Over the last year the Adrienne Arsht Center has become South Florida's premier destination for performance arts and deservedly so.

After years of supporting the arts, Adrienne Arsht made perhaps her biggest mark when, in 2008, she helped transform the Carnival Center of Performing Arts into “The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.”

The Arsht Center is home to the Concert Association of Florida, Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet, and New World Symphony. It’s Florida’s largest performing arts center and is the third largest in the United States after New York's Lincoln Center and the Denver Performing Arts Center. Their three main venues include the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House, John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall, and Carnival Studio Theater.

This week a fourteen day run of the Tony Award-winning musical classic Fiddler On the Roof, the moving story of a humble milkman from the Russian village of Anatevka, started at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. In his farewell tour with Broadway Across America, Chaim Topol, acclaimed actor from Tel-Aviv, is reprising the role of “Tevye” for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Running through October 18, this is the first production of the 2009-2010 season which will also bring shows such as Legally Blonde The Musical, In the Heights,  and Marry Poppins. For more information, visit www.broadwayacrossamerica.com and www.browardcenter.org.

Also this week: award-winning graphic designer and photographer James Broderick’s month-long exhibit October Zest: Naughty Visions of Fall, at the World Erotic Art Museum. The exhibit will feature an extensive collection of the artist’s design and photography. Broderick has won more than 70 awards in design and photography for his work with clients such as American Airlines, American tobacco, Cunard Lines, IBM, ITT, and Pepsi. Owner/curator Naomi Wilzig is also celebrating the fourth anniversary of the opening of WEAM. For more information, visit www.weam.com.

The Arsht Center’s very own dining experience will debut on October 23. Prelude By Barton G is events impresario and restaurateur Barton G. Weiss’ newest creation. After eight years and counting of success with Barton G The Restaurant on Miami Beach, he’s bringing signature style to downtown Miami for arts patrons who seek fine dining before or after a performance. The restaurant will be offering fixed-price dining with diner’s "Decision” that allows patrons the choice of any three dinner menu items for $39 or any two lunch or brunch items for $23. Their wine list will be either by the taste, by the half glass, or by the glass. A la carte menus will be available at the bar only. For reservations and more information, visit www.arshtcenter.org/prelude and www.preludebybartong.com.

Launching on October 27, Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple: The Musical About Love opens on Broadway Across America for a limited one-week run at the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House. Miami will be hosting the first North American touring production of this acclaimed performance nominated for 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It’s based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and film adaptation by Steven Spielberg. For ticket information, visit www.arshtcenter.org.