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    Review: A New ‘Great Gatsby’ Leads With Comedy and Romance

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    This musical adaptation, now on Broadway, is a lot of Jazz Age fun. But it forgot that Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel endures because it is a tragedy.Jay Gatsby — self-made enigma, party host extraordinaire and talk of the summer season in West Egg, Long Island — doesn’t carry his insecurities lightly. The facade of his wealth-drenched life is a grand and precarious creation, and propping it up requires constant vigilance.His is new money, so he has to prove his worth to the snobberati. Thus his pathetic habit of showing that photo of himself in his Oxford days to people he has barely met. Or, more endearingly, his over-the-top insistence on glamming up the humble cottage of his neighbor, Nick Carraway, when the lost love of Gatsby’s life, the fabled Daisy Fay Buchanan, is coming over for tea.In the new musical “The Great Gatsby,” which opened on Thursday night at the Broadway Theater, the grass outside the cottage is groomed, flowers are everywhere, and a fleet of servants is ferrying food. And Jeremy Jordan’s Gatsby is an adorably panicked basket case, second-guessing in charming comic song his plan to ambush Eva Noblezada’s Daisy with a reunion.“She is late, so I’m off to go scream in a jar,” he sings, but Daisy arrives before he can flee. Unsuavely, he topples into some greenery.It’s a perfectly winsome scene, and a highlight of this ultimately underwhelming new adaptation, which has a book by Kait Kerrigan (making her Broadway debut), music by Jason Howland (“Paradise Square”) and lyrics by Nathan Tysen (also “Paradise Square”). Comedy and romance are strong suits of this production by Marc Bruni (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”), which ran in the fall at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.There are plenty of big dance numbers, too (by Dominique Kelley), with some standout tap. The 1920s costumes (by Linda Cho) are fun to look at, Daisy’s in particular: all those handkerchief hemlines, wafting on air. Gatsby’s yellow Rolls-Royce and Tom’s blue coupe drive onstage, extravagantly. And while the fireworks we see in the distance are projections, other sparkling pyrotechnics are delightfully real.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A ‘Great Gatsby’ Musical Is Coming to Broadway in March

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      The latest adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel will feature Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies”) as Jay Gatsby and Eva Noblezada (“Hadestown”) as Daisy Buchanan.“The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel of garish glamour and dashed dreams, is coming to Broadway as a musical this spring.The show — the latest in a long string of adaptations of this widely read story — had a pre-Broadway run last fall at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J., where it opened to mixed reviews. (As it happens, the book also arrived to mixed reviews, and is now widely considered a great classic of American literature.)The lavish production will join a spring Broadway season packed with new musicals at a moment when many industry leaders are concerned that there do not seem to be enough patrons to keep most of the shows afloat.This new “Gatsby” musical is backed by Chunsoo Shin, a Korean producer hungering for a Broadway hit after a spate of unsuccessful ventures here. He most recently was part of the producing team for “Once Upon a One More Time,” the short-lived show featuring Britney Spears songs; previous endeavors included a stage adaptation of “Doctor Zhivago” and a Tupac Shakur musical, “Holler if Ya Hear Me.”The “Great Gatsby” musical features songs by Nathan Tysen and Jason Howland, who collaborated on the 2022 musical “Paradise Square,” and a book by the playwright Kait Kerrigan (“The Mad Ones”). (Tysen and Kerrigan are married to each other.) The director is Marc Bruni, whose previous Broadway outing, “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” which opened in 2014, was a significant hit.The musical will star two Broadway fan favorites. Jeremy Jordan, a Tony nominee for “Newsies,” will play the nouveau riche title character, Jay Gatsby, while Eva Noblezada, a two-time Tony nominee, for “Miss Saigon” and “Hadestown,” will play Daisy Buchanan, the young woman with old money whom Gatsby has long desired.