professionally cleaned.

Celebrating South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s 25th Season!

*Tickets from $15 at The Parker and $25 at New World Center and Tennessee Williams Theatre; Photos: AndrewMeade.com

QUEENS OF THE BLUES

HOW BLACK LESBIANS SHAPED LGBT HISTORY AND MUSIC

BY CHRISTIANA LILLY

azz and the blues are genres of rebellion — they stray away from the strict confines of classical time signatures, swaying this way and that, with passionate tunes coming from deep within.

So perhaps it only makes sense that the blues was a place that would embrace Black women like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Gladys Bentley. They could. not only be unapologetically themselves for who they were on the outside, but also as women who loved women.

“It’s pretty exceptional in these spaces at this time because … even if we’re in the north, it’s still the Jim Crow era, but Prohibition does sort of loosen these taboos a little bit and experimentation a

little bit more,” said Dr. Cookie Woolner, an associate professor of history at the University of Memphis who focuses on women’s and queer history.

In 1928’s “Prove It on Me Blues,” Rainey sang, “Went out last night with a crowd of my friends. They must’ve been women, ’cause I don’t like no men.” Smith was known to have a gaggle of female backup dancers and allegedly yelled at her girlfriend one night, “I got 12 women on this show and I can have one every night if I want it!” Bentley would don a tuxedo, top hat and cane and openly flirt with white women in the audience.

Bessie Smith Image is public domain.

Ma Rainey Image is public domain.

It was a perfect storm of cultural and political renaissance that made this underground scene possible — the Great Migration sent 6 million Black people moving out of the South for opportunities and equality, and with Prohibition in full swing, rebellion was celebrated.

While LGBT people have been around since the beginning of time, how we categorize and label ourselves has changed. For example, Bentley may have been seen as a woman who dressed in men’s clothing, but others believe that by modern standards she may have been a trans man. In her wedding announcement to a man and in her obituary, she was referred to as a cabaret singer and male impersonator.

Regardless of the labels, though, these women were still taking risks with their song lyrics, dancing and open queerness — being “out of the closet” was not something that would exist for many decades, even in more liberal entertainment circles.

“It’s seen as deviant, it’s seen as immoral, it’s seen as criminal,” Woolner said of queerness in the era. “But at the same time, when we talk about the ‘20s we talk about everybody is enjoying breaking the rules, going to speakeasies, interracial or queer dating and meeting people from different walks of life.”

Woolner said that due to the nature of touring, these performers were afforded privacy and their own entourage traveling from one gig to the next. For the most part, though, many Black women felt safer hosting private parties at home, sometimes called “red parties” or “buffet flats.” Here, raucous parties included dancing, gambling, drugs, sex shows, and any vice they couldn’t enjoy outside of the confines of their home.

Smith sang about buffet flats in her song “Soft Pedal Blues.” “There’s a lady in our neighborhood who runs a buffet flat and when she gives a party, she knows just what she’s at. She gives a dance every Friday night that was to last ‘till 1.”

As history has shown over and over again, a rise in progressiveness follows a wave of conservatism. After the rebellious Roaring ‘20s, the fall of Prohibition in the ‘30s, and then women running the workplace to replace men fighting overseas in the 1940s, the 1950s was filled with white picket fences and cookie-cutter expectations of gender roles. The Red Scare hunted for communists and the Lavender Scare pushed LGBT people deeper into the closet. In fact, Bentley started wearing women’s clothing again, claiming to have been “cured” of her lesbianism. And members of the homophile movement, as it was called, didn’t dare call themselves homosexuals because of the taboo of the word “sex.”

“People were really afraid to be overly queer in any way,” Woolner said. “During rallies, they required men to wear suits and the women to dress completely femme and wear dresses. Even the first gay activists were obsessed with wearing gender-normative clothing.”

Today, we are in an era where Roe v. Wade is no longer law, antiLGBTQ legislation is passed along the country, and America is facing its racist past and present. As we look to the past, the lives of women like Rainey, Smith and Bentley can inspire us to remember how far we’ve come and the risks they took to simply be themselves.

“When we’re going through difficult moments, like the current moment, queer people and queer people of color have always fought these moments of oppression and still found joy,” Woolner said.

“I think it’s really inspirational.”

