Artist and puppeteer extraordinaire Pablo Cano is about to open two beguiling marionette shows in very different locations. Pablo Cano: The Toy Box, a new version of his 2004 work, celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of composer Claude Debussy. Katherine Kramer has done the choreography for the piece, based on Debussy’s children’s ballet La Boîte à Joujoux, and pianist Karen Schwartz provides the music.

Performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 770 NE 125th St., North Miami, are at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13 and Nov. 3; 7 p.m. Sept. 28 and noon Oct. 14. A family brunch with MOCA director Bonnie Clearwater will precede the first performance (reservations required). Children ages 6 to 12 are invited, and each must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

When not performing, Cano’s marionettes will be on display at MOCA through Nov. 11. Tickets are $10 for museum members, North Miami residents and city employees, $15 general admission, $3 for children under 12; 305-893-6211, mocanomi.org.

Cano is also about to begin shows in The Red Velvet Theater, a space in his home. Just 15 people per show can attend on Sept. 29 and Oct. 6, 20 and 31. The $35 admission (cash or check only) includes champagne, dessert and coffee. A reception starts at 7:30, with the show at 8 p.m.; pdcano@bellsouth.net.

Christine Dolen

Star turn

Miami City Ballet dancer Chloe Freytag sacrificed a lot to achieve her dream of being a ballerina: moving to Miami Beach on her own at 16, forgoing proms and teenage social life, struggling with doubts, a foot injury, doing her own laundry and cooking.

At 18, Freytag is the company’s youngest dancer, a major achievement. But she’s just received extra valediction from Seventeen magazine, which this month has a two-page spread showing the blonde Minnesota native, in pointe shoes and hot pink gown, leaping into a busy Manhattan street.

Freytag earned her media moment as one of five finalists selected from among thousands for Seventeen’s “Pretty Amazing” contest. (Notre Dame soccer star Lindsay Brown, 21, of California is the winner who gets the October cover.) But judging by what Freytag tells the magazine, dancing is her biggest reward.

“Being a real ballerina is what I was meant to do,” she says. “Onstage … it’s total freedom. And when the audience applauds, I never want the moment to be over!”

Jordan Levin

Dranoff tribute

Sunday Afternoons of Music will launch its 32nd season Sept. 23 with a duo-piano performance by Russians Maxim Mogilevsky and Valery Kuleshov dedicated to the memory of Loretta Dranoff, founder of the Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition.

The 4 p.m. performance is at the University of Miami’s Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Dr., Coral Gables. Tickets are $35, $30 for seniors and $10 for students; 305-271-7150, sundaymusicals.org.

‘Songs’ at FIU

Florida International University kicks off its theater season with Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown. Lesley-Ann Timlick directs student performers in the piece about characters faced with making decisions at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center, 10910 SW 17th St., Miami.

Performances begin Wednesday and run through Sept. 30, with shows at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $20, $18 seniors, FIU faculty and staff, $15 FIU students and alumni association members; 305-348-0496, livethearts.com.