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Saturday, September 29, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University
- 1 Normal Avenue
- Montclair, NJ, 07043
- United States
MUSIC
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2018
8:00 PM
Peak Performances
Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University
1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey
$30
The New Music choir The Crossing is just great: their show at the Park Avenue Armory last week was spectacular, as anyone lucky enough to have seen it will attest. Now you have another shot at them, presenting a different program in Montclair, this time backed by members of the superb International Chamber Ensemble. This program, centering on various current sociopolitical topic, features three composers who are among the most immediately engaging now writing in America: David Lang, Caroline Shaw, and Ted Hearne. This is the kind of music this List exists to promote; and if you think you don't like contemporary classical music, I can almost bet you that music like this will change your mind.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: For Saturday concerts like this one, Peak Performances charters a bus to and from Montclair State and Port Authority ($10). If you're sticking around Montclair, the clear recommendation is Pharmacie Liquor Bar: the pub grub may be basic, but the cocktails are anything but.
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Saturday, September 29, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Greenwich House Music School
- 46 Barrow Street
- New York, NY, 10014
- United States
MUSIC
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2018
8:00 PM
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street, West Village, Manhattan
Free
Hypercube, the always intriguing guitar-sax-piano-percussion quartet, plays behind a dancer and a singer in a ballet and an opera by Juan Trigos, a rhythmically stunning Mexican-born composer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You're right around the block from that French delight Buvette. Just go.
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Friday, September 28, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Miller Theater at Columbia University
- 2960 Broadway
- New York, NY, 10027
- United States
OPERA
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
8:00 PM
Miller Theater at Columbia University
2960 Broadway, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
$40-$75
Missy Mazzoli's last opera (like this one with Royce Vavrek, master librettist of the new opera), Breaking the Waves, was stunning: a real portent of the future of opera (and proof, if anybody needed it, of the form's continuing viability). A lot of new opera -- the kind I personally like most, to be honest -- is so attenuated in its connection to the operatic tradition that it can seem like a whole new genre. Breaking the Waves, however, continued a line from Janáček and Britten. Missy Mazzoli had already established herself as one of the leading composers of her generation -- but who could have predicted she'd have such a masterly feel for music as a dramatic force? Breaking the Waves made her seem like that rare animal, the born opera composer. So to say that expectations are high for this, her new opera, is if anything an understatement. That it's based on a short story by Karen Russell, many people's favorite young oddball fictionalist, addressing the toxic effects of the American desperation for individual self-advancement -- a pertinent topic if ever there was one -- is only icing on the cake.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'll be honest: I haven't been to Columbia Greek (the cuisine, not the frat culture) mainstay Symposium since I was attending student journalism conferences up there in high school. At the time, I thought it was fantastic. A lot water under the bridge since then -- but you don't stay in business since the late '60s by being bad.
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Friday, September 28, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- Abrons Arts Center
- 466 Grand Street
- New York, NY, 10002
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
7:30 PM
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
$15
Onyx is a much-talked-about, highly eclectic New York avant-jazz collective (but don't let that scare you: they care about FUN). Their NYXO series features like-minded musicians from the variety of different genres that abound in New York. If you have any kind of open mind about music, this show is for you.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: To say that Randall's Barbecue is getting mixed notices might be kind. The problem is that its drawing card might turn out to be its flaw: in keeping with the neighborhood, it aims to reflect Ashkenazic Jewish food in its 'cue. As any of us who grew up in that tradition can tell you, however, one ineluctable feature of Ashkenazic cooking is dry, tasteless meat -- exactly what you don't want from barbecue. I still find the conceit so enticing, though, that I'm not willing to write this place off.
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Friday, September 28, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Grace Raney Rogers Auditorium, Metropolitan Museum of Art
- 1000 5th Avenue
- New York, NY, 10028
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
7:00 PM
Grace Raney Rogers Auditorium, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$65
If there's a better jazz singer around right now than Cécile McLorin Salvant, I don't think anyone knows who she is. This large-scale work of Salvant's own composition -- about an ogress, natch -- involves some top-notch collaborators: Darcy James Argue arranging and conducting, and our old friends the Mivos Quartet and that fantastic vibraphonist Warren Wolf in the band.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Eat yourself into a stupor with only one sandwich at Pastrami Queen, a great New York deli that people tend to forget about.
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Friday, September 28, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village
- 371 6th Avenue
- Manhattan, NY, 10014
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
7:00 PM
TENET
St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village
371 6th Avenue, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20-$60
Bet you never heard of Giovanni Rovetta (he's so obscure I can't find a good hyperlink). He had the historical misfortune of succeeding the great Monteverdi (and preceding the underrated-but-nevertheless-known Cavalli) as the maestro di capella at San Marco in Venice. Is it any wonder he's tended to be overshadowed? Hey, I listen to this kind of Baroque vocal music obsessively, and I've never heard of the guy. But I'll tell you what: whatever we might (or might not) know about Rovetta now, San Marco wasn't going to hire some non-entity in its Golden Musical Age. Anyway, the excellent TENET ensemble is its own recommendation. (Also, on a personal note, I have to say I spent a good chunk of my teenage years sitting on the front stairs of this church -- this was back when they used to let you sit on the stairs -- but I've never yet been inside.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You might be skeptical of a pan-Chinese restaurant, but I've heard nothing but praise for Hao Noodle & Tea by Madame Zhu's Kitchen (and this concert will let you out early enough to beat their disgracefully early closing time).
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Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 8:00 PM – Sun, Sep 30, 2018, 9:00 PM
- La Mama, Downstairs
- 66 East 4th Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 - 30, 2018 (continuing through OCTOBER 6)
8:00 PM THURSDAY - SUNDAY
10:00 PM FRIDAY
La Mama, Downstairs
66 East Fourth Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors
Philadelphia performance artist Gunnar Montana creates a representation of a Berlin underground sex club, and things proceed from there.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Am I going to send you to Momofuku Ko Bar again? Sorry, I am: that's how much I love it.
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Thursday, September 27, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- National Sawdust
- 80 North 6th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11249
- United States
MUSIC
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018
8:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$35
Nico Muhly makes it a practice, when he has a new opera at the Met, to host a casual salon performance at a nightclub featuring members of the opera's cast. So here are cast members of the upcoming Met production of Muhly's Marnie, singing songs from outside their operatic repertoires. Since that cast includes the truly stellar Isabel Leonard and Iestyn Davies, this show can only be characterized as sensational.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Hmmm. Marnie takes place in England. So maybe we'll have the (quite wonderful) vaguely English-inflected food at Chez Ma Tante?
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Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 7:30 PM – Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:30 PM
- Skirball Center, NYU
- 566 LaGuardia Place
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
DANCE
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 2018
7:30 PM
Crossing the Line Festival
Skirball Center, NYU
566 LaGuardia Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$35-$45
Boris Charmatz is one of the French "non-dance" choreographers who are either accused of or celebrated for abandoning the ordering of movement in favor of conceptual explorations. (As if you couldn't guess, I'm solidly in the "celebrating" camp.) Here, Charmatz have has his dancers engage in thousands of disconnected gestures, none of them to be repeated. It's all set to Mozart's Requiem -- which I guess is a suggestion what this all ultimately leads to.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: My suspicion is that drinks will be called for after this. Good thing we're right near New York's best new cocktail bar, Existing Conditions. Good food, too.
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Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Sep 30, 2018, 8:30 PM
- St. Ann's Warehouse
- 45 Water Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
THEATER
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 - 30, 2018 (continuing through NOVEMBER 11)
7:30 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
St. Ann's Warehouse
45 Water Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
$26-$100
Daniel Fish's stripped-down version of Oklahoma! was rapturously received when it played at Bard a few summers ago. I personally can't imagine not being nauseated by Oscar Hammerstein II's smug mid-century coyness -- but, hey, I came out of punk. If anything can make a case for it, this production should. Try to snag a table seat, so you can get access to chili, cornbread, and lemonade.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You'd really think a neighborhood like DUMBO would have a better dining scene than it does. But no: I'm forced to be repetitive and send you to Celestine again. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 7:30 PM – Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:30 PM
- David Geffen Hall
- 10 Lincoln Center Plaza
- New York, NY, 10023
- United States
MUSIC
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 2018
7:30 PM THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$52-$105
Conrad Tao is very far from one of my favorite current composers -- his work seems toothless to me -- but the Phil gets points for programming new works on its two initial subscription runs this season. As much as it pains me to say so, the real draw here is the standard-rep part of the program -- as if there's anything standard about Bruckner, the most radical of Late Romantic composers, whose cosmically expansive works seem more relevant than ever in this age of John Luther Adams. On this program is Bruckner's Eighth Symphony, the most sublime thing Bruckner ever wrote. The Phil's new music director, Jaap von Zweden, strikes me as much too brash in approach for this music -- but friends tell me he is in fact a distinguished Brucknerian (he certainly has a way with Bruckner's idol Wagner). We'll see.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'm rekindling my like affair with pan-Mediterranean Boulud Sud -- and invite you to join me.