Gladys Bentley

BENTLEY MAY HAVE BEEN SEEN AS A WOMAN WHO DRESSED IN MEN’S CLOTHING, BUT OTHERS BELIEVE THAT BY MODERN STANDARDS SHE MAY HAVE BEEN A TRANS MAN. IN HER WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT TO A MAN AND IN HER OBITUARY, SHE WAS REFERRED TO AS A CABARET SINGER AND MALE IMPERSONATOR.

SPRING ARTS

PREVIEW

BY JW ARNOLD

The new year is still “new,” but most Americans have already shed those optimistic (or pesky) resolutions. After a few days, exercise and diets require deeper commitments. But, when it comes to the arts, resolutions are easily made and easily kept. And it’s not too late to make new ones. Lunar New Year was Jan. 22, so consider that a reset even if we are already into February. Resolve to check out one of the award-winning regional theater companies or take in a concert. Explore funky new venues – or a funky new opera.

South Florida boasts one of the most vibrant arts scenes in the country and many of the most exciting productions are set for later in the season. Here’s a look at what’s happening this winter and spring.

Photo courtesy of Broadway in Fort Lauderdale.

FLORIDA GRAND OPERA

Stages in Miami and Fort Lauderdale will glitter with stars from all corners of the operatic world in a grand season filled with romance, ruses and rebellion.

Florida Grand Opera’s first production of the year, Puccini’s comic gem “Gianni Schicchi”, returns to the FGO stage for the first time since 1953. The darkly comedic tale of a toxic family that tries to circumvent their late patriarch’s will pairs with Michael Ching’s equally clever contemporary sequel, “Buoso’s Ghost,” which picks up at the moment “Schicchi” ends.

Audiences will enjoy the rare opportunity to hear a composer conduct his own opera, as Ching takes the stand for both one-acts. Ching served on the FGO music staff for several years at the beginning of his impressive career: first as music assistant, then music administrator and finally, chorus master.

After January performances at the Arsht Center, the double bill moves Feb. 9 and 11 to the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale.

Next up is a fiery tale of love, loyalty, and sacrifice in Napoleonic Rome, Puccini’s “Tosca,” one of the Italian’s most beloved scores. “Tosca” will be performed March 18 – 21 at the Arsht Center in Miami and April 13 and 15 at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale debut.

Maestro Gregory Buchalter and stage director Jeffrey Marc Buchman reunite after last season’s acclaimed “A Streetcar Named Desire” to conduct and direct, respectively. The cast also features Metropolitan Opera soprano Toni Marie Palmertree, making her house and role debuts.

In the final opera of the season, FGO revives the beloved Rossini comedy, “The Barber of Seville,” April 29 – May 2 at the Arsht Center and May 18 and 20 at the Broward Center.

South Korean baritone Young-Kwang Yoo, a rising international star, takes on the lovable rascal Figaro. Returning as a guest artist after two years in the Studio Program, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche brings her brilliant coloratura and charming stage presence to the clever ward Rosina.

Tickets and more information at FGO.org.

BROADWAY IN FORT LAUDERDALE

The 2022-23 Broadway in Fort Lauderdale season at the Broward Center continues with three South Florida premieres: “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical,” Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Beetlejuice.”

“It’s another fantastic season for Broadway fans at the Broward Center,” said Kelley Shanley, CEO of the Broward Center, “We are

sure to delight fans with dynamic music, drama, dance and great storytelling.”

The Kander and Ebb classic “Chicago” returns, Feb. 14 – 19, followed by Aaron Sorkin’s gripping adaptation of Lee’s seminal Southern novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” March 28 – April 9. The season concludes with Tina Fey’s cult favorite, “Mean Girls,” May 2 – 7, and Tim Burton’s equally addictive “Beetlejuice,” June 13 – 25.

For tickets and more information, go to BrowardCenter.org.

MNM THEATER

“Have theatre, will travel!” is the motto for MNM Theatre Company, which added the Willow Theatre in Boca Raton last fall as a second venue for its Palm Beach County performances.

After a successful December run of “The 25th Annual Putnam Co. Spelling Bee” at the Willow, MNM returns April 14 – 30 with “Avenue Q,” the Tony Award-winning grown-up spoof on “Sesame Street.”

The musical offers a clever and irreverent look at the world through the eyes of the fictional neighborhood as they explore and address issues associated with growing up in the “real” world, rather than the one their parents – and “Sesame Street” – described to them.

