Rites of Spring

The Culture Edit, March 23rd-April 5th

Author

Susan Bannon
March 22, 2026

Ultra Music Festival returns to Bayfront Park March 27th-29th.

For Miami, March is the best of times and the worst of times. The weather is gorgeous, but we get weeks of Spring Break traffic, leading up to the Ultra Music Festival this weekend, which brings 165,000 ecstatic EDM fans to downtown’s Bayfront Park. (Oh, and somebody scheduled beloved Mexican rockers Maná for Friday and Saturday at the Kaseya Center next door. Who’s in charge around here?)

Needless to say, if you’re planning to take in a performance at the Arsht Center this weekend - like Miami City Ballet’s Carmen or Zoetic Stage’s Merrily We Roll Along - take the train or give yourself a lot of extra time.

Also coming up this week, The Miami Beach Antique Show opens Thursday at the convention center with a treasure trove of vintage jewelry and watches - worth a visit, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Let’s get planning…

Jump to: Music, Theater, Indie Cinema, Dance, Art Events, Book Talks, or Planning Ahead

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Theater

Zoetic Stage: Merrily We Roll Along

If you aren't on the Musical Theater Nerd Alert System (MTNAS), you may not know that Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical Merrily We Roll Along is getting a production by Zoetic Stage at the Arsht Center this month. If you are, I don’t have to tell you how this complicated, bittersweet work flopped in its Broadway debut only to become a cult classic, with iconic Sondheim songs like the achingly romantic Not a Day Goes By. You’ve only got three weeks to see it, so get those tickets!

Through April 5th, Carnival Studios Theatre at the Arsht Center, $78

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Gablestage: Prayer for the French Republic

From celebrated playwright Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews, Admissions), Gablestage presents a regional premiere of Prayer for the French Republic, a darkly funny exploration of history, identity and survival. The story follows the Benhamou family, who are forced to question the safety of their home in Paris, and wrestle with 1,000 years of Jewish history, in the wake of an antisemitic attack.

March 20th-April 19th, 7pm evenings, 2pm matinees, Gablestage at the Biltmore, $40-$60

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Indie Cinema

Screening and Director Q&A: André Is An Idiot

André Riccardi in a still from “André is an Idiot” by Anthony Benna, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Coral Gables Art Cinema proudly presents a special red carpet opening reception and screening of André Is An Idiot, winner of the Audience Award at last year’s Sundance Festival, with a post-film talk by director Tony Benna. A South Florida theatrical premiere, the film follows the eccentric and hilarious André Riccardi, who sets out to chronicle his final, life-affirming journey after receiving a terminal diagnosis.

Friday, March 27th, 7:30pm Reception, 8pm Screening, Coral Gables Art Cinema, $22

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

More Indie Cinema:

  • March 27th-April 2nd: Fresh off an Oscar win for Best Documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin gets six days of screenings at O Cinema South Beach.

  • Saturday, March 28th: The final night of Coral Gables Art Cinema’s partnership with Fuku (the Momofuku hot chicken sando spinoff that just opened on Miracle Mile) features A Better Tomorrow, a Hong Kong cinema classic from John Woo, at 9pm.

Dance

MCB Spring Weekend: Carmen & Jewels

Well, this is something new! Instead of one program performed all weekend, Miami City Ballet is presenting two very distinct options for their spring ballet showcase: Balanchine’s iconic triptych, Jewels, and an encore performance of last year’s world premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s reimagined Carmen. Tough choice, but there’s nothing stopping you from buying two tickets and seeing both!

March 26th-29th, 7:30 evenings, 2pm matinees, Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht, $45-$235

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Mignonette, Yamashiro, Casadonna | Drinks: Klaw, ViceVersa

Peter London Dance: Women & Men Voices

Peter London Global Dance Company presents an evening of new work from company choreographers. Three of the women of PLDGC - Stephanie Franco, Mar'Kayla Michel and Kayin Knighton - have created pieces exploring the collision between lived experience and gender codes. Also on the program, a new work by Peter London for six male dancers that plumbs the depths of male virility and beauty.

Saturday, March 28th, 7:30pm, Sanctuary of the Arts, $33

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

More Upcoming Dance:

  • Sunday, March 29th: LA-based, globetrotting World Ballet Company lands at the Moss Center with over 50 dancers and a full orchestra for a performance of Swan Lake, at 6pm.

Music

The Cleveland Orchestra: Rite of Spring

Conductor Rafael Payare. Photo courtesy of the Arsht Center.

The Cleveland Orchestra welcomes charismatic Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare for a performance of Stravinsky’s epic Rite of Spring, which famously started a riot at its 1913 premiere, thanks to its (at the time) shocking experiments with percussion and dissonance. Celebrated violinist Sergey Khachatryan will also be on hand for a performance of Sibelius’ beloved Violin Concerto.

