Theater Town

The Culture Edit, January 20th-February 2nd

Author

Susan Bannon
January 19, 2025

Okay, so maybe we’re not New York, but Miami stages are cranking out great productions this winter. This week, Miami New Drama premieres Bad Dog, a new play by Harley Elias (who also wrote the fantastic Museum Plays that MiND presented in the Rubell Museum last year) and Actor’s Playhouse continues their “iconic season” with crowd-pleaser Jersey Boys.

Meanwhile, two excellent productions are still running: Zoetic Stage’s hilarious POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive and Miami New Drama’s innovative Lincoln Road Hustle (that’s right, MiND will have two plays running simultaneously. Overachievers!).

As icing on the cake, next week Gablestage opens its highly anticipated production of Appropriate, a Tony Award-winning play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. This one is already selling out its first two weeks, so I’d book those tickets now.

In restaurant news, everyone’s excited about Ensenada, an outpost of the award-winning Brooklyn original that specializes in coastal Mexican cuisine. Imported restaurant concepts in our town often lead to terrible service and menu misfires, but this one has a secret ingredient - a partnership with Ahmet Erkaya of Mandolin, one of our best restaurants for fifteen years now. Besides, people seem to love it.

Let’s get planning...

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Ongoing Theater

POTUS at Zoetic Stage - Final Week!

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

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

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.

  • Four members of the Cleveland Orchestra play an intimate evening of chamber music at Sanctuary of the Arts, at 8pm. 

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.

  • The California Honeydrops, a bluesy, retro-soul outfit that has toured with the likes of Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King, visit the Miami Beach Bandshell for a concert under the stars, at 8pm.

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.

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 29th

New Music Miami ISCM Festival, Vol. 2

The 28th edition of Florida International University’s New Music Miami ISCM Festival continues with a special concert by soprano Corrin Byrne and trumpeter Andy Kozar, aka the Byrne:Kozar:Duo. The “B:K:D” is known for its interpretations of early Baroque music and commissions of avant-garde new works. The concert is preceded by a discussion with Byrne and Kozar on their artistic collaboration.

7pm, Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, Free

Neighborhood: South Beach, South of Fifth

Nearby Eats: New Vietnamese place Gao, Abbalé Televivian Kitchen, Orilla Bar & Grill | Drinks: Minibar, Kiss Miami 

Also on January 29th:

  • Books & Books welcomes FIU Professor Terrance G. Petersen to discuss his new book, Revolutionary Warfare, on how the Algerian War of the 1950’s fractured the French Empire, destroyed the legitimacy of colonial rule, and helped launch the push for independence in the Global South, at 7pm.

Thursday, January 30th 

Key Biscayne Film Festival - Opening Night!

Our newest film fest, the Key Biscayne Film Festival was launched just last year to much fanfare, highlighting cinematic work that spotlights island cultures and our fragile marine environment. This year, the KBFF is back with a full weekend of shorts and feature-length screenings, kicking off with an opening night showing of In a Whale, followed by a reception and Q&A with the director David Abel.

5-9pm, Paradise Park on the Key, $50 (or $150 for a full access festival pass)

Neighborhood: Key Biscayne

Also on January 30th:

  • Enjoy live music and happy-hour specials on the terrace at PAMM as part of its Backroom Sessions series, from 6-8pm, with access to the galleries until 9pm.

  • Jamaican singer-songwriter Jesse Royal, whose debut album Lily of da Valley topped the Billboard Reggae charts, brings his socially conscious reggae to the Miami Beach Bandshell, at 7pm.

Friday, January 31st

Appropriate - Preview Night!

Gablestage presents “one helluva family reunion” with Appropriate, the Tony Award-winning play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The plot follows the estranged members of the Lafayette clan, who gather at the family’s crumbling homestead to argue over their recently deceased father’s effects. Turns out Daddy had some secrets, and once his collected possessions spill the beans, the reunion takes a turn for the explosive. Hailed as “a brilliant, blistering, outrageous play” by The New York Times, you don’t want to miss this one! Performances through February 23rd.

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

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on January 31st:

  • The Arsht Center presents French maestro Stéphane Denève, leading the world-class Cleveland Orchestra and celebrated young Spanish violinist Maria Dueñas in Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, followed by Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, at 8pm.

Saturday, February 1st

Purvis Young: A Visionary of Miami’s Cultural Identity

Pan American Art Projects is thrilled to present a solo show of the work of revered late Miami artist Purvis Young. Young’s work depicted life in Overtown with energetic, cave drawing-like figures, often on found wood from the neighborhood. His pieces gained international fame by the end of the 1990’s, with many now found in major museums, including our own PAMM and the Rubell. The pieces in this exhibit are selected by curator Claudia Taboada from the collection of Martin Siskind, a close friend and longtime supporter of Young’s.

Opening Reception 6-9pm, Pan American Art Projects - Little River, Free

Neighborhood: Little River

Also on February 1st: 

  • Miami City Ballet makes its debut at The Moss Center with a program of thrilling contemporary ballet, including works by Christopher Wheeldon and Martha Graham. Performances at 2pm and 7:30pm.

  • Florida Grand Opera presents the gala grand premiere performance of The Elixir of Love, a lighthearted Donizetti opera starring tenor Jonah Hoskins and soprano Jasmine Habersham, at 7pm. Break out that ballgown!

  • French maestro Stéphane Denève and the world-class Cleveland Orchestra, with celebrated young Spanish violinist Maria Dueñas, present a second performance of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, at 8pm at Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center.

Sunday, February 2nd

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.”

3pm, Ziff Ballet Opera House at Adrienne Arsht Center, $27-$250

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on February 2nd:

  • Miami City Ballet’s debut program at The Moss Center, including thrilling contemporary works by Christopher Wheeldon and Martha Graham, gets a final performance, 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 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

February 28th-March 2nd

Montreux Jazz Festival Miami

Since 1967, the Montreux Jazz Festival has taken place for two weeks every summer in Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva, now drawing 250,000 music lovers each year. Last year, they chose Miami and the Hangar in Coconut Grove as the site of their first stateside festival, and it was a smashing success, selling out weeks in advance (which is pretty impressive given the ticket prices). Now the MJT is back for a second year, with a star-studded lineup including Jon Batiste, Chaka Khan, Cimafunk, Willow, and Janelle Monáe.

The Hangar in Coconut Grove, tickets from $169 (single day) to $799 (all-access VIP)

Neighborhood: Coconut Grove

Nearby Eats: Carbone Vino, Krüs Kitchen, Bayshore Club | Drinks: pretty sure the festival will have you covered here, but if you want something different, head to Regatta Grove or to Sipsip rooftop at the Mayfair.

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