Highlights of the Fall Season

The Culture Edit, September - December 2024

Get those calendars out! Below you have my (nearly) complete list of the most anticipated events of Miami’s upcoming fall season. I say “nearly” because, with the exception of Art Week, visual art is absent from this list. That’s because art galleries typically don’t publish their plans for upcoming exhibits until a week or two before the opening. So you’ll have to rely on the weekly newsletter for those.

On the restaurant front, I’ve been going through the seven stages of grief since learning of Jaguar Sun’s closing. Awarded a Bib Gourmand by Michelin, the downtown spot reliably delivered great food and cocktails near the Arsht Center. The good news is that same team opened ViceVersa nearby, and they’ve just recently reopened Sunny’s Steakhouse, their Little River pop-up that was such a hit during the pandemic. But Little River is not near the Arsht Center (and in fact is already stacked with great restaurants), so Jaguar Sun will be especially missed by this newsletter!

Let’s get planning...

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October 5th-6th

New World Symphony Season Opener

In honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust, New World Symphony presents “Resonance of Remembrance,” a season-long series. Artistic Director Stéphane Denève opens the series with Michael Tilson Thomas’s haunting From the Diary of Anne Frank and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, a coded work created under the watchful eye of Stalin.

7:30pm Saturday, 2pm Sunday, New World Center, $40-$175

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

October 10th-11th

A Brief History of Western Music

Seraphic Fire has titled its 2024-2025 season “Music History 101,” and plans to bring us the “fun and enlightening music appreciation course you always wished you had taken.” Sign me up! The season starts with A Brief History of Western Music, exploring the progression of western musical styles from Medieval chant, through the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, right up to Contemporary works.

October 10th at 7:30pm, St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, $45-$65

Neighborhood: The Roads

October 11th at 8pm, Church of the Little Flower, $45-$65

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

October 18th-20th

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

October 19th - 20th

The Seven Deadly Sins

Opera director Yuval Sharon joins 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 Nazis 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 Saturday, 2pm Sunday, New World Center, $40-$175

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

October 24th - November 10th

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+.

7:30 evenings, 2:30 matinees, Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht, $56-$61

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

October 25th - 26th

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 both nights, the Citadel lounge, $45 or $85 VIP

Neighborhood: Little River

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

Sunday, November 3rd

MISO Season Opener

Recently designated the Official Symphony Orchestra of the City of Miami by Mayor Suarez, the Miami Symphony Orchestra (aka MISO) opens its 2024-2025 season with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 and Ravel’s Bolero, under the direction of conductor Eduardo Marturet. Pianist Andreas Boyde joins to perform Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major.

6pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $40-$140

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

November 13th - December 8th

Tick, Tick… Boom!

Actor’s Playhouse opens its 37th season with Tick, Tick… Boom!, the “other” musical by Jonathan Larson (who also wrote Rent and tragically died of a heart defect the day it opened). Packed with great songs like Therapy, this autobiographical work follows Jon, a young composer trying to balance the need to create with life’s complications and heartbreak.

8pm evenings, 3pm Sunday matinees, Actor’s Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, $40

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.

November 16th-19th

The Magic Flute

Florida Grand Opera opens its season with Mozart’s The Magic Flute, an imaginative opera classic that features one of the most famous, and demanding, arias of all time - “The Queen of the Night.” Director Jeffrey Marc Buchman used inspiration from the world of gaming to bring the fantasy elements to life in this new staging. If you plan to attend the Saturday premiere, be aware people get really dressed up. So if you’re looking for an excuse to break out the tux or ballgown, this is it!

Various times, Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht, $30-$250

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

November 17th - 24th

Miami Book Fair

Each November, the Miami Book Fair takes over downtown for eight days to host hundreds of acclaimed authors in three languages, talking politics, pop culture, prose, poetry - and of course, selling autographed books. The street fair on the second weekend features book stalls, food trucks, performances, and outposts of local favorites like Sweat Records. With the addition of The Lost Chapter, a pop-up rooftop cocktail lounge with local DJ’s, it’s a proper party.

Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus and environs, Free

Neighborhood: Downtown

December 3rd - 8th

Miami Art Week

The week after Thanksgiving, when Miami is indisputably the center of the global art world, is either the most exciting or the absolute worst time to live here, depending on your perspective. Whether you love contemporary art or just enjoy the sheer spectacle of it, having the world’s best galleries bring us work from their most talented, thought-provoking (or just provoking) artists is pretty amazing. BUT, navigating the multiple fairs, the traffic, the multi-tiered access, and the seemingly endless luxury brand “activations” is practically a blood sport that leaves me feeling like I’ve been run over by a truck by the end of the week. Over the years, I’ve whittled down my must-see’s to three fairs: Art Basel MB at the convention center (of course!), NADA, and Untitled. Everything else is just gravy, and I save visits to local museum and gallery shows until January, when I can breathe.

