this week in music

BROOKLYN MUSEUM FIRST SATURDAY: NEW YEAR, NEW FUTURES

Jason Benjamin’s SUITED will be shown at the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday night, followed by the discussion “Queer Style as Resistance in Post-Trump Activism”

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, January 7, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

A lot of Americans were glad to bid good riddance to 2016, although there’s plenty of fear for what can happen in 2017. The Brooklyn Museum explores some of those very legitimate concerns in its free First Saturday program on January 7. There will be live performances by Tank and the Bangas, Discwoman (DJs BEARCAT and SHYBOI) and Cakes Da Killa; a Brooklyn Dance Festival workshop; a book club reading, discussion, and signing with Daniel José Older for his latest Bone Street Rumba novel, Battle Hill Bolero; a hands-on art workshop in which participants can make masks inspired by “A Woman’s Afterlife: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt”; a screening of Jason Benjamin’s Suited, followed by a “Queer Style as Resistance in Post-Trump Activism” talkback with Benjamin, dapperQ, Anita Dolce Vita, Daniel Friedman, Debbie-Jean Lemonte, and Rae Tutera; a curator tour of “A Woman’s Afterlife” with Edward Bleiberg; pop-up gallery talks on “Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty”; a community resource fair with Active Citizen Project/Project EATS, Caribbean Leadership Empowerment Foundation, Historic Districts Council, Spaceworks, Carroll Gardens Association, and Pioneer Works; Kids Corner storytelling (“Virtuous Journeys”) with Rezz and Mando; and pop-up publishing with DIY feminist publishers Pilot Press, led by Jen Kennedy and Liz Linden. In addition, you can check out such exhibits as “Iggy Pop Life Class by Jeremy Deller,” “Beverly Buchanan — Ruins and Rituals,” “The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago,” “Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas,” “Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty,” and “Infinite Blue”; admission to “Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present,” which closes January 8, requires a discounted admission fee of $10.

NEVER BEFORE, NEVER AGAIN

never-before-never-again

Triskelion Arts
Muriel Schulman Theater
106 Calyer St. (enter on Banker St.)
January 5-8, $16-$20
www.triskelionarts.org

Most of the winter performance festivals, such as Under the Radar, COIL, Prototype, and American Realness, consist of experimental works that have either already been performed elsewhere or will afterward. However, the nonprofit Triskelion Arts, which was founded in Brooklyn in 2000 to “foster the development and presentation of the performing arts,” has something very different in mind with its “Never Before, Never Again” festival, which consists of dance, music, comedy, theater, poetry, and other disciplines in improvisational performances that have never been presented before and never will again quite like they will be during the third annual event, running January 5-8. The improv celebration begins January 5 with the Lovelies; Alyssa Gersony; Judah Levenson, Hank Mason, and Shane Gertner; kamrDANCE; NOW ACCEPTING ALL OFFERS MADE; and Katelyn Halpern & Dancers. On January 6, the lineup features Schmidt / Keenoy Movement / Sound Lab; slowdanger; Jog Films; Debbie Z & Friends; and the Lovelies. Saturday’s roster boasts Mauri Connors and Mindy Toro; TanzKlub; the Shelburne Trio (bassist Kevin Farrell, dancer Rachel Mckinstry, and poet Josh Adler); stb x at; Sarah Foster / MoveWorks; and Boom Bat Gesture Performance Group. The festival concludes January 8 with Ali Perkins; Kirsten Schnittker; Jason Mears / Quentin Tolimieri; There’s No Law (Rachel Cohen, Michael Henry, Irene Siegel); and Lokasparsa Dance Projects / clyde forth. Tickets are $16 in advance, $20 at the door to check out these now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t performances.

THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART

Melody Grove stars as the title character in THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART at the McKittrick Hotel (photo by Jenny Anderson)

The Heath in the McKittrick Hotel
542 West 27th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Extended through April 23, $65-$125
www.strangeundoing.com
www.mckittrickhotel.com