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Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 8:30 PM
DANCE
THURSDAY - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 - 29, 2018 (also OCTOBER 4 - 6)
7:30 PM
New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$15-$30
Choreographer RoseAnne Spradlin is not afraid to be repetitious. RoseAnne Spradlin is not afraid to be enigmatic. RoseAnne Spradlin is not afraid to be scary. But most of all, RoseAnne Spradlin is not afraid to be intense. This brand new piece presumably picks up where her previous piece, X, left off.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It's pretty hard not to send you down the block to Socarrat for what might be the best paella in the City.
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Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 30, 2018, 8:00 PM
- La Mama, Ellen Stewart Theater
- 66 East 4th Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
THEATER
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 - 30, 2018 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 30)
7:00 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
La Mama, Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East Fourth Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
This well-regarded bunch of alt-satirists presents an interactive multi-media look at the state of arts funding today, as contrasted with the glory days of the 1960s -- and all the implications for our polity arising from that difference. (N.B.: The "R" in the show title is supposed to be backwards -- but I can't figure out how to do that.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The East Village is currently experiencing a Chinese food efflorescence. And none of the myriad new places is more efflorescent than Hunan Slurp, featuring delicious Hunan rice noodles and other delicious Hunan dishes.
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Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 10:00 AM – Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 11:00 AM
- St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery
- 131 East 10th Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
DANCE
THURSDAY - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 - 29
8:00 PM
Crossing the Line Festival
Danspace Project
St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$22
Another chance to see this multi-media exploration of what it's like to be black in America -- a state, the creators note, that is never construed as neutral -- by two extraordinary African-American artists (poet Claudia Rankine and choreographer Will Rawls) and one extraordinary ringer who's married to an extraordinary African-American artist (Rankine's husband, the filmmaker John Lucas). Another of those shows that are so compelling that it's no surprise the run is all sold out; waitlist at 7:15 each night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sake Bar Decibel has been there long enough -- 25 years -- that it should no longer be cool. But it is, it is. Great sake, good food, amazing vibe.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM
- Joe's Pub, The Public Theater
- 425 Lafayette Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
MUSIC/PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 (also OCTOBER 3 & 10)
9:30 PM
Joe's Pub, The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, Noho, Manhattan
$25
When John Kelly started doing this tribute to Joni Mitchell, he dressed up as her: flowing blonde hair, flowing dresses, the full Joni. Now, he does it dressed as himself. Which puts more of the focus on the astonishing interpretative acuity of this greatest of performance artists. Not to mention the astonishing songwriting abilities of that greatest of singer-songwriters.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: While I'm tossing superlatives like confetti, let me say this: Szechuan Mountain House is the best Sichuan restaurant in Manhattan. The menu is extensive, and mostly consists of things you don't see in every cornershop. Preparation is superb. The only downside is that, as you'd expect, it's very hard to get in.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Elsewhere
- 599 Johnson Avenue
- Brooklyn, NY, 11237
- United States
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
9:00 PM
Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$18 advance; $20 door
You probably know that London has spawned an exciting new jazz scene, populist but with integrity and great freshness. (It's kind of analogous to the LA jazz scene centering on Kamasi Washington, except in London the jazz is inflected by drum 'n' bass and maybe some Caribbean rhythms rather than funk). You probably haven't heard any live yet, though. Here's your chance, but some excellent exponents of the style.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Start the party -- or keep it going after the show -- at Chicha, Brooklyn's most stylish Nicaraguan restaurant (indeed, it may be Brooklyn's only one).
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
8:00 PM
Crossing the Line Festival
Issue Project Room
22 Boerum Place, Downtown, Brooklyn
$15
Wow, this looks great. Brooklyn noise/classical cellist Leila Bordreuil presents an immersive new piece in collaboration with Berlin multi-media artist Doron Sadja, who has created a light display drawing on Scriabin's synesthetic associations and other similar theories of the association of sound with color and light. What's more, the piece will be performed by the excellent Mivos Quartet, and also (somewhat mysteriously) by Brooklyn moving-image-and-sound artist Thomas Dexter.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before: The folks behind El Quinto Pino and La Vara have opened a new seafood restaurant, Saint Julivert Fisherie. This is big news indeed. It will probably be pretty hard to get in. It will almost certainly be worth it. (And if you can't get in, La Vara is right next door -- not that it's so easy, either.) After: elemental drinks at onetime longshormen's bar Montero.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Miller Theater at Columbia University
- 2960 Broadway
- New York, NY, 10027
- United States
OPERA
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
8:00 PM
Miller Theater at Columbia University
2960 Broadway, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
$40-$75
Missy Mazzoli's last opera (like this one with Royce Vavrek, master librettist of the new opera), Breaking the Waves, was stunning: a real portent of the future of opera (and proof, if anybody needed it, of the form's continuing viability). A lot of new opera -- the kind I personally like most, to be honest -- is so attenuated in its connection to the operatic tradition that it can seem like a whole new genre. Breaking the Waves, however, continued a line from Janáček and Britten. Missy Mazzoli had already established herself as one of the leading composers of her generation -- but who could have predicted she'd have such a masterly feel for music as a dramatic force? Breaking the Waves made her seem like that rare animal, the born opera composer. So to say that expectations are high for this, her new opera, is if anything an understatement. That it's based on a short story by Karen Russell, many people's favorite young oddball fictionalist, addressing the toxic effects of the American desperation for individual self-advancement -- a pertinent topic if ever there was one -- is only icing on the cake.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'll be honest: I haven't been to Columbia Greek (the cuisine, not the frat culture) mainstay Symposium since I was attending student journalism conferences up there in high school. At the time, I thought it was fantastic. A lot water under the bridge since then -- but you don't stay in business since the late '60s by being bad.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- National Sawdust
- 80 North 6th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11249
- United States
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
7:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25
Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and drummer Andrew Cyrille are certainly two of the better, more fecund improvisers on the scene right now. Don't worry too much about genre. Just listen and see what they come up with this night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I'm feeling the Sardinian food and wine at D.O.C. Wine Bar tonight.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- SummerStage, Rumsey Playfield
- 71st Street & East Drive
- New York NY
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
6:00 PM
Blood Orange
SummerStage, Rumsey Playfield
71st Street & East Drive, Central Park, Manhattan
$35-$40
A list of current pop music practitioners who are better than alt-R&B singer/songwriter/producer Blood Orange: . Obviously this is sold out. Good luck.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Bemelmans Bar has one of the best interiors in all of New York. Too bad the drinks and food aren't better.
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Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 8:30 PM – Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 9:30 PM
- HERE
- 145 6th Avenue
- New York, NY, 10013
- United States
PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 - 29, 2018
8:30 PM
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$25-$45
Another queer-eye performance piece, this one a fascinating, ultimately rather moving, exploration of the popular arts as a backstop against loneliness. Film, video, even Butoh dancing are involved. Creator/performer Rob Roth is kind of major, a stunningly good Rebecca Hall is a very important presence on screen, and the musical interludes are particularly excellent (one composed by the all-around wonderful Kamala Sankaram). Very definitely worth a visit.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Famous Ben's Pizza remains one of the very best Old Skool slice joints in New York. The Palermo Sicilian slices are supernal.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery
- 131 East 10th Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
DANCE
TUESDAY & THURSDAY - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 & 27 - 29
8:00 PM
Crossing the Line Festival
Danspace Project
St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
$22
Another chance to see this multi-media exploration of what it's like to be black in America -- a state, the creators note, that is never construed as neutral -- by two extraordinary African-American artists (poet Claudia Rankine and choreographer Will Rawls) and one extraordinary ringer who's married to an extraordinary African-American artist (Rankine's husband, the filmmaker John Lucas). Another of those shows that are so compelling that it's no surprise the run is all sold out; waitlist at 7:15 each night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Sake Bar Decibel has been there long enough -- 25 years -- that it should no longer be cool. But it is, it is. Great sake, good food, amazing vibe.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- David Geffen Hall
- 10 Lincoln Center Plaza
- New York, NY, 10023
- United States
MUSIC
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
7:30 PM
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$59-$155
New Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the Philharmonic management team seem intent on proving that this appointment isn't the reactionary throw-back that many fear (and, to be fair, many welcome), by peppering Jaap's opening concerts with significant new pieces. This, part of the run of Jaap's very first shows, opens with a new commission by someone who must be the most talked-about young composer in New York right now, sonic explorerAshley Fure. What's more, the Fure will involve the participation of such stalwarts of the local alternative music scene as Rebekah Heller of ICE, Nate Wooley of avant-garde jazz, and Brandon Lopez of the lunatic improvisational fringe. All that and a choreographed moving choir! Also on the program is Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which should at least play to van Zweden's rather brash style. (If only they'd let Becky Heller play the bassoon solo!) Oh, yeah, and some piano player named Daniil Trifonov, will play Beethoven's mighty Emperor Concerto.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tom Valenti's Oxbow Tavern strikes the perfect note: it's the kind of basic-but-interesting-enough-but-not-scary restaurant that the Upper West Side will accept and the rest of New York can still appreciate.
