-
Monday, January 31, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER
Martin Baross & Jonathan Payne: Addressless
MONDAY & THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 31 & FEBRUARY 3 – 6, 2022 (continuing through FEBRUARY 13)
8:00 PM MONDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY
5:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
224 Waverley Place, West Village, Manhattan
$30 MONDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY; $1-$25 FRIDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An adaptation of a Hungarian production that seeks to provide audiences with an immersive simulacrum of the experience of housing insecurity.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Extra Virgin was doing Mediterranean before it was a thing.
-
Monday, January 31, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER
Leonie Bell & Local Grandma: We Live to Die: The Grieving Widows Club
MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Leonie Bell’s theater is antic yet somehow affecting — and smart!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Have a Jungfrau Kräuter Likör — if you can find any.
-
Monday, January 31, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
AXIOM
MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2022
7:30 PM
Juilliard In Person & Live Stream
Peter Jay Sharp Theater, The Juilliard School
155 West 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A program moving from Thomas Ades’s Mod Modernism to Elliot Carter’s High Modernism, by way of Carter’s student Jeffrey Mumford, who takes Carter’s complexity and imbues it with human expression rather than puckishness. (The Carter, BTW, is the Double Concerto for Piano and Harpsichord — which you don’t get a chance to hear very often!)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, good Old Skool fancy Italian at The Leopard at des Artistes. Streaming at home, have a Modern Cocktail: pour 1-1/2 oz. each of blended Scotch and Sloe Gin, 1/4 teaspoon Absinthe, 1/2 oz. lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon Simple Syrup, with 1 dash of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
-
Monday, January 31, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Laurie Anderson: Philip Glass 85th Birthday Ice Skating Party
MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2022
7:00 PM
The Rink at Rockefeller Center
45 Rockefeller Plaza, Midtown, Manhattan
$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Laurie Anderson does a set in honor of Birthday Boy Philip Glass (yes this is his actual birthday!), and then spins records by Glass and others. The admission price includes skate rental!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The new Milanese-style café Lodi has the best food in memory at ground (or sub-ground) level in Rockefeller Center.
-
Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Feb 6, 2022, 5:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 6, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
-
Mon, Jan 31, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Feb 6, 2022, 1:00 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 6, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
-
Sunday, January 30, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER
Harold Lehmann: Medea Kid
SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A college student goes on a road trip to investigate his own murder, in a phantasmagorical piece using 3D animation.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Mediterranean Manhattan: pour 2 oz. Raki and 1 oz. sweet Vermouth, with 1 dash of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chllled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange slice.
-
Saturday, January 29, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Michael Bates’s ACROBAT: The Music of Dmitri Shostakovich
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2022
8:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person; $10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Edgy jazz musicians play Shostakovich.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, neighborhood Italian at Mariella’s. Streaming at home, of course it’ll be a Moscow Mule: pour 2 oz. Vodka and 1/2 oz. lime juice into a Mule mug over ice. Top with Ginger Beer. Garnish with a lime wedge.
-
Saturday, January 29, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER
Eva Elizabeth Novak: Park
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I don’t actually know anything about this playwright or this piece. Trusting the Exponential Festival on this one.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Black Manhattan (not for the faint of heart): pour 2 oz. Rye and 1 oz. Averna Amaro, with 1 dash each of Angostura and orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chllled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
-
Saturday, January 29, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
MUSIC
Jaimie Branch
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2022
6:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A rare solo set by trumpeter Jaimie Branch, who doesn’t see any line at all between jazz and hip-hop and electronic music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, maybe you’ll like restaurant/wine bar Runner Up the way everybody but me does (outdoor seating only). Streaming at home, have a Snowball: pour 2 oz. Brandy, 1 oz. Simple Syrup, and 1 egg white into a cocktail shaker WITHOUT ICE. Dry shake. Add ice. Shake. Strain into a Collins glass over ice. Top with Ginger Ale. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
-
Saturday, January 29, 2022, 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM
-
Fri, Jan 28, 2022, 11:00 PM – Sat, Jan 29, 2022, 12:00 AM
MUSIC
Ash Lauren & Stefan Ringer
FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2022
11:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20.40 advance; $26.17 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Contemporary house from Atlanta — which, oddly, sounds exactly as you’d expect from that discription.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can grab a burger before the show at Three’s Brewing.
-
Friday, January 28, 2022, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM
-
Friday, January 28, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
DANCE / THEATER
Yeujia Low: The Emus
FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Australian army is sent out to eradicate a mass of emus who are ruining wheat crops. This really happened.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Death Flip: pour 1 oz. Blanco Tequila, 1/2 oz. each of yellow Chartreuse and Jägermeister, and 1 whole egg into a cocktail shaker WITHOUT ICE. Dry shake. Add ice. Shake. Strain into a chilled Sour glass. Garnish with nutmeg.
