Location, Location, Location

The Culture Edit, January 13th-26th

Author

Susan Bannon
January 12, 2025

Toronto import Mimi Chinese opened near Lincoln Road in December.

Miami continues to earn its place as the top U.S. city for foodies, with new restaurants springing up so fast it’s hard to keep track of them all (fortunately The Infatuation keeps a list for us).

With such an embarrassment of riches, you’d think this newsletter would have plenty to choose from. But alas, I only recommend restaurants close to cultural venues - often the Arsht Center (melting face emoji) and New World Center near Lincoln Road (not much better) - and those areas rarely get new spots these days.

So I was thrilled to see the opening of Mimi Chinese right off Lincoln Road, a buzzy new Toronto import that’s getting some great reviews. Even more surprising, a new spot opened near the Arsht Center - IKO Miami, a pan-Asian space focusing on “neurogastronomy.” I’m not sure what that is, but I’ll take it!

On the other end of the spectrum, Coral Gables has been racking up new restaurants for a while now, with notable new spots opening almost every day, many within walking distance of cultural venues like Books & Books and the Miracle Theatre. I’ll be recommending Michelle Berstein’s new Sra. Martinez iteration a lot, along with Babette, Mai Sushi Tapas, and MIKA. Cheers to the Gables!

Let’s get planning...

If you’re enjoying this newsletter, please share it! If it was forwarded to you, you can subscribe by email or by text - or both!

Ongoing Theater

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?

Performances through February 16th, Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre, $45-$95

POTUS at Zoetic Stage

Zoetic Stage and the Arsht Center present POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, a comedy about the women in charge of the man in charge of the free world. This all-female farce by Selina Fillinger, which earned three Tony award nominations for its Broadway run in 2022, features a cast of South Florida’s finest and funniest female actors.

Performances through January 26th, Carnival Studios Theater at the Arsht Center, $56-$61

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Wednesday, January 15th

An Evening with Scott Turow

Books & Books welcomes Scott Turow, author of the global bestseller Presumed Innocent, which broke international sales records, redefined the legal thriller genre, and was the basis of a hit movie and AppleTV’s most watched show. Turow will be discussing his new novel, Presumed Guilty, a sequel of sorts that brings a retired prosecutor back to defend a suspected killer who may be his new son-in-law. WLRN’s Daniel Rivero will be in conversation with Turow.

7pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, $30 (admits two, includes one copy of Presumed Guilty)

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Thursday, January 16th

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Knight Foundation presents an evening with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by one of the world’s preeminent conductors, Riccardo Muti. The CSO will tackle classics of the Romantic movement, including Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, which the composer considered to be “definitely the best work I have written so far,” and Schubert’s unfinished but majestic Eighth Symphony.

8pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $40-$181

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: ViceVersa, MOMENTO by Ikaro, Klaw | Drinks: The Corner, Margot

Also on January 16th:

Friday, January 17th

Seraphic Fire: Tribute to the Capilla Flamenca

Seraphic Fire, our stunningly good vocal ensemble, presents a program of Renaissance works in tribute to the Capilla Flamenca, perhaps the most legendary choir ever assembled. Presented as a gift to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, this elite assemblage of singers and composers dazzled the courts and cathedrals of Spain for two centuries. Guest conductor Amanda Quist will lead the Seraphic Fire vocalists in this showcase of the golden age of choral music.

8pm, Church of the Little Flower, $45-$65

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Sra. Martinez, MIKA, Matsuri | Drinks: head down Bird Road to Unseen Creatures or Shōjō’s Dojo

Also on January 17th:

  • The ScreenDance Miami Festival opens with Films You Gotta See BIG!, an open-air screening of one short dance film and one feature-length dance film on the side of New World Center in Soundscape Park, at 7:30pm.

Saturday, January 18th

Nu Deco Ensemble with Betty Who

Genre-bending contemporary orchestra Nu Deco Ensemble welcomes queer pop icon Betty Who for a concert under the stars at the Miami Beach Bandshell. The program also includes new music by award-winning composer Gabriella Smith and Nu Deco’s recent repertoire addition, the Pharrell Suite, featuring reimaginings of Pharrell-produced hits like “Rock Your Body” and “Hot in Herre.” That should be interesting!

8pm, Miami Beach Bandshell, $75-$95

Neighborhood: North Beach

Also on January 18th:

  • FIU’s Wolfsonian Museum celebrates Art Deco Weekend with a series of lectures on the 1925 Paris Exposition and its impact on Jazz Age design, 11am-5pm.

  • Anja Bihlmaier, one of the “leading conductors of her generation,” joins New World Symphony for a concert of Rachmaninoff and other WWII refugees, at 7:30pm (free WALLCAST in Soundscape Park).

Sunday, January 19th

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances

The New World Symphony welcomes Anja Bihlmaier, Principal Guest conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, to lead the New World Fellows for Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, his final work, composed after fleeing a ravaged Europe in the wake of World War II. Also on the program, the Master Chorale of South Florida and baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore will accompany NWS for Arnold Schoenberg’s haunting A Survivor from Warsaw. This concert is part of NWS’s Resonance of Remembrance series, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII and the Holocaust.

2pm, New World Center, $40-$155

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Tropezón, Barceloneta, Paya | Drinks: Water Lion at the Sagamore, Greystone Bar

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.