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Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 30, 2018, 8:00 PM
- A.R.T. / New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
- 502 West 53rd Street
- New York, NY, 10019
- United States
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 - 30, 2018 (continuing through OCTOBER 28)
7:00 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY - SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SUNDAY
A.R.T./New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
502 West 53rd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$59-$89
Uncle Vanya is my very favorite play. Romeo and Juliet isn't. But maybe in a mash-up like this, Vanya -- a comedy of lives stretching on endlessly, with no passions requited -- will provide a corrective to Romeo -- a tragedy of young lives cut short, with passion all too requited. In any event, if Bedlam is going to try it, I sure intend to find out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can't say that the Swiss restaurant Mont Blanc 52-- the successor to Theater District staple Maria's Mont Blanc -- serves the greatest food you've ever had. But you can say it's good, reliable, always satisfying -- and loads of fun. It always seems like everybody there but me is a regular -- but they're a welcoming crowd, so it's like a very successful dinner party. And if Maria herself is in the house, are you in for a time!
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Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 8:00 PM
- Ars Nova
- 511 West 54th Street
- New York, NY, 10019
- United States
THEATER
TUESDAY - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 - 29, 2018
7:00 PM TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
Ars Nova
511 West 54th Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$20
So I'm sitting in this bar talking to this composer/performer I like named Rick Burkhardt. And I'm like, "So what do you have coming up?" And he's like, "I'm in this show that's going to be at Ars Nova." And I'm like, "You're in that? I wasn't going to recommend it: it looks too folkie." And he's like, "It is folkie. But it's great." Well, if this representation of a folk concert 250 years in the future is good enough for Rick, it's good enough for me.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Very good wine, doable food at Ardesia Wine Bar.
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Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 7:30 PM – Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:30 PM
- Joyce Theater
- 175 8th Avenue
- New York, NY, 10011
- United States
DANCE
MONDAY - FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 - 28, 2018
7:30 PM
NY Quadrille
Joyce Theater
175 8th Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan
$35
You'd be hard put to it to think of a more cerebral, yet amusing, choreographer than John Jasperse. So this opening entry in the Lar Lubovich-curated NY Quadrille series at the Joyce is a pretty sure thing. Music by NYC avant-rock regular Hahn Rowe!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The legendary Shorty Tang had a non-trivial claim to have introduced cold Sichuan sesame noodles to the United States. His grandson continues in the family business.
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Monday, September 24, 2018, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
- Green-Wood Cemetery
- 500 25th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11232
- United States
MUSIC
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018
6:30 PM
The Angel's Share
Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street, Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn
$80
New Music superstars JACK Quartet present a program dedicated to the proposition -- a surprise to no one -- that much contemporary classical music has a lot in common with spare, static Medieval music. While this is not a program to shock anyone, it was great to hear these different musics bouncing off each other when the JACK played it at the Medieval Sculpture Hall at the Met a few years ago -- and it should be just as magical here in the Green-Wood Cemetery catacombs. As always in this series, a pre-performance whiskey tasting should put you in the mood (some kind of mood, in any event).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Sea Witch is an inevitable recommendation, because it's the only decent place in the neighborhood that will reliably be open after the show. Good thing, then, that's it's actually better than just decent, with a good beer selection and surprisingly good pub grub.
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Saturday, September 22, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A,
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
MUSIC
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2018
8:00 PM
Jose Menor
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
Messiaen is a composer you either like or you don't. If you do, his long piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus (no, the title does not translate as Give My Regards to Baby Jesus) stands as one of the peaks of 20th Century instrumental music. As with all the best Messiaen, the structures are idiosyncratic but discernible, the harmonies are colorful and unlike anything else you've ever heard, and the music isn't afraid to be blatant, so the mystical exultance is palpable (and infectious).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: We're going to Karasu tonight: the izakaya hidden in the back of Walter's.
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Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 3:00 PM – Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 5:30 PM
- Skirball Center, NYU
- 566 LaGuardia Place
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
DANCE
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 & 23, 2018
3:00 PM
Skirball Center, NYU
566 LaGuardia Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$35-$40
A 6-and-half-hour marathon dance-theater performance may not be for the faint of heart. But this is a major event. Bill T. Jones -- certainly one of the great artists of our time -- and his company have been performing parts of this trilogy around for the last few years, and now for the first time they present them all together (one a New York premiere). Each part recounts an individual personal story: two of Jones's relatives, one a fictional creation. The two parts I've seen have been extremely moving. This is the peak of American dance-theater, the movement intensifying the impact of the text, the text giving meaning and focus to the movement.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: There's a 90-minute dinner break. That seems like a lot, but to be safe your best bet is to scoot over to the Mexican cafe Atla for a quickish bite (try not to drink too much mezcal: you'll still have some dance-theater to watch!). Afterwards, you can go to the Knickerbocker Bar & Grill if you want some heavier food (Old Skool division) (be sure to start with a slice of the caviar pie!). Or -- and after all you'll have been through by then, you'll deserve this -- you can opt for Existing Conditions for unbelievably good cocktails (and good food, too).
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Friday, September 21, 2018, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Music Hall of Williamsburg
- 66 North 6th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11211
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
9:00 PM
Music Hall of Williamsburg
66 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$18 advance; $20 door
A few years ago, a half African American, half Swiss guy named Manuel Gagneux created a solo project he called Zeal & Ardor, mixing Negro Spirituals and blues with metal (kinda like Moby's Play, except with metal instead of electronic dance music as the base style), and exploring religious themes (this is metal, so that includes Satanism) as well as themes relating to American slavery. The resulting album was fascinating, provocative -- and a great listen. Its success impelled Gagneux to form a band to play this material. The band has now put out a second album, and to tell the truth I preferred the music Gagneux made by himself. But this is still a major achievement, totally unexpected, extremely well conceived and executed, and not like anything else.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tramp down to the new Domino Park outpost of Mekelburg's. The food is limited so far (but those hot chicken sandwiches are great!), but the fabulous beer selection isn't.
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Friday, September 21, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Bargemusic
- 1 Water Street, Fulton Ferry Landing
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
8:00 PM
Bargemusic
1 Water Street, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn
$40; $35 seniors; $20 students
Music for violin and piano by a bunch of Dead Russians and a Living Portuguese Ringer. Stravinsky and Prokofiev you know. Schnittke you probably know, too: his polystylism has been enormously influential (even if the influence isn't always attributed to him). Late Romantic Anton Rubinsteinis having A Moment owing to the stunningly successful production at Bard over the summer of his opera The Demon. The live ringer, Andrea Pinto Correia, writes colorful music with a real impact.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Gran Eléctrica: goodnotgreat Mexican food (certainly good enough: I've never regretted eating there), very good Margaritas (I've never come close to regretting those) -- and one of the prettiest crowds in Brooklyn.
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Friday, September 21, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
7:00 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
A really enticing recital. John Cage's In a Landscape: music to persuade Cage-resisters, Satie-like in its affecting, serenity-induscing simplicity. Copland's granitic Piano Sonata. And a new piano sonata (his third) from local fave Mohammed Fairouz -- whose every utterance is worth attending to -- entitled Proust Among the Nations.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Walk over to the very charming Vinegar Hill House.
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Thursday, September 20, 2018, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM
- Joe's Pub, Public Theater
- 425 Lafayette Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
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Thu, Sep 20, 2018, 8:00 PM – Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 4:00 AM
- La Mama, Downstairs
- 66 East 4th Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 - 23 (continuing through OCTOBER 6)
8:00 PM THURSDAY - SUNDAY
10:00 PM FRIDAY
La Mama, Downstairs
66 East Fourth Street, East Village, Manhattan
$30; $25 students/seniors
Philadelphia performance artist Gunnar Montana creates a representation of an underground sex club, and things proceed from there.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Am I going to send you to Momofuku Ko Bar again? Sorry, I am: that's how much I love it.
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Thursday, September 20, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- Austrian Cultural Forum
- 11 East 52nd Street
- New York, NY, 10022
- United States
MUSIC
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018
7:30 PM
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan
Free (reservation recommended)
http://www.acfny.org/event/nimikry/
This Viennese flute/viola duo, which subjects those traditional acoustic instruments to intriguing electronic treatment and soundscaping, is another ensemble that raises the question, familiar to readers of this List: is it pop or classical? And do I care?
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: To make for a totally bizarre evening, why not go next door to what is perhaps the single most Old Skool restaurant in New York, Le Grenouille? You can more than spend what you saved on this free concert.