-
Thursday, January 27, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Razor-N-Tape Presents: A Joyful Noise
THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022
8:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$26.17 advance; $31.93 day of
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Another of those fun nights where a Nu Jazz ensemble weaves in and out of tracks played by really good DJs.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tonight I’m feeling the Mediterranean-inflected New American at Victor.
-
Thu, Jan 27, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 29, 2022, 9:00 PM
DANCE
Angie Pittman: I’ll tell you, but please be still
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 – 29, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette Live Stream
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Angie Pittman presents a dance duet following Audre Lourde and Nina SImone.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Yellow Parrot: pour 1 oz. each of Absinthe, yellow Chartreuse, and apricot liqueur into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into an rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.
-
Thursday, January 27, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
-
Thu, Jan 27, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 29, 2022, 8:30 PM
THEATER
Jaime Sunwoo: Specially Processed American Me
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 – 29, 2022 (continuing through FEBRUARY 19)
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$25 advance; $20 students/seniors advance; $28 door; $23 students seniors door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As the author of an essay (now lost to the mists of time) called Notes on Spam, which attempted to present that processed meat as a metaphor for, like, everything, I can only applaud a multimedia play more persuasively using Spam as a taking-off point for an exploration of American cultural, culinary, and sexual colonialism in Southeast Asia, viewed through the lens of three generations of Korean women.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Stylish Korean-American at Ms. Yoo.
-
Thu, Jan 27, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 29, 2022, 9:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
New York Philharmonic: Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 – 29, 2022
7:30 PM THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center
10 Columbus Circle, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$37-$118
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Let’s all thank whomever for the existence of countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who programed the series of which this amazing-in-prospect concert is a part. Excerpts from Costanzo’s joint show with the fabulous Justin Vivian Bond (if you missed it last year, DO NOT make that mistake again) are joined by pieces by Joan Tower (who is finally percolating into the broad mainstream recognition she has long deserved) and Schubert (the Unfinished). And you only have to listen to Joel Thompson’s breakout Seven Last Words of the Unarmed to know why Costanzo would have had the Philharmonic commission a brand new piece from the Atlanta composer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent Italian, beyond-excellent Martinis at the recently relocated Gabriel’s.
-
Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sun, Jan 30, 2022, 3:00 PM
OPERA
Taylor Mac: The Hang
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 26 – 30, 2022 (continuing through FEBRUARY 20)
8:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
HERE
145 Sixth Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$35-$100
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A reinstatement of a postponed PROTOTYPE Festival show! The last days of Socrates turned into a celebration of queer culture (if you’ve read Plato, not a stretch). Let’s face it, Taylor Mac can do anything.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sophisticated Italian (and a really first-rate beverage program) at Altro Paradiso.
-
Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 30, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER / MUSIC / DANCE
David Byrne: American Utopia
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 26 – 30, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
5:00 & 9:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
St. James Theater
246 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$59-$179
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If a collaboration between David Byrne and Annie-B Parson were put on at BAM, I wouldn't think twice about Listing it (although I'd still feel constrained to make a comment about Boomer Nostalgia moving on to the Pop Avant-Garde). So I'm not gonna demerit this cuz it's on Broadway. AM I?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe the sushi at Sushi Lab is overelaborate and tries too hard. But it's there.
-
Wednesday, January 26, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Amirtha Kidambi & Matteo Liberatore / Charmaine Lee / Leo Chang & Erin Rogers
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2022
7:00 PM
IRL
80 Franklin Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Carnatic/jazz/classical/experimental vocalist Amirtha Kidambi and noisy experimental guitarist Matteo Liberatore get together to PEACE OUT: it’ll be interesting to see what that’ll be like. I heard experimental vocalist Charmaine Lee sing a diatonic song last year; I almost plotzed. Maybe Kidambi and Liberatore will inspire her to peace out, too — but I wouldn’t bet on it. Voice/electronics guy Leo Chang and saxophonist Erin Rogers separately have never made an expected sound; together should be no different.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Red-hot Taqueria Ramirez.
-
Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
Christina Tang: TRAFFIC
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A hybrid between a performance piece and an interactive video game using traffic as a metaphor for . . . well, I guess we’ll have to tune in.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Rolls Royce: rinse a chilled Martini glass or coupe with Benedictine. Pour 2 oz. Gin and 1/2 oz. each of dry and sweet Vermouth, with 2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into the rinsed glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
-
Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, Jan 29, 2022, 11:00 PM
-
Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 30, 2022, 3:30 PM
THEATER
Claire Barron: Shhhh
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 25 – 30, 2022 (continuing through FEBRUARY 13)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
2:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Atlantic Theater Company Stage 2
330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$51.50-$71.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I know people who think they don’t like theater. They think it’s a lot of people saying things people would never say in real life. Usually, I send them to the kind of non-narrative, unnaturalistic, unpsychological Epic Theater this List prefers. But really, they ought to go see something by Claire Barron to see that narrative(ish) sorta-psychological theater can still be vital, can still kick, can do what it does without being slavishly naturalistic. Barron also directed and stars.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: For the evening shows, Spanish at Salinas. For the matinée, tacos (duh) at Los Tacos No. 1 in the Chelsea Market.