Wednesday, January 22nd

New Music Miami ISCM Festival

Composer Laura Schwendinger featured in SF Classical Voice upon winning the 2023 Charles Ives Opera Award.

Florida International University celebrates the 28th anniversary of its New Music Miami ISCM Festival with a special opening concert featuring the innovative work of guest composer Laura Schwendinger and the renowned Amernet String Quartet, FIU’s artist-in-residence ensemble. The concert is preceded by a discussion with Schwendinger on the inspirations behind her avant-garde compositions.

7pm, Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, Free

Neighborhood: South Beach, South of Fifth

Thursday, January 23rd

Jersey Boys at Actor’s Playhouse

The “Iconic Season” at Actor’s Playhouse continues with Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys, a juke box crowdpleaser that tracks the rise of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The story unfolds through each band member’s perspective, featuring their 1960’s hits “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

8pm, Actor’s Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre,

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on January 23rd:

  • The 28th Miami Jewish Film Festival concludes with a screening of MATCHMAKING 2, Israel’s biggest feel-good hit of the year, at the Miami Beach Bandshell, at 7:30pm.

  • The ScreenDance Miami Festival presents three dance films, including one starring Miami’s own Dimensions Dance Theatre and one with Mikhail Baryshnikov, at Miami Theater Center at 7:30pm.

Friday, January 24th

The Cleveland Orchestra with Violinist Sayaka Shoji

Considered by many to be the finest symphony orchestra in the country, the Cleveland Orchestra has spent the winter in Miami every year since 2007 (understandable), presenting three performances of classics with world-class collaborators. For the first performance of their 2025 winter residency, the Orchestra plays Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, one of the crown jewels of violin repertoire, with world-renowned violinist Sayaka Shoji.

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

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: MOMENTO by Ikaro, Mignonette, Klaw | Drinks: ViceVersa, Margot

Saturday, January 25th

Bad Dog

Miami New Drama presents Bad Dog, a world premiere play by Harley Elias skewering Miami’s contemporary art scene (after last year’s Museum Plays and Gablestage’s Laughs in Spanish, I’m sensing a trend here). The plot follows a performance artist who’s taken up residency in a Miami art gallery to live as a dog for a month, biting visitors and causing chaos within the gallery staff. Performances through February 16th.

8pm, Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre, $47-$77

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

  • Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami presents an evening of 21st century ballet, including an encore performance of Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye’s Resilience, at Coral Gables’ Sanctuary of the Arts, at 7:30pm.

  • The Cleveland Orchestra plays Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, with world-renowned violinist Sakaya Shoji, for a second and final night, at 8pm.

  • The ScreenDance Miami 2025 festival of dance work on film concludes with screenings of official selections at PAMM, including a conversation with the filmmakers, at 12pm.

Sunday, January 26th

An Evening with Brooke Shields

The Books & Books Literary Foundation, in partnership with Adrienne Arsht Center and the Miami Book Fair, presents an evening with Brooke Shields, discussing her new book, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman. Having grown up in the public eye, with every feature scrutinized and judged, she’s now confronting new expectations as a “woman of a certain age.” But Shields is flipping the script, feeling more confident than she ever felt in those famous Calvin Kleins and taking on assumptions about women and aging.

5pm, Adrienne Arsht Center, $50 includes a signed copy

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on January 26th:

  • The Deering Estate and Deering Contemporary celebrate the opening of Unraveled Tales, a series of site-specific works by local and international artists, with an opening reception and artist talks, from 12-5pm.

  • New World Symphony teams up with Miami City Ballet and cello phenom Oliver Herbert for an afternoon chamber concert featuring newly commissioned work and choreography, at 2pm.

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…

February 1st-4th

Florida Grand Opera: The Elixir of Love

Florida Grand Opera welcomes tenor Jonah Hoskins and soprano Jasmine Habersham for Donizetti’s effervescent comedy, The Elixir of Love. The lighthearted plot centers on Nemorino, a sad sack waiter who pines for charismatic inn owner Adina. With no money and no confidence, poor Nemorino has no hope of winning her - at least until a sketchy peddler stops by with a bottle of love potion. Composed in a mere 14 days, The Elixir of Love is one of the best known of Donizetti’s more than 70 operas, and features the beloved aria “Una furtiva lagrima.” *If you’re planning to attend the Saturday performance, be aware people get really dressed up. Break out the ballgown!

Ziff Ballet Opera House at Adrienne Arsht Center, $27-$250

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

February 14th-16th

Miami City Ballet: Winter Mix

Long story ballets, like Giselle and Swan Lake, are audience favorites the world over, but I personally prefer Miami City Ballet’s eclectic “mix” programs that showcase their sparkling technique and athleticism on more contemporary work. Their Winter Mix this year brings us a world premiere ballet (as yet unnamed) by boundary-pushing choreographer Pam Tanowitz, complementing two pieces by the legendary Balanchine.

Ziff Ballet Opera House at Adrienne Arsht Center, $55-$255

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Thanks for reading! If you know a friend that would like this newsletter, please forward it. Thank you!

If someone forwarded it to you, you can subscribe here.

Any feedback? Or tips on events or restaurants? I'd love to hear from you! Hit reply and it will come directly to me.

Reply

or to participate.