The award-winning regional company concludes the season with the South Florida premiere of “Disenchanted” in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, May 12 – 27.

“Disenchanted,” a parody on naive “princess musicals,” promises “Snow White and her posse of disenchanted princesses in this ‘musical comedy for grownups’ that’s anything but Grimm! Forget the princesses you think you know. These royal renegades will toss off their tiaras to bring their hilariously subversive, not-for-the-kiddies musical to the Rinker Playhouse – and fairy tales will never be the same!”

Jonathan Van Dyke directs both productions.

Tickets and more information at MNMTheatre.org.

SOUTH FLORIDA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The South Florida symphony Orchestra’s (SFSO) 25th anniversary season is off to a big start to its 25th anniversary season with performances at the Parker in Fort Lauderdale, Tennessee Williams Theatre in Key West and the New World Center, its new Miami Beach home.

The music of romantic composers Berlioz, Brahms and Sibelius will be featured in February at the Parker and Tennessee Williams Theater, Feb. 15 and 18. Geneva Lewis and Gabriel Martins are the featured soloists for the Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello in a minor.

Photo courtesy of Florida Grand Opera.

Photo courtesy of South Florida Symphony Orchestra.

Finnish composer Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 and the spirited overture to Berlioz’s “Béatrice et Bénédict” round out the program.

In March, Maestra Alfonso will conduct an all-Dvořák program, including his Cello Concerto in B minor, featuring returning soloist Zuill Bailey. The concert also features the Czech composer’s famed Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World,” a musical love letter to his travels in America. Performances are March 22 – 25 in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Key West.

The season concludes on April 26 at the Parker with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor with Svetlana Smolina and Bruckner’s Te Deum, once again showcasing the symphony chorus and soloists soprano Elaine Alvarez, mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thelwell, bass-baritone Neil Nelson and tenor Andres Lasaga. For tickets and more information, go to SouthFloridaSymphony.org.

SYMPHONY OF THE AMERICAS

Under the direction of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Pablo Mielgo, the Symphony of the Americas (SOTA) is celebrating its 35th anniversary in South Florida.

The 2022-2023 season ushered in Mielgo’s second year with the symphony, after the pandemic delayed his long-anticipated arrival from Spain.

SOTA continues its commitment to serving South Florida’s multicultural population with diverse programming – a cultural crossroads of music, ranging from classical to Broadway.

On Feb. 21, Mielgo conducts Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” Suite and Piazzolla’s “Estaciones Porteñas” (“Four Seasons”) in a program entitled “Dancing Across Borders.” Cabaret singer Liz Callaway offers a special tribute to Stephen Sondheim on March 14 and “Spain…Further Beyond!” celebrates the music of Mielgo’s homeland on April 11. The season concludes with “Season Finale! Schumann & Brahms Bridging Musical Genius” on May 9. Sergei Babayan will be featured in Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor and the orchestra will shine in Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor. For tickets and more information, go to SOTA.org.

MIAMI CITY BALLET

Miami City Ballet (MCB) is offering a busy schedule filled with some of ballet’s most revered works, including Jerome Robbins’ “West Side Story Suite,” “Afternoon of a Faun” and the company premiere of “Antique Epigraphs.”

As usual, signature George Balanchine masterworks figure prominently: “Square Dance,” “Symphony in C,” and “Symphony in Three Movements.” Martha Graham’s joyous “Diversion of Angels,” will become the first Graham work to enter MCB’s repertory.

Programs in 2023 include “Modern Masters,” Feb. 10 – 12 at the Arsht Center in Miami, Feb. 17 – 19 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach and March 4 – 5 at the Broward Center in Lauderdale; “Fresh and Fierce,” Feb. 14 – 16 at the Arsht Center, April 21 – 23 at the Kravis Center and April 29 – 30 at the Broward Center; and “Entradas,” May 12 – 14 at the Kravis Center and May 19 – 21 at the Arsht Center.

Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez said, “Ballet has this wonderful ability to transport us to faraway places and cultures, to unleash the imagination, and to entertain us… We again share stories that traverse time and emotion this season, reminding us that we are all connected.”

For a complete schedule and tickets, go to MiamiCityBallet.org.

THE WICK THEATRE AND COSTUME MUSEUM

A visit to the Wick Costume Museum can be a religious experience for the true theater fan with a collection of hundreds of historical Broadway costumes. Last fall, the museum underwent a dramatic high-tech transformation, inspired by the traveling Van Gogh exhibitions and resulting in a stunning new venue rechristened the Museum Club at The Wick.

