Today’s “Fab 5”+1/ Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, JAN. 18, 2014
For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide check out:
♦ “Notable NYC Events-Jan”, and also “on Broadway”, and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.
‘Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting From the Mauritshuis’ (last weekend)
This is one of the most anticipated shows of the year.
Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” has not been seen in New York for nearly 30 years, but it’s only one of 15 quality paintings in this show on loan from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in The Hague, which is under renovation.
The NYT art critic thinks that Carel Fabritius’s palpitating little “Goldfinch” is the star of the show, but there are also four Rembrandt’s and Jacob van Ruisdael’s well respected “View of Haarlem With Bleaching Grounds,” among others. Pick your own favorite.
The “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” looks at you from across the room, and asks forgiveness for the interminable wait on line in the cold to get in to see her. Dress warm. She and the Rembrandt’s are worth it.
Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street, Manhattan,
288-0700, frick.org
‘La Bohème’ (Saturday and Wednesday)
Franco Zeffirelli’s bustling, colorful production of this Puccini opera, introduced in 1981, is so popular that the Metropolitan Opera has not always taken care to cast it with the best singers. So it is good news that this revival has such a winning cast, headed by the lovely, plush-voiced soprano Maija Kovalevska as Mimi and the ardent, youthful tenor Joseph Calleja as Rodolfo.
The robust baritone Alexey Markov makes a hearty and impulsive Marcello, and the bright soprano Irina Lungu is a vivacious Musetta. Stefano Ranzani conducts a sensitive and textured performance.” (NYT-Anthony Tommasini)
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center,
Saturday at 8:30 p.m., Wednesday at 7:30 p.m./ $27-$445!
(212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org
Shen Yun Performing Arts (Through Jan 19)
“Heavenly maidens, brave warriors, mischievous monks, and, yes, even a flying pig! China’s 5,000 years of uninterrupted history has yielded an endless treasure trove of legends, myths, and literary classics. These stories come to life in vivid detail through Shen Yun’s awe-inspiring performances.
Let Shen Yun take you on an extraordinary journey spanning from the origins of Chinese civilization through the height of the Tang and Song dynasties all the way to the modern day. It’s a performance that not only entertains, but more broadly, educates and inspires.
Based in New York, Shen Yun has become the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company and a global, cultural sensation, reviving the authentic culture of China that was once almost lost. And now, after enchanting royals in London, performing for packed houses across Asia, and wowing a sold-out audience at Lincoln Center last season, Shen Yun is returning to the Lincoln Center stage with an entirely new program for 2014!” (CityGuide)
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, DHK Theater, 20 Lincoln Center
At 7:30Pm / $80-$300
212-496-0600 – http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org
BILL FRISELL
“The guitarist Frisell can wring equal depth and beauty from a free-form Paul Motian composition or a Stephen Foster ballad and just about anything in between. For the second installment of his “Roots of Americana” series here, Frisell has invited a couple of his past collaborators, the singer-guitarist-songwriter Buddy Miller and the vocalist-fiddler Carrie Rodriguez, to join him in a program inspired by the Bristol Sessions.
It was at a small studio in this Tennessee town that what we think of as country music was first laid down, in 1927—hugely influential recordings by the Carter Family, Jimmy Rodgers, and others. A pre-concert discussion will accompany each of the four performances.” (NewYorker listings)
Allen Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th St.
At 7 and 9:30 p.m./ $45-$75,
(212) 721-6500, jalc.org
Art Spiegelman & Phil Johnston ‘Wordless’
“Subtitled an “intellectual vaudeville,” this unusual work combines various disciplines of the popular arts: graphics, cartoons, jazz and narration. The images that are presented may be bereft of words, but, thankfully, Pulitzer Prize-winning illustrator and author Art Spiegelman has a few choice ones.
Often called “the father of the graphic novel,” Mr. Spiegelman presents illustrated examples of the graphic novel form going back decades before his own “Maus”-terpiece. The original score is by saxophonist and composer Phil Johnston, best known for the now-iconic Microscopic Septet, whose music is as quirky, eccentric and memorable as Mr. Spiegelman’s artwork.” (WSJ)
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave, at Ashland Place
subway: #2 to atlantic ave; walk 1 block N on ashland to venue.
(not manhattan’s WestSide, but this looks worth the jaunt – about 30 min from times sq)
At 7:30 p.m./ $30
(718) 636-4100, bam.org
New York Jewish Film Festival (January 8–23)
Presented by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, this global survey of innovative and provocative movies focusing on the Jewish experience is back in 2014 for its 23rd installment. A number of films presented in years past have gone on to be distributed nationally in theaters and on TV (in fact, Ajami, a tense crime thriller that unfolds on the streets of Jaffa in Israel and was featured in the 2010 festival, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film).
Today’s highlight is the program at 11:45 p.m. devoted to the work of the graphic designer and filmmaker Saul Bass. First a screening of his 1974 film, “Phase IV,” and “Ambling Alp,”, then a short music video by the filmmakers Kirby McClure and Julia Grigorian that was inspired by Bass’s film. A full schedule is at nyjff.org.
Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th St., and
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th St.
Tickets are $13, $9 for students and 62+
Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
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What’s on View:
Special Exhibitions @ 4 Museum Mile / Fifth Ave. Museums:
‘Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom’ (through Feb. 23)
“Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa, The Venini Co., 1932–1947” (through March 2, 2014)
‘Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China’ (through April 6)
‘The American West in Bronze, 1850-1925’ (ends April 13)
William Kentridge: ‘The Refusal of Time’ (through May 11)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, at 82nd St.
(212) 535-7710 / metmuseum.org
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‘Chagall: Love, War, and Exile’ (through Feb. 2)
this one is very special – don’t miss it.
Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd St.
(212) 423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org
‘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’ (last 2 days)
Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St., at Fifth Ave.
everyone wants to see “the girl with the pearl earring”, so admission is by timed tickets.
212-288-0700 / 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
Walker Evans: American Photographs (through Jan. 26, 2014)
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street) / 212-535-7710
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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NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide 