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Tuesday, May 31, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Tue, May 31, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jun 5, 2022, 6:00 PM
THEATER
Édouard Louis: Who killed my father
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 31 – JUNE 5, 2022
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
St. Ann’s Warehouse
45 Water Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
$49-$59
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Édouard Louis writes intense, piercing pieces about growing up gay. This time he has the inestimable advantage of production by Thomas Ostermeier, who refines pieces down to their emotional core.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s totally getting to be the time of year for the views and Mediterranean food at Celestine.
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Tue, May 31, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, Jun 5, 2022, 8:30 PM
THEATER
Maria Vélez Meléndez: Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 31 – JUNE 5, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 19)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
$35 TUESDAY – SATURDAY; 99¢ SUNDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A drag show about decolonization. What could possibly be more appealing?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Just about everyone disagrees with my feeling that Mena is too fussy and insubstantial. I just have lower tastes than them is all. And probably than you as well.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
OPERA
Brett Dean: Hamlet
TUESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 31 & JUNE 4, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 9)
7:30 PM TUESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30-$335
TICKETS + INFORMATION
What Late Romanticism was good for was dramatic expression. So I guess it stands to reason that what a composer in the High Modern idiom that is Late Romanticism’s offspring should be writing is opera. Brett Dean’s Hamlet isn’t just a hit, but a smash hit (a palpable hit, as one is almost required to say). Many reviews of its world premiere at Glyndebourne a few years ago complained of its coldness — but it sure doesn’t seem that way at the Met. I’ve rarely been so gripped by an opera performance — nor by a performance of Hamlet, for that matter.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good luck finding anywhere near the Met open after this show. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois.
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Monday, May 30, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Tredici Bacci
MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022
8:00 PM
Baby’s All Right
146 Broadway, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$15
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: CDMX-style Mexican at Aldama.
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Mon, May 30, 2022, 8:00 PM – Tue, May 31, 2022, 8:59 PM
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Monday, May 30, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Gibson + Recorder: Atmos
MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022
6:00 PM
Microscope Gallery
525 West 25th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In a classic piece of performative imageless film, a (modified) projector projects light through a humidifier-fed glass sheet, creating unique visuals in each showing. The sheer elegance is astounding.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Delicious deceptively simple-seeming Italian out of the huge oven at Ci Siamo. (Pro tip: you can access the outdoor mall the restaurant is in through a staircase on 31st Street.)
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Mon, May 30, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, Jun 5, 2022, 6:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell & Joseph White: Meander
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 5, 2022 (ongoing)
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SUNDAY
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
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.
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Mon, May 30, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, Jun 5, 2022, 7:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 5, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 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).
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Mon, May 30, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, Jun 5, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC/PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 30 – JUNE 5, 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. 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.
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Sunday, May 29, 2022, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
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Saturday, May 28, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Saturday, May 28, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
SBRXV: Fifteen Years of Sacred Bones
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022
7:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Sacred Bones label has been putting out experimental pop-adjacent music in Brooklyn for 15 years now — and tonight their roster takes a victory lap.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky Thai at Tong.
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Saturday, May 28, 2022, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
DANCE
iele paloumpis: In place of catastrophe, a clear night sky
THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 26 & 28, 2022
3:00 PM
St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A multi-disciplinary, multi-sensory, multimedia consideration of human resilience through trauma.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Still showing the flag at Veselka.
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Saturday, May 28, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
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Saturday, May 28, 2022, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
OPERA
Philip Glass: Akhnaten
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 25 & 28, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 10)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$47-$480
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is this the best thing the Met has done in like ages? Here at The List we sure think so!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the Wednesday show (afterwards you’ll have to travel to somewhere like Great New York Noodletown), why not a Cadillac Burger at P.J. Clarke’s? Saturday, Clarke’s for afterward; beforehand, have a sandwich (with some garlic fries!) at Pastrami Queen.
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Saturday, May 28, 2022, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
MUSIC
Flux Factory: Aleatoric Audio for an Infinite Island
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022
1:00 PM
May Flux Saturday
Colonels Row, Governors Island, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Flux Factory presents a bunch of experimental sound art performances and installations in celebration of Drone Day 2022 (I know you were wondering how you’d celebrate that).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Lots to eat and drink on Governors Island, with my usual shout out to the almost ridiculously scenic and pleasant Island Oyster, which doesn’t need to have food nearly as good as it does.
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Friday, May 27, 2022, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM
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Friday, May 27, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Dawuna: “Glass Lit Dream” Release Party
FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2022
8:00 PM
Blank Forms @ Tip Top Bar & Grill
432 Franklin Avenue, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Dawuna’s lofi Alt R&B album Glass Lit Dream is a stone gas — and he’ll play it through tonight.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’ll not only be in a bar, but a legendarily great one, so your drinking is covered. I wouldn’t rely on it for food, though. For that, you might want to go to Joloff for fine Senegalese.
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Friday, May 27, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Mopcut: JITTER
FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
These three noisemakers are a blast. Literally. (But a very precise disciplined one.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, underrated pizza at Sottocasa. Streaming at home, have a Hugo: pour 2 oz. Prosecco and 2/3 oz. St-Germain into a rocks glass over ice. Stir. Top with soda water. Garnish with mint sprigs and a lime wedge.
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Fri, May 27, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 28, 2022, 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra: Ancient & Ecstatic
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 27 & 28, 2022
8:00 PM FRIDAY
3:00 & 7:00 PM SATURDAY
Fort Washington Collegiate Church In Person & SATURDAY AFTERNOON Live Stream
729 West 181st Street, Washington Heights, Manhattan
Free (reservation required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Christopher Theofanidis, Bach, Sufjan Stevens, Stacy Garrop, Clarice Assad, and Adolphus Hailstork wrestle with the ineffable in another excellent program from New York’s most enterprising neighborhood orchestra.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, does George’s have the best pizza in Upper Manhattan? Only one way to find out. Streaming at home, have an Aperol Spritz: pour 2 oz. Aperol and 3 oz. Prosecco into a wine glass over ice. Top with soda water. Garnish with an orange slice.
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Friday, May 27, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Ekmeles: Premieres
FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2022
7:30 PM
Crypt, Church of the Intercession
550 West 155th Street, Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
$20; $15 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sure, world premieres (including ones by Erin Gee and Hannah Kendall) are a big deal. But I’m most excited about having a chance to rehear the first piece I’d ever heard by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, the Danish late-20th Century Satie.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ramen, oysters, izakaya, and cocktails at the utterly delightful ROKC.
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Fri, May 27, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 28, 2022, 10:30 PM
MUSIC
David Virelles Trio feat. Ben Street & Eric McPherson
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 27 & 28, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
Jazz Gallery In Person & SATURDAY Live Stream
1160 Broadway (entrance on 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist/composer David Verilles is unique in his usage of Cuban ritual music in modernist jazz (or is that his use of modernist jazz in Cuban ritual music?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, unlikely but delicious (and highly interesting) Korean-inflected French at LittleMäd. At home, have an El Presidente: pour 1-1/2 oz. each of white Rum and Vermouth Blanc and 1 teaspoon Curaçao into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Fri, May 27, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 3:00 PM
MUSIC / DANCE / THEATER
Brooklyn United
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 27 – 29, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 5)
7:00 PM FRIDAY – SUNDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$40-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Drum line!!!!!!!!!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Can you guess Dim Sum Palace’s specialty?
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Fri, May 27, 2022, 6:00 PM – Sat, May 28, 2022, 6:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Flatbed Follies
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 27 & 28, 2022
6:00 – 9:00 PM FRIDAY
12:00 – 6:00 PM SATURDAY
FRIDAY: Doyers Street & Pell Street, Chinatown, Manhattan
SATURDAY: Forsyth Street & Division Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus takes it to the street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Friday, I am so enamored of Uncle Lou’s love letter to Old Skool Chinatown Cantonese that I can’t tell you. Saturday, I had my first hand-pulled noodles at Super Taste — and as everyone knows, your first is often your best.
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Fri, May 27, 2022, 5:30 PM – Sat, May 28, 2022, 6:30 PM
THEATER
Uwe Mengel: Rockefeller and I Part 1
WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 25 & 27 – 28, 2022
5:30 PM
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A performance on the sidewalk in front of La MaMa contrasting the life and morality of an impecunious Dominican immigrant with that of John D. Rockefeller Jr.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: “Elevated” (I hate that term when applied to vernacular food!) pub grub at Sidney’s Five.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
OPERA
Brett Dean: Hamlet
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 9)
8:00 PM
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30-$335
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brett Dean’s European High Modernism (even if Dean himself is Australian) isn’t the kind of music we usually List around here. But even now, you can’t take new operas at the Met for granted.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good luck finding anywhere near the Met open after this show. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Mariel Roberts & Tomas Fujiwara / Adam O’Farrill Trio
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022
8:00 PM
The Owl Music Parlor
497 Rogers Avenue, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$12
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two interesting combinations: exploratory cellist Mariel Roberts and master drummer Tomas Fujiwara; and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill (I just saw him a couple of days ago, and all I can say is that he’s doing his father and grandfather more than proud) with another exploratory string player, violinist Ledah Finck, and pianist Dana Saul.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I am becoming obsessed with trying Camillo, which has a real Roman menu.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
International Contemporary Ensemble: Performs New Works by Kate Gentile, Fay Victor, and Peter Evans
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Self explanatory.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, plausible neighborhood French at French Louie. Streaming at home, have a Mexican Firing Squad: pour 2 oz. Tequila and 3/4 oz. each Grenadine and lime juice, with 5 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Thu, May 26, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 5:00 PM
THEATER
Brecht: Mother Courage and Her Children
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 26 – 29, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 5)
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$30; $15 students/seniors/working artists
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bertolt Brecht is enormously important to this List, both for his esthetics — he perfected the kind of expressionistic non-realist theater we like around here — and for his politics. A must for all my fellow Commies.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Karasu, the speakeasy izakaya hidden in the back of Walter’s.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Kamala Sankaram: Communal Sing-In
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022
7:00 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free (R.S.V.P. required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kamala Sankaram, one of the crucial vocal music writers of our time and place, has developed her own method of community singing, and here she presents some new songs she wrote for it for the audience to sing. As for how highly it’s recommended: well, only you know how good you are.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Homey comfy bistro at Manny’s Bistro.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Florent Ghys / Kaki King
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022
7:00 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theate
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bassist/composer Florent Ghys plays pieces from his new album Ritournelles & Mosaïques with accompanying visuals. His music is great listening (I had the album on last night as I was cooking dinner and it was wonderful): the friendliest experimental music you could imagine. As for opener Kaki King, there is only one word for her guitar-playing: jaw-dropping.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Grilled pan-East Asian at Kyu.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
PERFORMANCE
George Tsz-Kwan Lam: Family Association
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022
6:30 PM
MATA
University Settlement House
184 Eldridge Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An interactive sound walk through Chinatown put together by composer George Tsz-Kwan Lam combining recorded oral history and Lam’s music.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You just HAVE to go to that wonderful love letter to Chinatown, Uncle Lou, after this.