The completely renovated space features a 360-degree immersive video experience, historic costume displays, dining and entertainment. The premiere exhibit, “Ascot!” features the original 1956 costumes for “My Fair Lady,” designed by Sir Cecil Beaton, including the dress worn by Julie Andrews on Broadway.

Exhibit luncheon packages are available, including admission to the exhibition, three-course meal, live entertainment and the “hat room” experience.

The 2023 season at the Wick continues with “Anything Goes,” playing through Feb. 12, and “Damn Yankees,” March 2 – April 2. The season concludes with “Million Dollar Quartet,” April 20 – May 14, the reimagined meeting of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash in a Memphis recording studio.

Tickets and more information at TheWick.org.

Photo courtesy of Miami City Ballet.

Photo courtesy of Symphony of the Americas.

KRAVIS ON BROADWAY

The Kravis Center in West Palm Beach celebrates 30 years of the best of Broadway in South Florida this season with a line-up of hit shows that include multiple Tony Award winners and the Palm Beach County premiere of the longtime box office smash “Wicked.”

The ‘80s currently rule the stage on and off Broadway and the Kravis Center is bringing several hits to South Florida, including the new musical adaptation of the Dustin Hoffman film “Tootsie.” Then, fall in love all over again with one of Hollywood’s most beloved romantic stories, “Pretty Woman: The Musical.”

Finally, the season wraps up with the electrifying tale of brotherhood, family, loyalty and betrayal in “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.”

The 2022-23 Kravis on Broadway season continues with “Tootsie,” Feb. 7 – 12, and “Pretty Woman: The Musical,” March 7 – 12. “Wicked,” March 29 – April 9, and “Ain’t Too Proud,” April 26 – 30, conclude the season.

Tickets and more information at Kravis.org.

BROADWAY IN MIAMI

Broadway fans in Miami are being treated to the perfect mix of new and beloved musicals at the Arsht Center’s Ziff Ballet Opera House.

Jeweled slippers and magic portions wield amazing powers in the Broadway phenomenon “Wicked,” Feb. 15 – March 5. Director Bartlett Sher’s revival of “My Fair Lady,”

March 28 – April 2, reimagines the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a “proper lady.”

The season concludes with “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations,” May 9 – 14, the jukebox musical that chronicles the band’s extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Incredibly, the score includes most of their 42 top 10 hits.

For tickets and more information, go to ArshtCenter.org.

ISLAND CITY STAGE

Island City Stage, an LGBT-centric regional theater company based in Wilton Manors, celebrated its 10th anniversary last season, despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Looking ahead to the company’s next decade, Artistic Director Andy Rogow planned an equally challenging – and entertaining –season.

Questions about gender identity threaten to tear apart a lesbian couple in the thought-provoking “Rotterdam,” playing through Feb. 19. The season continues with “I Wanna F*#%ing Tear You Apart,” March 2 – April 2, “an ode to the complications of friendship in its many fucked-up forms,” and a National New Play Network world premiere of “Tracy Jones,” May 18 – June 18, a comedy about a young lesbian attempting to connect with others.

The season concludes with “Springfield Pride,” Aug. 3 – Sept. 3, a new commission imagined from today’s headlines after a liberal cisgender politician makes off-the-record comments about Black Lives Matter that become public and don’t quite match his social justice persona. Can he still be the grand marshal of the annual Pride parade?

For tickets and more information, go to IslandCityStage.org.

MALTZ JUPITER THEATRE

If Burt Reynolds were still alive, he would hardly recognize the dinner theater he opened in Jupiter more than 40 years ago. But he would be proud of its successor, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. During the pandemic, a major renovation and expansion was completed, making the venue one of the best in South Florida.

Artistic Director Andrew Kato has programmed an eclectic season to showcase the Maltz, including “Good People,” Feb. 12 – 26, a dramatic comedy that captures working class American dreams and the spunky “Oliver!,” March 14 – April 2, Lionel Bart’s musical based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist.”

In addition to the regular season productions, Maltz continues its traditional lineup of limited engagement concerts, including the Celtic Tenors, March 3 and Lucie Arnaz, March 4.

Tickets and more information at JupiterTheatre.org.

GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Following a triumphant holiday return to the Hard Rock with Broadway star Shosana Bean, the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida (GMCSF) has two more big productions planned for their 2022-23 season.

Artistic Director Gabe Salazar will lead the 150-voice chorus in “Songs of the Phoenix,” Friday, March 24 at the Parker in Fort Lauderdale. The performance will be especially poignant as members of the former Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, which recently merged with GMCSF, sing together for the first time.

“Songs Of The Phoenix,” a co-commissioned concert sponsored

Photo courtesy of Kravis on Broadway.

Photo courtesy of Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida.

by The Maurer Family Foundation, is centered around the themes of new beginnings, starting again, and rising up as seen through the lenses of social justice, racial justice, LGBT equality, actual democratic values and hope.

GMCSF returns to the Parker on June 24 – 25 with “Disney PRIDE in Concert,” a new program that celebrates LGBT life, love, family and pride through the combination of timeless songs from the Disney songbook, curated video clips from the Disney vault and the personal life experiences of local chorus members.

Featuring sparkling new arrangements, “Disney PRIDE in Concert” draws musical inspiration from iconic Disney films including “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King” and “Mary Poppins” to modern classics such as “Coco,” “Zootopia,” “Wreck-It Ralph” and the music of Disney Parks, all interwoven with storytelling from the diverse chorus community.

For more information and tickets, go to GMCSF.org.

PALM BEACH DRAMAWORKS

The contemporary American experience, in all its vigor and complexity, takes center stage this season at Palm Beach Dramaworks in downtown West Palm Beach. Producing Artistic Director William Hayes planned a 2022-23 season that featured two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, a Pulitzer finalist and a world premiere. The world premiere of “The Science of Leaving Omaha,” Feb. 3 – 19, a standout from the company’s 2022 New Year/New Plays Festival. Bruce Linser directs this play about young, marginalized, working-class Midwesterners with limited options in life.

Next up is the Pulitzer Prize-winning “August: Osage County,” March 31 – April 16, a harrowing and hilarious comedy drama about a middle-class Oklahoma family. Hayes directs. The season concludes with another Pulitzer Prize-winner, “Topdog/Underdog,” May 26 –June 11, and is directed by Be Boyd. It’s the story of a pair of AfricanAmerican brothers, both in their thirties, who were abandoned as teenagers by their parents and are caught in an endless struggle to survive.

For tickets and more information, go to PalmBeachDramaworks.org.

ZOETIC STAGE

Following the world premiere of Michael McKeever’s “American Rhapsody” in January, Zoetic Stage, the regional company in residence at the Arsht Center in Miami, tackles Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize award-winning musical, “Next to Normal,” March 16 – April 9.

The deeply moving story explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness. “Next to Normal” takes audiences into the minds and hearts of its character, presenting their family’s story with love, sympathy and heart.

Zoetic closes their season, May 4 – 21, with another world premiere, “#Graced” by Vanessa Garcia and directed by Sarah Hughes.

Garcia’s protagonist, Catherine, is searching for something authentic as she embarks on a Lewis-and-Clark-esque trip across America with her new lover and colleague, Lewis. Along the way, they pick up a wayward nun named Rosalie who has just gone through deep loss, meet a queer homeschooled teenager named Blake and rummage through the layers of migration and gender inequity that make up America. As Catherine travels, she comes

to more questions than answers about “the real America,” her own identity and what authenticity even means anymore.

For tickets and more information, go to ArshtCenter.org.

EMPIRE STAGE

Empire Stage, the intimate performance space in Fort Lauderdale, is a busy place this season – just like its namesake, New York, the “Empire State.”

Artistic Director David Gordon is teaming up with Artbuzz Theatrics for Mike Bartlett’s “Cock,” Feb. 3 – 25 and directed by Amir Darvish. Most gay men might argue that the plot is unlikely: John leaves his boyfriend of seven years after finding himself attracted to and having sex with a woman. However, in this age of pansexuality, maybe it is more plausible.

Pig Do Fly Productions, a company that features mature actors and themes, is back March 3 – 19 with “Cemetery Pub,” a comedy by Tom Dugan and “inspired by actual rumors.”

Speaking of goofy geriatrics, “The Golden Girls Gone Wild,” a parody written and directed by Keith Dougherty, makes a stop at Empire Stage, March 24 – April 9.

