Events on Thursday, January 8

Femi Kuti

Music: Global

Femi Kuti

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Webster Hall

With all the so-so musicians spawned from legendary musical parents, we're certain there's a support group somewhere out there. But Femi... 

Ongoing Events

Company XIV presents <em>The Judgment of Paris</em>

Dance

The Judgment of Paris

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Duo Theater

It took ten years and some creative thinking for the Greeks to defeat Troy. The six multitasking dancers of Company XIV... 

Nick Cave: Recent Soundsuits

Art

Recent Soundsuits

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Jack Shainman Gallery

Nick Cave — no, not that Nick Cave — is a Chicago-based artist who crafts wearable sculptures from woven hair, found... 

<em>Vicky Cristina Barcelona</em>

Film

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Thursday 1/ 8 @ 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... 

Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund presents Docs on the Shortlist

Film: Documentary

Docs on the Shortlist

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Tribeca Cinemas

Before nominees become lapidary, Tribeca slates a two-day program off the Academy's shortlist for Best Feature Documentary. The honorary roll call:... 

<em>Billy Elliot</em>

Theatre: Broadway

Billy Elliot

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Imperial Theatre

The dark economic times spurred by Wall Street and the new political landscape serve as the perfect backdrop for Billy Elliot,... 

Nayland Blake: <em>Behavior</em>

Art

Nayland Blake

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Location One

Location One presents a survey of Nayland Blake's provocative mixed-media work, drawing from nearly every facet of Blake's 25-year career. Blake,... 

<em>A Christmas Tale</em>

Film

A Christmas Tale

Thursday 1/ 8 @ IFC Center

In a film about that favorite of French topics — what's to be done with the family legacy (including, naturally, the... 

<em>Back Back Back</em>

Theatre

Back Back Back

Thursday 1/ 8 @ New York City Center

Though it probably wouldn't hurt, you don't need to be much of a baseball fan or know much about the sport's... 

Cedar Lake Winter Season

Dance

Cedar Lake Winter Season

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Cedar Lake Theater

Cedar Lake's Winter Season features two world premieres from established European choreographers Didy Veldman and Luca Veggetti. In Veldman's frame of... 

Ray Mortenson: <em>Broken Glass: Photographs of the South Bronx</em>

Art: Photography

Broken Glass

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Museum of the City of New York

The South Bronx, cradle of hip-hop, was ironically an urban tomb of crumbled buildings and deserted streets during the music genre's... 

Under the Radar Festival

Festival: Performing Arts

Under the Radar Festival

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Various locations

In his fifth year of producing the Under the Radar Festival, downtown legend — and former artistic director of avant-performance space... 

<em>In the Heights</em>

Theatre

In the Heights

Thursday 1/ 8 @ 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... 

Mr.

Art

Mr.

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Lehmann Maupin

In 2005, the painter known as Mr. first creeped out New York with his disproportionate bobble-head sculptures of wide-eyed, Japanese youths,... 

<em>Wendy and Lucy</em>

Film

Wendy and Lucy

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Film Forum

Kelly Reichardt returns to Oregon — the setting of her critically acclaimed Old Joy (2006) — with Wendy and Lucy, the... 

<em>Religulous</em>

Film: Documentary

Religulous

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Quad Cinema

In Religulous, veteran comedian and free thinker Bill Maher travels the world, visiting a Holy Land theme park in Florida, London's... 

<em>Street Art, Street Life: From the 1950s to Now</em>

Art

Street Art, Street Life

Thursday 1/ 8 @ The Bronx Museum of the Arts

Given our current love of all things wheatpaste or graffiti, the street has become an outdoor, urban gallery of sorts. Curator... 

<em>Synecdoche, New York</em>

Film

Synecdoche, New York

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Landmark Sunshine

Not everyone adores the sprawling stories-within-stories that identify Charlie Kaufman's screenplays (e.g. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John... 

