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Louie C.K., Dance Theatre of Harlem, and more New York events.
(Photo: Rachel Neville (Dance Theater of Harlem); Helen Sloan/Courtesy of HBO (Game of Thrones); Charlotte Rutherford (Marina and the Diamonds)) |
Movies
1. See Furious 7
Explosions in memoriam.
Though it’s unseen at this writing, you’ll want to speed over to Furious 7 to catch Paul Walker’s last lap as ex-cop O’Conner in this apparently final installment of the hot-dog hot-rod saga. Though I’ve often found myself thinking, What’s the point?, I enjoyed the first, fourth, fifth (especially), and sixth in this series, which gave cushy gigs to Vin Diesel, Ludacris, and Michelle Rodriguez; Kurt Russell is in this one, along with Jason Statham, who ended part six by blowing away one of the good guys and vowing he’d be coming for them all. —David Edelstein
In theaters.
TV
2. Watch Game of Thrones
Winter is coming (again).
The most watched, most hyped, most expensive show in HBO history returns with stories that wrap up plots from the two darkest books in George R.R. Martin’s series. Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister is the anchor, even more so than in seasons past. —Matt Zoller Seitz
HBO, April 12 at 9 p.m.
Classical Music
3. Hear Boston Symphony Orchestra
With the new maestro in tow.
As the New York Philharmonic hunts for its next music director, it’s shooting covetous glances at its northern rival, currently enjoying a honeymoon with its hotshot leader. Andris Nelsons brings the BSO to Carnegie for a high-decibel three-night stand that includes Mahler’s Sixth and Shostakovich’s Tenth. —Justin Davidson
Carnegie Hall, April 15 through 17.
Art
4. See ‘Enigmas’
Test your eye, test your taste.
At one of the trickiest, most evil-genius group shows likely to open this year, we get work that is, looks like, might actually be, and most definitely isn’t the predominant banal abstract-painting mode of the moment, Zombie Formalism. Some was made by a super-hip collective; some by the excellent wizard-originator of all things zombie, Julian Schnabel; and some by one of the few zombies whose art I actually like, David Ostrowski. —Jerry Saltz
Andrea Rosen Gallery, through April 25.
TV
5. Watch Louie
More ha-ha, less ho-hum.
Louis C.K.’s sorta-sitcom had its most formally daring season last year, staging several movie-length stories and alienating some viewers with a date-rape episode. This abbreviated fifth season looks to be a return to something not simpler, exactly, but more content to amuse and engage rather than dazzle and overwhelm. —M.Z.S.
FX, April 9 at 10:30 p.m.
Pop
6. See Stevie Wonder
Not just a victory lap.
Sometimes these “artist plays a classic album” nostalgia tours are a bit much, but you cannot argue with this one: Stevie Wonder, in Brooklyn, playing Songs in the Key of Life from start to finish. Enough said. —Lindsay Zoladz
Barclays Center, April 12.
Theater
7. See Hamlet
There is method in it.
While the Broadway season heads into overdrive, don’t miss the chance to watch Peter Sarsgaard, who has played three of Chekhov’s great restless-philosopher roles, tackle their progenitor. Austin Pendleton directs a cast that also includes Penelope Allen as Gertrude, Lisa Joyce as Ophelia, and—can it be?—Stephen Spinella as Polonius. —Jesse Green
Classic Stage Company, through May 10.
Dance
8. See Dance Theatre of Harlem
On the up and up.
This small but crucial modern ballet company is still developing, but its strengths—poetic, thoroughly invested dancers and an eye toward important new work, like Robert Garland’s engrossing and invigorating Return—are consistent, and reason enough to catch this season. —Rebecca Milzoff
New York City Center, April 8, 10, and 11.
TV
9. Watch Orphan Black
Season three, finally.
The sci-fi drama returns with a whole new batch of male clones to contend with. Come for Tatiana Maslany’s gripping performance; stay for Tatiana Maslany’s nine other gripping performances. —Margaret Lyons
BBC America, April 18 at 9 p.m.
Pop
10. Hear Sufjan Stevens’s Carrie & Lowell
Soft voice, heavy feelings.
Sufjan’s pain is our pleasure, even when it reduces us to tears. Carrie & Lowell is 11 tracks of emotional anguish dedicated to a mother he barely knew, each song more melancholy and beautiful than the last.
Asthmatic Kitty.
Books
11. Read Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child
A throwback that looks forward.
America’s only living Nobel-winning novelist has distilled her seasoned style, dispensing with the lyrical byways of earlier work. Her latest, following the half-magical journey of an unloved, very dark-skinned young woman named Bride, recalls her 1970 debut, The Bluest Eye, but, in a modern twist, Bride’s blackness becomes a lucrative asset in exoticizing Los Angeles. —Boris Kachka
Knopf, April 21.
Art
12. See Alice Neel
Shattering, sublime physicality.
