A Monthlong Ode to Miami

The Culture Edit, April 7th-20th

Author

Susan Bannon
April 06, 2025

April is National Poetry Month, but Miami really makes it a thing with our annual O, Miami Poetry Festival. The goal of the festival is to have every resident of Miami-Dade County encounter a poem this month - on billboards, buildings, umbrellas, and even fruit at the supermarket. You can also get into the game yourself by writing and submitting poetry inspired by our beautiful city, the natural wonders around us, or your own zip code. I’m including several of their events in the newsletter (the graveyard poetry workshop at historic Miami City Cemetery sounds particularly interesting), but you can check out everything they have going on here.

Also on tap this week, the 42nd annual Miami Film Festival continues through Sunday with screenings all over town and Florida Grand Opera caps off its 2024-25 season with a fresh look at the story of Carmen.

Let’s get planning...

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Ongoing Theater

Gablestage: Summer, 1976

Gablestage presents the Florida premiere of David Auburn’s Summer, 1976, after its twice-extended run on Broadway in 2023. Set at a university during our nation’s centennial, the story follows an unlikely friendship between two women who followed different paths - a rule-breaking artist and a faculty wife - that find they both have growing disquiet about the compromises they had to make.

Performances through April 20th, Gablestage, $40-$50

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Babette, Vinya Table, MIKA | Drinks: Bulla, Sospiro Wine Bar

Actors’ Playhouse: Waitress

Actors’ Playhouse continues its “Iconic Season” with Waitress, a heartwarming Broadway hit that makes its Florida regional premiere. The musical revolves around Jenna, a talented piemaker trapped in a loveless marriage, who finds solace and strength through her extraordinary baking skills. With a soulful score by Sara Bareilles, Waitress is a delectable treat that explores the empowering journey of a woman finding her own recipe for happiness.

Performances through April 20th, Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theater, $65-$100

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Miami New Drama: Birthright

Miami New Drama presents Birthright, the world premiere of a new play by renowned playwright Jonathan Spector (whose play Eureka Day was a hit on Broadway this past fall). The play begins in 2006, as a group of young American Jews meet on a Birthright Israel trip, and become fast friends. The next twenty years, right up through the Oct. 7th attack and beyond, tear them apart and bring them together, as they wrestle with the question of how to live as a Jew in America.

7:30pm, Colony Theatre, $47-$77

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Uchiko, Lucali, Paya | Drinks: Brother’s Keeper, Barceloneta

Wednesday, April 9th

An Evening with Elaine Pagels

National Book Award-winning scholar Elaine Pagels visits Books & Books to discuss Miracles and Wonder, her new investigation into the life of Jesus. A recipient of Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and MacArthur awards in consecutive years, Pagels has been at the forefront of scholarship on early Christianity for decades, ever since the publication of The Gnostic Gospels in 1979. She will be in conversation with Pastor Laurie Hafner of the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ.

7pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, $30 (includes copy of Miracles and Wonder)

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on April 9th:

Thursday, April 10th

Miami Film Festival: Actor Jason Isaacs

The second week of the Miami Film Festival is absolutely packed with screenings and events (you can check out the full calendar here), making it hard to single one thing out. But with White Lotus-mania sweeping the country, I decided on this awards presentation for actor Jason Isaacs, who plays white-collar criminal and dysfunctional dad Tim Ratliff on that show. Isaacs, whose other credits include memorable villains Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter and the evil British commander in The Patriot, will be presented with MFF’s Precious Gem Award and then join a live recording of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast.

7:30pm, Chapman Center at MDC Wolfson, $20

Neighborhood: Downtown

Nearby Eats: ViceVersa, Tâm Tâm, Mr. Omakase | Drinks: OverUnder, Margot

Also on April 10th:

Friday, April 11th

Arturo Sandoval at Knight

The Arsht Center is proud to present Cuban jazz legend Arturo Sandoval, live at Knight Concert Hall for one night only. A famed collaborator with Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval has performed with music icons from Frank Sinatra to Alicia Keys, and has won 10 Grammy awards, 6 Billboard Music awards, and an Emmy for his score for the HBO movie about his life, For Love or Country, starring Andy Garcia.

