Today’s Elite 8 NYC Events > WEDNESDAY/ SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

“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.

For future NYC Events, check the tab above:  “September NYC Events”
It’s the most comprehensive list of top events this month that you will find anywhere.
Carefully curated from “Only the Best” NYC event info on the the web, it’s a simply superb resource that will help you plan your NYC visit all over town, all through the month.

OR to make your own after dinner plans TONIGHT, see the tab above;  “LiveMusic.”

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Have time for only one NYC Event today? Do This:

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
New York Live Arts, 219 w19 St./ 7:30Pm, $35
“Internationally acclaimed choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker highlights the season opening of New York Live Arts (Live Arts) with two early benchmarks of postmodern dance, Fase (September 24-28, 2019) and Rosas danst Rosas (October 1-5, 2019).

Premiering in 1982, Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich was Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s first performance. Building upon four repetitive compositions by the minimalist Steve Reich, De Keersmaeker strings three duets and one solo into an independent movement idiom that both illustrates the music and builds new dimensions. Starting from the principle of phase shifting, both the music and dance are born from a place of complete synchronicity that soon ventures into slips and slides of changed forms and patterns. First iterations of Fase were seen in Live Arts’ legacy program Fresh Tracks in 1982, which at the time was known as Choreographers Showcase.” (NYC-arts.org)

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7 OTHER TOP NYC EVENTS TODAY (see below for full listing)

>> Arca
>> Evan Christopher
>> AYODELE CASEL AND ARTURO O’FARRILL
>> STEVE LEHMAN TRIO WITH CRAIG TABORN
>> New York City Ballet
>> DAVID NASAW: MY THREE MOGULS
>> Taste of the Dining Concourse

You may want to look at previous days posts for events that continue through today.

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Music, Dance, Performing Art

Arca (Sept. 25-28)
The Shed, 545 W. 30th St./ 8PM, $47
“The Venezuelan singer-songwriter, producer, and performance artist Arca defies easy description; she has shaped her career around the experimental and the enigmatic, transforming with each new release (the latest of which was her self-titled album, from 2017). Here, she presents “Mutant;Faith,” an immersive four-part residency offering a unique experience every night. She débuts some of her latest work, and, with assistance from a team of artistic disruptors—including the d.j. Total Freedom and the interaction designer Daito Manabe—she continues probing the boundaries of art, technology, and sound.” (Briana Younger, NewYorker)

Evan Christopher
Mezzrow, 163 W. 10th St./ M
“The rich musical heritage of New Orleans provides lifeblood to such dedicated musicians as the clarinettist and soprano saxophonist Evan Christopher and his fellow Big Easy collaborator, the pianist David Torkanowsky—two wizardly players who draw upon a century of fertile inspiration in their music. Allegiance to tradition may be admirable, but what makes this pair exceptional is the vitality they bring to venerable work; together, they pay forward a legacy.” (Steve Futterman, NewYorker)

AYODELE CASEL AND ARTURO O’FARRILL (through Sept. 29).
at the Joyce Theater / 7:30PM, $
“O’Farrill, a jazz pianist and composer who has won multiple Grammys, is celebrated for his performances of, and contributions to, Afro-Latin music. Casel — “a spectacular tap artist,” according to The New York Times dance critic Gia Kourlas — also draws from her African-American and Puerto Rican roots in her dancing. Given their shared cultural background and artistic focus, the two are a natural team. Their collaboration, which debuts at the Joyce on Tuesday and features live music and a squad of stellar dancers, explores the relationship between tap, jazz and Afro-Latin culture through various musical and dance styles.” (NYT)

STEVE LEHMAN TRIO WITH CRAIG TABORN (Sept. 24-25)
at Jazz Standard / 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; $30
“In Lehman’s scattered, tone-smearing saxophone style, a lot of influences swim to the surface. He nods to a broad saxophone tradition — the blossoming flow of Charlie Parker; the clean, darting intellect of Steve Coleman — but also draws from today’s electronic avant-garde. You can sense that he’s probably listened to the rough, worried noise music of Ben Frost and to the drifting ambient sounds of Tim Hecker. On “The People I Love,” his latest album, Lehman takes on a range of sources — from the jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland to the electronica duo Autechre. Taborn, a stellar pianist, joins Lehman’s trio (the bassist Matt Brewer and the drummer Damion Reid) for that recording; the same lineup appears at these shows.” (NYT- GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO)

New York City Ballet (thru Oct.13)
NYS Theater, Lincoln Center / 3PM, $35
“Performances of Balanchine’s treasured triptych “Jewels” continue on Friday and Saturday, followed on Sunday and Tuesday by a program pairing Mr. B with the acclaimed British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. Wednesday brings an all-Balanchine program of “Valse Fantaisie,” “Kammermusik No. 2” and “Union Jack.” On Thursday, City Ballet hosts its eighth Fall Fashion Gala, which features new works from the principal dancer Lauren Lovette and the former soloist Edwaard Liang, and costumes by Zac Posen and Anna Sui. Rounding out the evening is the Balanchine classic “Symphony in C.” (NYT)

