Today’s “Fab 5” / Selected NYCity Events – FRIDAY, DEC. 13, 2013

Caroling at The Morgan
The Morgan Library and Museum, which is currently displaying Charles Dickens’s original manuscript of “A Christmas Carol,” has singers from Mannes College The New School for Music roaming its halls, performing seasonal fare on Dec. 13 and Dec. 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 and on Dec. 15 and Dec. 22 from 3 to 5.
Morgan Library, 225 Mdison Ave. (btw 37th/36th St.)
212-685-0008, themorgan.org

Occasionally, you just have to venture over to Brooklyn. These next 2 are worth the trip:

Rime of the Ancient Mariner
“Water, water everywhere.” Fiona Shaw delivers a masterful performance of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s eerie tale of penance paid on the high seas. Like an actor possessed, the fiery Shaw inhabits the very marrow of this epic 18th-century poem, bounding across the stage while transforming Coleridge’s luminous language into an exhilarating lived experience.

In the icy Antarctic, a ship is lost at sea. And when a mariner shoots a bird thought to be the crew’s salvation, his macabre, guilt-inducing fate—the veritable “albatross around the neck”—is decided. Accompanied by dancer Daniel Hay Gordon, who offers interpretive counterpoint throughout, Shaw skirts a whirlpool, braves a crew of corpses, and rolls Death’s dice with poetic abandon, taking us to hell and back.
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave, Fort Greene, Brooklyn 
At 7:00pm / $25-$85
718-636-4100 / Website

American Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” (through Dec. 22)
This is the rival to the one at Lincoln Center. Both are wonderful.
“Magical toy soldiers, sparkling snowflakes, mischievous mice, and all the enchanting inhabitants of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s whimsical world return to BAM for the winter holidays in this acclaimed production of The Nutcracker, presented by the renowned American Ballet Theatre and choreographed by ABT Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky.

Performed with a live orchestra, together with extraordinary sets and costumes by Tony Award winner Richard Hudson (The Lion King), The Nutcracker is bound to be a treasured memory for years to come. It is no wonder The New York Times praised, “American Ballet Theatre has a production like no other, made with complete theatrical authority from first to last. The poetry of Alexei Ratmansky’s vision is very striking. I’m impatient to see it again.” Recommended for ages 4 & older.” (CG)
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene, Brooklyn
At 7PM / $15-$150
718-636-4100 / bam.org

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Troy ‘Trombone Shorty’ Andrews has God-given talent, natural charisma and a relentless drive to bridge music’s past and future. His third outing for Verve Records, Say That To Say This (Sept. 10), was co-produced by Andrews and kindred spirit Raphael Saadiq, and sounds like nothing else out there, as Andrews and his longtime band, Orleans Avenue – guitarist Pete Murano, bassist Mike Ballard and drummer Joey Peebles – continue their natural musical evolution.

In a very real sense, the torch is passed from one great New Orleans band to another on the new album, which features the first new studio recording from the original members of the legendary Meters in 36 years, as they revisit their 1977 classic “Be My Lady,” with Andrews singing lead and playing horns.
Terminal 5, 610 W 56th St
at 8:00pm / $35
212-582-6600 / Website

“BIG BAND HOLIDAYS” (through Saturday)
“While balletophiles take their children to “The Nutcracker,” devoted jazz fans can bring the brood to the annual holiday programs featuring Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The band is always topnotch, but additional seasonal pizzazz will be provided by Cécile McLorin Salvant, an audaciously spectacled singer who turns every appearance on a stage into a genuine event.” (NewYorker mag)
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theatre, Broadway at 60th St.
Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m./ $30 to $105.
212-721-6500 / jalc.org

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change. ==========================================================================================

What’s on View:
Special Exhibitions @ 3 Museum Mile / Fifth Ave. Museums:

“Eighteenth Century Pastels” (through Dec. 29)
“Julia Margaret Cameron” (through Jan. 5, 2014)
“Medieval Treasures From Hildesheim” (through Jan. 5, 2014)
“Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800″ (through Jan. 5, 2014)
‘Balthus: Cats and Girls — Paintings and Provocations’ (through Jan. 12, 2014)
“Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan” (through Jan. 12, 2014)
“Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa, The Venini Co., 1932–1947” (through March 2, 2014)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd St.
(212) 535-7710 / metmuseum.org

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‘Robert Motherwell: Early Collages’ (through Jan. 5, 2014)
‘Christopher Wool’ (through Jan. 22, 2014)
“Kandinsky in Paris, 1934–1944“ (through Apr. 23, 2014)

Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th St.
(212) 423-3500 / guggenheim.org.

‘Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting From the Mauritshuis’ (through Jan. 19, 2014)
Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St., at Fifth Ave.
admission is by timed tickets.
288-0700 / frick.org

========================================================== Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Ten museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:

• 110th Street – Museum for African Art

• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio

• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York

• 92nd Street – The Jewish Museum

• 91st Street –  Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

• 89th Street – National Academy Museum

• 88th Street – Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

• 86th Street – Neue Galerie New York

• 83rd Street – Goethe-Institut

Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
• 82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Additionally, though technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th St. and the The Morgan Library & Museum on Madison Ave and 37th St are also located near Fifth Ave. Now plan your own museum crawl. ==========================================================

What’s on View: Top Photography Exhibitions
(NYCity / Manhattan’s WestSide)   

Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53rd Street / 212-708-9400
XL: 19NewAcquisitions in Photography (through Dec. 31)
Walker Evans: American Photographs (through Jan. 26, 2014) 

Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street) / 212-535-7710
Julia Margaret Cameron (through Jan. 5, 2014)
Everyday Ephiphanies: Photography and Daily Life Since 1969  (through Jan. 26, 2014)

ICP 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street / 212-857-0000
Lewis Hine
The Future of America: Lewis Hine’s New Deal Photographs
JFK November 22, 1963: A Bystander’s View of History
Zoe Strauss: 10 Years
All these exhibitions run from Oct 4, 2013–Jan 19, 2014

American Museum Natural History 
79th St. And Central Park West / (212) 313-7278
Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies (through May 31, 2014)

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar: “NYCity Events: Manhattan’s WestSide” dated 12/11 and 12/09.