World City Guide

Culture

As home to the Florida Grand Opera, the New World Symphony, and the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts, Miami’s cultural life is very much alive and kicking. The local newspapers are a good way for visitors to find out what is on: the New Times (website: www.miaminewtimes.com) or the Friday edition of the Miami Herald are best. An excellent online events calendar (website: www.miami.nightguide.com) also gives daily listings of special events.

Tickets can be bought at the various venues or from Ticketmaster (tel: (305) 358 5885; website: www.ticketmaster.com).

Music: The Florida Grand Opera (website: www.fgo.org) is undergoing a renaissance, entertaining audiences with its repertoire of well-loved classics and lesser-known works, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale (tel: (954) 522 5334; website: www.browardcenter.org). The New World Symphony (website: www.nws.org), America’s unique orchestral academy, plays from late September to early May in the historic Lincoln Theatre, 555 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach (tel: (305) 673 3331). The only symphony orchestra of its kind in the world, the New World Symphony, has been training gifted graduates for careers in music since 1987 and sometimes plays at the historic Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, 174 East Flagler Street (tel: (305) 374 2444; website: http://gusmancenter.org), a renovated 1920s movie palace, which now stages a huge variety of arts events, including the annual Miami Film Festival. The Concert Association of Florida, 1470 Biscayne Boulevard (tel: (305) 808 7446; website: www.concertfla.org) prides itself on bringing world-renowned orchestras and performers to the South Florida community at a variety of venues. The Performing Arts Center of Greater Miami, Suite 100, 1444 Biscayne Boulevard (tel: (305) 377 1220; website: www.pacfmiami.org) will open the doors of a brand new facility for music and dance in the fall of 2006 and is representing all of the above mentioned organizations in the interim. Visitors might also enjoy an event at the Miami-Dade Auditorium, 2901 west Flagler Street (tel: (305) 547 5414); a schedule of events is available by phone or at their box office.

Theatre: The Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts, 1700 Washington Avenue (tel: (305) 673 7300; website: www.gleasontheater.com), is Miami Beach’s top artistic venue, showcasing Broadway shows, concerts and dance from the Florida Philharmonic, the Miami City Ballet, the Concert Association of Florida and other celebrated productions. Also on South Beach, the intimate Art Deco Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road (tel: (305) 674 1026; website: www.colonytheatre.org), hosts an exciting and varied programme of dance, theatre, music and film. Other major theatres include the Edge Theater, 405 Espanola Way, Miami Beach (tel: (305) 531 6083), noted for its comedies and its 20th-century classics, and the Coconut Grove Playhouse, 3500 Main Highway, Coconut Grove (tel: (305) 442 4000; website: www.cgplayhouse.com), nationally recognised for its innovative productions.

Dance: Florida’s internationally acclaimed dance company, the Miami City Ballet (website: www.miamicityballet.org), performs a wide repertoire of classical and contemporary works, at a variety of venues including the Jackie Gleason Theater (see Theatre above).

Film: There are cinema complexes at every major shopping mall. IMAX thrill-seekers will find satisfaction at the Blockbuster IMAX 3D Theater at the Museum of Discovery and Science, 401 SW Second Street, Fort Lauderdale (tel: (954) 713 0930; website: www.mods.org), offering a a 300-seat 3-D movie-going experience, with a five storey high screen and a 15,000 watt dynamic wraparound sound system. Arthouse aficionados should head to the Bill Cosford Cinema, in the University of Miami’s Memorial Building, Coral Gables (tel: (305) 284 4861).

Miami’s film and entertainment industry has grown dramatically in recent years. Indeed, the city’s old reputation for brashness was built on the television series Miami Vice in the 1980s, and the underbelly of the city still gets full exposure on current TV shows such as the popular CSI: Miami. Miami is now the third largest centre for film and TV production in America. Recent films set here include Something about Mary (1998), The Birdcage (1996), Ace Ventura (1994), True Lies (1994), Get Shorty (1995) and the unsuccessful adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s locally set novel, Striptease (1996). Not forgetting the classics, such as Citizen Kane (1941), Key Largo (1948) and three James Bond movies – Dr No (1962), Live and Let Die (1973) and Goldfinger (1964).

Cultural Events: The Art Deco Weekend (website: www.artdecoweekend.com) is the world’s largest annual festival dedicated to the preservation of this unique style. It takes place every January, with a huge programme of street theatre, big band concerts and processions in South Beach. The Miami International Film Festival (website: www.maimifilmfestival.com) is a 10-day event (February), which showcases films and videos from international and US filmmakers, with a special focus on Iberno-American cinema and a forum for smaller, independent works. The Miami Book Fair International (website: www.miamibookfair.com) takes place in mid-November, leading up to American Thanksgiving, with night readings, lectures and workshops with top authors, as well as a book fair.

Literary Notes: Miami itself has little literary history. However, over the years, numerous writers have made Florida their home, in particular Key West. Among them were Ernest Hemingway (1899-1960), author of A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) and The Old Man and the Sea (1952); Elizabeth Bishop (1911-79), one of the most celebrated American poets of this century; and Tennessee Williams (1911-83), playwright and author of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1944) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1955). Hemingway (the rough, tough, local novelist) built his reputation in the bars of Key West (see Excursions). The beautiful Spanish colonial-style house, 907 Whitehead Street (tel: (305) 294 1136; website: www.hemingwayhome.com), where he wrote some of his finest works, is open to the public. The contemporary American novelist, Alison Lurie, also has a house in Key West and set one of her novels, The Truth about Lorin Jones (1989), there, while novelist Carl Hiaasen traditionally sets his works such as Skin Tight (1987), Tourist Season (1987), Sick Puppy (2001), etc, in Florida, Miami in particular. Mario Sanchez is among a new generation of Cuban ex-pat writers who call Miami home and brings a humorous and sartorial tone to his acclaimed work Miami, Only Worse (2002).