March 27th-28th, 8pm Friday & Saturday, Knight Concert Hall at the Arsht Center, $41-$221

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

More Upcoming Music Events:

  • Wednesday, March 25th: The XXIX New Music Miami ISCM festival continues, with avant-garde guest composer Alex Burtzos joining FIU’s NODUS ensemble for an evening of adventurous new work, at The Betsy Hotel at 7pm.

  • Wednesday, March 25th: 1970’s British funk-soul-reggae outfit Cymande, whose chill tracks were sampled all over 1990’s hip hop, have reformed forty years later and are hitting the Miami Beach Bandshell on their new tour, at 8pm.

  • Thursday, March 26th: Music at McBride Plaza presents a free outdoor concert by The Wire Jays, a contemporary “Newgrass” band, at downtown Coral Gables’ McBride Plaza, at 5:30pm.

  • Friday, March 27th: Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami welcomes trumpeter and composer Curtis Taylor for another installment of its Jazz at MOCA series of outdoor concerts, 8pm.

  • Sunday, March 29th: New World Symphony welcomes award-winning percussionist and NWS alum Charles Settle for Americans Got Rhythm, exploring the American percussive sound, at New World Center at 2pm.

  • Sunday, March 29th: The Cleveland Orchestra pays tribute to the late, legendary director Rob Reiner with a special screening of The Princess Bride, backed by a new symphony arrangement of composer Mark Knopfler’s unforgettable score, at the Arsht Center at 3pm.

  • Wednesday, April 1st: Innovative Chilean composer Esteban Ignacio Correa and bassist Manuel Figueroa-Bolvarán play The Betsy Hotel as part of the XXIX New Music Miami ISCM festival, at 7pm.

Art Events

Artist Talk with Archival Feedback at BAC

Bakehouse Art Complex welcomes Miami-based artist duo Archival Complex (Emile Milgrim and Thom Wheeler Castillo) for an artist talk on Bakehouse Freestyle 100, the new sound installation commissioned for BAC’s 40th anniversary. The work layers archival recordings tracing the evolution of 20th century media with site specific recordings of our unique Miami soundscape. Bakehouse Senior Curatorial Fellow René Morales will moderate.

Wednesday, March 25th, 6pm, Bakehouse Art Complex, Free

Neighborhood: Wynwood

Loris Cecchini: The Fluid Guest

A new installation by artist Loris Cecchini opens Diana Lowenstein’s new gallery on March 28th.

Diana Lowenstein Gallery is celebrating their move from Little River to the Design District with a glamorous new large scale installation by Loris Cecchini, the Italian sculptor whose work has graced buildings and parks across the Continent. You can take a look at some of Cecchini’s work here.

Saturday, March 28th, Opening Reception 6-9pm, Diana Lowenstein Gallery (now at 4100 NE 2nd Avenue, Suite 202), Free

Neighborhood: Design District

More Upcoming Art Events:

Book Talks

An Afternoon with Mikhail Zygar

Books & Books welcomes Russian journalist, writer, filmmaker, and founding editor-in-chief of opposition news channel Dozhd, Mikhail Zygar, to discuss his new book, The Dark Side of the Earth. The product of ten years of research and literally hundreds of exclusive interviews (with the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev), the book presents a new read on the forces that pulled Russia back toward totalitarianism after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Saturday, March 28th, 5pm, Books & Books Coral Gables, Free

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

An Evening with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

The Miami Freedom Project and Catalyst Miami join forces with Books & Books to present an evening with influential historian and author Ibram X. Kendi, whose How to Be an Antiracist became an international bestseller. He’ll be in conversation with award-winning author and UM professor Patricia Engels, discussing his new book, Chain of Ideas, a global history of the “great replacement” theory and its links to the rise of authoritarianism.

Monday, March 30th, 7pm, Coral Gables Congregational Church, $41 (for 2 tickets and one book)

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

More Literary Events:

Planning Ahead

Miami's most anticipated events sell out and those restaurants you want to try book up. Here are a couple of upcoming events to get on your calendar now…

Friday, April 11th

MFF26: Live Podcast with Matt Bomer

This year’s Miami Film Festival welcomes actor Matt Bomer (White Collar, Magic Mike) for a live recording of Josh Horowitz’s popular interview podcast, Happy Sad Confused. Bomer, winner of the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Awards for his role in The Normal Heart, will be talking about his new project, the upcoming Apple Original Film Outcome, and will be receiving the MFF Vanguard Award.

7:30pm, MDC Wolfson Chapman Center, $28

Neighborhood: Downtown

April 17th-19th

NWS+MCB: American Dance Odyssey

New World Symphony and Miami City Ballet are getting together to give us American Dance Odyssey, a celebration of American dance and music that features a tribute to Jerome Robbins (West Side Story, Fancy Free) and the world premiere of a new “choreographic concerto,” a collaborative work by ten visionary 21st-century choreographers and composers. I’m excited for this one!

8pm evenings, 2pm matinee, New World Center, $55-$290

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

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