Events on Wednesday, May 20

Bike Night at the Brooklyn Brewery

Party

Bike Night

Wednesday 5/20 @ Brooklyn Brewery

Gearheads and hopheads unite at the Brooklyn Brewery to celebrate Bike Month NYC. The brewmasters pour dollar drafts all night in... 

Graydon

Music

Graydon

Wednesday 5/20 @ Fontana's

Leaving their comfort zone of packing bars in LA, Graydon take their union of melodic pop, dancey rock, and country up... 

Adam Gopnik in conversation with Steven Pinker

Special Event

Adam Gopnik and Steven Pinker

Wednesday 5/20 @ LIVE from the NYPL

New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik and Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker debate the relevance of Darwin in our times, as... 

Ongoing Events

<em>Exit the King</em>

Theatre

Exit the King

Wednesday 5/20 @ Ethel Barrymore Theatre

400-year-old King Berenger (Geoffrey Rush) doesn't know he has only 90 minutes left to live at the beginning of Ionesco's rarely... 

<em>Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea</em>

Art

Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea

Wednesday 5/20 @ Brooklyn Museum of Art

Thirty-odd years after reintroducing Gustave Caillebotte to American audiences, the Brooklyn Museum offers another marvelous paean to a figure whose posthumous... 

Paragraph

City Gems

Paragraph

Wednesday 5/20 @ Paragraph

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

Art

Surveillance from the Doll House

Wednesday 5/20 @ Mireille Mosler Ltd.

Laurie Simmons' 2006 mini-musical film in three acts, The Music of Regret, eloquently captures the tone of this bittersweet and poignant... 

Theatre

The Dishwashers

Wednesday 5/20 @ 59E59 Theaters

Morris Panych's dark comedy The Dishwashers is reminiscent of a Samuel Beckett work, complete with existential philosophizing and dialogue that prompts... 

Art

Claes Oldenburg

Wednesday 5/20 @ Whitney Museum of American Art

With public-art dandy Claes Oldenburg, Pound's dictum seems especially true: all great art is born of the metropolis. The Whitney's Oldenburg... 

Jessica Stockholder: <em>Swiss Cheese Field</em>

Art

Jessica Stockholder

Wednesday 5/20 @ Senior & Shopmaker Gallery

Jessica Stockholder gets wild with layered compositions of paint blobs, handmade paper, laser-cut textiles (some furry, some shiny), and other collaged... 

Theatre

Our House

Wednesday 5/20 @ Playwrights Horizons

Whip-smart playwright Theresa Rebeck's newest play, Our House, is a dark send-up of television and how the news and reality TV... 

<em>Coraline</em>

Theatre

Coraline

Wednesday 5/20 @ Lucille Lortel Theatre

It's no fluke that beloved songwriter Stephin Merritt chose to set Neil Gaiman's book-turned-movie Coraline to music. The darkly droll circumstances... 

<em>Tangled Alphabets</em>: Le&oacute;n Ferrari and Mira Schendel

Art

Tangled Alphabets: León Ferrari and Mira Schendel

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

For all its fundamental utility, language can also warp into an abstract whatsit — at least in the artful hands of... 

<em>The Norman Conquests</em>

Theatre

The Norman Conquests

Wednesday 5/20 @ Circle in the Square Theatre

Norman's plan for a "dirty weekend" with his sister-in-law Annie turns into a couple days of chaos with the whole family... 

<em>South Pacific</em>

Theatre

South Pacific

Wednesday 5/20 @ 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>David Seidner: Paris Fashions, 1945</em>

Art

David Seidner: Paris Fashions, 1945

Wednesday 5/20 @ International Center of Photography

By August 1944, France had been liberated from the clutch of the Vichy regime, but war had left its proud-as-a-peacock couture... 

Art

KRAZY!

Wednesday 5/20 @ Japan Society

For all the otaku and hikikomori out there, this exhibition needs no further explanation — but for anyone curious about how... 

Art

Malcolm Morley

Wednesday 5/20 @ Sperone Westwater

Careening motocross and NASCAR racers skid across Malcolm Morley's new paintings — one even leaps through a monumental sculpture in a... 

<em>Hair</em>

Theatre: Broadway

Hair

Wednesday 5/20 @ The Al Hirschfeld Theatre

Although Hair was written over 40 years ago, capturing the spirit of a certain movement and period in our history, its... 

Japan Brand Pop-Up Store

Fashion/Style: Shopping

Japan Brand Pop-Up Store

Wednesday 5/20 @ Felissimo Design House

Bring home a taste (or a tasteful element) of Japan from Felissimo Design House's Japan Brand Pop-Up store. If MUJI just... 

