Yesterday I took a bow from the stage of the Gusman Theater.
Actually, it's the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. And, in the interests of greater accuracy, I shared the stage with about a dozen people, most of them visiting travel writers getting a tour of downtown Miami. And the seats were empty. But I do think I was the only one who made a quick, surreptitious bow.
The Gusman, built in 1926 as a silent movie palace, was the highlight of the tour. We had walked in to the smell of popcorn, and found glasses of champagne waiting for us on the concession counter. Then we were led through the theater and up onto the stage. Just as he does before a movie at the Miami Film Festival, Darrell Stuckey played the organ.
We stood on stage gazing at the ornamentation, listening to the music, under a ceiling of scudding clouds. The frescoes rimming the stage, we were alerted, are full of faces. The peacock sitting on the railing of the side balcony is, we were told, the only piece of taxidermy in the theater.
We were then led upstairs to the balcony's reception area. A look at backstage was not included, but I'd already been there, about five years ago, where I had the great pleasure of meeting Mariza. Another wonderful Gusman memory.