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Thu, Sep 20, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 4:00 PM
- Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University
- 22 Normal Avenue
- Montclair, NJ, 07043
- United States
OPERA
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 - 23, 2018
7:30 PM THURSDAY & FRIDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
Peak Performances
Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University
22 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey
$30
You wouldn't expect to see a Klezmer-based opera dealing with Cuban history, but here's the deal: in the 1930s, a Ukranian Jewish writer whose family had emigrated to Cuba to escape pogroms (he ultimately, of course, ended up living in New York, writing for and editing The Forward) published an epic poem, drawing on his pogrom experiences, about Hatuey, a Taíno chieftain who had led a systematic violent resistance to the Spanish invasion centuries ago -- the first such resistance in this hemisphere -- and ended up being burned at the stake. This is a highly fictionalized account of the writing of that poem (with a romantic subplot inserted), set to music fusing Cuban and Klezmer by the great avant-Klezmer Frank London.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Saturday nights, Peak Performances charters a bus to and from the Montclair campus and Port Authority ($10). So if you're coming from New York on the bus, you'll be spending the rest of your Saturday night around Port Authority. If you're coming from or sticking around Montclair, how about the Israeli restaurant MishMish beforehand (not trying to be programmatic or anything, just going for what's good)? Afterward is an easy call: Pharmacie Liquor Bar.
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Thu, Sep 20, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 9:00 PM
- David Geffen Hall
- 10 Lincoln Center Plaza
- New York, NY, 10023
- United States
MUSIC
THURSDAY - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 - 22 (also SEPTEMBER 25)
7:00 PM THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan
$59-$275
Trifonov, Beethoven, and The Rite of Spring:
Opening Gala Concert: New York, Meet Jaap:
New Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the Philharmonic management team seem intent on proving that this appointment isn't the reactionary throw-back that many fear (and, to be fair, many welcome), by peppering Jaap's opening concerts with significant new pieces. These, Jaap's very first shows, open with a new commission by someone who must be the most talked-about young composer in New York right now, sonic explorer Ashley Fure. What's more, the Fure will involve the participation of such stalwarts of the local alternative music scene as Rebekah Heller of ICE, Nate Wooley of avant-garde jazz, and Brandon Lopez of the lunatic improvisational fringe. All that and a choreographed moving choir! Also on the program is Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which should at least play to van Zweden's rather brash style. (If only they'd let Becky Heller play the bassoon solo!) Oh, yeah, and some piano player named Daniil Trifonov, who through a vagary of programming will play the invigoratingly jazzy Ravel Piano Concerto on opening night and Beethoven's mighty Emperor Concerto on the rest.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Tom Valenti's Oxbow Tavern strikes the perfect note: it's the kind of basic-but-interesting-enough-but-not-scary restaurant that the Upper West Side will accept and the rest of New York can still appreciate.
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Thu, Sep 20, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 3:00 PM
- La Mama, Ellen Stewart Theater
- 66 East 4th Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
THEATER
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 - 23, 2018 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 30)
7:00 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
La Mama, Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East Fourth Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
This well-regarded bunch of alt-satirists presents an interactive multi-media look at the state of arts funding today, as contrasted with the glory days of the 1960s -- and all the implications for our polity arising from that difference. (N.B.: The "R" in the show title is supposed to be backwards -- but I can't figure out how to do that.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The East Village is currently experiencing a Chinese food efflorescence. And none of the myriad new places is more efflorescent than Hunan Slurp, featuring delicious Hunan rice noodles and other delicious Hunan dishes.
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Thursday, September 20, 2018, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
- Elsewhere
- 599 Johnson Avenue
- Brooklyn, NY, 11237
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
11:00 PM
Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
$25 advance; $30 door
https://www.elsewherebrooklyn.com/events/2018-09-21-gui-boratto/
OK, maybe architect-turned-electronic-music producer Gui Boratto hasn't ever quite matched his first album from more than ten years ago, Chromophobia. But with its bright colorful tones, unexpectedly existent melodies, and relaxed but insistent beats, that gets my nomination as one of the best electronic dance music albums ever. And his subsequent stuff is still good enough -- very much including the new album he recently dropped.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the show, go to Guadalupe Inn, which simulates the not unenjoyable experience of eating good Mexican food in a bordello. And on Fridays they have bands.
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Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 8:30 PM – Sat, Sep 22, 2018, 6:00 PM
- HERE
- 145 6th Avenue
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 - 22, 2018 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 29)
8:30 PM WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$25-$45
Another queer-eye performance piece, this one using the language of cinema to reflect on loneliness and the inspiration of the muse as a cure therefor. What sets this piece apart is that creator/performer Rob Roth is kind of major, and some of the music was composed by the all-around wonderful Kamala Sankaram. Anyway, pieces like this may sound generic when you describe them with words -- but the whole point is that you can't describe them with words. Just go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Famous Ben's Pizza remains one of the very best Old Skool slice joints in New York. The Palermo Sicilian slices are supernal.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Issue Project Room
- 22 Boerum Place
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
8:00 PM
Issue Project Room
22 Boerum Place, Downtown, Brooklyn
$15
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/phantom-kino-ballett-jules-gimbrone-invisible-objects
An hallucinatory mash-up of cinema revival house and dance club -- and that's only scratching the surface. One of those events where, after it's over, you'll know you've seen something.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Italian-inflected New American Colonie may be more good for the neighborhood than very good absolute -- but that means it's still good. If it's just drinks you're after, Elsa.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Nublu 151
- 151 Avenue C
- New York, NY, 10009
- United States
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Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 7:30 PM – Thu, Sep 20, 2018, 6:00 PM
- Park Avenue Armory
- 643 Park Avenue
- New York, NY, 10065
- United States
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 & 20, 2018
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY
5:00 PM THURSDAY
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
$65
http://armoryonpark.org/programs_events/detail/recital_series_the_crossing
That superb New Music choir The Crossing presents what promises to be both a memorable show and a great time. The choir will perform a bunch of works from a staggering array of contemporary composers while moving around among the various splendidly restored smaller rooms and corridors of this magnificent 19th Century building. Among the many items on the program are New York or world premieres by Louis Andriessen, David Lang, and Ted Hearne! Another New Music concert that should be just plain fun -- so it's no surprise it's sold out (cancellations at the Armory are frequent: watch for them).
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: I seem to be feeling very Old Skool this week. So let's go to Donahue's Steakhouse and make like Eisenhower is still President.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
7:30 PM
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell's Kitchen, New York
$25
https://bacnyc.org/performances/performance/bac-salon-szymanowski-berio-debussy
What an appealing program! Debussy's very nice (if not wholly characteristic) early String Quartet and one of Szymanowski's rarely heard works in that genre (certainly some of the most underrated string quartets of the last century), rich, fragrant, surprisingly more Impressionistic than Debussy's. The two quartets surround Berio's Sequenza for solo voice, which simply has to be seen to be believed.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Recommending places in conjunction with the BAC is frustrating. It's right across the street from one of the best restaurants in New York -- but you can't possibly combine a show with a lengthy (and stunningly expensive) tasting menu. The surrounding neighborhood will soon become a dining mecca -- but the Hudson Yards development is still under construction. For now, the best I can do is the cocktails and bar snacks at Ada's Place, upstairs from the inexplicably hot Legacy Records.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Joe's Pub, The Public Theater
- 425 Lafayette Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 (also SEPTEMBER 26 & OCTOBER 3 & 10)
7:00 PM
Joe's Pub, The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, Noho, Manhattan
$25
https://www.publictheater.org/Tickets/Calendar/PlayDetailsCollection/Joes-Pub/2018/J/John-Kelly/?SiteTheme=JoesPub
When John Kelly started doing this tribute to Joni Mitchell, he dressed up as her: flowing blonde hair, flowing dresses, the full Joni. Now, he does it dressed as himself. Which puts more of the focus on the astonishing interpretative acuity of this greatest of performance artists. Not to mention the astonishing songwriting abilities of that greatest of singer-songwriters.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: While I'm tossing superlatives like confetti, let me say this: Szechuan Mountain House is the best Sichuan restaurant in Manhattan. The menu is extensive, and mostly consists of things you don't see in every cornershop. Preparation is superb. The only downside is that, as you'd expect, it's very hard to get in.
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Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 9:30 PM – Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 10:30 PM
- Joe's Pub, The Public Theater
- 425 Lafayette Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
MUSIC / PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 & 19, 2018
9:30 PM
Joe's Pub, The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, Noho, Manhattan
$25
https://www.publictheater.org/Tickets/Calendar/PlayDetailsCollection/Joes-Pub/2018/Joey-Arias/?SiteTheme=JoesPub
Battle of the drag artists! You don't usually think of drag shows as heart-warming, but Joey Arias conveys a humanity that is quite affecting. It helps that he's also really funny and has great taste.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Modish Taiwanese food, served by the sweetest stylistas you'll ever meet, at 886. Most important with a late show like this, 886 is one of the rare New York City restaurants that say they stay open till midnight and mean it.
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Tuesday, September 18, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- National Sawdust
- 80 North 6th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11249
- United States
MUSIC
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2018
7:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20
https://nationalsawdust.org/event/miranda-cuckson-and-michael-hersch/
Miranda Cuckson is a splendic violinist specializing in New Music. Michael Hirsch is an excellent composer of dark, craggy music -- who is also a formidable pianist. Cuckson has long championed Hirsch's music -- but she very rarely gets to play it along with him. So this is something of an event.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now that Aska has resumed serving food to go along with the excellent wine, beer, and cocktails in its downstairs bar and outside garden, it's time to take a stroll down there and walk in.
