Content Type: Service

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Music

      36 Hours in Melbourne, Australia: Things to Do and See

      by

      12 p.m.
      Explore a lane that’s gone from rags to riches
      Flinders Lane was the center of Melbourne’s rag trade, as its textile industry was known, until production moved offshore starting in the 1960s. Today, it’s home to a number of gorgeous shops and restaurants. The city’s most beautiful retail space must belong to Alpha60, a local brother-sister fashion label (think boxy shirts and breezy culottes), whose store inside the Chapter House building occupies a cathedral-like space with lofty, vaulted ceilings, pointed-arch windows and a baby grand piano. Across the road, Craft Victoria, a subterranean gallery and store, features experimental Australian ceramics and textile art. After your shopping, drop into Gimlet at Cavendish House, a glamorous restaurant where crisply dressed waiters sail by with caviar and lobster roasted in a wood-fired oven, but you don’t have to go all out: Squeeze in at the bar right after the doors open at noon for an expertly made gin martini (29 dollars) before the lunch rush. More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      Fall TV 2023: New and Returning Shows to Watch

      by

      Even with much of Hollywood on strike, there will be plenty of notable new and returning shows arriving in the next few months.We’ve been here before. In 2020, to be exact, when it was the pandemic that played havoc with fall network television schedules.The effects of the writers’ and actors’ strikes this year are a little less drastic — they took hold later in the production cycle than the pandemic did, and they only affect American series. But once again we are looking at lineups full of reality programs and game shows. Fox will still have its animation lineup (their long lead times mean more episodes were completed); CBS will repurpose and recycle (“Yellowstone,” the original British “Ghosts”); CW will offer a Canadian smorgasbord. On cable, streaming and PBS, meanwhile, with shorter seasons and more flexible scheduling, the effects are not so noticeable.Here is a roundup of strike-proof shows on fall schedules. Dates are subject to change.September‘THE SUPER MODELS’ Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington Burns are executive producers of this documentary series about their ’90s heyday, which promises to be as luxurious as the goods they modeled. (Apple+, Sept. 20 )‘SEX EDUCATION’ With Moordale Secondary closed, everyone has to get used to a new school in the fourth and final season of this popular, award-winning, sex-positive soap opera. (Netflix, Sept. 21)‘YOUNG LOVE’ “Hair Love,” the Oscar-winning animated short film from 2019 about a Black father learning to style his daughter’s hair, has been expanded into an animated series about a Chicago family. (Max, Sept. 21)‘THE CONTINENTAL: FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK’ Mel Gibson headlines this three-episode extension of the John Wick universe, a prequel focused on a private hotel for assassins called the Continental. Colin Woodell (“The Flight Attendant”), as the future proprietor Winston Scott, has the unenviable task of convincing us that he’s a younger version of Ian McShane. (Peacock, Sept. 22)‘DEADLOCKED: HOW AMERICA SHAPED THE SUPREME COURT’ Dawn Porter (“John Lewis: Good Trouble”) directed this four-part documentary about the modern history of the Supreme Court. (Showtime, Sept. 22)‘KRAPOPOLIS’ Dan Harmon, creator of “Community” and “Rick and Morty,” joins Fox’s Sunday-night lineup with a comedy about a young king (Richard Ayoade) trying to foster civilization in a brightly animated ancient Greece. Fox has ordered three seasons of the show, which if nothing else will provide ample opportunity for the inimitable Matt Berry to voice the king’s father, a debauched half-centaur, half-manticore. (Fox, Sept. 24)Created by Dan Harmon, “Krapopolis” joins Fox’s Sunday night animation lineup.Fox‘THE IRRATIONAL’ Jesse L. Martin, a star of “Rent” on Broadway and a “Law & Order” mainstay for nine seasons, gets his own show for the first time in a three-decade TV career. In mainstream TV’s long tradition of offbeat crime solvers, he plays a behavioral scientist whose quirky team tackles “illogical puzzles and perplexing mysteries.” (NBC, Sept. 25)‘FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY’S END’ This anime series begins after its heroes have completed their ultimate mission; one of the group, the elf Frieren, will outlive her human companions by hundreds of years and come to regret not having known them better. In a genre that gives a lot of space to melancholia, “Frieren” is particularly wistful. (Crunchyroll, Sept. 29)‘GEN V’ Amazon expands the world of its buzziest show, “The Boys,” with a spinoff set in a college for superheroes. (Amazon Prime Video, Sept. 29)October‘BOB’S BURGERS’ Fourteen seasons in (with No. 15 already ordered), Loren Bouchard’s animated comedy remains the sweetest, truest series about family love and dysfunction. With the recent revitalization of “The Simpsons,” it makes Sunday night on Fox the closest thing left to a destination on terrestrial TV. (Fox, Oct. 1)‘FOUND’ Shanola Hampton of “Shameless” stars as a public-relations expert who looks for missing persons of color in NBC’s second new series about an unconventional crime-solving team (after “The Irrational”). (NBC, Oct. 3)Shanola Hampton and Bill Kelly in “Found,” coming to NBC in October.Steve Swisher/NBC‘THE SPENCER SISTERS’ Lea Thompson, starring in a live-action series for the first time since ABC Family’s “Switched at Birth” ended in 2017, plays a Canadian mystery writer who solves crimes with her ex-cop daughter. The joke is that the vain, libidinous mom and the no-nonsense daughter get mistaken for sisters, or so the mother would believe; call it “Murder, She Flirted.” (CW, Oct. 4)‘BARGAIN’ The story line of this Korean series involving an organ auction, a remote location and an earthquake carries some “Squid Game” vibes. (Paramount+, Oct. 5)‘LUPIN’ Netflix’s contemporary take on a classic French character, the turn-of-the-previous-century master thief Arsène Lupin, resurfaces more than two years after its last appearance. Omar Sy returns as the Lupin aficionado Assane Diop, who spent the show’s first two seasons clearing the name of his unjustly imprisoned father. (Netflix, Oct. 5)‘OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH’ David Jenkins’s singular concoction — a queer romance and office sitcom set aboard an 18th-century pirate ship — returns for a second season. (Max, Oct. 5)‘TRANSPLANT’ A pre-strike Canadian import, this conventionally well-made medical drama about a Syrian refugee (Hamza Haq) who becomes a surgeon at a Toronto hospital enters its third season, with Rekha Sharma replacing John Hannah as the chief of the emergency room. (NBC, Oct. 5)‘LOKI’ The most multiverse-y of the Disney+ Marvel series returns for a second season, with Tom Hiddleston as a variant of the shifty Norse god Loki who is reluctantly attached to a timeline-policing authority. The Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan joins the cast. (Disney+, Oct. 6)From left, Tom Hiddleston, Ke Huy Quan and Owen Wilson in “Loki.”Gareth Gatrell/Marvel, via Disney+‘THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER’ Having adapted Shirley Jackson (“The Haunting of Hill House”) and Henry James (“The Haunting of Bly Manor”) for Netflix, Mike Flanagan tackles Edgar Allan Poe in a story that reimagines the Ushers as a big-pharma family. Flanagan regulars like Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas and Michael Trucco return. (Netflix, Oct. 12)‘FRASIER’ Intellectual property that deserves the name. The sparkling sitcom returns with Kelsey Grammer’s sniffy psychiatrist, Frasier Crane, having relocated to Boston (scene of the character’s original incarnation in “Cheers”) after his 1993-2004 run in Seattle. Not making the trip, unfortunately, is David Hyde Pierce as Frasier’s brother, Niles, nor, apparently, any of the other original cast members. (Paramount+, Oct. 12)‘GOOSEBUMPS’ R.L. Stine’s series of comic horror books for teenagers, already the basis of a popular series on Fox Kids in the 1990s, gets a new adaptation created by Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and Rob Letterman (the 2015 “Goosebumps” feature film). (Disney+, Oct. 13)‘LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY’ Apple has shown a taste for shows with a nostalgic flavor, whether or not they are set in the past — “Hello Tomorrow!,” “Physical,” “The Morning Show.” (Remember when morning shows mattered?) Brie Larson stars in this one as a woman in the 1950s who channels her skills as a scientist into hosting a cooking show. (Apple+, Oct. 13)Brie Larson stars in “Lessons in Chemistry” as a scientist turned cooking show host.Apple TV+‘SHINING VALE’ Courteney Cox, as a blocked writer who moves to the suburbs, and Mira Sorvino, as the jealous ghost haunting the writer’s new house, return in a comic take on “The Shining” whose first season was cleverly macabre. (Starz, Oct. 13)‘ANNIKA’ The second season of this under-the-radar British cop show will be American viewers’ only ration of the wonderful actress Nicola Walker this fall, now that “The Split” and her run in “Unforgotten” have ended. Walker plays the leader of a “marine homicide unit” based in Glasgow. (PBS, Oct. 15)‘BILLY THE KID’ It’s not obvious why this workmanlike western with the British actor Tom Blyth in the title role got a second season, but it may have something to do with the track record of its creator, the British writer Michael Hirst, who was also responsible for “The Tudors” and “Vikings.” (MGM+, Oct. 15)‘RICK AND MORTY’ The seventh season of the celebrated sci-fi cartoon will be the first without Justin Roiland, who created the show with Dan Harmon and voiced both of the title characters. (Adult Swim cut ties with Roiland after his 2020 arrest on domestic abuse charges was publicized; the charges have since been dropped.) (Adult Swim, Oct. 15)‘WORLD ON FIRE’ The first season of this British series about ordinary people proving their mettle, or failing to prove it, in the various theaters of World War II was not the most sophisticated of melodramas. The return of Lesley Manville (after a four-year gap between seasons), as a bigoted Manchester woman coping with her son’s sudden acquisition of a Polish wife, makes up for a lot, though. (PBS, Oct. 15)‘THE AMERICAN BUFFALO’ For the first time, Ken Burns directs a documentary that is not about man or man’s accomplishments. (Well, the second time if you count “Not for Ourselves Alone,” the one among his three dozen projects as a director that focuses specifically on women.) But the four-hour series is equal parts human history and natural history, as it traces the intertwined fates of the bison and the tribes that depended on them. (PBS, Oct. 16)‘EVERYONE ELSE BURNS’ The CW slips a British comedy onto its menu of mostly Canadian series. Simon Bird of “The Inbetweeners” and Kate O’Flynn of “Landscapers” play the parents in a family that struggles with the strictures of their Christian sect, whose many no-nos include drinking coffee and celebrating birthdays. (CW, Oct. 16)Simon Bird and Kate O’Flynn star in “Everyone Else Burns,” a British import coming to the CW.James Stack/CW‘NEON’ Three friends portrayed by Tyler Dean Flores (who plays the singer), Emma Ferreira (the overbearing manager) and Jordan Mendoza (the social media geek) move to Miami in search of reggaeton stardom in a comedy whose executive producers include the Taylor Swift antagonist Scooter Braun. (Netflix, Oct. 19)‘WOLF LIKE ME’ This Australian dark comedy is a mix of rom-com and broken-family drama in which one character’s being a werewolf is both the classic impediment to true love and an all-purpose allegory of the need for safety in relationships. Its first season was slight, amusing and often moving. (Peacock, Oct. 19)‘30 COINS’ The Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia’s entertainingly lurid thriller about a demonic conspiracy focused on a small village gets a second season and a substantial new cast member, Paul Giamatti, who plays a mysterious American tech billionaire. (HBO, Oct. 23)‘LIFE ON OUR PLANET’ The creators of British series like “Planet Earth” and “Our Planet” join forces with Industrial Light and Magic and Steven Spielberg for a natural-history series about the ebb and flow of life across the eons, which provides copious opportunities for animating the 99 percent of earth’s species that have gone extinct. (Netflix, Oct. 25)‘FELLOW TRAVELERS’ Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey star as clandestine lovers in a nostalgic march-of-history mini-series — McCarthyism, Vietnam, disco, AIDS — written by Ron Nyswaner (“Philadelphia”), based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon. (Paramount+, Oct. 27; Showtime, Oct. 29)‘THIS ENGLAND’ Hamlet and Hercule Poirot are all well and good, but here’s a real challenge for Kenneth Branagh: playing the Brexit-boosting, Covid-partying former prime minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, in a six-episode mini-series written by Michael Winterbottom and Kieron Quirke. (BritBox, Nov. 1)‘ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE’ Steven Knight, creator of “Peaky Blinders,” developed this mini-series from Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer-winning World War II romantic thriller about a brave, blind French girl and a German boy whose technical skills pull him into the Nazi army. Marie-Laure, the blind heroine, is played by Aria Mia Loberti, a Fulbright scholar, disability advocate and first-time actor; Marie-Laure’s father and great-uncle are played by the more seasoned Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie. (Netflix, Nov. 2)Aria Mia Loberti, a first-time actor, stars in an adaptation of the novel “All the Light We Cannot See.”Katalin Vermes/Netflix‘LAWMEN: BASS REEVES’ Originally billed as yet another spinoff of “Yellowstone,” the latest show from the executive producer Taylor Sheridan is now an anthology series that will feature various real-life old-west lawmen. The first season stars David Oyelowo as Reeves, a formerly enslaved man who developed a formidable reputation as a deputy U.S. marshal. Lauren E. Banks plays Reeves’s wife and the cast includes Dennis Quaid, Donald Sutherland and Shea Whigham. (Paramount+, Nov. 5)‘THE BUCCANEERS’ “A group of fun-loving young American girls explode into the tightly corseted London season of the 1870s,” according to the press release, which sounds like a cross between “Downton Abbey” and a reality dating competition (never mind that it’s based on an unfinished Edith Wharton novel). (Apple TV+, Nov. 8)‘FOR ALL MANKIND’ Equal parts soap opera and engaging alt-history of the space race — you didn’t see the North Korean thing coming, did you? — “Mankind” jumps ahead another decade for its fourth season, with international partners uneasily working together to mine asteroids in 2003. (Apple TV+, Nov. 10)‘BELGRAVIA: THE NEXT CHAPTER’ Written by Julian Fellowes (“Downton Abbey”) and starring redoubtable British performers like Tamsin Greig and Harriet Walter, the mini-series “Belgravia,” about 1840s London society, was a distinct pleasure. This sequel jumps ahead 30 years and has a new cast and a new writer, Helen Edmundson (“Dalgliesh”). (MGM+, Nov. 12)‘PARIS POLICE 1905’ The first season of this historical police procedural — titled “Paris Police 1900” and set when the procedures we’re used to seeing were being invented — was handsomely produced, crazily plotted and consistently entertaining. The new season returns most of the cast (with the regrettable exception of Valérie Dashwood’s laudanum-sniffing, steel-nerved Mme. Lépine) and adds automobiles. (MHz Choice, Nov. 14)‘MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS’ Kurt Russell’s last regular role in a series was nearly 50 years ago, in the 1976 western “The Quest,” so kudos to Legendary Pictures and Apple for talking him into starring in their Godzilla-adjacent MonsterVerse mystery. It’s a package deal: Russell and his son Wyatt both play the central character, an Army officer somehow connected to kaiju research and development. That would seem to prevent them from appearing onscreen together, but we can always hope for a time warp. (Apple TV+, Nov. 17)‘SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF’ Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels about a mopey Toronto bassist who is also, accidentally, a video-game warrior — already made into a 2010 film starring Michael Cera, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” — are now adapted into an anime series produced by the Japanese studio Science SARU. O’Malley is on board as a writer and showrunner. (Netflix, Nov. 17)‘FARGO’ After an underwhelming sojourn in 1950s Kansas City in its fourth season, Noah Hawley’s arch rural noir heads back north to Minnesota and North Dakota for a story starring Jon Hamm as a sheriff and Juno Temple as the woman he’s hunting for. The typically eclectic cast includes Dave Foley, Lamorne Morris and Jennifer Jason Leigh. (FX, Nov. 21)‘ECHO’ Like alien invaders sending out spores, Marvel series multiply on Disney+. This one — starring Alaqua Cox as the Native American hero who can perfectly mimic movement and Zahn McClarnon as her father — is an offshoot of “Hawkeye,” from 2021. But it lies closer to “Daredevil” in the Marvel narrative architecture, so Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are also in the cast as Daredevil and the Kingpin. (Disney+, Nov. 29)December‘PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS’ Ten years after the second and, so far, final Percy Jackson film, Walker Scobell (he played Ryan Reynolds’s younger self in “The Adam Project”) takes on the role of the 12-year-old demigod in a new series. (Disney+, Dec. 20)Other returning shows: “American Horror Story” (FX, Sept. 20); “Starstruck” (Max, Sept. 28); “The Simpsons” (Fox, Oct. 1); “Family Guy” (Fox, Oct. 1); “Magnum P.I.” (NBC, Oct. 4); “Quantum Leap” (NBC, Oct. 4); “Creepshow” (Shudder, Oct. 13); “Hotel Portofino” (PBS, Oct. 15); “Bosch: Legacy” (Freevee, Oct. 20); “Upload” (Amazon Prime Video, Oct. 20); “Native America” (PBS, Oct. 24); “American Horror Stories” (FX on Hulu, Oct. 26); “Shoresy” (Hulu, Oct. 27); “The Gilded Age” (HBO, Oct. 29); “Invincible” (Amazon Prime Video, Nov. 3); “Rap Sh!t” (Max, Nov. 9); “Julia” (Max, Nov. 16); “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” (Starz, Dec. 1) More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Theater