-
Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jan 30, 2022, 4:30 PM
-
Monday, January 24, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER
Nola Latty & Thomas Wagner: Still Goes (The Game)
MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two little dogs dream of being human so they can hold each other. (What they don’t know is that they’d lose their desire to sniff each other’s butt.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Dog’s Nose: pour 1/2 oz. Gin into a pint of Ale (Porter, Pale, or — my choice — Bitter).
-
Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 7:30 PM – Fri, Jan 28, 2022, 8:29 PM
MUSIC
From Maple Leaf Rag to the Prepared Piano: The Making of an American Music, 1899–1948
MONDAY – FRIDAY, JANUARY 24 – 28, 2022
7:30 PM
Focus Festival 2022 In Person & Live Stream
Peter Jay Sharp Theater, The Juilliard School
155 West 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
MONDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
TUESDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
WEDNESDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
THURSDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
Juilliard continues this year’s Focus Festival, focusing on American music from the first half of the 20th Century. This week the focus expands from the American Maverick Non-School to include the great mainstream symphonists who took Boulangerian Neo-Classicism and made something distinctly American (and hugely attractive) of it — and who have pretty much sunk from the repertoire like a stone. Monday through Thursday are chamber recitals; Friday is a closing orchestral concert. My personal pick of the week is Tuesday’s Mav/main chamber recital, featuring prime Cage (Mav), Piston (main), Copland (main), and Sessions (main) — and a recreation of a music/dance piece by Henry Cowell (Mav) and Martha Graham!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, before the shows, let’s keep it all-American with a Cadillac burger proceeded by a Martini (and shit, why not some oysters with that Martini?) at P.J. Clarke’s. Those streaming at home can also have a Martini: pour 2 oz. Gin and 1 oz. dry Vermouth into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir (a lot: you want that sucker to be cold). Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist or an olive.
-
Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jan 30, 2022, 5:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 24 – 30, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
-
Mon, Jan 24, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jan 30, 2022, 1:00 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 24 – 30, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
-
Sunday, January 23, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Tredici Bacci
SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2022
8:00 PM
Nublu 151
151 Avenue B, East Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you want ‘60s Italo-Pop (and Bossa Nova and Bacharach and other ‘60s pop currents) crossed with Contemporary Classical and Alt Rock with sometimes even the faintest occasional hints of noise peeking out from behind, Tredici Bacci is your band. (And if you don’t want that, you should.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Puerto Rican classic Casa Adela while you can.
-
Sunday, January 23, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
From Maple Leaf Rag to the Prepared Piano: The Making of an American Music, 1899–1948
SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2022
7:30 PM
Focus Festival 2022 In Person & Live Stream
Peter Jay Sharp Theater, The Juilliard School
155 West 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Juilliard starts off this year’s Focus Festival (focusing on 20th Century American music) with a bang, with a program in which Joel Sachs and the New Juilliard Ensemble trace the emergence and progression of the American Maverick Non-School in the first half of the 20th Century — recognizing that ragtime had a generative role to play. From Joplin to Ives to Varèse to Cowell to Crawford Seeger, there is literally nothing on this program that you shouldn’t be dying (not literally, I hope) to hear.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, before the show, let’s keep it all-American with a Cadillac burger proceeded by a Martini (and shit, why not some oysters with that Martini?) at P.J. Clarke’s. Those streaming at home can also have a Martini: pour 2 oz. Gin and 1 oz. dry Vermouth into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir (a lot: you want that sucker to be cold). Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist or an olive.
-
Sunday, January 23, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
MUSIC
Renée Fleming, Uma Thurman, Emerson Quartet & Simone Dinnerstein
SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2022
2:00 PM
Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue (entrance on 57th Street), Midtown, Manhattan
$19-$125
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s nice when a mainstream star uses her fame to promote interesting programming. Renée Fleming has herself and a really stellar bunch of accomplices give us one of André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s melodramas, something by Kevin Puts (whom we’ll be hearing a lot of this season), some classic Philip Glass, some supernal Fauré mélodies (I mean really), some Grieg lieder (you’ll wonder why people don’t sing Grieg’s songs like all the time), and the Barber String Quartet, whose slow movement you’re probably familiar with (in another guise). Really, a marvelous Sunday afternoon.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fun, delicious Cuban at Guantanamera.
-
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM
-
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
-
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER
Braulio Cruz & John-Philip Faienza: Flow My Tears
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A series of monologues and songs exploring death and mourning in a speculative context.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: San Martin: pour 1-1/2 oz. each of Gin and dry Vermouth, and 1/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chllled Martini glass or coupe. Express a lemon peel into the drink and then toss it in.
