Good afternoon, this is W42ST Lifestyle Editor Sarah Beling with “Make Way For The Weekend” — your curated guide to the best of New York events in one convenient newsletter!
Going to a Monday night Broadway benefit sometimes has the collegial air of seeing the high school drama club cabaret — if your fellow drama club members were Tony Award winners and theatrical legends lol. The highlight of my week was undoubtedly seeing Jennifer Holliday (!!!) sing If He Walked Into My Life from Mame at the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS first annual Broadway Dream Roles show. And yes, it was one night only BUT my recommendation is to keep an eye on their website for all their upcoming philanthropic events (it’s almost Bares season y’all!!!).
Have a wonderful weekend <3
…when you can only think as far ahead as Monday!
🍿go into your
Ok while I think we can all agree that the most iconic line of dialogue in A Chorus Line is “I didn’t give a f**** about the Red Shoes” it’s also true that Red Shoes and many other dance-related movies are a damn good time — if you want to see for yourself, check out Nitehawk Cinema’s latest series, Dance, Girl, Dance May 3-31 which features screenings of the aforementioned film, Fame, Hairspray, Paris is Burning and other, IMHO, required viewing on your cinematic dance appreciation journey!
🎭beyond the sea
If the pure joy that erupted across Lincoln Center when he won a Tony wasn’t proof enough, all it takes is watching a few clips of Jonathan Groff’s curtain-call-megamix in Bobby Darin biomusical Just in Time now on Broadway to reaffirm that this man has star-qualitee. Let’s go!!!
🖼️ stroll and see
Before it starts to rain for the foreseeable future 😑 let’s take advantage of the sunshine and head to Art in Dumbo’s First Thursday gallery walk tonight from 6-8pm where you can check out new exhibitions, hear artists talks, and see live performances along the stretch of waterfront galleries!
🎭model behavior?
If you’ve watched and rewatched the model-centric Sex and the City episode “The Real Me” one too many times (weeks at this workplace without a SATC reference: 0), then make your way to the Claire Tow at Lincoln Center Theater for FIVE MODELS IN RUINS, 1981 now in previews in which “Roberta, a visionary fashion photographer, lands the gig of a lifetime — the cover of Vogue — but quickly learns it could be her downfall. Location is a nightmare. The models are vicious. Hair and makeup is MIA. And the cigarette supply is running dangerously low. As chaos escalates, Roberta must summon her strength and find the perfect light to capture a moment of beauty in a brutal world.” Sounds juicy to me!!!!!!!
💎fun and funky
Support indie artists and find your next statement piece at the Museum of Arts and Design’s annual MAD About Jewelry pop-up sale May 3-7 featuring designs from more than 50 makers — and FYI there’s a brunch, opening ceremony and cocktail-n’-shop on May 3!
🎤mr sandman
Ever wanted to gather all of the weird and wild characters from your dreams and have them talk to each other (mine would likely be a collection of old bosses, dance teachers and directors, cue that Doechii “Anxiety” song”)??? In Kenny Goes to Sleep: A One-Man Sketch Show May 4 at Caveat, comedian Kenny Gray “takes you on a journey through the absurd as he plays the various people, places, and inanimate objects lingering in his sleeping mind.” GOOD LUCK KENNY!
🖼️ new and notable
Focusing on artists without New York gallery representation, “anti-art fair” the Clio Art Fair is back in Chelsea May 1-4 and 8-11 — go check it out and let me know what you find!!
🎭unforgettable
Um what CAN’T Colman Domingo do?! In addition to being nominated for Tony and Academy Awards, the prolific performer has also co-written a brand-new Off-Broadway play, Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole now through June 29 at New York Theater Workshop with NYTW Usual Suspect Patricia McGregor detailing the singer’s final broadcast as a television host of The Nat King Cole Show, where he “must grapple with the complexities of his psyche, personified by his best friend and alter-ego, Sammy Davis Jr., and decide whether to quietly step out of the spotlight or go out with a bang.” Also, Dulé Hill plays Nat “King” Cole!!!!
🎭margulies returns
As I was reminded by recently attending the New York City Fringe Festival, there’s something that feels really badass about seeing an Off-Off-Broadway show in a tiny basement — keep that vibe going by seeing the latest revival of Donald Marguiles’s Pulitzer finalist Collected Stories, detailing the tangled drama of a writer/mentor duo after one of them writes about the other’s affair May 4 in the East Village Basement!
🎭new work alert!
Pop over to Theatre Row to see the premiere of Cracked Open May 6-June 28, a new play with 11 actors portraying a whopping 32 characters as they navigate “the absurd, comical and nightmarish maze of doctors, psychiatrists, social workers [and] supermarket variety of diagnoses and medications” of caring for a family member with mental illness.
