Artist News
Pablo Cano: Viva Vaudeville
By Access Arts® ArtDeadline.Com
Jan 24, 2008, 22:27

Pablo Cano, Lucifer Red Diablo, 2007, mixed media. Photo by Jose Rodriguez

North Miami, Florida - A tight rope-walking butterfly created from discarded plastic trays, Chinese magicians constructed from coffee pots, and a chorus line of ants created with balloons and purse straps are some of the characters that will take the stage in Pablo Cano’s new marionette production, Viva Vaudeville. Featuring a delightful cast of Cano’s life-size marionettes and rod puppets composed of found objects Viva Vaudeville is inspired by popular theater performers of the early 1900s. Pablo Cano: Viva Vaudeville will premiere at the Museum of Contemporary Art on October 20 with performances running through December 29. When not in performance, the marionettes and set will be on view as an exhibition during museum hours.

Viva Vaudeville is Miami artist Pablo Cano’s tenth commissioned production for MOCA. Influenced by traditional marionette theater as well as the type of performance art that was practiced by the Dadaists of the 1920s, signature elements of Cano’s work include found objects, kinetic sculpture, and chance.

The Viva Vaudeville stage set recalls a sumptuous theater resplendent with a gold-fringed, red velvet curtain, and a glittering backdrop gilded with gold and silver cigarette packet foil. The score mixes a selection from the artists’ collection of recordings of American popular songs of the 1920s and two original compositions performed by a live band.

The golden age of vaudeville comes to life with ‘Busty Galore’ performing a burlesque number to Chica Boom Chic by Carmen Miranda, ‘Lady Mandolin’ serenading If Those Lips Could Only Speak by Margery Manners and ‘Lucifer Red Diablo’ and ‘Kiki She Devil’ in a tango set to I Get Ideas by Tony Martin.

Cano’s Viva Vaudeville collaborators include choreographer Katherine Kramer, lighting designer Eric Fliss, and musicians Buffalo Brown on guitar, John Speck on sousaphone and trombone, Kenneth Metzger on percussion, Max Farber on piano and Miriam Stern on violin.

General Information:

- Exhibition: October 20 - December 29, 2007
- Performances: Oct. 20, 21, 27, Nov., 10, Dec. 1, 8, 9, 15, 22, 29
- Target Audience: General Audience
- Price: Adults $5; Seniors & Students $3; under 12 Free

Venue Information:

Museum of Contemporary Art/North Miami
770 NE 125th Street
North Miami, Florida 33161

Contact Phone: 305-893-6211
Hours: Tues-Sat 11-5 pm; Sun 12-5 pm

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