Since March 2011, audiences in masks have been roaming around the McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea, following characters into nearly every nook and cranny in Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, a show, inspired by Macbeth, that redefined immersive theater. Now the same production company, Emursive, is presenting a twist on theatrical immersion with the National Theatre of Scotland’s international hit The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, which continues at the McKittrick’s Heath Bar through April 23. This time, instead of the audience chasing the characters, the characters, who don masks at one point, move throughout the pub, talking to audience members, weaving around the space, sitting and standing on tables and chairs, and requesting audience help manufacturing some paper props. Created by writer David Greig (who appropriately enough wrote Dunsinane, a sequel to Macbeth) and director Wils Wilson, The Strange Undoing is about Edinburgh academic Prudencia Hart (Melody Grove), who is attending a conference in Kelso on border ballads, folk songs that were most famously written and collected by Sir Walter Scott. Also at the conference is Prudencia’s archrival, the motorcycle-riding Dr. Colin Syme (Paul McCole), who is described as “Dr. Colin Syme blokeish — obsessed with his kit / He’d eat himself if he was a biscuit.” (Much of the tale is related in delightful rhythmic couplets.) Snowed in on Midwinter’s Night, the prudish Prudencia rejects Colin’s offer to stay with him and instead makes her way through a Costco parking lot to a bed and breakfast that appears to be run by the devil himself (Peter Hannah). Meanwhile, musical director Alasdair Macrae and Annie Grace play multiple roles as well as various instruments, singing traditional ballads in addition to shanties written for the show, imbedded with a sly sense of humor. There’s even karaoke.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART is devilishly good fun (photo by Jenny Anderson)

There are also plenty of self-referential treats. “This is exactly the sort of snow that if it were in a border ballad would poetically presage some kind of doom for an innocent heroine or an encounter on the moor with a sprite or villain or the losing of the heroine’s selfhood in the great white emptiness of the night,” Prudencia says at a critical juncture. Movement director Janice Parker keeps the cast, dressed in terrific period costumes with a contemporary twist, from knocking into the customers on Georgia McGuinness’s set, as references are made to the Proclaimers and Kylie Minogue, such topics as “Border Ballads: Neither Border nor Ballad?” and “The Topography of Hell in Scottish Balladry” are raised, the legendary ballad character Tam Lin is discussed, and free shots of Scotch are offered before the show and complimentary finger sandwiches are passed around at intermission. As with Sleep No More, the more you invest yourself into the proceedings, the more you will get out of it. Our enjoyment of the production was enhanced by our tablemates, who just happened to be the parents of one of the actors, making for some great conversation and many toasts. It’s all devilishly good fun, a time-traveling ballad that would make Sir Walter Scott proud.

WINTER 2017 PERFORMANCE FESTIVALS

Bobbi Jene Smith and Keir GoGwilt team up for A STUDY ON EFFORT at Invisible Dog Center as part of COIL festival

The always exciting winter performance festival season gets under way right after New Year’s, with a slew of popular programs occurring all over town and in multiple boroughs. PS122’s COIL 2017 festival, the last under artistic director Vallejo Gantner, consists of fourteen events, with a dozen performances, a sewing bee, and the Red + White Party. The Public Theater’s fourteenth annual Under the Radar fest includes twenty-one programs, centering on experimental music, theater, and dance, along with postshow discussions and the Incoming festival within a festival. The NYC Winter Jazzfest will celebrate the centennial of Thelonius Monk’s birth while also concentrating on social justice. Focusing on “socially and aesthetically marginal and subversive artists tearing at the boundaries of form and wrestling with the realities of identity,” American Realness was founded in 2010 by Thomas Benjamin Snapp Pryor and Abrons Arts Center in 2010, directly modeled after the Public Theater’s Under the Radar festival; the eighth annual event comprises more than two dozen performances, readings, workshops, discussions, installations, and a party. The fifth annual Prototype festival, which presents cutting-edge opera-theater and music-theater, hosts seven productions, an anniversary party, panel discussions and talkbacks, and the Out of Bounds series of free performances in public spaces. Below are a handful of recommendations for each of the above January festivals.

COIL
Multiple venues
January 3-22
www.ps122.org/coil-2017

January 3, 4-7, 10-15
CVRTAIN, by Yehuda Duenyas, immersive virtual reality experience, 151 Gallery, 132 West 18th St., $10

January 5-8
Custodians of Beauty, by Pavel Zuštiak/Palissimo, dance-theater piece exploring beauty, La MaMa, the Downstairs, 66 East Fourth St., $20

January 7-10
Basketball, by Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith, dance exploring past shames, Howard Gilman Performance Space, Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 West 37th St., $20