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Thursday, May 26, 2022, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
DANCE
iele paloumpis: In place of catastrophe, a clear night sky
THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 26 & 28, 2022
3:00 PM
St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A multi-disciplinary, multi-sensory, multimedia consideration of human resilience through trauma.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Still showing the flag at Veselka.
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Wed, May 25, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 28, 2022, 9:30 PM
-
Wed, May 25, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 6:00 PM
THEATER
Renee Phillippi: The Legend of the Waitress and the Robber
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 25 – 29, 2022
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A Korean/Schiller mashup treating, comic-book style, themes of isolation — and believe it or not, it was conceived before The Lockdown!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Stylish Mod Korean at Ms Yoo.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
OPERA
Philip Glass: Akhnaten
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 25 & 28, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 10)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
1:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$47-$480
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Is this the best thing the Met has done in like ages? Here at The List we sure think so!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the Wednesday show (afterwards you’ll have to travel to somewhere like Great New York Noodletown), why not a Cadillac Burger at P.J. Clarke’s? Saturday, Clarke’s for afterward; beforehand, have a sandwich (with some garlic fries!) at Pastrami Queen.
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Wed, May 25, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 4:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Eve Beglarian: The Vicksburg Project
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 25 – 29, 2022
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Mabou Mines
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In this long-awaited piece (let’s face it: in this post-Lockdown period, everything has been long-awaited), List hyper-fave Eve Beglarian explores the historical and current experiences of women (and female-identifying people), Black and White, in this pivotal Southern city — and at least implicitly teases out the implications. Major.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How long has it been since any of us have been to the New Hawaiian gem Noreetuh? Time to check in.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Peter Coccoma / Clarice Jensen / Elora Saxl
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
7:00 PM
IRL
80 Franklin Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Electroacoustic music from Peter Coccona. The acoustic elements are provided by a string section led by the questing cellist Clarice Jensen, who’ll play a set herself. The acoustic elements in Elori Saxl’s music are electronically processed — along with the wind and water sounds that provide a sort of arhythmic click track.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tawainese Wenwen is red hot — which means you’ll have trouble getting in, but who knows?
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Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
THEATER
Uwe Mengel: Rockefeller and I Part 1
WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 25 & 27 – 28, 2022
5:30 PM
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A performance on the sidewalk in front of La MaMa contrasting the life and morality of an impecunious Dominican immigrant with that of John D. Rockefeller Jr.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: “Elevated” (I hate that term when applied to vernacular food!) pub grub at Sidney’s Five.
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Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Ikue Mori: Tracing the Magic
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
New York experimental music legend Ikue Mori, on vocals and electronics duh, teams with various partners (all great: pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, clarinetist Ned Rothenberg, bagpiper David Watson, percussionist Sae Hashimoto) for a series of duets inspired by visual art.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, good Middle Eastern on GREAT pita at Bedouin Tent. Streaming at home, have a Mizuwaru: pour 1-1/2 oz. Shōchū and 3 oz. water into a Highball glass over ice.
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Tue, May 24, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 11:00 PM
MUSIC
Kris Davis
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 24 – 29, 2022
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Here comes yet another paen to composer/pianist Kris Davis, possessor of one of the sharpest and most original minds in current jazz. The surprise of this week’s stand is the presence in Davis’s band of the exciting Haitian-American electronic musician Val Jeanty.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Distinctive and incredibly flavorful Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tue, May 24, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 8:29 PM
THEATER
Maria Vélez Meléndez: Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 24 – 29, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 19)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
$35 TUESDAY – SATURDAY; 99¢ SUNDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A drag show about decolonization. What could possibly be more appealing?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Just about everyone disagrees with my feeling that Mena is too fussy and insubstantial. I just have lower tastes than them is all. And probably than you as well.
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Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Ensemble Connect [CANCELLED]
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022
7:30 PM
Paul Hall, Juilliard School, Lincoln Center
155 West 65th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$10
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Enough about Ensemble Connect; let’s talk about me. I love Joan Tower’s swirling, propulsive Petroushskates — inspired by Stravinsky and ice skating — to pieces. Hannah Lash is a personal favorite composer, fluent but not facile. And, although it’s not the kind of thing I say out loud on this List, I think Brahms’s Piano Quintet is just the berries.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: French bistro good enough for Lincoln Center at Bar Boulud.
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Tue, May 24, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 6:00 PM
THEATER
Édouard Louis: Who killed my father
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 24 – 29, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 5)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
St. Ann’s Warehouse
45 Water Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
$49-$59
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Édouard Louis writes intense, piercing pieces about growing up gay. This time he has the inestimable advantage of production by Thomas Ostermeier, who refines pieces down to their emotional core.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s totally getting to be the time of year for the views and Mediterranean food at Celestine.
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Tue, May 24, 2022, 7:00 PM – Wed, May 25, 2022, 3:00 PM
-
Tue, May 24, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 4:30 AM
-
Monday, May 23, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Cassie Wieland: BIRTHDAY PARTY [CANCELLED]
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cassie Wieland, a composer of luminous mellifluous music, presents us with two world premieres and a work in progress, performed by such luminaries as Bearthoven; pianist Isabelle O’Connell and percussionist/composer’s spouse (congratulations guys!) Adam Holmes; and Wieland’s “Vines” collaboration with the saxophone quartet ˜Nois.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, eclectic food at As You Are. Streaming at home, have a 50/50 Birthday: pour 1-1/2 oz. Gin and 3/4 oz. each of dry and blanc Vermouth into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Pour into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Mon, May 23, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 28, 2022, 10:00 PM
THEATER / DANCE / MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Hungary Live Festival 2022
MONDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 23 – 28, 2022
8:00 PM MONDAY
7:30 PM TUESDAY – FRIDAY,
9:30 PM WEDNESDAY
5:00 PM & 9:00 PM SATURDAY
HERE
145 Sixth Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Cutting-edge theater, dance, music, and performance from Hungary. (There are some film screenings on Sunday — but we don’t talk about those here.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pleasant Sicilian at Piccola Cucina Osteria.
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Mon, May 23, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 28, 2022, 8:59 PM
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Monday, May 23, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Ned Rorem: Evidence of Things Not Seen
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022
7:30 PM
Brooklyn Art Song Society
First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn
119 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Hard to know whether to call Evidence of Things Not Seen Ned Rorem’s magnum opus or his omnium gatherum. This long song cycle indeed contains almost everything good about Rorem’s elegant music. Hard to believe that decades ago he was shunned for being insufficiently unlistenable.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Things in Brooklyn Heights are depressingly closed on Mondays. Need to leave the neighborhood and stroll over to Gage & Tollner, which in its revivified form couldn’t be better.
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Mon, May 23, 2022, 5:00 PM – Tue, May 24, 2022, 9:00 PM
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Mon, May 23, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 7:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 23 – 29, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 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).
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Mon, May 23, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 29, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 23 – 29, 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. 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.
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Sunday, May 22, 2022, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
DANCE
Abby Z & The New Utility: Radioactive Practice
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
5:00 PM
Duffy Square, Midtown, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
New York Live Arts has added a free outdoor performance of Abby Z’s multi-stylistic new piece.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Line up for an almost shockingly delicious Tuscan sandwich at All’Antico Viniao.
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Sunday, May 22, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
MUSIC
New Amsterdam History Center: Music of Many Worlds Sephardic Vocal Music of 18th Century Amsterdam
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
4:00 PM
Congregation Shearith Israel In Person & Live Stream
2 West 70th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$18
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The century after it got finished persecuting Spinoza, the great Sephardic Jewish community of Amsterdam got down to creating some Baroque vocal music. Who knew?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, have a nice Southern Italian dinner after the show in spectacular surroundings at The Leopard at des Artistes. Streaming at home, have a My Fair Lady: pour 1-1/2 oz. Genever, , 1 oz. dry Vermouth, 1/2 oz. Amara Ciociaro, and 1 tablespoon Maraschino liqueur, with two dashes of orange bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Sunday, May 22, 2022, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
MUSIC
John Zorn: New Masada Quartet
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
3:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Everybody is loving the new, more straight-ahead iteration of John Zorn’s jazz take on Klezmer and Ancient Jewish themes. (Well, everybody who COUNTS.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m told there’s this thing where people get together early afternoons on weekends and have a sort of combination of late breakfast and lunch. I wouldn’t know anything about that myself, but I’m sure the mildly French-adjacent Cafe Cluny would be as good a place as any for such a thing. You can go after the show, too.
