11437817
Journal Article
The Listings: Sept. 29 - Oct. 5
2006
New York Times Company
New York
English
Selective listings by critics of The New York Times of new and noteworthy cultural events in the New York metropolitan region this week. * denotes a highly recommended film, concert, show or exhibition. Theater Approximate running times are in parentheses. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, show times and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Previews and Openings 'BIRTH AND AFTER BIRTH' In previews; opens on Tuesday. Tina Howe's new comedy about birth and parenthood features two parents preparing for a child's birthday party (1:45). Atlantic Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 239-6200. 'BLUE DOOR' In previews; opens on Oct. 8. Tanya Barfield's new play is about a prominent mathematician losing his grip on reality. (It worked for ''Proof.'') Leigh Silverman (''Well'') directs (1:35). Playwrights Horizons, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. 'BUTLEY' Previews start on Thursday. Opens on Oct. 25. Nathan Lane plays an embattled professor in this Simon Gray comedy that was a hit at the Huntington in Boston (2:30). Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. 'A CHORUS LINE' In previews; opens on Thursday. This legendary musical about Broadway gypsies returns with Charlotte d'Amboise and Michael Berresse (2:00). Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. 'THE CLEAN HOUSE' Previews start Thursday. Opens on Oct. 30. The MacArthur grant winner Sarah Ruhl's fantastical romantic comedy is about a well-heeled Connecticut family that hires a maid who would rather compose the perfect joke than clean (2:15). Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 239-6200. '¡EL CONQUISTADOR!' In previews; opens on Tuesday. Mixing theater and film, the emerging theater artist Thaddeus Phillips explores the art form of the telenovela (1:30). New York Theater Workshop, 79 East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 239-6200. 'DRUG BUDDY' In previews; opens tomorrow. After a night of drugs, sex and who knows what else, the groggy protagonist of David Folwell's new play needs to get out of Texas (1:10). Cherry Lane Theater, 38 Commerce Street, between Barrow and Bedford Streets, West Village, (212) 868-4444. 'GREY GARDENS' Previews start on Tuesday. Opens on Nov. 2. The Playwrights Horizons's musical adaptation of the Maysles documentary moves to Broadway (2:40). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. 'THE HAIRY APE' Previews start today. Opens on Thursday. Irish Rep takes on Eugene O'Neill's 1922 drama (2:00). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 727-2737. 'HELL HOUSE' Previews start on Sunday. Opens on Oct. 10. Les Freres Corbusier recreates evangelical Christian entertainments in this typically deadpan show (45 minutes). St. Ann's Warehouse, 38 Water Street, at Dock Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn, (718) 254-8779. 'KRANKENHAUS BLUES' Previews start on Thursday. Opens on Oct. 8. In Sam Forman's play, a playwright, an actress and a clown are locked in a Nazi asylum -- and they don't know why (1:15). Abingdon Theater Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street, (212) 868-4444. 'LOSING LOUIE' In previews; opens on Oct. 12. Mark Linn-Baker and Matthew Arkin star in Simon Mendes da Costa's family comedy, which spans 50 years. Jerry Zaks directs this West End transfer (2:10). Biltmore Theater, 261 West 47th Street, (212) 239-6200. 'MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE' Previews start on Thursday. Opens on Oct. 15. Finally, the solo play based on the writings of the young pro-Palestinian American activist opens in New York. Megan Dodds stars (1:30). Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, Greenwich Village, (212) 307-4100. 'NIXON'S NIXON' In previews; opens on Wednesday. In this revival Russell Lees imagines the conversation between Nixon and Kissinger the night before Nixon resigned. Jim Simpson directs (1:30). Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 279-4200. 'THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE' In previews; opens on Oct. 9. Cynthia Nixon takes on the juicy title role made famous by illustrious actresses like Zoe Caldwell, Vanessa Redgrave and Maggie Smith (in the film version) in the New Group's revival of Jay Presson Allen's adaptation of Muriel Spark's novel about a passionate teacher in a conservative Scottish school (2:40). The Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. 'SOUTHERN COMFORTS' In previews; opens on Oct. 18. Judith Ivey directs this drama about a widow and a widower who meet late in life. Presented by Primary Stages (2:00). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200. 'THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' ' In previews; opens on Oct. 26. Bob Dylan has come back in vogue just in time for his Broadway show, staged by Twyla Tharp (1:30). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, (212) 307-4100. '25 QUESTIONS FOR A JEWISH MOTHER' In previews; opens on Oct. 12. Judy Gold gives the Jewish mother's point of view in this solo show, which returns for an open-ended run (1:10). St. Luke's Theater, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. 'WRECKS' In previews; opens on Oct. 10. Neil LaBute is back at it with a new play -- a solo -- about love, marriage and other sources of pain. The movie star this time is Ed Harris (1:15). Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 967-7555. Broadway 'THE COLOR PURPLE' So much plot, so many years, so many characters to cram into less than three hours. This beat-the-clock musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about Southern black women finding their inner warriors never slows down long enough for you to embrace it. LaChanze leads the vibrant, hard-working cast (2:40). Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Ben Brantley) 'THE DROWSY CHAPERONE' (Tony Awards, best book of a musical and best original score, 2006) This small and ingratiating spoof of 1920's stage frolics, as imagined by an obsessive show queen, may not be a masterpiece. But in a dry season for musicals, it has theatergoers responding as if they were withering houseplants finally being watered after long neglect. Bob Martin and Sutton Foster are the standouts in the avid, energetic cast (1:40). Marquis Theater, 1535 Broadway, at 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) 'JERSEY BOYS' (Tony Award, best musical, 2006) From grit to glamour with the Four Seasons, directed by the pop repackager Des McAnuff (''The Who's Tommy''). The real thrill of this shrink-wrapped bio-musical, for those who want something more than recycled chart toppers and a story line poured from a can, is watching the wonderful John Lloyd Young (as Frankie Valli) cross the line from exact impersonation into something far more compelling (2:30). August Wilson Theater, 245 West 52nd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'MARTIN SHORT: FAME BECOMES ME' This eager and amiably scattershot satire of celebrity memoirs and Broadway musicals, starring the immodestly modest Mr. Short, arrives a little late to the table for such parody to taste fresh. With serviceably tuneful songs by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (of ''Hairspray'' fame) (1:45). Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'TARZAN' This writhing green blob with music, adapted by Disney Theatrical Productions from the 1999 animated film, has the feeling of a superdeluxe day care center, equipped with lots of bungee cords and karaoke synthesizers, where children can swing when they get tired of singing, and vice versa. The soda-pop score is by Phil Collins (2:30). Richard Rodgers Theater, 226 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley) * 'THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE' The happy news for this happy-making little musical is that the move to larger quarters has dissipated none of its quirky charm. William Finn's score sounds plumper and more rewarding than it did Off Broadway, providing a sprinkling of sugar to complement the sass in Rachel Sheinkin's zinger-filled book. The performances are flawless. Gold stars all around (1:45). Circle in the Square, 1633 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Charles Isherwood) 'THE WEDDING SINGER' An assembly-kit musical that might as well be called ''That 80's Show,'' this stage version of the 1998 film is all winks and nods and quotations from the era of big hair and junk bonds. The cast members, who include Stephen Lynch and Constantine Maroulis, are personable enough, which is not the same as saying they have personalities (2:20). Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) Off Broadway 'esoterica' Eric Walton's very entertaining one-man show is a mix of magic, mentalism and intelligent chat. He does all three impressively (1:30). DR2 Theater, 103 East 15th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Anita Gates) 'THE FANTASTICKS' A revival -- well, more like a resuscitation -- of the Little Musical That Wouldn't Die. This sweet-as-ever production of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's commedia-dell'arte-style confection is most notable for Mr. Jones's touching performance (under the pseudonym Thomas Bruce) as the Old Actor, a role he created when the show opened in 1960. Mr. Jones also directs (2:05). Snapple Theater Center, 210 West 50th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) * 'FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT' This production features the expected caricatures of ego-driven singing stars. But even more than usual, the show offers an acute list of grievances about the sickly state of the Broadway musical, where, as the lyrics have it, ''everything old is old again'' (1:45). 47th Street Theater, 304 West 47th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'GARDEL: THE MUSICAL' A standard-issue bio-musical about the tango legend Carlos Gardel that wallows in melodrama (1:30). Gramercy Arts Theater, 138 East 27th Street, (212) 225-9920. (Jason Zinoman) 'IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING' Bill Bowers's zestful, endearing one-man show is about his life as a mime, an actor and a gay boy growing up in Montana (1:15). Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly Place, off Seventh Avenue South, Greenwich Village, (212) 868-4444. (Gates) 'JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS' A powerfully sung revival of the 1968 revue, presented with affectionate nostalgia by the director Gordon Greenberg. As in the original, two men (Robert Cuccioli and Drew Sarich) and two women (Natascia Diaz and Gay Marshall) perform a wide selection of Brel's plaintive ballads and stirring anthems. Ms. Marshall's performance of ''Ne Me Quitte Pas,'' sung with heart-stirring transparency, represents Brel at his best (2:00). Zipper Theater, 336 West 37th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) 'JOHN FERGUSON' This 1919 tragedy about a poor Irish family and how far its members will go not to lose their farm is a compelling, fully realized drama with a cast that doesn't miss a beat (2:20). Mint Theater, 311 West 43rd Street, Clinton, (212) 315-0231. (Gates) 'LEMKIN'S HOUSE' The man who invented the word genocide, Raphael Lemkin, turns out to have an unsettled afterlife in this compelling drama by Catherine Filloux. He learns, through visitations by Tutsis and others, that the international law he campaigned for against genocide may not have accomplished anything. John Daggett is impressive as Lemkin (1:20). McGinn/Cazale Theater, 2162 Broadway, at 76th Street, (212) 352-3101. (Neil Genzlinger) 'NO CHILD' Teachers will love Nilaja Sun's one-woman show about the challenges of teaching drama at Malcolm X High School (1:10). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, at Seventh Avenue South, West Village, (212) 239-6200. (Gates) 'THE PAIN AND THE ITCH' A sharp-elbowed new comedy by Bruce Norris about the indiscreet hypocrisies of the urban liberal bourgeoisie. Some familiar dysfunctions and some more exotic ones disrupt Thanksgiving dinner. Funny but tough to stomach (2:00). Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Isherwood) 'RICHARD II' Michael Cumpsty plays the ineffectual king who loses a crown and gains a soul in Brian Kulick's middling production for the Classic Stage Company. Mr. Cumpsty traces Richard's worldly downfall and spiritual ascent with affecting clarity, but the production is a little glib and a little bland (2:15). Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, East Village, (212) 352-3101. (Isherwood) * 'SEVEN GUITARS' Life and death dance cheek to cheek in this fine new revival of August Wilson's drama from 1996. Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and acted with absorbing restraint and immediacy, this is a truly life-size production, which means it is big indeed (2:45). Peter Norton Space, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 244-7529. (Brantley) 'SHOUT!' A miniskirted, go-go-booted zombie of a musical about women searching for love in London in the 1960's. You won't see anything this groovy, this far-out, this with-it outside of, oh, maybe the showroom of a Carnival cruise ship (1:30). Julia Miles Theater, 424 West 55th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) 'SISTERS' Declan Hassett's dark tale of sibling rivalry set in rural Ireland occasions the welcome return to the New York stage of Anna Manahan, the Irish actress who won a Tony in 1998 playing the ferociously needy mother in Martin McDonagh's ''Beauty Queen of Leenane.'' A bit less welcome is Mr. Hassett's relentlessly downbeat play itself (1:30). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200. (Isherwood) 'SONGS OF THE DRAGONS FLYING TO HEAVEN' Young Jean Lee has fashioned a hysterically funny piece of theater with twisted socio-political power and giggly Korean dancers who would fit right into a Quentin Tarantino movie (1:30). HERE Arts Center, 145 Avenue of the Americas, at Dominick Street, South Village, (212) 868-4444. (Gates) 'TEMPEST TOSSED FOOLS' This musical audience-participation children's version of ''The Tempest'' is rowdy, colorful and not all that Shakespearean. Manhattan Ensemble Theater, 55 Mercer Street, SoHo, (212) 239-6200. (Gates) 'THEOPHILUS NORTH' Matthew Burnett's adaptation of the Thornton Wilder novel about a young man's not quite interpersonal relationships in 1926 Newport is affable if sometimes oversentimental (2:00). Harold Clurman Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Gates) 'THE TREATMENT' A new play by Eve Ensler (''The vagin* Monologues'') depicting fraught encounters between a traumatized war veteran and a military psychologist. Fervently acted by Dylan McDermott and Portia, it is an overwrought amalgam of psychodrama and political sermonizing (1:05). Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, at Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 253-9983, impactfestival.org. (Isherwood) 'wasps in bed' This Berkshires-to-bedroom farce would make a clever sitcom, if only the authors would face the fact that it isn't really about sex (1:45). Beckett Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Gates) Long-Running Shows * 'ALTAR BOYZ' This sweetly satirical show about a Christian pop group made up of five potential Teen People cover boys is an enjoyable, silly diversion (1:30). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) 'AVENUE Q' R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden Theater, 252 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST' Cartoon made flesh, sort of (2:30). Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley) 'CHICAGO' Irrefutable proof that crime pays (2:25). Ambassador Theater, 219 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'HAIRSPRAY' Fizzy pop, cute kids, large man in a housedress (2:30). Neil Simon Theater, 250 West 52nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) 'THE LION KING' Disney on safari, where the big bucks roam (2:45). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street at Broadway, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) 'THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA' Who was that masked man, anyway? (2:30). Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'THE PRODUCERS' The ne plus ultra of showbiz scams (2:45). St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'RENT' East Village angst and love songs to die for (2:45). Nederlander Theater, 208 West 41st Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) 'SLAVA'S SNOWSHOW' Clowns chosen by the Russian master Slava Polunin stir up laughter and enjoyment. A show that touches the heart as well as tickles the funny bone (1:30). Union Square Theater, 100 East 17th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Lawrence Van Gelder) 'SPAMALOT' A singing scrapbook for Monty Python fans. (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) 'WICKED' Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Last Chance 'ABSINTHE' Think Cirque du Soleil as channeled through ''Rocky Horror'' and painted by George Grosz. Part cabaret, part circus, ''Absinthe'' aims for a kind of seedy decadence that's mingled with the simple, aw-shucks wonder of knife-jugglers, sword-swallowers and a man creating constructions out of soap bubbles (1:30). Spiegeltent, at the former Fulton Fish Market site, Pier 17, South Street, under the Brooklyn Bridge, (212) 279-4200; closing on Sunday. (Anne Midgette) 'ASYLUM: THE STRANGE CASE OF MARY LINCOLN' This musical telling of the real-life tale of the former first lady and how her son had her committed to an asylum in 1875 has some structural problems and could use more exposition by June Bingham, the book writer, but some of Carmel Owen's songs are decent, and the saga has a pull to it (1:45). The Theater at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Lexington Avenue at 54th Street, (212) 868-4444; closing on Sunday. (Genzlinger) * 'THE HISTORY BOYS' (Tony Awards, best play and best direction of a play, 2006) Madly enjoyable. Alan Bennett's play about a battle for the hearts and minds of a group of university-bound students, imported with the original British cast from the National Theater, moves with a breezy narrative swagger that transcends cultural barriers. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, with a perfectly oiled ensemble led by the superb Richard Griffiths and Stephen Campbell Moore (2:40). Broadhurst Theater, 235 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200; closing on Sunday. (Brantley) 'I 3/5sheart 4/5 KANT' Ken Urban's nimble, knowing one-act is about four women (a graduate student, a heroin addict, a depressive and a bombing victim), the men in their lives and the little humiliations and unexpected certainties of daily existence (1:10). Linhart Theater at 440 Studios, 440 Lafayette Street, near Astor Place, East Village, (212) 352-3101; closing on Monday. (Gates) 'intellectuals' Scott C. Sickles's comedy, about a woman who decides to try lesbianism, and how it affects her husband, has lots of great lines, though the director, David Gautschy, and some of the actors aren't up to the pacing challenge. Ellen Dolan of ''As the World Turns'' is appealing in the lead, though (2:05). The Workshop Theater, 312 West 36th Street, (212) 695-4173; closing on Monday. (Genzlinger) 'THE MAN HIMSELF' Ami Dayan stars in his own adaptation of Alan Drury's play about an average man's slide into religious fanaticism. An unsettling tale of everyday alienation and its potentially dangerous consequences (1:30). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200; closing on Sunday. (Isherwood) 'nami' Chad Beckim's well-acted but overheated drama is about two dysfunctional couples whose fates intersect tragically (2:00). Kirk Theater, Theater Row Studios, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200; closing tomorrow. (Zinoman) 'REVEREND BILLY AND THE CHURCH OF STOP-SHOPPING' Reverend Billy (a k a the performance artist Bill Talen) struts and preaches his way across the Spiegeltent stage accompanied by a choir and a fine seven-piece band. Radical political theater has rarely been more thoughtful or fun (1:30). Spiegeltent, at the former Fulton Fish Market site, Pier 17, South Street, under the Brooklyn Bridge, (212) 279-4200; closing on Sunday. (George Hunka) * '[TITLE OF SHOW]' Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell are the authors, stars and subject matter of this delectable new musical about its own making. The self-consciousness is tempered by a wonderful cast performing with the innocence of kids cavorting in a sandbox. It's a worthy postmodern homage to classic backstage musicals, and an absolute must for show queens (1:30). Vineyard Theater, 108 East 15th Street, (212) 279-4200; closing on Sunday. (Isherwood) Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, show times and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. 'ACCEPTED' (PG-13, 90 minutes) A clever slacker and his oddball crew invent a phony college in this passable example of that oxymoronic genre, the Hollywood comedy about sticking it to the man. (Nathan Lee) 'ALL THE KING'S MEN' (PG-13, 120 minutes) This second adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's big novel of political and spiritual corruption in Depression-era Louisiana is full of grand themes, good actors (Jude Law, Sean Penn, Kate Winslett, Mark Ruffalo) and lovingly-photographed southern scenery. And yet nothing seems to work. It's a chaotic stew of ambitions and ideas, but in the end neither convincing nor coherent. (A. O. Scott) 'AMERICAN HARDCORE' (R, 98 minutes) This documentary history of the American hardcore punk rock movement that flourished as an underground in the first half of the 1980's is as swift and jagged as the defiant music it remembers with an encyclopedic thoroughness. (Stephen Holden) 'THE BLACK DAHLIA' (R, 119 minutes) Brian De Palma drains the life out of James Ellroy's take on the spectacularly cruel 1947 murder of a young Los Angeles woman known as the Black Dahlia. The stars Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson and Aaron Eckhart don't help matters, though Hilary Swank is dandy. (Manohla Dargis) 'THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS' (No rating, 100 minutes, in Filipino) Nathan Lopez, a newcomer, delights as the flamboyantly gay Maxi, the youngest son in a family of thieves who falls in love with a handsome police officer. (Lee) 'THE COVENANT' (PG-13, 97 minutes) The director Renny Harlin proves that ''Exorcist: The Beginning'' was not the nadir of his career with this thriller about boy witches fending off a nefarious transfer student. (Lee) 'CRANK' (R, 83 minutes) A poisoned hit