8pm, Knight Concert Hall at Arsht Center, $40-$130

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on April 11th:

  • Books & Books welcomes author Katie Kitamura to discuss Audition, her “exhilarating, destabilizing, Möbius-strip of a novel,” at 7pm.

  • Seraphic Fire presents Angels Behind the Walls, an evening of Baroque vocal music, at Church of the Little Flower, at 8pm.

Saturday, April 12th

Florida Grand Opera: Carmen - Gala Opening Night

Florida Grand Opera closes out its 2024-25 season with Bizet’s Carmen, in a new imagining of the story directed by Maria Cordero. Set in 1937, Cordero’s version finds Carmen leading a band of freedom fighters in Franco’s Spain. To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of the Carmen story, which is just straight-up femicide immortalized as a “crime of passion,” but Bizet’s undeniably gorgeous score, packed with famous arias like “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera),” carries the day. And who knows? Maybe in Cordero’s version, she comes out on top. Sung in French, with English and Spanish projected subtitles.

7pm, Ziff Ballet Opera House at Arsht, $27-$260

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats (suitable for your ballgown): Klaw, Casadonna, Brasserie Laurel | Drinks: ViceVersa, Klaw rooftop

Also on April 12th:

  • The Miami Film Festival hosts Yellowjackets actress Melanie Lynskey for a conversation about her career and presentation of her Precious Gem Award, at MDC’s Chapman Center at 1pm.

  • The Miami Film Festival presents a closing night screening of On Swift Horses, a film about queer love and the American West that made a splash at the Toronto Film Fest this year, at the historic Olympia Theater, with actor Diego Calva in attendance, at 7pm.

  • New World Symphony welcomes “breakout star” conductor Dalia Stasevska for an evening of Sibelius, at New World Center at 7:30pm.

  • Dance NOW! Miami presents an encore performance of their new contemporary ballet, Blue Pencil, exploring life under Portugal’s Salzar dictatorship, at Sanctuary of the Arts, at 8pm.

Sunday, April 13th

Miami Film Festival: The Wedding Banquet

The final screening of the 42nd Annual Miami Film Festival, The Wedding Banquet is a joyful comedy of errors from American director Andrew Ahn. The plot follows a planned marriage of convenience between the gay scion of a wealthy Korean family who needs a green card and a financially strapped lesbian who needs to pay for IVF. Their elopement is derailed by his skeptical grandmother, who flies in from Korea demanding an all-out wedding extravaganza.

3:30pm, O Cinema, $18

Neighborhood: South Beach

Also on April 13th:

  • “Breakout star” conductor Dalia Stasevska joins the New World Symphony for a second performance of A Sibelius Journey, at New World Center at 2pm.

Happening NEXT Week:

Because maybe your friends are busy this week. Or you're busy this week. Or this week just seems too soon to pull your act together and make a plan.

Monday, April 14th

Never Drop the Ball Screening and Q&A

A team photo of the Miami Giants, featured in WLRN’s documentary, “Never Drop the Ball.”

In honor of Jackie Robinson Day, Coral Gables Art Cinema presents a special screening of WLRN’s one-hour documentary, Never Drop The Ball. The film tells the story of black baseball players who built a league and a dynamic playing style of their own during segregation. Emmy Award-winning director Michael Anderson and Miami historian Abel Sanchez will be on hand for a Q&A after the showing, hosted by CBS News' Hank Tester.

5:30pm, Coral Gables Art Cinema, Pay What You Can

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on April 14th:

Wednesday, April 16th

Faena Jazz Series: Lucía

Faena Theatre’s 7th Annual Jazz Series welcomes 23-year-old jazz sensation Lucía for her Miami debut. The only Latina ever to win the prestigious Sarah Vaughan Vocal Jazz Competition, Lucía is taking the jazz world by storm. After beginning her career in her parents’ son jarocho band, Son de Madera, Lucía transitioned to jazz and has since performed on stages all over the world, including Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Seating at the Faena is two-by-two, and tables can be upgraded with fancy bottle service, so this is definitely a date-night booking.

