2022-23 Arts Season Highlights

The lights will shine bright on stages throughout Miami-Dade again as the cultural arts season returns to its pre-pandemic glory days for 2022-23. It’s been a very long wait, but – given what’s coming up – absolutely worth it.

Balletomanes can look forward to a stellar season with Miami City Ballet, as the company continues to thoughtfully stretch the boundaries of the genre with a premiere piece by the legendary Martha Graham.

In the world of music, Seraphic Fire gears up for its 20th season with three world premieres, while the Cleveland Orchestra performs pieces by classic composers and kicks off its residency at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts with a concert alongside the New World Symphony, bringing two powerhouse musical groups together under one roof. Florida Grand Opera is also set to delight, with a gutsy, decidedly Miami twist on a classic work.

GableStage is presenting a Florida premiere by a Miami-born playwright in its lineup, the Arsht is pushing the envelope with a unique production based on a poignant, heart-wrenching book, and Actors’ Playhouse will debut a brand-new show with some very familiar music, as well as a South Florida premiere by Steve Martin.

And all of that is just the beginning.

Dance – Miami City Ballet

Miami City Ballet’s Lourdes Lopez, the company’s artistic director and a prima ballerina in her own right, said “ballet has this wonderful ability to transport us to faraway places and cultures, to unleash the imagination and to entertain us. This past season has been nothing short of extraordinary, having presented an uplifting [slate of productions] filled with programs that touched upon themes of love, betrayal and the ultimate power of forgiveness. We again share stories that traverse time and emotion this season, reminding us that we are all connected.”

It's launching with a classic and “one of the greatest love stories of all time, ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” she said.

MCB is also excited to premiere a Martha Graham work in its “Modern Masters” program titled “Diversion of Angels” and for a reimagining of “Square Dance” in its “Entradas” program.

Another season highlight will be the company's reprise of fan favorite, "West Side Story Suite" in Program 3.

“It’s shaping up to be a major dance story this year,” said Lopez.

If You Go

Program 1: “Romeo & Juliet” Oct. 21-23, 2022 & Nov. 5-6, 2022

George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” Dec. 16-24, 2022

Program 2: “Modern Masters” Feb. 10-12, 2023 & March 4-5, 2023

Program 3: “Fresh & Fierce” April 14-16, 2023 & April 29-30, 2023

Program 4: “Entradas” May 19-21, 2023

Visit MiamiCityBallet.org or call 305.949.6722 for locations, show times and tickets.

Music – Seraphic Fire

Celebrating its 20th year, Seraphic Fire is presenting several world premieres during its 2022-2023 season. In addition to those, the diverse program includes American folk songs, Spanish sacred and secular selections, and two weeks of classic Bach.

Seraphic Fire is also welcoming guest conductors Jason Max Ferdinand of the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, and Venezuelan conductor Maria Guinand. The season will also see a collaboration with New World Symphony to present Haydn’s “The Creation.”

If You Go

Seraphic Fire

“Love | War” Nov. 3-6, 2022

“A Seraphic Fire Christmas: Grafton Tour” Dec. 2, 2022

“A Seraphic Fire Christmas” Dec. 4-18, 2022

“Old | New” Jan. 20-22, 2023

“Enlightenment Festival: Life | Death” Feb. 16-18, 2023

“Enlightenment Festival: Beginning | End” Feb. 24-25, 2023

“Sacred | Profane” March 22, 24 and 26, 2023

“First | Last 20th Anniversary Concert” April 27-20, 2023

Visit SeraphicFire.org or call 305.285.9060 for locations, show times and tickets.

Music – Florida Grand Opera

Having the guts, sheer imagination and creativity to reimagine a classic opera and give it a Miami twist and flair, Susan T. Danis, general director and CEO of Florida Grand Opera, a resident company at the Arsht, has done just that with “El Matrimonio Secreto” (“The Secret Marriage”) an opera by Domenico Cimarosa.

“I have to say, the biggest excitement is us doing an English version of ‘The Secret Marriage,’ an opera written a very long time ago. It’s basically a story about a father getting his daughters married off,” she said.

And what inspired its Miami flavor was a visit to the hair salon.

“I was listening to a Cuban American bride and her bridesmaids getting styled for the wedding day and I experienced some of the same sibling rivalry that takes place in ‘The Secret Marriage,’” said Danis.