-
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
MUSIC
Bottom Heavy
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2022
6:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Genre-doesn’t-exist cellist Marika Hughes (wait her grandfather was Emmanuel Feurmann????) and avant-jazz violinist Charlie Burnham front a quartet.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, maybe you’ll like restaurant/wine bar Runner Up the way everybody but me does (outdoor seating only). Streaming at home, have a Snowshoe Grog: pour 1-1/2 oz. Bourbon or Brandy (how often do you get a choice like that?) and 1/2 oz. Peppermint Schapps into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Stir.
-
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
PERFORMANCE / MUSIC
madison moore & Sadie Barnette feat. Shaun J. Wright: Nightife-In-Residence Saturday Session 1
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2022
12:00, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 & 5:00 PM
The Kitchen
512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$5-$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An exhibition exploring the cultural significance and impact of queer Black rave culture comes to life, when DJ Shaun J. Wright activates a recreation/reimagination of the first Black-owned gay bar in San Francisco.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Wine, pasta, and aperativos at La Devozione.
-
Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER
Jeremy O. Harris: Slave Play
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 18 – 19 & 21 – 23, 2022
7:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$35-$99
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It would be silly to claim that Jeremy O. Harris's is the smartest, most audacious, most piercing play ever to be staged on Broadway. But that's what you'll think as you walk out, and as you continue to think about the play in the following days. (It would be safer to say it's the smartest, most audacious, most piercing treatment of race on Broadway — but let's face it, that category is neither huge nor, up to now, very distinguished.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I've never had a bad time at Russian Samovar (even if, owing to overindulgence in their infused vodkas, I've had bad times the following mornings). ROMAN KAPLAN R.I.P.
-
Thursday, January 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
David First & The Western Enisphere: Revolutions
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette Live Stream
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A multimedia piece, with black and white visuals whose elements have the same relationships as the timbres, overtones, and polyrhythms the music plays with. (WARNING: Roulette has done atrociously with their past streams of multimedia shows. Let’s hope they’ve learned better.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Media Combinación: pour 2 oz. sweet Vermouth, 1 oz. Gin, 1 teaspoon Cynar, and 1/2 teaspoon Cointreau, with 1 dash of Angostura bitters, into a chilled rocks glass. Add 1 large ice cube. Stir. Garnish with a lemon wedge and an orange twist.
-
Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 3:00 PM
DANCE
Oona Doherty: Hard to Be Soft — A Belfast Prayer
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 – 23, 2022
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Irish Arts Center
726 11th Avenue, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$25-$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Raw powered Northern Irish choreographer/dancer Oona Doherty’s bringing her signature piece to New York would be an event even in less parlous times for live performance. Look for a piercing representation/analysis of Belfast life — and an amazing recreation/breakdown of stereotypically masculine-identified movement and behavioral patterns by a female creator.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great wine, good snacks at Ardesia Wine Bar.
-
Thursday, January 20, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Bang on a Can: People’s Commissioning Fund Concert
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022
7:30 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION / LIVE STREAM
This show features world premieres by (among others) Tomeka Reid and Fred Frith(!). But the fun of Bang on a Can’s People’s Commissioning Fund concerts is always the stuff by people you haven’t heard of (yet).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If it’s Merkin Hall, it’s gotta be Old John’s Diner. If streaming at home, have a Bronx: pour 1-1/2 oz. Gin, 3/4 oz each. of sweet and dry Vermouth, and 1 oz. orange juice, with 1 dash of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
-
Thursday, January 20, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
-
Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 3:00 PM
OPERA
Taylor Mac: The Hang
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 19 – 23, 2022 (continuing through FEBRUARY 20)
8:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
HERE
145 Sixth Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$35-$100
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A reinstatement of a postponed PROTOTYPE Festival show! The last days of Socrates turned into a celebration of queer culture (if you’ve read Plato, not a stretch). Let’s face it, Taylor Mac can do anything.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sophisticated Italian (and a really first-rate beverage program) at Altro Paradiso.
-
Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER / MUSIC / DANCE
David Byrne: American Utopia
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 19 – 23, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
5:00 & 9:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
St. James Theater
246 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$59-$179
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If a collaboration between David Byrne and Annie-B Parson were put on at BAM, I wouldn't think twice about Listing it (although I'd still feel constrained to make a comment about Boomer Nostalgia moving on to the Pop Avant-Garde). So I'm not gonna demerit this cuz it's on Broadway. AM I?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe the sushi at Sushi Lab is overelaborate and tries too hard. But it's there.