In a gathering of beautiful small drawings and watercolors—many of them done when she was young and living in Harlem with a series of lovers—Alice Neel’s virtuosity resonates. She reveals, revels, and takes solace in the secret garden of deeply human, intimate moments between lovers, and her touch allows you just far enough into the work to let you know that all of this was real. —J.S.
David Zwirner Gallery, through April 18.
Pop
13. Listen to Courtney Barnett
A jangly jewel.
“I love you, I hate you, I’m on the fence, it all depends,” whip-smart Aussie Courtney Barnett declares on Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, her debut album—a staggeringly articulate depiction of indecision and 20-something in-betweenness.
Mom & Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk!
Movies
14. See The Vertigo Effect
From great heights.
Not all of us were happy when Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo dethroned Citizen Kane as the “best film of all time” in a prominent poll, but here’s a tip of the fedora to BAM for this survey, featuring 29 films “influenced by or anticipating” Hitchcock’s swank odyssey of obsession, which screens opening night. Among the treats: Chris Marker’s towering documentary Sans Soleil, Brian De Palma’s Obsession, François Truffaut’s Mississippi Mermaid, and Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct. —D.E.
BAMcinématek, April 16 through 30.
Theater
15. Listen to The Fortress of Solitude
Loud and clear.
Jonathan Lethem’s novel about music became a garbled musical at the Public Theater last year, but a lot of the confusion melts away on the fine cast album. The highlight is still the same, though: the propulsive and rapturous “Take Me to the Bridge.” Joe’s Pub celebrates the release with a concert. —J.G.
Ghostlight Records; Joe’s Pub, April 13.
Pop
16. Listen to Earl Sweatshirt
A stellar sophomore release.
At just ten tracks and 30 minutes, Earl Sweatshirt’s I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside is sparse, but just as heavy, lyrically and beats-wise, as Doris, his minimalist debut. His growth is evident on songs like “Faucet” and “Grief,” in which the drastically slowed-down beats perfectly match his vocal cadences.
Columbia/Tan Cressida.
New Music/Opera
17. Hear Crash
No divas here.
Tirelessly avant-garde composer Robert Ashley loathed the word opera, though he wrote dozens of the things. The term hardly describes his 14-hour piece for television, or his trio of stage works meant to be intermingled—or his final opus, Crash, which features six soloists seated at desks, sharing three characters, while a “photo-projection score” plays on three screens. —J.D.
Roulette, April 15 through 18.
Movies
18. See Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, D.C.
With special guests.
Flash back to Marion Barry–era D.C. with this rock doc, tracing the history of the capital’s punk movement; Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Thurston Moore, and Dave Grohl (who was picked up by Nirvana from D.C.-suburbs stalwarts Scream) all make appearances.
IFC Center, opening April 17.
Photography
19. See Jitka Hanzlova
Animal magnetism.
Photographs of horses, many in extreme close-ups that turn their nostrils or eyelashes or flanks into near abstractions of lush fur and muscular flesh.
Yancey Richardson Gallery, through May 2.
Dance/Pop
20. Go to In Search Of …
Spring, finally?
This outdoor dance party (with the DJ pair AndrewAndrew) and spring fling (with the matchmaking services of Modern Love Club’s Amy Van Doran) starts the season right, presented by Friends of the High Line with New York.
The High Line at 14th St., April 11 from 2 to 5 p.m.
Theater
21. See Séquence 8
Flying with the greatest of ease.
Les 7 Doigts de la Main (the nouveau cirque troupe behind the dazzling acrobatics of Pippin, now with an eighth member) remounts the trapezes, rings, fireman’s poles, and seesaws in its first full-length show here since 2011’s Traces. —J.G.
New York City Center, April 16 through 26.
Art
22. See Michele Oka Doner
Bark with bite.
Oka Doner’s sculptures may be static, but they seem to contain all the wildness of the natural world; this retrospective will capture the variety of her career, from bark-bound works on paper to a giant form carved from the roots of a banyan tree.
Marlborough Gallery, April 16 through May 16.
Pop
23. Hear Marina and the Diamonds’s Froot
It’s good for you.
This album feels like Marina’s best yet—her slinky yet strong soprano is as angelic as it is piercing. Start with “I’m a Ruin,” the floaty first single.
Atlantic Records.
Classical Music
24. Hear Music Before Bach
Way, way back.
J. S. Bach is the noon of music history: Everything before him is considered early. Carnegie Hall usually ignores the stuff, but now it’s compensating with an unmissable monthlong festival. Among the opening highlights: the supercharged group L’Arpeggiata lighting up music by Henry Purcell. —J.D.
Zankel Hall, April 8.
TV
25. Watch Younger
Not Carrie, but cute.
Darren Star’s new show is no Sex and the City, but it’s adorable watching Sutton Foster as a 40-year-old divorcée trying to pass as a millennial so she can reclaim her life both at work and in love.
TV Land, Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
*This article has been updated to correct the starting date of Michele Oka Doner’s exhibit at Marlborough Gallery.