She immediately thought, “This has to be birthed from Miami. I told Crystal Manich, my Puerto Rican stage director, my crazy idea, and she worked very hard to adjust the late 1700s comic sensibilities and bring them to 1980s Miami Beach,” said Danis. “She cut the production way down so it comes in at a little more than two and a half hours with intermission.”

FGO also commissioned Darwin Aquino, who is Dominican and married to an Italian, to do the translation.

“He’s a conductor and his wife is an opera singer, which was ideal because we knew in order to get the translation done it needed to be someone who knew music,” said Danis.

Taking it a step further, FGO also brought together a group of Cuban American women to advise Manich during the process to ensure everything was appropriate.

Danis calls the group her “posse.”

“These women really helped with the storytelling. That’s how we came up with it being about a very entrepreneurial family who owns a hotel on Miami Beach, and how we converted the original to make it Miami,” she said.

Another original presentation is the company’s second production of the season, “Gianni Schicchi” and “Buoso’s Ghost.” The double bill features an original opera followed by a sequel written by Michael Ching. Ching has a deep connection to FGO, having been with the company 40 years ago.

“The sequel to that original opera answers the question of what happened in the first one, and a big part of wanting to do this piece was Ching’s connection to FGO. It’s going be great to have him in town as the writer of this piece and standing on the podium,” said Danis.

FGO closes out the season with the classics “Tosca” and “Barber of Seville.”

If You Go

Florida Grand Opera

“El Matrimonio Secreto” (“The Secret Marriage”) Nov. 12, 13 and 15, 2022

“Gianni Schicchi” and “Buoso’s Ghost” Jan. 28, 29 and 31, 2023 & Feb. 9 and 11, 2023

“Tosca” March 18, 19 and 21, 2023 & April 13 and 15, 2023

“The Barber of Seville” April 29-30, 2023 & May 2, 18 and 20, 2023

Visit FGO.org or call 800.741.1010 for locations, show times and tickets.

Music – The Arsht

At the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, “mostly we’re excited to see a season that looks more like a post-COVID season,” said Johann Zietsman, president and CEO. “I think we’re all looking forward to that.”

Musical offerings include performances from New World Symphony – another of its resident companies – and the Cleveland Orchestra.

“For people who like classical music, it will be great to see New World in action with their new conductor and we are always excited to have Cleveland Orchestra in residency,” said Zietsman.

There are also four concerts under the Arsht’s Jazz Roots umbrella that he says “are jazz personified. I’m very excited to get the Brubeck brothers here.”

Zietsman also noted that the popular Gospel Sundays and Family Fest programs are hitting the road and will be presented in parks around Miami.

If You Go

Adrienne Arts Center for the Performing Arts

Cleveland Orchestra Nov. 4-5, 2022 & Jan. 20, 21, 27 and 28, 2023

New World Symphony Oct. 22, 2022, Jan. 14, 2023 & March 11, 2023

Jazz Roots

“A Celebration of Brubeck” Oct. 28, 2022

“Cécile McLorin Salvant: Ghost Song” Feb. 3, 2023

“An Evening With Branford Marsalis” March 3, 3032

“Con Tumbao: An All-Star Celebration of Latin Rhythms” April 14, 2023

Visit ArshCenter.org or call 305.949.6722 for show times and tickets.

Theater – Actors’ Playhouse

In the heart of Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, the 35th season of Actors’ Playhouse kicks off with “Million Dollar Quartet Christmas,” “a brand new show with the same characters as in our popular two-year runs of ‘MDQ’ a few years ago, but with new music, many holiday classics and a few standards from the iconic Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins,” said Barbara Stein, executive producing director.

Jimmy Buffett’s “Escape to Margaritaville” opens Feb. 3, “the exact day we opened the theater in Kendall in 1988. We will have a real party going on at the Miracle Theatre opening night and for the entire run of this show,” said Stein.

And Steve Martin’s “Bright Star” is “an exceptional Broadway musical actually based on a true story,” Stein continued. “The show is new to South Florida and will be a real treat for the community.”

“Proof” opens next, followed by “Defending The Cavewoman.”