-
Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:30 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
Justin Halle: Case Studies: A New Kinsey Report
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, JANUARY 19 & 20, 2022
7:30 PM
Exponential Festival Online
Twitch
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A drag exploration of the relevance of the Kinsey Report to our contemporary multivalent sexual world.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Arsenic & Old Lace: pour 2 oz. Gin and 1/4 oz. each of dry Vermouth, Crème de Violette, and Absinthe into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
-
Wednesday, January 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
The Knights feat. Aaron Diehl
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2022
7:30 PM
92nd Street Y In Person & Live Stream
1395 Lexington Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$20-$45 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Knights have put together a good concert, but the reason it gets Listed is the inclusion of portions of the orchestral version of Mary Lou Williams’s Zodiac Suite that the splendid pianist Aaron Dhiel has been playing around lately. Williams is America’s great lost jazz composer, up there with Morton and Monk: if only she had possessed a penis she’d already be a part of established history. Well, that’s changing now. As for the rest, Rhapsody in Blue (not a patch on Williams), the Third Brandenburg (it doesn’t hurt to hear it on modern instruments every once in a while), and a reduction of the dazzling The Firebird for chamber orchestra (are we sure that’s a good idea???????).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, fun, enjoyable South African food and wine at Kaia Wine Bar. At home, have a Jack Rose: pour 2-1/2 oz. Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, and 1/2 oz. Grenadine into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
-
Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
Joe Hendel: Artificial (Man) Intelligence
TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A multidisciplinary digital art piece incorporating (male) participants around the world making fun of toxic masculinity. In such situations, one of course worries about bad faith (not to mention mere caricature). But could be provocative.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Might as well get into the spirit of things with a Whiskey & Coke. But I’m going to tell you how to make one that’s actually GOOD: pour 3 oz. Mellow Gold Corn Whiskey into a Highball glass over ice. Add 1/4 oz. Fernet. Top with Coke. (If you want to go authentic instead of good, use Jack Daniels instead of Mellow Gold and omit the Fernet; you could garnish with a lemon wedge.)
-
Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 8:30 PM
THEATER
Claire Barron: Shhhh
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 18 – 23, 2022 (continuing through FEBRUARY 13)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
2:30 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Atlantic Theater Company Stage 2
330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$51.50-$71.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I know people who think they don’t like theater. They think it’s a lot of people saying things people would never say in real life. Usually, I send them to the kind of non-narrative, unnaturalistic, unpsychological Epic Theater this List prefers. But really, they ought to go see something by Claire Barron to see that narrative(ish) sorta-psychological theater can still be vital, can still kick, can do what it does without being slavishly naturalistic. Barron also directed and stars.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: For the evening shows, Spanish at Salinas. For the matinée, tacos (duh) at Los Tacos No. 1 in the Chelsea Market.
-
Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 8:00 PM
THEATER
Jeremy O. Harris: Slave Play
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 18 – 19 & 21 – 23, 2022
7:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$35-$99
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It would be silly to claim that Jeremy O. Harris's is the smartest, most audacious, most piercing play ever to be staged on Broadway. But that's what you'll think as you walk out, and as you continue to think about the play in the following days. (It would be safer to say it's the smartest, most audacious, most piercing treatment of race on Broadway — but let's face it, that category is neither huge nor, up to now, very distinguished.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I've never had a bad time at Russian Samovar (even if, owing to overindulgence in their infused vodkas, I've had bad times the following mornings). ROMAN KAPLAN R.I.P.
-
Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Ljova
TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2022
7:00 PM
Barbès
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
List fave Ljova — another artist who refuses to recognize boundaries between “high” art and vernacular — continues his exploration of the fadolín (a violin with two low strings added, stretching its range down into cello territory).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Serving the best Mexican in Park Slope may not be much, but it’s something: Fonda.
-
Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 4:30 PM
-
Monday, January 17, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Tai Murray et al.
MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022
7:00 PM
Music Mondays
Advent Lutheran Church
2504 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Back in my prior life, when I was a young law associate and Thriller was everywhere, a colleague superciliously remarked that Michael Jackson’s melodies weren’t as good as Mozart’s. I couldn’t help but point out that Mozart’s rhythms weren’t nearly as complex as Jackson’s (including in the miraculous vocals!). South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen brings some of that rhythmic sophistication to the European Classical tradition, and good for that. European melody, meanwhile, is represented here — at its very very best — by Schubert’s Trout Quintet, paired with a piece by the excellent Judith Weir taking off from Schubert. Vaughan Williams’s Piano Quintet is nice if you’re in the mood.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Izzy’s Smokehouse and hope they have their pastrami. (If not console yourself with some brisket.)
-
Monday, January 17, 2022, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 – 23, 2022 (ongoing)*
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
-
Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 1:00 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 – 23, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
-
Sunday, January 16, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
DANCE
Annie Heath: Departure Study of Mother/land Fabric
SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dancer/choreographer Annie Heath explores her memories of an unknown mother.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Have an old cocktail whose origins are unknown, the Barbara West: pour 2 oz. Gin, 1 oz. Amontillado Sherry, 1/2 oz. lemon juice, and 1/4 oz. Simple Syrup, with 1 dash of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
-
Sunday, January 16, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
-
Sunday, January 16, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
MUSIC
Ryan Sawyer, Meshell Ndageocello & James Brandon Lewis / Marc Edwards & Zoe Amba / Mike Bernstein
SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2022
2:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20.71
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Not free jazz but jazz beyond the boundaries of genre (whatever that is).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good (like really good) pizza at Mo’s General.