<em>Sleepwalk With Me</em>

Comedy

Sleepwalk With Me

Thursday 1/ 8 @ The Culture Project @ 45 Bleecker

Comedian Mike Birbiglia walks a fine line between standup and theatre in his one-man off-Broadway debut Sleepwalk With Me. He tells... 

Marlene Dumas: <em>Measuring Your Own Grave</em>

Art

Marlene Dumas

Thursday 1/ 8 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Working from photographic source material — both found media imagery and personal snapshots — Marlene Dumas has constructed an impressive body... 

<em>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</em>

Film

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Various locations

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, director David Fincher's adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man born... 

<em>Eight</em>

Theatre

Eight

Thursday 1/ 8 @ P.S. 122

Eight swept the major awards at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival — including the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, which... 

Peter Callesen: <em>Folded Thoughts</em>

Art

Peter Callesen

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Perry Rubenstein Gallery

Using ephemeral, everyday sheets of paper, Danish artist Peter Callesen realizes magical 3-D sculpture installations. His first solo US show, this... 

Paragraph

City Gems

Paragraph

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Paragraph

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

<em>Streamers</em>

Theatre

Streamers

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Laura Pels Theatre

Streamers, part of David Rabe's Vietnam trilogy, is war theatre of the most absurd. The Roundabout's chilling revival reveals that Rabe's... 

Ice Skating in Prospect Park

City Gems

Ice Skating in Prospect Park

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Wollman Rink

While it's always hard to simply shrug off those long, warm summer days and dive right into winter, the small perks... 

Kate Gilmore

Art

Kate Gilmore

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Smith-Stewart

Whether they appear foolhardy or feminist, Kate Gilmore's masochistic video performances transfix with the same fear/fascination ratio as a ten-car pileup.... 

<em>Let the Right One In</em>

Film

Let the Right One In

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Angelika Film Center

This flick's been out for a while, but since we almost missed out on it, we thought we'd pass the gem... 

William Eggleston: <em>Democratic Camera: Photographs and Video, 1961-2008</em>

Art: Photography

William Eggleston

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Whitney Museum of American Art

Democratic Camera — a long-overdue retrospective of work by William Eggleston — celebrates the career of an artist who's widely recognized... 

Theatre

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Linda Gross Theater

Billy Claven dreams of leaving Inishmaan for Hollywood when director Robert Flaherty arrives on a neighboring island to shoot his new... 

<em>Pal Joey</em>

Theatre

Pal Joey

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Studio 54

Joey Evans is a scheming-but-sweet performer who comes to Chicago with dreams of starting his own nightclub in Roundabout's revival of... 

Oliver Sudden & Michael Portnoy: <em>The Dudion Levers</em>

Art

The Dudion Levers

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Martos Gallery

At the 1998 Grammys, "Director of Behavior" Michael Portnoy achieved as-seen-on-TV notoriety when he spazzed out beside a bewildered Bob Dylan... 

<em>The Wrestler</em>

Film

The Wrestler

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Landmark Sunshine

There's a lot of Oscar buzz building over Mickey Rourke's performance in The Wrestler, but does Darren Aronofsky's movie live up... 

<em>South Pacific</em>

Theatre

South Pacific

Thursday 1/ 8 @ 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... 

Mario Merz

Art

Mario Merz

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Gladstone Gallery

In 1967, Italian critic Germano Celant organized an exhibition of young artists with diverse working practices that he termed Arte Povera... 

Keith Haring: <em>The Ten Commandments</em>

Art

Keith Haring

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Deitch Studios

Biblical law may have taken three days and an exodus, but Keith Haring's Ten Commandments have waited 23 years to grace... 

<em>Rachel Getting Married</em>

Film

Rachel Getting Married

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Various locations

The premise — gossipy and gorgeously spun — is irresistible: Anne Hathaway (finally palatable) has been sprung from rehab to stand... 

<em>NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith</em>

Art

NeoHooDoo

Thursday 1/ 8 @ P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center

In 1972, the poet Ishmael Reed decreed: "Neo-HooDoo believes that every man is an artist and every artist a priest." The... 