“The Great Gatsby” is scheduled to begin previews March 29 and to open April 25 at the Broadway Theater, one of Broadway’s largest houses.The novel has been explored in other media many times, including in a glitzy 2013 Hollywood film directed by Baz Luhrmann that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. On Broadway, there was a “Great Gatsby” play staged in 1926, the year after the novel’s publication; Off Broadway there was a highly acclaimed seven-hour version, called “Gatz,” developed by Elevator Repair Service and staged at the Public Theater in 2010.The novel entered the public domain in 2021, opening the door to any number of adaptations. Most significantly, at least for theater audiences, is another musical adaptation in development. It’s called “Gatsby” and is scheduled to start performances in May at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.That production, which also has Broadway aspirations, has a book by the Pulitzer-winning playwright Martyna Majok (“Cost of Living”), songs by the rock star Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and Thomas Bartlett (also known as Doveman), and direction by Rachel Chavkin (a Tony winner for “Hadestown”). More

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      ‘The Great Gatsby’ Review: A Musical Take on Tragic Desire

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      This new version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic remains largely faithful to the novel, but it trades subtle prose for a straightforward production.F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” requires no critical endorsement. His slim 1925 novel still takes up permanent residence in the book bags of students across the nation. Often it is crushed under tomes of greater size, but what “Gatsby,” lacks in length it makes up for in heart, opulence and tragedy. A new musical adaptation trades Fitzgerald’s subtle blend for a blunter approach.“The Great Gatsby,” now playing at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J., replicates its literary prototype. Jay Gatsby (Jeremy Jordan) is the elusive seigneur of a mansion in West Egg, a fictional Long Island town. His newfound wealth fronts lavish parties that brim with bubbly and gossip. He is satisfied by none of it.What Gatsby most craves is Daisy (Eva Noblezada), a product of old money who lives across Manhasset Bay with her adulterer of a husband, Tom Buchanan (John Zdrojeski). Gatsby hatches a plan to have Daisy’s new-to-New York cousin Nick Carraway (Noah J. Ricketts) move in next door to him, with the intent to lure Daisy. But the scheme results in calamity.Though the musical remains largely faithful to that plot, Kait Kerrigan, the book writer, takes liberties with the point of view. Her Nick is no neutral narrator ransacking his memories, but a morally upright man who condemns both Gatsby’s initial pursuit of Daisy and the flagrant behavior of other characters. While others indulge in whiskey and sex, Nick sings desperately about wanting to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Under the direction of Marc Bruni (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”), all the characters get a moment like this to divulge their desires. The result is a more democratic story freed from Nick’s control, but also one stripped of compelling subtext and Fitzgerald’s enviable prose.Jason Howland’s swanky score follows suit. There are traces of contemporary influence (groovy rock refrains, pop music rhythms), yet the overall sound, particularly in the ensemble numbers (with rousing choreography by Dominique Kelley) conjures 1920s percussive swing. What Howland does best is compose solo songs that showcase his leading actors. When speaking, Jordan’s Gatsby is grounded and debonair, which makes it all the more thrilling when his voice scurries up to a delicious falsetto. Noblezada (“Miss Saigon”) captures Daisy’s longing with an emotive and powerful voice.Company members provide great support, particularly Samantha Pauly as the rambunctious Jordan Baker, Daisy’s unmarried best friend. Pauly taps into the skills she previously displayed in “Six,” carrying pop belts with a modern-day spunk that counter Noblezada’s ballads in a meeker tenor. It makes for two characters that effectively foil one another, but oddly belong to different decades.The design team’s choices do not suffer this confusion. Art Deco abounds in Paul Tate DePoo III’s scenery and projection, whether the geometric décor in Gatsby’s home to the haunting projections of the hazy Long Island Sound. Cory Pattak, the lighting designer, intricately balances darker emerald tones and bouncy bright ones. The overall effect, further complemented by Linda Cho’s dazzling costumes, is bewitching. More than once I wished I were sitting farther back in the audience because a production this lush, however unadventurous in narrative direction, deserves, like the novel, the long view.The Great GatsbyThrough Nov. 12 at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, N.J.; papermill.org. Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes.This review is supported by Critical Minded, an initiative to invest in the work of cultural critics from historically underrepresented backgrounds. More

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      Love, Trust and Heartbreak on Two Stages