Island City Stage’s Andy Rogow directs “Tru,” April 14 – May 7, Jay Presson Allen’s acclaimed one-man Broadway play about the scandalous life of Truman Capote. The show is a collaboration with BaranBookman Productions.

Harvey Fierstein’s “Casa Valentina,” rounds out the season, May 12 – 28. David Simson directs this ensemble comedy about a group of men who gather at a secluded resort to dress in drag.

For more information and tickets, go to EmpireStage.com.

ACTORS’ PLAYHOUSE

Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables is celebrating its 35th anniversary season in 2023.

Put in your order for a frozen daiquiri or margarita to celebrate because Actors’ Playhouse nabbed the rights to the regional debut of the Jimmy Buffet jukebox musical, “Escape to Margaritaville,” Feb. 1 – 26.

Inspired by a true story and featuring the Tony-nominated score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Broadway’s “Bright Star,” March 29 –April 16, tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and ’40s.

David Auburn’s “Proof,” May 17 – June 4, is an elegant and engaging story of passion, genius and family bonds. The story combines elements of mystery and surprise with old-fashioned storytelling and

Photo courtesy of Youth Pride Band of South Florida.

receives its first professional production in Miami in over 20 years.

The season comes to a comical end with Emma Peirson’s “Defending the Cavewoman,” July 19 – Aug. 6. A raucous mid-life existential crisis unfolds as Peirson digs deep into the “caves” of the female psyche and sends the males of the species scattering in all directions, by debunking the stereotypical myths about how women think.

For tickets and more information, go to ActorsPlayhouse.org

YOUTH PRIDE BAND OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble presents the Youth Pride Band of South Florida at the Broward Center on Sunday, Feb. 26. A select group of talented LGBT (and ally) high school instrumentalists from the tri-county area will perform band works by renowned composer Julie Giroux, who will also conduct the performance. The students will be joined by members of the Pride Wind Ensemble on the Amaturo Theater stage and over $10,000 in college scholarships will be awarded.

For tickets and more information, go to PrideWindEnsemble.org.

SLOW BURN THEATRE CO.

Slow Burn Theatre Co. (SBTC), in residence at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, had audiences dancing in the aisles during a successful production of “Footloose the Musical” over the holiday season.

Next, Artistic Director Patrick Fitzwater and his talented creative team and performers tackle the regional premiere of Andrew Bergman and Jason Robert Brown’s “Honeymoon in Vegas – The Musical,” Feb. 4 – 19. Based on the hit 1992 film, “Honeymoon in Vegas” is a

hilarious new musical that centers on an unusual love triangle. Already, this season is looking like a jackpot (pardon the pun).

SBTC’s season concludes with two Disney favorites: “Mary Poppins,” March 25 – April 9, and “Newsies: The Broadway Musical,” June 10 – 25. Get the kids hyped up on a few spoonfuls of sugar and then they’ll tackle the nonstop athletic choreography in “Newsies.”

And, if these shows don’t have you excited, check out the lineup for 2023-24: “Into the Woods,” “Disney’s The Little Mermaid,” “Sister Act,” “The Prom” and “The SpongeBob Musical.”

For tickets and more information, go to BrowardCenter.org.

Photo courtesy of Slow Burn Theatre Co.

WHAT TO READ

‘Before We Were

Yes or no: before there were rockets, there were no astronauts. No, there wasn’t a need for them without a vehicle to go where people only dreamed of going. But yes – the word “astronaut” is more than a century old. Words and labels matter, as you’ll see in “Before We Were Trans” by Kit Heyam, and time is no excuse.

On the evening of June 8, 1847, John Sullivan was apprehended by gendarmes while weaving down a sidewalk in London. Sullivan was wearing a few women’s garments, and was carrying more, all of them stolen. Because it wasn’t the first time he was arrested, he spent 10 years in an Australian penal colony for his crime.

“Is this story a part of trans history?” asks Heyam.

There aren’t enough clues to determine Sullivan’s truth, not enough “evidence that their motivation for gender nonconformity was not external, but internal...” The answer’s complicated by the fact that “transgender” wasn’t even a word during Sullivan’s time. Presumably, Sullivan was white but even so, we must also consider “that the way we experience and understand gender is inextricable from race.”

Surely, then, Njinga Mbande, the king of Ndongo, can be considered

“Before We Were Trans” by Kit Heyam. Courtsey Photos.

