A Little Something for Everyone

The Culture Edit, April 1st-14th

Author

Susan Bannon
March 31, 2024

The breadth of Miami’s cultural offerings is on full display this week. Pick literally any category and the city has got you covered.

If it’s theater you love, we’ve got three fantastic local productions to choose from: Cabaret at Zoetic Stage, The Lehman Trilogy at GableStage, and Dangerous Days at Miami New Drama, which opens this week.

Books? You can see A Gentleman in Moscow author Amor Towles speak or The English Patient author Michael Ondaatje read from his new book of poetry.

We’ve also got a ground-breaking visiting ballet company, four concerts spanning jazz to classical, a couple of very interesting art happenings, and the 41st annual Miami Film Festival.

Oh, and if opera’s your thing, Florida Grand Opera is putting on a little something called La Bohème.

Let's get planning...

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Tuesday, April 2nd

Fountainhead Yearbook Launch at La Cometa Gallery

The Fountainhead Residency and La Cometa Gallery invite you to celebrate the launch of Fountainhead’s The Yearbook: 2023 over cocktails and conversation. Founded in 2008, Fountainhead has since offered month-long residencies and support to over 500 visiting national and international artists. The Yearbook: 2023 documents the work, ideas and approaches to artmaking undertaken by the 2023 resident artists, and is a piece of art unto itself. A panel of artists featured in the yearbook and two contributing artists that helped create it will be speaking. La Cometa Gallery will still have its Some Economies | Wandering Horizons exhibit on view, in which artist Alejandro Sánchez explores the weight of the global economy through images and sculptures of container ships.

6pm, La Cometa Gallery, Free (The Yearbook is $95)

Neighborhood: Allapattah

Wednesday, April 3rd

Jazz Series at Faena: Accent Jazz

Faena Theater presents Accent Jazz as part of their 6th annual Jazz at Faena series. Hailing from all over the globe, Accent’s improbable meeting of six self-described “jazz vocal nerds” could only have happened in the age of social media. After becoming long distance fans of each other’s YouTube videos, the group collaborated online, eventually coming together to release five albums and perform a cappella all over the world.

8pm, Faena Theater, $65-$200

Neighborhood: Mid Beach

Nearby Eats: Los Fuegos at Faena, also 27 Restaurant and Cecconi's  | Drinks: Choose from three great bars at the Faena - Tree of Life, Living Room, and The Saxony Bar, or head to WunderBar for a change of scenery.

Also on April 3rd: Cuban jazz sensation Braidsman on the Plaza at the Arsht and genre-bending pianist Vicki Ray at the Wolfsonian. Get the full list for the week here.

Thursday, April 4th

Dangerous Days - Opening Night

Miami New Drama presents Dangerous Days, a new play by Nicholas Griffin, based on his acclaimed nonfiction book, The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980. The story tracks the investigative work of Miami Herald reporter Edna Buchanan, who follows a tip in 1980 that leads her on a trail ending in murder, riots, and the city on fire.

Performances April 4th-28th, the Colony Theater, $46-$76

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Also on April 4th: An award-winning journalist visits Books & Books and Miami Symphony presents their last chamber concert of the season, plus performances of Cabaret and The Lehman Trilogy. Get the full list for the week here.

Friday, April 5th

Angela Lyn: Passage - in the wake of the world

The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami presents Passage - in the wake of the world, an ongoing collaboration between Lugano-based artist Angela Lyn, London-based musician Jesse Bannister, and our own Durante Verzola, resident choreographer at Miami City Ballet. It’s a performance piece that unfolds from a large wooden crate, with twenty made-to-measure paintings by Lyn that were inspired by the cedar trees of Lake Lugano she can see from her studio. The two dancers inside interact with the paintings in a state of amnesia, connecting with lives they’ve lost, set to Bannister’s fusion of classical Indian music with jazz.

7pm, Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, $15

Neighborhood: Design District

Also on April 5th: Mega bestselling author Amor Towles speaks at Beth Am and the 41st annual Miami Film Fest begins, plus performances of Cabaret, The Lehman Trilogy, and Dangerous Days. Get the full list for the week here.

Saturday, April 6th

An Evening with Michael Ondaatje

Books & Books and the Miami Book Fair present an evening with Michael Ondaatje, author of seven novels, including The English Patient, presenting his new book of poetry, A Year of Last Things. One of the most influential writers of his generation, Ondaatje will be reading selections from his new work in the intimate space at Books & Books Coral Gables. Our own Mitchell Kaplan, who founded Books & Books in 1982 and co-founded the Miami Book Fair, will be in conversation with the author. Tickets include a signed copy of A Year of Last Things.

7pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, $28

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on April 6th: fan favorite La Bohème premieres at the Arsht Center and BalletX brings their thrilling contemporary ballet to the Moss Center, plus performances of Cabaret, The Lehman Trilogy, and Dangerous Days. Get the full list for the week here.

Food Event of the Week: Dinner in Paradise with EntreNos

EntreNos, a pop-up operating out of Tinta y Café in Miami Shores, has deservedly gotten a ton of press and Michelin recognition for its innovative farm-to-table cuisine. Now they’re taking it right to the source with a special dinner at Paradise Farms in Homestead. Chefs Evan Burgess and Osmel Gonzalez have put together a four-course dinner with ingredients handpicked from the soil at Paradise Farms and complemented by locally-sourced seafood and wine pairings. A pre-dinner tour of the farm gives you a look at the regenerative and organic farming practices at Paradise.

