Friend of the blog Billy Corben is known for his uniquely Miami documentaries: The Cocaine Cowboys series, The U series, Dawg Fight, Screwball, and on and on. They are all must-watch. So too with his new venture — a play at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach called Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy.
The play tells the story of 80's Cocaine Traffickers Rivi (Jorge Ayala) and Griselda Blanco through the eyes of Rivi (played by Yancey Arias). You’ll also get some of the story told by Detectives Singleton (Stephen Anthony) and Diaz (Nicholas Richberg), as well as Blanco and Kathy Rundle (both played by Zilah Mendoza). All of the actors were really great, and Mendoza seamlessly goes back and forth between two leading parts. Billy makes clear that he views both her characters as the villains in the story.
Billy’s fast-paced persona jumps off the script: the play is funny, smart, and history lesson all at the same time.
And in an only-in-Miami opening night, the audience included the actual detectives Singleton and Diaz, Blanco’s son (named Michael Corleone), Blanco’s lawyer, a former U.S. Attorney, a federal judge, and the mayor of Miami Beach. The detectives and Corleone were recognized towards the end of the show to the crowd’s delight.
Billy loves telling Miami stories and is at his best when he’s doing so. When he and partner Alfred Spellman were first researching for Cocaine Cowboys and came across the Rivi depo, they joked about turning it into a play. You couldn’t make up some of the stories that Rivi tells, including the insane sex-phone scandal with some of the secretaries at the State Attorney’s office.
2 comments:
One trick pony. Yawn.
Yesterday’s news. MIght as well put Bob Griese and Larry Csonka on stage and have them tell war stories.
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