Pre Covid-19 we searched the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening, primarily on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you didn’t have to.” We made it as easy as 1-2-3.
Covid-19 has required some changes for the time being. Stay Safe.
Earlier today we covered Top 9 Corona Culture. Now, how about some more useful NYC information.
New York magazine is biweekly these days and every issue has a wonderful section, “The Culture Pages,” which includes a “To Do” list – 25 things to see, hear, watch, and read. Here are my favorites from the current issue (Nov.25-Dec.9).
Opera Elektra Holiday in the House of Atreus. The Met oddly chose Thanksgiving to stream Strauss’s Elektra, in which children gather at home, sing bloody murder, and commit it, too. In this spectacular 2016 performance of a production directed by Patrice Chéreau, Nina Stemme delivers an extra helping of sublime rage, and Esa-Pekka Salonen keeps the home bonfires burning. —Justin Davidson metopera.org, November 26.
Classical Music Con Alma With soul. New York composer Paola Prestini and Mexico-based singer-songwriter Magos Herrera (plus a crew of musicians) used the lockdown to collaborate at a distance, and the result is a melancholy but uplifting quasi-cantata full of bird calls, phone calls, and calls across frozen borders. —J.D. National Sawdust Tracks, December 4; live.nationalsawdust.org, December 13.
Art Tom Sachs: Handmade Paintings A mad man. Sparks crackle at the sight of Tom Sachs’s perennially engaging squirrelly trickster art. Here, bumpy paintings of logos, slogans, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, McDonald’s Golden Arches, the American flag. It’s steampunk hand-painted Pop Art made by some uniquely American Rube Goldberg–Unabomber sensibility. —Jerry Saltz Acquavella Galleries, 18 East 79th Street, through December 18.
Classical Music Boston Symphony Orchestra Exploring the theme “American promise.” Tested, masked, and distanced, the BSO returns to its native stage at Symphony Hall, minus a live audience. The lone advantage of canceled seasons and rare performances is that orchestras have become nimble enough to respond to the world around them. This program, the second in the series “Music in Changing Times,” brings together music by three Black composers, Jessie Montgomery, William Grant Still, and Duke Ellington (plus two works by Osvaldo Golijov), led by the Black conductor Thomas Wilkins. —Justin Davidson bso.org, November 26 to December 26.
Theater This Is Who I Am Gather ’round. A wide coalition of theaters (including New York’s PlayCo) has joined virtual hands to present Amir Nizar Zuabi’s Zoom drama about a father and son, one in Ramallah, the other in New York. The two men talk from their respective kitchens, trying to bridge their political and physical gulf by making a traditional dish together. —Helen Shaw woollymammoth.net, November 29 to December 27.
Classical Music New York Festival of Song Highbrow fables. At a time when every news day seems to bring another epic struggle, vertiginous downfall, and act of hubris, soprano Julia Bullock and pianist Steven Blier are here to remind us that we’ve seen it all before. They’ve organized songs by Kurt Weill, Billy Strayhorn, Hall Johnson, and other composers into an evergreen program called “Myths to Live By.” —J.D. nyfos.org/athome, available through December 31.
Art Kim Jones: Rats Live on No Evil Star The artist served in the Vietnam War. Here, the scratchy, challenging battlefield pencil drawings of veteran Kim Jones. Some of these images covered whole walls with erased ships and columns of troops moving forward, retreating, being blown up, setting bulwarks, and regrouping. This retrospective show of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and videos will establish this artist’s bona fides as a connoisseur of visionary windmills of the mind. —J.S. Bridget Donahue, 99 Bowery, through January 9.
Theater The Future Presto. Earlier this year, card-handler and illusionist Helder Guimarães made one of the few true blockbuster quarantine theatrical performances, The Present. We got to do magic in our own homes. And only felt lightly manipulated. Now he returns with The Future, which will include interactive illusions, a mysterious kit mailed to you before the show, his rather wistful style of storytelling, and a choose-your-own-adventure flourish. —H.S. geffenplayhouse.org, December 4 to January 31.
Art Salman Toor: How Will I Know Overdue. Salman Toor’s first solo exhibition of his queer rococo paintings, which live, as he does, between worlds (Lahore, Pakistan, where he was born and has a studio, and New York, where he lives) was supposed to open at the Whitney in April; it went into pandemic hibernation, but you can finally see it in person. —Carl Swanson Whitney Museum, 99 Gansevoort Street, through April 2, 2021.
*This article appears in the November 23, 2020, issue of New York Magazine.
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In the age of Covid-19 this info from City Guide is one of the best sources of info on What’s Happening, even if some are only available in your home, and not in your favorite venue.
CityGuideNY
NYC RESOURCES
The Metropolitan Opera is streaming operas FREE nightly.
The New York Public Library provides access to more than 300,000 FREE e-books and e-audio books.
NYC Health information page for COVID-19.
NYC restaurant world information.
Stream hundreds of Broadway shows (by subscription).
15 Broadway shows you can watch from home.
Broadway performances live—from stars’ living rooms.
The New York City Ballet presents a spring digital season.
Virtual programming will keep you connected to the York Theatre Company.
One World Observatory has made One World Explorer, the attraction’s Digital Skyline Guide, available for remote watching. Virtual helicopter tours of the city’s most iconic sites are available now.
51 New York TV shows and movies.
5 eras of New York to enjoy in books and movies.
2,500 museums and galleries you can visit virtually.
The New York Botanical Garden in bloom from home.
Exploring Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Times Square.
The Top of the Rock launches a brief virtual tour on YouTube.
Fun at-home activities for kids.
6 podcast series to help you understand New York.Discover the best of New York, from hidden gems to iconic landmarks, through The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s “Tourist in your own Town” Video Series.
VIRTUAL MUSEUMS
Explore the world of design with Cooper Hewitt.
Experience the Intrepid Museum anywhere.
New-York Historical Society from home.
A portal to the map collection of the Brooklyn Historical Society.
Virtually visit the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
The Merchant’s House Museum from home.
You can take a virtual tour of the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room at the Rubin Museum of Art. (You can find two hours of meditative chanting as well, if you’re searching out some respite.) The Rubin has also, for the first time, launched a digital assemblage of more than 300 items from the museum’s collection.
VIRTUAL TALKS, LECTURES, AND EVENTS
Thought Gallery has hundreds of livestream talks, lectures, performances, and more. Check out sessions with celebs, live concerts, and opportunities to learn the latest on everything from science to philosophy to social justice
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WFUV-FM 90.7 is my fave local radio station. Noncommercial, member-supported with a format of adult album alternative music, WFUV is doing it’s best to keep us connected to our music with a comprehensive, updated list of live music online.
WFUV Live Online (December 3 – December 9)
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12/3-5 The Hold Steady, Massive Nights 2020 livestream from Brooklyn Bowl
12/3 Mountain Man, Live from the Garden concert series from North Carolina
12/4 Dawes plays 2009 debut North Hills in its entirety
12/5 Patty Griffin benefit from Austin’s Continental Club
12/5 Lindsey Buckingham concert and Q&A
12/5 Sunflower Bean from Le Poisson Rouge
12/5 Darlene Love, “Love for the Holidays” from Sony Hall
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Online concert calendar and links at wfuv.org/livestreams
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