Art Basel Miami Beach @ Miami Beach Convention Center

Dec. 4th-5th for VIP’s (Free), Dec. 6th-8th for General Public ($65-$120)

Nearby Eats: Casa Tua, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Barceloneta | Drinks: Water Lion at the Sagamore, Brother’s Keeper

NADA @ Ice Palace Studios

Dec. 3rd-4th for VIP’s (Free), Dec. 4th-7th for General Public ($55-$75)

Untitled @ Beach Tent at Ocean Drive & 12th Street

Dec. 3rd for VIP’s (Free), Dec. 4th-8th for General Public ($25-$40)

Nearby Eats: Tropezón, The Alley, The Drexel | Drinks: Swizzle Rum Bar, The Piano Bar at The Betsy

December 5th - 22nd

Black Santa

City Theatre and the Arsht Center present the Southeastern Premiere of Black Santa, an absurdist comedy about the ways racial assumptions can claim even our most benign cultural figures. After a 3rd grader named Sharifa publicly declares to fellow classmates at her exclusive private school that “Santa Claus is a black man from Detroit,” all hell breaks loose and the school’s sole black teacher is tasked with creating an ad campaign to make Santa white again.

Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht Center, $56-$61

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

December 5th - February 16th

Lincoln Road Hustle

In the depths of the pandemic, Miami New Drama triumphed with The Seven Deadly Sins, an innovative roving theater piece set in shuttered Lincoln Road storefronts. Last year, they brilliantly staged a series of short plays in The Rubell Museum for The Museum Plays. Now, MiND is bringing a similar concept to Lincoln Road Hustle, a new play co-written by Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys). Staged in secret locations - shops, restaurants, public spaces - along Lincoln Road, the audience will be “eavesdropping” on the actors. The plot features a massive casino and real estate deal that could change Miami Beach forever, and all the hustlers in its orbit. How Miami is that?

Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre, $45-$95

Saturday, December 7th

A Seraphic Fire Christmas

In the spirit of giving, Seraphic Fire gives its audience what it wants - a holiday concert, complete with candlelight and a fan favorite playlist featuring Ave Maria and Adeste Fideles.

7:30pm, St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, $65-$85

Neighborhood: The Roads

December 13th - January 5th

Both Sides Now: The Music and Lives of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen

An intimate theatrical cabaret, Both Sides Now weaves together the lives and iconic music of lifetime friends and one-time lovers, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Starring and written by UM Frost School of Music alum Danielle Wertz and rock-folk musician Robbie Schaefer.

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

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

December 13th - 24th

Miami City Ballet’s The Nutcracker

The quintessential Christmas spectacular, Miami City Ballet’s The Nutcracker has it all: gorgeous sets, sumptuous costumes, Tchaikovsky’s glorious score, and some thrilling dancing by Miami City Ballet’s precise, energetic dancers. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun, as evidenced by this very “hype” Mouse King vs. Nutcracker promo MCB dancers made with Florida Memorial University’s marching band. If you need to put yourself in the holiday mood, look no further.

Various times, Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht, $40-$250

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Saturday, December 21st

Sounds of the Season

My absolute favorite Miami holiday tradition! The New World Symphony is so good, I often forget they are technically students (albeit post-grad students and some of the most talented musicians anywhere). Their youthful energy and playfulness are on full display for this annual holiday concert of Christmas and Hanukkah favorites, where everyone is just having a ton of fun. Tickets sell out fast for this one, so book early. But if you miss out, you can enjoy a free WALLCAST of the concert in adjacent Soundscape Park.

7:30pm, New World Center, $45-$100 or free outdoor WALLCAST

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Casa Tua, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Barceloneta | Drinks: Brother’s Keeper, Water Lion at the Sagamore

Sunday, December 22nd

Andrea Bocelli Holiday Concert

Adrienne Arsht Center presents Andrea Bocelli in concert for the holidays at the Kaseya Center this December. One of the most beloved voices in the world, Bocelli will perform songs from his No. 1 album, A Family Christmas, and his solo album, Believe. His concerts sell out every year, so if you want a ticket, yes, you need to book it now.

7:30pm, Kaseya Center, $86-$366

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

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