-
Saturday, January 15, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
MUSIC
Mr. Saturday
SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2022
6:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Any quartet that includes avant-jazz violinist Charlie Burnham is worth hearing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, the self-explanatory Colombia in Park Slope. Streaming at home, have a Manhattan: pour 2 oz. Rye (you could use Bourbon — but you’d be wrong) and 1 oz. sweet Vermouth, with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
-
Friday, January 14, 2022, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM
MUSIC
Juan Atkins
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
10:00 PM
Good Room
98 Meserole Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As you know, this List is always good for a recommendation when one of the Detroit Techno Originators comes to town. So let’s welcome that giant of American music, Juan Atkins.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the show, stop into the très charmante Chez Ma Tante for something like a British-French Canadian fusion.
-
Fri, Jan 14, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 15, 2022, 8:29 PM
DANCE
Reggie Wilson / Fist & Heel Performance Group: POWER
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 & 15, 2022
7:30 PM
BAM Strong Harvey Theater
651 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$24-$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Reggie Wilson intriguingly connects Black and Shaker traditions (did you know there were Black Shakers?). Another case where the avant crosses paths with the vernacular: just what we like around here.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ethiopian at Bati Ethiopian Kitchen.
-
Fri, Jan 14, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 8:29 PM
THEATER
Claire Barron: Shhhh
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 – 16, 2022 (continuing through FEBRUARY 13)
7:30 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Atlantic Theater Company Stage 2
330 West 16th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$51.50-$71.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I know people who think they don’t like theater. They think it’s a lot of people saying things people would never say in real life. Usually, I send them to the kind of non-narrative, unnaturalistic, unpsychological Epic Theater this List prefers. But really, they ought to go see something by Claire Barron to see that narrative(ish) sorta-psychological theater can still be vital, can still kick, can do what it does without being slavishly naturalistic. Barron also directed and stars.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: For the evening shows, Spanish at Salinas. For the matinée, tacos (duh) at Los Tacos No. 1 in the Chelsea Market.
-
Fri, Jan 14, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, Jan 15, 2022, 8:30 PM
DANCE / PERFORMANCE
Marie-Caroline Hominal: ONE
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 & 15, 2022
7:30 PM
The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Free-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The fierce Swiss dancer/performance artist Marie-Caroline Hominal takes down cultural consumerism by conjuring a mock auction.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You don’t see Goan (Portuguese-inflected Indian) food coming and going in New York, but at welcome newcomer Indian Table you at least see it coming.
-
Friday, January 14, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Neil Rolnick: Lockdown & Loss [CANCELLED]
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022
7:00 PM
Areté Gallery at Mise-En_Place
341 Calyer Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Donation Requested
TICKETS + INFORMATION
OK, I’m going to make this personal. Neil Rolnick is one of my absolute favorite composers. For the way he combines the demotic with the advanced. For the way he makes electronic music human. One of the pieces on this program, played by the splendid pianist Kathleen Supové, is Rolnick’s envoi to his late wife; I find it almost unbearably moving (but then I’m particularly susceptible to pieces about dead wives) (OK, getting too personal here). So that covers the “loss”. Another splendid pianist, Geoffrey Burleson, handles the “lockdown”, with a piece Rolnick wrote during it.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s freezing cold out. You should go to Karczma for some warming Polish food.
-
Thu, Jan 13, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 3:00 PM
DANCE
Oona Doherty: Hard to Be Soft — A Belfast Prayer
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 13 – 16, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 23)
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Irish Arts Center
726 11th Avenue, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$25-$55
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Raw powered Northern Irish choreographer/dancer Oona Doherty’s bringing her signature piece to New York would be an event even in less parlous times for live performance. Look for a piercing representation/analysis of Belfast life — and an amazing recreation/breakdown of stereotypically masculine-identified movement and behavioral patterns by a female creator.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great wine, good snacks at Ardesia Wine Bar.
-
Wed, Jan 12, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER / MUSIC / DANCE
David Byrne: American Utopia
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 – 16, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY
5:00 & 9:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
St. James Theater
246 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$59-$179
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If a collaboration between David Byrne and Annie-B Parson were put on at BAM, I wouldn't think twice about Listing it (although I'd still feel constrained to make a comment about Boomer Nostalgia moving on to the Pop Avant-Garde). So I'm not gonna demerit this cuz it's on Broadway. AM I?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe the sushi at Sushi Lab is overelaborate and tries too hard. But it's there.
-
Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Tyondai Braxton feat. Leila Bordreuil: Multiplay
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2022
7:30 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$23
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Onetime math-rocker Tyondai Braxton commences a three-nights-over-three-months residency, featuring sets of solo music and collaborations with intriguing fellow explorers, with an assist this time from avant-cellist Leila Bordreuil.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great beverage program, great Mediterranean-inflected New American appetizers, great main dish specials, boring main dishes on the regular menu at Victor.
