Refreshing musical easy like a Sunday morning
Passing Strange
The Public Theater; $60, $25 students; Review; Tickets
Bright lights, loud music, “easy pleasure”: What more can you ask of a musical? Jeremy McCarter finds significance in Passing Strange—the work is “yet another sign that smart theater composers are edging out of the sonic museum and into the world of 21st-century pop”—but it’s the crack cast, dazzling backdrop, and genre-jumping music that make this story of a young African-American’s odyssey of self-discovery a “mildly big deal.” The scene in Amsterdam won’t harsh your mellow, either.
The Kite Runner author shows off new book
Khaled Hosseini There’s no excuse, citizens of the world, for sitting home and watching The Situation Room. This Afghan-born doctor’s first novel and surprise best-seller, The Kite Runner, focused largely on Afghanistan’s men. Tonight he reads from A Thousand Splendid Suns, a follow-up that gives the country’s women their due: The plot follows the two wives of an abusive man as they collude against him. Eloquent and rich, it should be all the more heartbreaking read aloud by the author. Barnes & Noble
33 East
17th Street
7 p.m.
Free
More info »
Punk artist exploits porn
Linder Yes ma’am: Commentary on gender roles and consumer culture can be naughty, too. This Brit scenester’s U.S. solo debut infuses high art with a post-punk sensibility—her playful porn collages are adorned with household goods and clippings from guys’ hobby magazines. The show also includes early work, including an illustration that became the cover of the Buzzcocks single “Orgasm Addict,” Factory Records concert flyers, and even video footage of Linder’s now-defunct band, Ludus. P.S. 1
Through September 24
$5, $2 students and seniors
More info » Slideshow »
Feminist icons and good buds get intimate
Alice Walker in Conversation With Gloria Steinem Alice Walker not only launched her writing career at Gloria Steinem’s Ms. magazine, but her daughter also has Steinem as a godmother. Given all that, we expect that this discussion of the women’s movement, spirituality, and personal strength will be extra intimate. The two will also delve into Walker’s anthology of lectures and essays, We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For, released late last year. Bring a pen—Walker will sign books afterward. 92nd Street Y
7:30 p.m.
$25
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Orchestra Seats for the Wynton Marsalis Septet
The jazz legends reunite, and close out Jazz at Lincoln Center’s season, with a performance of
“In This House, On This Morning.”
Take a chance now See recent Agenda winners
High and low to collide at reading
Wayne Koestenbaum We’d like to nominate Koestenbaum’s experimental new book, Hotel Theory, as a candidate to join bibles in lodging-house drawers. An essay and a novel run in parallel columns on each page. In the former, Koestenbaum meditates on the meaning of “hotel existence” (“the euphoric state of never dwelling anywhere”). The latter is a dime-store tale about the sexual escapades of Liberace and Lana Turner—and eschews the use of “a,” “an,” and “the.” (He’ll also talk “queer identity in literature” with poet R.M. Vaughan.) Poets House
7 p.m.
$7, members free
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See the family rock show of the summer
Kelly Clarkson You’re hip to what the kids are listening to, sure, but how many tween-oriented stadium shows actually appeal to you? We’re betting that Clarkson, author of the pop classic “Since U Been Gone” and American Idol’s greatest product to date, might just be your family’s grand unifier. If indeed you’ve heard them, ignore her crappy current single (“Never Again,” indeed) and the rumors that her forthcoming album kind of sucks. Live, Clarkson’s unadulterated fun. August 16, 18, and 22
Various venues
$38–$110
Tickets »
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