Were Trans’

trans; they were assigned female at birth but presented themselves as king, as did Hatshepsut of Egypt. In precolonial Nigeria, the Ekwe people were gender-fluid, to ensure that there was a male in the household. Do political and social reasons fit the definition of trans?

In England, it was once believed that to dress like the opposite sex was to become that gender. In prison camps during World War I, men participated in plays to ease the boredom, and some ultimately lived permanently as women. Early history shows many examples of people living as “both.” Were they trans or not?

“Historians need to tread carefully and responsibly when we talk about the histories of people who blur the boundaries between intersex and trans,” says Heyam.

Moreover, can we allow that there’s probably some “overlap”?

The answer to that could depend on your current situation and mindset. Absolutely, author Kit Heyam dangles their own opinion throughout this book but “Before We Were Trans” doesn’t seem to solve the riddle.

Judging by the narrative here, though, it’s possible that it may be forever unsolvable. There’s a lot to untangle, often in the form of partially-recorded tales that hark back to antiquity and that are shaky with a lack of knowable details. Even Heyam seems to admit sometimes that their thoughts are best guesses.

And yet, that tangle can leave readers with so much to think about, when it comes to gender. Ancient attitudes toward trans people –whether they were, indeed, trans or acted as such for reasons other than gender – absolutely serve as brain fodder.

This is not a quick-breezy read; in fact, there are times when you may feel as though you need a cheat sheet to follow similar-sounding names. Even so, if you take your time with it, “Before We Were Trans” may put you over the moon.

“Before We Were Trans” by Kit Heyam

c.2022, Seal Press $30.00 352 pages

BY TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

“Historians need to tread carefully and responsibly when we talk about the histories of people who blur the boundaries between intersex and trans.”

‘BEASTS AND BEAUTY’

BY AURORA DOMINGUEZ

If youre itching to read a darker side of fairy tales, then get ready for “Beasts and Beauty” by Soman Chainani.

What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?

One of the goals with “Beasts and Beauty” was to write that Holy Grail: a book for both young readers and adults. The Grimms’ fairy tales had that quality — they worked for every age because there was the story on the surface for children and the thrilling, sinister subtext for the elders. So when writing these new fairy tales, I didn’t pull any punches. They’re dark, intense, and relentlessly honest as if I’m telling these stories around a campfire to an audience of any age. Each story is set in the 18th and 19th centuries but has its pulse on the timeless and universal. “Beauty and the Beast” is about how being an immigrant in a new land means you often can’t be seen for who you truly are. “Bluebeard” is about a rich, mysterious man, who preys on boys from orphanages, only to meet his match. “Peter Pan” is the story of Wendy growing up, only to realize she prefers a pirate to Pan. Everyone can see themselves in these stories. And already it seems that publishers are recognizing they work for every age — in the U.S., it’s being published for ages 10 and up, while in the U.K., it’s being published as an adult literary novel. That disparity is the highest compliment I can imagine.

What does “Reading with Pride” mean to you?

To me, Reading with Pride means finding a mirror of yourself or your experience in the pages of a book and feeling seen and valued. This is a tall order, of course, but it doesn’t mean you have to find your twin or a replica of life in a book’s pages — but instead a character or story or theme that feels like it resonates with your authentic pathway in life. Growing up gay, I often looked to books for that experience because I wasn’t able to have it in my real life, since I was so sealed in the closet. Books with LGBT themes gave me a glimpse of a happier future and gave my imagination the ability to imagine that future for myself.

Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books and characters?

It’s just simply the world we live in. We are surrounded by difference, even if we turn a blind eye to it. That’s what makes us viable as a species — diversity of culture, personality and strengths. If we were all the same, we’d die out quite quickly. At the same time, every person has so many facets to themselves. I’ve written over 300 characters at this point, and I’d say nearly all of them have a piece of me somewhere inside them. So writing diversity isn’t just about reflecting on the outside world, but the inner world as well. We are a mass of contradictions and competing consciousnesses, even within a single soul. Books let you explore all those parts of yourself.

Which character did you relate to the most and why?

Probably Pietro in Bluebeard. He’s underestimated because he’s sensitive and small and just soft by nature, but inside, he’s ferocious. A lion at heart. I think I really saw myself in that character. I’m soft on the surface, but hard as steel underneath.

What can fans expect from your book?

