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PEOPLE THE CULTURE VULTURE SOARS From Queer Eye for the Straight Guy to his own musical revue Dirty Little Secrets in Miami, Jai Rodriguez is on his way Words by Marla E. Schwartz • Photo credit: Brent Dundore Here's the deal, ladies and gentlemen. Jai Rodriguez is one of the most down to earth guys you'll ever meet. He's a kind soul, a decent man and hasn't been corrupted by the influence of show business. He's the genuine deal and his rising star is sure to continue in this path of projection for many years to come. If his name sounds familiar and you cannot place it, he was the youngest of the group in the Emmy Award-winning American reality television show QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY, where he was dubbed the 'Culture Vulture.' summer in City Theatre's 16th Summer Shorts season. This year, City Theatre hired this internationally recognized actor to headline the production. Jai appeared in an all-star line-up of plays that featured multi-talented veteran favorites Stephen Trovillion, Gregg Weiner, Finnerty Steeves and Ceci Fernandez. Miami welcomed Jai with open arms. He appeared last "Summer Shorts is great. I call it theater for the remote control audience because it's so fast and before you know it, it's over," Jai said, "You rarely get the opportunity to do work like this, it's coveted and people love it. We were all thrilled for the opportunity to display so many different colors of our acting ability in one evening. That's rare because usually you get one person and maybe you have a year in their life, but it's still the same character." Additionally, Jai appeared in a separate performance of his tantalizing musical revue DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. If you missed these shows, take advantage of any opportunity to see the magic of Jai as he appears live. It's something you'll remember for the rest of your life. His secrets won't be revealed here – so you'll have to catch up with the show another time to get the dirt. City Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Norman decided it was time to change the format of 76 MIAMI LIVING Summer Shorts. "We started looking at talent and Jai really rose to the top. Here's an actor who got his start when he was 18-years-old on Broadway, the youngest actor to play Angel in RENT," Stephanie said. "He has been doing wonderful dramas and had the acting chops but then he was also one of the wonderful, charismatic fabulous five who was on QUEER EYE. We had already decided we wanted him to do Summer Shorts and he told us that while he's down here he'd love to do a revue that he has created." The gifted performers supporting him in the show, by playing a multitude of people from his life, are Alexandra Andromaitis, Anne Chamberlain and Michael Joseph, who portrays the RENT actor that seduced him. The band features the exceptional talents of Julie Jacobs (drums), Martha Spangler (bass), Chris Kent (guitar), and John Manzelli, the Festival Artistic Director, who worked with Jai in staging the show. "I'm very specific about the vision. I knew I wanted to start it fun and bright and give everyone a moment to shine. I needed a guy who could sing and dance but was also striking and could give you that stud-quality on stage, which Michael does," Jai explained. "This is my dream cast and I'd love to take them everywhere with me. I'd like to go to Key West and Orlando with it. I'm friends with Wayne Brady and he wants to produce it and take it nationally, so we'll see if that happens. I'm looking to be bi- coastal between Miami and Los Angeles," he said. "I like Miami because it's such a cosmopolitan city, yet there's so many different people and places represented." Look for Jai on the LOGO channel this fall — he has pitched an original idea for a show that features his ex- boyfriend, who offers therapy for people in the gay community seeking to work out various issues in their lives. Contact him on Twitter @jairodriguez. "I'm on Facebook updating my status at least three times a day. Look up my name and find me – I want my fans to contact me." ML