''Magic City'' is an American drama

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

created by

Mitch Glazer Mitchell Aram Glazer (born 1952/1953) is an American writer, producer, and actor. Life and career Glazer was born in Key Biscayne, Florida, and was raised in Miami, the son of Leonard and Zelda Glazer, an English teacher. Glazer is a relative of ...

for the Starz network. The pilot episode previewed on Starz March 30, 2012, and premiered April 6, 2012. Starz renewed the series for an eight-episode second season on March 20, 2012, and canceled it August 5, 2013, after two seasons. Set in 1959

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, shortly after the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

, ''Magic City'' tells the story of Ike Evans (

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Jeffrey Dean Morgan (born April 22, 1966) is an American actor of television and film, best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2022), for which he has received critical acclaim. He ...

), the owner of Miami's most glamorous hotel, the Miramar Playa. Evans is forced to make an ill-fated deal with Miami

Jewish Mob Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been referred to variously in media and popular culture as the Jewish Mob, Jewish Mafia, Kosher Mob, K ...

boss Ben Diamond (

Danny Huston Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an Italian-born American actor and film director. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and the half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston. He is known for ...

) to ensure the success of his glitzy establishment.

Cast and characters

Main

as Isaac "Ike" Evans, majority owner and boss of the Miramar Playa, Miami Beach's premier resort hotel *

Olga Kurylenko Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko ( uk, Ольга Костянтинівна Куриленко; born 14 November 1979) is a Ukrainian and French actress and model. She started her acting career in 2005, and first found success as an actress for ...

as Vera Evans, Ike's second wife, stepmother to Stevie, Danny, and Lauren Evans, convert to the Evans' Judaism, and former Havana nightclub dancer under the name "Vera Cruz" * Steven Strait as Steven "Stevie" Evans, Ike Evans' "bad boy" older son and the manager of the Miramar's Atlantis Lounge *

Jessica Marais Jessica Dominique Marais (born 29 January 1985) is a South African-born Australian actress best known for her roles on Australian television in '' Packed to the Rafters'' and '' Love Child''. She also co-starred on the American drama series '' ...

as Lily Diamond, Ben Diamond's third (trophy) wife and the secret lover of Stevie Evans * Christian Cooke as Daniel "Danny" Evans, Ike's straight-arrow younger son and a law school student *

Elena Satine Elena Satine (born November 24, 1987) is a Georgian-American actress and singer. On television, she has been featured as a series regular on the Starz period drama '' Magic City'' (2012–2013), the ABC drama ''Revenge'' (2014–2015), and the ...

as Judi Silver, a prostitute who works out of the Atlantis Lounge and does occasional jobs for Ike and Stevie * Dominik Garcia-Lorido as Mercedes Lazaro, a Miramar housekeeper in training to be a

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

stewardess and Danny's love interest * Taylor Blackwell as Lauren Evans, Ike's teenage daughter (main, season 1; recurring, season 2) *

as Benjamin "Ben The Butcher" Diamond, a Jewish-American mobster, a boss in the Miami Jewish Mob, and the silent minority owner of the Miramar *

Kelly Lynch Kelly Ann Lynch (born January 31, 1959) is an American actress and model. Her notable film roles include '' Cocktail'', '' Road House'', ''Drugstore Cowboy'', ''Curly Sue''. and TV show roles in ''The L Word'' (2004–2005, 2009), and '' Magic Cit ...

as Megan "Meg" Bannock, the older sister of Ike's late first wife Molly (recurring, season 1; main, season 2)

Recurring

Yul Vazquez Yul Vazquez (born March 18, 1965) is a Cuban-American actor and musician. He has appeared in '' Runaway Bride'' (1999), ''Bad Boys II'' (2003), ''War of the Worlds'' (2005), '' American Gangster'' (2007), ''The A-Team'' (2010), '' Captain Philli ...

as Victor Lazaro, the hotel's general manager, Mercedes' father, and a first-generation Cuban immigrant * Alex Rocco as Arthur Evans, Ike's father *

Leland Orser Leland Jones Orser (born August 6, 1960) is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous film and television roles, notably as Lucien Dubenko in the television series '' ER'' (2004–2009) and Sam Gilroy in the '' Taken'' film series (2008–20 ...

as Michael "Mike" Strauss, a labor union official *

Michael Rispoli Michael Rispoli is an American character actor. He was a contender for the role of Tony Soprano in the HBO television series ''The Sopranos,'' but was ultimately cast as Jackie Aprile, a recurring character in the show’s first season. Ris ...

as Belvin "Bel" Jaffe, a gangster and bookie in the Jewish Mob who works for Ben Diamond out of the back room of the Sea Breeze Lingerie shop in the Miramar's shopping arcade * Bradford Tatum as Albert "Dandy Al" Haas * Andrew Bowen as David "Divin' Dave" Donahue *

Willa Ford Amanda Lee Williford (born January 22, 1981), known by her stage name Willa Ford, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, model, television personality and film actress. She released her debut album, ''Willa Was Here'', in 2001. Ford also ha ...

as Janice Michaels * John Cenatiempo as Vincent Lamb * Michael Beasley as Grady James * Karen-Eileen Gordon as Florence * Taylor Anthony Miller as Raymond "Ray-Ray" Mathis, a doorman at the Miramar * Karen Garcia as Inez, Arthur Evans' nurse * Shelby Fenner as Myrnna * Catalina Rodriguez as Theresa * Ricky Waugh as Barry "Cuda" Lansman * Matt Ross as Jack Klein, State Attorney for Dade County * Todd Allen Durkin as Douglas "Doug" Feehan * Chad Gall as Ethan Bell * Garrett Kruithof as Stout * Gregg Weiner as Phillip "Phil" Weiss * Jordan Woods-Robinson as Sterling Voss * Avi Hoffman as Sidney "Sid" Raskin *

Sherilyn Fenn Sherilyn Fenn (born Sheryl Ann Fenn; February 1, 1965) is an American actress and author. She came to attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991, 2017) for which she was nominated for a Go ...

as Madame Renee *

Esai Morales Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the films '' Bad Boys'' with Sean Penn and '' La Bamba'' with Lou Diamond Phillips (1987). His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series '' ...

as Carlos 'El Tiburon' Ruiz *

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Suppo ...

as Sybert "Sy" Berman, a Chicago-based mob boss

Episodes

Season 1 (2012)

Season 2 (2013)

Production

Conception

''Magic City'' was created by Miami native

, who wrote the series around his experiences growing up there: he once worked as a

cabana boy A cabana boy is a male attendant who serves the guests of a hotel or large private estate, operating from a nearby '' cabaña'' ( American Spanish for cabin; compare cabin boy, a similar occupation aboard ships during the age of sail), often on a ...

in a Miami Beach hotel, his father was an electrical engineer at the city's grand hotels in the late 1950s, and he grew up listening to stories of the exploits of hotel staff and clientele. Many of the incidents Glazer relates in the series "are based on stories that happened, that I saw, or older brothers and sisters or my parents told me." As a journalist, he did extensive research on what was happening in the lobbies of hotels in late 1950s and early 1960s: "There’s wiretaps—tapes they’ve made public now—where the CIA gives

Sam Giancana Salvatore Mooney Giancana (; born Gilormo Giangana; ; May 24, 1908 – June 19, 1975) was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Giancana was born in Chicago to Italian immigrant parents. He joined the 42 ...

and

Johnny Roselli John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (born Filippo Sacco; July 4, 1905 – August 7, 1976), sometimes spelled Rosselli, was an influential mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. In the ear ...

$300,000 and poison powder to kill idelCastro in the Boom Boom Room in the

Fontainebleau Hotel The Fontainebleau Miami Beach (also known as Fontainebleau Hotel) is a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Designed by Morris Lapidus, the luxury hotel opened in 1954. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked ninety-third in the American Institute ...

," he said. Included in the series, Glazer states, will be

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) activities in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and issues connected to the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. He first envisioned ''Magic City'' as a feature film, but said he quickly realized he had more stories to tell than would fit in a film. Glazer had written different versions of ''Magic City'' for years. He originally wrote and sold it to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, who eventually let it go to the Starz network. "CBS was really nice to me and generous in letting it go to Starz. It’s not a procedural, it’s not a franchise. It needs to be allowed to do the sexuality and violence and the things that were part of Miami Beach in the 1959", he said. In 2007,

Chris Albrecht Chris Albrecht (born July 24, 1952) is an American media executive. He is the head of television at Legendary Entertainment and was previously chief executive officer and President of Starz. Albrecht was also the former chairman and CEO of HBO. ...

(subsequently Starz network's president and C.E.O.) was fired from HBO and joined Glazer and some of his friends for a research expedition to Havana. "It was an insane group," Glazer remembered. " Jimmy Caan and

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...

and

Benicio Del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen ...

." They were visiting a Havana hotel designed by the architect

Morris Lapidus Morris Lapidus (November 25, 1902 – January 18, 2001) was an architect, primarily known for his Neo-baroque "Miami Modern" hotels constructed in the 1950s and 60s, which have since come to define that era's resort-hotel style, synonymous w ...

when Glazer remarked to Albrecht, "You know, I grew up in this kind of hotel. My father worked with Morris Lapidus on the

and

Eden Roc Hotel Eden may refer to: *Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis Places and jurisdictions Canada * Eden, Ontario * Eden High School Middle East * Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric * Camp Eden, Iraq Oce ...

as an electrical engineer." In 2009, after Albrecht became president and C.E.O. of Starz, Glazer recalled, "I sent him a script I had written years before, and he called me literally hours later and said, 'This is amazing, let's do this.'"

Reception

Critical reception

The first season received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

calculated a score of 56/100 based on 27 reviews. Glenn Garvin of the '' Miami Herald'' said of the series: "The sordid ugliness that festers inside Magic City's voluptuously beautiful wrappings makes irresistible television." The ''

Contra Costa Times The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa and Alameda counties, in the East ...

''’ Chuck Barney praised the cast and visual style. He said in his review: "Through the early episodes, nothing really happens that you couldn't see coming. Still, the setting is so seductive, the period details so vivid and the acting so stellar, that it's as intoxicating as a potent mojito."

NJ.com NJ.com is a digital news content provider and website in New Jersey owned by Advance Publications. According to a report in ''The New York Times'' in 2012, it was the largest provider of digital news in the state at the time. In 2018, comScore r ...

criticized the gratuitous nudity (" Hey, boobs!") in many dressing room scenes.

Awards and accolades

Movie spin-off

A feature film is in the works and is set to be directed by Mitch Glazer. Stars

, and

are set to reprise their roles.

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

and

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on '' Saturday Nig ...

will also have starring roles. As of September 2021, there have been no further updates from either Starz or Glazer on the film, leaving its production as increasingly unlikely.

Home media

The entire ''Magic City'' series was released by Starz and Anchor Bay in

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and DVD formats on May 13, 2014.

References

External links

* * {{Starz Shows 2010s American drama television series 2012 American television series debuts 2013 American television series endings English-language television shows Starz original programming Television series about organized crime Television series set in the 1960s Television shows set in Miami Works about Jewish-American organized crime