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      The musical “Hadestown” and the opera “Eurydice” aim to offer new twists on a Greek myth. But when it comes to their heroine, they only go so far.When Orpheus turned around to look at Eurydice during the closing performance of Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” at the Metropolitan Opera, the audience’s collective gasp seemed to shake the grand theater. I recalled another time I heard such a gasp: from the character of Eurydice near the end of “Doubt Comes In,” a song in the Broadway musical “Hadestown.” Then, too, the audience gasped along with her.A lifelong classics nerd, I was surprised both times by the reaction: Does the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice really require a spoiler alert?The myth has been kicking around for over two millenniums, after all. Orpheus, the greatest musician of all, marries Eurydice, who dies when she’s bitten by a snake on their wedding day. He descends to the underworld, where the god of the dead offers him another chance at love: He can leave with Eurydice, but only if he walks ahead and never turns around. Here’s that spoiler: Orpheus looks, and Eurydice is damned to Hades forever.For such an old — and short — story, the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is still frequently told and adapted, much like that of another famous ill-fated couple, Romeo and Juliet. Operatic renditions by Monteverdi and others date back to the early 1600s. Renowned filmmakers like Jean Cocteau created their own narratives in the 20th century.In 1922, Rainer Maria Rilke used the tragic story as a launchpad for his deeply ruminative 55-poem cycle “Sonnets to Orpheus.” Countless other poets have followed suit, many revising the myth to give its sad dead wife a voice — perhaps in a contemporary vernacular, as in Carol Ann Duffy’s “Eurydice,” or in the measured verse and elevated diction of A.E. Stallings’ “Eurydice’s Footnote.”And of course there’s Ruhl herself, who created a revisionist mythology in her 2003 play “Eurydice,” which she adopted into the opera’s libretto.Modern-day adaptations like “Hadestown” and “Eurydice” reveal more than just the imaginations of their creators; they reflect a gender politics that gets to the core of how men and women are mythologized, who has agency and whose stories are most valued.Morley, as Eurydice, surrounded by the dead.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesLet’s face it: Orpheus has always been the star of the myth. Eurydice is simply the young bride. She has no background and no future; she only serves as the vehicle of tragedy for Orpheus.Both “Hadestown” and “Eurydice” interrogate that starring role. In both, Orpheus remains a genius musician who, though in love with Eurydice, is preoccupied with his art above all. Her death is a touch of bad luck — you never know when a venomous snake will slither underfoot on your wedding day. But both adaptations draw a line of causality from Orpheus’s behavior to Eurydice’s death.Perhaps, the productions suggest, Orpheus was the original slacker musician boyfriend, so concerned with his next big hit that he neglected the love who inspired his best work. But Eurydice doesn’t merely get dragged down into the underworld; in both versions she’s tempted by the offer of something she wants.In Aucoin and Ruhl’s “Eurydice,” the new bride wanders off from her own wedding party. She’s bored and missing her dead father, who has been secretly trying to write to his beloved daughter from the underworld. In comes Hades, the ruler of that realm, as sleazy as a back-alley hustler, to manipulate her grief; he baits her with one of her father’s letters.In Anais Mitchell’s “Hadestown,” the seduction is twofold: financial and sexual. Orpheus and Eurydice are trapped in some otherworldly version of the Depression era. In the lurid “Hey, Little Songbird,” Hades draws in Eurydice with promises of security and comfort, while undermining Orpheus, mocking him as a starving artist: “He’s some kind of poet and he’s penniless?/Give him your hand, he’ll give you his hand-to-mouth./He’ll write you a poem when the power’s out.”But the pressure goes further; in Patrick Page’s beguiling performance, Hades is explicitly predatory, exploiting Eurydice’s feelings of displacement and neglect in her relationship.That each of the two Eurydices actively makes a choice, as opposed to being passively buffeted by fate, is telling. But the result in both cases is still tragic.Whether it’s via a gradual transformation, as in “Hadestown,” or an abrupt change, as in “Eurydice,” our heroine loses her sense of self. In the underworld of “Hadestown,” Eurydice joins Hades’s army of souls, forgetting her identity like the deceased around her. Her counterpart in “Eurydice” also forgets Orpheus, her own name and even how to read; she meets her dead father but is unable to recognize him at first.Reeve Carney, foreground center, and Eva Noblezada, far right, as Orpheus and Eurydice in the Broadway musical “Hadestown.”Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesI’ve already told you the spoiler, that the myth ends in death. Opera has an easier time going there; it’s difficult for a musical to pull off a somber ending — the upbeat finale that practically demands a standing ovation feels so much more typical for the form.And yet “Hadestown” bravely, if self-consciously, resolves that way, announcing that the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is an “old song” and “a sad song, but we sing it anyway.”“Eurydice” commits more explosively to woe in its stellar third act, after two acts of tedious exposition. Orpheus, Eurydice and Eurydice’s father all end up in the underworld together, but they find no peace. Eurydice’s father, having lost all hope of reuniting with his daughter after her husband arrives to save her, takes another dip into the Styx, causing him to die a final death. Eurydice, having lost both her husband and father twice, follows her father into oblivion.So the grand tragedy of the piece isn’t contingent on Orpheus’s inconvenient rubbernecking and the implications about trust (though that’s in there too); it’s the ways death has riven these relationships. In trying to outmaneuver their mortality and reconnect with one another, Orpheus, Eurydice and Eurydice’s father each arrive at an oblivion more desolate and lonely than what they’d known before.For all I appreciate about the way both productions offer Eurydice more agency, I do think they give her short shrift.“Hadestown” sticks to the plot of the classic, with some twists and embellishments. But in performance, the musical positions her as the more interesting half of the couple. As played by Eva Noblezada, she is a plucky, streetwise heroine — “no stranger to the world,” as one lyric goes. She may love a juvenile dreamer lost in his own head (Reeve Carney, with a beardless falsetto). But she’s practical; she’ll do what it takes to survive in a world of gross inequality, where Hades is an industrial fat cat and artists and workers are largely servile. If her death becomes the focal point over her character, that may be more the myth’s fault than the musical’s.“Eurydice” allows its heroine the power to decide: head back with her husband, or remain in the underworld with her father. She chooses to call to Orpheus — in effect separating from him and reuniting with her father.But even with this often intriguing revision, the opera still defines Eurydice solely by her relationship to men. Take the scene of their marriage proposal: Orpheus slyly ties a red string around Eurydice’s ring finger, and suggests using her to create his art — quite literally, making an instrument from the strands of her hair. She laments her father’s absence at the wedding itself, because, she claims, she was married to her father first. She doesn’t seem to exist outside of these men.When Eurydice dies the second time, vanishing without a trace, it’s as though she’s a figment of Orpheus’s imagination, more an archetype than anything else — the ill-fated lover, the tragic dead wife, another muse.Still gone at the turn of a head. More

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      How to Stream New Year’s Eve: 25 Shows From Pop, Jazz and Beyond

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyHow to Stream New Year’s Eve: 25 Shows From Pop, Jazz and BeyondIt isn’t too late to make (cheap!) plans to welcome 2021 with music. A host of concerts will be streaming around the globe and major stars will take the stage on TV.Jennifer Lopez will headline “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” on ABC.Credit…Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesOlivia Horn, Elysa Gardner and Dec. 30, 2020THE AVETT BROTHERS If your appetite for sentimentality hasn’t been sated by holiday films, this may be the livestream for you. In their strummy folk-rock vernacular and tidy close harmonies, the brothers Scott and Seth Avett sing earnest songs about love and family. A slew of special guests — including Willie Nelson, Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones and Loudon Wainwright III — will bolster the star power of this New Year’s Eve performance (the 17th edition of an annual Avett tradition). At 8 p.m. Eastern, nugs.tv. Tickets start at $40. (Olivia Horn)THE BEST OF RADIO FREE BIRDLAND The pay-per-view virtual concert series has brought live-to-tape performances to pandemic-weary cabaret fans since April. To finally welcome a new year, it will present a compilation of them — all captured on the Birdland Theater stage with three cameras and no audience members — featuring Broadway and cabaret favorites such as Sierra Boggess, Reeve Carney, Nikki Renée Daniels, Darius de Haas, Telly Leung, Eva Noblezada, Laura Osnes, Christopher Sieber and Billy