If You Go

Actors’ Playhouse

“Million Dollar Quartet Christmas” Nov. 16, 2022 – Jan. 1, 2023

Jimmy Buffett’s “Escape to Margaritaville” Feb. 1-26, 2023

“Bright Star” March 29 – April 16, 2023

“Proof” May 17 – June 4, 2023

“Defending the Cavewoman” July 19 – Aug. 6, 2023

Visit ActorsPlayhouse.org or call 305.444.9293 for show times and tickets.

Theater – GableStage

At GableStage, everything “we are producing on the mainstage elicits unique excitement,” said Bari Newport, the company’s producing artistic director. Those include an artistic collaboration with scenic designer Frank Oliva for “Heisenberg,” which Newport is directing.

The award-winning, multimedia presentation “We Will Not Be Silent” will make its Miami premiere, Rachel and Brendan Powers will star in “A Doll’s House, Pt. 2” –also making its Miami premiere – and the season will close with GableStage’s major production, “El Huracán,” written by Miami’s own Charise Castro Smith (Disney’s “Encanto”) and making its Florida premiere.

It's “a legitimately funny (and topical) play about good intentions and bad manners,” said Newport of Smith’s work.

GableStage is also on the cusp of launching three education programs. IGNITE is a pilot program with Coral Reef High School which brings artists and students together and grants students all-access-passes to GableStage for the season; the reintroduction of high school, student matinees; and Diary of a Production with John Dalton, a six-week class open to subscribers that takes a deep-dive into the making of “A Doll’s House, Pt. 2.”

“The jewel of our education and outreach initiatives is our longstanding Shakespeare-in-the-Schools school tour. This season, through a partnership with Katie Christie and Voices United, we are producing an adaptation of “Twelfth Night,” directed by Eddie Brown, which features a BIPOC cast of emerging theater artists,” said Newport.

In this adaptation she said, “the coast of Illyria is replaced with the vast beaches of Miami, while Haiti stands powerfully in the place of our protagonist’s homeland of Messaline. Boosted by music, poetic language and rich cultural references, this “Twelfth Night” carefully explores the diverse tapestry of Miami and the migrant stories that have shaped the city many call home.”

If You Go

GableStage

“Heisenberg” Oct. 28 – Nov. 20, 2022

“We Will Not Be Silent” Jan. 6-29, 2023

“A Doll’s House, Part 2” Feb. 24 – March 19, 2023

“El Huracán” April 14 – May 14, 2023

“Native Gardens” June 9 – July 1, 2023

Visit GableStage.com or call 305.445.1119 for show times and tickets.

Theater – The Arsht

The Arsht’s Theater Up Close program highlights partner groups Zoetic Stage and City Theatre Miami.

“Each one of our partners has their own show; we pick five that we include in Theater Up Close,” Zietsman said.

Two of them, both by Zoetic Stage, are Miami premieres: “American Rhapsody” by Michael McKeever and “#Graced” by Vanessa Garcia, a Cuban American Miami playwright.

“We’re committed to creating opportunities for local artists because there’s so much talent here, and we want to showcase that,” said Zietsman.

As for Broadway in Miami, it’s a who’s who of beloved productions including “Disney’s Aladdin,” a long run for “Wicked,” “My Fair Lady” and the smash newcomer “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations,” with an unforgettable soundtrack.

Zietsman is particularly excited to be presenting William Kentridge’s “The Head & the Load” for three days only during Miami Art Week. The production incorporates music, dance, film projections, mechanized sculptures and shadow play.

“It’s the story of African porters/carriers who carried items for the soldiers in WWI. It’s also incredibly unique that Miami has attracted [this play] to Miami during Art Week,” he said. “This will be presented for a limited audience and is truly the kind of thing people should not miss.”

If You Go

Adrienne Arts Center for the Performing Arts

Theater Up Close

“Mlima’s Tale” by Zoetic Stage Oct. 13-30, 2022

“What the Constitution Means to Me” by City Theatre Miami Dec. 1-18, 2022

“American Rhapsody” by Zoetic Stage Jan. 12-29, 2023

“Next to Normal” by Zoetic Stage March 16 – April 9, 2023

“#Graced” by Zoetic Stage May 4-21, 2023

Broadway in Miami

“Disney’s Aladdin” Jan. 3-8, 2-023

“Wicked” Feb. 15 – March 23, 2023

“My Fair Lady” March 298 – April 2, 2023

“Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations” May 9-14, 2023

Visit ArshCenter.org or call 305.949.6722 for show times and tickets.

Dates subject to change.