Miami New Drama begins its season with Lincoln Road Hustle, a wonderfully entertaining immersive satire set along Lincoln Road. The play is co-written by documentary filmmaker Billy Corben and playwright Harley Elias. It features an all-star cast of local talent and is directed by Michel Hausmann.
Lincoln Road Hustle is a rip-roaring immersive satire. It is the most Miami thing you will ever see, bro. You do not want to miss this experience.
Highly original, it’s drenched in Miami history and lore. Written in a fast-paced, machine gun fervor of pun after pun, using metaphor, hyperbole and irony to rise into beautiful absurdity. Its satire at its best!
Mr. De Leon is the most influential developer in Miami, and a direct descendant of Ponce himself, the father of the “Ponce” scheme. We (the audience) gather at a press conference to announce the arrival of the De Leon Casino, a high rise luxury casino and development project coming to the Beach (sound familiar Genting Group). The audience then breaks off into five groups to continue the immersive theatrical experience. Armed with color-coded silent disco headphones, we rotate from short play to short play, from location to location.
Lincoln Road Hustle Spoiler Free Plot
The red group:
Scene 1: Inside an abandoned store front on Lincoln Road
The heist (a mysterious envelope, a midnight robbery, I went to FIU not MDC, Tequesta fossils, steamy chemistry, Bird Bowl and Flannigan’s)
Portrayed by Kaelyn Gonzalez and Gabriel Salgado with humor, intensity, range and pretty good chemistry.
Scene 2: Outside Issabella’s restaurant in the middle of Lincoln road
The brunch (a ring, a prenup, Only Fans, Patty Sucia, Ropa Vieja, if I ring my bell, what lovely feet, rollerbladed)
Portrayed by Irene Adjan and Kristie Millie Valdez with tension, humility, humor and hidden secrets. This scene has to be hard for the actors, including Kristian Bikic, because they are acting in an open restaurant. Miami New Drama only reserved one table for the run. If the restaurant is at capacity, as it surely will be, the actors must face a lot of potential distractions.
Scene 3: Outside the Britto gallery by the fountains
The suckers (poop dance, lost and found, the broom, build it, Messi, a Gen X deejay, that’s what friends are for)
Portrayed by Jevon Jacobs and Gregg Weiner with range, compassion, honesty and synergy. This scene was not really funny but it was so good as it explored adult male relationships, which is ironic because Weiner just finished a play at GableStage King James with the same themes. Their location is also set in a weird wind vortex on Lincoln Road that must be challenging at times for the actors.
Almost Home Miami
Scene 4: Inside a new fancy restaurant
The influencer (croquetas, super literally mid, Venmo me, a food fight, Key Lime pie to die for)
Portrayed by Carmen Peleaz and Marcella Paguaga with intensity, sweeping range, and pitch perfect comedic timing. This was my favorite scene because of the acting and the intensity of drama that occurs. Pelaez and Paguaga compliment each other well and it must be demanding, especially for Paguaga — you’ll know why when you see it.
Scene 5: Outside an empty store near Alton Road
Mr. De Leon (never be afraid to pitch, Brazilian butt lifts, the clinic, handcuffs, valium and the big reveal)
Portrayed by Steve Anthony and Carlos Fabian with flair, drama, and amazing instincts.
Scene 5: Outside back at the beginning with the entire audience reunited
The Groundbreaking (The goon, a dick weed, hi, dad, Columbus, Ohio, a resurrection, the 40 year old tooth, the developers always win)
Portrayed by the ensemble with a dab of chaos and calamity.
Lincoln Road Hustle Is Brilliant
This play works on so many levels. It’s brilliance isn’t only the excellent writing, superb acting and directing, layered and meta plot, but it’s the production.
We are in the middle of Lincoln Road as the city walks by looking at us as if we were mannequins in a storefront window.
This is different than 7 Deadly Sins during COVID when the boulevard was dead. Different than Museum Plays, which was an intimate night at the museum.
This is risky out-in-the-wild theater and it works. Give immense credit to Michel Hausmann for taking such wonderful chances. And the cast. Wow. This production is filled with familiar faces, a who’s-who of local talent, a deep roster of the best actors in Miami. All performances were rich and perfectly balanced, just pitch perfect. But most of all this play works because of the writing.
Billy Corben is an American treasure as a filmmaker and one of the funniest most informed people you’ll ever meet. His fingerprints are all over this play. But it is playwright Harley Elias who feels like the engineer of this meta satirical universe. This production feels like a novel and credit Corben and Elias. It’s wonderful details, like the podcast.
As we are escorted between scenes, if you choose to keep your headphones on, there is a podcast featuring Billy Corben interviewing a real archeologist about preserving Miami’s history over development. There’s another scene in the podcast where Billy is sparring with De Leon the developer. It’s hilarious. And the commercials during the podcast.
It’s all brilliant and layered like a novel.
They created an actual website to highlight the pending casino project. They created another website shining a light on De Leon’s crimes.
This level of immersion and interactive theater is world class and fun, just like the city we call home.
Miami. Your-ami. Our-ami.
Lincoln Road Hustle
Lincoln Road Hustle is playing until February 15th.
For more info and tickets click here.
This article was published in part with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