Stritch. Streaming on demand from Dec. 31 to Jan. 3; tickets are $10 at events.BroadwayWorld.com. (Elysa Gardner)Justin Bieber will take the stage to perform a full concert for the first time in more than three years.Credit…ABC, via Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJUSTIN BIEBER For a pop star, Justin Bieber has become a reluctant performer — often withdrawn when he does appear onstage, and prone to canceling shows altogether. With the pandemic (so far) sparing him the obligation of touring in support of his latest album, “Changes,” this livestreamed show is Bieber’s first full concert in more than three years. The sultry R&B of “Changes” trends mellower than much of his earlier work, making it a suitable soundtrack for an evening in. At 11 p.m. Eastern, justinbiebernye.com. Tickets are $25 (free for T-Mobile customers). (Horn)BIG HIT LABELS’ 2021 NEW YEAR’S EVE LIVE Owing to the success of their crown jewel, BTS, Big Hit has contributed substantially to K-pop’s growing global footprint. Their artist roster, which includes lesser-known (in the U.S., anyway) groups like Gfriend and Nu’est, will join forces for this concert, live from Korea. BTS’s past collaborators Halsey, Lauv and Steve Aoki have been tapped to expand the program’s international reach with a collaboration on the so-called “Global Connect Stage.” At 7:30 a.m. Eastern, on the Weverse shop app. The basic ticket option is sold out, but multiview packages are available for about $48. (Horn)BUD LIGHT SELTZER SESSIONS PRESENTS NEW YEAR’S EVE 2021 Post Malone’s ubiquitous, post-genre pop songs can be bacchanalian (for the New Year’s that we want) or brooding (for the New Year’s that we’re getting). At this virtual shindig, streaming live from Las Vegas, he’ll perform a selection with support from Saweetie, the cheeky rapper whose popularity has surged on the back of consecutive TikTok hits. The comedian Lilly Singh will host, with additional performances from Jack Harlow and Steve Aoki. At 10:30 p.m. Eastern, budlight.com/nye and on Bud Light’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. (Horn)BTS will cap a big year by performing at its label Big Hit’s New Year’s extravaganza. Credit…Agence France-Presse/Mtv, via Getty Images‘DICK CLARK’S NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE WITH RYAN SEACREST 2021’ If the ball drops in Times Square and no one is around to see it, does 2020 actually end? Despite the absence of the usual crowds, Ryan Seacrest and his fellow hosts, the actors Lucy Hale and Billy Porter, will be on hand to capture the ball’s descent from One Times Square, with Ciara hosting a sister celebration in Los Angeles. Machine Gun Kelly, Miley Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion, Cyndi Lauper and more will perform; Jennifer Lopez is the evening’s headliner. At 8 p.m. Eastern, on ABC. (Horn)‘CNN’S NEW YEAR’S EVE’ Andy Cohen, who co-hosts this broadcast with Anderson Cooper, described it as “an authentic experience” (a year ago, that authenticity manifested with a peer-pressured Cooper struggling through tequila shots on air). This holiday, the pair will be freewheeling masters of ceremony for a lineup of performers and special guests that includes John Mayer, Patti LaBelle, Kylie Minogue, the Goo Goo Dolls, Jon Bon Jovi and Carole Baskin, of “Tiger King” fame. At 8 p.m. Eastern, on CNN. (Horn)CLUB CUMMING’S NYE BLOWOUT For those willing to brave the elements for a live experience, the East Village night spot is offering an outdoor celebration in a socially distanced setting, hosted by Kareem McJagger. The 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. seatings will include a light dinner, with entertainment provided by the burlesque queen Dirty Martini; Emma Craig, channeling Dolly Parton; and Michael T channeling David Bowie; along with the singers Antony Cherry and Militia Vox, the Richard Cortez Trio, “boylesquer” Richard JMV, the drag squad the Covid Destroyers and the Club Cumming Band. At Club Cumming, Manhattan; clubcummingnyc.com, $80. (Gardner)Saweetie will join Post Malone and other pop stars for a Bud Light Seltzer Sessions event.Credit…Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Boohooman#DANCEAWAY2020 Clear some floor space and consider carb-loading before tuning into this marathon livestream, a 20-plus-hour dance party bringing together an intercontinental lineup of electronic D.J.s. From Melbourne, the longtime techno kingpin Carl Cox will book end the show with sets at 7 a.m. Eastern on Thursday and 3 a.m. on Friday. Other notables on the bill include Honey Dijon (live in Berlin), Tokimonsta (in Los Angeles) and Nicole Moudaber (in Barbados). At 7 a.m. Eastern, on Beatport’s Twitch, YouTube and Facebook. (Horn)NATALIE DOUGLAS The 12-time Manhattan Association of Cabarets Award winner will once again use her supple wit and soulful warmth to kiss today goodbye, this time with an assist from technology. For “A