      A Guide to Musicals and Plays Coming This Fall and Spring

      by

      A starry Sondheim revival on Broadway, Alicia Keys’s new musical and John Turturro in a Philip Roth adaptation: a guide to this season’s theater.In a different reality, this list of show openings across the country might be longer. You’d see the world premiere of Larissa FastHorse’s “Fake It Until You Make It,” for example, one of many productions canceled or postponed because of the powerful economic headwinds that theaters are facing. Still, there’s hope: Exciting ideas are taking shape in regional theaters, where works like “Run Bambi Run,” “Illinois” and “The Salvagers” are being staged. In New York, “Swing State,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Sabbath’s Theater” are among the shows that remind us of theater’s promise. And Broadway, of course, with intriguing new shows like “Gutenberg! The Musical,” “I Need That” and “How to Dance in Ohio,” will always survive. (Dates are subject to change.)SeptemberDIG The owner of a dying plant shop forms an unlikely relationship with a woman carrying a lot of baggage in this play by Theresa Rebeck, who also directs the Primary Stages production. Developed at the Dorset Theater Festival, “Dig” had a well-received premiere there in 2019. (Sept. 2-Oct. 22, 59E59 Theaters)DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS Count Dracula is a pansexual Gen-Z type experiencing an existential crisis in this comedy, written by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen and inspired by the Bram Stoker classic. Expect a gender-bending celebration of sex, goth and goofiness, directed by Greenberg. The cast features James Daly as Dracula and, all appearing in several roles, Jordan Boatman, Arnie Burton, Ellen Harvey and Andrew Keenan-Bolger. (Sept. 4-Jan. 7, New World Stages)PURLIE VICTORIOUS: A NON-CONFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH Leslie Odom Jr. stars as Purlie Victorious Judson in Ossie Davis’s 1961 comedy about a traveling preacher who returns to his hometown in Georgia to save the community church and stand up to the oppressive white plantation owner Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Billy Eugene Jones (“Fat Ham”) and Kara Young (“Cost of Living”) also star. Kenny Leon directs. (Performances begin Sept. 7, Music Box Theater)SWING STATE The recently widowed Peg unintentionally sets off a small-town feud in this new play by Rebecca Gilman about the political polarization in America. In his rave review of its premiere last year at the Goodman Theater, The Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones called it “perhaps the first of the great American post-Covid plays.” Robert Falls directs this Audible Theater production, featuring the original Chicago cast, including Mary Beth Fisher as Peg. (Sept. 8-Oct. 21, Minetta Lane Theater)Rebecca Gilman’s new play, “Swing State,” arrives this month at the Minetta Lane Theater, with, from left, Anne E. Thompson, Kirsten Fitzgerald and Mary Beth Fisher.Liz LaurenMARY GETS HERS In plagued 10th-century Germany, an orphan named Mary is rescued by people desperate to protect her, and her chastity, at all costs in this new play by Emma Horwitz. The play is inspired by “Abraham, or the Rise and Repentance of Mary,” a comedy-drama written more than 1,000 years ago by Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, one of the earliest-known female poets in Germany. The show, directed by Josiah Davis, is being produced by The Playwrights Realm, which is in residence at MCC Theater. (Sept. 11-Oct. 7, MCC Theater)JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING A group of West African immigrant women working together in a Harlem hair salon share their secrets, dreams and doubts in this new play by Jocelyn Bioh (“School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play”), her Broadway playwriting debut. Whitney White (“Our Dear Dead Drug Lord”) directs this Manhattan Theater Club production. (Sept. 12-Oct. 29, Samuel J. Friedman Theater)RUN BAMBI RUN Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes and the playwright Eric Simonson (“Lombardi”) have collaborated on this new true crime saga in the form of a musical. With new songs from Gano, Simonson’s book is based on the story of Lawrencia Bembenek, a Milwaukee police officer who was convicted in 1981 of killing her husband’s ex-wife. Known as Bambi, Bembenek escaped from prison, was later caught and maintained her innocence until her death in 2010. Mark Clements directs. (Sept. 13-Oct. 22, Milwaukee Repertory Theater)MELISSA ETHERIDGE: MY WINDOW From her Kansas childhood to her years in the male-dominated rock business, Melissa Etheridge entertains with stories and many of her songs. Seen Off Broadway at New World Stages last year, Etheridge’s show has a lot of humor and a few gut punches too (her son died of a drug overdose). The almost-solo show (a roadie character is along for the ride) heads to Broadway with the same director, Amy Tinkham. (Sept. 14-Nov. 19, Circle in the Square Theater)Melissa Etheridge, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, brings her memoir-style show to Broadway this fall after a run Off Broadway last year.Richard Termine for The New York TimesTHE REFUGE PLAYS This new epic tale by Nathan Alan Davis (“Nat Turner in Jerusalem”) follows a Black family over 70 years, beginning with a ghostly visit to a woman who is told she will die within 24 hours. This Roundabout Theater Company presentation is produced in association with New York Theater Workshop, whose new artistic director, Patricia McGregor, will direct a cast including Nicole Ari Parker, Daniel J. Watts, Ngozi Jane Anyanwu and Jon Michael Hill, among others. (Sept. 14-Nov. 12, Laura Pels Theater)GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! I still remember how much my abs hurt — back in 2011 — from laughing at Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells in “The Book of Mormon.” So their reunion is a season highlight. This time, they play aspiring (and inept) musical theater creators doing a backer’s audition of their new play about the inventor of the printing press. If the subject sounds dry, don’t worry — they have injected plenty of wildly inaccurate history into their script to spice things up. The show, written by Scott Brown and Anthony King (“Beetlejuice”), started out at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and has run Off Broadway. Alex Timbers directs. (Sept. 15-Jan. 28, James Earl Jones Theater)BILLY STRAYHORN: SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR This new musical tells Strayhorn’s story, from his poor upbringing in Pittsburgh to fame as one of the greatest jazz composers, including his collaborations with Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday, and his life as an openly gay Black man living through the early days of the civil rights movement. The Broadway veteran Darius de Haas (who did the vocals for the Shy Baldwin character in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) stars as Strayhorn, with J.D. Mollison as Ellington. The book is by Rob Zellers and Kent Gash, who also directs. The music and lyrics are by Strayhorn, and Matthew Whitaker will conduct a nine-piece jazz band. (Sept. 19-Oct. 11, Pittsburgh Public Theater)MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez star in this Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s musical about three friends trying to make it in showbiz. The story is told in reverse chronological order, allowing us to see the broken ties of later life before the starry-eyed hopefulness of younger days. Maria Friedman directs. The 1981 Broadway debut was a flop, but this production, with a sold-out, well-reviewed run at New York Theater Workshop, might have the makings of a smash. (Sept. 19-March 24, Hudson Theater)ULYSSES Elevator Repair Service brings the epic and challenging James Joyce novel about one day in 1904 Dublin to the stage in this new production, commissioned by the Fisher Center at Bard College. While the company is not doing the entire text, as it had for “The Great Gatsby,” selections from each of the 18 episodes in the Joyce novel will be performed, using a fictional academic panel discussion as the jumping-off point. The cast features company regulars including Scott Shepherd, Vin Knight and Maggie Hoffman, with John Collins directing. (Sept. 21-Oct. 1, Fisher Center at Bard)THE WIZ This musical — an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s children’s book with an all-Black cast — was a hit in 1975 with André De Shields in the title role. The new production kicks off a national tour in Baltimore, starring Alan Mingo Jr. as the Wiz, Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy and Deborah Cox as Glinda. The show is intended to hit Broadway in spring 2024, with Wayne Brady stepping into the title role in time for appearances in San Francisco and Los Angeles. “The Wiz” features a book by William F. Brown, with additional material by Amber Ruffin and a score by Charlie Smalls (and others). Schele Williams (“The Notebook”) directs. (Tour begins Sept. 23, Hippodrome Theater)HERE WE ARE Stephen Sondheim fans will get to see one more new musical by the master, who died in 2021, when this long-gestating show, a collaboration with the playwright David Ives and the director Joe Mantello, has its world premiere. The musical is adapted from two Luis Buñuel films, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel.” Sondheim was guarded about the exact story, telling The New York Times days before he died: “I don’t know if I should give the so-called plot away, but the first act is a group of people trying to find a place to have dinner, and they run into all kinds of strange and surreal things, and in the second act, they find a place to have dinner, but they can’t get out.” The talented cast includes Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale and David Hyde Pierce. (Sept. 28-Jan. 7, the Shed’s Griffin Theater)ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE: HOW SHAKESPEARE INVENTED THE VILLAIN Patrick Page is no stranger to playing bad guys (Hades in “Hadestown” comes to mind), but he doesn’t often play a bunch of them in one show. In this solo creation, Page embodies more than a dozen of Shakespeare’s great villains — even Lady Macbeth — as he explores their motivations and Shakespeare’s interpretation of villainy. The show was presented at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C., a couple of years ago, and The Times’s Maya Phillips wrote that seeing Page in action was “like watching a chameleon change hues before your eyes: stupefying, effortless.” Simon Godwin directs. (Sept. 29-Jan. 7, DR2 Theater)OctoberDRUIDO’CASEY The Irish playwright Sean O’Casey, who wrote about the Easter Rising of 1916 and Dublin’s working classes, is getting quite the celebration at the N.Y.U. Skirball Center. O’Casey’s Dublin trilogy — “The Plough and the Stars,” “The Shadow of a Gunman” and “Juno and the Paycock” — is being presented in this Druid Theater of Galway production, directed by Garry Hynes, Druid’s artistic