November 7, 2004

The Guide

Sunday 11/7

FOLK DANCING
The Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company, founded in 1940, features the wildly aerobic leaping of men in bright puff pants - energetic fun, and quite macho.
Lehman Concert Hall, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx; 2 p.m.; $20 to $35.

A PICTURE OF FINANCE
An immense contemporary photography collection acquired by the Baroness Marion Lambert is being unloaded at auction on Monday and Tuesday - and today's your last chance to get a free peek at more than 300 works by Richter and Warhol, Kruger and Sherman, and many more.
Phillips, de Pury & Company, 450 West 15th Street, Chelsea; 1 to 5 p.m.

EMILY POST IN NIGHT VISION
Cause Celeb! stages readings from the autobiographies of the famous. In tonight's performance, we're threatened with diet tips from Liz Taylor and bedroom help from Tommy Lee. Special bonus: the Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto is to read from the chapter called "My Instructions on How to Be an Heiress" from the recent Paris Hilton autobiography. (Ms. Hilton's advice: "Be born into the right family.")
Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village; 9:30 p.m.; $15.

ANGST-FREE FOLK
Bob Dylan meets Tiny Tim: Devendra Banhart seems like the last folksinger of happy songs, which is partly what's made him this year's critical darling.
Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, Lower East Side; 9 p.m.; $15.

Monday 11/8

THE BUSINESS OF MUSIC
In her career-focused autobiography, which will be published today, the soprano Renée Fleming writes what is essentially a guide for the ambitious young singer. Best of the book: in the final chapter, Ms. Fleming takes the reader with her through a night's performance at the Met, from the warm-up to the delivery of the pay envelope between scenes backstage. Ms. Fleming will sign books tonight at 6:30 at Borders Books and Music, at Columbus Circle.
"The Inner Voice: The Making of a Singer"; Viking; $24.95.

THE QUEBECOIS JESUS
In the 1989 film "Jesus of Montreal," a group of actors offend the Catholic Church with their passion play, and that play's director, who also stars as Jesus, becomes quite over-involved in his character. This is the French-language film's first release on DVD with English subtitles.
Koch Lorber; $24.98.

THANKSGIVING BY CANDELABRA
Two 1954 black and white television broadcasts of Liberace's holiday specials are released on one (very affordable!) DVD this week. For his Christmas episode, music selection is easy: "Jingle Bells" and the like. But Thanksgiving music is harder to come by, and Liberace nails it with "Shine On, Harvest Moon," "Turkey in the Straw" and, of course, "ComeOn-a My House."
"Spend the Holidays With Liberace"; Koch Vision Entertainment; $9.98.

Tuesday 11/9

VERY EXPENSIVE LIGHT FIXTURES
Virgil Marti's new sculptures are giant mirrored casts of Russian tortoises that sprout silver cactuses and light bulbs, like dioramas inside kaleidoscopes. But really, they're just giant sconces, which is pretty funny: Mr. Marti undermines hoity-toity high art by making what are essentially light fixtures. In the back room of the Elizabeth Dee Gallery his trademark use of wallpaper turns the room into a lovely, garish, psychedelic dentist's office.
Elizabeth Dee Gallery, 545 West 20th Street, Chelsea; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Through Saturday.)

BROADWAY DREAMS
"Bombay Dreams," Broadway's take on Bollywood, gets a rejuvenation: tonight the "American Idol" star Tamyra Gray steps into a lead role. Ms. Gray, in 29 months, has gone from reality show nobody to Broadway headliner.
Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street; 7 p.m.; $40 to $100.

THE BIRD ON VIOLIN
The classically trained violinist Andrew Bird plays what is regrettably referred to as "art rock." But the phrase fits: gentle, quirky and intensely personal, his music owes much to three decades of gloomy, inventive boys making music in their basements.
Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn; 8 p.m.; $10.

Wednesday 11/10

TWO JAZZMEN
The pop-jazzman Peter Cincotti, born in 1983, shares the stage with the singer Jimmy Scott, who was born in 1925.
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street; 8 p.m.; $50.

BIG COMEDY
Tonight at the New York Comedy Festival, the don't-miss event is David Moore's "Funny Business" lineup: he gets C.E.O.'s to tell business-related stories and jokes. The highlight will surely be the adman, talk show host, multimillionaire and potty-mouthed egotist Donny Deutsch. The festival - the first annual, apparently - only does big names: evidently this year's Underground Comedy Festival was too, well, underground for them. This week's funniness begins with Roseanne Barr and ends with Mo'Nique, with lots of stops along the way.
Caroline's on Broadway, 1626 Broadway, at 50th Street; 7:30 p.m.; $30.
Schedule: www.nycomedyfestival.com.

