Events on Wednesday, August 20

Extra Golden w/ Mahmoud Ahmed, Alèmayèhu Eshèté & the Either/Orchestra, and Gétatchèw Mèkurya & the Ex

Music: Global

Gétatchèw Mèkurya & the Ex

Wednesday 8/20 @ Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Dutch anarcho-punk quartet the Ex have always been a cut above the spikes-and-leather set. Since the early '80s, they've approached their... 

Superhero Short Stories

Books: Reading

Superhero Short Stories

Wednesday 8/20 @ McNally Jackson Booksellers

While it's long been literary tradition to reinvent the superhero genre, writers rarely seem to do so with a sense of... 

Ongoing Events

Shakespeare in the Park presents <em>Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical</em>

Theatre

Hair

Wednesday 8/20 @ Delacorte Theater

As you sing Hair's infectious songs on your way out of Central Park, you'll encounter other ecstatic fans. Impromptu dance sessions... 

<em>I Won't Grow Up</em>

Art

I Won't Grow Up

Wednesday 8/20 @ Cheim & Read

The solidly enjoyable summer show I Won't Grow Up presents on-the-radar artists at their most childlike. Mark Fox's video Nutzilla catches... 

<em>American Teen</em>

Film: Documentary

American Teen

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

The tired teen-movie genre is re-envisioned by Nanette Burstein in her documentary American Teen, which depicts the experiences of five high-school... 

<em>Jump</em>

Theatre

Jump

Wednesday 8/20 @ Union Square Theatre

After achieving worldwide success, Korean phenomenon Jump has landed at Union Square — and it's easy to see what makes its... 

<em>Jeff Koons on the Roof</em>

Art

Jeff Koons on the Roof

Wednesday 8/20 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

It's difficult to reconcile the Jeff Koons of topiary puppies, pool floaties, ornamental hearts, and oversized choo-choo trains with the man... 

<em>South Pacific</em>

Theatre

South Pacific

Wednesday 8/20 @ Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center Theater's revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific is one of those rare, magical experiences that makes musical theater... 

<em>The Wackness </em>

Film

The Wackness

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

The Wackness is the sort of movie whose most redeeming qualities are least likely to be advertised in its trailers. About... 

Kehinde Wiley: <em>The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar</em>

Art

Kehinde Wiley

Wednesday 8/20 @ Studio Museum in Harlem

Borrowing the poise and posture once reserved for 18th-century royalty, Kehinde Wiley's portraits feature young, African-American men — from anonymous neighborhood... 

<em>Baghead</em>

Film

Baghead

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

Directed and written by mumblecore hotshots (if such a concept isn't a total oxymoron) the Duplass Brothers, Baghead is a meta-movie... 

<em>Artist as Publisher</em>

Art

Artist as Publisher

Wednesday 8/20 @ Center for Book Arts

In response to art-world elitism, or simply for lack of a better option, many young, independently minded artists have taken to... 

Bernd and Hilla Becher: <em>Landscape/Typology</em>

Art

Bernd and Hilla Becher

Wednesday 8/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

From the 1950s on, Bernd and Hilla Becher traversed the United States and Europe photographing silos, factories, mills, processing plants, and... 

<em>Vicky Cristina Barcelona</em>

Film

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

Some die-hard Woody Allen fans may insist the poster-child for neurotic, narcissistic New Yorkers has still got it in him, but... 

<em>Fuerza Bruta: Look Up </em>

Theatre

Fuerza Bruta: Look Up

Wednesday 8/20 @ Daryl Roth Theatre

Avid fans of spectacular spectacle De La Guarda are rejoicing with the arrival of Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, a sort of... 

<em>Louise Bourgeois</em>

Art

Louise Bourgeois

Wednesday 8/20 @ Guggenheim Museum

After persevering through relative obscurity during the first half of her career, artist Louise Bourgeois has been at the forefront of... 

Cedar Lake Dance: <em>The Copier</em>

Dance

The Copier

Wednesday 8/20 @ Cedar Lake Theater

Cedar Lake Dance continues to change the way dance is viewed with its new production, The Copier. For this performance, all... 