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Sunday, May 22, 2022, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
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Saturday, May 21, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Saturday, May 21, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
OPERA
Brett Dean: Hamlet
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 18 & 21, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 9)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30-$335
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brett Dean’s European High Modernism (even if Dean himself is Australian) isn’t the kind of music we usually List around here. But even now, you can’t take new operas at the Met for granted.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good luck finding anywhere near the Met open after this show. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois.
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Saturday, May 21, 2022, 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM
MUSIC
Angelica Sanchez Trio
SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
Jazz Gallery In Person & Live Stream
1160 Broadway (entrance on 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pianist/composer Angelica Sanchez is one of those musicians who slowly build, through constant quiet excellence, to attaining eminence. And she deserves it, with a genuinely personal expressive style.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, maybe it’s just me, but I really really like the Italian-with-a-few-Ashkenazic-ringers menu, all excellently prepared, at Mark’s Off Madison. At home, have an Arizona Statehood Cocktail: pour 1 oz. each of Rye and Dubonnet and 1/4 oz. Gum Syrup (you can pretty easily buy this), with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Top with Ginger Ale. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Sat, May 21, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 8:30 PM
MUSIC
American Opera Project: Composers & the Voice ‘21-’23: First Glimpse
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, MAY 21 & 22, 2022
7:30 PM
The Great Room, South Oxford Space In Person & Live Stream
138 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene Brooklyn
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
World premieres of songs by such composers as this List’s beloved Paul Pinto, and Gabrielle Herbst and Raquel Acevedo Klein.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’ll be within stumbling distance of the wonderful biergarten DSK Brooklyn.
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Saturday, May 21, 2022, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
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Fri, May 20, 2022, 10:00 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 11:00 PM
MUSIC
Wire Festival
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 20 & 21, 2022
10:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$25-$50
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Pop-adjacent electronic music from like everywhere.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Snacky Thai at Tong.
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Fri, May 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Henry Threadgill: One / The Other One
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 20 & 21, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$40 advance; $45 door in person
FRIDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
SATURDAY TICKETS + INFORMATION
When you’re talking about America’s greatest living musicians, Henry Threadgill comes up pretty soon. Tonight this astonishing alto saxophonist/composer, who has the entirety of the jazz tradition at his fingertips and consistently transmutes it into something fresh and surprising, presents two nights of new music for large ensemble (of course, since it’s Threadgill, the players are all amazing) multimedia visuals and electronics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eclectic food at As You Are.
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Friday, May 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Drew McDowall: Time Machines
FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022
8:00 PM
Ambient Church
Church of the Heavenly Rest
1085 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
These Ambient Church concerts really are great: ambient electronic music in ornate churches, with lights and visuals keyed to the church’s architectural features. They really do take you somewhere. This is an appealing bill, too. Drew McDowall, ex-Psychic TV and Coil collaborator, has moved farther toward the Emperean as his career has progressed. Tonight he’s revisiting Coil (in particular, a longform work intended to recreate the experience induced by hallucinogens). Opener Lucy Liyou is more earth-based, basing her electronic explorations on field recordings.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good tacos at El Paso Taqueria.
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Fri, May 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 9:00 PM
THEATER
Trish Harnetiaux: California
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 20 & 22, 2022 (continuing through MAY 22)
8:00 PM
Summerworks
Clubbed Thumb
The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25-$60; $20 student
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A family vacation is um interrupted when Reality splits. How much you want to bet it isn’t like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Solid underrated seafood at Lamia’s Fish Market.
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Friday, May 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Friday, May 20, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Fri, May 20, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 6:00 PM
THEATER
Brecht: Mother Courage and Her Children
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 20 – 22, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 5)
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$30; $15 students/seniors/working artists
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bertolt Brecht is enormously important to this List, both for his esthetics — he perfected the kind of expressionistic non-realist theater we like around here — and for his politics. A must for all my fellow Commies.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Karasu, the speakeasy izakaya hidden in the back of Walter’s.
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
MUSIC
Either / Or: Variegates & Reactivities
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022
8:30 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A typically variegated (hey they said it) program from Either/Or. For now, let’s focus on a piece by newly minted Pulitzer laureate Raven Chacon and — they must be reading my mind — one by the master Spectralist Gérard Grisey, whom I for one have been thinking about a lot lately.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: After those ethereal sounds, some food that’s too too solid: Georgian at Chama Mama.
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Thu, May 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – Fri, May 20, 2022, 8:59 PM
MUSIC
C4: Voices Everywhere
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 19 & 20, 2022
8:00 PM
Choral Composers/Conductors Collective In Person & THURSDAY Live Stream
THURSDAY: St. John’s in the Village
218 West 11th Street, West Village, Manhattan
FRIDAY: St. Luke in the Fields Church
487 Hudson Street, West Village, Manhattan
$20 in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
C4 returns with another wide-ranging recital of precisely rendered new and recent works of a type that require precise rendition. I have to give a shout-out to the new piece by Brian Mountford, a pal. You might be especially excited to hear a new piece by the engaging Trevor Weston.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person Thursday, I personally think the West Village branch of St. Tropez Wine Bar is one of the most appealing places around — even if the food and wine are no more than fine. In person Friday, the Piemontese food at Osteria Carlina is so good — the best Vitello Tonatto I’ve ever had in the U.S., for one thing — that you wish their wine program matched it. Streaming at home on Thursday, have a Precision Timepiece (you won’t be surprised to find that it emenated from Amor y Amargo): pour 1-1/2 oz. Jägermeister and 3/4 oz. each of Aperol and Amaro Montenegro, with 2 dashes of pimento bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with an orange twist.
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Thu, May 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 9:00 PM
DANCE
Laurie Berg: FOMO: DIPTYCH
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 19 – 21, 2022
8:00 PM
Chocolate Factory Theater
38-33 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Laurie Berg stumbled upon the odd fact that a chameleon’s two eyes operate independently of each other, both physically and perceptually — so that even when they focus on the same thing, they create diptychs (like the two pictures of the same thing in one of those old steoreopticons). Out of that came this new piece exploring multiple perception of the same thing. Audience members are invited to observe the proceedings from two different perspectives set up in the Chocolate Factory space: a white-box gallery (featuring sparking wine and canapes) and a divey sports bar (featuring cheap beer).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You’ve GOT to go to Sinaloan sensation Cielito and have a Chilorio taco, one of the best things you can eat in New York right now (other stuff is pretty great, too).
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Thu, May 19, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 8:59 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Julia Wolfe: Anthracite Fields
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022
7:30 PM
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 7th Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$45-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I won’t lie: Commie though I am, I find Julia Wolfe’s oratorioorsomething about Pennsylvania coal miners heavy slogging.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You will theoretically have time to get to the splendid Italian café Lodi after this show.
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Thu, May 19, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 7:59 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Thursday, May 19, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
THEATER
Theater in Quarantine
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022
6:00 PM
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
One of the great artistic triumphs of The Quarantine was almost certainly Joshua William Gelb’s Theater in Quarantine, live streamed performances taking place in his and, more ambitiously, his and others’ technologically combined closets in the East Village. The project’s first live performance ever raises the question: will the charm, which arose largely from the clever overcoming of technical limitations, still exist when it’s done live? Lockdown nostalgists wishing to avoid the question can stream at home.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, surprising good cheap food at Indie Food and Wine. Streaming at home, have the cocktail reported by Google to be the most searched recipe in New York State during the first months of The Quarantine, the Manhattan (you have to LOOK THAT UP????????): pour 2 oz. Rye (or Bourbon if you must) 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.
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Wed, May 18, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 9:30 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Brian Marsella
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 18 – 21, 2022
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Clarinetist Ben Goldberg gets the Stone Residency treatment..
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’ll be nice to go back to the comfortable Emilia-Romagnan food at Da Andrea (do yourself a favor and start with the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto).
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Concert in the Catacombs: Firas Zreik
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
8:00 PM
Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Firas Zreik graces the Catacombs with a recital on the solo zanun, a Palestinian zither.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m tempted to tell you to hop on the R train and hightail it over to AlBadawi in Brooklyn Heights or Ayat or Tanoreen in Bay Ridge, depending on which direction you prefer, for excellent Palestinian. But in keeping with the spirit of dining within walking distance of venues, we’ll have to forego Palestinian and chow down on the great Slovakian at Korzo.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
gabby fluke-mogol feat. Nava Dunkelman / Ava Mendoza / Zeena Parkins: Rue
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
You won’t find four more interesting improvising musicians on the same stage at the same time as gabby fluke-mogul, the visionary violinist who’s running the show, and percussionist Nava Dunkelman, avant-guitar shredder Ava Mendoza, and Downtown harp goddess Zeena Parkins.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, neighborhood French at French Louie. Streaming at home, have a Thyme After Thyme: pour 1 oz. Gin and 1/2 oz. each of Cocchi Americano and grapefruit juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Pour into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a grapefruit wedge and a thyme sprig (you should see the gorgeous thyme I got at the Greenmarket over the weekend).
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Wed, May 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 8:30 PM
DANCE
Abby Z & The New Utility: Radioactive Practice
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 18 – 21, 2022
7:30 PM
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Multi-sylistic dance. I mean REALLY multi-stylistic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Another appeal for someone to try the huge French “petít bistro” Loulou and tell me how it is.