January 8
Umyuangvigkaq: PS122 Long Table and Durational Sewing Bee, by Emily Johnson/Catalyst, featuring breakfast, “This Is Lenapehoking: Countering Perceived Invisibility,” “Indigenizing the Future: The Continuance of Aesthetic, Invention, Ceremony,” “My Dad Gives Blueberries to Caribou He Hunts: Indigenous Process and Research as Ceremony,” and “Radical Love: Indigenous Artists and Our Allies,” Ace Hotel New York, 20 West 29th St., free with advance RSVP, 11:30 am – 6:00 pm

January 12-14
A Study on Effort, by dancer and choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith in collaboration with violinist Keir GoGwilt, Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen St., $20

Tania El Khoury’s GARDENS SPEAK give voice back to dead Syrian activists and protesters (photo by Jesse Hunniford)

UNDER THE RADAR
Public Theater and other venues
425 Lafayette St. by Astor Pl.
January 4-15
publictheater.org

January 4, 6, 10
Erin Markey: Boner Killer, words and music by Erin Markey, directed by Ellie Heyman, starring Markey and Emily Bate, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, $25

January 6-9
Gardens Speak, interactive sound installation about ten deceased Syrian activists, by Tania El Khoury, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Abe Burrows Theatre, 721 Broadway, $25

January 9
Incoming! They, Themselves and Schmerm, written and performed by Becca Blackwell, directed and developed by Ellie Heyman, the Robert Moss Theater at Playwrights Downtown, 440 Lafayette St., $25, 5:00 & 8:30

January 11, 12, 14, 15
Latin Standards, written and performed by Marga Gomez, directed by David Schwizer, Martinson Hall, the Public Theater, $25

January 12-15
Time of Women by Belarus Free Theatre, about a trio of women (Maryia Sazonava as Iryna Khalip, Maryna Yurevich as Natalya Radina, Yana Rusakevich as Nasta Palazhanka) fighting for a free and democratic Belarus, written by Nicolai Khalezin and Natiala Kaliada and directed by Khalezin, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Shop Theatre, 721 Broadway, $25

NYC Winter Jazzfest will celebrate one hundredth birthday of Thelonius Monk (photo by William P. Gottlieb)

NYC WINTER JAZZFEST
Multiple venues
January 5-10
www.winterjazzfest.com

January 6, 7
NYC Winter Jazzfest Marathon, multiple venues, $45-$55 per day, $80-$90 for both

Sunday, January 8
Thelonious Monk Makes a Hundred, panel discussion, the New School, Fifth Floor Theater, 55 West Thirteenth St., 3:00

Thelonius Monk 100th Birthday Improv Show, with Kris Davis, David Virelles, Shabaka Hutchings, Sam Newsome, Marc Ribot, Charlie Burnham, Erik Friedlander, Linda Oh, Trevor Dunn, Hamid Drake, Andrew Cyrille, and Deva Mahal playing Solo Monk, Littlefield, 622 Degraw St., $20-$25, 8:00

Tuesday, January 10
Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra: A Concert for Social Justice, with special guest Geri Allen and arrangements by Carla Bley, Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., $30-$40, Social and Environmental Justice panel at 6:00, show at 8:00

Meg Stuart will present an evening of solo works at Abrons Arts Center as part of American Realness festival (photo by Giannina Urmeneta Ottiker)

Meg Stuart will present an evening of solo works as part of American Realness festival (photo by Giannina Urmeneta Ottiker)

AMERICAN REALNESS
Abrons Arts Center and other venues
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
January 5-12
americanrealness.com

January 5-7
An Evening of Solo Works by Meg Stuart, including XXX for Arlene and Colleagues and Signs of Affection, Abrons Arts Center, Playhouse, $20

January 6, 7
Étroits sont les Vaisseaux, by Kimberly Bartosik / daela, duet for Joanna Kotze and Lance Gries, inspired by Anselm Kiefer’s large-scale sculpture, Gibney Dance, Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, 280 Broadway, $15

January 6, 7, 10
Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church (s), solo by Trajan Harrell, first work in series, Abrons Arts Center, Playhouse, $20

January 7, 8, 9, 10
Adult Documentary by Juliana F. May, piece for five dancers about trauma and form, Abrons Arts Center, Experimental Theater, $20

January 8
In the Works: Dance in Process Resident Artists & Guests, with performances by Melinda Ring, Anna Sperber, Michelle Boulé, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Larissa Velez-Jackson, Gibney Dance Company, Antonio Ramos, Katie Workum, Bjorn Safsten, Yanira Castro, iele paloumpis, Gibney Dance Choreographic Center, 890 Broadway, free, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

