An Underwater Fantasy

The Culture Edit, October 14th - 27th

Author

Susan Bannon
October 13, 2024

Patricia Delgado as Titania in MCB’s original production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Photo: Alberto Oviedo. 

What a week we have coming up! Top billing goes to Miami City Ballet’s season opener, a stunning production of Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream they debuted to critical acclaim in 2016. Interesting to note, MCB founding artistic director Edward Villella was the original Oberon in Midsummer in 1962, and current artistic director Lourdes Lopez danced many roles in it under Balanchine, as well. That strong “Balanchine DNA” shines through at MCB, along with their signature precision and energy. Pair that with iridescent “underwater” costumes and sets by Miami-born artist Michele Oka Doner and you have a performance not to be missed.

Over at New World Center, “opera’s coolest soprano” Danielle de Niese and opera director Yuval Sharon join the New World Symphony for a unique performance of The Seven Deadly Sins, a “sung ballet” that was the last work by legendary collaborators Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht (who wrote the American Songbook classic Mack the Knife, originally in German!). I’ve never heard of a sung ballet, but with this talented gathering of artists, I’m just going to trust that it will be good.

Finally, we have Morning // Mourning at Live Arts Miami, a bittersweet experimental opera set 1.6 billion years in the future, on an Earth without people. This production has gotten rave reviews from the likes of The Wall Street Journal (“part scientific exposition, part imaginative flight of fancy”) and The New York Times (“wonderful, uncategorizable”) for its melancholy but ultimately hopeful message and the inspired songwriting of creator Gelsey Bell.

Apologies and thank you’s: one of my readers let me know that last week’s KARD concert was postponed, so if I sent you there unawares, I apologize! Another gave me a heads up on Sindhu Vee’s stand-up act, coming up this Thursday. I love getting tips and feedback from readers, so keep it coming, please!

A final apology goes out to Seraphic Fire, our stunningly good, Grammy-nominated choral ensemble. I somehow omitted their first concert of the season from the newsletter, despite having it in my Highlights of the Fall issue! To atone, I made a point of attending this past Thursday night and it was glorious. You can check out all of their upcoming concerts for the season here.

Let’s get planning...

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Ongoing Theater

Carmen: Genesis of Fire

The Faena Theater presents Carmen: Genesis of Fire, an original cabaret production based on the (unfortunately) timeless tale of passion, jealousy, and murder. Spanish singer-songwriter Mimi Barber leads the evening as Master of Ceremonies, with performances that blend flamenco, cabaret, cirque nouveau, illusion, and percussive live music. 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.

Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Faena Theater, $100-$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 (or head to Broken Shaker for a change of scenery).

Thursday, October 17th

Morning // Mourning

MDC’s Live Arts Miami presents the South Florida premiere of Morning // Mourning, a critically-acclaimed experimental opera that takes us 1.6 billion years into Earth’s future. Inspired by The World Without Us, Alan Weisman’s 2007 bestseller about the likely effects of human depopulation, Morning // Mourning is set in a world in which all humans have disappeared. The cast of five “witnesses” sings and plays all of the music, guiding the audience through the changes on Earth as forests grow back, new species evolve, and the human-made world erodes away.

7:30pm, The ArtLab at MDC Wolfson, $35

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on October 17th: 

  • British comedian Sindhu Vee brings her hilarious stand-up hour to Miami Theater Center for one night only.

  • David Castillo unveils Pepe Mar: My First 25,000 Years on Earth, an exhibition of new large-scale collages by the Miami artist, with a reception from 6-8pm.

  • The Arsht Center hosts disco funk band Raspberry Pie for Live on the Plaza.

Friday, October 18th

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Miami City Ballet opens its 2024-25 season with this blockbuster production of Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A retelling of the classic Shakespeare rom-com, the action has been relocated from an enchanted forest to our South Florida waterways, featuring dazzling “underwater” sets and costumes by Miami-born artist Michele Oka Doner (you’ve walked over her graceful bronze inlays of sea life at MIA countless times) and dramatic direction by Miami-born playwright and screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight, Choir Boy). Six vocalists will join the top-notch MCB orchestra to perform Mendelssohn’s glorious music.

7:30pm Fri. & Sat., 2pm Sat. & Sun., Ziff Ballet Opera House, $35

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on October 18th: 

Saturday, October 19th

The Seven Deadly Sins

“Opera’s Coolest Soprano” (NYT Magazine) Danielle de Niese and opera director Yuval Sharon join the New World Symphony for a production of The Seven Deadly Sins, a “sung ballet” and the last work by legendary collaborators Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, created as Nazi’s were taking control of Berlin. Also on the program will be The Kaiser of Atlantis, written by composer Viktor Ullmann and poet Peter Kien when they were prisoners in the Nazi propaganda camp Terezín. This concert is part of “Resonance of Remembrance,” NWS’s series commemorating the 80th anniversary of end of WWII and the Holocaust. Saturday’s performance will also be projected for a free WALLCAST concert in adjacent Soundscape park.