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Wed, May 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 8:30 PM
DANCE
Donna Uchizono Company: Wings of Iron
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 18 – 21, 2022
7:30 PM
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Donna Uchizono’s style may be overly obscure in its conceptual underpinnings: you definitely get the feeling she’s trying to say something, that her work isn’t purely abstract — but what? But at least she has a style. And her movement vocabulary is well-considered, distinctive, and interesting in itself.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I’m not going to rest until each and every one of you has gone to Central Asian powerhouse Farida.
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Wed, May 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 6:00 PM
THEATER
Édouard Louis: Who killed my father
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 18 – 22, 2022
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
St. Ann’s Warehouse
45 Water Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
$49-$59
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Édouard Louis writes intense, piercing pieces about growing up gay. This time he has the inestimable advantage of production by Thomas Ostermeier, who refines pieces down to their emotional core.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s totally getting to be the time of year for the views and Mediterranean food at Celestine.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
OPERA
Brett Dean: Hamlet
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 18 & 21, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 9)
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30-$335
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brett Dean’s European High Modernism (even if Dean himself is Australian) isn’t the kind of music we usually List around here. But even now, you can’t take new operas at the Met for granted.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good luck finding anywhere near the Met open after this show. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois.
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Wed, May 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 8:30 PM
DANCE
Nicole Mannarino: TUNE
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 18 – 22, 2022
7:30 PM
The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Free-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A dance ritual (aren’t they all in our post-Lockdown days?).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Filipino barbecue at FOB.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Wed, May 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 4:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Eve Beglarian: The Vicksburg Project
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 18 – 22, 2022 (continuing through MAY 29)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Mabou Mines
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In this long-awaited piece (let’s face it: in this post-Lockdown period, everything has been long-awaited), List hyper-fave Eve Beglarian explores the historical and current experiences of women (and female-identifying people), Black and White, in this pivotal Southern city — and at least implicitly teases out the implications. Major.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How long has it been since any of us have been to the New Hawaiian gem Noreetuh? Time to check in.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Brooklyn Raga Massive: Colors of Raga: Samarth Nagarkar
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
7:00 PM
Gaia NoMaya
510 Flatbush Avenue, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Master Indian classical vocalist Samarth Nagarkar (and his tabla and harmonium accompanists) presents an evening of Khayal, a highly elaborately ornamented form of vocal raga that makes up in entertainment value what it might lack in intellectual rigor.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New American tasting menu at Honey Badger.
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Wed, May 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 8:30 PM
PERFORMANCE
Dream Music Puppetry: Puppetopia
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 18 – 22, 2022
7:00 & 8:30 PM
HERE
145 Sixth Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$25-$45 per show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Two different programs of puppet theater(!!!!!!!) remaining.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pleasant Sicilian at Piccola Cucina Osteria.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Mary Halvorson feat. Mivos Quartet: Amaryllis / Belladonna
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
7:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Mary Halvorson has, as far as I’m concerned, graduated from Best Young Guitarist In Jazz to Best Guitarist In Jazz. She has a unique angular style, but she’s versatile enough to be able to apply it to many different forms and still sound only like herself. I saw her do this pair of pieces, one for guitar and (all-star) jazz sextet and the other for guitar and string quartet last year — and I have a sneaking suspicion it’s the very best thing she’s done yet.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Extremely good French bistro in extremely inviting surroundings at Le Crocodile.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Tue, May 17, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 21, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER
Michael Kinnan: Never Let Go
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 17 – 21, 2022
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Michael Kinnan’s smash one-man retelling of Titanic is back!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I went to Red Sauce standardbearer Bamonte’s recently for the first time in dog’s years, and you know what? It was GREAT! (On Wednesdays, when it’s closed, you can go to DeStefano’s and spend a lot of money on steak.)
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Tue, May 17, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 3:00 PM
MUSIC
Stephen Petronio Dance Company
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 17 – 22, 2022
7:30 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$41-$61
TICKETS + INFORMATION
It’s no good for me to tweak Stephen Petronio for no longer being a young punk. Cuz you know what? I’m not, either. Nevertheless, his new piece New New Prayer for Now seems troublingly uplifting. There’ll also be some older stuff, though — and a very exciting of a revival of a classic Trisha Brown piece from Petronio’s glory days as a dancer in her company.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Gotta the new iteration of El Quijote. Just gotta.
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Tue, May 17, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 3:00 PM
THEATER
Maria Vélez Meléndez: Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 17 – 22, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 19)
7:30 PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
Soho Rep.
46 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
$35 TUESDAY – SATURDAY; 99¢ SUNDAY
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A drag show about decolonization. What could possibly be more appealing?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Just about everyone disagrees with my feeling that Mena is too fussy and insubstantial. I just have lower tastes than them is all. And probably than you as well.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Will Healy / spiritchild: ORBIT
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
7:30 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Will Healy and his Contemporary Classical/funk band Shouthouse join forces with the splended Voices of Ascension choir (who don’t usually do this kind of thing) to perform a new piece by Healy and hip-hop poet spiritchild, a new piece by Healy, and some of Shouthouse’s greatest hits.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good Middle Eastern on GREAT pita at Bedouin Tent.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
loadbang / Iranian Female Composers Association: Composing New Perspectives — Female Voices from Iran
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
7:30 PM
OPERA America’s National Opera Center
330 7th Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
At first glance you might think the Iranian Female Composers Association has a limited focus. But then you gain entry into what seems to be an amazingly fertile New Music scene; their members come up with music that is always at least interesting but is usually a good deal more than that: compelling, good listening. The voice/brass-wind ensemble loadbang of course generate their own excitement.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I myself am unable to go anywhere but the B&B Restaurant, with its delicious West African steam table buffet, before or after a show at OPERA America. One of the great food values in New York City.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Tue, May 17, 2022, 7:00 PM – Wed, May 18, 2022, 3:00 PM
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Tue, May 17, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 3:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Heather Christian: Oratorio for Living Things
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 17 – 22, 2022
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Ars Nova @ Greenwich House
27 Barrow Street, West Village, Manhattan
$35-$65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Country-folk-blues singer-songwriter Heather Christian presents a big long-form piece about what it means to be alive and our relationship with time (exactly the things I try hard not to think about).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Emmett’s on Grove and its Midwestern tavern-style pizza is all the rage. (I’m a New York/naples pizza loyalist myself.)
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Tuesday, May 17, 2022, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
MUSIC
MUSICAL ECOLOGIES OUTDOORS: Phil Niblock & Katherine Liberovskaya / Lucie Vitková / Craig Shepard
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
5:00 PM
Old Stone House, Washington Park
336 Third Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Admission by contribution
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sonic explorations outdoors in the park.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neighborhood French at Café Le Mistral.
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Tue, May 17, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 5:00 PM
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Mon, May 16, 2022, 9:00 PM – Tue, May 17, 2022, 9:59 PM
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Monday, May 16, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Awespell * Sol * Luna Cuchillo: ARTBATH
MONDAY, MAY 16, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I am recommending this first trio show by three artists who “renounced worldly pursuits to devote themselves fully to spiritual research” and who have now, “after two years pupating in isolation, . . . completed their metamorphosis, emerging from lockdown to reduce stress and detoxify brain cells,” on the chance they’re kidding.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, retoxify your brain cells at Grand Army Bar. Streaming at home, have a Long Island Iced Tea: pour 1/2 oz. each of Gin, light Rum, Vodka, and blanco Tequila, and 1/3 oz. each of Simple Syrup, lemon juice, and lime juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Pour into a Collins glass over ice. Top with Coke. Garnish with a lemon wedge.
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Monday, May 16, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
OPERA
New York Opera Alliance: NYOA Next
MONDAY, MAY 16, 2022
7:30 PM
Christ & St. Stephen’s Church
120 West 69th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$20; $10 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A bunch of local opera companies present tastes of upcoming productions, including world premieres and newish stuff, 20th Century works, and standard rep.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Plausible Mexican at El Mitote.
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Monday, May 16, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Mon, May 16, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 8:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 16 – 22, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 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).
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Mon, May 16, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 22, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 16 – 22, 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. 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.
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
String Noise / Congretation of Drones / String Noise Sounds / CARBS
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
String Noise, New York’s noisiest violin duo (within the bounds of reason), plays by themselves and with an expanded ensemble. Half of them, Pauline Kim Harris, plays with Pittsburgh electronic musician Jesse Stiles in their Congregation of Drones project. Then, CARBS come from London to provide further demonstration of how illusory the line between classical and Electronic Dance Music can be.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, great Palestinian at AlBadawi. Streaming at home, have a Rosita: pour 1 oz. reposado Tequila and 1/2 oz. each of dry Vermouth, sweet Vermouth, and Campari, with 1 dash of Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe or into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Alex Offenkrantz: Card Tricks
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022
8:00 PM
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A magician finds he can only make personal disclosures by way of card tricks.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Neo-Cantonese-American partyfest Bonnie’s (good luck getting in!).
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
DANCE
Chris Celize & Anthony Rodriguez “Invertebrate”: The Missing Element
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022 (also on MAY 16)
7:30 PM
Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Beatbox (all music guaranteed created solely by human bodies) and breakdancing, in both the Rotunda and the Theater.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The tacos at El Paso Taqueria are very good.
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
MUSIC
Molly Joyce
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022
5:00 PM
Forward Festival of the Arts
The Cabaret, Queens Theater
14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Molly Joyce plays her fluid Alt Classical-verging-on-Art Pop music on a vintage toy organ, a piquant, unfamiliar sound. She’ll be accompanied by dedicated videos.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: When I say that Cienga las Tlayudas de Oaxaca has the best tlayudas in New York, I’m not just making an empty claim. (It’s right near Park Side and Benfaremo: that’s one hell of a couple of blocks, foodwise.)