Virtually Natalie New Year 2020,” kicking off at 9 p.m., Douglas and her longtime music director Brian Nash will offer songs old and new, and take requests via Facebook and YouTube. In lieu of a cover charge, viewers are asked to simply pay what they can, at Venmo or PayPal. Streaming live at facebook.com/natalie.douglas.nyc and youtube.com/nataliedouglasmusic. (Gardner)ESCHATON NYE: THE DISSOLUTION The vibe of this interactive theater piece should hover somewhere between spooky cabaret and escape room. Originally conceived as an in-person experience, the Eschaton project nimbly pivoted to digital in the spring, maximizing Zoom rooms’ functionality by presenting a suite of interconnected virtual performance spaces, through which guests can meander. The organizers encourage festive attire. At 11 p.m. Eastern, tickettailor.com. Tickets start at $25. (Horn)Tokimonsta will play music from Los Angeles as part of the 20-plus-hour dance party #DanceAway2020.Credit…Timothy Norris/Getty ImagesHIROMI Among jazz musicians, pianists were among the best equipped to handle the doldrums of isolation this year — there’s a lot you can do with 88 keys, and the piano is the rare instrument that’s often performed solo in a jazz context. Over the past two decades, Hiromi has honed her own relationship to the instrument’s vast possibilities. Last year she released a redoubtable solo album, “Spectrum,” and she had just finished a tour promoting it when the coronavirus struck. She’s likely to draw from that material this week, as she does a run of solo shows at the Blue Note Tokyo; on New Year’s Eve, in a nod to her North American audiences, she will perform a livestream from there at 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Passes are $20 at bluenotelive.com. (Giovanni Russonello)JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT Widely regarded as one of Music City’s great storytellers, Jason Isbell writes deftly about world-weary, embattled characters; his songs strike a tone befitting a year that has left many worse for wear. In May, Isbell celebrated the release of his new album with a livestreamed show at an empty Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, with accompaniment from his wife, the singer-violinist Amanda Shires. For the holiday, the pair will return, this time with the full band in tow. At 9 p.m. Eastern, fans.live. Ticket packages start at $25; day of, they jump to $30. (Horn)THE JUNGLE SHOW This blues supergroup, anchored by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, convenes annually for a New Year’s show at Antone’s Nightclub in Austin, Tex. Gibbons and his compatriots — including the singer-guitarists Jimmie Vaughan and Sue Foley — will forgo an in-person audience to keep the tradition alive this year, delivering rollicking guitar riffs from the empty club via livestream. At 8 p.m. Eastern, jungleshow.tv. Ticket packages start at $25. (Horn)KISS Never ones to skimp on the theatrics, the glam rock titans are plotting to break world records with the pyrotechnics display that will accompany their show at the Atlantis in Dubai. Tune in for hedonistic guitar anthems and, inevitably, a glimpse of Gene Simmons’s tongue. At 12 p.m. Eastern, kiss2020goodbye.com. Ticket packages start at $40. (Horn)The cabaret star Natalie Douglas is asking patrons only to pay what they can for her New Year’s show.Credit…Walter McBride/Getty ImagesMET STARS LIVE IN CONCERT: NEW YEAR’S EVE GALA After scraping together an ambitious at-home gala just weeks into the pandemic — quite the achievement, with only a couple of mishaps — the Met Opera has leveled up the production value on their digital programs. Their year-end celebration is set to broadcast on location at a neo-Baroque theater in Augsburg, Germany, with performances by the sopranos Pretty Yende and Angel Blue and the tenors Javier Camarena and Matthew Polenzani. At 4 p.m. Eastern, metopera.org. Tickets are $20. (Horn)‘NBC’S NEW YEAR’S EVE 2020’ Carson Daly hosts NBC’s addition to the crowded New Year’s prime time market, welcoming musical guests including Chloe x Halle, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton, Sting, Bebe Rexha and Doja Cat. At 10 p.m. Eastern, on NBC. (Horn)NEW YEAR’S QUEENS: GOODBYE 2020! Sixteen alumnae of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” comprise the lineup for this New Year’s glitterfest, with hosting duties split between Alaska, Bob the Drag Queen, Katya, Miz Cracker, Peppermint and Trixie Mattel. Can’t get enough? Season 13 of “Drag Race” premiers on New Year’s Day. At 6 p.m. Eastern, sessionslive.com/NewYearsQueens. Ticket packages start at $49. (Horn)PINK MARTINI’S ‘GOOD RIDDANCE 2020’ For most people not named Kardashian, long-distance trips became an untenable risk this year; lucky for Pink Martini, globe-trotting through music — and traveling back to supposedly simpler times — has always been its stock in trade. A little big band that