Olafur Eliasson: <em>The New York City Waterfalls</em>

City Gems

Olafur Eliasson: Waterfalls

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations in the East River

Known for his stunning meteorological installations at the Tate Modern and, more recently, MoMA and P.S.1, Danish-born artist Olafur Eliasson returns... 

<em>Boeing Boeing </em>

Theatre

Boeing Boeing

Wednesday 8/20 @ Longacre Theatre

It takes an exceptional director and a brilliant cast to transform a frivolous film with an old-fashioned plot into a satisfying... 

<em>Brideshead Revisited</em>

Film

Brideshead Revisited

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

For fans of the book and miniseries, it's hard to imagine how Brideshead Revisited could conform to a two-hour feature-film format.... 

2008 US Open Qualifying Tournament

Sports

2008 US Open Qualifying Tournament

Wednesday 8/20 @ USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center

Cash-strapped tennis fans can catch the first week of the US Open for free. Over the course of four days, hundreds... 

<em>Bottle Shock</em>

Film

Bottle Shock

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

In 1976, British oenophile Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) hosted a much-ballyhooed blind tasting between France's finest wine and California's — including... 

<em>A Day in Dig Nation</em>

Theatre

A Day in Dig Nation

Wednesday 8/20 @ P.S. 122

Flying Carpet Theatre's A Day in Dig Nation is the type of genre-defying show that is supposed to be thriving in... 

<em>Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling</em>

Art

Home Delivery

Wednesday 8/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Prefab living typically calls to mind nightmarish suburban communities with impossibly pastoral names like "Autumnal Spring." But MoMA's Chief Curator of... 

Lindsay Anderson: Revolutionary Romantic

Film

Lindsay Anderson

Wednesday 8/20 @ The Film Society of Lincoln Center

The bedrock figure of Britain's influential Free Cinema movement, director Lindsay Anderson clinched his fame with the anarchic end to If.... 

<em>What to Do When You Hate All Your Friends</em>

Theatre

What to Do When You Hate All Your Friends

Wednesday 8/20 @ Lion Theatre at Theatre Row

The strange but affecting comedy What to Do When You Hate All Your Friends captures the awkward reality of relationships through... 

<em>Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy</em>

Fashion/Style

Superheroes

Wednesday 8/20 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In association with Giorgio Armani and Vogue's Anna Wintour, curator Harold Koda of the Costume Institute investigates the distinction between costume... 

<em>2008 Vice </em><em>Photo Show</em>

Art: Photography

Vice Photo Show

Wednesday 8/20 @ Vice Gallery

In addition to its publications on the newstands and booksheves, its web TV channel, and record label — Vice now unleashes... 

Paragraph

City Gems

Paragraph

Wednesday 8/20 @ Paragraph

Joy Parisi and Lila Cecil understand the importance of having a room of one's own. At Paragraph, their Union Square writing... 

<em>After Nature</em>

Art

After Nature

Wednesday 8/20 @ New Museum of Contemporary Art

The After Nature exhibition evokes a nightmare/fantasy of humankind's impending self-destruction and its aftermath. Sculptor Maurizio Cattelan imagines a horse's deadly... 

<em>The Order of Myths </em>(2008)

Film: Documentary

The Order of Myths

Wednesday 8/20 @ IFC Center

Taking its title from the name of an actual Mobile, Alabama, secret society, The Order of Myths eyeballs that town's still-racially... 

<em>Darger</em>ism<em>: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger</em>

Art

Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger

Wednesday 8/20 @ American Folk Art Museum

The American Folk Art Museum is home to the world's largest collection of work by Henry Darger, the Chicago recluse and... 

New York International Fringe Festival

Theatre

NY International Fringe Festival

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

With more than 200 shows crammed into roughly two weeks, the Fringe is a feat of endurance. Urinetown, 21 Dog Years,... 

<em>In the Heights</em>

Theatre

In the Heights

Wednesday 8/20 @ Richard Rodgers Theatre

There's a lot more color and zing on the Great White Way with the addition of In the Heights, an ebullient... 