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
MUSIC
Sam Sadigursky: Solomon Diaries
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022
4:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The eloquent post-Klezmer composer/clarinetist Sam Sadigursky takes off from the history and remnants of the Borscht Belt (believe it or not) to examine/invoke freedom (from leaden food?), rebellion (against regimented leisure?), celebration, tradition, independence, loss, hope, decay and renewal.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, edible neighborhood French at Café le Mistral. At home, the Brooklyn cocktail was probably (cocktail history is rarely clear) invented by a bartender who was Jewish. Here’s a version that hews closer to the original than the modern version known now; hence, the Brooklyn (Original): pour 1-1/2 oz. of Rye and sweet Vermouth, and 1/4 oz. each of either Golden Moon Amer dit Picon or Bigallet China-China and Maraschino liqueur, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Omnium Circus
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022
2:00 & 8:00 PM
The Forward Festival of the Arts
Claire Schulman Theater, Queens Theater
14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens
$25-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Omnium Circus are differently abled in two ways: the usual, and the way they can do things with their bodies that you could never dream of doing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: They call it Park Side for a reason: it’s right by the Park. Go for the best Red Sauce in New York. And then cross the street for the best Italian Ices in New York at Benfaremo — The Lemon Ice King of Corona.
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Sunday, May 15, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
MUSIC
PUBLIQuartet
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022
2:00 PM
New School Auditorium
66 West 12th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20; $17 seniors/disabled
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If you’re interested in hearing how Vijay Iyer and Ornette Coleman can coexist on a program with Dvorak, here’s your chance.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you want to see the wan mediocre side of Red Sauce, go to Gene’s. It’ll make you appreciate Bamonte’s and Park Side all the more.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
MUSIC
ExoTech
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
9:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$26.17
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Sophia Brous and Kimbra lead a floating bunch of instrumentalists in a bounce between songform and free improv.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good Oaxacan at Claro.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Nomadic Signals: The Seas: “A” Trio/Nava Dunkelman
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
8:00 PM
ISSUE Project Room @ Brooklyn Conservatory of Music
58 7th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
”A” Trio are terrific improvisors from Beirut, and their U.S. debut is something of an event. Nava Dunkelman is part of the Dunkelman Percussion Dynasty here in Brooklyn.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Shockingly good Fukuoka-sytle ramen, shockingly close to the venue, at Ramen Danbo.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Friends of Guy: Guy Klucevsek 75th Birthday Celebration
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance; $25 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Guy Klucevsek has retired from tickling his accordion in public (what he does with it in private is his own business). So a bunch of his eminent musical friends gather to present a set of compositions selected by Klucevsek himself to celebrate his 75th birthday. Expect a lot of fun, good humor, and imaginative genre-bending: just what Klucevsek gave us throughout his performing career.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s a walk to be sure, but this party deserves an after-party at Sunken Harbor Club, the great Tiki bar upstairs from Gage & Tollner.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
THEATER
Target Margin Theater: One Night
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 10 & 11 & 14, 2022 (continuing through MAY 28)
7:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Target Margin Theater
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$69-$149
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Target Margin culminates its several-years-going exploration of the Thousand Nights and One Night with a nine-hour extravaganza (also available for viewing in two parts, for the faint of heart). The earlier (shorter) excerpts were imaginative, insightful, and incredibly fun. I personally am looking forward to this more than I can say.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I see us having some nice Cantonese at Lucky Eight.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Stew: Baba Bibi
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
8:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Any singer/songwriter/guitarist Stew does is a big deal. This is his project for “background music for Afro/Asian, experimental-soul-pop cookouts”.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, go to Runner Up, the best restaurant in Park Slope, and hope it’s nice out (outdoor seating only). Streaming at home, have an Agua de Valencia: pour 2 oz. each of Gin and Vodka, 1 cup orange juice, and a bottle of Cava into a pitcher. Stir in sugar to taste. Refrigerate until chilled. Pour into a tall glass over ice. Garnish with a lemon or lime slice.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
PERFORMANCE
Better Than Reality
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
7:30 PM
Super Secret Arts
400 Third Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$30
INFORMATION + TICKETS
Avant-ground circus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Great über-spicy Thai at Ugly Baby — if you can jump through all the hoops to make a reservation.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
MUSIC
Dana Lyn: Mother Octopus
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
6:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Art pop. Or something.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, you know the drill: an earlyish show during the weekend, rush over to Reyes Deli & Grocery to get some of their fab tamales and goat tacos before they run out. Streaming at home, have a Danny Ocean : pour 1-1/2 oz. reposado Tequila, 1/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur, 3/4 oz. of lemon juice and pink grapefruit juice, and 1/2 oz. agave nectar into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
MUSIC
Majel Connery & The Brothers Balliett: Rivers Are Our Brothers
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2022
2:00 PM
Wave Hill
4900 Independence Avenue, Riverdale, Bronx
$28 adult advance; $12 children 8-18 advance; $30 door; $14 children 8-18 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Singer/composer Majel Connery joins the bassoon/gamba Balliett Brothers for an extended Alt Classical/neo-Baroque/art pop piece on ecological themes. I’m feeling the magic.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Take a walk over to Claudy’s Kitchen for some absolutely wonderful homestyle Peruvian.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
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Friday, May 13, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Friday, May 13, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Friday, May 13, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Pablo Estigarribia
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022
8:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Solo tango piano, by a really good tango pianist.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, no Argentine within walking distance, so let’s go with a serviceable neighborhood version of Argentina’s favorite exoteric cuisine at Piccoli Trattoria. Streaming at home, have an Argentina (an old cocktail that may or may not have anything to do with actual Argentina): pour 1 oz. each of Gin and dry Vermouth and 1/4 oz. each of Cointreau and Bénédictine, with 1 dash each of orange and Angostura bitters, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe.
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Friday, May 13, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
OPERA
Brett Dean: Hamlet
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 9)
8:00 PM
Metropolitan Opera
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$30-$335
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Brett Dean’s European High Modernism (even if Dean himself is Australian) isn’t the kind of music we usually List around here. But even now, you can’t take new operas at the Met for granted.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good luck finding anywhere near the Met open after this show. Before, maybe the dependable neighborhood French at La Boite en Bois.
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Fri, May 13, 2022, 6:00 PM – Sat, May 14, 2022, 10:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Flatbed Follies
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 13 & 14, 2022 (also on MAY 27 & 28)
6:00 – 9:00 PM FRIDAY
12:00 – 6:00 PM SATURDAY
FRIDAY: Doyers Street & Pell Street, Chinatown, Manhattan
SATURDAY: Forsyth Street & Division Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus takes it to the street!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Friday, I am so enamored of Uncle Lou’s love letter to Old Skool Chinatown Cantonese that I can’t tell you. Saturday, I had my first hand-pulled noodles at Super Taste — and as everyone knows, your first is often your best.
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Thursday, May 12, 2022, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
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Thursday, May 12, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
NO EXIT New Music Ensemble
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
8:00 PM
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street, Midtown, Manhattan
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
I’m Listing this almost entirely because they’re playing a piece by the Polish composer/vocalist Agata Zubel, whose playful, inventive work I have never had a chance to hear live.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bistro Benoit has finally updated its webpage to acknowledge its new chef. That’s a good sign: at least someone is paying attention there.
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Thu, May 12, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:00 PM
DANCE
Ogemdi Ude: I know exactly what you mean
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 12 – 14, 2022
8:00 PM
Danspace Project
Church of St. Mark’s-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors; $10 children 12 and under; $15 wheelchair accessible
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A dance exploration of storytelling and lying in recovering cultural memory and establishing kinship in the Black community. If, as promised, this piece features a lot Old Skool Black Pop, then I know exactly what Ogemdi Ude means, too.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Some of the best Tibetan in New York at Lhasa Tibetan Restaurant.
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Thursday, May 12, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Interpretations: Tom Hamilton at Seventy-Five
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
8:00 PM
Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on Third Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20 advance in person; $25 door in person; $15 students/seniors in person; live stream free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The venerable electronic music composer Tom Hamilton celebrates his 75th year on Earth with a program of video and live (with an acoustic ensemble) performances.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, keep the birthday celebration going at Grand Army Bar. Streaming at home, have that avatar of the ‘90s cocktail revival, the Aviation: pour 2 oz. Gin, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, 1/4 oz. Simple Syrup, and 1 teaspoon each of Maraschino liqueur and Crème de Violette into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
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Thursday, May 12, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Underground System
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
8:00 PM
The Rockaway Hotel
108-10 Rockaway Beach Drive, Rockaway Beach, Queens
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This List is suspicious of syncretic bands that appropriate “ethnic” styles and dilute them with random other styles and their own local styles. (Of course it’s even more suspicious of bands that appropriate “ethnic” styles and try to be purists.) Underground System started out as the latter, trying to be more Afrobeat than Fela. Then it moved into the former, incorporated all sorts of dance rhythms one finds in various clubs in the City — and I have to tell you they’re a BLAST.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I will continue to remind you that there’s a fine restaurant right there in the The Rockaway Hotel called Margie’s.
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Thursday, May 12, 2022, 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM
MUSIC
Charlotte Greve: Wood River
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
Jazz Gallery
1160 Broadway (entrance on 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$15-$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Saxophonist/composer Charlotte Greve has her own jazz/art pop/contemporary classical fusion (not that those categories actually exist duh) — and boy is it attractive.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It must seem like I’m getting kickbacks from Italian-Ashkenazic treat Mark’s Off Madison, but really it’s just that I really like their food and want them to do well.