DUSTY CALIFORNIA ROCK
The thinking man's Wilco, Earlimart plays a relaxed, intelligent rock that belies its photogenic press materials. Earlimart's singer-songwriter, Aaron Espinoza, was a friend of, and producer to, the late Elliott Smith, and the musical interests behind that relationship are clear.
Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, Lower East Side; 10:30 p.m.; $10.

Thursday 11/11

CARNEGIE HALL, SUPERSIZED
The Collegiate Chorale opens its 63rd season with its first performance of Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem." With the tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the Riverside Choral Society, the Orchestra of St. Luke's and others, it's a high-drama pile-up onstage. Those wishing for extra credit might attend a 7 p.m. lecture by the baritone Benjamin Luxon.
Carnegie Hall; 8 p.m.; $15 to $85.

LIP-SMACKING AUDIENCE
Ripple Productions' "Sweet Pushes, Tangy Pulls" puts live theater in the kitchen by serving four courses integrated into the performance. The chef Coleman Foster provides the popcorn, literally.
100 Grand Street, 2nd floor, SoHo; 8 p.m.; $40 to $45.(Through Saturday).

STRAIGHT TO HELL
A cellist, a dancer and a singer mine Dante's "Inferno" for associations and characters: Dante, Beatrice, Ulysses, Judas. Performed in Italian and English, this exploration of human suffering and punishment is the first of three such theatrical collages : performances based on the works of St. Augustine and Freud will follow.
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea; 7 p.m.; $25. (Also on Saturday at 3 p.m.)

Friday 11/12

YOSHIMI BATTLES HER OWN ROBOTS
OOIOO, the musical prank turned actual band of Yoshimi P-We, who was the titular "star" of the last Flaming Lips album, appears for their first United States tour in four years. Ms. P-We herself will be playing both guitar and trumpet: the combined noise of the band generally sounds like Hal 9000 practicing the gamelan.
Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa; 11 p.m.; $14.

THREESOMES GONE WRONG
The 14th annual NICE Festival - New Italian Cinema Events - takes place this weekend. Tonight two films by the young Italian director Matteo Garrone - "Roman Summer" and "Guests" - will be shown. Both feature the complicated dynamics of people isolated in groups of three. (Most films in the series will be shown at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street.)
Cantor Film Center, New York University, 36 West Eighth Street, Greenwich Village; 6 p.m.; $6.50 - $9.50. (Garrone's "Embalmer" and "Land in the Middle" will be shown on Thursday.)
More information: www.nicefestival.org

BILLY CRYSTAL AT LIBERTY
Billy Crystal's one-man autobiographical show, "700 Sundays," begins previews today. Think Elaine Stritch without the Catholic school and the booze.
Broadhurst Theater, 235 West 44th Street; 8 p.m.; $75 to $100.
(Opens on Dec. 5 and closes on March 6.)

WWII RECONSTRUCTED
The director Samuel Fuller's "Big Red One," a semi-autobiographical World War II flick, got more than a bit scrunched up by the studio before its 1980 release. Now, seven years after Fuller's death, the film has been radically reconstructed according to his intentions. Warning: with 50 added minutes, the film now runs 2 hours 40 minutes. Stars Mark Hamill, Lee Marvin and Robert Carradine, long before his descent into Lizzie McGuire's dad-dom.
Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, South Village. (Through Nov. 18.)

Saturday 11/13

AND A DANCING ALPHABET
This production of "The Snow Queen" (for ages 7 and older) makes Hans Christian Andersen a bit less scary and a good deal more trippy. A sister travels to save her brother from the Snow Queen, encountering talking rivers, beatnik flowers and robber-children.
Looking Glass Theater, 422 West 57th Street, Manhattan; 2 and 4 p.m.; $10 to $12. (Through Dec. 19.)

CHUCKY BREEDS
"Seed of Chucky," the fifth in the Chucky series of horror-comedies, once again stars Jennifer Tilly. But this time she plays a double role: as Tiffany the killer puppet, the role Ms. Tilly originated in 1998's "Bride of Chucky," and as her real self, playing the actress who will play Tiffany in the Hollywood version of the slasher-doll's story. Delightfully meta!
Focus Features; general release.

ANOTHER POLYPHONIC SPREE
Pomerium, a 14-member choir dedicated to chapel music of the Renaissance, takes on the complex and gorgeous polyphonic masses of the 15th-century composer Johannes Ockeghem.
Cooper Union Great Hall, Third Avenue at Seventh Street, East Village; 7:30 p.m.; $15 to $20.

BLASPHEMOUS LOVE SONGS
In 1999, the musician Marcel Khalife was charged with blasphemy in a Beirut court, merely for singing a verse from the Koran. He was found not guilty, but the experience ignited a contentious discussion about artistic freedom and secularism in Lebanon. Mr. Khalife will perform with an array of musicians tonight, including the fantastic singer Oumeima Al Khalil, and most of us probably won't notice if he quotes a little scripture.
Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan; 8 p.m.; $15 to $45.