The Wild Duck at BAM.   (Photo: Courtesy of BAM)

October
1. Brooklynite critical darlings the Hold Steady rock their Bruce Springsteen–meets–Hüsker Dü sound at Irving Plaza.

2. James Levine conducts megastars Ben Heppner and Dorothea Röschmann in Mozart’s Idomeneo, a tangled opera about wrathful gods, human sacrifice, and scheming princesses.

3. Not only does Beck drop his lengthiest album in twelve years (The Information), but he also pimps it out with DVD videos for every single song. And a packet of stickers so you can decorate the blank sleeve. Truly, he is rocking the plastic like a man from the Catskills.

4. Carnegie Hall kicks off its 116th season by importing the superb Cleveland Orchestra, bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes to play a fail-safe selection of Mahler, Mozart, and Strauss.

5. A Chorus Line opens at the Schoenfeld Theatre. If history is any indication, you only have until 2021 to catch it, so high-step over there tout de suite.

6. Attention, Oscar handicappers— the race heats up with prime contenders from Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Anthony Minghella (Breaking and Entering), and In the Bedroom’s Todd Field (Little Children). And, running at a gazillion-to-one: Employee of the Month, starring Jessica Simpson.

7. Gain a whole season of highbrow cred in one fell swoop by picking up Irish Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon’s simultaneously released new collection of poetry, Horse Latitudes, and collection of essays, The End of the Poem. Reading either one, you will look like the smartest person in the subway car.

8. The fourth annual Openhousenewyork offers a once-a-year chance to get into landmark city sites normally closed to the public. Go early to gape at the most popular spots, such as the Chrysler Building and the High Line.

9. Babs! Barbra Streisand brings Il Divo along for two breath-taking and bank-breaking shows—up to $754.50, before scalpers!—at Madison Square Garden. Will she sing “People”? Will she say something pejorative about Republicans? Will Il Divo fan her with palm fronds? With any luck, yes, yes, and yes.

10. Legendary modern-dance choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer Mikel Rouse request the audience to come wearing iPods for the world premiere of their new show, eyeSpace, at the Joyce. A ticket garners a free download from iTunes; the iPod-less will get a free loaner.

11. NBC debuts 30 Rock, the laugh-out-loud new sitcom starring Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, and Rachel Dratch. Late-breaking casting changes are worrisome, but they shouldn’t negate the pilot’s felicitous use of Ginuwine’s “Pony” in a strip-club scene.

12. Quoth Jack Kerouac: Whither goest thou, New York, in thy shiny car in the night? Ideally to see Mary Karr and Luc Sante speak as part of a Panel on the Beats at Housing Works.

13. Did you like Dave but wish it had more self-righteousness, inside-Hollywood jokes, and Mork? Then Man of the Year, starring Robin Williams as a Jon Stewart–esque fake-news anchor who wins the White House, is the film for you.

14. Head down to Battery Park City for CultureFest 2006, where 100 arts organizations converge on two stages to give a sample pack of the season’s offerings in music and dance. It’s cultural tapas for the soul.

(Photo: Richard Hamilton/MoMA)

15. MoMA trains its Eye on Europe: Prints, Books & Multiples, featuring the cream of London’s screen-printing explosion, from 1960 to today, including Dieter Roth prints and Damien Hirst wallpaper.

16. A perfect day to take advantage of the New School’s free and practically free programming: There’s Scenes From New York: Filming in the City with local filmmakers and a nonfiction forum headed by writer Edward Field (The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag).

17. For one night only, Ladysmith Black Mambazo turn Carnegie Hall into Graceland—the Paul Simon album, not the Elvis loony-bin. Friends like Natalie Merchant and Pete Seeger come along for the ride.

18. Notoriously daring Brit choreographer Sarah Michelson makes her bam debut with Dogs, a space-specific dance commissioned for—and custom-tailored to—the Harvey Theater.

19. 19 The City Opera stages The Elixir of Love, Donizetti’s splendid 1832 opera that makes Cinderella a man.

20. 20 After being booed at Cannes, Sofia Coppola’s New Order–infected Marie Antoinette opens today Stateside. Can the Lost in Translation auteur sell a period piece with as much élan as Bill Murray sold his Suntory whiskey?

21. Stock your fridge with beers or establish yourself as a regular at the pub around the corner—the World Series kicks off tonight. Go Mets! Or possibly Yankees!

22. Hop the V train to Long Island City for three new shows at P.S.1, including Defamation of Character, a timely post-punk attack on fame and pop culture.

23. Stop by the Met for Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci; the former being the opera that turned Pietro Mascagni into an overnight sensation at the age of 26.

24. Try wrapping your mind around the idea of a dystopian Little Miss Sunshine, but substitute the pageant-contesting 7-year-old Olive with an obese adult megalomaniac. That pretty much describes Jane Campion’s 1989 gem Sweetie, now available in a spanking new Criterion Collection DVD.

25. The new Met exhibit Americans in Paris, 1860–1900 gathers spectacular works by Whistler, Eakins, and Cassatt—and makes a compelling case for the expatriate lifestyle. As if you needed convincing.

26. Opening night of The Times They Are a-Changin’ at the Brooks Atkinson. Twyla Tharp choreographs and directs this much-discussed musical about circus folk, set to songs by Bob Dylan. Could be great. Could be terrible. Must be seen.

27. It’s an all-star-cast face-off: 21 Grams’s Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu returns with the international thriller Babel, starring Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, and Gael García Bernal, to do battle with the incumbent, Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige (which opens the 20th), featuring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, and David Bowie. Advantage: The Prestige.

28. The Next Wave fest brings a mind-bending production of Ibsen’s 1884 masterpiece The Wild Duck to bam. The cast speaks the original Norwegian against a backdrop of bubblegum pop and fifties Americana. (With English subtitles—phew!)

29. Last chance for design aficionados and foodies alike to drool over Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, a look at the evolution of cookware, utensils, and etiquette, at the Cooper-Hewitt.

30. Forgive the 40-day European Dream festival its cheesy name—if only because it brings hot Scandinavian jazz to Lincoln Center. Lage Lund—jazz guitarist, Thelonius Monk award winner, and spectacular Swede—wraps up the series tonight.

31. Like the parade of flesh on Christopher Street, Halloween provides something for everyone: The Cure and Willie Nelson drop anticipated albums, and—boo!—everyone’s favorite Nirvana widow releases a memoir titled Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love.