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Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 10:00 PM
- A.R.T. / New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
- 502 West 53rd Street
- New York, NY, 10019
- United States
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 - 23, 2018 (continuing through OCTOBER 28)
7:00 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY - SATURDAY
2:00 PM WEDNESDAY & SUNDAY
A.R.T./New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
502 West 53rd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$59-$89
Uncle Vanya is my very favorite play. Romeo and Juliet isn't. But maybe in a mash-up like this, Vanya -- a comedy of lives stretching on endlessly, with no passions requited -- will provide a corrective to Romeo -- a tragedy of young lives cut short, with passion all too requited. In any event, if Bedlam is going to try it, I sure intend to find out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can't say that the Swiss restaurant Mont Blanc 52 -- the successor to Theater District staple Maria's Mont Blanc -- serves the greatest food you've ever had. But you can say it's good, reliable, always satisfying -- and loads of fun. It always seems like everybody there but me is a regular -- but they're a welcoming crowd, so it's like a very successful dinner party. And if Maria herself is in the house, are you in for a time!
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Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 7:00 PM – Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 10:00 PM
- The Kitchen
- 512 West 19th Street
- New York, NY, 10011
- United States
DANCE
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 & 19, 2018
7:00 & 9:00 PM
Crossing the Line Festival
The Kitchen
512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
$20
http://thekitchen.org/event/trajal-harrell-caen-amour
Trajal Harrell isn't so much a dancer/choreographer as a meta-dancer/choreographer. His works represent and comment on dance, and explore its cultural ramifications. (He also does great drag.) Here, he revives/reimagines/deconstructs the hoochie-coochie, a Middle East-derived dance form that was presented and popularized in turn-of-the-20th Century Europe and America as clandestinely erotic. This show looks so great that it's no surprise it's all sold out; hope for cancellations.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Early shows, let's get over to The Golden Hour -- the wonderful (and insanely popular: reserve ahead) outdoor restaurant/bar at The High Line Hotel, operated by the Maison Premiere team -- while it's still warm out. Late shows, good-if-overelaborate cocktails and edible-but-pretentious food at Bathtub Gin.
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Monday, September 17, 2018, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Areté Venue & Gallery
- 67 West Street #103
- Brooklyn, NY, 11222
- United States
MUSIC
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018
9:00 PM
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$15
https://www.newmusicusa.org/event/feminist-wonder-concert/
Women perform music by women. And when two of those composers are our old friends Missy Mazzoli and Caroline Shaw -- surely among the best (and, I'll say it again, most aurally appealing) young composers around -- you want to go even irrespective of gender politics. Not to belittle the other composers on the program, but let's also give a shout-out to Gemma Peacocke, an emerging composer combining electronic and acoustic music in compelling, forceful pieces that anyone who likes current electronic music on the pop side --Lucrecia Dalt, say -- should give a listen to.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Leading Greenpoint pizzaiolo Paulie Gee has absolutely nailed it with his new slice shop.
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Monday, September 17, 2018, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
- HERE
- 145 6th Avenue
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
PERFORMANCE
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 29)
8:30 PM
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$25-$45
http://here.org/shows/detail/2010/
Another queer-eye performance piece, this one using the language of cinema to reflect on loneliness and the inspiration of the muse as a cure therefor. What sets this piece apart is that creator/performer Rob Roth is kind of major, and some of the music was composed by the all-around wonderful Kamala Sankaram. Anyway, pieces like this may sound generic when you describe them with words -- but the whole point is that you can't describe them with words. Just go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Famous Ben's Pizza remains one of the very best Old Skool slice joints in New York. The Palermo Sicilian slices are supernal.
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Monday, September 17, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- (Le) Poisson Rouge
- 158 Bleecker Street
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
-
Monday, September 17, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- Advent Lutheran Church
- 2504 Broadway
- New York, NY, 10025
- United States
-
Monday, September 17, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
MUSIC
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2018
7:00 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
http://www.spectrumnyc.com/site/calendar.php
Tel Aviv-born Brooklyn-based Gaya Feldheim Schorr is an absolutely enchanting singer of cool contemporary jazz. Her style is easy to listen to -- but not easy listening.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: After such nice music, you deserve a nice dinner: LaRina Pastificio & Vino is just nice.
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Sunday, September 16, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- (Le) Poisson Rouge
- 158 Bleecker Street
- Greenwich Village, Manhattan
MUSIC
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
8:00 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$18 advance; $20 door
https://lpr.com/lpr_events/kneebody-september-16th-2018/
Kneebody are really great. This is the real jazz-rock: the explosive energy of an electric rock band with the improvisational integrity of a jazz group -- and if you want to say you can also detect the underlying rigor of a contemporary classical ensemble, I won't argue.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Bessou is an almost unbelievably stylish and charming restaurant featuring Japanese home cooking of immense appeal.
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Sunday, September 16, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- A.R.T./New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
- 502 West 53rd Street
- New York, NY, 10019
- United States
THEATER
FRIDAY & SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018 (continuing through OCTOBER 28)
7:00 PM
A.R.T./New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
502 West 53rd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$59-$89
http://bedlam.org/whats-on/uncle-romeo-vanya-juliet/
Uncle Vanya is my very favorite play. Romeo and Juliet isn't. But maybe in a mash-up like this, Vanya -- a comedy of lives stretching on endlessly, with no passions requited -- will provide a corrective to Romeo -- a tragedy of young lives cut short, with passion all too requited. In any event, if Bedlam is going to try it, I sure intend to find out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can't say that the Swiss restaurant Mont Blanc 52-- the successor to Theater District staple Maria's Mont Blanc -- serves the greatest food you've ever had. But you can say it's good, reliable, always satisfying -- and loads of fun. It always seems like everybody there but me is a regular -- but they're a welcoming crowd, so it's like a very successful dinner party. And if Maria herself is in the house, are you in for a time!
-
Sunday, September 16, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Nuyorican Poets Cafe
- 236 East 3rd Street
- New York, NY, 10009
- United States
THEATER/PERFORMANCE
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
7:00 PM
Nuyorican Poets Cafe
236 East 3rd Street, East Village, Manhattan
$15
https://www.nuyorican.org/event/1744957-solo-heroes-new-york/
A bunch of solo performers perform bits from upcoming solo shows. At least one of the participants has assured me that this is hysterical.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The ramen of Ivan Orkin -- a Jewish guy from Long Island who made his name cooking in Tokyo -- exploded on the New York scene (OK, I know: "exploding" ramen, not good) with a sensational pop-up five years ago, followed by his wildly popular permanent shops, including his flagship Ivan Ramen. Go and and see what makes Ivan's ramen so special.
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Sunday, September 16, 2018, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
MUSIC
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
3:00 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
http://www.spectrumnyc.com/site/calendar.php
An interesting piano recital. Some Ravel, always nice. But also New Music by two composers who, while they don't write the absolute friendliest music around, always put in things you can grab onto: vernacular world-music inflections in Vivian Fung's case, and inspiration by the movie Run Lola Run for the Amy Williams piece being played here.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before the show, you can't do better than brunch at the Vinegar Hill House. After the show, unwind with some whiskey cocktails (or neat if you prefer) at the Kings County Distillery Gatehouses. In fact, you'll be able to make it over in time for the 5:00 PM tour of the Kings County Distillery facilities (book ahead) -- mega-interesting and mega-fun (this tour may be the best single recommendation this List has ever made).
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Saturday, September 15, 2018, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Areté Venue & Gallery
- 67 West Street
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Saturday, September 15, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Issue Project Room
- 22 Boerum Place
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
PERFORMANCE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2018
8:00 PM
Issue Project Room
22 Boerum Place, Downtown, Brooklyn
$20
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/charlemagne-palestine-steve-dalachinsky-dawn-kasper
This started out several years ago as collaboration between Brooklyn-born composer/performer (and onetime cantorial trainee) Charlemagne Palestine and the jazzy Brooklyn-born poet Steve Dalachinsky that centered on Palestine playing his first public piano solo in his native borough. It has somehow lost the piano and morphed into what is now described as a "kibbitzing session" between these two Kings County alter cockers -- albeit one that will involve electronics, movement, and one of Palestine's maliciously whimsical environments (teddy bears are typically involved). That the always interesting performance artist Dawn Kaspar is opening is icing on the cake.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: After all that kibbitzing, the excellent Spanish/Jewish/Moorish food at La Vara should be tonic. (Speaking of tonic, their Gin & Tonic variation is fabulous. Betcha can't drink just one.)