FUNERAL DOOM SPIRITUAL will have its New York premiere at National Sawdust as part of Prototype festival (photo by M. Lamar)

PROTOTYPE
Multiple venues
January 5-15, $25 unless otherwise noted
www.prototypefestival.org

January 5
Out of Bounds: Amirtha Kidambi, inspired by Nina Simone’s performance at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, 60 Wall St. Atrium, free, 1:00

January 5-14
Mata Hari, composed by Matt Marks, directed and with libretto by Paul Peers, conducted by David Bloom, and starring Tina Mitchell, HERE, 145 Sixth Ave., $30

January 6
Out of Bounds: Leah Coloff, inspired by Patti Smith’s Kimberly and a set at CBGB’s, 60 Wall St. Atrium, free, 1:30

January 6, 7, 9
Breaking the Waves, New York City premiere of opera based on Lars Von Trier film, composed by Missy Mazzoli, directed by James Darrah, conducted by Julian Wachner, with libretto by Royce Vavrek, and starring Bess McNeill and Jan Nyman, NYU Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Pl., $30-$75, 7:30

January 13, 14
Funeral Doom Spiritual, multimedia concert by composers M. Lamar and Hunter Hunt-Hendrix and librettists Lamar and Tucker Culbertson, with Lamar on piano and vocals, string arrangements by Hunt-Hendrix, and additional arrangements by James Ilgenfritz & the Anagram Strings, National Sawdust, 80 North Sixth St., $30, 7:00 & 10:00

HOLIDAY MUSIC, COMEDY, AND THEATER

Ronnie Spector will celebrate the best Christmas ever at City Winery

New York City has tons of special programs during the holiday season, some well known and annual traditions, others more cutting edge and unique. Below is only a handful of seasonal recommendations, several of which are likely not to be on most people’s radar. Keep checking this space as more Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations are added.

Wednesday, December 14
Ingrid Michaelson’s 10th Annual Holiday Hop, with Sugar and the Hi Lows, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St., $40, 9:00

Kevin Geeks Out About Holiday Specials, with Kevin Maher, Erin Farrell, Wendy Mays, Paul Murphy, and Steve Flack, Nitehawk Cinema, 136 Metropolitan Ave. between Berry St. & Wythe Ave.$16, 9:30

Thursday, December 15
The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel, with Steven Fine, Met Fifth Ave., Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, Uris Center for Education, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St., free with museum admission, 3:00

The Oh Hellos Present: The Oh Hellos Christmas Extravaganza, with Tyler and Maggie Heath, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 North Sixth St., $20-$22, 9:00

Thursday, December 15
through
Saturday, December 17
The 37th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration, with the Paul Winter Consort (soprano saxophonist Paul Winter, cellist Eugene Friesen, double-reed player Paul McCandless, keyboardist Paul Sullivan, bassist Eliot Wadopian, drummer Jamey Haddad, organist Tim Brumfield, Procol Harum singer Gary Brooker, and Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St., $35-$95

Friday, December 16, 23
Holiday Music in Gilbert Court, A Renaissance Christmas with My Lord Chamberlain’s Consort, Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave. at 36th St., free with museum admission, 6:30

Saturday, December 17
Brandenburgers Holiday Concert, with the Brooklyn Brandenburgers performing music by Bach, Corelli, Dvorak, Glickman, Ostyn, and Piazzolla, Old Stone House, 336 Third St. in Washington Park, $10, 2:00 & 7:00

Karen Luschar Sings “Mistletoe and Holly,” New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, free, 2:30

Saturday, December 17
Friday, December 23
Monday, December 26
A Darlene Love Christmas: Love for the Holidays, B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd St., $45-$82.50

Sunday, December 18
Latkepalooza!, with food, music, and family-friendly activities, Museum of Jewish Heritage, Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Pl., $10, 10:00 am

Hanukkah Family Day, Jewish Museum, Scheuer Auditorium, 1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St., free with museum admission, 12 noon – 4:00 pm

Karina Posborg is one of many filmmakers screening their Yule Log shorts at BRIC

Monday, December 19
Yule Log 2.016, fifty short films, the Stoop at BRIC Arts | Media House, 647 Fulton St., free, 1:00 – 6:00

Harmony for Peace Holiday Peace Concert, Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, 881 Seventh Ave. between 56th & 57th Sts., $21-$100, 8:00

Tuesday, December 20
MetLiveArts: The Little Match Girl Passion, directed by Rachel Chavkin and starring Ekmeles, Met Breuer lobby, 945 Madison Ave. at 75th St., $65, 7:00