achieved worldwide renown in the late 1990s, its wide repertoire consists of old show tunes, cabaret fare, romantic songs from around the world and original compositions that sound like all of the above. On New Year’s Eve, Pink Martini will present a streaming holiday concert, filmed in its hometown Portland, Ore., that will be broadcast twice: once at 9 p.m. Paris time, and again at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Streaming passes can be purchased for $15 at ourconcerts.live, and can be used to watch the show at any point for the next 48 hours. (Russonello)The pianist Hiromi will perform a livestreamed show from Blue Note Tokyo.Credit…David Wolff/Patrick, via RedfernsCHRIS POTTER Since the 1990s, Chris Potter has been among jazz’s most casually fearsome saxophonists, and left entirely to his own devices during quarantine, he has proved just how deep his virtuosity goes: This month he released “There Is a Tide,” a slinky, coolly funky album for which he recorded every instrument — overdubbing saxophones, clarinets, flutes, bass, drums, guitars and keyboards. Potter has played New Year’s Eve at the Village Vanguard for the past two years, and this week he’ll return to the club for livestream performances on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, at 8 p.m. each time. There will be no live audience, but he’ll be accompanied by a stellar quartet of longtime associates: David Virelles on piano, Joe Martin on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums. Tickets cost $10 at villagevanguard.com. (Russonello)KT SULLIVAN AND RUSS WOOLLEY KT Sullivan, the ebullient cabaret veteran and champion, and the producer Russ Woolley will present “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?,” a benefit for the Mabel Mercer Foundation, featuring the jazz pianist Jon Weber and the singer and pianists Eric Yves Garcia and Larry Woodard. The virtual festivities, taped live and streaming at 10 p.m., will include a countdown to midnight with champagne, noisemakers and masks. The stream is free of charge, though donations for the fund-raiser are appreciated. At mabelmercer.org. (Gardner)LUCINDA WILLIAMS When she started her own label in 2014, this roots-rock rebel was clear on her artistic mission: To do whatever she wanted. Lately, what she wants is to play covers. In an ongoing virtual concert series that supports independent music venues, Lucinda Williams has devoted full sets to greats like Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. For the sixth and final installment of the series, which coincides with the holiday, she’ll pay tribute to the Rolling Stones. At 8 p.m. Eastern, boxoffice.mandolin.com. Tickets start at $20. (Horn)Lucinda Williams will conclude her covers series with a show devoted to the Rolling Stones.Credit…Jeff Spicer/Getty ImagesYANDEL GOODBYE 2020 This O.G. reggaetonero helped forge a path that artists like J Balvin have followed to mammoth crossover success. With his performing partner Wisin, Yandel came up with the first wave of international reggaeton stars in the early 2000s; two decades after their debut, the pair remain prominent voices in the genre, both together and individually. Their plans for a Vegas-style residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico this month were, of course, scrapped. Instead, Yandel will offer fans this free virtual concert, broadcast live from Miami. At 8 p.m. Eastern, on Yandel’s YouTube channel and the app LaMusica. (Horn)YOUTUBE’S HELLO 2021 Lest any one New Year’s special feel too boilerplate, YouTube’s in-house content studio is producing five different, regionally specific variations, each carried by (mostly) local talent. The “Americas” version will offer urbano courtesy of J Balvin and Karol G, modern country from Kane Brown and disco pop from Dua Lipa. On triple duty, Lipa also features in the U.K. special alongside the pop singer Anne-Marie and the shapeshifting rapper AJ Tracey, and in the Indian edition, alongside the comedian Zakir Khan and the rapper Badshah. At 10:30 p.m. Eastern, on YouTube Originals’ channel. (Horn)JOHN LLOYD YOUNG The Tony Award-winning star of “Jersey Boys” — both the original Broadway production and Clint Eastwood’s 2014 screen adaptation — has in recent years parlayed his affinity for pop and R&B classics into a busy cabaret career. To ring in 2021, John Lloyd Young will lend his robust, rangy voice to such material along with originals and perhaps a show tune or two. Young’s live-streamed, hourlong set, beginning at 11 p.m. Eastern, will be followed at 12:15 a.m. Eastern with a V.I.P. after-party and interview, with the singer answering audience questions submitted in advance. From Feinstein’s at Vitello’s, Los Angeles (and available On Demand for a limited time after the event); 818-769-0905, feinsteinsatvitellos.com, $30 plus $5 for the V.I.P. experience. (Gardner)AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More