Phoebe Washburn: <em>Tickle the Shitstem</em>

Art

Tickle the Shitstem

Wednesday 8/20 @ Zach Feuer Gallery

Phoebe Washburn's installation for the 2008 Whitney Biennial was a Gatorade-fueled nursery of raw two-by-fours. Its title — While Enhancing a... 

Ice Factory 2008

Theatre

Ice Factory

Wednesday 8/20 @ Ohio Theatre

Amid the summer heat and the flurry of theatre festivals, Soho Think Tank's Ice Factory is a standout. Seven new performance... 

J.M.W. Turner

Art

J.M.W. Turner

Wednesday 8/20 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Featuring powerful works such as 1794's Tintern Abbey and 1835's The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, the Metropolitan... 

<i>August: Osage County</i>

Theatre

August: Osage County

Wednesday 8/20 @ Imperial Theatre

Set in present-day Oklahoma, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County has a bad case of "the plains," as... 

<em>Tell No One</em>

Film

Tell No One

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

Herein lies living proof that the French can spin a gorgeous existentialist drama in any genre. Pediatrician Alex (Francois Cluzet) has... 

<em>Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City</em>

Art: Photography

Eminent Domain

Wednesday 8/20 @ LIVE from the NYPL

When, in 2007, the New York City government considered requiring permits to photograph in public, officials were met with cries of... 

<em>Sixty Six</em>

Film

Sixty Six

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

It's the summer of '66 and all of England is agog about the World Cup. That is, all except for 12-year-old,... 

<em>Absinthe</em>

Performing Arts

Absinthe

Wednesday 8/20 @ Spiegelworld

This is your last week to catch the nouveau vaudevillians of Absinthe. Jammed in between the East River and uh, a... 

<em>Dal&iacute;: Painting and Film</em>

Art

Dalí: Painting and Film

Wednesday 8/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Comprising more than 130 works by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí, Painting and Film explores the artist's passionate relationship with cinema. For... 

<em>Elegy</em>

Film

Elegy

Wednesday 8/20 @ Various locations

Elegy is what happens when a female Spanish director (Isabel Coixet, My Life Without Me) adapts, of all things, a Philip... 

<em>Adding Machine</em>

Theatre

Adding Machine

Wednesday 8/20 @ Minetta Lane Theatre

After 25 years of tedious number crunching, Mr. Zero finds out that he is being replaced by an adding machine. Driven... 

<em>Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan </em>

Art: Photography

Recent Photography and Video from Japan

Wednesday 8/20 @ International Center of Photography

Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan features 13 contemporary Japanese artists whose funny, evocative, and startling images penetrate Japanese... 

The Science Barge

Special Event

The Science Barge

Wednesday 8/20 @ Riverside Park South

Take a 45-minute guided tour of the city's only functioning, large-scale sustainable farm: the Science Barge boasts a vegetable garden grown... 

<em>Twelve Ophelias</em>

Theatre

Twelve Ophelias

Wednesday 8/20 @ McCarren Park Pool

Twelve Ophelias picks up where Hamlet left off: Ophelia re-emerges from the water after her suicidal drowning and sets off to... 

<em>Richard Serra: Thinking on Your Feet </em>(2005)<em>
</em>

Film: Documentary

Richard Serra: Thinking on Your Feet

Wednesday 8/20 @ Film Forum

American minimalist sculptor Richard Serra gets the documentary treatment in Maria Anna Tappeiner's film Richard Serra: Thinking on Your Feet. Serra... 

Hot!: The NYC Celebration of Queer Culture

Performing Arts

Hot!

Wednesday 8/20 @ Dixon Place

Now in its 17th year, Hot! is a summer-long exploration of queer issues through the performing arts, including dance, theatre, burlesque,... 

Sol LeWitt at Storm King

Getaways

Sol LeWitt

Wednesday 8/20 @ Storm King Art Center

In the laboratory of conceptual art, Sol LeWitt is the mad scientist. Engineered from instructions, his hard-lined geometric sculptures are austere,... 

<em>Fela!</em>

Theatre

Fela!

Wednesday 8/20 @ 37 Arts

Choreographer Bill T. Jones' directorial foray into the life of Afrobeat legend and political activist Fela Kuti hits all the right...