Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, JAN. 20, 2014

‘Madama Butterfly’ *(and next Friday)
“This revival of the Metropolitan Opera’s potent, gorgeously colored production of Puccini’s masterwork features the Met debut of the South African soprano Amanda Echalaz as the betrayed Cio-Cio-San. The youthful cast features another debutant, the baritone Scott Hendricks, as Sharpless, as well as the talented tenor Bryan Hymel as the callous Pinkerton and the mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong as the loyal Suzuki.”(Woolfe-NYT listings)
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center,
At 7:30 p.m.,/ $27 to $445.
(212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org

Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
A popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland every Monday night. For the past nine years, it’s been the spot to mix and mingle with Manhattan show folk and their fans.

The buoyant, sharp and charming Broadway impresario Jim Caruso hosts a combination open-mic, networking event and party, where some nights you may hear the biggest stars on Broadway relax on their night off by performing their favorite songs in an informal setting. Always fun.
Birdland – 315 West 44th St (btw 8th/9th ave)
9:30 pm / $20 (includes a drink if you sit at the bar, which are not bad seats)
(212) 581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com

Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
If you haven’t yet checked out the Nighthawks’ new digs, what are you waiting for. “The band (which has just released their second volume of music from HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”) now actually sounds better, audio-wise, and the menu is a vast improvement over the band’s previous venue—overall, it is a step up, to the second floor, rather than a flight down, to the basement.

Although longtime fans are currently referring to the Nighthawks as “The Iguana Troubadours,” they continue to play with the same amazing combination of skin-tight historical authenticity and sheer, relentless energy, plus a tempo that has always characterized Mr. Giordano’s bands.” (WSJ-Will Friedwald)
Iguana, 240 W. 54th St., (Btw 8th/B’way)
8pm-11pm / $15 cover, $20 food/drink minimum
(212) 765-5454 / iguananyc.com

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
There’s a tradition in many New York City jazz clubs – Monday nights are reserved for big bands. The Village Vanguard, the most storied of clubs, has observed this practice since 1966. The Grammy-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, established by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, is definitely a big band with 4 trumpets, and 4 trombones to accompany 6 reed players. Why not make it your tradition, too.
Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue South, just below West 11th St.
At 8:30 and 10:30 pm / $25
212-255-4037 / villagevanguard.com

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

Chelsea is the heart of the NYCity contemporary art scene. Home to more than 300 art galleries, the Rubin Museum, the Joyce Theater, and The Kitchen performance spaces, there is no place like it anywhere in the world.

Come here to browse free exhibitions by world-renowned artists and those unknowns waiting to be discovered in an art district that is concentrated between West 18th and West 27th Streets, and 10th and 11th Avenues.

Afterwards stop in the Chelsea Market, stroll on the High Line, or rest up at one of the many cafes and bars and discuss the fine art – my fave is Ovest on W 27th St., where the aperitivo is like Happy Hour on steroids.

WHAT’S ON VIEW: Here are 3 Special Exhibitions in Chelsea Galleries that you may want to see:

Martina Bacigalupo: ‘Gulu Real Art Studio’ (through Feb. 8)
“In 2010 the Italian photojournalist Martina Bacigalupo spent time in the city of Gulu in northern Uganda, where she came across a curious form of portraiture. In a local shop called the Gulu Real Art Studio she found dozens of full-length pictures of sitters from which the heads had been neatly cut out. The shop’s owner, Obal Denis, explained why. His machine for developing passport-size photos automatically produced four prints at a time, but most people coming for an ID picture needed only one. So it was easier, and cheaper, to shoot a regular full-length portrait, edit out a head shot and toss what was left. The pictures in this remarkable show are the result: studies in body language and clothing, accompanied by audio-taped interviews made with some of the sitters.”
(Cotter-NYT listings)
The Walther Collection Project Space, 508-526 West 26th Street, Suite 718,
(212) 352-0683, walthercollection.com.

‘Para-Real’ (through Feb. 8)
“This philosophically catchy 14-artist show reflects a few forms in which reality, whatever that is, impinges. It includes a pile of scrub brushes by Robert Therrien; a self-portrait of Maurizio Cattelan as a real puppet; Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photograph of stuffed golden eagles in a museum diorama; and Thomas Demand’s “Ghost,” a photograph of a colored paper and cardboard construction of a kitchen, wherein some culinary objects hover above the stove, as if tossed up by a poltergeist.” (Johnson-NYT listings)
601Artspace, 601 West 26th Street,
(212) 243-2735, 601artspace.org. 

Richard Serra, “New Sculpture” (until Sat. Jan. 25, 2014)
“Gagosian’s double dose of Richard Serra presents dueling sides of the sculptor: the popular artist name checked in a Vampire Weekend song, and the confrontational figure familiar from his earlier career.

The gallery’s West 21st Street location presents the former in fine form, with a single massive work. Curling ribbons of steel, set on edge and towering to ceiling height, nestle together to create Serra’s signature bowing and curving of space. They swallow viewers up in a phenomenological ecstasy one usually associates with, say, walking along a narrow canyon. The metal’s russet color only adds to the sensation of experiencing something more natural than man-made.

The tone, if not the scale, of the work shifts on West 24th Street, with a group of sculptures and nary a bend in sight. Hard-edged steel plates, patinated a carceral gray, get in your way like barricades around a government building. A set of enormous blocks serves as a memorial to the recently deceased sculptor Walter De Maria, a friend of Serra’s. Experiential warmth gives way to cold truths as Serra employs his legendary toughness to challenge not only gravity, but death itself.” (Howard Halle/TONY mag)
Gagosian Gallery, 522 W 21st St, btw 10th/11th Aves
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm
212-741-1717 / gagosian.com

For a listing of 25 essential galleries in the Chelsea Art Gallery District, organized by street, which enables you to create your own Chelsea Art Gallery crawl, see the Chelsea Gallery Guide (nycgo.com)

Or check out TONY magazine’s list of the “Best Chelsea Galleries” and click through to see what’s on view.

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (01/12) and (01/10).