8pm, Faena Theater, $65-$300

Neighborhood: Miami Beach

Nearby Eats & Drinks: Make it an all-Faena night, with dinner at Pao or Los Fuegos and drinks at Living Room or The Saxony Bar.

Also on April 16th:

  • NODUS Ensemble and renowned contemporary composer Nina Young close out the New Music Miami Festival with a concert of her latest innovative work, at the Jewish Museum, at 7pm.

  • Jamaican singer Protoje and his band The Indiggnation bring their mix of reggae, soul, and hip top to the Miami Beach Bandshell, at 7pm.

Thursday, April 17th

New Media Block Party at PAMM

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) hosts a block party for South Florida’s contemporary media art scene, with the premiere of video art biennial Intertidal 2025 on the floating screen and activations by Locust Projects, Miami Film Festival, FilmGate, Club Sinema, and more. DJ sets and an AI figure-drawing session with Raw Figs round out the night.

6-10pm, PAMM, Free (doesn’t include admission to the galleries)

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on April 17th:

  • Poet and musician Marnino Toussaint hosts Where Mangos Drop, an old-school variety show highlighting the year round educational work of the O, Miami Poetry Festival, at the Miami Beach Bandshell at 7:30pm.

  • Sanctuary of the Arts welcomes jazz drummer Ari Hoenig, backed by Tivon Pennicott on sax and Gadi Lehavi on piano, for an evening of straight ahead jazz, at 7:30pm.

Saturday, April 19th

Symphonie Fantastique

Stéphane Denève conducts the New World Symphony for Berlioz’s intense, groundbreaking Symphonie Fantastique (which you might recognize from The Shining or Sleeping with the Enemy), a piece that follows a narrative of obsession, seduction, and drug-fueled hallucination. Then, the NWS welcomes young cello star Sheku Kanneh-Mason for a performance of Shostakovich’s most challenging cello concerto.

8pm, New World Center, $25-$150

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Mimi Chinese, Paya, Tropezón | Drinks: Abbey Brewing Co., Water Lion at the Sagamore

Also on April 19th:

  • Miami Zine Fair, our annual celebration of independent publishing, returns to Paradise Plaza in the Design District with hundreds of zines and interactive artworks, as part of the O, Miami Poetry Festival, from 12-5pm.

  • Rescheduled date: Indie electro band STRFKR, known for spacey, breezy hooks, plays the Miami Beach Bandshell, at 7pm.

Sunday, April 20th

Dance NOW! in the Garden

Dance NOW! Miami and the South Beach Chamber Ensemble join forces for Blossoms of Peace, a special Easter celebration set in the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. The two ensembles will alternate short performances for this annual collaboration.

Performances at 4:30pm & 6pm, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Free

Neighborhood: South Beach

Planning Ahead:

Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those new restaurants you want to try book up. Here are a couple of upcoming events to get on your calendar now…

April 25th-27th

Miami City Ballet: Carmen

Miami City Ballet closes its 2024-25 season with the world premiere of a new incarnation of the Carmen story by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, one of today’s leading ballet makers. Set to a fresh reworking of Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite by Colombian composer Juan Carlos Acosta, this version was inspired by the movie Molly’s Game (which bodes well for our heroine, since Molly wasn’t murdered by her ex). With bold costume design by Mark Eric and some giant 3D props, this Carmen is shaping up to be one you don’t want to miss.

2pm Matinees, 7:30pm Evenings, $60-$287

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

May 2nd-3rd

The Cleveland Orchestra: Elgar and Holst

Considered by many to be the finest symphony orchestra in the country, The Cleveland Orchestra finishes out its Miami residency with a blockbuster performance under the baton of “The Flying Maestro” Daniel Harding. First on the program is Elgar’s sublime song cycle Sea Pictures, featuring the velvety contralto of opera star Avery Amereau. Then, the CO tackles Holst’s emotional masterpiece The Planets - from the bellicose dissonance of “Mars, the Bringer of War” to the electrifying “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.”

8pm Friday and Saturday, Knight Concert Hall at Arsht, $45-$189

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

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