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Saturday, September 15, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- National Sawdust
- 80 North 6th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11249
- United States
MUSIC
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
7:00 & 10:00 PM
National Sawdust
80 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$25 per show
https://nationalsawdust.org/event/terry-riley-and-julian-wachner/
https://nationalsawdust.org/event/terry-riley-gavin-rayna-russom/
Two very different shows featuring pioneering Minimalist (West Coast hippy division) Terry Riley -- the most sheerly listenable of all the Minimalists. The early show features Julian Wachner leading his excellent instrumental ensemble NOVUS and even better vocal ensemble The Choir of Trinity Churchin a program of Riley's vocal/instrumental music (with a ringer from Gity Razaz, a wonderful composer whose work reflects her Iranian roots). The late show teams Riley with his son Gyan, a formidable guitarist (that's actually understating things), and Gavin Rayna Russom, the synth wizard of dance-rock titans LCD Soundsystem!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: It's a bit of a hike, but it seems inevitable to combine these shows with a visit to The Four Horsemen, the superb wine bar run by James Murphy, the LCD Soundystem guru.
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Friday, September 14, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Scholes Street Studio
- 373 Lorimer Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11206
- United States
-
Friday, September 14, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Church of St. Francis Xavier
- 46 West 16th Street
- New York, NY, 10011
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018
8:00 PM
MATA
Church of St. Francis Xavier
46 West 16th Street, Union Square, Manhattan
Free (donation discretionary)
https://matafestival.org/divine-mysteries-angeloi/
New Music written for period Early Music instruments is a piquant, enticing proposition. The tangy sonorities of the old instruments encourage interesting timbral constructions from modern-day composers. Here we have two new pieces inspired by or setting old Catholic liturgy. It's all played and sung by Cantata Profana, a local vocal/instrumental chamber ensemble that specializes in both New and Early Music, whose programming is consistently compelling and whose performances are fully worthy of the programs. Hearing this stuff in this ornate church should be quite an experience.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: People don't get sufficiently excited about Chef George Mendes's Modern Portuguese restaurant Aldea. It's one of the best eateries in the City.
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Friday, September 14, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Bargemusic
- 1 Water Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018
8:00 PM
Here and Now Series
Bargemusic
1 Water Street, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn
$40; $35 seniors; $20 students
https://www.bargemusic.org/concert/here-and-now-series-tokyo-to-new-york/
When Bargemusic presents New Music, it's usually the kind of tradition-based, formally unchallenging kind that barely merits the name (and that this List generally has little time for). This show is no exception. But there's no denying that this stuff can be pleasant enough to listen to (even if it doesn't leave you with much). And speaking of pleasant, nothing could be more pleasant than listening to music on the barge, with the Downtown Manhattan skyline looming in the background. Here, the program features mixed ensembles playing music by composers from Tokyo and New York. And one of the New York composers is Ned Rorem -- pleasant with a bullet, going all the way up to nearly sublime!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Walk up the bluff to Noodle Pudding in Brooklyn Heights for good homey neighborhood Italian.
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Friday, September 14, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- A.R.T./New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
- 502 West 53rd Street
- New York, NY, 10019
- United States
THEATER
FRIDAY & SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 (continuing through OCTOBER 28)
7:00 PM
A.R.T./New York Theatres, Mezzanine Theater
502 West 53rd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$59-$89
http://bedlam.org/whats-on/uncle-romeo-vanya-juliet/
Uncle Vanya is my very favorite play. Romeo and Juliet isn't. But maybe in a mash-up like this, Vanya -- a comedy of lives stretching on endlessly, with no passions requited -- will provide a corrective to Romeo -- a tragedy of young lives cut short, with passion all too requited. In any event, if Bedlam is going to try it, I sure intend to find out.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can't say that the Swiss restaurant Mont Blanc 52-- the successor to Theater District staple Maria's Mont Blanc -- serves the greatest food you've ever had. But you can say it's good, reliable, always satisfying -- and loads of fun. It always seems like everybody there but me is a regular -- but they're a welcoming crowd, so it's like a very successful dinner party. And if Maria herself is in the house, are you in for a time!
-
Friday, September 14, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
-
Fri, Sep 14, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 8:00 PM
- Provincetown Playhouse
- 133 Macdougal Street
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 & 15, 2018
VARIOUS TIMES
Provincetown Playhouse
133 Macdougal Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Free
http://www.marilynnonken.com/softly-music-of-morton-feldman.html
If you were to ask me who the two composers are who are closest to my heart -- who resonate with me most in the most highly personal way -- my answer would be Schubert and Morton Feldman. Feldman has the ability to suspend time and create a still world of immense beauty and luminosity, where the effect of each small event is magnified almost unto a kind of rapture. And here's a Morton Feldman mini-festival! Curated, no less, by the great pianist (and Feldman interpreter) Marilyn Nonken! The pick of the shows, to me at least, is the program of smaller pieces, played and sung by a truly all-star ensemble, on Saturday at 3:00 PM. But the chance to hear Marilyn Nonken play the Triadic Memories (Friday at 8:00 PM) should not be dismissed. Nor should the chance to hear her participate in a performance of the violion/piano duo Patterns in a Chromatic Field (Saturday at 8:00 PM) (you just don't get a chance to hear this stuff live that often!). Although film is outside this List's live performing arts purview, there's also a notable program of short films about Feldman at 5 PM on Saturday.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You are right up the street from Existing Conditions, for amazingly great cocktails and good food. You can't not go! For lunch before the afternoon shows, Chinese street snacks at Junzi.
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Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 8:30 PM – Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 9:30 PM
- HERE
- 145 6th Avenue
- New York, NY, 10013
- United States
PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 - 16, 2018 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 29)
8:30 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
5:00 PM SUNDAY
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$15
http://here.org/shows/detail/2010/
Another queer-eye performance piece, this one using the language of cinema to reflect on loneliness and the inspiration of the muse as a cure therefor. What sets this piece apart is that creator/performer Rob Roth is kind of major, and some of the music was composed by the all-around wonderful Kamala Sankaram. Anyway, pieces like this may sound generic when you describe them with words -- but the whole point is that you can't describe them with words. Just go.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Famous Ben's Pizza remains one of the very best Old Skool slice joints in New York. The Palermo Sicilian slices are supernal.
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Thursday, September 13, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
MUSIC
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
7:00 PM
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
http://www.spectrumnyc.com/site/calendar.php
This trio led by Michael Formanek -- one of the better jazz bassist/composers in this town -- may be Very Practical, but it's also Pretty Spectacular. The other two members are Mary Halvorson, perhaps the most exciting young guitarist in all of jazz, and Tim Berne , a wildly interesting saxophonist/composer. Setting the seal on the recommendation, opening the show is Patricia Brennan, who intriguingly combines solo vibes and electronics.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: New American-inflected French/Mediterranean at Gentleman Farmer.
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Thursday, September 13, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- National Sawdust
- 80 North 6th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11249
- United States
-
Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 7:00 PM – Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 8:00 PM
- La Mama, Ellen Stewart Theater
- 66 West 4th Street
- New York, NY, 10014
- United States
THEATER
THURSDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 - 16, 2018 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 30)
7:00 PM THURSDAY - SATURDAY
3:00 PM SUNDAY
La Mama, Ellen Stewart Theater
66 East Fourth Street, East Village, Manhattan
$25; $20 students/seniors
http://lamama.org/the_a%d1%8fts/
This well-regarded bunch of alt-satirists presents an interactive multi-media look at the state of arts funding today, as contrasted with the glory days of the 1960s -- and all the implications for our polity arising from that difference. (N.B.: The "R" in the show title is supposed to be backwards -- but I can't figure out how to do that.)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The East Village is currently experiencing a Chinese food efflorescence. And none of the myriad new places is more efflorescent than Hunan Slurp, featuring delicious Hunan rice noodles and other delicious Hunan dishes.
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Wed, Sep 12, 2018, 9:00 PM – Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 10:00 PM
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 & 13, 2018
9:00 PM
WEDNESDAY: Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn
THURSDAY: Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
WEDNESDAY: $25 advance; $26 door
https://www.elsewherebrooklyn.com/events/2018-09-12-rina-sawayama/
THURSDAY: $20
https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1710227
I should absolutely love Rina Sawayama. She does highly self-aware, culture-and-media savvy meta-pop, electronic bubblegum division. So why does she strike me as an also-ran compared to, say, SOPHIE? It's the songs: even when you're self-aware and meta, you still need them. I'll bet she puts on a terrific show, though.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Wednesday in Bushwick, I'm going to engage in stupid thememanship and send you to Ichiran -- where the solo ramen-slurping isolation booths seem congruent with Rina Sawayama's worldview. Thursday on the LES, everybody is just loving the fried chicken at The Usual.
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Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A,
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
8:00 PM
Further Complications Festival
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
http://www.spectrumnyc.com/site/calendar.php
In a throwback to the days when it didn't deign to acknowledge Brooklyn exists (now, of course, it can't help but acknowledge that Brooklyn is The Center Of The Universe), The Times, enthusing about Taka Kigawa's recent recital at LPR (a List recommendation, I feel compelled to point out), went on at some length about how crucial Kigawa's annual end-of-summer recitals at that Greenwich Village venue are because Kigawa plays only one a year. Well, sure, any performance by this splendid New Music piano specialist is crucial -- but The Times neglected to mention that Kigawa periodically shows up here at Spectrum between those annual LPR shows. This recital centers on Tristan Murail's brilliant Spectralist epic Territoires de l'Oubli, which will envelope you in a sharply etched shifting shimmering timbral dreamscape.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Really nice room, nice people, good but not spectacular food and drinks at Putnam's Pub & Cooker.
