Today’s Elite 8 > TUESDAY / AUGUST 11, 2015

> Ballet Festival (through Aug. 16)
Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave, at 19th St. / 8PM, $19-$39
“The Joyce Theater celebrates the diversity of ballet with a two-week buffet of companies and choreographers who are molding the form in interesting ways.”
tonight: BalletX, “One of the most appealing and singular choreographic voices in ballet today,” (The New York Times)

>Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks
Iguana, 240 W54th St.(btw 8th/B’way) / 8-11PM (3 sets) /
$20 cover for entire night, $20 food/drink minimum
“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)

> “Cymbeline” / Shakespeare in the Park (through August 23)
Central Park, Delacorte Theater / 8PM, FREE
a fairytale tucked within a tragedy. Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe in the Bard’s romance where cross-dressing and fake deaths move the plot. this is one tough ticket
– if you qualify, try the new line for seniors 65-plus at the Delacorte Theater.
– take your chances with the online ticket lottery (click here to learn how)
– or try the new ticket lottery at the Public Theater near Astor Place (instructions here).
(seniorplanet.org)

Elsewhere, but this looks worth the detour:
>Edmar Castaneda World Ensemble (also Wednesday)
Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th St. / 7:30PM +9:30PM, $
“Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda has a percussive interface with his instrument, saving the sweeping glissandi for special accents and otherwise using a sharp attack, all pluck and strum.” (Chinen-NYT)

Smart Stuff / Other
(Lectures, Discussions, Book Talks, Literary Readings, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)
> NYC Restaurant Week Summer 2015 (LAST WEEK-through Aug 14)
Various locations and times; $25 for lunch, $38 for dinner
Enjoy the summer edition of Restaurant Week (actually three weeks) of prix-fixe three course meals at many of the city’s best restaurants. Mangia!

Elsewhere, but for us map buffs this looks worth the short detour:
>“Mapping Brooklyn”
Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St./ 6:30PM, FREE
A panel discussion with several artists whose work is featured in the “Mapping Brooklyn” exhibition, moderated by the show’s curator. The exhibition explores the connection between cartography and art through historical and contemporary maps. The show also demonstrates the evolution of maps through the city’s history.

Have time for only one event today? Do this:

Hudson Square Music & Wine Festival (Tuesdays through Aug 25)
> Cynthia Sayer’s 3rd Annual Hot Strings Festival: The Tribeca Playboys (Cajun/Zydeco), Cynthia Sayer (Hot Swing) & Western Caravan (Old School Country)
City Winery Courtyard, 155 Varick St. / 5:30PM, FREE
Cynthia puts together an All Star lineup each year. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain. I’ll be there, don’t want to miss this one.

“The Tribeca Playboys — perhaps better known as the backbone of Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions project — interpret the Cajun and Zydeco music of southwest Louisiana with an emphatic New York attitude.

Celebrated as one of the top 4-string banjoists in the world today, Cynthia Sayer treats audiences to the rarely heard range and versatility of her instrument, in a driving swing style that is all her own.

Western Caravan has been playing Western Swing and Honkytonk music in the NYC area for almost 20 years. Inspired by Bob Wills, Milton Brown, Merle Haggard, George Jones, and many others of the 40s-60s, they maintain the traditional sound while putting their own stamp on the music.”

Bonus – Music Picks:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are a few of my favorite music venues on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who’s playing tonight:
City Winery – 155 Varick St., citywinery.com, 212-608-0555
Joe’s Pub @ Public Theater – 425 Lafayette St. joespub.com, 212-967-7555
Metropolitan Room – 34W22ndSt., metropolitan room.com, 212-206-0440
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St. lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474
Beacon Theatre – 2124 Broadway @ 74th St., beacontheatre.com, 212-465-6500
B.B. King’s Blues Bar – 237W42nd dSt. bbkingblues.com, 212-997-2144
Special Mention:
Caffe Vivaldi – 32 Jones St. nr Bleecker St. caffevivaldi.com, 212-691-7538
a classic, old jazz club in the Village, Caffe V often surprises with a wonderfully eclectic lineup. It’s my favorite spot for an evening of listening enjoyment and discovery.

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♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 56 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015.  Quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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WHAT’S ON VIEW
My Fave Special Exhibitions – MUSEUMS / Manhattan’s WestSide
(See the New York Times Arts Section for listings of all museums,
and also to see their expanded reviews of these exhibitions)

Museum of Modern Art:
‘One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North’ (through Sept. 7)
“In the early 20th century, tens of thousands of African Americans left the rural South for the industrial North in search of jobs, homes and respect. Officially, this MoMA show is meant to mark the centennial of that immense population shift, though it also marks another anniversary: the first time in two decades that all 60 paintings in Jacob Lawrence’s great “Migration Series,” now divided between New York and Washington, D.C., have been shown together at the museum. Here they are surrounded by period photographs, books and fabulous music in a display as stimulating to the mind and the ear as it is to the eye. 212-708-9400, moma.org.” (Cotter)

Museum of Arts and Design:
‘Richard Estes: Painting New York City’ (through Sept. 20)
“The core of this show is a selection of vivid, Photorealist paintings of urban subjects like glass and chrome storefronts, movie theater marquees, cars and trucks, subways, the Brooklyn Bridge, views from the Staten Island Ferry and idyllic images of Central Park made between 1965 and 2015. The exhibition also includes didactic sections about the craft and technique that go into Mr. Estes painting and prints, but that aspect doesn’t fully deliver what it promises. 2 Columbus Circle, Manhattan, 212-299-7777,madmuseum.org.”(Johnson).
I LOVE THIS ONE.

Whitney Museum of American Art:
‘America Is Hard to See’ (through Sept. 27)
“With high ceilings, soft pine-plank floors and light-flooded windows and terraces, the galleries of the new Renzo Piano-designed Whitney Museum in the meatpacking district are as airy as 19th-century sailmakers’ lofts. Art feels at home in them, and the work in the museum’s top-to-bottom inaugural exhibition is homegrown. Culled from the permanent collection, it mixes bookmarked favorites by Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jasper Johns with objects and artists that the Whitney had all but forgotten or just brought in. As a vision of a larger America, the show is far from comprehensive; as a musing on the history of a particular New York institution over nearly a century, it is very fine, smartly detailed and superbly presented. 99 Gansevoort Street, at Washington Street, 212-570-3600, whitney.org.” (Cotter)

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 08/09 and 08/07.