Today’s Super 7 > SATURDAY / APR. 09, 2016

“We search the internet everyday looking for the very best of What’s Happening, primarily on Manhattan’s WestSide, so that you don’t have to.” We make it as easy as 1-2-3.
(click on links for more complete event info.)

Have time for only one event today? Do This:
Bill Charlap: Broadway to Harlem 
Rose Theatre, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th St./ 8PM, $40-$130
“It’s been far too long between recordings, but the blue-chip trio of the pianist Charlap has released a new album, “Notes from New York,” a masterly project replete with interpretations of standards both familiar and offbeat. Special guests for this celebration of Big Apple song fare include the vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant and Freddy Cole and the reed men Houston Person and Ken Peplowski.” (NewYorker)

The Bill Charlap trio is experienced and always first class, and you don’t want to miss Grammy award winner Cecile Salvant. Last night’s audience, including Tony Bennett, was blown away by old Jazz singer Freddy Cole, especially when he was accompanied by soulful sax player Houston Person. It’s rare for this site to repeat an engagement as top event, but this performance is so worth being your top event it has earned that distinction.

Music, Dance, Performing Arts
Project B-Way/95 (Apr.07-20)
Symphony Space, Broadway @ 95th St./
“Two weeks of reveling in The Great White Way as only Symphony Space can. See, hear, and meet leading singers, composers, writers, and directors with concerts, panel discussions, film screenings, workshops, literary events, and more! You’ve never been this close to Broadway before.”

Today: Gypsy (filmed live in London, performance in HD)/ 1PM, $24, looks wait listed.
“Gypsy is considered by many to be the greatest of Broadway musicals, with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The score features such musical theater classics as “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Some People,” “Let Me Entertain You,” and “Rose’s Turn.”

This critically acclaimed West End production features Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose in a performance that the Guardian called “one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen,” as well as powerful turns by Lara Pulver as Louise and Peter Davison as Herbie.”

Pharoah Sanders Quartet (last day)
Birdland, 315 W. 44th St./ 8:30PM, 11PM, $40
“Mainstream he will never be, but this pioneering free-jazz saxophonist now regularly tempers his robust effusions with deeply soulful playing that embraces the tradition without pandering to it. In fact, he’s initiated a new tradition; potent traces of Sanders’s ecstatic vibe can be detected in the music of Kamasi Washington.” (NewYorker)

Camille O’Sullivan (also April 13-16)
Irish Arts Center, 553 W51st St./ 8PM, $32
“Pinning this Irish-French performer down to any one confining musical genre is a fool’s game. What can be confirmed is that she brings arresting theatricality and sensuality to a wide swath of song, touching on the work of Gillian Welch, Nick Cave, and others.” (NewYorker)
“Ravishing…superb performer.” – Guardian
“Exceptional.” – Time Out

Dance Theater of Harlem
City Center, 131 West 55th St./ 2PM +8PM, $
“While Misty Copeland has opened doors for black ballerinas in recent years, this company has been steadily doing the same for decades. The troupe’s City Center engagement highlights new ballets by women, with the New York premieres of Dianne McIntyre’s “Change” and Elena Kunikova’s “Divertimento.” Also on deck this season are Nacho Duato’s “Coming Together” and Helen Pickett’s “When Love.” (Burke-NYT)

This is definitely not Manhattan’s WestSide, but it is Bklyn’s WestSide, and absolutely worth the detour. You just have to see these guys perform. Unforgettable!
Streb Extreme Action Company (Thursdays through Sundays, until April 24) / $25
Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, 51 North First Street, Williamsburg,
“After a winter hiatus, superheroes are back in the multiplexes. More excitingly, they’re back in Brooklyn, where Elizabeth Streb’s gang of action heroes can be seen in “SEA (Singular Extreme Actions),” a new show that once again tests the boundaries of the human body as it navigates an army of complex, bespoke mechanical contraptions. The soundtrack shifts from show to show as audience members contribute to the playlist.”(Schaefer-NYT)
Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30PM; Saturdays and Sundays at 3PM.

Smart Stuff / Other
(Lectures, Discussions, Book Talks, Literary Readings, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

17th Havana Film Festival New York (Apr 07-15)
various locations & times – see festival calendar
Shows 40 full-length feature films, documentaries, shorts, animation, and classics from Latin America with English subtitles.

“The festival celebrates the diversity of voices found today in Cuban and Latin American cinema and the inspirational stories they tell. Festival highlights include a tribute to the highly acclaimed and well-loved Cuban actors Isabel Santos (Vestido de novia, Cuba Libre) and Enrique Molina (La cosa humana); a retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the late Tomás Gutierrez Alea, one of the most influential filmmakers of the last century; panels about filming and acting in Cuba; a special presentation of short documentaries about Cuban music; and premieres of award-winning features from all over Latin America.”
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Bonus – Music Venues:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are my favorite music venues on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who’s playing tonight:
City Winery – 155 Varick St., citywinery.com, 212-608-0555
Feinstein’s/54 Below – 254 W54th St., 54below.com, 646-476-3551
Joe’s Pub @ Public Theater – 425 Lafayette St., joespub.com, 212-967-7555
Metropolitan Room – 34W22ndSt., metropolitan room.com, 212-206-0440
Beacon Theatre – 2124 Broadway @ 74th St., beacontheatre.com, 212-465-6500
B.B. King’s Blues Bar – 237W42nd St., bbkingblues.com, 212-997-2144
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St., lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474
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 58 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2016.  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 Fifth Avenue
(See the New York Times Arts Section for listings of all museum exhibitions,
and also see the expanded reviews of these exhibitions)

