Today’s “Fab 4”/ Selected NYCity Events – MONDAY, MAR. 03, 2014.

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

Branford Marsalis
“New York club dates have become a rarity for Mr. Marsalis, the unfalteringly self-assured tenor and soprano saxophonist, who will attack this weekender with the help of his hard-nosed working quartet, featuring Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Justin Faulkner on drums. That’s the plan for the weekend; on Monday, Mr. Marsalis will preside over a guest-laden benefit for the family of Dwayne Burno, a stalwart and well-loved bassist who died in late December, at only 43.” (Chinen-NYT)
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village,
212-255-4037, villagevanguard.com;
At 8:30 pm/ $50 for Monday’s benefit.

Brazil Festival: Companhia Urbana de Dança
“Sonia Destri’s choreography, spare and cerebral, uses Brazilian hip-hop and other urban dance forms as its starting point, without reducing them to caricature. The seven young male dancers move with a raw grace; several come from the crime-ridden favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The pared-down, well-paced solos and ensemble sections that make up “ID:Identidades,” from 2010, are notable as much for their rigor as for their energy and power.” (NewYorker mag)
Joyce Theatre

Rhett Miller
The Dallas band the Old 97’s, alternative-country torchbearers since the early ’90s, have long catered to outlaw-rock fans. The band’s spirited lead singer, Rhett Miller, will be hard-pressed not to offer a track or two from “Too Far to Care,” their righteous debut album, during this return to City Winery. With Anthony D’Amato.” (Anderson-NYT)
City Winery, 155 Varick St., near Spring St.
At 8 p.m., $22 to $28.
212-608-0555, citywinery.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:

Richard Serra, “New Sculpture” (through March 15)
“In this show, Richard Serra continues along the road that emerged from the hugely successful “Torqued Ellipses” of the 1990s, but also circles back to his earlier oeuvre. Here you have the Serra of the ’60s and ’70s, revised and updated: heavy rectilinear plates and cubes fabricated in steel rather than lead, his signature material in the ’60s.” (Schwendener-NYT) 
Gagosian Gallery, 555 West 24th Street,
 Tue–Sat 10am–6pm / 212-741-1111, 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. ==========================================================

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (03/01) and (02/27).