director. The works, which audiences can watch as a marathon or single-play performances, are being produced in partnership with the Public Theater. (Oct. 4-14, N.Y.U. Skirball Center)Aaron Monaghan and Hilda Fay in Sean O’Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock.” The Druid Theater of Galway production, in partnership with the Public Theater, will be at N.Y.U. Skirball Center.Ros KavanaghSTEREOPHONIC A rock band recording a new album in the mid-1970s is catapulted to stardom much quicker than its members could have imagined in this new play by David Adjmi (“Marie Antoinette”), featuring music by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire. Does the group make it, and stay together? Daniel Aukin directs. (Oct. 6-Nov. 19, Playwrights Horizons)I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE Santino Fontana stars in a revival of this 1962 musical about a shamelessly corrupt Depression-era shipping clerk. The original book, by Jerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel, has been revised by his son, John Weidman, with music and lyrics by Harold Rome. Trip Cullman directs a cast that also includes Adam Chanler-Berat, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Judy Kuhn, Sarah Steele and Julia Lester. (Oct. 10-Dec. 3, Classic Stage Company)POOR YELLA REDNECKS The inventive playwright Qui Nguyen (“Vietgone”) is influenced as much by his Vietnamese background as by a love for comic books and action movies. His latest is about a Vietnamese family, with big dreams and small salaries, trying to adapt to a new life in Arkansas. There will be struggle and drama … and also Kung Fu and hip-hop. May Adrales directs the play, co-commissioned by South Coast Repertory and Manhattan Theater Club. (Oct. 10-Nov. 26, New York City Center Stage I)SABBATH’S THEATER Philip Roth’s raunchy, funny 1995 novel, about a debaucherous womanizer and retired puppeteer questioning the value of his life (and goaded toward suicide by his mother’s ghost), is being adapted for the stage by John Turturro and Ariel Levy. Turturro also stars as Mickey Sabbath, alongside Elizabeth Marvel and Jason Kravits. Jo Bonney (“Cost of Living”) directs this world premiere for the New Group. (Oct. 10-Dec. 3, Pershing Square Signature Center)MERRY ME Hansol Jung (“Wolf Play”) is inspired by restoration comedy and Greek theater for this new play about women on a Navy base seeking libidinous pleasure, while also trying to save the world. The show, directed by Leigh Silverman (“Hurricane Diane”), sounds unique, intriguing and naughty at the same time. (Oct. 11-Nov. 19, New York Theater Workshop)THE GREAT GATSBY The heartthrob Jeremy Jordan is the eccentric millionaire Jay Gatsby in this new musical based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, about a man on a mission to pursue the love of his life: Daisy Buchanan (Eva Noblezada of “Hadestown”). The book is by Kait Kerrigan (“The Mad Ones”), the score by the Tony Award nominees Nathan Tysen and Jason Howland (“Paradise Square”), with Marc Bruni (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”) directing. (Oct. 12-Nov. 12, Paper Mill Playhouse)HELEN. Caitlin George’s story about three sisters, which interweaves mythology and history, is being produced by the SuperGeographics and presented by La MaMa in association with En Garde Arts. (Oct. 13-29, La MaMa)I NEED THAT Danny DeVito stars as a hoarder facing eviction if he can’t clean up his act in Theresa Rebeck’s new comedy. DeVito’s daughter Lucy DeVito plays his fictional daughter in the play, also starring Ray Anthony Thomas. Rebeck teams up again with her “Bernhardt/Hamlet” director, Moritz von Stuelpnagel, for this Roundabout Theater Company production. (Oct. 13-Dec. 23, American Airlines Theater)HARMONY After many years of development, this musical by Barry Manilow (music) and Bruce Sussman (book and lyrics) is Broadway bound. And no, it’s not a Manilow jukebox musical (though I don’t hate that idea). Instead, “Harmony” is based on the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a wildly successful singing group formed in Berlin in 1927, and follows them during the rise of Nazism. The ubiquitous Warren Carlyle directs a cast including Chip Zien, Julie Benko and Sierra Boggess. (Performances begin Oct. 18, Ethel Barrymore Theater)THE GARDENS OF ANUNCIA The adolescent years of the director and choreographer Graciela Daniele, who grew up in Argentina during the fascist regime of Juan Perón, form the basis for this musical featuring a book, music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa. The show had its premiere at the Old Globe Theater in 2021 and will be presented in New York by Lincoln Center Theater. Daniele, still working at 83, directs and co-choreographs with Alex Sanchez. (Oct. 19-Dec. 31, Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater)NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL Boundary-pushing theater tends to be the first to suffer from budget cuts (farewell, Under the Radar Festival), so it’s heartening that the Brooklyn Academy of Music is sticking with this annual event, even if it’s much smaller than in past years. “Food” (Nov. 2-18) stars the absurdist performer Geoff Sobelle, who gathers the audience at a massive table for a meditation on how and why we eat. Lee Sunday Evans co-directs with Sobelle, who cocreated the show with Steve Cuiffo. Also on the program is “How to Live (After You Die),” Dec. 7-9, a solo show by the Australian artist and filmmaker Lynette Wallworth, about her experience of being drawn into cultism and escaping through art. (The festival runs Oct. 19-Jan. 13, Brooklyn Academy of Music)In “Food,” Geoff Sobelle presents a dinner party that’s an absurdist theatrical spectacle. It will be presented at the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.Iain MastertonTHE FRIEL PROJECT The Irish Repertory Theater honors the great Irish playwright Brian Friel with three of his plays set in the fictional town of Ballybeg. First up is “Translations,” set in the 1830s, when British rule made efforts in Ireland to erase the Gaelic language; Doug Hughes directs (Oct. 20-Dec. 3). The Friel season continues with “Aristocrats,” directed by the theater’s artistic director, Charlotte Moore (Jan. 11-March 3); and “Philadelphia, Here I Come!,” with the theater’s producing director, Ciarán O’Reilly, directing (March 16-May 5). (Irish Repertory Theater)HELL’S KITCHEN Ali, a 17-year-old girl growing up in a tiny New York apartment with her single mother, has big dreams but feels trapped. When she hears a neighbor playing the piano, she sees a path out. This show features music and lyrics by Alicia Keys (some new music and some previous hits), and is loosely based on her experience growing up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, surrounded by a community of artists. The project, more than a decade in the making, will now have its world premiere at the Public Theater. The book is by Kristoffer Diaz, choreography by Camille A. Brown, and Michael Greif directs. (Oct. 24-Dec. 10, Public Theater)SCENE PARTNERS Dianne Wiest stars in a neat twist on the “young wannabe starlet heads to Hollywood” story: Meryl, at 75 years old, decides to leave her Milwaukee home for Los Angeles, where she is determined to become a movie star. Who says it’s too late for her big break? Rachel Chavkin directs this new play by John J. Caswell Jr. (“Wet Brain”). (Oct. 26-Dec. 3, Vineyard Theater)DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA John Patrick Shanley’s 1984 Bronx-set drama about two outsiders circling the drain earned a young John Turturro his first rave in The Times. Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”) makes her stage debut in this revival, alongside Christopher Abbott (“Girls”), with Jeff Ward directing. (Oct. 30-Jan. 7, Lucille Lortel Theater)SPAMALOT The over-the-top, delightfully goofy Monty Python musical set during the days of King Arthur (and the Knights Who Say ‘Ni!’) is returning to Broadway, where it first had us in stitches more than a decade ago. This new production, whose cast includes James Monroe Iglehart, Christopher Fitzgerald, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Michael Urie and Ethan Slater, had a well-received run in May, with Josh Rhodes directing and choreographing, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The book and lyrics are by Eric Idle, music by Idle and John Du Prez; Rhodes directs and choreographs again. (Performances begin Oct. 31, St. James Theater)“Spamalot” heads to the St. James Theater, with Nik Walker as Sir Galahad and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as the Lady of the Lake, after a brief run at the Kennedy Center in Washington in May.Jeremy DanielNovemberPAL JOEY The nightclub singer and cad Joey Evans is transformed into an ambitious (but more redeemable) Black jazz singer, played by Ephraim Sykes in this new version of the 1940 musical based on stories by John O’Hara, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Richard LaGravenese and Daniel Beaty are rewriting its book to include the original songs along with other Rodgers-Hart classics like “My Heart Stood Still.” Savion Glover and Tony Goldwyn direct this City Center gala presentation. (Nov. 1-5, City Center)WAITING FOR GODOT Some classics, like this 1953 Samuel Beckett tragicomedy, continue to attract actors and directors aiming to make their mark. Having (ahem) played Estragon in college, I confess the play has a long-lasting appeal to me and seeing Michael Shannon take on the role in this Theater for a New Audience production sounds especially exciting. Arin Arbus directs a cast that also includes Paul Sparks (Vladimir), Jeff Biehl (Lucky) and Ajay Naidu (Pozzo). (Nov. 4-Dec. 3, Theater for a New Audience)SPAIN A couple of filmmakers find an unlikely backer — the KGB — for their epic Spanish Civil War movie in Jen Silverman’s new comedy about the age of disinformation. The cast will include Marin Ireland (“Reasons to Be Pretty”), Zachary James (“The Addams Family”) and Erik Lochtefeld (“Metamorphoses”). Tyne Rafaeli directs. (Nov. 8-Dec. 17, Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater)HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO A group of young adults on the autism spectrum prepares for a spring dance, hoping to learn to better navigate social challenges in this musical that had its premiere at Syracuse Stage last year. It’s based on a 2015 documentary by Alexandra Shiva, and features a cast made up largely of autistic actors from the Syracuse production. The book and lyrics are by Rebekah Greer Melocik and music by Jacob Yandura, with Sammi Cannold directing. (Performances begin Nov. 15, Belasco Theater)MANAHATTA A Native American woman, also a promising businesswoman with an M.B.A. from Stanford, heads to Oklahoma for a banking job, connects with her Lenape ancestry and tries to straddle the worlds of finance and her family in this new play by Mary Kathryn Nagle. Laurie Woolery directs. (Nov. 16-Dec. 17, Public Theater)BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB A group of great talents from the golden age of