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Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Issue Project Room
- 22 Boerum Place
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
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Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 8:00 PM – Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 9:00 PM
- JACK
- 505 1/2 Waverly Avenue
- Brooklyn, NY, 11238
- United States
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 - 16, 2018
8:00PM TUESDAY - SATURDAY
3:00PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The Hearth
JACK
505 1/2 Waverly Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
$25; $18 under 30
http://www.jackny.org/athena.html
Two very different girls train for Junior Olympic fencing, their differences (and the experience of growing up female) revealed and explored as they go along. This play, by a very promising young playwright, was rapturously received at its initial run earlier this year.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Otway was just about the best in category (the category being mid-priced New American) under its opening chef, Claire Welle. Now she's gone. How is it under her successor, Ian Anderson (no, not that one)? Let's find out.
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Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- (Le) Poisson Rouge
- 158 Bleecker Street
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
MUSIC
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018
8:00 PM
(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$20 advance; $25 door
https://lpr.com/lpr_events/orquesta-akokan-september-11th-2018/
Orquesta Akokán is a conscious throwback to the dance bands of Havana in the Mid-20th Century. As such, its music should be dead, like a Dixieland band's (or a mainstream symphony orchestra's). But it isn't. In fact, it kicks ass. Sultry ass, swaying ass, swooning ass -- but ass that has most definitely been kicked.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: At Berber Street Food, food of Northern Africa coupled with fusion food of the African diaspora.
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Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 7:30 PM – Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 8:30 PM
- Polonsky Shakespeare Center
- 262 Ashland Place
- Brooklyn, NY, 11217
- United States
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 - 16, 2018 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 30)
7:30 PM TUESDAY - FRIDAY & SUNDAY
7:00 PM SATURDAY
Theater for a New Audience
Polonsky Shakespeare Center
262 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$90-$125; $20 students/persons 30 and under
http://www.tfana.org/current-season/emperor/overview
The reign of Haile Selassie (who, don't forget, no matter what you might think, is still believed to be God by the Rastas) as conveyed by two amazing performers: the indelible actor Kathryn Hunter and the fabulous Ethiopian lyre player Temesgan Zeleke.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Miss Ada somewhat improbably serves some of the best Modern Israeli in the City, topping more highly touted competitors. It's also a really fun place to hang out.
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Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 7:30 PM – Fri, Sep 14, 2018, 8:30 PM
- Roulette
- 509 Atlantic Avenue
- Brooklyn, NY, 11217
- United States
MUSIC
TUESDAY - THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 - 14, 2018
7:30 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on 3rd Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$20-$25 per show; $50-$65 three-day Festival Pass
http://www.resonantbodiesfestival.org/nyc-2018-artists
I remember, five years ago, wandering into the first show of the first Resonant Bodies Festival, showcasing new avant-garde vocal music, in an obscure venue in Gowanus. I didn't really know what to expect: it looked pretty interesting, that's all. What I didn't expect was that I was going to be enraptured. I didn't realize that there was this whole broad range of artists producing this whole broad range of genre-denying, vernacular-engaging contemporary classical music (broader than the so-called "indie classical" so much in vogue back then), using a whole broad range of traditional and nontraditional techniques and forms -- all of it made with the aim of engaging the audience (and New Music skeptics should note that the human voice is inherently more relatable than instruments, making vocal pieces as presented here unforbidding even when similar instrumental pieces conceivably might be). I don't want to say anything as ridiculously overstated as that the first Resonant Bodies show was life-changing -- but it certainly had a fairly deep effect on at least this one listener. I returned for every show that first year and haven't missed a show of any of the New York Festivals since (they've since expanded to Chicago, Sydney, and God knows where else); and I give this Festival my most enthusiastic possible recommendation. It would be invidious to single out particular performers, both because they're all so good and because the fun of the Festival is unexpected discovery. Just go, at least one night.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Your best bet for good food and drink after these shows is Grand Army Bar.
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Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 6:00 PM – Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 7:00 PM
- Skirball Center, NYU
- 566 LaGuardia Place
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 - 16, 2018
VARIOUS TIMES
Skirball Center, NYU
566 LaGuardia Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
$10 (or four different performances for the price of three)
https://nyuskirball.org/events/table-top-shakespeare/
This Sheffield theater company performs Shakespeare's entire theatrical canon -- yes, all of the plays (to be sure, in condensed versions of about an hour each) -- using household objects on a table top. (The promotional materials suggest this as a good way to catch up on obscure titles you've heretofore missed -- which under the circumstances seems rather comical: "Have you ever seen Titus Andronicus?" "Oh, yes: performed by household objects on a table top in an hour.") You can go to as many (or as few) of the plays as you want: $10 a shot, four for $30. It's hard to imagine not seeing at least some of these.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: This is another event that calls for an all-day café. And there's a really great one right nearby: the Mexico City-style Atla.
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Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
- St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery
- 131 East 10th Street
- New York, NY, 10003
- United States
MUSIC/PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018
5:00 PM
St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan
Free ($10 suggested donation)
https://issueprojectroom.org/event/james-k-venomist-choir-lou-dallas
Electronic/experimental/dance music performer James K (who's a girl, if that matters to you) teams up with uber-hot neo-baroque clothing label Lou Dallas (also a girl, if that matters to you) for a Fashion Week performance (co-produced by Issue Project Room, if that matters to you). For this project, James K will apparently focus on sounds produced by the mouth rather than her usual electronic beats. In any event, this can't help but be a terrific show. Which must be why it's sold out: check for last-minute cancellations.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Whether you can get into the popular Vietnamese restaurant Madame Vo is an open question. Whether you should is a pretty easy "yes".
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Monday, September 10, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Brooklyn Steel
- 319 Frost Street
- Brooklyn NY
MUSIC
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
8:00 PM
Brooklyn Steel
319 Frost Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$20 advance; $25 door
https://www.bowerypresents.com/shows/detail/352840-superorganism
From London, England -- but from all over the world before that -- comes a pop band that really pops; it's like we avant-pop fans envisioned a dream band, and it actually got together in East London and started putting out great records from the get-go. Dance, pop, even rock: they're all entangled in Superorganism's sound. You can dance to this stuff -- but you can think (and laugh) at the same time. Teenaged lead singer Orono Noguchi (a Poly Styrene for our time) has enough charisma and smarts for 12 -- make that 20 -- frontpersons.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Richardson has good drinks and plausible bar food (which they continue serving till late).
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Saturday, September 8, 2018, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Music Hall of Williamsburg
- 66 North 6th Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11211
- United States
-
Saturday, September 8, 2018, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
- Spectrum
- 70 Flushing Avenue Garage A,
- Brooklyn, NY, 11205
- United States
MUSIC
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2018
8:30 PM
Further Complications Festival
Spectrum
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students/seniors
http://www.spectrumnyc.com/site/calendar.php
The main thing on the program here is a bunch of stuff by the ineffable 20th Century maverick Conlon Nancarrow, whose works seem better and even more relevant with each passing year. Other pieces played by the estimable pianist Imri Talgam will also feature him on analog synthesizer.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Argentine fire food at Mettā.
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Saturday, September 8, 2018, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- Areté Venue & Gallery
- 67 West Street #103
- Brooklyn, NY, 11222
- United States
MUSIC
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2018
7:30 PM
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$15; $10 students
https://www.aretevenue.com/events/
A new flute/cello/piano trio presents an immersive mixed-media concert focusing on mankind's increasingly parlous place in nature (or do I mean nature's increasingly parlous place under man?). What sets the seal on this show is that one of the pieces on the program is George Crumb's great great Vox Balaenae ("voice of the whale") -- the score calls for it to be performed in masks! -- which sounds as fresh today as it did in 1971.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Time to go back to Chez Ma Tante, whose sorta English food I continue to find enchanting. May I very strongly recommend the pig's head terrine? And, at the other end of the meal, the apple sorbet with Polish vodka?
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Friday, September 7, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Roulette
- 509 Atlantic Avenue
- Brooklyn, NY, 11217
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
8:00 PM
Roulette
509 Atlantic Avenue (entrance on 3rd Avenue), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
$18 advance; $20 door
http://roulette.org/event/kelly-moran-music-for-piano-and-electronics/
To me, Kelly Moran is one of the breakout composer/performers of the last year or so. Her music for prepared piano and electronics is texturally and structurally fascinating -- and compulsively listenable. And she's sufficiently up-to-the-minute that she plays in Oneohtrix Point Never's current touring band! Her last album, Bloodroot, was one of the very best releases of last year. Tonight she'll play material from her upcoming follow-up -- accompanied by visuals of her own design.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Excellent contemporary Korean at Insa. (My advice is to forgo the at-table barbecue and eat in the bar/lounge -- a much nicer room than the dining room.)
