And we’re back! I hope you all had a relaxing summer because Miami’s cultural scene is absolutely packed with must-see events this fall. Below, you have my complete (and totally subjective) list of the most exciting events of the upcoming season. So call your friends and get those calendars out!

Let’s get planning...

Gablestage comes blazing into the new season with Weather Girl, a day in the life of an oversexed, underpaid meteorologist whose daily diet of cocktails, teeth whitening and wildfires devolves into a true global climate catastrophe. Can she save us all? Named a Best Play of 2025 by the New York Times, this blistering one-woman show from the producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer is going to be fire.

7:30pm evenings, 2pm matinees, Gablestage at the Biltmore, $60-$75

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Zitz Sum, Buccan, Luca Osteria | Drinks: Bar Zorro, Sospiro Wine Bar

The Arsht Center presents the Broadway touring production of Buena Vista Social Club, the hit musical based on the 1996 Havana recording that took the world by storm. With choreography by Justin Peck and former Miami City Ballet principal Patricia Delgado, and iconic music performed live on stage by award-winning musicians, the plot hardly matters, am I right? But for what it’s worth, it’s about a former salsa queen who disappeared after the Revolution being coaxed back into the studio to reckon with her past. ¡Bailemos!

Various times, Ziff Ballet Opera House at Arsht, $53-$228

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Cafe Fenicia (new!), Bunbury, Giotto (new!) | Drinks: El Vecino Cigar Bar, Kaona Room

Actors’ Playhouse kicks off its 39th season with Jekyll & Hyde, the rocking gothic musical thriller inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s timeless tale of ambition and obsession. Featuring musical theater showstoppers like This is the Moment and Someone Like You, the plot follows Dr. Jekyll, whose attempts to eradicate the evil in man instead unleash a super-id alter ego that rampages through London.

8pm evenings, 3pm Sunday matinees, Actor’s Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, $65-$100

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Buccan, Francesco, Zitz Sum | Drinks: Armstrong Jazz House, Maíz y Agave

New World Symphony gifts us with a true banger: Beethoven’s Ninth, alongside the massive Master Chorale of South Florida and a slate of internationally recognized vocalists, bringing the ecstatic Ode to Joy to New World’s Frank Gehry-designed home for the first time. Need I say more? Tickets will fly for this one, but if you miss out, there’s a free WALLCAST of Saturday’s performance in next-door Soundscape Park.

7:30pm Saturday, 2pm Sunday, New World Center, $145-$275

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: Casa Tua, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Pauline | Drinks: Sweet Liberty, Water Lion at the Sagamore

Miami City Ballet’s new Artistic Director Gonzalo Garcia has had a year to bring his full programming vision to life and this season is the big reveal. First up, American Rhythms presents an exciting triple bill: the company premiere of Jerome Robbin’s N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, a sparkling Balanchine, and the world premiere of a commissioned work by former MCB principal Patricia Delgado. Delgado is a New Yorker now, having won a Tony for her choreography on Buena Vista Social Club (which is coincidentally coming to the Arsht this fall), but her artistic homecoming is sure to be an exciting one.

7:30pm Fri. & Sat., 2pm Sat. & Sun., Ziff Ballet Opera House, $45-$257

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Cafe Fenicia, Bunbury, Giotto | Drinks: ViceVersa, Kaona Room

The main Miami Film Festival is in April, but each fall, MFF presents GEMS, a “mini-fest” of films that are expected to make waves in the upcoming awards season, weeks or months before we would typically get a chance to see them in theaters. This year’s GEMS fest features eight days of Oscar contenders in the main categories and multiple international submissions, plus talks, parties, and some retrospective screenings. The schedule hasn’t been released yet, but keep your eye on the GEMS announcement page here.