“Beasts and Beauty” is just a wild ride. A re-imagination of all the old fairy tales we hold dear, but also stories that don’t serve us anymore. So I think readers can expect just twelve delicious, dangerous stories, where every single one feels wildly different, but also deeply satisfying. They are reflections of the stories we once knew, but with an understanding of the world we live in now. They’re edgy, provocative, sensual, and bold in a way that fairy tales were meant to be... before Disney got a hold of them.

What’s up next for you in the bookish world?

In 2022, the film adaptation of my book “The School for Good and Evil” was released, starring Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, and a cast of talented teenagers, including Sofia Wylie and Sophie Anne Caruso. So that’s what excited me the most this year.

Courtesy photos.

2023 Lexus RX 350

BY LARRY PRINTZ

Just as you don’t go to a leather bar expecting to drink quality craft cocktails, you don’t purchase the 2023 Lexus RX for its sporty driving experience. But that’s to be expected.

All-new for 2023, RX aficionados will find this revamped model has been upgraded but isn't significantly different from the previous one. It has a sportier appearance than before thanks to its lower roof and longer wheelbase, but retains a recognizable appearance as a Lexus RX. That said, you only get two rows of seats; the three-row RX-L has been dropped.

Yet perhaps the biggest change comes from the Lexus RX’s redesigned multimedia system. It now employs a touchscreen rather than a fiddly console-mounted controller knob. It also has a new user interface that’s far more intuitive to use. Less appreciated is the constant electronic warning admonishing the driver to sit up straight.

Aw mom, do I have to?

The other change comes under the hood, where a 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and eight-speed automatic transmission is standard, not last year’s V-6. It sends 275 horsepower to the front wheels, although all-wheel drive is available. You can also opt for the RX 350h, with a dual-motor hybrid system paired to a 2.4-liter fourcylinder engine, continuously variable transmission and all-wheel drive. It generates 246 horsepower. Both powerplants take more than seven seconds to attain 60 mph.

Of the two, the RX 350h returns better fuel economy: 36 mpg in combined city/highway driving according to the EPA, whereas the base RX 350 returns 25 mpg. If neither model sounds enticing, consider the RX 500h, which pairs a turbocharged 2.4-liter engine with an electric motor to produce 366 horsepower, dropping its 0-60 mph time to less

Base prices: $48,550

Engine: Turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder

EPA fuel economy

(city/highway): 21/28 mpg

Horsepower/Torque: 246/233 pound-feet

Length/Width/Height: 192.5/75.6/67.3 inches

Ground clearance: 8 inches

Cargo capacity: 29.6-46.1 cubic feet

Towing capacity: 3,494 pounds

than six seconds from more than seven. Note that all RXs drink premium fuel.

Nevertheless, RX aficionados will love that the RX’s personality remains unchanged.

The 2023 Lexus RX is still a soft luxury-oriented tourer, with a commendably quiet, comfortable ride and noticeable body lean while cornering. cossetting comfort is this vehicle’s stock in trade, not a sporty driving experience. And what’s wrong with that?

Power is sufficient, although the 350h hybrid offers respectable fuel efficiency that makes it worth its higher price. The 500h is the fastest, thanks to its extra power and six-speed automatic transmission. And its adaptive dampers, front MacPherson strut suspension and a rear multi-link set-up make it the best dance partner, although it still exhibits body roll while cornering, while returning an EPA-estimated 27 mpg.

Of the three models tested, the base RX 350 seems quietest, and Toyota expects that 70% of RX shoppers will pop for one, with 20% opting for the 2350h and the rest opting for the pricey 500h. With the 20232 Lexus RX, some things never change, and for its fans, that’s a relief. Its performance will never raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Rather, comfort is the RX’s core value, something that remains unchanged here.

It’s like a great craft cocktail, minus any leather harnesses.

2023 Lexus RX 350

Photos via netcarshow.com.

YOU CAN BE BOLD, LIKE PHILANTHROPIST MONA PITTENGER

“Partnering with the Community Foundation of Broward empowers me to make a BOLD impact for the community I love. As a longtime philanthropist and LGBTQ activist, my new endowed charitable funds at the Community Foundation are broadening the scope and amplifying the impact of my giving. Grants in my name develop future leaders, break down barriers to success and shape a community where everyone is treated with equity. I love that my endowed support is the gift that keeps on giving, long after I’m gone. With the Community Foundation as a partner, my BOLD impact never ends.”

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