man rampages in Los Angeles, doling revenge on his nemesis and misanthropy on all. Basically a broken-down retread of ''Speed,'' with Jason Stratham as the bus. (Lee) 'CROSSOVER' (PG-13, 95 minutes) Bling is bad, and friends are good in this story of temptation, rivalry and cheerleaders, set in the world of Detroit street basketball. (Lee) 'THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA' (PG-13, 106 minutes) Lauren Weisberger's score-settling best seller about a terrible (and famous) boss is reimagined and reversed. Anne Hathaway plays the beleaguered assistant, but she is much less interesting -- and in the end less sympathetic -- than the boss, Miranda Priestly, incarnated by Meryl Streep as a subtle and searching (and very funny) portrait of glamour and power. (Scott) 'EVERYONE'S HERO' (G, 88 minutes) Animated in name only, ''Everyone's Hero'' follows a 10-year-old baseball fanatic as he tries to return Babe Ruth's stolen bat. Largely indifferent to its Depression-era setting, the movie is even less concerned with the need for enchantment. But since this is the last creative collaboration of Christopher and Dana Reeve, the movie's sentimental provenance could earn it a critical pass it doesn't deserve. (Jeannette Catsoulis) * 'FACTOTUM' (R, 94 minutes) Matt Dillon goes deep to play Henry Chinaski, the familiar alter ego of the great Charles Bukowski, who survived countless benders, brawls, rejection slips, crazy women and soul-killing jobs. The Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer directed. (Dargis) 'FLYBOYS' (PG-13, 129 minutes) Empty-headed and egregiously polite, this nostalgia trip to World War I is what you'd get if Norman Rockwell directed ''Top Gun.'' (Lee) 'GRIDIRON GANG' (PG-13, 120 minutes) Set in a California juvenile detention center, ''Gridiron Gang'' stars Dwayne Johnson, best known as the Rock, as Sean Porter, the real-life probation officer who fights recidivism with football. Jumping from heartwarming to murderous, this is a sports-as-rehab movie that wants to have its gangb*nging and cure it, too. (Catsoulis) 'HOLLYWOODLAND' (R, 126 minutes) A fictional look at the life and downward-spiraling times of George Reeves, the man who played Superman on television and is here played by a fine Ben Affleck. Allen Coulter directs Paul Bernbaum's screenplay, which features a dead-end parallel plot about a detective (Adrien Brody). (Dargis) 'HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS' (PG, 98 minutes) The worms go in, the worms go out, but mostly the worms go into the frying pan in Bob Dolman's engaging and yucky adaptation of the Thomas Rockwell book. (Dargis) 'IDLEWILD' (R, 120 minutes) André Benjamin and Antwan A. Patton, a k a André 3000 and Big Boi of OutKast, play friends living and sometimes singing in Depression-era Georgia. The joint doesn't jump; it twitches and stumbles. (Dargis) * 'THE ILLUSIONIST' (PG-13, 109 minutes) This film tells the story of Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a fictional conjurer who enraptured Viennese audiences in 1900 with his supernatural magic shows. A terrific yarn, it rouses your slumbering belief in the miraculous. (Holden) * 'AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH' (PG, 96 minutes) Al Gore gives a lecture on climate change. One of the most exciting and necessary movies of the year. Seriously. (Scott) 'INVINCIBLE' (PG, 99 minutes) The latest addition to the Disney stable of sports-underdog movies, ''Invincible'' is the true story of Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg), a substitute teacher and part-time bartender, who in 1976 realizes his dream of playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. The director and cinematographer, Ericson Core, counters the story's predictably inspirational trajectory with close attention to historical detail and blue-collar hardship. (Catsoulis) * 'JACKASS: NUMBER TWO' (R, 92 minutes) Debased, infantile and reckless in the extreme, this compendium of body bravado and malfunction makes for some of the most fearless, liberated and cathartic comedy in modern movies. (Lee) * 'JESUS CAMP' (PG-13, 85 minutes) This riveting (and alarming) documentary about the training of children to fight in ''God's army'' for the charismatic/evangelical arm of Christian fundamentalism focuses on Kids on Fire, a religious summer camp in Devil's Lake, N.D. (Holden) 'jet li's FEARLESS' (PG-13, 105 minutes, in Mandarin) Jet Li says goodbye (supposedly) to the martial arts genre with this decent blend of old-school chopsocky and new-school superproduction. (Lee) * 'LASSIE' (PG, 100 minutes) Everything old is new again in the 11th film about the beloved pooch with the I.Q. of a grad student and the instincts of a boomerang. Blissfully restored to the period and location of Eric Knight's original novel -- pre-World War Britain -- the movie balances humor and pathos with old-fashioned charm and not a trace of satire. (Catsoulis) 'THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND' (R, 121 minutes) Kevin Macdonald paints a queasily enjoyable portrait of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin from inside the palace walls. Forest Whitaker plays the mad king while James McAvoy plays the fool. (Dargis) 'THE LAST KISS' (R, 104 minutes) Tony Goldwyn's remake of a popular Italian film is thin and clumsy, but nonetheless unusually candid in its treatment of human sexual misbehavior. Zach Braff plays a young man who, on the brink of turning 30 and about to become a father, panics and cheats on his girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett). (Scott) * 'Little Miss Sunshine' (R, 101 minutes) A bittersweet comedy of dysfunction that takes place at the terminus of the American dream. The excellent cast includes Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano and that national treasure, Alan Arkin. (Dargis) * 'MUTUAL APPRECIATION' (No rating, 110 minutes) Andrew Bujalski's wonderful independent film about friendship in the modern world looks like something that came out of a time capsule, but there's nothing dusty about it. Shot on expressively grainy black-and-white celluloid, it is the sort of unassuming discovery that could suffer from too much big love, and while it won't save or change your life, it may make your heart swell. Its aim is modest and true. (Dargis) * 'OLD JOY' (No rating, 76 minutes) Two old friends drive out of Portland, Ore., one day and into a strained reunion in Kelly Reichardt's ''Old Joy,'' a triumph of modesty and of seriousness that also happens to be one of the finest American films of the year. (Dargis) 'RENAISSANCE' (No rating, 105 minutes) The stark black-and-white look of this futuristic film noir, which blends animation with live action, is far more interesting than its elaborate plot, which is as impenetrable as that of ''The Big Sleep.'' (Holden) * 'THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP' (R, 106 minutes, in English, French and Spanish) A bittersweet dream of romance from Michel Gondry. Inventive and enchanting. (Scott) * 'Scoop' (PG-13, 96 minutes) A not especially funny yet oddly appealing comedy in which Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson make like Nick and Nora, but with more shtick and no martinis (or Asta). (Dargis) 'SNAKES ON A PLANE' (R, 105 minutes) Snakes + plane + Samuel L. Jackson. David R. Ellis provides the fine B-movie-style direction, while Mr. Jackson supplies the cool and his trademark epithet. (Dargis) 'SÓLO CON TU PAREJA' (No rating, 93 minutes, in Spanish) In 1991, before ''Y Tu Mama Tambien'' or ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,'' Alfonso Cuarón made this antic, half-dark sex comedy, in which a young ladies' man is forced to re-examine his promiscuous ways. At this point the movie, which has been released for the first time in the United States, is more of a curiosity than an event, but it does exhibit the exuberant promise that Mr. Cuarón has long since fulfilled. (Scott) 'STEP UP' (PG-13, 98 minutes) Ever since Kevin Bacon's rebellious hips ignited a small-town uproar in ''Footloose,'' the modern high school romance has placed a premium on rhythm. In ''Step Up'' a rough Baltimore kid (Channing Tatum), armed only with a killer smile and hip-hop moves, falls for a classically trained dancer (Jenna Dewan). Bland but likable, the movie fashions social equality from big musical numbers. If ballet and hip-hop can coexist, it asks, why can't we all be friends? (Catsoulis) 'TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY' (PG-13, 110 minutes) Fast, fun and silly, with Will Ferrell as a Nascar driver, Sacha Baron Cohen as his nemesis, and a new course record for product placements per gallon. (Scott) 'THE U.S. vs. JOHN LENNON' (PG-13, 99 minutes) Using archival clips -- including some great ''Dick Cavett Show'' appearances and in-bed news conferences -- and talking-head interviews with Noam Chomsky, G. Gordon Liddy and many people in between, this documentary makes the case that John Lennon was a much better person than Richard Nixon. (Scott) 'the WICKER MAN' (PG-13, 106 minutes) In remaking a 1973 British horror classic, Neil LaBute once again demonstrates his misogyny and, worse, his technical incompetence. (Scott) Film Series ÉCLATS DE RIRE (Through Oct. 31) The French Institute Alliance Française is screening French comedies every Tuesday. This week's film is ''Liberté-Oléron'' (2001), starring Denis Podalydès as a middle-class family man on a seaside vacation. Bruno Podalydès, the star's brother, directed. Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212) 355-6160; $10. (Anita Gates) OTTO PREMINGER: NOTORIOUS (Through Oct. 29) Preminger, the Austrian-born director and producer who died in 1986, would have turned 100 this year. The Museum of Modern Art is celebrating with a nine-film retrospective. It begins Sunday with ''Laura'' (1944), starring Gene Tierney as the Manhattanite whose murder Dana Andrews is investigating, and ''Advise and Consent'' (1962), a study of political maneuvering in Washington. Henry Fonda is the star, but Charles Laughton (doing a Southern accent) steals the picture. Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, (212) 708-9400; $10. (Gates) THE PERSONAL FILMS OF SU FRIEDRICH (Through tomorrow) The Museum of Modern Art's nine-film midcareer retrospective of Ms. Friedrich's work continues today and tomorrow. The films include ''Hide and Seek'' (1996), a lesbian coming-of-age story set in the 1960's, and ''The Odds of Recovery'' (2002), an autobiographical documentary about surgery and hormones. Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters; $10. (Gates) PYTHONALOT (Through Thursday) Film Forum's two-week Monty Python festival continues with three films this weekend. ''Life of Brian'' (1979) is about a hapless fellow constantly mistaken for the Messiah. ''Brazil'' (1985) is Terry Gilliam's surrealistic story of a bureaucrat in the future. ''The Meaning of Life'' (1983) is about a little of everything. 