Miami's Olympia theater holds lifetime of memories for this reporter. And probably you

Miami Herald

4 hours ago

Imagine being a fan who helped lure a superstar singer to perform her first and only major concert in your own hometown.
That fan was me, in my role as pop music critic at the Miami Herald. That star was Carly Simon. And a big part of the draw was the allure of Miami's elegant Gusman Center, also known as the Olympia theater.
Simon, now 82, is a music legend who wrote and recorded one of pop culture's most famous songs — so enduring that Taylor Swift cited the 1972 hit, 'You're So Vain,' as 'the best song that has ever been written.' That's coming from Swift, who built a legion of fans on chronicling breakups.
The Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer became a star attraction in the 1970s but stage fright largely kept her off the road for most of her career.
It was May 2007 when I made my call. A key to my pitch was that Florida International University's theater department was staging her family opera, 'Romulus Hunt.' The event was conceived by then FIU head theater director Phillip Church to support a not-for-profit that helped children in foster care. Getting Simon to put on a show the night before her opera would be a huge boost for the benefit.
I can still remember part of my conversation with Simon 18 years ago touting the Olympia. '...Oh, and the venue is beautiful. It's historic. You'll like it and it's not too big and overwhelming like an arena.'
The following year, the theater added Simon's rare live concert to its long list of memorable moments.
Olympia's fate?
Now Miami's talking about giving away the Gusman? The clouds in my coffee are forming twisters. Do our memories go along with that deal? Mine are priceless. Bet yours are, too.
As the Herald has reported, Miami officials are considering turning over control of the historic Olympia Theater on Flagler Street in downtown Miami to a Little Havana charter school.
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The Olympia is also known as the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts from the mid-1970s to 2014, in honor of philanthropist Maurice Gusman who donated the property to the city in 1975. Whatever its name, the theater has such a storied history.
Olympia's history
The Olympia opened on Flagler Street as a silent movie palace in 1926 as one of the original Publix Theatre movie palaces.
Yep, Publix before the Publix you go to for Pub Subs and BOGOs. Publix founder George Jenkins liked the sound of the name 'Publix' so he took it when the Florida-based movie chain folded at the time of the Great Depression. Jenkins needed a name for his first store in Winter Haven, Florida, in 1930, and 'Publix' sounded right, according to his 1979 memoir.
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From Elvis to Buffett
The Olympia/Gusman hosted the Miami Film Festival in the 1990s and 2000s as its premier venue. Elvis Presley performed in concert there in 1956. So did B.B. King, Etta James, The Marx Brothers and Gypsy Rose Lee.
Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti and Canadian rocker Bryan Adams played the venue too.
Jimmy Buffett played a three-night gig at the Maurice Gusman Cultural Center on Aug. 14-16, 1978. These shows were taped and formed much of the material featured on his 1978 two-disc live album, 'You Had to Be There.' The rest of the set's live material was recorded days earlier from Atlanta's Fabulous Fox concert venue.
Gosh, I wish I had been there at his Gusman concerts when I was 15.
On the Gusman stage, Buffett 'Floridized his songs and commentary, with references to stolen sunglasses from Eckerd's, beer at Captain Dick's in the Grove. Pelican Pete's in Key Largo, Stuckey's with its pecan rolls and 'free alligators for the kids,'' future Herald theater critic Christine Dolen wrote in her review of opening night.
Buffett premiered new material from the Gusman, too.
One of those songs, 'Morris' Nightmare,' made it onto 'You Had to Be There.' It was a song about a cruise-ship couple, alias 'condo commandos and snowbirds,' Buffett quipped at the Gusman. Can you imagine that track originating anywhere else but Miami?
That live album was a perennial on boomboxes at swim meets with my fellow Hurricanes teammates, I told Buffett in December 2021. We were chatting on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the launch of his career from Key West. One of many conversations. I miss Jimmy. He was his endearing stage persona Miami fans who were there at the Gusman saw so many years ago.
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The Police and Cash
Around that time in 1978, The Police were a fledgling late-'70s New Wave rock act led by Sting when they graced the Gusman.
I hadn't started going to rock concerts just yet. But I got to walk around the backstage catacombs at the Gusman with Police drummer Stewart Copeland about 16 or so years later in 1994 when he was checking out the venue at a soundcheck. He performed with a group of African percussionists on its stage to promote his post-Police project, The Rhythmatist.
'I've been always interested in music from around the world,' Copeland told the Herald at the time.
Johnny Cash played the Gusman in 1995 when he was enjoying a musical and commercial renaissance that sustained him for the rest of his life.
'This hasn't been my best night, but I loved being with you,' Cash apologized to his audience toward the show's end. Puzzled, I shook his hand backstage moments after and continued a chat we'd had in an interview pre-show. The Man in Black was a perfectionist. He was all smiles afterward. So much for the brooding reputation. The man's charisma wattage was tuned so high in person the City of Miami probably saved a few bucks on its electric bill for running the theater's stage lights that night.
Carly Simon's Miami debut
Carly Simon, however, is my most cherished Gusman memory. A career highlight.
FIU's Church wanted to stage Simon's 'Romulus Hunt' after seeing a production in North Carolina. Simon's family opera tells the story of a 12-year-old New York boy who is shuttled between divorced parents who plots to bring his incompatible parents back together.
Simon wrote the parents as 'exaggerated' versions of herself and ex-husband, musician James Taylor, she said. The former couple share two children.
'I've seen a lot of divorces, unfortunately, and so many kids are left confused [or] in a state of denial,' Simon said. 'The fights can be worse. The children can feel grabbed at and totally in the middle.'
Church knew I'd had connections to Simon. I'd written about her often for the Herald. Flew out to see her in rare one-off concerts in Columbus, Ohio, and New York's famous Apollo for a Christmas show. He wondered if I'd reach out and gauge Simon's interest in taking part in some way with his production. I'd admired Church's work at FIU when I was a grad student just before joining the Herald in 1991.
A concert and opera, both to benefit CHARLEE, the not-for-profit that supported foster children in Miami, was what Church had in mind. Simon's participation would sell that concept and fill the Gusman.
'I seem to find less and less pleasure in doing theater for theater's sake. These days, I feel I have to be compelled by a social need,' Church told me then. He's retired from FIU but still staging stories for his local community theater group What if Works.
He was a fan of Simon. So was the late Marilyn March, who died in 2020 from pancreatic cancer. She was development director for CHARLEE, the foster care organization that stood to benefit from Simon's 'Romulus Hunt' and her concert the night before.
'Many of our children are the product of broken homes, and the divorce rate today is staggering,' March told me. 'We all grew up with Carly Simon's music and we knew how much of her personal life's journey is reflected in her lyrics.'
Could I possibly convince the stage-shy Simon to say yes by simply vouching for these people?
Simon sang an array of her hits from the Gusman stage. 'You're So Vain,' of course. 'Let the River Run' and 'Anticipation.' She sang a song about her and Taylor's daughter Sally from her then new album. Their son Ben Taylor played guitar and sang harmonies with his famous mom at the Gusman. Simon sang her son's song, 'Island.'
'If I can recommend a life experience, have Carly Simon play one of your songs on stage,' Taylor told the Miami audience. 'These songs have different meanings because we're old now,'' Simon, then 64, teased as she introduced her familial 'Coming Around Again.'
I'm so vain. I apparently convinced Carly. A memory as precious as the Olympia.