Multiple theaters, but often Silverspot Cinema

Neighborhood: Downtown

Nearby Eats: Mr. Omakase, Tâm Tâm, NIU Kitchen | Drinks: Miami Sound Bar, Right Hand

To open the Arsht Center’s Theater Up Close series, Zoetic Stage presents Yasmina Reza’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning dark comedy, God of Carnage, described as “a comedy of manners…without the manners.” (Interesting fact: The 2009 Broadway run with James Gandolfini was a massive hit, becoming the third-longest running play of the 2000’s, but the 2011 movie with Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet was a flop.) The play presents two sets of parents who gather to discuss their respective sons’ playground fight “as sensible adults.” Chaos ensues.

7:30 evenings, 2:30 matinees, Carnival Studio Theater at the Arsht, $67-$73

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Cafe Fenicia, Miami Slice, Yamashiro | Drinks: Casadonna, 400 Vinyl Room

Miami New Drama has had a run of success incubating new plays that move on to Broadway or Off-Broadway, including 2021’s A Wonderful World, and last year’s Birthright and Here There Are Blueberries. So when you see a new work at MiND, you might be getting an early look at the country’s next hit show. This season, Artistic Director Michel Hausmann and team have a lot of irons in the fire, with four world premieres coming up. The first is Gandhi and the Jew, a new play by Harley Elias on the seminal friendship between Gandhi and Lithuanian-born South African Jewish architect Hermann Kallenbach.

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

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

Nearby Eats: CHO Asian Bistro, Tropezón, Lucali | Drinks: Brother’s Keeper, Abbey Brewing Co.

Nu Deco Ensemble, Miami’s genre-bending contemporary orchestra, is known for its fresh interpretations of popular music and A-list collaborators. This year, they’re welcoming groundbreaking hip hop icon, author, actor, and activist Common for a one-night only show at the Arsht Center. Both Common and Nu Deco radiate positive energy, so I think we can look forward to some inspiration along with full orchestrations of Grammy-winner “Love of My Life” and Oscar-winner “Glory.”

8pm, Knight Concert Hall at Arsht, $70-$298

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Cafe Fenicia, Bunbury, Giotto | Drinks: The Corner, Kaona Room

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 Ivy Rooftop or martinis at Fox’s on your way back.

Under the baton of Artistic Director Stéphane Denève, New World Symphony welcomes one of the most sought-after violinists on the international stage, multi-Grammy winner James Ehnes, to tackle Prokofiev’s notoriously challenging Violin Concertos. (Here’s a little clip of him practicing it. Wow.) *Saturday’s performance will be projected as a free WALLCAST concert in adjacent Soundscape park.

7:30pm Saturday, 2pm Sunday, New World Center, $25-$175

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

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

Florida Grand Opera opens its season with Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece of love and insanity, Lucia di Larramoor, featuring one of opera’s most legendary, blood soaked “mad scenes” (see above). So what happened? Well, poor Lucia loves Edgardo, her family’s sworn enemy, but after her brother tricks her into a politically suitable marriage, she discovers Edgardo does still love her and bloodily murders the new guy. It’s all very romantic, apparently.

Various times, Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht, $32-$386

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Casadonna, Klaw, Yamashiro | Drinks: Rooftop by Klaw, Vice Versa

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. Headliners for this year’s talks (so far) are actor Tony Shalhoub, author Colson Whitehead, literary podcaster Zibby Owens, and comedian Jeff Garlin.

Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus and environs, Free

Neighborhood: Downtown

Nearby Eats: Tâm Tâm, Mangrove, NIU Kitchen | Drinks: Lost Boy Dry Goods, Over Under

Just in time for Art Week, Gablestage presents the regional premiere of Jessica Provenz’s True Art, a witty corporate thriller set in the high-stakes art world. The plot follows a wide-eyed Art History major, interning at a major museum for “dragon lady” Jody Dean, the only woman being considered to lead it. When the provenance of a long lost Michelangelo Jody discovered comes into question, our intern is drawn into a fast-moving game of ambition and treachery.