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village, (212) 727-8110; $10. (Gates) Pop Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. ian anderson (Thursday) Still tootling the flute after all these years, Mr. Anderson revisits the Jethro Tull catalog of blues-Celtic-progressive rock, backed by an orchestra. At 8 p.m., Rose Theater, Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, (212) 721-6500, jalc.org; $90.50. (Jon Pareles) BETTIE SERVEERT (Tomorrow) Bettie Serveert -- a Dutch band led by Carol van Dijk, who sings in fluent English -- has persevered since the early 1990's on the collegiate-rock circuit. She writes and sings observant songs about romantic ups and downs, continually expanding a musical vocabulary that now stretches from pop tunefulness to indie-rock guitar furor to the easy-rolling incantations of Van Morrison. With Slumber Party and the Skydrops. At 9 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700, mercuryloungenyc.com; $15. (Pareles) SIR RICHARD BISHOP (Tomorrow) O.K., so he gave himself the title, but you can't say he didn't earn it. Mr. Bishop is the guitarist for the Sun City Girls, the utterly confounding (that's high praise) semi-improvisational group that somehow emerged from the early-1980's Phoenix hardcore scene. At this solo show, expect him to show off his dazzling, sometimes frantic acoustic-guitar compositions. At 11:30 p.m., Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200, joespub.com; $12 in advance, $15 at the door. (Kelefa Sanneh) BRAZILIAN GIRLS (Thursday) Electronica, a live rhythm section and a wildly cosmopolitan spirit meet a charismatic and unpredictable singer, Sabina Sciubba, in the Brazilian Girls. The music dips into reggae, samba, funk and house, never staying in one place for long. With Miho Hatori. At 7 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212) 533-2111, bowerypresents.com; $25 in advance, $28 at the door. (Pareles) BUILT TO SPILL (Tuesday through Thursday) Wielding his guitar as if no one ever doubted the beauty of a long, slow-building solo, and unabashedly looking back to Dinosaur Jr. and Neil Young, Built to Spill's Doug Martsch applies his high voice and his earnest intelligence to songs that address both his private conflicts and his political convictions. Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Warsaw, 261 Driggs Avenue, at Eckford Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn (718) 387-5252, warsawconcerts.com; Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800, irvingplaza.com; $22 (Pareles) ERIC CLAPTON (Tonight and tomorrow night) The evergreen guitar hero, now 61, is touring with a repertory stretching back to his Derek and the Dominos era. Also on the bill is Robert Cray, the slick guitarist who was the great commercial hope of the blues in the 1980's. At 8, Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741, thegarden.com; $49.50 to $154.50. (Ben Sisario) CARMEN CONSOLI (Sunday) A songwriter whose current album, ''Eva Contro Eva,'' reached No. 1 on the Italian pop charts, Ms. Consoli brings a rocker's gathering intensity to her songs (in Italian) about passion and principles, even when she's backed by acoustic instruments. At 7 and 9:30 p.m., Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200, joespub.com; $22. (Pareles) CURSIVE (Sunday) Whether he's singing about imploding romances or hypocritical moralizers, Tim Kasher of Cursive works up a frazzled fervor, abetted by a band that can sound fragile, scrappy or driven. At 8 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212) 533-2111, bowerypresents.com; $18 in advance, $20 at the door. (Pareles) THOMAS DOLBY (Tonight) Mr. Dolby entered pop eternity in the guise of a bespectacled, wild-haired mad scientist, with the 1983 novelty hit ''She Blinded Me With Science.'' He returns after a long absence -- in his other life he has been an innovative creator of ring tones -- largely in the same gearhead persona (sans the hair), surrounded by bizarre-looking doohickeys with colorful gauges and oversize knobs. At 8, Canal Room, 285 West Broadway, at Canal Street, TriBeCa, (212) 941-8100, canalroom.com; $22 in advance, $25 at the door. (Sisario) DRAGONFORCE (Tonight) A six-man metal army from London -- with members from Ukraine, Hong Kong, New Zealand and South Africa -- DragonForce sounds like some combination of Iron Maiden, the Scorpions and Yngwie Malmsteen on frantic fast-forward: all the chant-along major-key melodies and fretboard-tickling guitar solos of those 80's metal heroes are there, but sped up to an exhilarating (and comical) degree. With All That Remains and Horse the Band. At 8, Nokia Theater, 1515 Broadway, at 44th Street, (212) 307-7171, nokiatheatrenyc.com; $22. (Sisario) EASY STAR ALL STARS (Wednesday) Three years ago the Easy Star label released ''Dub Side of the Moon,'' a reggae version of Pink Floyd's ''Dark Side of the Moon.'' Now comes the sequel, ''Radiodread,'' which gives Radiohead's ''OK Computer'' a similar makeover. Is this a grand extortion scheme? Did Radiohead refuse to pay up? At 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, boweryballroom.com, (212) 533-2111; $15. (Sanneh) GOMEZ (Thursday) This British band emerged in the mid-1990's, the heyday of Britpop, featuring an against-the-grain obsession with tight, sharp blues-rock. On its newest album, ''How We Operate'' (ATO), it has veered into folkier realms, though it still plays with unusual precision and focus. At 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; $27. (Sisario) * THE HOLD STEADY (Sunday) Like a meeting of AC/DC and the E Street Band fronted by Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, the Hold Steady -- from Brooklyn, but with Minneapolis origins -- plays bare-knuckled guitar-rock, while its singer, Craig Finn, free-associates about religion and sex in a boozy snarl. ''I guess I've heard about original sin,'' he sings. ''I heard the dude blamed the chick.'' With Sean Na Na. At 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800, irvingplaza.com; $17:50 in advance, $18 at the door. (Sisario) HAINO KEIJI (Monday) This focused but unpredictable Japanese musician comes to town for two different sets. During the early set he is to play classical guitar and sing; during the late one he is to play electric guitar and sing. Fans of his grand, open-ended (and sometimes earthshaking) explorations will probably want to treat the performance as a two-act play. At 8 and 10 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501, tonicnyc.com; $12. (Sanneh) MADNESS (Tuesday) Back in the early 1980's, when English punks were rediscovering ska, Madness brought both a melodic sense and a working-class tenacity to its songs, and it never let ska confine its music. At 9:30 p.m., Canal Room, 285 West Broadway, at Canal Street, TriBeCa, (212) 941-8100, canalroom.com;$10 in advance, $15 at the door. (Pareles) MASSIVE ATTACK (Tuesday through Thursday) Deep bass lines, eerie ambience, suave but unflinching tunes, increasingly urgent politics and an ever-changing roster of vocalists made Massive Attack pioneers of trip-hop. The group is on its first United States tour since 1998, with the reggae singer Horace Andy and Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins up front. At 7:30 p.m., Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-1224; $50. (Pareles) MATES OF STATE (Tomorrow) Most of the time Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, the married couple who make up Mates of State, sing insistent, almost nagging chants propelled by quick-pulse organ and drums; their latest, ''Bring It Back'' (Barsuk), also has some soothing, affectionate piano songs. With Starlight Mints. At 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800, irvingplaza.com; $16. (Sisario) MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD, OPETH, ARCH ENEMY (Tomorrow) The vanguard of heavy metal, past and present. The members of Megadeth were steely, cynical soothsayers at a time when the dominant style was poofy hair and power ballads, and they haven't changed a bit. Lamb of God, from Richmond, Va., derives some of its grinding, jackhammer-fast churn from Slayer and Pantera, and, without any irony or sarcasm, calls its style ''pure American metal.'' Opeth, from Sweden, adds intriguing depth to the usual histrionics of black metal with gentle acoustic parts and tough, growly sounds. Arch Enemy reaches back to the glory days of guttural death metal. At 4:30 p.m., PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, N.J., (732) 335-8698, artscenter.com; $20 and $39.50. (Sisario) AMY MILLAN (Tuesday) She's a singer for the Canadian indie-rock band Stars, and a sometime member (along with slightly less than half the country) of the collective Broken Social Scene. And now she has a bittersweet, countryish new album of her own, ''Honey from the Tombs'' (Arts & Crafts). At 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200, joespub.com; $15. (Sanneh) MOUNTAIN GOATS (Tonight through Sunday) Would John Darnielle, a guitar-strumming solo songwriter, have found the same dedicated following for his songs if he hadn't billed himself as the Mountain Goats? It's impossible to say, but his songs swirl together the mythic and the confessional in metaphorical splendor. Tonight at 8, Europa, 98-104 Meserole Avenue, at Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, (718) 383-5723; $16. Tomorrow and Sunday at 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; sold out. (Pareles) * NEW YORK GYPSY FESTIVAL (Tonight through Thursday) With a thriving rock scene in New York inspired by Gypsy and Eastern European music, this series, now in its second year, has been badly needed. Costel Vasilescu, a veteran trumpeter from Romania, makes a rare appearance tonight with Slavic Soul Party, New York hipsters who have done their homework in Eastern European styles (8 p.m., Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 La Guardia Place, at Washington Square South, Greenwich Village, $32). Wednesday is the first of two ''Clarinet All-Stars'' concerts featuring the young Turkish clarinetist Husnu Senlendirici and the saxophonist Yuri Yunakov, a master of raucous Bulgarian wedding music (11:30 p.m., Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, $30). Other concerts include the Bulgarian singer Vlada Tomova on Monday (7 p.m., Joe's Pub, $12) and Frank London, the trumpeter and prime mover of New York's klezmer revival, on Wednesday (9 p.m., M 1-5, 52 Walker Street, TriBeCa, $20). Information: nygypsyfest.com. (Sisario) NIGHTMARE OF YOU (Wednesday) Brandon Reilly, former singer for the Long Island emo band Movielife, now leads Nightmare of You, a vaguely theatrical new-wavey band that gives him a chance to show everyone how much he loves Morrissey. With the Films and Blacklist. At 9 p.m., the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, near Church Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3132, knittingfactory.com; $12. (Sanneh) SECRET MACHINES (Monday and Tuesday) The slowly unfolding, keyboard-driven compositions of Secret Machines have a stark minimalist side, a glimmer of country, some pulsating and a streak of Pink Floyd grandeur that swells to fill the room. There's a haunted undercurrent amid the pomp. At 9 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800, irvingplaza.com; $27. (Pareles) CHRIS SMITHER (Tonight and tomorrow night) With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate fingerpicking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate. ''Love You Like a Man,'' the song Bonnie Raitt borrowed from him in the 1970's, only hints at the thoughtful intensity of his more recent work. At 7 p.m., Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200, joespub.com; $22. (Pareles) SOUND TRIBE SECTOR NINE, JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEY (Tomorrow) A jam-band double bill: Sound Tribe Sector Nine gets its steady-pulsing groove from acid jazz and electronic club music, while the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is a keyboard-bass-drums trio that sometimes heads for the avant-garde fringes. At 9 p.m., Nokia Theater, 1515 Broadway at West 44th Street, (212) 307-7171, nokiatheatrenyc.com, $26. (Pareles) * SUFJAN STEVENS, MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND (Tonight through Sunday) In his continuing project to write an album about every state in America, Mr. Stevens turns gigantic ambitions into what sounds like a homemade pageant: history and memory orchestrated into pop that's both old-fashioned and indie. He'll have a string and brass ensemble here. My Brightest Diamond, led by his backup singer, Shara Worden, is very different; she reaches inward for songs full of volatile drama. At 8 p.m., Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 840-2824, the-townhall-nyc.org; $25 (Pareles) ELAINE STRITCH (Tonight and tomorrow, and Tuesday through Thursday) The third autobiographical go-round by this feisty 81-year-old legend features 10 astutely chosen new songs (including the theme song from ''The Sopranos'') performed with verve and humor. But her patter finds her at a loss to come up with amusing or enlightening new stories from her glittering show-business life. (Through Nov. 11.) At 8:45 p.m., Café Carlyle, Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 744-1600, thecarlyle.com; $125; dinner required. (Stephen Holden) WOLF EYES, JOHN WIESE (Thursday) The members of Wolf Eyes, a fearsomely loud and intense band from Michigan, once described themselves as ''the Lynyrd Skynyrd of noise'' and meant it. The group's rumbling, nightmarish clangor is in one sense a straightforward exposition of a kind of elemental rock artistry. Mr. Wiese, from Los Angeles, has collaborated with pretty much everybody in the noise-rock scene, from Thurston Moore and Wolf Eyes to Sunn 0))), a sign of both his impressive productivity and the incestuous smallness of that world. At 9 p.m., Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006, knittingfactory.com; $12. (Sisario) * YO LA TENGO (Tonight) Yo La Tengo, the model of indie-rock perseverance, is led by its songwriters, the husband-and-wife team of Ira Kaplan on guitar and Georgia Hubley on drums. They prize succinct, tuneful songs about the modest pains and pleasures of daily life and love; they also love psychedelic excursions into feedback and fuzz-tone, and might have something grand in mind for the show at this opulent old movie palace. At 8, Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater, 54 Journal Square, Jersey City, (866) 468-7619, loewsjersey.org; $25 in advance. (Pareles) Jazz Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO (Tomorrow) Cyrus Chestnut is a pianist with a penchant for gospel harmonies, as he will demonstrate in a program called ''Jazz Goes to Church,'' with the charismatic saxophonist James Carter and the soulful singer Carla Cook. At 8 p.m., Miller Theater, Columbia University, 116th Street and Broadway, (212) 854-7799, millertheatre.com; $25. (Nate Chinen) * DIET co*kE WOMEN IN JAZZ FESTIVAL (Tonight through Sunday) This monthlong festival of female jazz artists concludes on what should be a high note, with a pair of superb singers, Karrin Allyson and Nancy King, and a backing trio led by the pianist Bruce Barth. At 7:30 and 9:30, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow night, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 258-9595, jalc.org; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar. (Chinen) RAVI COLTRANE (Sunday) Mr. Coltrane has developed into one of the more confident bandleaders on the contemporary scene, and his tenor and soprano saxophone playing suggests a thoughtful approach to improvisation that honors his father, John Coltrane, without overtly emulating him. At 8 p.m., Bar 4, 444 Seventh Avenue, at 15th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 832-9800, bar4.net; suggested donation, $5. (Chinen) SCOTT DUBOIS QUARTET (Sunday) Scott DuBois, a guitarist equally devoted to intricate compositional forms and spacious free improvisation, leads an ensemble stocked with kindred spirits: the alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, the bassist Thomas Morgan and the drummer Gerald Cleaver. At 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883, 55bar.com; cover, $8. (Chinen) FEEL THE BEAT (Sunday) A benefit concert for the Feel the Beat School Program, which trains high school students in CPR techniques; the lineup includes Wynton Marsalis and the violinist Mark O'Connor with his Appalachian Waltz Trio and the trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, among others. At noon, TriBeCa Performing Arts Center, Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, between Greenwich and West Streets, (866) 468-7619, tribecapac.org; $45 to $100. (Chinen) FESTIVAL OF NEW TRUMPET MUSIC (Tonight, and Tuesday through Thursday) This series, organized by Dave Douglas, presents the Rodriguez Brothers, a Latin-inspired group featuring the trumpeters Michael Rodriguez and Brian Lynch, tonight at Joe's Pub. The festival continues at Makor with three days of commissioned works, from artists including Cuong Vu (Tuesday), Mark Gould (Wednesday) and Jonathan Finlayson (Thursday). Tonight at 9:30, Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778, joespub.com; cover, $15, with a two-drink minimum. Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Makor, 35 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 601-1000; makor.org; cover, $12. (Chinen) ANAT FORT TRIO (Tomorrow) Anat Fort is an Israeli-born pianist who has steadily built a reputation in New York over the last 10 years; her next release will be an ECM album featuring the legendary drummer Paul Motian. Ms. Fort will perform with her longtime working trio, with Gary Wang on bass and Roland Schneider on drums. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) SONNY FORTUNE QUARTET (Tonight and tomorrow night) Since the 1960's, countless saxophonists have adopted the methodology of John Coltrane, but few have captured his restless spirit. Sonny Fortune, the saxophonist of choice for the late Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones, is chief among them. At 8, 10 and midnight, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626, sweetrhythmny.com; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) EDDIE GALE (Tomorrow and Sunday) Mr. Gale is a trumpeter with serious avant-garde credentials, having worked closely with the trailblazers Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra, among others. He appears tomorrow in Brooklyn, and Sunday in the East Village, with a group that includes a frequent foil, the trombonist Dick Griffin. Tomorrow night at 9 and 10:30, Sistas' Place, 456 Nostrand Avenue, at Jefferson Avenue, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, (718) 398-1766; $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Sunday at 7 p.m., Jimmy's No. 43, 43 East Seventh Street, East Village, (212) 982-3006, freestylejazz.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * KENNY GARRETT QUARTET (Tuesday through Thursday) Mr. Garrett is a bulldozer on the alto saxophone, which he applies toward blazing post-Coltrane calisthenics, and an introspective artisan on the soprano, with which he investigates East Asian folk timbres. He recently released an album on Nonesuch, ''Beyond the Wall,'' inspired by the ancient cultures of China and Africa, and he will revisit it, with Benito Gonzales on piano, Kris Funn on bass and Jamire Williams on drums. (Through Oct. 7.) At 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080, birdlandjazz.com; cover, $35, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) ITALIAN WOMEN IN JAZZ (Tuesday) Presented as a collaboration between the Italian Cultural Institute of New York and the European Dream Festival, this concert, produced by Enzo Capua, lives up to its billing with separate performances by the pianist Patrizia Scascitelli, the vocalist Susanna Stivali and the saxophonist Carla Marciano. The evening will culminate in the premiere of the Big ''O'' Orchestra, an all-female big band featuring compositions by the saxophonist Ada Rovatti and the band's conductor, Tommaso Vittorini. At 7:30 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400, symphonyspace.org; $25 in advance, $30 on the day; students, $20; children, $10. (Chinen) JABANE ENSEMBLE (Monday) This contemporary soul and gospel-steeped ensemble features a rhythm section of the pianist Robert Glasper, the drummer Chris Dave and the bassist Derrick Hodge. For this one-nighter, the loquacious rapper Talib Kweli appears as a special guest. At 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592, bluenote.net; cover, $25 at tables, $15 at the bar, with a $5 minimum. (Chinen) DAVID KIKOSKI TRIO (Tonight and tomorrow night) David Kikoski is a versatile pianist, as he has proved in settings ranging from the Mingus Big Band to his own BeatleJazz project. His new album, ''Lighter Way'' (Sunnyside), features a trio with Ed Howard on bass and Victor Lewis on drums; the group will appear with a more-than-adequate substitute drummer, Bill Stewart. At 7:30 and 9:15, Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Avenue, at 38th Street, (212) 885-7119, kitano.com; cover, $20, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) KENNY KIRKLAND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION (Tonight and tomorrow night) The pianist Kenny Kirkland, who died in 1998, would have turned 51 this week. To mark the occasion, the drummer Jeff (Tain) Watts, who played with Mr. Kirkland in the original Branford Marsalis Quartet, is leading a tribute band consisting of Marcus Strickland on saxophones, Lawrence Fields on piano and Eric Revis, who plays alongside Mr. Watts in the current Marsalis band, on bass. At 9 and 10:30, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063, jazzgallery.org; cover, $20. (Chinen) HAROLD MABERN (Tonight) Hard bop and Memphis soul are inextricable in the ensemble music of Mr. Mabern; here he'll play in a more intimate setting, as part of a new Fazioli Salon solo piano series at the Klavierhaus workshop. At 8, Klavierhaus, 211 West 58th Street, Manhattan, (212) 245-4535, pianoculture.com; $25. (Chinen) RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA QUARTET (Tuesday and Wednesday) The alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa combines razorlike articulation with a probing improvisational style on ''Codebook'' (Pi), his scintillating new album. Here he regroups two of the musicians from the album, the bassist François Moutin and the drummer Dan Weiss, and features a fine substitute pianist, Craig Taborn. At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232, jazzstandard.net; cover, $20. (Chinen) TONY MALABY (Tonight and Sunday) Mr. Malaby, a powerful and increasingly prominent tenor saxophonist, brings a Spanish tinge to his Paloma Recio ensemble, which includes the guitarist Ben Monder, the bassist Eivind Opsvik and the drummer Nasheet Waits (tonight). He also leads a boisterous trio with Marcus Rojas on tuba and John Hollenbeck on drums (Sunday). Tonight at 9 and 10:30, Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. Sunday at 9 p.m., Jimmy's No. 43, 43 East Seventh Street, East Village, (212) 982-3006, freestylejazz.