7:30pm, New World Center, $40-$175 or free outdoor WALLCAST

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Casa Tua, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Paya | Drinks: Water Lion at the Sagamore, Abbey Brewing Co.

Also on October 19th:

Sunday, October 20th

Concerto Night: Miami International Piano Festival

The Miami International Piano Festival opens its “Classical Sundays at Five” series with a with a special “concerto evening” at the Aventura Cultural Center, under the leadership of Igor Gruppman, former concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Three celebrated pianists - Vyacheslav Gryasnov of Russia, Albert Cano Smit of Spain, and Florian Noack of Belgium (pictured) - will perform piano concertos by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Hummel.

5pm, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, $45-$55

Neighborhood: Aventura

Also on October 20th: final performances of New World Symphony’s The Seven Deadly Sins and Miami City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

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.

Thursday, October 24th

Miami Film Festival: Producer’s Roundtable

White Elephant Group’s Ronald Baez, with producers Ronald Colom and Tim Davis.

The official Miami Film Festival is in the spring, but once a year is not enough! So now they’re giving us GEMS: Making Waves, a five day mini-festival of award-season contenders starting October 30th. As a warm-up, MFF and local film collective White Elephant Group are hosting this conversation with Ronald Colom and Tim Davis, producers of the award-winning films Mountains and Konpa, respectively, on the joys and challenges of making films in and about South Florida. Reception with light refreshments following the talk.

7:30pm, MDC’s Wolfson Auditorium, $12

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: ViceVersa, NIU Kitchen, Tâm Tâm | Drinks: Over Under, Margot

Also on October 24th:

Friday, October 25th

Nu Deco Lounge: Symphony of Rock

Nu Deco Ensemble, Miami’s genre-bending contemporary orchestra, returns to the Citadel cabaret space for its intimate - and very popular - Nu Deco Lounge series. To kick off the season, the orchestra takes on the music of rock legends Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac. I foresee a lot of crowd sing-a-longs with this one! (If you’ve never experienced one of these concerts, they are very high energy, with a lot of audience participation.) Note that general admission prices are for standing-room only. If you want a seat on the floor or the balcony, you’ll need a VIP ticket.

7pm & 9:30pm, the Citadel lounge, $45 or $85 VIP

Neighborhood: Little River

Also on October 25th:

  • The National Ballet of Ukraine, touring the U.S. for the first time in 30 years, comes to the Arsht Center with a selection of its most popular ballet works.

  • Poet, translator, and essayist Michael Hofmann visits Books & Books to discuss his translation of Booker Prize-winning Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck.

  • Zest Collective presents Afro Blue and The Fountain at Miami Theater Center, two dance works commemorating Black music in America.

  • Zoetic Stage presents The Pillowman at the Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht Center.

Saturday, October 26th

The Planets + Rachmaninoff

Grammy-winning conductor Xian Zhang, 22-year-old Russian piano phenom Alexander Malofeev, and the voices of the Master Chorale of South Florida join The New World Symphony for a special one-night-only concert at the Arsht Center. Rising star Malofeev tackles Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, one of Rachmaninoff’s best-loved works. Conductor Zhang works with the New World Fellows to bring out the ecstasy and devastation of doomed love in Wagner’s Prelude to Tristan and Isolde. (Listen out for the “Tristan chord,” which scandalized critics and audiences at the time.) Finally, the 87 members of the Master Chorale bring Holst’s celestial masterpiece The Planets to life.

8pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $65-$215

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on October 26th: 

Sunday, October 27th

The Pillowman

To open the Arsht Center’s Theater Up Close series, Zoetic Stage presents The Pillowman, a truly scary play by Martin McDonagh, the award-winning writer-director of The Banshees of Inisherin and In Bruges. The plot centers on a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state, who is being interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories - stories that just happen to echo a series of actual child murders in his town. This Olivier- and Tony-award winning play is NOT for children and designated 18+.

2:30pm, Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht, $56-$61

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Planning Ahead:

Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those new restaurants you want to try book up. For the ultimate plan-ahead guide, you have my complete Highlights of the Fall Season, but if that’s too much trouble, you can just plan for these two…

November 1st - 24th

King James

Gablestage’s season opener is a basketball story, or at least a story about how basketball can help two Lebron superfans from Cleveland navigate their tumultuous relationship. A clever, fast-paced comedy by Pulitzer finalist Rajiv Joseph, King James is told over twelve years, from James’ rookie season for the Cavaliers through the championship.

7:30pm evenings, 2pm matinees, Gablestage at the Biltmore, $40-$60

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Saturday, November 16th

Dimensions Dance Theatre Fall Performance

Founded by former MCB principals Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra in 2016, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami has been shaking up classical dance in South Florida ever since with their contemporary ballet repertoire. My only complaint about this exciting young troupe is that we have so few opportunities to see them. So you don’t want to miss their fall performance if you can help it.

8pm, The Moss Center, $25-$45

Neighborhood: Cutler Bay

Nearby Eats: Not much! Grab dinner at Platea or Golden Rule Seafood on your way down there and have some rooftop cocktails at Mamey on 3rd or martinis at Fox’s on your way back.

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