I love Broadway; that’s why I want a future for the Coconut Grove Playhouse | Opinion
I love Broadway shows, and I am not alone. In recent years, anywhere from twelve to fourteen million people purchased Broadway show tickets.
If you add all of the other theaters in the country presenting revivals and road versions of these Broadway shows, tens of millions of people will see shows all around America.
Clearly, theater is a huge part of American culture. I just entered a contest sponsored by Broadway Across America, and the entry required a one-minute video demonstrating why you think you are “Broadway’s Biggest Fan.”
I have an ulterior motive for wanting to win.
Yes, being selected means I will receive an all-expense-paid trip to New York City, tickets to several shows and various interviews.
Best of all, a victory means I will have one year of devoting time to supporting Broadway causes. And that’s where my beloved Coconut Grove Playhouse comes in, one of the first theaters in Miami-Dade to bring Broadway-quality shows to longtime residents like me. I would spend my year working to unite stakeholders, in Miami, Miami-Dade and Florida, to rescue this theater built in 1927.
Today, our theater choices abound. I get my fix of Broadway from venues like the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami, the Actor’s Playhouse at Miracle Theater in Coral Gables and the Seminole Theater in Homestead.
Miami is wealthy beyond imagination with theater options.
Sadly, one of my favorite theaters—one that will turn 100 in three years—is not on this list. It is currently shuttered and in horrible disrepair. Our community leaders have neglected the Coconut Grove Playhouse for over a decade, and this 1927 queen of all our theaters is in a fight for her life. I want to help keep her alive.
One side wants to demolish it, and the other side wants to save the building, which is a designated historic site and widely considered one of Florida’s principal cultural and artistic landmarks. As “Broadway’s Number One Fan,” you can easily figure out I want to preserve this glorious structure.
If you haven’t been aware of the mission to save the playhouse, please go to: www.SaveTheCoconutGrovePlayhouse.com
In the latest legal twist, a Miami-Dade appeals court in February overturned as “unlawful” a city of Miami zoning board decision blocking a county plan to remake and reopen the historic playhouse.
I am among the activists and preservationists that oppose the county plan because it calls for demolishing the large auditorium at the rear of the state-owned playhouse.
It will take in the neighborhood of $60 million to repair the playhouse in its entirety, but she’s worth it because she is part of our theater history. All theaters on Broadway are not brand new, if anything, they have been preserved.
I encourage everyone reading this to join us and support saving this incredible icon of Miami’s founding history. Don’t let it be destroyed by time of neglect.
The theater scene in Miami is thriving, with opportunities for shows and productions in every style. Musicals, dramas, children’s theater, experimental theater, traditional … it’s all here. You have to go see it because nothing beats live, on-stage performances, and we, in Miami, are so lucky to have it all.
Let’s please unite to work to keep the Coconut Grove Playhouse in the Broadway venue mix.
Mike Rosenberg is a community activist whose latest project is to rescue the Coconut Grove Playhouse. He previously co-led the effort to create a Pets Trust in the county. Rosenberg is a former candidate for Miami-Dade County Commission.
Mike Rosenberg is a community activist whose latest project is to rescue the Coconut Grove Playhouse. He previously co-led the effort to create a Pets Trust in the county. Rosenberg is a former candidate for Miami-Dade County Commission.