Sunday, April 7th, 4-7pm

Paradise Farms in Homestead, $345

Sunday, April 7th

Florida Grand Opera: La Bohème

In the spirit of "give the people what they want", Florida Grand Opera caps off its 2023-2024 season with the beloved La Bohème. The story of six young lovers and starving artists living the bohemian life in 19th century Paris has captivated audiences since its premiere 130 years ago. Giacomo Puccini's ravishing score delivers many of opera's greatest hits (even if you've never heard of "Quando m'en vo", I guarantee you can hum the entire thing), and the talented young cast for this production promises to give some great performances.

2pm, Ziff Ballet Opera House at Adrienne Arsht Center, $26-$234

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Brunch at Bunbury, Klaw, Casadonna | Drinks: Jaguar Sun, Biscayne Bay Brewing

Also on April 7th: performances of Cabaret, The Lehman Trilogy, and Dangerous Days. Get the full list for the week here.

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, April 11th

The Lehman Trilogy

GableStage presents The Lehman Trilogy, an epic piece of storytelling that tracks three members of the Lehman family through 163 years of history, right up to the devastating collapse of their family firm, Lehman Brothers. Beginning in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1844, a Bavarian immigrant dreams of a better life. In 2008, his descendants unleash an unprecedented financial disaster. The story in between is both an intimate family saga and a colossal exposé of unquenchable capitalism.

7:30pm, GableStage, $45

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Also on April 11th: the uniquely Miami sound of Gold Dust Lounge on the plaza at the Arsht Center and a performance of Miami New Drama’s Dangerous Days at the Colony Theater.

Friday, April 12th

Sol Ruiz: Positive Vibration Nation

The last performance I saw by Miami Light Project was an unhinged Soviet puppet show rock opera that turned out to be… absolutely fantastic. If possible, this “evening-length rock guaguanco opera” by Grammy-nominated recording artist, producer, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Sol Ruiz looks to be even stranger, but I’m betting it’s worth seeing. The story is something about musicians from the year 3050 traveling back in time to discover the “origins of their Miami-licious swagger and unified superpowers in the Positive Vibration Nation”. Sounds like a blast. For this performance, VIP ticket holders have access to the after party with the artists next door.

8pm, Miami Theater Center, $20-$100

Neighborhood: Miami Shores

Nearby Eats: EntreNos, Phuc Yea, Blue Collar | Drinks: ZeyZey, Rooftop at The Citadel

Also on April 12th: performances of Dangerous Days at the Colony Theater and The Lehman Trilogy at GableStage.

Saturday, April 13th

41st Annual Miami Film Festival - Closing Night

Our own little slice of Sundance, the Miami Film Festival has been showcasing the work of the world’s best emerging and established filmmakers since 1984. As usual, this year's festival will bring directors and actors to town to present their work and award cash prizes for competition categories. Over 180 films from all over the world have been selected for our viewing pleasure, so take a look at the schedule and see what you'd like to check out. For the closing night, the festival presents a screening of Ezra, starring Robert De Niro and a stacked supporting cast: Bobby Cannavale, Whoopi Goldberg, Rose Byrne, Vera Farmiga, and Rainn Wilson. Director Tony Goldwyn will be given the Art of Light Award in a ceremony before the screening (and you never know who might show up for that).

7pm, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $34

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Also on April 13th: Sol Ruiz’s Positive Vibration Nation gets a second performance and the winners of New World Symphony’s concerto competition show off, plus performances of Dangerous Days and The Lehman Trilogy.

Food Event of the Week: Deering Seafood Festival

The Deering Estate welcomes Miami for its 18th annual Seafood Festival on the Bay. This wildly popular food fest offers seafood from pretty much every local vendor, plus chef demonstrations, live entertainment, and kids activities.

Sunday, April 14th, 10am-6pm

The Deering Estate, $25 with advance ticket purchase

Sunday, April 14th

New World Fellows: Concerto Showcase

In this popular all-concerto program, select New World Symphony Fellows take the coveted spotlight as winners of this season’s concerto competition, an intense contest where the pre-professional Fellows compete head-to-head, armed with their favorite solo work. Maestra Lina González-Granados of the Los Angeles Opera will be conducting this performance of concertos for strings, harp, and trumpet, showing off the immeasurable talent and accomplishments of the young musicians who call the New World Symphony home.

2pm, New World Center, $40-$100

Nearby Eats: Casa Tua, Zaytinya, Joliet | Drinks: Water Lion at the Sagamore, Barceloneta

Also on April 14th: the last screenings of the 41st annual Miami Film Fest, plus performances of Dangerous Days and The Lehman Trilogy.

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 you need to lock down now...

April 18th-21st

Miami City Ballet: Swan Lake

Miami City Ballet caps off its 2023-2024 season with this blockbuster production of Swan Lake, featuring more than fifty dancers, gorgeous costumes, and MCB’s fantastic orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s glorious score. The company premiered this production, with crisp new choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, in their 2021-22 season to rave reviews both here and in New York. If you can only get to one dance performance this year, this is the one!

Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht Center, $44-$253

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Saturday, April 20th

Late Night: Drake X. Tchaikovsky

Late Night with New World Symphony is back, turning the concert hall into a club with a thrilling mashup of two hopeless romantics separated by almost a century: Drake and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. For one night only, NWS—along with conductor-creator Steve Hackman, vocalists and a rapper—weaves 22 Drake songs, from “Started from the Bottom” to “Marvin’s Room,” into Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony in every way imaginable. Roam the dance floor to be up close to the performers or immerse your senses in the lounge vibe from a seat upstairs. According to the program notes, Drake himself will not be in attendance, but you never know with that guy.

9pm, New World Center, $30

Neighborhood: Miami Beach

Nearby Eats: Zaytinya, Tropezón, Casa Tua | Drinks: Medium Cool, Water Lion at the Sagamore

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