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Friday, September 7, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Bargemusic
- 1 Water Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
8:00 PM
Hear and Now Series
Bargemusic
1 Water Street, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn
$40; $35 seniors; $25 students
https://www.bargemusic.org/concert/here-and-now-series-ned-rorem-at-95/
If ever the cliché "95 years young" were applicable, it's to the eternally fresh Ned Rorem, that most French of American composers. This program includes a bunch of his charming and attractive chamber music -- including a world premiere from this nonagenarian-and-a-half! Also, new chamber works in Rorem's honor from such paragons of American consonance as Jennifer Higdon, Daron Hagen, and Troy Peters.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If Ned Rorem were going to have dinner in the neighborhood, you just know it would be at the River Café.
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Friday, September 7, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Cary Hall, DiMenna Center
- 450 West 37th Street
- New York, NY, 10018
- United States
MUSIC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018
8:00 PM
Cary Hall, DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
$20; $15 students/seniors
http://ekmeles.com/wp/2018/08/ekmeles-and-friends/
This is a big week for fans of soprano Stephanie Lamprea. Last night she sang at Areté Venue and Gallery as part of the Unbridled ensemble; here she (along with fellow list favorite Charlotte Mundy) sings with the ace New Music choir Ekmeles. The program is a really good one, featuring works by plausible candidate for Greatest Living Composer Kaija Saariaho; local percussion hero Nathan Davis; Irish sonic explorer Ann Cleare (I'm really liking her stuff these days); and the fascinating Austrian pasticheur Bernhard Lang. Among the titular "friends" participating in the concert is Jacob Greenberg on celesta; include a celesta in your instrumentation and I'll be there almost automatically.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Ada's Place is the cocktail bar upstairs from Legacy Records. It has a better vibe and better drinks than downstairs -- and I like the simple American snacks upstairs better, too.
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Thursday, September 6, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- First Unitarian Congregational Society
- 116 Pierrepont Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
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Thursday, September 6, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Areté Venue & Gallery
- 67 West Street #103
- Brooklyn, NY, 11222
- United States
MUSIC
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018
7:00 PM
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$15
https://www.aretevenue.com/events/
Chamber works for voices, strings, and electronics. By old favorite Morton Feldman, new favorite Reiko Fueting, and a brand new piece by the provocative acoustic-electrician (and former Fueting student) Emily Praetorius. With improvisations nestled among the composed pieces.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Now we can get Paulie Gee's great pizza by the slice!
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Wed, Sep 5, 2018, 8:00 PM – Sun, Sep 9, 2018, 9:00 PM
- Bushwick Starr
- 207 Starr Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11237
- United States
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Wednesday, September 5, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Secret Project Robot
- 1186 Broadway
- Brooklyn, NY, 11221
- United States
MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2018
8:00 PM
Secret Project Robot
1186 Broadway, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
Ticket price unavailable
https://www.secretprojectrobot.org/calendar/2018/9/5/zodiac-sax-quartet-whispers-of-night-atl-j-pavone-l-brode
A night of interesting, mainly improvised music. The initial draw is List fave Jessica Pavone, a violist who splits the difference between classical, jazz, pop, and avant-garde improv. But don't write off the excellent Zodiac Saxophone Quartet. Or Whispers of Night, whose acoustic improvised music is informed by world folk styles. Guitarist Lucas Brode, meanwhile, draws on the endlessly appealing musics of sub-Saharan Africa for his improvisational synthesis.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Before: wonderful Haitian at Grandchamps, right up the street. After, Secret Project Robot's off-site associated bar, Flowers For All Occasions.
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Tue, Sep 4, 2018, 8:00 PM – Sun, Sep 9, 2018, 9:00 PM
- Delacorte Theater
- 81st Street & Central Park West Entrance
- Central Park NY
THEATER
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 - 9, 2018
8:00 PM
Lee Breuer & Bob Telson: The Gospel at Colonus
Mabou Mines
Delacorte Theater
81st Street & Central Park West Entrance, Central Park, Manhattan
Free
https://www.publictheater.org/Public-Theater-Season/The-Gospel-At-Colonus/
Thirty-five years ago, Lee Breuer of the Mabou Mines theater troupe and Bob Telson, music director of the magnificent Gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama and former student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris, lit up the BAM stage with this Gospel retelling of Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus. It was not in any way contrived: the Gospel setting proved a perfect vehicle for Sophocles's tale of redemption. As did the original production, this one will feature the current iteration of The Blind Boys -- and, this time, of The Soul Stirrers as well. Whoever is playing the officiant will probably lack the serene gravitas of Morgan Freeman in the original production -- because who doesn't? But in all other respects, this is as close to a sure thing as comes. If only getting into the Delacorte Theater were a similarly sure thing.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: The Tangled Vine is a nice wine bar with good if unexciting Mediterranean-leaning food.
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Tuesday, September 4, 2018, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Areté Venue & Gallery
- 67 West Street #103
- Brooklyn, NY, 11222
- United States
MUSIC
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2018
7:00 PM
Areté Venue & Gallery
67 West Street #103, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Discretionary donation
https://ooo.szkmd.ooo/copypasta-editions-ny-showcase/
The Geneva-based publishing-and-performing venture Copypasta Editions presents a New York showcase for associated artists, all dabbling in various types of electronic noise. The main act was supposed to be an orchestra of obsolete function generators -- devices that produce waveforms used to test electronic sound equipment -- but the devices failed to meet airline luggage restrictions, so we'll have to make due with a chance to buy the orchestra's newly-released album. There will, however, be live performances of napcore (to take you down) and BDSM noise (to jolt you back up) -- and an aftershow dance party!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Let's pretend Summer isn't (traditionally) over and have some tacos at Oxomoco, which is having its moment.
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Mon, Sep 3, 2018, 12:00 PM – Sun, Sep 9, 2018, 8:00 PM
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Monday, September 3, 2018, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Eastern Parkway
- Brooklyn, NY
- United States
PERFORMANCE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2018
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights & Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Free
http://wiadcacarnival.org/event/new-york-caribbean-carnival-parade-2018/
The costumes! The music! The food in the stands along the way! If you're in town, unmissable!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: If you still have room for food for food after snacking at the stands, try to squeeze into The Islands, the supernal Jamaican restaurant on Washington Ave. (which may or may not be open on Labor Day). If you're only thirsty, your two best bets are Tooker Alley for cocktails and the Gold Star Beer Counter for beer.
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Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 8:00 PM – Sun, Sep 2, 2018, 4:00 PM
- Bargemusic
- 1 Water Street
- Brooklyn, NY, 11201
- United States
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Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 6:00 PM – Sun, Sep 2, 2018, 4:00 PM
- The Performing Garage
- 33 Wooster Street
- New York, NY, 10013
- United States
PERFORMANCE
FRIDAY - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 2*
6:00 & 8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY
2:00 & 4:00 PM SUNDAY
The Performing Garage
33 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan
Free with reservation
http://theperforminggarage.org/events/dream-adoption-society-and-nowy-teatr/
Dream Adoption Society , the Polish AR/VR company, teams up with NOWY TEATR, a Polish theater company intent on maximizing audience involvement. The piece involves a drug-laden meeting in Warsaw between the Polish poet Miron Białoszewski and the American poet Allen Ginsberg. Expect much mixing of media to insure that the audience feels similarly enhanced as the characters.
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: What with all these different showtimes, what you need is an all-day café. And wouldn't you know it, just blocks away is probably the best and most charming of the recent spate of such places in New York: La Mercerie. Whatever else you order, be sure to have a crepe complete.
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Tue, Aug 28, 2018, 8:30 PM – Sun, Sep 2, 2018, 4:00 PM
- Here
- 145 6th Avenue
- New York, NY, 10012
- United States
PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY - SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 - SEPTEMBER 2
8:30 PM TUESDAY - SATURDAY
4:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan
$35-$100
http://here.org/shows/detail/1934/
Not to put too fine a point to it, this piece -- premiered at this venue 20 years ago -- is one of the best things I've ever seen. A miracle of puppetry creates perfectly calibrated first-part-of-Fantasia-style visual effects to Berlioz's unhinged visionary masterpiece. It's just so apt, so unexpected -- and so much fun -- you can't believe it. If you haven't seen it, you MUST. If you've already seen it, you'll want to see it again. Piano reduction of the score played live by the redoubtable Christoper O'Riley. While I usually prefer live musical accompaniments on general principle, I actually liked it better when they used to do this piece to an orchestral recording: so much of the appeal of this weird musical masterpiece stems from Berlioz's tangy, unique, unprecedented orchestration. But don't let that keep you away! This is GREAT!!!!!!
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: You can't have too many restaurants featuring the food of Emilia-Romagna, the best in Italy. (Well, probably you could -- but we're not close yet.) So the opening of a new one -- right near HERE, no less -- is certainly something to be happy about. Meet Nonna Beppa.