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Thu, May 12, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 15, 2022, 8:30 PM
THEATER
Brecht: Mother Courage and Her Children
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 12 – 15, 2022 (continuing through JUNE 5)
7:30 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
Irondale
85 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$10 THURSDAY; thereafter: $30; $15 students/seniors/working artists
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Bertolt Brecht is enormously important to this List, both for his esthetics — he perfected the kind of expressionistic non-realist theater we like around here — and for his politics. A must for all my fellow Commies.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Karasu, the speakeasy izakaya hidden in the back of Walter’s.
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Thursday, May 12, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
The Orchestra Now: New Voices from the 1930s
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
7:00 PM
Carnegie Hall
881 7th Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$12.50-$60
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Music from the 1930s in an idiom you can only call post-Neo-Classical. You need only list the composers to show how great this should be: Hartmann, Chávez, Still, and Lutosławski (whom you definitely think of as post-’30s — but they’re playing a very early work). Of particular note, now that many people complain about how political so much classical music is these days, is how political so much of it was in the 1930s.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good basic Greek at Souvlaki GR.
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Thursday, May 12, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Kamala Sankaram: Communal Sing-In
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 (also on MAY 26)
7:00 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
Free (R.S.V.P. required)
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Kamala Sankaram, one of the crucial vocal music writers of our time and place, has developed her own method of community singing, and here she presents some new songs she wrote for it for the audience to sing. As for how highly it’s recommended: well, only you know how good you are.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Homey comfy bistro at Manny’s Bistro.
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Wed, May 11, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:29 PM
MUSIC
The Stone Residencies: Brian Marsella
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 11 – 14, 2022
8:30 PM
The Stone
Glass Box Theater, The New School
55 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Perhaps even more intriguing than pianist d are the varied musicians he’s enlisted to play with him in the different-each-night ensembles during this residency.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’ll be nice to go back to the comfortable Emilia-Romagnan food at Da Andrea (do yourself a favor and start with the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto).
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Wed, May 11, 2022, 8:00 PM – Thu, May 12, 2022, 9:00 PM
DANCE
Yaa Samar! Dance Theater: Last Ward
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, MAY 11 & 12, 2022
8:00 PM
Gibney
280 Broadway (entrance on Chambers Street), Civic Center, Manhattan
$15-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A dance theater look at how sterile and mechanized the process of dying has become.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I can’t help but send you to Ward III for excellent cocktails.
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Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Wed, May 11, 2022, 7:30 PM – Thu, May 12, 2022, 8:29 PM
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Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
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Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Parhām Haghighi: Songs of Birjand
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022
7:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Exquisite music from Iran.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, yes it’s a trek, but how could you not go to Persian jewel Sofreh in conjunction with this show? Streaming at home, you can have a drink from the Sofreh cocktail menu, an Anar Sour: pour 3/4 oz. each of Bourbon, Islay Scotch, and lemon juice, and 1/2 oz. Grenadine, into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a pomegranate wedge (seeds will go flying) if you happen to have one.
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Wed, May 11, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 15, 2022, 9:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
Dream Music Puppetry: Puppetopia
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 11 – 15, 2022 (continuing through MAY 22)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY
7:00 & 8:30 PM WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
HERE
145 Sixth Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$25-$45 per show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Four different programs (two this week, two next week) of puppet theater(!!!!!!!).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Pleasant Sicilian at Piccola Cucina Osteria.
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Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
MUSIC
Joel Ross: “The Parable of the Poet” Album Release
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 13 & 14, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
Jazz Gallery In Person & SATURDAY Live Stream
1160 Broadway (entrance on 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$25-$35 In Person; $20 Live Stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Joel Ross, the vibes player of the day, celebrates the release of his new album with a truly unbelievable largish ensemble, including among other notables Marquis Hill, Immanuel Wilkins, Kalia Vandever, and Micah Thomas.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, hand rolls at KazuNori. Streaming at home, have an El Presidente: pour 1-1/2 oz. light Rum, 3/4 oz. each of dry Vermouth and Curaçao, and 1 teaspoon Grenadine into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. You can garnish with a cocktail cherry if you’re in the mood (I always am).
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Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Eve Beglarian: The Vicksburg Project
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 11 – 15, 2022 (continuing through MAY 29)
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Mabou Mines
150 1st Avenue, East Village, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
TICKETS + INFORMATION
In this long-awaited piece (let’s face it: in this post-Lockdown period, everything has been long-awaited), List hyper-fave Eve Beglarian explores the historical and current experiences of women (and female-identifying people), Black and White, in this pivotal Southern city — and at least implicitly teases out the implications. Major.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: How long has it been since any of us have been to the New Hawaiian gem Noreetuh? Time to check in.
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Tue, May 10, 2022, 9:30 PM – Sun, May 15, 2022, 10:30 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Justin Vivian Bond: Oh Mary, It’s Spring!
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 10 – 15, 2022
9:30 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Feel free to skip this show if you don’t care about good pop music, brilliant interpretation, cabaret, camp, drag, or laughing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Über-fun Sake Bar Decibel will still be open after this show. Whether you can get in without a long wait is another story.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
MUSIC
Da Capo Chamber Players: Bridging Styles
TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022
8:00 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center In Person & Live Stream
129 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$20 in person; $10 students/seniors in person; free live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Da Capo Chamber Players go from Carter to Jason Eckardt, with stops at places like Steve Reich along the way. All that and a brand new piece by David Sanford, who’s been splitting the difference between jazz and classical since long before bores like me started insisting on the disregard of genre as a matter of ideology.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, duh. Streaming at home, have a Bijou: pour 1 oz. each of Rye, sweet Vermouth, and green Chartreuse, with 1 dash of orange bitters, into an ice filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Express a lemon twist into the drink and use the rind as a garnish.
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Tue, May 10, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 14, 2022, 4:00 PM
THEATER
Michael Kinnan: Never Let Go
TUESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 10 – 14, 2022 (continuing through MAY 21)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Michael Kinnan’s smash one-man retelling of Titanic is back!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I went to Red Sauce standardbearer Bamonte’s recently for the first time in dog’s years, and you know what? It was GREAT! (On Wednesdays, when it’s closed, you can go to DeStefano’s and spend a lot of money on steak.)
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Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Ljova
TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022
7:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$10 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ljova does more of his fadolin thing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, snacky Israeli at the new Park Slope Taïm (and the chef/owner is now a comedian). Streaming at home, Paper Plane: pour 3/4 oz. each of Bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonio, and lemon juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a smile at drinking such a supremely great cocktail.
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Tue, May 10, 2022, 7:00 PM – Wed, May 11, 2022, 8:00 PM
THEATER
Target Margin Theater: One Night
TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 10 & 11 & 14, 2022 (continuing through MAY 28)
7:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
Target Margin Theater
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$69-$149
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Target Margin culminates its several-years-going exploration of the Thousand Nights and One Night with a nine-hour extravaganza (also available for viewing in two parts, for the faint of heart). The earlier (shorter) excerpts were imaginative, insightful, and incredibly fun. I personally am looking forward to this more than I can say.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I see us having some nice Cantonese at Lucky Eight.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Adam Schatz’s Civil Engineering Big Band / Allegra Kreiger
TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2022
7:00 PM
Union Pool
484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$18.45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Adam Schatz is one of very few people who can publicly display a musical affection for Classic Rock without seeming smarmy, retrograde, or just plain boring. Allegra Krieger is a singer-songwriter who is willing to go Outside.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: My current obsession with Brooklyn Red Sauce classic Bamonte’s continues unabated.
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Tue, May 10, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 15, 2022, 3:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Heather Christian: Oratorio for Living Things
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 10 – 15, 2022
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Ars Nova @ Greenwich House
27 Barrow Street, West Village, Manhattan
$35-$65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Country-folk-blues singer-songwriter Heather Christian presents a big long-form piece about what it means to be alive and our relationship with time (exactly the things I try hard not to think about).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Emmett’s on Grove and its Midwestern tavern-style pizza is all the rage. (I’m a New York/naples pizza loyalist myself.)
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Tue, May 10, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 15, 2022, 4:30 PM
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Monday, May 9, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Monday, May 9, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Monday, May 9, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Monday, May 9, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Ricardo Gallo
MONDAY, MAY 9, 2022
7:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$15 in person; free-$50 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Ricardo Gallo is a very sharp jazz pianist/composer with a distinctive style that draws on the music of his native Colombia without being at all folkloric. Tonight he plays solo.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, OF COURSE we’re going to Colombia in Park Slope. Streaming at home, you’ll have to do some shopping, but it would be only right to have a Refafo: pour 2 oz. Colombiana soda, 4 oz. beer, and 1.5 oz. Aguardiente into a beer stein over ice.
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Mon, May 9, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 15, 2022, 7:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 9 – 15, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 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).
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Mon, May 9, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 15, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 9 – 15, 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. 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.
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Sunday, May 8, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
MUSIC
Blue Heron: Divine Songs: Ockeghem@600
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2022
4:00 PM
Music Before 1800
Corpus Christi Catholic Church
529 West 121st Street, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
$10-$55; $5-$50 seniors; $5 students
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Who knows what it sounded like to contemporaries, but now the music of late-15th-Century Franco-Flemish choral polyphony master Johannes Ockeghem sounds like pure, if complex, staggering beauty. There’ll also be music by some of his great contemporaries — although none were quite as great as him. Boston’s Blue Heron are absolute masters of this repertoire.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hard not to observe that Eritrean treat Masawa is right around the corner.