<em>Recycling & Resourcefulness: Quilts of the 1930s</em>

Art

Quilts of the 1930s

Thursday 1/ 8 @ American Folk Art Museum, Lincoln Square branch

For Recycling & Resourcefulness, the American Folk Art Museum unfurls 12 quilts that were sewn together from secondhand fabrics by women... 

<em>The Crumb Trail</em>

Theatre

The Crumb Trail

Thursday 1/ 8 @ P.S. 122

On the heels of a much-lauded New York debut last year (who knew Greek tragedy was such good fun?), Ireland's Pan Pan... 

Pipilotti Rist: <em>Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)</em>

Art

Pipilotti Rist

Thursday 1/ 8 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Video artist Pipilotti Rist exhibits a site-specific, immersive piece commissioned by MoMA across the museum's second-floor atrium. Attendees can walk around... 

<em>Revolutionary Road</em>

Film

Revolutionary Road

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Various locations

Despite his apparent disdain for American suburbs, British director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, 1999) has revisited them — in mid-'50s Connecticut,... 

Parsons Dance

Dance

Parsons Dance

Thursday 1/ 8 @ The Joyce Theater

David Parsons starts off 2009 with his first full-length piece, a yet-unnamed collaboration with the Grammy-nominated East Village Opera Company. Vocalists... 

<em>The Labyrinth Wall: From Mythology to Reality</em>

Art

The Labyrinth Wall

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Exit Art

Exit Art has invited 50 artists to help lead New Yorkers through these jumbled times, with the aid of its Labyrinth... 

<em>Becky Shaw </em>

Theatre

Becky Shaw

Thursday 1/ 8 @ 2econd Stage Theatre

Becky Shaw mixes screwed-up pseudo-siblings, a lightning-fast marriage, and an awkward blind date into one fantastic screwball romance of a play.... 

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

Theatre

Fuerza Bruta: Look Up

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Daryl Roth Theatre

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

Calder Jewelry

Art

Calder Jewelry

Thursday 1/ 8 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

He may be best known for his innovative mobiles and wire sculptures, but as his current show at the Met attests,... 

Elizabeth Peyton: <em>Live Forever</em>

Art

Elizabeth Peyton

Thursday 1/ 8 @ New Museum of Contemporary Art

Elizabeth Peyton's first stateside exhibition of paintings, watercolors, and prints is at once vast and utterly intimate. More than 100 portraits... 

<em>I've Loved You So Long</em>

Film

I've Loved You So Long

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Angelika Film Center

English actress Kristin Scott Thomas possesses a bristly elegance that has always restricted her options in English-language films. So it makes... 

<em>Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary</em>

Art

Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Museum of Arts and Design

To celebrate the Museum of Arts and Design's new Columbus Circle location in eco-style, 50 international artists transform mass-produced household items... 

<em>Waltz With Bashir</em>

Film: Animation

Waltz With Bashir

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Landmark Sunshine

Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman's version of memory lane is like none the world has ever really seen before. At the beginning... 

<em>Speed-the-Plow</em>

Theatre

Speed-the-Plow

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Ethel Barrymore Theatre

Finally freed of the 1989 casting of Madonna, David Mamet's full-throttle assault on Hollywood's penchant for putting profit before product is... 

Gilbert & George

Art

Gilbert & George

Thursday 1/ 8 @ Brooklyn Museum of Art

The original living artworks, Gilbert & George, come to the Brooklyn Museum in the form of more than 80 photographs. In... 

<em>The Secret of the Grain</em>

Film

The Secret of the Grain

Thursday 1/ 8 @ IFC Center

That The Secret of the Grain scored big at the French box office attests not only to the (typically) impeccable taste... 

Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge

Art

Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge

Thursday 1/ 8 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Design is not always pretty. Sometimes it is blunt and aggressive, especially when it is meant to deliver a clear message...