Cuban music in the 1940s and 1950s gathered in Havana for a week in 1996 to record the album “Buena Vista Social Club.” This new musical, with a book by Marco Ramirez (“The Royale”), tells the story of these artists and the creation of the unlikely blockbuster album and a 1999 documentary. Saheem Ali (“Fat Ham”) directs the world premiere for Atlantic Theater Company, featuring music from the album. Musical direction by David Yazbek (“The Band’s Visit”) and choreography by Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck. (Nov. 17-Dec. 31, Linda Gross Theater)THE SALVAGERS A father and son (only 14 years apart in age) have a tense enough relationship when possible romance opportunities come up for both and complicate their lives further in this new play by Harrison David Rivers (“The Bandaged Place”). Mikael Burke directs. (Nov. 24-Dec. 16, Yale Repertory Theater)SWEPT AWAY After a brutal storm sinks their whaling ship off the Massachusetts coast, four men struggle to survive in this new musical with a book by John Logan (“Red”) and music and lyrics by the Avett Brothers, based on their 2004 album “Mignonette” (which, in turn, was inspired by a 1884 shipwreck off the Cape of Good Hope). The show premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theater last year, and among the cast returning for this Arena State run are John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe and Wayne Duvall. Michael Mayer directs. (Nov. 25-Dec. 30, Arena Stage)APPROPRIATE When the Lafayette family returns to their dead father’s Arkansas home to settle his affairs in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Obie Award-winning play, a photo album of disturbing images creates tension and raises questions about the man they thought they knew. Jacobs-Jenkins’s works include the Pulitzer Prize finalists “Gloria” and “Everybody,” but this Second Stage production is the first play he has written to land on Broadway. Lila Neugebauer (“The Waverly Gallery”) directs a cast that includes Sarah Paulson. (Performances begin Nov. 29, Hayes Theater)Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s “Appropriate,” which ran Off Broadway in 2014, is getting a Broadway run this winter with a cast that includes Sarah Paulson.Richard Termine for The New York TimesDecemberREAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES Ana, full-figured and fresh out of high school, dreams of an education, but as a first-generation Mexican American in 1987 Los Angeles, she must battle her immigrant mother and the expectation she works in a sweatshop. This new musical is based on the 1990 play by Josefina López that inspired the 2002 film by López and George LaVoo. The new musical version features music and lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez and a book by Lisa Loomer, with the Tony winner Sergio Trujillo directing and choreographing. (Dec. 8-Jan. 21, American Repertory Theater)PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC A Jewish family in 2016 Paris question their safety in an increasingly hostile world in this play by Joshua Harmon (“Bad Jews”), which had its premiere Off Broadway via Manhattan Theater Club last year. David Cromer returns to direct this Broadway transfer. The story, which moves between two time periods, also includes the family’s older relatives, who in 1944 managed to survive in occupied Paris. (Dec. 19-Feb. 4, Samuel J. Friedman Theater)From left, Nancy Robinette, Kenneth Tigar, Peyton Lusk and Ari Brand in “Prayer for the French Republic,” about a family grappling with antisemitism, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater in Manhattan. Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesJanuaryILLINOIS This new dance-theater hybrid is based on Sufjan Stevens’s 2005 concept album “Illinois,” about people, places and events in the Prairie State. With a story by Jackie Sibblies Drury (“Fairview”) and choreography and direction by Justin Peck, the show had a premiere at the Fisher Center at Bard this past summer. (Jan. 12-28, Chicago Shakespeare Theater)THE CONNECTOR A talented up-and-coming journalist faces off with a diligent copy editor in this new musical, conceived and directed by Daisy Prince. The book is by Jonathan Marc Sherman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (“Parade”), who also leads the band in this MCC Theater world premiere. (Jan. 12-Feb. 18, Newman Mills Theater)ENCORES! Don’t be fooled by the words “staged concert readings”; these productions, now in their 30th year, are more elaborate and moving than simple readings. This season includes “Once Upon a Mattress,” the 1959 musical comedy adapted from the fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea” (Jan. 24-Feb. 4), directed by Lear deBessonet and starring Sutton Foster; “Jelly’s Last Jam,” the 1992 musical about the life of the jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton (Feb. 21-March 3), directed by Robert O’Hara; and “Titanic,” a 1997 musical recounting of the famous maritime disaster (June 12-23), directed by Anne Kauffman. (New York City Center)FebruaryDOUBT: A PARABLE Tyne Daly and Liev Schreiber star in a revival of John Patrick Shanley’s powerful Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a Catholic school nun who suspects a priest of sexual abuse. Scott Ellis directs the Roundabout Theater Company production, the first Broadway revival of “Doubt” since the 2005 premiere. (Feb. 2-April 14, American Airlines Theater)THE NOTEBOOK Nicholas Sparks’s 1996 novel about romantic idealism and lifelong love comes to Broadway as a new musical (there was a screen adaptation in 2004 too, of course). The book is by Bekah Brunstetter, music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson, and Michael Greif and Schele Williams direct. “The Notebook” arrives in New York following a well-received premiere last year at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. (Performances begin Feb. 6, Gerald Schoenfeld Theater)REDWOOD Idina Menzel stars in a new musical about a seemingly successful businesswoman who suffers heartbreak and escapes her life and family to immerse herself in the redwoods of Northern California. Tina Landau wrote the book and directs this world premiere; the music is by Kate Diaz and lyrics by Diaz and Landau, with additional contributions from Menzel. (Feb. 13-March 17, La Jolla Playhouse)TEETH I can’t believe a team decided to adapt the 2007 cult classic film about a young woman with toothed genitalia. Talk about pushing boundaries. The film, about an evangelical Christian teenager whose body bites back, didn’t even get the greatest reviews, but I’m in. The book is by Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson (“A Strange Loop”), with music by Jacobs and lyrics by Jackson. Sarah Benson (“Blasted”) directs. (Performances begin Feb. 21, Playwrights Horizons)MarchONE OF THE GOOD ONES A young Latina brings her boyfriend home to meet the parents in this new comedy by Gloria Calderón Kellett (“One Day at a Time” reboot); naturally biases come to the surface. The Pasadena Playhouse, winner of the 2023 regional theater Tony Award, commissioned this new play. (March 13-April 7, Pasadena Playhouse)PURPOSE A youngest son’s homecoming forces a politically powerful Black American family to grapple with some secrets, faith and radicalism in this new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Phylicia Rashad directs the world premiere for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company, leading a cast including Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill. (March 14-April 21, Steppenwolf Theater)THE OUTSIDERS It’s the poor Greasers vs. the rich Socs in this new musical about angsty teenagers in 1960s Tulsa based on the S.E. Hinton novel (as well as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film starring C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon and a bunch of other now-famous actors). The show, which had its premiere at La Jolla Playhouse earlier this year, features a book by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine and music and lyrics by the folk duo Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Levine. Danya Taymor directs. (Performances begin March 16, Bernard B. Jacobs Theater)“The Outsiders” will make its way to Broadway in the spring, following its premiere earlier this year at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, Calif.Rich Soublet IISALLY & TOM A playwright and director (who are also a married couple) star in a play about the relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson — that is the setup of Suzan-Lori Parks’s new play about history, consent and power. The show, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, is being presented in New York by the Public Theater in association with The Guthrie Theater, where it had its premiere last year. (March 28-April 28, Public Theater)April and beyondTHREE HOUSES A new musical by Dave Malloy (“Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”) is always going to be a highlight. In his latest, Malloy employs book, music and lyrics to explore our post-pandemic world, bringing together three strangers after a long period of a time that was as communal as it was solitary. Annie Tippe directs. (April 30-June 9, Pershing Square Signature Center)MOTHER PLAY Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger star in this new play by Paula Vogel (“How I Learned to Drive”). Vogel’s latest, set outside Washington, D.C., in 1962, is a study of the power of family bonds, focusing on a mother (Lange) with firm ideas about what her two teenage kids need to do to be successful. Tina Landau directs this Second Stage Theater premiere. (Performances begin April 2, Hayes Theater)ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE The “Succession” star Jeremy Strong takes the stage in Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 classic about a small-town doctor who tries to speak truth to power when he discovers the community’s water is tainted, and nearly ruins his life in the process. Sam Gold will direct this new production, an adaptation by the playwright Amy Herzog, whose revision of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” ran on Broadway this year. (Performances dates and theater to be announced)CABARET Eddie Redmayne starred in a recent, lauded London revival of this 1966 Kander and Ebb musical that shows us the Nazi rise to power through the lives of people in a Berlin nightclub. Redmayne is expected to reclaim the role of the Emcee when this new production, directed by Rebecca Frecknall, opens on Broadway. The book is by Joe Masteroff, music by Kander and lyrics by Ebb. (Previews begin in the spring, August Wilson Theater)GATSBY American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., is planning its own musical adaptation of the Fitzgerald novel, directed by Rachel Chavkin. The A.R.T. production will feature a score by Florence Welch (Florence + the Machine) and Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) with a book by Martyna Majok (“Cost of Living”). (May 25-July 21, 2024, American Repertory Theater) More

    • 113 Shares129 Views

      in Music

      36 Hours in Amsterdam: Things to Do and See

      by

      12 p.m.
      Find your perfect street food
      Between the Lindengracht Markt and the neighboring Noordermarkt, a pricier, organic market that also has antiques, handmade jewelry, artisanal pickles, soaps and honey to browse, there are plenty of street-food stalls to choose from. (Walking while eating is frowned upon in Dutch culture, so grab a picnic table). On the Lindengracht side, try a sabich (€7.50), a stuffed vegetarian pita at Abu Salie, or for a classic Dutch lunch, go for the speciaal beenham and braadworst (a sandwich piled high with sausage, ham and sauerkraut, €6) at Fluks & Sons. Stalls throughout the markets also sell raw herring, sometimes covered in onions. Join locals at the Noordermarkt for fresh oysters (from €3.50 each; find them beside the entrance, next to the church tower). Dutch sweets also abound, including the ever-popular poffertjes (mini pancakes in powdered sugar or syrup) or warm and gooey stroopwafels. More

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Television

      Can’t Hear the Dialogue in Your Streaming Show? You’re Not Alone.

      by

      Many of us stream shows and movies with the subtitles on all the time — and not because it’s cool.“What did he just say?”Those are some of the most commonly uttered words in my home. No matter how much my wife and I crank up the TV volume, the actors in streaming movies and shows are becoming increasingly difficult to understand. We usually end up turning on the subtitles, even though we aren’t hard of hearing.We’re not alone. In the streaming era, as video consumption shifts from movie theaters toward content shrunk down for televisions, tablets and smartphones, making dialogue crisp and clear has become the entertainment world’s toughest technology challenge. About 50 percent of Americans — and the majority of young people — watch videos with subtitles on most of the time, according to surveys, in large part because they are struggling to decipher what actors are saying.“It’s getting worse,” said Si Lewis, who has run Hidden Connections, a home theater installation company in Alameda, Calif., for nearly 40 years. “All of my customers have issues with hearing the dialogue, and many of them use closed captions.”The garbled prattle in TV shows and movies is now a widely discussed problem that tech and media companies are just beginning to unravel with solutions such as speech-boosting software algorithms, which I tested. (More on this later.)The issue is complex because of myriad factors at play. In big movie productions, professional sound mixers calibrate audio levels for traditional theaters with robust speaker systems capable of delivering a wide range of sound, from spoken words to loud gunshots. But when you stream that content through an app on a TV, smartphone or tablet, the audio has been “down mixed,” or compressed, to carry the sounds through tiny, relatively weak speakers, said Marina Killion, an audio engineer at the media production company Optimus.It doesn’t help that TVs keep getting thinner and more minimal in design. To emphasize the picture, many modern flat-screen TVs hide their speakers, blasting sound away from the viewer’s ears, Mr. Lewis said.There are also issues specific to streaming. Unlike broadcast TV programs, which must adhere to regulations that forbid them from exceeding specific loudness levels, there are no such rules for streaming apps, Ms. Killion said. That means sound may be wildly inconsistent from app to app and program to program — so if you watch a show on Amazon Prime Video and then switch to a movie on Netflix, you probably have to repeatedly adjust your volume settings to hear what people are saying.“Online is kind of the wild, wild west,” Ms. Killion said.Subtitles are far from an ideal solution to all of this, so here are some remedies — including add-ons for your home entertainment setup and speech enhancers — to try.A speaker will helpDecades ago, TV dialogue could be heard loud and clear. It was obvious where the speakers lived on a television — behind a plastic grill embedded into the front of the set, where they could blast sound directly toward you. Nowadays, even on the most expensive TVs, the speakers are tiny and crammed into the back or the bottom of the display.“A TV is meant to be a TV, but it’s never going to present the sound,” said Paul Peace, a director of audio platform engineering at Sonos, the speaker technology company based in Santa Barbara, Calif. “They’re too thin, they’re downward and their exits aren’t directed at the audience.”Any owner of a modern television will benefit from plugging in a separate speaker such as a soundbar, a wide, stick-shaped speaker. I’ve tested many soundbars over the last decade, and they have greatly improved. With pricing of $80 to $900, they can be more budget friendly than a multispeaker surround-sound system, and they are simpler to set up.Last week, I tried the Sonos Arc, which I set up in minutes by plugging it into a power outlet, connecting it to my TV with an HDMI cable and using the Sonos app to calibrate the sound for my living room space. It delivered significantly richer sound quality, with deep bass and crisp dialogue, than my TV’s built-in speakers.At $900, the Sonos Arc is pricey. But it’s one of the few soundbars on the market with a speech enhancer, a button that can be pressed in the Sonos app to make spoken words easier to hear. It made a big difference in helping me understand the mumbly villain of the most recent James Bond movie, “No Time to Die.”But the Sonos soundbar’s speech enhancer ran into its limits with the jarring colloquialisms of the Netflix show “The Witcher.” It couldn’t make more fathomable lines like “We’re seeking a girl and a witcher — her with ashen hair and patrician countenance, him a mannerless, blanched brute.”Then again, I’m not sure any speaker could help with that. I left the subtitles on for that one.Dialogue enhancers in appsNot everyone wants to spend more money to fix sound on a TV that already costs hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, some tech companies are starting to build their own dialogue enhancers into their streaming apps.In April, Amazon began rolling out an accessibility feature, called dialogue boost, for a small number of shows and movies in its Prime Video streaming app. To use it, you open the language options and choose “English Dialogue Boost: High.” I tested the tool in “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” the spy thriller with a cast of especially unintelligible, deep-voiced men.With the dialogue boost turned on (and the Sonos soundbar turned off), I picked scenes that were hard to hear and jotted down what I thought the actors had said. Then I rewatched each scene with subtitles on to check my answers.In the opening of the show, I thought an actor said: “That’s right, you stuck the ring on her — I thought you two were trying to work it out.”The actor actually said, “Oh, sorry, you still had the ring on — I thought the two of you were trying to work it out.”Whoops.I had better luck with another scene involving a phone conversation between Jack Ryan and his former boss making plans to get together. After reviewing my results, I was delighted to realize that I had understood all the words correctly.But minutes later, Jack Ryan’s boss, James Greer, murmured a line that I could not even guess: “Yeah, they were using that in Karachi before I left.” Even dialogue enhancers can’t fix an actor’s lack of enunciation.In conclusionThe Sonos Arc soundbar was helpful for hearing dialogue without the speech enhancer turned on most of the time for movies and shows. The speech enhancer made words easier to hear in some situations, like scenes with very soft-spoken actors, which could be useful for those who are hearing-impaired. For everyone else, the good news is that installing even a cheaper speaker that lacks a dialogue mode can go a long way.Amazon’s dialogue booster was no magic bullet, but it’s better than nothing and a good start. I’d love to see more features like this from other streaming apps. A Netflix spokeswoman said the company had no plans to release a similar tool.My last piece of advice is counterintuitive: Don’t do anything with the sound settings on your TV. Mr. Lewis said that modern TVs have software that automatically calibrate the sound levels for you — and if you mess around with the settings for one show, the audio may be out of whack for the next one.And if all else fails, of course, there are subtitles. Those are foolproof. More

    • 113 Shares129 Views

      in Television

      The Tony Awards Are Sunday. Here’s How to Watch.