Art

Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective

Wednesday 5/20 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

While the peripatetic, 20th-century artist may only have been the second most famous Francis Bacon to bless English shores, he was... 

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

Theatre

Fuerza Bruta: Look Up

Wednesday 5/20 @ Daryl Roth Theatre

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

charity: water at Chelsea Market

Special Event

charity: water at Chelsea Market

Wednesday 5/20 @ Chelsea Market

Flavorpill is a longtime fan of charity: water, a non-profit org dedicated to building sustainable, clean, freshwater wells in some of... 

Theatre

God of Carnage

Wednesday 5/20 @ Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre

A playground altercation between two preteen boys escalates to full-on war when their parents get involved in French playwright Yasmina Reza's... 

Hernan Bas: <em>Works from the Rubell Family Collection</em>

Art

Hernan Bas

Wednesday 5/20 @ Brooklyn Museum of Art

Hernan Bas is Miami's biggest home-grown art star, known for darkly poetic, romanticized works that read as chapters in an epic,... 

<em>Il Divo</em>

Film

Il Divo

Wednesday 5/20 @ Landmark Sunshine

Il Divo is a searing political biopic of three-time Italian Prime Minister and Senator-for-life Giulio Andreotti, which focuses on his unparalleled... 

Spring Exhibitions

Art

Spring Exhibitions

Wednesday 5/20 @ Artists Space

Flowers that manage to exist in cement-road crevices: a timeless analogy for nature's resiliency in the face of man, and also,... 

<em>Surrendering the Absolutes, New Works by Robert Longo</em>

Art

Surrendering the Absolutes

Wednesday 5/20 @ Metro Pictures

In Robert Longo's Surrendering the Absolutes, his signature large-scale charcoal drawings explore the atmospheric effects of light, and the ways in... 

<em>A Play on Words</em>

Theatre

A Play on Words

Wednesday 5/20 @ 59E59 Theaters

True to its title, Brian Dykstra's A Play on Words is an English major's idea of non-stop fun. A Play on... 

Art

Stuart Semple

Wednesday 5/20 @ Anna Kustera Gallery

The toast of London's contemporary art world, Stuart Semple brings a warped progression on Pop Art to New York. Everlasting, Nothing... 

<em>N&eacute;gritude</em>

Art

Négritude

Wednesday 5/20 @ Exit Art

An ambitious multimedia exhibition in several parts, Négritude contemplates the inception, evolution, and contemporary international influence of a seminal 20th-century black... 

<em>Waiting for Godot</em>

Theatre

Waiting for Godot

Wednesday 5/20 @ Studio 54

Master comic actors Bill Irwin, Nathan Lane, and John Goodman infuse a bit of glee in the cosmic questions posed by... 

The Late Film

Film

The Late Film

Wednesday 5/20 @ BAM Rose Cinemas

If an auteur's debut is their "Dear reader," then their last few films come into sight as postscripts: variations on a... 

Theatre

True West

Wednesday 5/20 @ 181 Ave B

"I wanted to write a play about double nature, one that wouldn't be symbolic or metaphorical or any of that stuff,"... 

<em>Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West</em>

Art: Photography

Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

From Zane Grey's far-fetched dime novels to homespun images describing a seemingly limitless stretch of adventure, the American West — as... 

The Con Film Festival

Festival: Performing Arts

The Con Film Festival

Wednesday 5/20 @ Film Forum

A few albums back, Jay-Z flowed, "I'm living proof that crime do pay/Say hooray to the bad guy." Behold Film Forum's... 

Theatre

Desire Under the Elms

Wednesday 5/20 @ St. James Theater

Robert Falls' strikingly visceral production breathes new life into Eugene O'Neill's problematic, oedipal love triangle of a play. In other hands,... 

Sophie Calle: <em>Take Care of Yourself</em>

Art

Sophie Calle

Wednesday 5/20 @ Paula Cooper Gallery

Displaying a unique approach to what might otherwise inflict emotional trauma, artist Sophie Calle rose to challenge an ex's breakup email... 

Art

Jenny Holzer

Wednesday 5/20 @ Whitney Museum of American Art

Jenny Holzer thrives outside the more traditional, brick-and-mortar art world of paint and photography, using LED and light projection as her... 

Art

\'flō\: art, text, new media

Wednesday 5/20 @ Center for Book Arts

A motley collection of works by 30 artists makes up the \'flō\: art, text, new media exhibition, which examines the use... 

<em>Sleepwalk With Me</em>

Comedy

Sleepwalk With Me

Wednesday 5/20 @ 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... 