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Smart Stuff / Other NYC EventS

DAVID NASAW: MY THREE MOGULS
12TH ANNUAL LEON LEVY BIOGRAPHY LECTURE
CUNY Graduate Center, Proshansky Auditorium / 6:30PM,
“In telling the stories of three powerful men—Andrew Carnegie, William Randolph Hearst, and Joseph P. Kennedy—David Nasaw discovered that individuals, no matter how rich and politically influential, do not make history by themselves. Nasaw—who is the Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Distinguished Professor at The Graduate Center—reveals what he learned about the exercise and limits of power in this year’s annual talk on writing and researching biography. His highly acclaimed and best-selling books include The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy; Andrew Carnegie; and The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst.”

Taste of the Dining Concourse – Dine for $5
Grand Central Terminal, Lower Level Dining Concourse merchants.
“Grand Central Terminal food vendors are offering items for just $5 on Wednesdays from 2:30-4:30 p.m. They are all listed HERE.”

Continuing Events

HARLEM COMEDY FESTIVAL (Sept. 22-29)
at various locations
“There’s more to stand-up in Harlem than the long-running amateur night at the Apollo Theater, as this celebration aims to demonstrate in the coming week at places such as Under Bar and the Chipped Cup. The preliminary rounds of the festival’s contest for aspiring stand-ups will be held from Monday to Wednesday, culminating with the finale on Sept. 29 at Harlem Nights. Other shows, meanwhile, will feature proven headliners such as Tony Woods.” (NYT-Sean L. McCarthy)

New York Oyster Week (thru Sept.29)
Multiple venues
“Whether you love to slurp them straight out of the shell or just happen to appreciate their role in the ocean’s ecosystem, Oyster Week has an event for you. The week kicks off with a fundraiser for the Billion Oyster Project and their plan to replenish the oyster population in New York harbor by 2035 at Pier A Harbor House, mingle with oyster experts while tasting signature bites and enjoying premium cocktails. Other events include a SHUCKeasy pairing oysters with cocktails, a rare showcase of Mexican oysters and Oystoberfest with all-you-can-drink Radeberger beer.” (TONY)

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COMING SOON (WFUV)

9/25 Janelle Monae, The Rooftop at Pier 17
9/25 Michael Kiwanuka, Brooklyn Steel
9/25 Xavier Rudd, Music Hall of Williamsburg

♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, plus dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.6 million, had a record 65 million visitors last year and was TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2019 – the ninth consecutive year. BUT quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats for these top NYC events in advance, even if just earlier on the 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 exhibitions)

‘T. REX: THE ULTIMATE PREDATOR’
American Museum of Natural History (through Aug. 9, 2020).
“Everyone’s favorite 18,000-pound prehistoric killer gets the star treatment in this eye-opening exhibition, which presents the latest scientific research on T. rex and also introduces many other tyrannosaurs, some discovered only this century in China and Mongolia. T. rex evolved mainly during the Cretaceous Period to have keen eyes, spindly arms and massive conical teeth, which could bear down on prey with the force of a U-Haul truck; the dinosaur could even swallow whole bones, as affirmed here by a kid-friendly display of fossilized excrement. The show mixes 66-million-year-old teeth with the latest 3-D prints of dino bones, and also presents new models of T. rex as a baby, a juvenile and a full-grown annihilator. Turns out this most savage beast was covered with — believe it! — a soft coat of beige or white feathers.” (Farago-NYT)

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‘AUSCHWITZ. NOT LONG AGO. NOT FAR AWAY’
at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (through Jan. 3).
“Killing as a communal business, made widely lucrative by the Third Reich, permeates this traveling exhibition about the largest German death camp, Auschwitz, whose yawning gatehouse, with its converging rail tracks, has become emblematic of the Holocaust. Well timed, during a worldwide surge of anti-Semitism, the harrowing installation strives, successfully, for fresh relevance. The exhibition illuminates the topography of evil, the deliberate designing of a hell on earth by fanatical racists and compliant architects and provisioners, while also highlighting the strenuous struggle for survival in a place where, as Primo Levi learned, “there is no why.” (NYT-Ralph Blumenthal)

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‘LIFE: SIX WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS’
at the New-York Historical Society (through Oct. 6).
“In the three-decade-plus golden age of Life magazine, only six of its full-time photographers were women. On the face of it, this exhibition at the historical society is half an excuse to air some gorgeous, previously unpublished silver prints, half a broad hint about how much talent we’ve lost to discrimination over the years. But cheery photo essays, produced by professional women, about other women hesitating to join the work force make a subtler point: that the actual mechanics of discrimination tend to be more complicated than they appear from a distance.” (NYT-Will Heinrich)

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Bonus: Nifty 9 – Best Cabarets / Piano Bars NYCity
These are my favorite places for an after dinner night on the town – music and drinks.
Hit the Hot Link and check out what’s happening tonight:

Feinstein’s/54 Below – 254 W 54th St.