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Sunday, May 8, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
OPERA
Handel: Serse
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2022
2:00 PM
Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$19-$125
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Serse — an oddly funny opera about Xerxes, of all people — may not be Handel’s very greatest opera. But its opening aria, “Ombra Mai Fu”, is one of the most deservedly famous — and completely indelible — things in all of Western music. (And things stay pretty great from there.) Harry Bicket’s annual concert performances of Handel operas with his English Concert are reliable highlights of the New York musical year — and he’s assembled his usual sterling roster of singers you want to hear (Emily D’Angelo IS Serse).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Another opportunity to go to the superb Italian café Lodi.
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Saturday, May 7, 2022, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM
MUSIC
Andy Stott / Debit
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2022
10:00 PM
Good Room
98 Meserole Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
An appearance by Andy Stott, with his glistening on the surface but disturbing underneath electronic pop, would be exciting enough. But the bill also includes Debit, who has taken to rewardingly tinging her electronic dance pop with indigenous Mexican strains.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hard not to send you to Taqueria Ramirez for the best Mexico City style tacos in New York EVER.
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Saturday, May 7, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Saturday, May 7, 2022, 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM
MUSIC
Kalia Vandever: “Regrowth” Album Release Show
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2022
7:30 & 9:30 PM
Jazz Gallery
1160 Broadway (entrance on 27th Street), NoMad, Manhattan
$20-$35
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The world needs more good new jazz trombonists (I LOVE that instrument!), and Brooklyn’s own Kalia Vandever is certainly one. Also, another chance to hear the ascendant Immanuel Wilkins on alto.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It must seem like I’m getting kickbacks from Italian-Ashkenazic treat Mark’s Off Madison, but really it’s just that I really like their food and want them to do well.
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Saturday, May 7, 2022, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
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Saturday, May 7, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
MUSIC
No Accidents / Relaxer / SPF 50 / Hattie
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2022
6:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$14.63
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Various forms of pop- and dance-oriented electronic and band music, with the occassional multi-media add-on.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Fresh Korean at Insa.
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Saturday, May 7, 2022, 2:00 PM – 2:59 PM
THEATER
Target Margin Theater: One Night
TUESDAY – THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 3 – 5 & 7, 2022 (continuing through MAY 28)
7:00 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
Target Margin Theater
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$59-$129
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Target Margin culminates its several-years-going exploration of the Thousand Nights and One Night with a nine-hour extravaganza (also available for viewing in two parts, for the faint of heart). The earlier (shorter) excerpts were imaginative, insightful, and incredibly fun. I personally am looking forward to this more than I can say.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I see us having some nice Cantonese at Lucky Eight.
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Friday, May 6, 2022, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
MUSIC
Toucan Sounds: “Playground Compilation” Release Party
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022
9:00 PM
Public Records
233 Butler Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn
$20.40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A ‘60s/’70s leftover such as myself can’t help but be appalled by the frank Capitalist commercial entrepreneurism of Toucan Sounds — but the listener in me can’t help but appreciate how sharp and cool the electronic music their label releases is .
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Good Oaxacan at Claro.
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Friday, May 6, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Friday, May 6, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Friday, May 6, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Friday, May 6, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Osvaldo Golijov: Falling Out of Time
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022
7:30 PM
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan
$38-$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
When I first listened to this new(ish) piece, I thought it was a real comeback for the eclectic composer Osvaldo Golijov, something like a return to form. But I can’t say I’ve been compelled to return to it. So, highly listenable, but not as compelling in its admixture of pop/folk and contemporary mainstream classical styles as the stuff from Golijov’s Imperial Phase.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Gallagher’s is a GREAT Old Skool steak house.
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Friday, May 6, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Gelsey Bell
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022
7:00 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
For her Joe’s Pub debut, List Goddess Gelsey Bell shows her more, let’s say, approachable side. If that means a reconvening of the supernal Ghost Quartet quartet, then this List can’t wait. But don’t worry: Bell will also let her experimental vocalist flag fly. Also pitching in are the wonderful composer/songwriter/performer Joe White, Justin Hicks (another inside/outside music-theater artist whose pairing with Bell has proven to be inspired), experimental saxophonist Erin Rogers, and Aviva Jaye, a popping singer-songwriter whom you will just LOVE.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I am kind of reluctant to send you anyplace this douchey, but one can’t help but be a little curious about the new New York branch of Miami wood ‘n’ smoke house Kyu.
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Thu, May 5, 2022, 9:30 PM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 10:30 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Justin Vivian Bond: Oh Mary, It’s Spring!
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 5 – 8, 2022 (continuing through MAY 15)
9:30 PM
Joe’s Pub, Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, NoHo, Manhattan
$45
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Feel free to skip this show if you don’t care about good pop music, brilliant interpretation, cabaret, camp, drag, or laughing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Über-fun Sake Bar Decibel will still be open after this show. Whether you can get in without a long wait is another story.
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Thu, May 5, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sat, May 7, 2022, 9:30 PM
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Thursday, May 5, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Thursday, May 5, 2022, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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Thu, May 5, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 4:00 PM
DANCE
Yaa Samar! Dance Theater: Last Ward
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 5 – 8, 2022 (continuing through MAY 12)
8:00 PM THURSDAY – SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Gibney In Person & FRIDAY Live Stream
280 Broadway (entrance on Chambers Street), Civic Center, Manhattan
$15-$20
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A dance theater look at how sterile and mechanized the process of dying has become.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, I can’t help but send you to Ward III for excellent cocktails. Streaming at home, I can’t help but recommend a Final Ward: pour 3/4 oz. each of Gin, green Chartreuse, Maraschino liqueur, and lemon juice into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Thu, May 5, 2022, 7:30 PM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 9:00 PM
THEATER
Familie Flötz: Hotel Paradiso
THURSDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 5 – 8, 2022
7:30 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Peak Performances
Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If audiences have to be masked, I guess it’s only fair that performers be, too. This Berlin outfit is called the foremost masked theater company in the world. One wonders about, say, all of Asia — but their reviews have always been great, and here they finally are in their U.S. debut. Fans of theatrical artifice — highly prized around here — shouldn’t hesitate.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s not that New American charmer Turtle + The Wolf is the only good restaurant I know in Montclair. It’s that it’s the only good one I know that’s in walking distance of the Alexander Kasser Theater.
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Thu, May 5, 2022, 7:00 PM – Fri, May 6, 2022, 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Look + Listen Festival
TUESDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 3, 5 & 6, 2022
7:00 PM
TUESDAY & THURSDAY: Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
FRIDAY: BRIC
647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The original conceit of this New Music festival, now celebrating its 20th anniversary, is that you would hear the music in art galleries, where a synergy between the music and the visual art would supposedly ensue. I didn’t find that to actually happen much, and even though this year’s shows are in places that also serve as galleries, the emphasis seems (at least to me) to be more solidly on the music — and it’s all very good stuff. Tuesday’s show is a look-back, with older pieces played by now-eminent musicians who had previously played at this Festival when they were less eminent. Thursday’s show — my pick — is a look ahead, with a delightful assemblage of List faves. Friday’s show features larger scale theatrical pieces.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tuesday and Thursday, I recently went to Saint Julivert Fisherie for the first time in a while (its having been closed for nearly two years during Lockdown having been something of a deterrent). I had forgotten quite how much I like it. Creative and delicious seafood. Friday, you’ll be within stumbling distance of The Rockwell Place, a fun bar with really great cocktails.
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Thursday, May 5, 2022, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM
MUSIC
Nights of the Ravished Limbs
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2022
7:00, 8:30 & 10:00 PM
Barbès In Person & Live Stream
376 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$20 per set/$45 all three sets in person; free-$20 per set live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
As part of its 20th Anniversary season, Barbès harkens back to an early-years jazz series. Tonight’s tribute features Anthony Coleman, then Mark Helias with Tim Berne, then the trio of Tony Malaby, Angelica Sanchez, and Tom Rainey.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, Peruvian at Surfish Bistro. Streaming at home, have an Old Pal: 2 oz. Rye and 1 oz. each of dry Vermouth and Campari into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Stir. Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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Thu, May 5, 2022, 6:30 PM – Sat, May 7, 2022, 7:30 PM
OPERA
Jillian Flexner: Self-Defined Circuits
TUESDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 3 & 5 – 7, 2022
6:30 PM
Fresh Squeezed Opera
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A recently created sexbot tries to figure out the meaning of womanhood in a world quite literally operated by a man. Composer Jillian Flexner characteristically blends electronics and orchestration piquantly.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Foxtail, the new “speakeasy” in the Arlo Soho Hotel, looks to cute and gimmicky by half. But let’s give it a chance, shall we?
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Wednesday, May 4, 2022, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM
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Wed, May 4, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 9:00 PM
THEATER
Michael Kinnan: Never Let Go
WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 4 – 8, 2022 (continuing through MAY 21)
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY
3:00 PM SATURDAY
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25-$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Michael Kinnan’s smash one-man retelling of Titanic is back!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I went to Red Sauce standardbearer Bamonte’s recently for the first time in dog’s years, and you know what? It was GREAT! (On Wednesdays, when it’s closed, you can go to DeStefano’s and spend a lot of money on steak.)