Guggenheim Museum:

‘Peter Fischli David Weiss: How to Work Better’ (through April 27)
“Presenting more than 300 sculptures, photographs and videos, this marvelously entertaining exhibition demonstrates the power of creative play to invigorate hearts and minds. It includes photographs of doll-scale tableaus made mainly of processed meats; films starring the artists as Rat and Bear in frowzy costumes; more than 160 small, comical clay sculptures representing a harebrained history of the world; and myriad trompe l’oeil sculptures of ordinary objects. Most importantly, there’s the team’s classic movie “The Way Things Go” (1987), the landmark film documenting an apparently continuous series of chain reactions of a Rube Goldberg-type construction. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, 212-423-3500, guggenheim.org.” (Ken Johnson)

Metropolitan Museum of Art:
‘Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger’s Drawings from Collection of Ricky Jay’ (thru April 11)
“A draftsman, calligrapher, magician and musician, Matthias Buchinger (1674–1739) traveled all over Northern Europe to entertain kings and aristocrats as well as hoi polloi with feats of physical dexterity. He was especially noted for elaborate drawings featuring biblical passages written in letters too small to be read by ordinary naked eyes. This he managed despite having been born without hands or legs: His arms ended at the elbows and his lower extremities were truncated at the upper thighs. Sixteen of his amazing works are featured in this exhibition. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org.” (Johnson)

‘A New Look at a Van Eyck Masterpiece’ (through April 24)
“This small show of Flemish art, highly specialized yet not inaccessible, is the latest in an impressive sequence of laser-focused examinations of the Met’s holdings of late medieval and Renaissance painting. A crystalline Crucifixion attributed to van Eyck, and a jam-packed Last Judgment painted by him and his studio, now hang as a diptych — but technical analysis of the frames suggests they were probably side panels for a central painting now lost. Alongside the Met’s van Eycks is a recently resurfaced drawing of the Crucifixion, lent by Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, whose wizened Virgin and writhing thieves rhyme with the painted version. Did van Eyck draw it? Whether he did or not, the drawing grounds these divinely impeccable paintings in the real world of brushes and pencils. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org.” (Jason Farago)

‘Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection’ (continuing)
“This lavish roll out of 160 objects came to the Met from the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation last spring. The Burkes loved Japanese art — all of it — and the collection is close to compendious in terms of media, from wood-carved Buddhas to bamboo baskets, with a particular strength in painting, early and late. The quality of the work? Japan thinks highly enough of it to have made the Burke holdings the first Japanese collection from abroad ever to show at Tokyo National Museum. Some pieces on view now will be rotated out and replaced in February, making this an exhibition to visit at least twice. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org.” (Cotter)

‘Reimagining Modernism: 1900-1950’ (continuing)
“One of the greatest encyclopedic museums in the world fulfills its mission a little more with an ambitious reinstallation of works of early European modernism with their American counterparts for the first time in nearly 30 years. Objects of design and paintings by a few self-taught artists further the integration. It is quite a sight, with interesting rotations and fine-tunings to come. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org.” (Smith)

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Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Eight museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:
• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio (closed Sun-Mon)*
• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York (open 7 days /week)
•  92nd Street – The Jewish Museum (closed Wed) (Sat FREE) (Thu 5-8 PWYW)
•  91st Street  –  Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (open 7 days /week)
•  89th Street –  National Academy Museum (closed Mon-Tue)
•  88th Street –  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (closed Thu) (Sat 6-8 PWYW)
•  86th Street –  Neue Galerie New York (closed Tue-Wed) (Fri 6-8 FREE)
Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
•  82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art (open 7 days /week)*
*always Pay What You Wish (PWYW)

Although technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection (closed Mon) (SUN 11am-1pm PWYW) on the corner of 70th St. and Fifth Avenue and the The Morgan Library & Museum (closed Mon) (Fri 7-9 FREE) on Madison Ave and 37th St are also located near Fifth Ave.
Now plan your own museum crawl (info on hours & admission updated June 2, 2015).
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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 04/01 and 03/30.
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This week’s fave and FREE NYCity AppS: 
Trip Advisor
An enormous base of NYCity user reviews (2.1 million) provides the widest coverage of hotels (468), restaurants (12,645) and things to do (yes, 3,246). Have a specific question? Then try one of Trip Advisor’s forums. Just remember that with all those reviews you have to try to find the consistency among the comments, and ignore the outliers.

OpenTable
Instantly locate restaurants near you with open reservations and then place a reservation right from your iOS device. A great interface and the ability to see a menu from the restaurant you’re interested in makes this my go to restaurant reservation app.

Subway Time 
Need to catch your #1,2,3 subway to attend an event? Use the Subway Time app from the MTA to find out when the next train arrives at your station. The MTA also has Bus Time info available on their mobile website.
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