      by

      Here is all the information you’ll need to tune in on Sunday to the annual ceremony honoring Broadway’s top productions and performers.When are the Tony Awards? We’re so glad you asked!The Tony Awards, which each year honor the best plays and musicals staged on Broadway, are Sunday night.The main event, with lots of song-and-dance numbers between the prizes, is at 8 p.m. Eastern, and will be televised on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. And before that, starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, is a preshow at which a number of awards for creative work, such as design, will be handed out. That will stream on Pluto TV.This year is going to be different from the usual in several ways.First, the ceremony will take place in a new location: the United Palace, a former movie house in Washington Heights, which is one of Manhattan’s northernmost neighborhoods. The reasons for the move are predominantly financial; the United Palace proved much less expensive to rent than Radio City Music Hall, where the show often takes place.Second, screenwriters are on strike, and that strike initially threatened to disrupt the Tonys as it has disrupted other televised awards shows. In order to secure an agreement from the Writers Guild of America not to picket the telecast, the Tony Awards had to pledge not to use any scripted writing during the awards ceremony. The result is that there will be more singing, and less talking, than in normal years.Who’s hosting?The broadcast will be hosted for a second consecutive year by Ariana DeBose, who this year, because of the absence of writers, is expected to dance more and to make fewer jokes. She won an Academy Award last year for her performance in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake, and she was nominated for a Tony Award in 2018 as one of three actresses playing Donna Summer in the jukebox musical “Summer.” This year’s Tonys preshow will be hosted by Julianne Hough (“POTUS”) and Skylar Astin (“Spring Awakening”).Who’s performing?Each of the five shows nominated for best musical will do a song — that’s “& Juliet,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “New York, New York,” “Shucked” and “Some Like It Hot.” And all four shows nominated for best musical revival will also perform — that’s “Camelot,” “Into the Woods,” “Parade” and “Sweeney Todd.”But wait, there’s more! Lea Michele is going to lead a number from the revival of “Funny Girl” that opened a year ago. The cast of “A Beautiful Noise,” a jukebox musical about Neil Diamond, will also perform. And Joaquina Kalukango, one of last year’s Tony winners, will sing a song to accompany the In Memoriam segment.Why do the Tonys matter?Broadway is still struggling to recover from the lengthy coronavirus shutdown — attendance remains 17 percent below prepandemic levels — and producers view the Tony Awards as an important way to introduce a large audience to the newest shows.Also, the Tonys are a way to lift up theater as an art form, often boosting the careers of the artists involved. Wins and nominations help plays get staged at regional theaters and taught in colleges, and telecast performances help musicals sell tickets and tour.The Tony Awards, named for the actress and philanthropist Antoinette Perry, are presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing. The winners are chosen by voters — there are 769 of them this year — who are mostly industry insiders: producers, investors, actors, writers, directors, designers and many others with theater-connected lives and livelihoods.This Sunday’s ceremony will be the 76th Tony Awards. More

    • 138 Shares119 Views

      in Television

      6 Books About Mushrooms for Fans of ‘The Last of Us’

      by

      If “The Last of Us” has you unnerved by fungi, these six books can offer some new perspective. (Our spore-bearing, mysterious little neighbors aren’t completely evil — promise.)On Sunday, HBO will air the Season 1 finale of the post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us,” a video game adaptation that has impressed critics and viewers with its sensitive depiction of people finding reasons to survive in a broken world. And what broke that world? Well, that’s a complicated question. Human nature, for sure. Government overreach, arguably. And, oh yeah … mushrooms.The plague that devastates humanity in “The Last of Us” can be traced back to a genus of ascomycete fungi known as cordyceps, which infects people’s brains, turning them into ferocious monsters. This is just the latest in a long history of mushroom slander in pop culture. From the children’s book “Babar the Elephant” to the movie “Phantom Thread,” all too often artists see mushrooms as not just creepy to look at but downright dangerous.But not always! For some different perspectives on how we can live alongside our spore-bearing, umbrella-shaped little neighbors, check out these books.If “The Last of Us” has you nervous about fungi, these books may help put you at ease.Liane Hentscher/HBOEntangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures, by Merlin SheldrakeAnyone in search of fun facts about fungi should start with this collection of historical anecdotes and scientific inquiry, written by a British biologist who knows a lot about the symbiotic relationships between mushrooms and other living creatures. Sheldrake writes about mushrooms as food, as medicine, as a building material and as an advanced communications network — as works of astonishing organic art, in other words. As our critic Jennifer Szalai wrote, “Reading it left me not just moved but altered, eager to disseminate its message of what fungi can do.”Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook, by Eugenia BoneA James Beard Award-nominated food and science journalist, Bone has written multiple books about mushrooms, including the lively overview “Mycophilia: Revelations From the Weird World of Mushrooms.” But for those primarily interested in consuming these weird little protuberances, Bone combined her own research with input from foragers, chefs and mycologists to produce a cookbook filled with delicious recipes and enticing photography. (Bone also contributed to a documentary by Louie Schwartzberg called “Fantastic Fungi,” available on Netflix.)The Secret Life of Fungi: Discoveries from a Hidden World, by Aliya WhiteleyBest known as a science-fiction writer, not a scientist, Whiteley brings a fascination with the alien aspects of nature to this more informal survey. She takes a personal approach to the subject, describing a lifelong preoccupation with mushrooms: how they look, how they taste and how they reproduce. With a different framing, the wilder tidbits in the book — including many details about how these organisms can both destroy and create — could be terrifying. Instead, they’re presented as miniature miracles.The Way Through the Woods: On Mushrooms and Mourning, by Long Litt WoonPart memoir, part anthropological study and part celebration of life, this book tells the story of how Long responded to the death of her husband by following through on a plan they made to take a class about mushrooms. Learning more about fungi — and getting to know the habits and the obsessions of other people who are fascinated by them — changed the author’s perspective on perseverance and grief. As our critic Sarah Lyall wrote, “Seeing Long’s capacity for wonder and even contentment in the midst of her sadness feels like seeing tiny shoots of grass peeking from the ash in a landscape stripped bare by fire.”Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-GarciaToo much positivity in the books above? Try this horror-tinged mystery novel, about a 1950s debutante named Noemí, who travels from Mexico City to an imposing rural mansion to rescue her cousin Catalina from the mysterious Doyle family. Noemí’s snooping about the Doyles turns up some startling revelations, including their reliance on a special strain of mushroom that helps keep them healthy, strong and preternaturally powerful. Even here, though, the fungi are not the bad guys. Their impressive potency is just being misused by the malevolent.Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-up Adaptation, by Lewis Carroll. Illustrated by Robert Sabuda.We can’t leave this topic behind without mentioning one of the most memorable images in all of children’s literature: the hookah-smoking caterpillar coiled atop a mushroom cap, urging the lost and confused Alice to take a bite from his perch to grow either larger or smaller. There have been many editions of Carroll’s proto-psychedelic saga since it was first published in 1865; but this pop-up book, illustrated and engineered by Robert Sabuda, is particularly amazing. Look for the caterpillar’s mushroom hidden under one of the book’s many little flaps — because as always, fungi flourish in the dark, taking root where we least expect them. More

