Think of fall as spring—but for the brain. It’s the season of fresh ideas, new cultural excitement after a lazy (or in this case rainy) hiatus. And so it is this year. Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman are together for the first time since Pulp Fiction. Hugh Jackman (as Peter Allen) and Euan Morton (as Boy George) debut on Broadway. Martin Amis has written either the world’s best or its worst novel (there is hot debate). Merce Cunningham is collaborating with Radiohead, Jean-Georges Vongerichten is collaborating with Gray Kunz, and Isaac Mizrahi is collaborating with . . . Target (he also has a swank new made-to-measure line). So what if the city wasn’t exactly at its finest this summer? Happily, seasons change.
It was a long, wet (not to say dark) summer, but fall looks bright—even hot—for arts and entertainment. Our sneak preview.
MOVIES
Halle Berry goes mental, Uma goes martial, and
Gwyneth channels Sylvia Plath
THEATER
Hugh Jackman does Oz, Taboo crosses the Atlantic, and Little
Shop of Horrors returns
RESTAURANTS
Tom Valenti goes Italian, Robert Pearson takes barbecue uptown,
and Gray Kunz and Jean-Georges blend their inventive talents
ART
The Met salutes El Greco, Rosenquist takes the Guggenheim,
and the ICP holds its first triennial
MUSIC
The Rapture goes major, Courtney Love flies (scarily) solo, and
Iggy reunites with the Stooges
CLASSICAL MUSIC & DANCE
Merce teams up with Radiohead, Lang Lang takes the stage, and Carnegie Hall goes underground
BOOKS
Jhumpa Lahiri goes long, Jonathan Lethem revisits Brooklyn, and Martin Amis
takes on his critics
TV
Coupling is the new (sexier) Friends, Whoopi hits the Bowery, and Paris Hilton
moves to Arkansas
SHOPPING
Isaac Mizrahi targets high and low, Facconable frenchifies Fifth Avenue
Email
Print
Eight Year-End Films Vie for Oscar Contention
Sondheim and Lansbury on a Lifetime in Theater
The Black Keys Release Their Hip-hop Debut 
How the BQE Became an Artistic Muse
On Great Jones Street, Shopping Is Art 
Classic Fare, Old-world Charm at Le Caprice
Buy a Brownstone for Less Than $1 Million
Fifty of the City's Tastiest Soups
Reasons to Love New York 2009
New York Politicians Refuse to Quit
A-Rod Has Babe Ruth in His Sights
McCain Yields to the Party's Pressure