Tuesday, December 20
and
Wednesday, December 21
Ronnie Spector’s Best Christmas Party Ever!, City Winery, 155 Varick St. between Spring & Vandam Sts., $55-$75, 8:00

Thursday, December 22
and
Friday, December 23
Yule Shul vs. Nutcracker: Rated R — A Love Show Holiday Extravaganza, (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker St. between Thompson & Sullivan Sts., $15-$35, 8:00

christmas-for-the-jews

Thursday, December 22
through
Saturday, December 24
Merry Hanukkah with Judy Gold, Carolines on Broadway, 1626 Broadway between 49th & 50th Sts., $32.75

Saturday, December 24
A Very Jewish Christmas, with Modi, Gotham Comedy Club, 208 West 23rd St. between Seventh & 8th Aves., $25, 7:00 & 9:00

Sunday, December 25
Christmas for the Jews, with Joel Chasnoff, Dan Naturman, Cory Kahaney, and more, City Winery, 155 Varick St. between Spring & Vandam Sts., $25, 8:00

Friday, December 30
Kwanzaa 2016: Songs for the Soul, with Ruben Studdard, Dr. Linda H. Humes, and students from the Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, American Museum of Natural History, Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, Central Park West at 79th St., free with museum admission, 12 noon & 3:00

“BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE”: THE REVLON CONCERT FOR THE RAINFOREST FUND

Another superstar lineup is set for the annual Rainforest Fund benefit at Carnegie Hall

Another superstar lineup is set for the biannual Rainforest Fund benefit at Carnegie Hall

Who: Chris Botti, Vittorio Grigolo, Darlene Love, Idina Menzel, Ronnie Spector, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, James Taylor, more
What: Biannual benefit for the Rainforest Fund
Where: Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall,
When: Wednesday, December 14, $150 – $600, 7:00
Why: Founded in 1989 by Trudie Styler and Sting, the Rainforest Fund “supports programs that cover a range of issues from protection of civil and political rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, to the promotion and defense of their social, economic and cultural rights, including the protection of rights to their land and against the destructiveness of resource exploitation.” Every other year the man also known as Gordon Sumner leads a rousing benefit at Carnegie Hall to raise money and awareness for the organization, which must be cheering the recent news about the potential move of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The stellar lineup for the December 14 show, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”: The Revlon Concert for the Rainforest Fund, features jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo, legendary vocalists Darlene Love and Ronnie Spector, Broadway superstar Idina Menzel, bestselling author Bruce Springsteen, singer-songwriter James Taylor, and Sting, in addition to surprise guests. Previous shows, which used to be known as Rock for the Rainforest, have included performances by Paul Simon, Whitney Houston, Stephen Stills, Dionne Warwick, Billy Joel, Renée Fleming, Elton John, Natalie Cole, George Michael, Gladys Knight, Tom Jones, Macy Gray, Ravi Shankar, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Wonder, mixing multiple genres and resulting in fab finales with everyone onstage joining in on classic tunes.

BROOKLYN MUSEUM FIRST SATURDAY: WORLD AIDS DAY

Marilyn Minter, “Blue Poles,” enamel on metal, 2007 (private collection, Switzerland)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, December 3, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum honors World AIDS Day with its free First Saturday programming on December 3. There will be live performances by MC and producer SCIENZE, the Brooklyn Ballet (The Brooklyn Nutcracker), and DJ Sabine Blaizin; a curator tour of “Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty,” led by assistant curator Carmen Hermo; a Community Resource Fair focusing on political advocacy; a hands-on sketching workshop with live clothed models; pop-art talks of “Infinite Blue” led by teen museum apprentices; a Day With(out) Art / Visual AIDS screening of the video compilation Compulsive Practice, followed by a discussion with Juanita Mohammed of the Women’s AIDS Video Enterprise, feminist writer and Brooklyn College film department chair Alexandra Juhasz, and HIV and gay civil rights activist Justin B. Terry-Smith; and a screening of David Kornfield’s The Red Umbrella Diaries, followed by a talkback with documentary subjects Dale Corvino and Essence. In addition, you can check out such exhibits as “Iggy Pop Life Class by Jeremy Deller,” “Beverly Buchanan — Ruins and Rituals,” “The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago,” “Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas,” “Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty,” and “Infinite Blue”; admission to “Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present” requires a discounted admission fee of $10.