    • 150 Shares139 Views

      in Music

      What to See This Spring in NYC: Broadway Shows, Concerts and More

      by

      “Life of Pi” and Laura Linney on Broadway, Lise Davidsen at the Met Opera, SZA on tour: Here’s what we’re looking forward to this season.Broadway | Off Broadway | Dance | Classical | PopBroadway‘PARADE’ It doesn’t exactly scream out for the big splashy Broadway musical treatment, does it, this disturbing tale of Leo Frank, accused of the rape and murder of a teenage girl and lynched by an antisemitic mob in Georgia in 1915? And yet, the original 1998 production grabbed Tony Awards for the book, by Alfred Uhry, and the score, by Jason Robert Brown. Almost 25 years later, Michael Arden directed a well-received Encores! production, starring Ben Platt, that had a blink-and-you-miss-it short run. Thankfully the production is headed to Broadway, again featuring Platt as Frank and Micaela Diamond as his wife, Lucille.In previews; opens March 16 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, Manhattan.‘SHUCKED’ When the crop starts to fail in the small town of Cob County, an expert “corn doctor” arrives to help, but is he really a huckster? That’s the kernel of this cornpone musical comedy, anyway. Well-received in a premiere run at the Pioneer Theater Company, it promises earworm songs and many laughs — sounds amaizing. The book is by the Tony Award winning “Tootsie” writer Robert Horn, with songs by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally. The ubiquitous Jack O’Brien directs.Previews begin March 8; opens April 4 at the Nederlander Theater, Manhattan.‘LIFE OF PI’ The long, tense standoff between a 16-year-old boy and a Bengal tiger stuck on a lifeboat is a tale of hope and survival first told in Yann Martel’s award-winning 2002 novel. A decade later, it became an Oscar-winning film directed by Ang Lee, and most recently has been adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti — the 2021 West End production won five Olivier Awards. The kid keeps surviving, so a stop on Broadway seems like a good next step. Hiran Abeysekera, who starred in London, will reprise the role of Pi, with Max Webster directing. No, no actual tigers will be among the cast; the puppetry and movement direction is by Finn Caldwell, with puppet design by Caldwell and Nick Barnes.Previews begin March 9; opens March 30 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, Manhattan.Hiran Abeysekera, left, with puppeteers operating the Bengal tiger in “Life of Pi.”Johan Persson‘PETER PAN GOES WRONG’ What’s the worst that could happen? When the Mischief Theater Company, which staged “The Play That Goes Wrong,” takes on the J.M. Barrie classic about a boy who won’t grow up, a few flying mishaps are sure to happen. This farce, which premiered in the West End in 2015, arrives to Broadway this spring, with Adam Meggido directing the chaos.Previews begin March 17; opens April 19 at the Barrymore Theater, Manhattan.‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’ You can’t please everyone … but you can try! A troupe of super progressive artists creates a culturally sensitive elementary school pageant that embraces both Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage month (without the participation of any actual Native Americans) in this satirical comedy by Larissa FastHorse. After a well-received premiere at Playwrights Horizons in 2018, the show arrives on Broadway, with Rachel Chavkin (“Hadestown”) directing.Previews begin March 25; opens April 20 at the Helen Hayes Theater, Manhattan.Jennifer Bareilles, left, and Margo Seibert in “The Thanksgiving Play.”Jenny Anderson for The New York Times‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’ What’s old is new when Broadway hosts a new musical inspired by a 1977 film about young artists with big dreams in the big city after World War II. It ain’t easy, but if they can make it here, they can make it anywhere (or so we’re told). The musical includes classics like the title number, as well as new songs — and a huge cast. The score is by Kander and Ebb, with an original story by David Thompson with  Sharon Washington and additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Susan Stroman directs.Previews begin March 24; opens April 26 at the St. James Theater, Manhattan.‘ROOM’ Like “Life of Pi,” also opening this spring, “Room” has gone from best-selling novel to award-winning film and now to a Broadway production. The play, adapted by Emma Donoghue from her 2010 novel about a mother and son held captive in a shed for years, has songs and some theatricalized aspects, like an older alter ego for young Jack. The essence of the story, though, about hope, imagination and resilience, remains the same. The songs are by the Scottish artists Kathryn Joseph and Cora Bissett, and Bissett (“Roadkill”) directs.Previews begin April 3; opens April 17 at the James Earl Jones Theater, Manhattan.‘SUMMER, 1976’ The casting alone, with Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht, ought to get you to the box office. Set in Ohio in the year of the bicentennial, David Auburn’s latest is about the budding friendship between Diana (Linney), an artist and single mother, and Alice (Hecht), a naïve housewife. As the nation celebrates independence, the women grapple with motherhood, ambition and intimacy and aim for their own sense of freedom. Daniel Sullivan directs.Previews begin April 4; opens April 25 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, Manhattan.‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’ Sean Hayes plays the impossible-to-describe pianist, performer and incomparable wit Oscar Levant in this new play by Doug Wright. Levant famously did a number of television interviews with Jack Paar when Levant talked openly and perhaps a bit scandalously about his battles with depression and mental illness. The play premiered last year at the Goodman Theater in Chicago to raves like this one from The Chicago Tribune: “It’s a stunner of a lead performance: moving, empathetic, deeply emotional and slightly terrifying.” Anticipation is in the air. Lisa Peterson directs.Previews begin April 7; opens April 24 at the Belasco Theater, Manhattan.Sean Hayes in “Good Night, Oscar.”Liz Lauren‘PRIMA FACIE’ On “Killing Eve,” Jodie Comer proved to be transfixing, so this riveting solo show will certainly be a highlight of the spring season. The play comes with trigger warnings — Comer plays a lawyer who ruthlessly defends men accused of sexual assault, but then she suddenly finds herself on the witness stand. Comer won the 2022 Evening Standard Award for best actress for her West End performance in the role. The play, by Suzie Miller, is directed by Justin Martin. STEVEN McELROYPreviews begin April 11; opens April 23 at the Golden Theater, Manhattan.Jodie Comer in “Prima Facie.”Helen MurrayOff BroadwayBEDLAM THEATER Those of us who grew up in New England all thought Lizzie Borden did it — she gave her mother 40 whacks with an ax, and when that was done, she gave her father 41. Or so went the story of the infamous Borden, who was actually acquitted in the murder trial of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Mass., in 1893. Bedlam Theater takes an irreverent look at the story in “Fall River Fishing,” an absurdist dark comedy about unrequited love, self-loathing and disappointment.In previews; opens Feb. 26 at the Connelly Theater, Manhattan.Following that play, Bedlam will stage “The Good John Proctor,” by Talene Monahon, a sequel of sorts to Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” focusing on the young Salem women in the time leading up to the infamous witch trials.Opens March 11 at the Connelly Theater.‘BLACK ODYSSEY’ The playwright Marcus Gardley knows his classics and has created imaginative riffs on Molière’s “Tartuffe,” and Federico García Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba.” Now he’s going back a wee bit further to Homer’s Odysseus saga, about a warrior who faces daunting challenges in finding his way home. Gardley places us in contemporary Harlem, where the soldier Ulysses Lincoln relies on his ancestors and family history to help him on his journey to reunite with his family. Stevie Walker-Webb (“Ain’t No Mo’”) directs.In previews; opens Feb. 26 at Classic Stage Company, Manhattan.James T. Alfred, at right, in “Black Odyssey.”Jeenah Moon for The New York Times‘HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF’ After a sorority sister is raped, some college students start their own self-defense class. And as they create a space to release their pent-up rage, they struggle with how best to respond — seek systemic change, or learn to land a palm strike? Or both? The play by Liliana Padilla was developed at the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago and won the 2019 Yale Drama Series Prize. The Off Broadway production will be directed by Padilla, Rachel Chavkin and Steph Paul.In previews; opens March 13 at New York Theater Workshop, Manhattan.‘THE COAST STARLIGHT’ This title refers to the Amtrak daily route that runs between Los Angeles and Seattle, with unbelievable scenery along the way. Keith Bunin’s play — which premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2019 — ponders what might be going on inside the minds of several people traveling solo on this train and fantasizes the encounters they might have with one another in a different reality. At least one of them holds a dangerous secret. Tyne Rafaeli directs.In previews; opens March 13 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Manhattan.‘THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART’ It’s hard to believe it’s been 12 years since I was first captivated by this National Theater of Scotland production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This wild tale of a stuffy academic who attends a conference in a Scottish border town and somehow, surrealistically, finds herself dancing with the devil is told with an immersive approach that can be intoxicating for an audience member. You can take that literally — the show is being presented at the McKittrick Hotel in a pub environment, as it was in Edinburgh and at the hotel in 2016-17. The writer, David Greig (“The Events”), has a knack for yearning and fantasy, and “Prudencia” is unlikely to get old anytime soon.Previews begin March 8; opens March 13 at the McKittrick Hotel, Manhattan.‘WHITE GIRL IN DANGER’ Tired of being a “Blackground player” in the soap opera town of Allwhite, Keesha Gibbs is determined to take center stage in this new musical comedy with book, music and lyrics by the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson (“A Strange Loop”). And as you might surmise from the title, there is indeed a killer on the loose in Jackson’s mash-up of soaps and melodramatic movies. Lileana Blain-Cruz directs.Previews begin March 15; opens April 10 at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater, Manhattan.From left, Liz Lark Brown, Latoya Edwards and NaTasha Yvette Williams at a reading of “White Girl in Danger.”Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times‘DÍA Y NOCHE’ This coming-of-age story, set in El Paso, Texas, in 1984, is about racism and class struggle experienced through the unlikely friendship between a Chicano punk-rock kid and a Black upper-middle-class nerd who is gay and closeted. Carlos Armesto directs the LAByrinth Theater Company production, written by LAB actor/playwright David Anzuelo.Previews begin March 18; opens March 26 at 59E59 Theaters, Manhattan.RED BULL THEATER Even we Elizabethan geeks might not be familiar with “Arden of Faversham,” a 16th-century thriller from the quill of an anonymous playwright (Shakespeare? Marlowe? Thomas Kyd?). A wife is having an affair and, with her lover, plots the murder of her wealthy husband; naturally, things get complicated. Jesse Berger directs the adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kathryn Walat for Red Bull Theater.Previews begin March 6; opens March 16 at the Lucille Lortel Theater, Manhattan.For 20 years, Red Bull has, thankfully, continued to keep many great classic plays alive for contemporary audiences — they’ll also stage Francis Beaumont’s hilarious comedy “The Knight of the Burning Pestle,” directed by Noah Brody and Emily Young this spring.Previews begin April 17; opens April 27 at the Lucille Lortel Theater.‘KING JAMES’ The timing could hardly be better for this show, arriving onstage just a few months after LeBron James broke the all time NBA scoring record. This play by Rajiv Joseph (“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”), which follows two LeBron super fans who forge an unlikely bond during the basketball player’s days with the Cleveland Cavaliers, is a study of the important place sports can hold in some of our lives. I don’t even like basketball (I’m too short), and I still can’t wait! Glenn Davis and Chris Perfetti will revisit the roles they played at Steppenwolf Theater Company, where the play had its world premiere last year. Kenny Leon directs.Previews begin May 2; opens May 16 at Manhattan Theater Club.