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Wed, May 4, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sat, May 7, 2022, 9:00 PM
MUSIC
MATA Festival 2022
WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 4 – 7, 2022
8:00 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
7:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Roulette In Person & Live Stream
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on 3rd Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: $20 online; $25 door; free live stream
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: $25
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The venerable MATA New Music Festival, having veered a little institutional in later years, goes back to its renegade roots — and good for it! This year’s festival was curated by MATA’s first (I think he’s the first) Artist-in-Residence, the superlative alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones — and how great that MATA reached across genre boundaries for that initial appointment! The first three nights feature carefully selected emerging composers — and I would be shocked if anyone came out of any of them without at least a couple of new favorites to watch. The last night features a new extended piece by Jones himself. Throughout, there will be playing by the peerless International Contemporary Ensemble.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Wednesday and Thursday in person, I would be pleased to recommend the new Brooklyn branch of the Paris Franco-Japanese Café Kitsune — if they would be so good as to publicize their hours. Streaming at home those nights, have an Empire (special prize to anyone who can guess why I chose to recommend this old Harry Craddock recipe here): pour 1-1/2 oz. Gin, 3/4 oz. each Calvados and Apricot liqueur, and 1/3 oz. water into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake (that’s right: Harry says to shake this). Strain into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with an orange twist (or, if you have one, an apricot slice). Friday and Saturday, it’s getting to be time again for the endless Caribbean party at Kokomo.
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Tue, May 3, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 10:30 PM
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: The Innovators: Debussy to Crumb
TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2022
7:30 PM
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
1941 Broadway, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$34-$74
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Chamber Music Society has put together a really great program here — and given it the least cool packaging you could imagine. It’s almost as if legacy mainstream classical music institutions want to deflect any kind of vital audience. But let’s focus on the positive: great vocal pieces by Debussy, Ives, and Crumb (his hit Ancient Voices of Children), and Stravinsky’s four-hand piano reduction of Rite of Spring (a very interesting way to listen to that piece) (Stravinsky played it with Debussy!) to boot. Hold your nose and go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nice pan-Mediterranean at Boulud Sud.
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Tue, May 3, 2022, 7:00 PM – Thu, May 5, 2022, 7:59 PM
THEATER
Target Margin Theater: One Night
TUESDAY – THURSDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 3 – 5 & 7, 2022 (continuing through MAY 28)
7:00 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY
Target Margin Theater
232 52nd Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
$59-$129
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Target Margin culminates its several-years-going exploration of the Thousand Nights and One Night with a nine-hour extravaganza (also available for viewing in two parts, for the faint of heart). The earlier (shorter) excerpts were imaginative, insightful, and incredibly fun. I personally am looking forward to this more than I can say.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I see us having some nice Cantonese at Lucky Eight.
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Look + Listen Festival
TUESDAY, THURSDAY & FRIDAY, MAY 3, 5 & 6, 2022
7:00 PM
TUESDAY & THURSDAY: Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
FRIDAY: BRIC
647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The original conceit of this New Music festival, now celebrating its 20th anniversary, is that you would hear the music in art galleries, where a synergy between the music and the visual art would supposedly ensue. I didn’t find that to actually happen much, and even though this year’s shows are in places that also serve as galleries, the emphasis seems (at least to me) to be more solidly on the music — and it’s all very good stuff. Tuesday’s show is a look-back, with older pieces played by now-eminent musicians who had previously played at this Festival when they were less eminent. Thursday’s show — my pick — is a look ahead, with a delightful assemblage of List faves. Friday’s show features larger scale theatrical pieces.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tuesday and Thursday, I recently went to Saint Julivert Fisherie for the first time in a while (its having been closed for nearly two years during Lockdown having been something of a deterrent). I had forgotten quite how much I like it. Creative and delicious seafood. Friday, you’ll be within stumbling distance of The Rockwell Place, a fun bar with really great cocktails.
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Tue, May 3, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 3:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Heather Christian: Oratorio for Living Things
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 3 – 8, 2022 (continuing through MAY 15)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Ars Nova @ Greenwich House
27 Barrow Street, West Village, Manhattan
$35-$65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Country-folk-blues singer-songwriter Heather Christian presents a big long-form piece about what it means to be alive and our relationship with time (exactly the things I try hard not to think about).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Emmett’s on Grove and its Midwestern tavern-style pizza is all the rage. (I’m a New York/naples pizza loyalist myself.)
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
OPERA
Jillian Flexner: Self-Defined Circuits
TUESDAY & THURSDAY – SATURDAY, MAY 3 & 5 – 7, 2022
6:30 PM
Fresh Squeezed Opera
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$30
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A recently created sexbot tries to figure out the meaning of womanhood in a world quite literally operated by a man. Composer Jillian Flexner characteristically blends electronics and orchestration piquantly.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Foxtail, the new “speakeasy” in the Arlo Soho Hotel, looks to cute and gimmicky by half. But let’s give it a chance, shall we?
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Tue, May 3, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 4:30 PM
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Monday, May 2, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
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Monday, May 2, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Bushwick Improvised Music Series
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022
7:00 PM
Bushwick Public House
1288 Myrtle Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$15
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Improvising musicians improvise.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You'll obviously be drinking at the Bushwick Public House (if you have any sense of citizenship AT ALL). Before the show, tacos at Don Andre's Modern Taqueria.
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Mon, May 2, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 7:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 2 – 8, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 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).
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Mon, May 2, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 8, 2022, 1:00 AM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, MAY 2 – 8, 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. 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.
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Sunday, May 1, 2022, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Static Shift presents: Dreamcatcher / SYANIDE / et al.
SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2022
7:00 PM
Trans-Pecos
915 Wyckoff Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens
$15 advance; $20 door
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Noise. But with beats.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Nepalese/New York fusion at While in Kathmandu.
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Sunday, May 1, 2022, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
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Sunday, May 1, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Untitled Theater Company #61: Cabaret in Captivity
SUNDAY, MAY 1, 2022
2:00 PM
Triad Theater In Person & Live Stream
158 West 72nd Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$25 in person; $20 live stream
TICKETS + INFORMATION
The Potemkin Village concentration camp of Terezín/Theresienstadt housed many artists and musicians (until they were deported elsewhere for extermination). They created a lot of very attractive music there in the racy 1920s/30s Czech Neoclassical style. And, along similar lines, some very appealing cabaret — the focus of this show. Less appealing is that it was written, knowingly, in the shadow of death — but of course the whole point of cabaret is a dark underbelly.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: In person, of course you’ll go to Pastrami Queen. Streaming at home, have a Beton: pour 2 oz. Becherovka into a Collins glass over ice. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and toss in the spent lemon. Top with tonic water. You can also throw in a lime wedge if you want.
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Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 8:00 PM
MUSIC
Outline: Spring
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, APRIL 30 & MAY 1, 2022
7:00 PM
Knockdown Center
52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
$40 per night; $65 both nights
TICKETS + INFORMATION
If the Long Play festival comprises most of the music this List exists to cover, this Outline festival includes the rest: experimental pop that often sounds an awful lot like contemporary classical.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: A festival this good deserves the good times of Gottscheer Hall, run by members of a community of ethnic Bavarians who made their way to Slovenia before mid-20th Century events drove them the Ridgewood.
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Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 8:30 PM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 5:00 PM
DANCE
John Scott Dance: Cloud Study
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 29 – MAY 1, 2022
8:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa Moves!
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25 advance; $30 day of; $20 students/seniors advance; $25 students/seniors day of; $10 first 10 tickets to each show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
This Dublin-based dance company brings a dreamy cloud-invoking piece to New York. And one of the dancers is that incredibly magnetic Mufutau Yusef, whom you may remember from last week’s solo piece at the Irish Arts Center!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Go to Vaselka and show the flag.
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Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 3:00 PM
DANCE
Valetango Company: Confianza
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 29 – MAY 1, 2022
7:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
La MaMa Moves!
La MaMa
66 East 4th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25 advance; $30 day of; $20 students/seniors advance; $25 students/seniors day of; $10 first 10 tickets to each show
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Exploratory contemporary tango.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Easy call: hardcore Argentinian at Buenos Aires..
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Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 11:00 PM
MUSIC
Bang on a Can: Long Play Festival
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 29 – MAY 1, 2022
Various Times
Various Places
Brooklyn
$95 daily passes; $195-$350 three-day festival passes; subsidized tickets available
TICKETS + INFORMATION
A mind-boggling assemblage of shows all over Brooklyn of exactly the kind of music this List was created to cover. You can’t possibly miss this.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It’s all over Brooklyn!
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Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 8:00 PM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 10:00 PM
MUSIC
Jonathan Blake & Pentad
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 26 – MAY 1, 2022
8:00 & 10:00 PM
Village Vanguard
178 7th Avenue South, West Village, Manhattan
$40
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Not only is Jonathan Blake an excellent, distinctive drummer, but his band here is beyond fabulous, containing some of the leading musicians of the current jazz generation: Immanuel Wilkins, Joel Ross, David Virelles, and Ben Street. Almost hard to believe, actually.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Distinctive and incredibly flavorful Southern Indian at Semma.
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Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 7:00 PM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 3:00 PM
MUSIC / THEATER
Heather Christian: Oratorio for Living Things
TUESDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 26 – MAY 1, 2022 (continuing through MAY 15)
7:00 PM TUESDAY – SATURDAY
2:00 PM SUNDAY
Ars Nova @ Greenwich House
27 Barrow Street, West Village, Manhattan
$35-$65
TICKETS + INFORMATION
Country-folk-blues singer-songwriter Heather Christian presents a big long-form piece about what it means to be alive and our relationship with time (exactly the things I try hard not to think about).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Emmett’s on Grove and its Midwestern tavern-style pizza is all the rage. (I’m a New York/naples pizza loyalist myself.)
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Tue, Apr 26, 2022, 10:00 AM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 4:30 PM
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Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 8:00 AM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 7:00 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Gelsey Bell feat. Joseph White: Cairns
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 2022 (ongoing)
8:00 AM – 7:00 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).
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Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 6:00 AM – Sun, May 1, 2022, 11:59 PM
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
Ellen Reid: SOUNDWALK
MONDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 25 – MAY 1, 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. 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.