-
Tuesday, January 11, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER / PERFORMANCE
River Donaghey: RecursiveCast
TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2022
8:00 PM
Exponential Festival Online
YouTube
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A send-up of amateur TV recap podcasts. A few years too late?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Have at least one XYZ: pour 1-1/2 oz. aged Rum, 1 oz Cointreau, and 1/2 oz. lemon juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
-
Tue, Jan 11, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER
Jeremy O. Harris: Slave Play
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 – 16, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 23)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$35-$99
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It would be silly to claim that Jeremy O. Harris's is the smartest, most audacious, most piercing play ever to be staged on Broadway. But that's what you'll think as you walk out, and as you continue to think about the play in the following days. (It would be safer to say it's the smartest, most audacious, most piercing treatment of race on Broadway — but let's face it, that category is neither huge nor, up to now, very distinguished.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I've never had a bad time at Russian Samovar (even if, owing to overindulgence in their infused vodkas, I've had bad times the following mornings). ROMAN KAPLAN R.I.P.
-
Tue, Jan 11, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 4:30 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11 – 16, 2022 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Advance ticket required: $18; $12 students and seniors; free children with attending adult; weekdays pay what you can
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New Orleans at Lowerline.
-
Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 5:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 16, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami).
-
Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 1:00 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 – 16, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
-
Sat, Jan 8, 2022, 9:00 PM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 5:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Grace Galu: Cannabis! A Viper Vaudeville [CANCELLED]
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JANUARY 8 & 9, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 15)
SATURDAY 9:00 PM
SUNDAY 5:00 PM
PROTOTYPE Festival
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$35-$75
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you’re more interested in cannabis than I am (I’m self-conscious on life), Grace Galu’s history is worth your attention.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maghrebi restaurant Nomad no longer has to worry about being confused with someplace else.
-
Sat, Jan 8, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 3:00 PM
OPERA
Emma O’Halloran: Trade [CANCELLED]
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JANUARY 8 & 9, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 15)
7:30 PM SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$50-$150 Saturday; $35-$75 Sunday
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Irish composer Emma O’Halloran with her stylistic free-for-all — classical, vernacular, no boundaries here — is on a roll. One can only assume that this look at working-class life in Dublin will continue her hot streak.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Basque sensation Ernesto’s. Duh.
-
Friday, January 7, 2022, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
MUSIC
Robert Black: First Friday
FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 2022
12:00 PM
Bang On A Can Online
Free (donation requested)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Robert Black continues on his mission to expand the repertoire for the solo double bass.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Start your afternoon with a Winter Cocktail: pour 2 oz. Rum, 1 teaspoon each of Ginger liqueur and Allspice/Pimento dram (you can increase those if you’re looking for fuller flavor), and 1/2 oz. lime juice, with 1 teaspoon sugar, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Shake in 2 dashes of Angostura bitters.
-
Thu, Jan 6, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 3:00 PM
OPERA
Taylor Mac: The Hang [CANCELLED]
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 6 – 9, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 16)
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
PROTOTYPE Festival
HERE
145 Sixth Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$75-$150 Friday; $35-$75 Saturday & Sunday
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The last days of Socrates turned into a celebration of queer culture (if you’ve read Plato, not a stretch). Let’s face it, Taylor Mac can do anything.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sophisticated Italian (and a really first-rate beverage program) at Altro Paradiso.
-
Wed, Jan 5, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 9:00 PM
THEATER / DANCE / PERFORMANCE
David Byrne: American Utopia
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 5 – 9, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
5:00 & 9:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
St. James Theater
246 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$59-$179
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If a collaboration between David Byrne and Annie-B Parson were put on at BAM, I wouldn't think twice about Listing it (although I'd still feel constrained to make a comment about Boomer Nostalgia moving on to the Pop Avant-Garde). So I'm not gonna demerit this cuz it's on Broadway. AM I?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe the sushi at Sushi Lab is overelaborate and tries too hard. But it's there.
-
Tue, Jan 4, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER
Jeremy O. Harris: Slave Play
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 4 – 9, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 23)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$35-$99
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It would be silly to claim that Jeremy O. Harris's is the smartest, most audacious, most piercing play ever to be staged on Broadway. But that's what you'll think as you walk out, and as you continue to think about the play in the following days. (It would be safer to say it's the smartest, most audacious, most piercing treatment of race on Broadway — but let's face it, that category is neither huge nor, up to now, very distinguished.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I've never had a bad time at Russian Samovar (even if, owing to overindulgence in their infused vodkas, I've had bad times the following mornings). ROMAN KAPLAN R.I.P.
-
Tue, Jan 4, 2022, 11:00 AM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 12:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Lightscape
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 4 – 9, 2022
4:30 – 8:30 PM
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
990 Washington Avenue, across the street from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
$34 adults; $18 children 3-12; free babies 0-2
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Illuminated trails, site-specific lightworks by local artists, a soundtrack — in the one of the best places in New York City!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You don't see Burmese restaurants coming and going, let alone ones as nice as Rangoon.