‘DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES’ This world premiere musical brings together the composer and lyricist Adam Guettel (“Floyd Collins”) and the playwright Craig Lucas (“An American in Paris”) for the first time since their musical “The Light in the Piazza.” Adapted from J.P. Miller’s 1962 film and 1958 teleplay, the story about a couple’s yearslong battle with alcoholism doesn’t sound super uplifting, but the creative team has quite a track record. Michael Greif (“Dear Evan Hansen”) directs the Atlantic Theater Company production. STEVEN McELROYOpens May 5 at the Linda Gross Theater, Manhattan.Dance‘COPPELIA’ In “Coppelia” (1870) the old toymaker Dr. Coppelius is obsessed with creating a female doll so realistic that she can be — and is — mistaken for a human girl. But that’s not enough: Through magic spells, he tries to bring her to life. In 2023, our magic is artificial intelligence, and in Morgann Runacre-Temple and Jessica Wright’s ingenious “Coppelia,” which Scottish Ballet brings to Sadler’s Wells theater in London, Dr. Coppelius is a charismatic Steve Jobs figure in a black turtleneck, dominating technicians and androids as he attempts to create the perfect woman. The heroine, Swanhilda, is a journalist investigating Coppelius’s NuLife laboratory; her boyfriend Franz comes along and, just as in the 19th-century original, falls for the nonhuman Coppelia. The ballet won rave reviews after its debut at the Edinburgh Festival last year. ROSLYN SULCASMarch 2-5, Sadler’s Wells, London.JORDAN DEMETRIUS LLOYD Like so many dance artists, the choreographer and dancer Jordan Demetrius Lloyd has spent the past few years resourcefully creating work outside of theaters. In 2020, he directed the stirring, contemplative short film “The Last Moon in Mellowland,” a poem in images. Last summer, his site-specific “Jerome” drew crowds of dance lovers and curious passers-by to a schoolyard in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. With his latest project — his first evening-length commission — Lloyd returns to the theater, both embracing its familiarity and testing out new directions, as he finds himself “on not the other side but another side of the pandemic,” he said in a phone interview. In “Blackbare in the Basement,” at Danspace Project, he and seven dancers extend on ideas from “JEROME” while considering the particularities of this hallowed downtown performance space and the history of the artists who have moved through it. SIOBHAN BURKEMarch 9-11, Danspace Project, Manhattan.From left, Paul Hamilton, Keely Garfield and Angie Pittman.Whitney BrowneKEELY GARFIELD As a choreographer and performer, Keely Garfield has long blurred the lines between irony and sincerity, the absurd and the profound. Her unpredictable works, unafraid of kitsch, are costume pageants with room for prayer, feats of endurance and bravery that don’t disguise awkwardness and vulnerability. Garfield is also a yoga teacher, an urban Zen integrated therapist and a hospital chaplain. Her newest piece, “The Invisible Project,” is her first to explore explicitly the crossover between her work as a choreographer and her work in wellness, experimenting with how endurance, patience, healing and catharsis can be danced. If compassionate presence is an aim, the cast is ideal: Opal Ingle, Angie Pittman, Paul Hamilton and Molly Lieber. BRIAN SEIBERTMarch 10-12 at N.Y.U. Skirball, Manhattan.TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY The question of how to stay current, relevant, haunts every dance company built on the vision of a single choreographer. What happens when that person is no longer here? Six years after the death of the postmodern trailblazer Trisha Brown, her company has, for the first time, commissioned a new dance from another artist: the Cuban-born Judith Sánchez Ruíz, a member of the Brown company from 2006 to 2009. Now living in Berlin, Ruíz combines a visceral understanding of Brown’s work with her own daring, intensely physical approach to movement invention. In addition to Ruíz’s “Let’s talk about bleeding,” with a score by the Cuban composer Adonis Gonzalez, the company’s Joyce Theater season features two of Brown’s collaborations with the sound artist Alvin Curran, “For M.G.: The Movie” (1991) and “Rogues” (2011). And Ruíz is not the only fresh voice on the program: Five of the troupe’s eight dancers are new. BURKEMay 2-7, Joyce Theater, Manhattan.Thaji Dias and Amandi Gomez from Nrityagram Dance Ensemble.Ravi ShankarNRITYAGRAM DANCE ENSEMBLE About a decade ago, Nrityagram — unsurpassed exponents of the Indian classical form Odissi — came to the Joyce Theater with surprise guests. They were members of Chitrasena Dance Company from Sri Lanka, experts in that nation’s Kandyan tradition. A collaboration among the dancers, all female, brought out both the shared ancient roots of the two styles and their differences: the more sinuous refinement of Odissi, the folksier verve of Kandyan. They danced to different drummers and found a new harmony. The two companies return together to the Joyce with a new program, “Ahuti,” or “Offering.” One change is the presence of men, who come from the Chitrasena side — bare-chested, virile, spinning end-over-end through the air. They are a novelty in Nrityagram performance, introducing a complementary energy and adding to a larger-than-usual cast, a more populous party. SEIBERTMay 9-14, Joyce Theater, Manhattan.ClassicalCARNEGIE HALL Last year, the Vienna Philharmonic’s Carnegie visit was upturned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the last-minute dumping of its guest conductor, the Putin-affiliated Valery Gergiev. Things should be much calmer when the orchestra returns for three days of works by Schoenberg, Strauss, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Bruckner — all led by Christian Thielemann, a master of this repertoire (March 3-5). Another Carnegie staple, the English Concert, brings Handel’s oratorio “Solomon” (March 12); later, its fellow period ensemble Les Arts Florissants, led by the essential William Christie, comes with an all-Charpentier program for Holy Week (April 26).Among visiting pianists are the gracefully intelligent Alexandre Tharaud, playing works including his transcription of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (March 26); Seong-Jin Cho, who heroically flew in to salvage those Vienna concerts last February (April 12); and the mighty Beatrice Rana, taking on Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata (April 20). Other recitals include the cellist Alisa Weilerstein’s multimedia Bach show “Fragments” (April 1); the continuation of the Danish String Quartet’s Schubert-inspired “Doppelgänger” project, with a premiere by Anna Thorvaldsdottir (April 20), who has also written the latest installment of the flutist Claire Chase’s sprawling, multi-decade initiative “Density 2036” (May 25). Chase appears as well as the soloist in Kaija Saariaho’s “Aile du songe,” with Susanna Mälkki and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (May 9).Other ensembles are bringing local premieres to Carnegie: the Philadelphia Orchestra, presenting John Luther Adams’s “Vespers of the Blessed Earth” with the vocal group the Crossing (March 31); and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which over two evenings is performing Thierry Escaich’s Cello Concerto, with Gautier Capuçon, and Thomas Adès “Air,” for violin and orchestra, with Anne-Sophie Mutter (April 24 and 25). The Met Orchestra continues its tradition of postseason Carnegie appearances, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in Brahms’s “Ein deutsches Requiem” and a program that includes Renée Fleming and Russell Thomas in Act IV of Verdi’s “Otello,” as well as the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s “Lear Sketches” (June 15 and 22).Susanna Mälkki conducting at Carnegie Hall.Chris LeeNEW YORK PHILHARMONIC The conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, whose career continues to thrive in the face of a terminal brain cancer diagnosis, returns to the Philharmonic podium to lead the local premiere of his “Meditations on Rilke” and Schubert’s “Great” Symphony (March 9-12). Then, the orchestra’s music director, Jaap van Zweden, leads Messiaen’s immense “Turangalîla-symphonie,” featuring Jean-Yves Thibaudet as the piano soloist (March 17-19), followed by Bach’s similarly expansive “St. Matthew Passion,” with vocalists including Nicholas Phan, Davóne Tines, Paul Appleby, Tamara Mumford and Philippe Sly (March 23-25).More firsts come in the New York premiere of Felipe Lara’s Double Concerto, featuring Claire Chase on flute and Esperanza Spalding on bass and led by Susanna Mälkki (March 29-31); the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition winner Yunchan Lim’s Philharmonic debut in Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with James Gaffigan (May 10-12); the U.S. premiere of Chick Corea’s Trombone Concerto, led by Marin Alsop and featuring the orchestra’s principal trombone, Joseph Alessi (May 25-27); the world premiere of Julia Wolfe’s large-scale “unEarth” (June 1-3); and the New York premiere of John Luther Adams’s “Become Desert” (June 8-10).METROPOLITAN OPERA Earlier this season, the Met announced that it would devote more resources and calendar time to contemporary works and, inevitably, new productions. But revivals are still the bread and butter of a repertory house, and many this spring have something to look forward to. When Robert Carsen’s elegant production of “Falstaff” returns (March 12-April 1), it will feature as the decadent title character the German baritone Michael Volle — a solemn presence known for embodying Wagner heroes like Wotan and Hans Sachs — in his first Verdi role. Carsen’s similarly clean, and sobering, “Der Rosenkavalier” (March 27-April 20) will be a vehicle for the soprano Lise Davidsen, the Met’s reigning diva, who is making her role debut as the Marschallin.Lise Davidsen, at right, in “Ariadne auf Naxos.” This season she will make her role debut as the Marschallin in Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier.”Marty Sohl/Met OperaYannick Nézet-Séguin, the company’s music director, has been largely absent so far this season, but will take the podium for Puccini’s “La Bohème” (April 21-28, then May 2-14). And the conductor Thomas Guggeis, turning 30 this year and on a rapid rise abroad, as the general music director of Frankfurt Opera and a substitute for Daniel Barenboim in a high-profile Berlin “Ring” cycle last fall, makes his Met debut leading another Wagner work: “Der Fliegende Holländer,” in the first revival of François Girard’s obtuse 2020 staging (May 30-June 10).PARK AVENUE ARMORY Recital spaces are preciously rare in New York, and few can compare with the Armory’s intimate and acoustically rich Board of Officers Room. There, the French baritone Stéphane Degout, with the pianist Cédric Tiberghien, will present an evening of art songs from composers including Fauré, Schubert, Debussy and Lili Boulanger (April 3 and 5). The tenor Allan Clayton — revered abroad and recently celebrated locally in the title roles of “Hamlet” and “Peter Grimes” at the Metropolitan Opera — comes next with the pianist James Baillieu for a program of works by Schumann and Nico Muhly, as well as Clayton’s countrymen Henry Purcell, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten (April 27 and 29). Later, the young pianist Pavel Kolesnikov brings his account of Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations, which he has performed alongside the choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, as well as an eclectic mix of works inspired by Joseph Cornell’s “Celestial Navigation” (May 22 and 24). JOSHUA BARONEPopWEYES BLOOD The clarion-voiced Natalie Mering, under the name Weyes Blood, makes intricately wrought Laurel Canyon folk-pop updated for an era of millennial unease. She wrote many of the songs on her stirring 2022 album “And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow,” as hymns to the collective epidemic of loneliness brought on by the pandemic. Mering’s music is intimate but sweeping; she uses her own personal experiences to access larger and more generalized undercurrents of emotion. It will be heartening to hear a song like the anthemic single “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” performed live, with a venue full of voices proving the communal sentiment of its title. LINDSAY ZOLADZMarch 3 and 4 at Brooklyn Steel.Weyes Blood performs at Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain, in 2022.Jordi Vidal/Redferns, Getty ImagesSZA In the details of a song and in the shape of her career, SZA’s timing has been utterly her own. To sing about relationships and ambitions that unfold as messily as everyday life, SZA — Solana Imani Rowe — writes melodies and lyrics that seem to be spilling out spontaneously: crooning, pausing, suddenly racing, then curling neatly into a hook. Her recordings have arrived with the same kind of unpredictability. She released her debut album, “CTRL” in 2017; five years later, in 2022, she expanded it to a deluxe version that was half again as long, then went on to release an entire new album, “SOS.” In the meantime, an ever-expanding audience found their own lives in her songs: in their desires, jealousy, doubts, seductions, setbacks and triumphs, and in their leisurely grooves. SZA is touring arenas this year, and singalongs will likely join her, phrase for eccentric phrase. JON PARELESMarch 4 and 5 at Madison Square Garden, Manhattan.YO LA TENGO Since forming nearly four decades ago, the Hoboken indie-rock legends Yo La Tengo have been staggeringly consistent: The trio of Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew never seems to tire in its search of eclectic new elements to bring into its ever-expanding sonic universe. Still, the band sounds particularly inspired on its latest (and 17th!) album, the richly enveloping “This Stupid World,” which flickers from despair to hard-won hope and moves fluidly between jammy abstractions (“Sinatra Drive Breakdown”) and succinctly rendered indie-pop (“Fallout,” “Aselestine”). Both of those sides of “This Stupid World” are likely to translate well live, but the new album probably won’t be the set list’s only focus — naturally, their back catalog runs pretty deep. ZOLADZMarch 18 at Brooklyn Steel.SOLANGE Futuristic R&B, righteous jazz, gospel, performance art, poetry, sculpture, film and opera are all part of a generation-spanning seven-event series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music curated by Solange Knowles for Saint Heron, her project to preserve and celebrate Black culture. Named “Eldorado Ballroom” after a historic Black music hall in Houston, the series begins March 30 with a concert headlined by the ambitious, electronics-loving songwriter Kelela, along with the adventurous R&B songwriters Res and KeiyaA. On April 7, the long-running gospel group Twinkie Clark and the Clark Sisters are paired with a program of spiritual choral compositions by Mary Lou Williams. And on April 8, the pioneering free-jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp shares a bill with the poet Claudia Rankine and the avant-garde vocalist Linda Sharrock, in her first New York City concert since the 1970s. The whole series offers deep, promising connections. PARELESBegins March 30 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. More