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

Neighborhood: Coral Gables

Nearby Eats: Eating House, Osumi, Zucca | Drinks: Sospiro Wine Bar, Armstrong Jazz House

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. 2nd-3rd for VIP’s (Free), Dec. 4th-6th for General Public ($92-$170)

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

NADA @ Ice Palace Studios

Dec. 1st early for VIP’s (Free), Dec. 1st-5th for General Public ($45-$150)

Nearby Eats: Bunbury, Miami Slice, Cafe Fenicia | Drinks: Kaona Room

Untitled @ Beach Tent at Ocean Drive & 12th Street

Dec. 1st for VIP’s (Free), Dec. 2nd-6th for General Public ($61-$116)

Nearby Eats: Tropezón, La Leggenda Pizzeria, The Drexel | Drinks: Swizzle Rum Bar, The Piano Bar at The Betsy

The South Florida Symphony Orchestra rings in the holiday season with its annual performance of Handel’s glorious Messiah (or at least Part I, the Christmas part). Get your “Comfort Ye” fix, courtesy of four dazzling guest vocalists and the South Florida Symphony Chorus. This festive concert also features a selection of favorite holiday pops. If you’re looking to get in the holiday spirit, look no further!

4pm, Broad Center at Barry University, $35-$85

Neighborhood: Miami Shores

Nearby Eats: Edan Bistro, La Natural, Sunny’s Steakhouse | Drinks: Bar Kaiju, Magie Wine Bar

In the spirit of giving, Seraphic Fire gives its audience what it wants - a holiday concert, complete with candlelight and a fan favorite playlist of timeless carols like O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Adeste Fideles, plus Old World holiday songs tracing their roots from the Medieval era through the Renaissance. Even better, they’re coming to a church near you, with three performances around town.

Saturday, December 12th at Church of the Little Flower (Coral Gables), 8pm, $65-$100

Nearby Eats: Zitz Sum, Pastor at Pascal, Zucca | Drinks: Sra. Martinez, Sospiro Wine Bar

Sunday, December 13th at Palmer Trinity (Palmetto Bay), 4pm, $65-$100

Nearby Eats: Old Cutler Inn, Alaine’s Osteria, Golden Rule Seafood | Drinks: Hole in the Wall Tavern

Friday, December 18th at First United Methodist Church (Coral Gables), 7:30pm, $65-$100

The quintessential Christmas spectacular, Miami City Ballet’s The Nutcracker has it all: gorgeous sets with a stunning snow drop, sumptuous costumes, Tchaikovsky’s glorious score, and some thrilling dancing by MCB’s precise, energetic dancers. From the dramatic battle with the Mouse King, through a dazzling forest of snowflakes, into the enchanting Land of Sweets, MCB’s Nutcracker delivers holiday magic year after year.

Various times, Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Arsht, $53-$264

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Klaw, Casadonna, Yamashiro | Drinks: Rooftop by Klaw, ViceVersa

The Arsht Center welcomes four-time Emmy Award-winning writer, comedian, and actor John Mulaney, currently touring a grateful world with his Mister Whatever stand-up show. Reviews online indicate he’ll be touching on having evil children, being possessed by the devil, movies about being possessed by the devil, and RFK Jr., among other crucial topics.

7pm, Knight Concert Hall at Arsht, $76-$410

Neighborhood: Downtown Arts & Entertainment District

Nearby Eats: Cafe Fenicia, Miami Slice, Yamashiro | Drinks: ViceVersa, 400 Vinyl

My absolute favorite Miami holiday tradition! The New World Symphony is so good, I often forget they’re technically students (albeit post-grad students and some of the most talented musicians anywhere). Their youthful energy and playfulness are on full display in 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, $50-$120 or free outdoor WALLCAST

Neighborhood: Lincoln Road

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

Thanks for reading, Culture Lushes! I’ll be back to the weekly newsletters starting next week.

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