Ahmed Alsoudani

Art

Ahmed Alsoudani

Wednesday 5/20 @ Goff + Rosenthal Gallery

Iraqi-born American painter Ahmed Alsoudani builds tumultuous compositions about violence, war, and human suffering, juxtaposing human and bestial figures whose violent... 

Art: Photography

Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard

Wednesday 5/20 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

From setup to snap and on through to print, the picture postcard of the early 1900s aimed to be a simple,... 

<em>In the Heights</em>

Theatre

In the Heights

Wednesday 5/20 @ 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... 

<em>Billy Elliot</em>

Theatre: Broadway

Billy Elliot

Wednesday 5/20 @ Imperial Theatre

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

Theatre

West Side Story

Wednesday 5/20 @ The Palace Theatre

Argentine opera singer Josephine Scaglione's magnetically angelic presence contrasts beautifully with the unforgiving world around her in Arthur Laurents' gritty revival... 

<em>Polish Posters 1945-1989</em>

Art

Polish Posters 1945-1989

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Bracketed by those historic "falls" in nearby Berlin (of the city itself and, later, its Wall), the Polish Poster School's expressionistic,... 

Yesterday's Loner: Steve McQueen

Festival: Performing Arts

Yesterday's Loner: Steve McQueen

Wednesday 5/20 @ The Film Society of Lincoln Center

Steve McQueen is probably the only man on the planet who could have made a turtleneck and blazer look badass. It's... 

<em>C.H.U.D.Z.</em>

Art

C.H.U.D.Z.

Wednesday 5/20 @ Cinders Gallery

"Chudz," according to Urban Dictionary, is a term that can mean either sex or a "complete and utter" pimp (although said... 

Nam June Paik: <em>Live Feed, 1972-1994</em>

Art

Nam June Paik

Wednesday 5/20 @ James Cohan Gallery

With his passing in 2006, Nam June Paik left a legacy as one of the ancestors of early video art. Paik's... 

Art

Klaus Moje

Wednesday 5/20 @ Museum of Art and Design

As a German Down Under, glass-art virtuoso Klaus Moje has single-handedly made Australia a hub for that fine art's evolution. Artist... 

Huang Yong Ping

Art

Huang Yong Ping

Wednesday 5/20 @ Gladstone Gallery

Viewers walk in spirals from a snake's tail to its head, and back again through the arches of this massive installation... 

Theatre

Christmas Is Miles Away

Wednesday 5/20 @ Connelly Theatre

British playwright Chloe Moss has received a number of awards and commissions, but her work hasn't been produced in the US... 

Art

The Pictures Generation, 1974-84

Wednesday 5/20 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Pictures Generation pulls the curtain on the young laboratory of the New York art scene in the '70s and '80s.... 

<em>Our Town</em>

Theatre

Our Town

Wednesday 5/20 @ Barrow Street Theater

David Comer's justly praised production (he took home the '09 Obie for Outstanding Director, the play won the Lucille Lortel Award... 

Art: Photography

Avedon Fashion 1944–2000

Wednesday 5/20 @ International Center of Photography

For photographer Richard Avedon, the decisive moment came as a flash of mischief. Picture: two lovely femmes, their coated backs shielding... 

Yang Fudong: Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest

Film

Yang Fudong: Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest

Wednesday 5/20 @ Asia Society and Museum

Check out the premiere U.S. museum showing of Yang Fudong's Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest. The five-part cinematic masterpiece depicts... 

What Was Good Design? MoMA's Message 1944–56

Art

What Was Good Design? MoMA's Message 1944–56

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

At mid-century MoMA played a leading role in the definition and dissemination of so-called Good Design, a concept that took shape... 

The New American Wing—Part 2: The Charles Engelhard Court and the Period Rooms

Art

The New American Wing—Part 2: The Charles Engelhard Court and the Period Rooms

Wednesday 5/20 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

After two years of major construction and renovation, the Met’s Charles Engelhard Court—the spectacular, light-filled pavilion along Central Park—has reopened to... 

In Situ: Architecture and Landscape

Art

In Situ: Architecture and Landscape

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

In recent decades "landscape" has taken on an expanded definition in architecture. In the first half of the twentieth century, the... 

Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge

Art

Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge

Wednesday 5/20 @ 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... 

Sculpture in Color

Special Event

Sculpture in Color

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

This summer's installation in The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden celebrates the bold use of color in modern and contemporary sculpture.... 

Stage Pictures: Drawing for Performance

Special Event

Stage Pictures: Drawing for Performance

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Visual artists have long been interested in the stage as an arena for experimentation, and their interdisciplinary collaborations have immeasurably enriched... 

Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection

Art

Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection

Wednesday 5/20 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, acquired by the Museum in 2005, is an extraordinary collection of over 2,500 contemporary...