-
Tue, Jan 4, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 4:30 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 4 – 9, 2022 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
150 Eastern Parkway, across the street from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Advance ticket required: $18; $12 students and seniors; free children with attending adult; weekdays pay what you can
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Having created a wonderful sound walk through Green-Wood Cemetery, the dream team of Gelsey Bell and Joe White do the same for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (one of my favorite places on earth, if you want to know). The soundtrack is available on the BBG website.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New Orleans at Lowerline.
-
Monday, January 3, 2022, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 3 – 9, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the first shows during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami — a Christmas MUST!) (not that they'll necessarily be open).
-
Mon, Jan 3, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 1:00 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, JANUARY 3 – 9, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
-
Sunday, January 2, 2022, 4:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Lightscape
PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – FRIDAY & SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28 – 31, 2021 & JANUARY 2, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 9)
4:30 – 8:30 PM
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
990 Washington Avenue, across the street from Crown Heights, Brooklyn
$34 adults; $18 children 3-12; free babies 0-2
https://www.bbg.org/lightscape#tickets
Illuminated trails, site-specific lightworks by local artists, a soundtrack — in the one of the best places in New York City!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You don't see Burmese restaurants coming and going, let alone ones as nice as Rangoon.
-
Sunday, January 2, 2022, 3:00 PM – 3:59 PM
Jeremy O. Harris: Slave Play
THEATER
MONDAY – THURSDAY & SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27 – 30, 2021 & JANUARY 2, 2022 (continuing through JANUARY 23)
7:00 PM MONDAY – THURSDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
August Wilson Theatre
245 West 52nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$35-$99
https://slaveplaybroadway.com/
It would be silly to claim that Jeremy O. Harris's is the smartest, most audacious, most piercing play ever to be staged on Broadway. But that's what you'll think as you walk out, and as you continue to think about the play in the following days. (It would be safer to say it's the smartest, most audacious, most piercing treatment of race on Broadway — but let's face it, that category is neither huge nor, up to now, very distinguished.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I've never had a bad time at Russian Samovar (even if, owing to overindulgence in their infused vodkas, I've had bad times the following mornings). ROMAN KAPLAN R.I.P.
-
Sat, Jan 1, 2022, 5:00 PM – Sun, Jan 2, 2022, 4:00 PM
David Byrne: American Utopia
THEATER / DANCE / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY – THURSDAY & SATURDAY – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28 – 30, 2021 & JANUARY 1 – 2, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
5:00 & 9:00 PM THURSDAY
5:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
St. James Theater
246 West 44th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$59-$179
https://americanutopiabroadway.com/
If a collaboration between David Byrne and Annie-B Parson were put on at BAM, I wouldn't think twice about Listing it (although I'd still feel constrained to make a comment about Boomer Nostalgia moving on to the Pop Avant-Garde). So I'm not gonna demerit this cuz it's on Broadway. AM I?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Maybe the sushi at Sushi Lab is overelaborate and tries too hard. But it's there.
-
Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 2:00 PM – Sun, Jan 2, 2022, 3:00 PM
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2021 – JANUARY 2, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
#stillHERE IRL
Green-Wood Cemetery, Sunset Park Entrance
35th Street at 4th Avenue, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$7 or more for soundtrack
https://here.org/shows/cairns/
One of the first shows during Quarantine that you could actually Go Out! to (although it's not quite "live"). Gelsey Bell, that vocal star of NYC Alt Classical, has conceived of a piece that walks you around Green-Wood Cemetery (starting at the Sunset Park Entrance). You download the soundtrack on your phone beforehand (the Times complains about how hard it is to download from Bandcamp to an iPhone — trust me: if I can figure out how to do it, anyone can). Bell wrote the text and narrates, with a co-composing assist from the inimitable Joe White (whose terrific new album you really ought to hear). The Cemetery itself will do the performing. (You can also listen to the soundtrack at home and pretend you're walking around the Cemetery.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sunset Park entrance is only a short walk from Hometown BBQ Industry City (if you go over the weekend, you can get the fabulous pastrami — a Christmas MUST!) (not that they'll necessarily be open).
-
Mon, Dec 27, 2021, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jan 2, 2022, 1:00 AM
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
MONDAY – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2021 – JANUARY 2, 2022 (ongoing)
6:00 AM – 1:00 AM
New York Philharmonic
Central Park
59th Street – 110th Street/Central Park West – 5th Avenue, Manhattan
Free (registration required)
https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/new-york-philharmonic
The New York Phil hops aboard the walk-around-the-landscaped-space-with-soundtrack train (see below). The highly allusive soundtrack was put together by Ellen Reid, who is one of the more soundscapey (and certainly one of the best) of today's many excellent young composers. This walk isn't guided: you download an app that triggers sounds sent to your earphones from various cells around the Park as you wander. So you can do it over many times. (Speaking of wandering around Central Park, here's something that I, for one, never knew.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious pan-African at Teranga.