⛸️ on ice
Once again considering it’s (Likely? Idk my weather predictions could be wrong lol) going to rain this weekend, spending some time inside at the The Ice Theater of New York May 2-5 at Chelsea Piers where you can watch ice dancing BEFORE the next Olympics!!
🏃a run to support the oyster!
Ok as far as I know (!) oysters are not being served at the New York Harbor Oyster 5k May 4 on Governors Island (not sure they’d be your first-choice after race snack??? idk!!!) but the race IS raising funds for the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School and its programs “working to restore the waters of New York Harbor, and training the next generation of pilots, divers, engineers, marine technicians, climate change specialists and marine biologists.” 🌎 💪
🎭james joyce v the puritans
In a tale that simply couldn’t possibly be relevant now 👀, the Irish Arts Center’s The United States Vs Ulysses (now through June 1) tackles “the true story of the New York trial that liberated James Joyce’s seminal novel from American censorship and made Joyce a cultural icon.”
🚲ride on
While registration may be closed for Sunday’s Five Boro Bike Tour, you can still bring your two-wheeler to the Blessing of the Bicycles 8:30am (sharp!!) May 3 at the Cathedral of St John the Divine — “all faiths (or lack thereof) welcome!”. I mean in this traffic climate it truly can’t hurt to get your bike blessed ya know.
🎭one theater, two shows
Downtown’s Audible Theater hosts a limited run of both Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, a new two-hander starring Ella Beatty as a nineteen-year-old student and Hugh Jackman as “acclaimed novelist, a charismatic university professor, and a middle-aged man staring down the end of his third marriage” (sounds a tad bit like Oleanna lol); and Creditors, a Jen Silverman-adapted Strindberg play about lust and deception starring Liev Schreiber, Maggie Siff and Justice Smith now through June 18!
…what’s happening before and just after I hit your inbox next!
🍛tasting menu news
Attn: Hell’s Kitchen foodies — local favorites Yingato and Kochi are teaming up for two collaborative tasting menu dinners May 6 and June 3, with the first dinner at Yingtao welcoming “Chef Sungchul Shim of Kochi, presenting a 10-course collaborative tasting menu highlighting signature dishes from both restaurants as well as new dishes exploring the synergy of Korean and Chinese cuisine.” Yum!!
🎶 broadway benefit for breast cancer research
Head to HK’s Sony Hall for an evening of song and fundraising for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation at the The Janice Jam May 5, featuring the musical stylings of a TON of Bway stars including but not limited to Krysta Rodriguez, Jeremy Jordan, Jenn Colella, Ariana DeBose, Rebecca Naomi Jones and Kara Lindsay!
…for when you need to secure those hot tickets before they sell out!!!
🎶 check out the classics
Speaking of star-studded lineups, head to Classic Stage Company to see Kate Baldwin, Santino Fontana, Adam Kantor, Marc Kudisch and Judy Kuhn sing all of your favorite songs from Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, Fiorello!, The Apple Tree, and more at Classics Up Close: The Musical World of Bock and Harnick May 12!
🎶more musical moods
Ok I have ONE MORE star-studded musical medley for you!!! 92NY is hosting Sing Happy!: The Collaboration of Kander & Ebb May 31-June 2 where Kate Baldwin (again!!), Heidi Blickenstaff, James Clow, Ivan Hernandez, Julia Murney and Matthew Scott will perform some of the songwriting duos greatest hits from the likes of Cabaret, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Flora the Red Menace, The Scottsboro Boys etc.!!!
🔥 Hot tip
Enjoy traditional food and drink, play Lotería, and listen to live mariachi, a Selena tribute and music from La sonora Dinamita at the Cinco de Mayo festival at Industry City May 3 — and remember that you can support many of Hell’s Kitchen’s small businesses year-round with our handy Hell’s Kitchen Margarita guide!
🕵️ special end-of-the-newsletter song lyric reveal
This week’s subject-line lyric comes from If He Walked Into My Life from the musical Mame — thanks for the inspo, Jennifer Holliday!!!
⚠️ Omg I forgot to tell you
West Side Story subject and HK local Mark William is performing at the Green Room 42 May 10
Free Tai Chi is back in Bryant Park for the season
Matinee Social Club is hosting an electric disco carnival May 3
The Grand Bazaar celebrates local goods at the 5 Boro Bazaar May 4
You can watch the Kentucky Derby on the big screen at Hudson Yards May 3
That’s it for now! Call me beep me if you want to reach me! (sarah@w42st.com)
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