Puppies and Sargento on Parade
The First Annual Puppy Love Pet Parade took place yesterday at Parque Lazaro Cardenas. Thanks go to organizer Jeff Wilkie, a load of volunteers, sponsors, and to all the moms and dads of the critters that took part, take a bow(wow).
On Sunday, February 15, the upstairs stage at Nacho Daddy becomes the setting for the longest-running Mexican musical, ”Mentiras,” which means ”Lies” in English. You will learn what happens when four women, all in love with the same man, meet at his funeral! Drama? Oh, yeah. Intrigue? Times four!
And who better to explain the twists and turns of the peculiar storyline in English than the uber-queer Sargento Dan, a Mexican with a wonderful baritone singing voice and an irritating (from anybody else) speaking voice, with his weird inflections?
Sargento helps his audience differentiate among the four characters by color-coding the lighted mannequins onstage with matching jackets. I have seen this musical in each of its iterations, starting with the debut at Casa Karma a couple of seasons back. It has grown in size and polish and is performed only once a month for the balance of this season. Get to Nacho Daddy for tickets for the next post-Valentine’s Day treat. You can thank me with a hug next time I see you.
A couple more shows coming up fast are Robert Ryan’s ”Here’s to the Ladies” at Act2PV’s Casa Karma Red Room and Kassiano Smith’s ”Big Band and Reggae Classics” at Teatro Vallarta.
While a number of shows come to Vallarta from New York City, Robert Ryan’s ”Ladies” opens in New York this coming September. Save the airfare and see him here on February 18, when he presents his one-night-only sweet, heartfelt homage to the women in his life who have made a significant impact on who he is and why.
I will write more on Kassiano next week; this is merely a gentle reminder to go to VallartaCalendar.com, read up on this glorious upcoming event, and get tickets fast – the theater only holds 900 people.
I am seeing two of my fave artistic women today, both Deborahs. First up Deborah Darr, Broadway singer, dancer, painter, and NIA teacher every Sunday at the IFC Clubhouse for another six weeks. We are having mango smoothies at Vallarta Factory as we do every year and catching up on our lives.
Deborah Cole is an amazingly kind and insightful friend, and a brilliant photographer with several books to her credit. We will see Branden and James at Coco Cabaret this afternoon at 5 pm. Normally, I would suggest joining us, but they have been sold out for days. Their next show has a few tickets left, so scurry to VallartaCalendar.com for loads of information, including precisely what is happening hour by hour in our paradise.
Don’t miss the Madonnari Festival in the main plaza downtown that starts tomorrow and runs for three days. This 16th-century art form began in Italy and has become an artistic staple in downtown Vallarta. The work is brilliantly fleeting. Don’t forget my hugs, From Here.