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET (Thursday) The tenor and soprano saxophonist Branford Marsalis leads one of the most athletic working bands in the modern jazz mainstream, a point of pride that he playfully acknowledges with the locker-room photo on the cover of his new album, ''Braggtown'' (Marsalis Music). The ensemble -- with Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass and Jeff (Tain) Watts on drums -- doesn't work often in a club setting, which makes this four-night engagement all the more significant. (Through Oct. 8.) At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232, jazzstandard.net; cover, $35. (Chinen) DANILO PÉREZ (Tonight through Sunday) As on his last album, ''Live at the Jazz Showcase'' (ArtistShare), the Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez works with advanced rhythmic and harmonic concepts in his excellent trio with the bassist Ben Street and the drummer Adam Cruz. At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232, jazzstandard.net; cover, $30, $25 on Sunday. (Chinen) ANDRÉ PREVIN AND DAVID FINCK (Tomorrow and Sunday) André Previn is best known as a classical pianist and conductor, but he has worked extensively as a jazz musician; in the 1950's he made a clutch of popular albums for Contemporary Records. For this rare nightclub engagement, he enlists the literate bassist David Finck and tucks into a book of songbook staples. At 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592 bluenote.net; cover, $45 at tables, $30 at the bar, with a $5 minimum. (Chinen) PETE ROBBINS (Monday) The choral music of the Italian Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo has recently provided inspiration for the creative energies of Mr. Robbins, an alto saxophonist and clarinetist. He will perform a premiere of his ''Gesualdo Adaptations,'' which features a modernistic ensemble of two saxophonists, two guitarists and an electric keyboard, along with bass and drums. At 9 p.m., Bar 4, 444 Seventh Avenue, at 15th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 832-9800, bar4.net; suggested donation, $5. (Chinen) * KURT ROSENWINKEL QUARTET (Tuesday through Thursday) Kurt Rosenwinkel's electric guitar has a beguilingly airy tone that offsets the cerebral twinge of his compositions, and his rapport with the tenor saxophonist Mark Turner borders on the telepathic. The two musicians are backed by a crack rhythm section: Aaron Parks on piano, Joe Martin on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums. At 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com; cover, $20, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) MIKE STERN BAND (Tonight through Sunday) The guitarist Mike Stern has a goofily titled new album -- ''Who Let the Cats Out?'' (Heads Up) -- that features the quite serious electric bass playing of Richard Bona. This engagement features Mr. Bona and another contributor from the album, the saxophonist Bob Franceschini, along with the fiercely propulsive drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. At 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow night, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121, iridiumjazzclub.com; cover, $30, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) STRIKE (Tonight) As the name implies, this is a decisive, hard-hitting ensemble, consisting of the drummer Bobby Previte and a pair of musicians similarly inclined to pair aggressive experimentation with a rock-hard sense of groove: the keyboardist Marco Benevento and the saxophonist Briggan Krauss. At 10, 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883; 55bar.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) * WYNTON AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S HOT FIVES (Tonight and tomorrow night) The recordings made by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five in the 1920's were an ageless and inviolable achievement. The order of names in this concert title suggests some hubris on the part of Wynton Marsalis, but he is indeed the person best suited to give the music a fresh airing. He'll be joined by the clarinetist and saxophonist Victor Goines, the trombonists Wycliffe Gordon and Vincent Gardner, the banjoist Don Vappie and the pianist Jonathan Batiste. At 8, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 721-6500, jalc.org; $37.50 to $127.50. (Chinen) Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera 'LA BOHÈME' (Sunday) Updated to the years around World War I, this is one of New York City Opera's best productions, and some fine young talents should make this run of it worth hearing. Shu-Ying Li, the Mimi, has shown a really striking soprano on past occasions; James Valenti, her Rodolfo, was a promising Met Council winner in 2002; Elisabeth Caballero, the Musetta, made a very good City Opera debut last season; and Daniel Mobbs, the Marcello, has been proving himself reliably at Caramoor and elsewhere for several years. George Manahan, the company's music director, conducts. At 1:30 p.m., New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, nycopera.com; $16 to $125. (Anne Midgette) 'CARMEN' (Tomorrow and Tuesday) Rinat Shaham, who made her company debut as Zerlina, is a small singer for Carmen; worse, New York City Opera's production seems to have veiled her spark, rendering her a mere stereotype. Her Don José, Mark Duffin, has warm lower notes and a pressed, often flat sound on top; the Escamillo is Adrian Gans, who was too nervous to be judged at his company debut in the role. The high point is Latonia Moore, a radiant-voiced Micaëla who seems to belong to a world apart from this rather pedestrian production. Ari Pelto conducts, a little woodenly but competently enough. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, nycopera.com; $25 to $130. (Midgette) 'FAUST' (Tuesday) Ruth Ann Swenson keeps searching for a better fit at the Metropolitan Opera, or it for her. After recent departures -- Micaëla in ''Carmen,'' Mimi in ''La Bohème'' -- she's moving into a stronger role by Gounod, whose Juliette is one of her calling cards: Marguerite in ''Faust.'' Another light-voiced ''Roméo et Juliette'' veteran, Ramón Vargas, takes on the title role, while the strong, young and still-developing bass Ildar Abdrazakov is Méphistophélès. Some new faces and voices include Tommi Hakala as Valentin and Karine Deshayes as Siebel; the conductor Bertrand de Billy should provide an idiomatic reading. Andrei Serban's production drew critical ire when it opened in 2005. At 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, (212) 362-6000; metopera.org; $15 to $375. (Midgette) 'LA GIOCANDA' (Tomorrow) Ponchiello's opera -- with its spectacle, grand music and unfathomable plot -- returns to the Met after a long absence. Violeta Urmana and Olga Borodina take the female leads. Aquiles Machado is Enzo. At 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, (212) 362-6000; metopera.org; $15 to $375. (Bernard Holland) * 'IDOMENEO' (Monday) The title role of Mozart's 1781 opera seria ''Idomeneo,'' the tormented king of ancient Crete, has such heroic dimensions that some powerhouse tenors who seldom sing Mozart have embraced it. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1982 production for the Met has featured both the Wagnerian tenor Siegfried Jerusalem and, in more recent years, Plácido Domingo in the title role. Now one of the reigning dramatic tenors of the day, Ben Heppner, has taken the role on for the Met's current revival. The strong cast includes Dorothea Röschmann, Olga Makarina and Kristine Jepson. James Levine conducts. At 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; $15 to $375. (Anthony Tommasini) 'MADAMA BUTTERFLY' (Tomorrow and Thursday) The Metropolitan Opera has inaugurated its season, and the tenure of the ambitious new general manager, Peter Gelb, with the Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella's visually beautiful production of Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly.'' The abstract staging deftly employs movable screens, billowing fabrics, stylized costumes and, most daringly, a lifesize puppet manipulated by three black-clad puppeteers to portray Butterfly's 3-year-old son. Vocally, neither of the leads, the earthy-voiced soprano Cristina Gallardo-Domas as Butterfly, and the robustly Italianate tenor Marcello Giordani as Lieutenant Pinkerton, is ideal. But they do honorable work. Asher Fisch takes over the conducting duties from James Levine, who led a lean and sensitive performance on opening night. Tomorrow at 1:30 and Thursday at 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; $15 to $375. (Tommasini) 'THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO' (Tomorrow and Sunday) Now in its 59th season, the Amato Opera continues to stage productions in its tiny quarters on the Bowery. This weekend it continues its run of Mozart's ''Marriage of Figaro,'' with a rotat ing cast. Quality may vary, but the spirit is usually there. Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., Amato Opera, 319 Bowery, at Second Street, East Village, (212) 228-8200, amato.org; $35; $28 for students and 65+. (Vivien Schweitzer) 'THE MERRY WIDOW' (Thursday) The Dicapo Opera company opens its season on Thursday with a new production of Franz Lehar's lively operetta ''The Merry Widow,'' which received its American premiere in 1907. The production is directed by Michael Capasso (the company's co-founder) and conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos, with sets by John Farrell, costume design by Angela Huff and choreography (to include dancing girls) by Fran Harman. At 6 p.m., Dicapo Opera Theater, 184 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 288-9438, dicapo.com; $47.50. (Schweitzer) 'SEMELE' (Tomorrow) New York City Opera's bright update of Ovidian shenanigans to the Kennedy administration continues with Elizabeth Futral in the title role. At 1:30 p.m., New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, nycopera.com; $25 to $120. (Holland) 'DIE TOTE STADT' (Tonight and Thursday) The composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold is best known for his pioneering scores for swashbuckling Hollywood films of the 1930's. But in Germany in 1920, at age 24, he was hailed as the brilliant and promising composer of a mysterious opera, ''Die Tote Stadt.'' The New York City Opera, which has been a champion of this neglected work, has revived its 1975 production, which incorporates film elements, video projections and scrims to evoke the dreamlike story. The cast, though not ideal, is appealing, and George Manahan conducts a sweeping account of Korngold's lyrically sumptuous and theatrical music. Tonight at 8 and Thursday night at 7:30, New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, nycopera.com; $25 to $125. (Tommasini) Classical Music BACH AT ST. PETER'S (Tomorrow) It's not his birthday or a major anniversary year, but who needs an excuse to devote a day to Bach? In its annual Bach festival, St. Peter's Church is devoting the afternoon to recitals, mostly by organists (Craig Williams at 1 p.m., Walter Hilse at 2:15 and Robert McCormick at 4:45) playing some Bach, but much else as well. A potential highlight is James Priess's marimba recital (at 3:30 p.m.), at which he will perform transcriptions of the Unaccompanied Cello Suites in G, D and C. The main event, at 8 p.m., is a performance of the Mass in B minor by the St. Peter's Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra, led by Thomas Schmidt. The soloists are Mary Elizabeth Poor and Rosalind Rees, sopranos; Elsa Larsson, alto; Jonathan Kline, tenor; and Roosevelt André Credit, baritone. St. Peter's Church, Lexington Avenue at 54th Street, (212) 935-2200, saintpeters.org; $65 pass for all events, $20 for afternoon recitals, $25 for the B minor Mass. (Kozinn) * BARGEMUSIC (Tonight through Sunday, and Thursday) This converted coffee barge is one of the most intimate chamber music halls in the city, and its programs are growing more varied all the time. Tonight the pianist Seymour Lipkin plays an all-Schubert recital that includes the four Impromptus and the Sonatas in A (D. 959) and A minor (D. 784). Then the ensembles take over. The Zephyr Trio -- Jeanne Galway on flute (you've heard of her husband, James), Darrett Adkins on cello and Jonathan Feldman on piano -- play Martinu, Debussy, Poulenc, Weber and Lowell Liebermann tomorrow. On Sunday the Vertigo String Quartet plays Wolf's ''Italian Serenade'' and quartets by Beethoven and Walton. And on Thursday Katya Mihailova, a pianist; William Harvey, a violinist; and Chris Gross, a cellist, play piano trios by Haydn, Dvorak and Adolphus Hailstork. Tonight, tomorrow and Thursday nights at 7:30; Sunday at 4 p.m. Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, (718) 624-2083, bargemusic.org; $35. (Kozinn) CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA (Wednesday and Thursday) The estimable Cleveland Orchestra and its music director, Franz Welser-Möst, open Carnegie Hall's season. Thomas Quasthoff sings Mahler songs, and Leif Ove Andsnes plays a Mozart piano concerto, but don't neglect this orchestra's special talent for music by Suppé and Johann Strauss. Wednesday at 7 p.m., Thursday at 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $44 to $190 on Wednesday, $37 to $119 on Thursday. (Holland) VLADIMIR FELTSMAN (Tomorrow and Tuesday) In a surprising move from his modern piano comfort zone, this thoughtful pianist is performing all of Mozart's piano sonatas in five recitals, played on a modern copy of a Mozart-era Walter fortepiano. The recitals are split between the New School and its Mannes College of Music, with the second and third installments, this week, at Mannes. Tomorrow he plays the Sonatas in D (K. 284), C (K. 309), D (K. 311) and A minor (K. 310). The Tuesday evening installment includes the Rondo in A minor (K. 511) and the Sonatas in C (K. 330), F (K. 332), B flat (K. 333) and A (K. 331). At 7:30, Mannes College of Music, 150 West 85th Street, Manhattan, (212) 229-5488, newschool.edu/feltsman; $25; students and 65+, $10. (Kozinn) THE JUILLIARD ORCHESTRA (Thursday) This top-notch band of young musicians will play Stanislaw Skrowaczewski's ''Music at Night,'' conducted by the composer himself, during a concert in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The performance also includes Saint-Saëns's Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, with You You Zhang as soloist, and the Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. At 8 p.m., Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Juilliard School, Broadway at 65th Street, (212) 769-7406, juilliard.edu; free. (Schweitzer) SCOTT MURPHEE and KEITH PHARES (Tomorrow) The directors of the sleek and inviting Austrian Cultural Forum have been placing increased emphasis on concerts in the institution's intimate and acoustically bright recital hall. Tomorrow Scott Murphee, a young tenor who has made a specialty of American songs and has performed songs written for him by Robert Beaser, Yehudi Wyner and other composers, joins the young baritone Keith Phares, currently singing the role of Fritz in the New York City Opera's production of Korngold's ''Tote Stadt,'' for a program of works by Elliott Carter, Lee Hoiby, Jake Heggie, Richard Hundley and Schubert. At 8 p.m., Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 East 52nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 319-5300, acfny.org; free, but reservations are required. (Tommasini) NEW JUILLIARD ENSEMBLE (Tomorrow) Joel Sachs's forward-looking New Juilliard Ensemble offers the first concert in a series of four. The music is by Salvatore Sciarrino and four other composers. At 8 p.m., Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Juilliard School, Broadway at 65th Street, (212) 769-7406, juilliard.edu; free. (Holland) NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday) The concert season at the State Theater New Jersey opens tonight with visitors from across the river: the New York Philharmonic and Lorin Maazel offer a greatest-hits symphonic program that includes Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and Beethoven's ''Eroica.'' Back in New York, the Philharmonic's theme is Shostakovich, whose centennial is this year, but the greatest-hits emphasis continues: Lynn Harrell plays the first cello concerto, and the orchestra offers the Fifth Symphony. Tonight at 8, State Theater, New Brunswick, N.J., (732) 246-7469, statetheaternj.org; $60 to $90. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5656; $30 to $96 tomorrow, $28 to $94 on Tuesday. (Midgette) STEVE REICH & BERYL KOROT (Wednesday) As part of its celebration of the composer Steve Reich's 70th birthday, the Whitney Museum is mounting an installation that includes showings of ''Three Tales,'' a video collaboration between Mr. Reich and his wife, the filmmaker Beryl Korot. A meditation on technology gone out of hand, its three panels focus on the crash of the Hindenburg in 1937, the atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll in 1949 and the cloning of a sheep in 1997. (Through Oct. 15.) The Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, (800) 944-8639, whitney.org; $15; students and 65+, $10. (Kozinn) WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE (Thursday) The institute presents its ''Interpretations'' series, this time featuring the Berlin-based duo Amelia Cuni, a singer, and Werner Durand, a winds and electronics player, in arrangements of traditional Indian pieces and new works. A composer and zither player, Miya Masaoka, will lead her trio, Chironomy, which includes the tabla player Samir Chatterjee and the cornet player Taylor Ho Bynum in works that explore North Indian rhythms. At 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, (212) 501-3330, kaufman-center.org; $10; $7 for students. (Schweitzer) Dance Full reviews of recent performances: nytimes.com/dance. BRIAN BROOKS MOVING COMPANY (Wednesday and Thursday) Brian Brooks is known for his intricate meshing of form and exuberant physicality. His new ''again, again'' explores the notion of grabbing hold of fleeting moments as they slip by. (Through Oct. 7.) At 7:30 p.m., Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 924-0077, dtw.org; $20. (Jennifer Dunning) * ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER AND AKRAM KHAN (Tuesday and Thursday) Part of the citywide, mostly musical ''Steve Reich @ 70'' celebration, this performance offers two of Europe's best-known choreographers, with dances to Mr. Reich's music: Ms. De Keersmaeker's ''Fase'' from 1982 and Mr. Khan's ''Variations for Vibes, Pianos and String,'' in its United States premiere. (Through Oct. 7.) Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, (718) 636-4100 or bam.org; $20 to $55. (John Rockwell) ODILE DUBOC AND CONTRE JOUR (Wednesday and Thursday) Much better known in France than in the United States, Ms. Duboc last appeared in New York on a shared program two decades ago. Ms. Duboc and her company, based in Aix-en-Provence, will present ''ODIL,'' a new piece that displays her interest in dance that is independent of music. Also on the bill are a duet set to Ravel's ''Bolero'' and inspired by Camille Claudel's sculptures, and a male trio inspired by ''The Wrestlers,'' a painting by Natalia Gontcharova. At 8 p.m., Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212) 355-6160, www.ticketmaster.com; $25; $20 for students. (Dunning) Fridays @ Noon (Today) Classical Indian dance meets American contemporary, as Sonali Skandan and Stanley Love present new and in-progress works at the 92nd Street Y's delightfully informal lunchtime series. At noon, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500; free. (Claudia La Rocco) SACHIYO ITO AND COMPANY (Tomorrow) The company's Japanese classical and contemporary dance and Okinawan dance performance commemorates the 50th anniversary of Ms. Ito's debut in Japan. At 8 p.m., Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, 3 Spruce Street, between Park Row and Gold Street, Lower Manhattan, (212) 868-4444; $25; $20 for students and 65+. (Dunning) * Katherine Dunham Salute (Tomorrow) Eight dance companies, including Dance Theater of Harlem, Alvin Ailey and Philadanco, join Katherine Dunham's daughter and other relatives to celebrate this great dancer-choreographer's life. At 2 p.m., Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Peter Norton Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400; free. (La Rocco) KINETIC DANCE THEATER (Tonight and tomorrow night) Joanna and Ryan Greer, who direct Kinetic, explore the sleepy dreamscapes of night in ''Sleeping Giant,'' with help from Frida Kahlo, André Breton, Robert Desnos and Joyce Mansour. At 8, TADA! Theater, 15 West 28th Street, Chelsea, (212) 868-4444, smarttix.com; $15. (Dunning) NOéMI LAFRANCE'S 'AGORA II' (Tonight and tomorrow night) Apparently, Noémi LaFrance, a tireless artistic explorer of public space, is a glutton for punishment. Having moved bureaucratic mountains last year to stage ''Agora'' in the enormous (and empty) McCarren Park pool in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, she now has a sequel, ''Agora II,'' which incorporates a number of guest companies and is described in the publicity materials as ''a choreographic game for 1,000 bodies.'' Good luck to them all. At 8, McCarren Park Pool, Lorimer Street, between Driggs and Bayard Streets, (718) 388-6309, sensproduction.org; $20 and $30. (Roslyn Sulcas) 'lucid body' (Thursday) Alan Danielson returns to Danspace Project with two premieres and an encore of 2003's ''Cave.'' At 8:30 p.m., Danspace Project, St. Mark's Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194; $15. (La Rocco) Philadanco (Tuesday through Thursday) Works by Ronald K. Brown, Christopher Huggins and Danny Ezralow headline this Philadelphia troupe's return to the Joyce, but the dancers' rich, energetic interpretations promise to be the highlight. (Through Oct. 8.) Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 8 p.m., the Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-0800; $40. (La Rocco) RASTRO DANCE COMPANY (Tonight and tomorrow night) Back for the third consecutive season, Rastro will present dances by its company director, Julieta Valero. At 8, Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, between Houston and Prince Streets, (212) 334-7479, joyce.org; $15; $12 for students and 65+. (Dunning) TURNER DANCE (Tonight through Sunday) This Long Island-based modern-dance troupe will celebrate its 10th anniversary with works choreographed by Susan Turner. They blend movement, poetry, sculpture and live and recorded music by composers including Charles Mingus and Arvo Pärt. At 8:30 p.m., St. Mark's Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194, turnerdance.com; $15 (Dunning) * SHEN WEI DANCE ARTS (Tonight through Sunday) Shen Wei, the Chinese-born, New York-based choreographer of visually arresting dance-art spectacles, is making his Joyce Theater debut with a new piece, ''Re-,'' which evokes Tibetan spirituality, and his 2003 ''Rite of Spring,'' set to the four-hand piano version of Stravinsky's score. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-0800 or joyce.org; $38. (Rockwell) WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE: HONVÉD DANCE COMPANY (Tomorrow) Honvéd has performed Hungarian folk music and dance around the world since 1982 but has never appeared in the United States. Based in Budapest, it focuses on Gypsy traditions from the Carpathian Basin. At 8 p.m., Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 La Guardia Place, at Washington Square South, Greenwich Village, (212) 545-7536, worldmusicinstitute.org; $32. (Dunning) Art Museums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. Art Fairs ART (212), through Sunday. New York hardly needs another contemporary-art fair, especially one whose exhibitors are mostly so-so galleries. But the name is so Manhattan, and it comes early in the season. It uses the cozy downtown 69th Regiment Armory, site of the original 1913 Armory Show. The 62 participating exhibitors come mostly from the United States and Canada. This year their displays will emphasize work by Latin American and Asian artists. The inaugural version will include the exhibitions titled ''Eyes Wide Open'' and ''Screen Culture in Asia,'' organized by curators from El Museo del Barrio and Asia Society. 69th Regiment Armory, Lexington Avenue at 26th Street, (212) 366-4139; $15; $12 for students and 65+; free for children under 12; free for all today from 6 to 9 p.m.; art-212.com. (Roberta Smith) Museums * Asia society: 'ONE WAY OR ANOTHER: ASIAN AMERICAN ART NOW,' through Dec. 10. Taking its name from a 1978 hit by the punk band Blondie, this lively exhibition finds a new vitality and freedom, especially where identity is involved, in Asian-American art. The artists' roots range from Iran to Korea; their mediums include painting, drawing, sculpture, video, photography and performance. Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street, (212) 517-2742, asiasociety.org. (Smith) Brooklyn Museum: 'Looking Back from Ground Zero: Images from the Brooklyn Museum Collection,' through Dec. 27. This show presents a historical picture of Lower Manhattan from early on to the present, with the building of the World Trade Center as the pivotal point. A short film, ''Building the World Trade Center,'' produced by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1983, is an invaluable document of the triumphalist spin surrounding the construction of the complex. A small selection of artworks produced in or just after 2001 hints at the profound and conflicted feelings the destruction of the twin towers has evoked. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, (718) 638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org.(Holland Cotter) International Center of Photography: 'Ecotopia: The Second I.C.P. Triennial of Photography and Video,' through Jan. 7. Punctuated by big black oozing forms that are both comic and ominous, this edifying, entertaining, ecologically aware exhibition is a walk-through version of Al Gore's ''Inconvenient Truth.'' The work on view represents nearly 40 artists and photojournalists and portrays nature as variously ravishing, cute and enduring, and also increasingly dangerous and endangered, thanks to the widening scope of human indifference and exploitation. International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street, (212) 857-0000, icp.org. (Smith) * Metropolitan Museum of Art: 'Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing,' through Jan. 21. If painting and writing can be seen as modes of thinking, and they can, then this exhibition is as much a brainstorming session as an art exhibition, crackling with ideas and arguments every step of the way. It is also a sequence of moods, with impassioned voices calling out from the 80 scrolls and inscribed fans that line the galleries, which include colossal examples of contemporary 21st-century art that both depart from and preserve a tradition, (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Cotter) The Met: 'CÉzanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde,' through Jan. 7. The come-on title of this show turns out to be slightly misleading. The star is not any of the artists. It is a dealer, Ambroise Vollard, born in 1866, arrived in Paris in 1887 from the Île de la Réunion. The works passed through Vollard's hands. Picasso bought a Matisse still life and a Renoir bather from Vollard. They're both here. So is Cézanne's ''Bathers,'' which Monet bought; and Cézanne's ''Battle of Love,'' which Renoir got. What's worth noting are less the landmarks than the byways: a Renoir portrait of Vollard dressed as a torero. (See above.) (Michael Kimmelman) The Met: 'New Orleans After the Flood: Photographs by Robert Polidori,' through Dec. 10. After Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Polidori went to New Orleans, where he lived years ago, to shoot photographs of the devastation for The New Yorker. He took hundreds of pictures with a large-format camera that produced wide, superbly detailed color photographs. A couple dozen of these big panoramas and interiors at the Met make a pocket-size lament for a woebegone city. They are unpeopled scenes: New Orleans as our modern Pompeii. Mr. Polidori is a connoisseur of chaos, and the beauty of his pictures -- they have a languid, almost underwater beauty -- entails locating order in bedlam. He also photographed signs of recovery: trailers and construction equipment; a few historic homes, stripped to their frames, shorn, on the verge of new life. (See above.) (Kimmelman) * THE MUSEUM AT F.I.T.: 'LOVE AND WAR: THE WEAPONIZED WOMAN,' through Dec. 16. From a museum known for elucidating both the erotic and architectural nature of clothing design, this characteristically handsome exhibition examines the influence of garments of love and seduction (lingerie) and of war (armor and military uniforms) on modern and contemporary couturiers. The Museum at F.I.T., Fashion Institute of Technology, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 217-5800, fitnyc.edu/museum. (Smith) NEUE Galerie: Gustav Klimt: Five Paintings From the Collection of Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer, through Oct 9. Klimt's 1907 gold portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, lately acquired by the billionaire collector Ronald S. Lauder, reportedly for $135 million, is now aptly installed like a trophy head above the mantelpiece. She's half queen, half Las Vegas showgirl. A perfect New Yorker. She temporarily hangs with four other Klimts, including a second Adele, painted in 1912: a slender, sinuous co*ke-bottle-shaped figure, more chaste than carnal. 1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street, (212) 628-6200, neuegalerie.org. (Kimmelman) Parrish Art Museum: 'Roy Lichtenstein: American Indian Encounters,' through Dec. 31. Lichtenstein is more popularly associated with his Pop paintings, often based on comic book images, than with the works here. But in the 1950's, using a somewhat Cubist style, he explored mythic characters like medieval knights or cowboys and Indians. ''Chief Before Teepee,'' an abstract oil painting, and ''Two Wild Indians,'' a drawing, both from 1952, were unearthed by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation for the show's run at the Montclair Art Museum last year. Other discovered works include ''Death of General Wolfe,'' a 1951 watercolor, and ''Untitled (Two Chippewa Building Canoe?),'' a little-known painting from 1952. Parrish Art Museum, 25 Job's Lane, Southampton, N.Y., (631) 283-2118, Ext. 32, parishart.org. (Carol Vogel) RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART: 'I SEE NO STRANGER: EARLY SIKH ART AND DEVOTION,' through Jan. 29. Sikhism is the world's fifth-largest organized religion, but how many Westerners know that it was conceived as universalist in scope and radically egalitarian socially? Or that its holy book, far from being a catalog of sectarian dos and don'ts, is a bouquet of poetic songs blending the fragrances of Hindu ragas, Muslim hymns, and Punjabi folk tunes? This is precisely the information delivered by this small and beautiful show. Vivid and concentrated, it presents, mostly through miniature paintings, a kind of Sikh self-portrait, the image of a history shaped by hard work, pluralism and mystical transport, as well as by militancy. 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, (212) 620-5000, rmanyc.org. (Cotter) Studio Museum in Harlem: 'Nadine Robinson: Alles Grau,' 'Quid Pro Quo: Rashawn Griffin, Karyn Olivier and Clifford Owen: 2005-06 Artists-in-Residence,' and 'Beyond Sight,' through Oct. 22. The Studio Museum in Harlem is looking sharp with three concurrent shows, the outstanding one being a single big sound-sculpture by Nadine Robinson. It expands her political purview from imperialism to Armageddon, with hundreds of speakers embedded in an 11-foot-high gray-black wall unit that generate a sampling of satanic film scores (''The Omen,'' ''The Matrix''), mixed with funeral chants and Rastafarian dance music. ''Quid Pro Quo'' is a showcase for the 2005-6 artists in residence, all interdisciplinarians with a sweet-and-sour Dadaist touch. Mr. Owens, with performance, looks intriguingly volatile. And you won't want to leave the museum without checking out ''Beyond Sight,'' the work of the 14 teenagers. 144 West 125th Street, (212) 864-4500, studiomuseuminharlem.org. (Cotter) * The Whitney Museum of American Art: Mark Grotjahn, through Jan. 7. Mining the early Modernist cusp where the figurative, the geometric, the spatial and the visionary still remain tangled, this Los-Angeles-based painter deploys his abstract pinwheel motifs on paper in eight brash, door-sized drawings. Multiple vanishing points destabilize radiating compositions that are variously Op and buzzy, darkly monochrome (and a little too pretentiously moody) or candy-color bright. In some works the motif is doubled and angled, decreasing the shield-like frontality and opening up new optical and spatial possibilities. 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, (212) 570-3600, whitney.org. (Smith) Galleries: Chelsea Ken Gonzales-Day In the process of researching a book called ''Lynching in the West: 1850-1935,'' this Los Angeles artist assembled an archive and made a discovery: in the more than 350 California lynchings he found records for, most of the victims were Latinos. His photographic show at Cue Foundation is an interpretive response to this fact, largely through altered historical photographs, in which the hanged figure is erased, and the spectators left intact. Cue Art Foundation, 511 West 25th Street, (212) 206-3583, cueartfoundation.org, through Oct. 14. (Cotter). Natalie Jeremijenko Ms. Jeremijenko's show at Postmasters is a collective enterprise, her collaborators being several environmentally savvy architect/designers and untold numbers of New York City birds. Together they raise quality-of-life issues about avian urban congestion, nutrition and adjustment to diversity. Ms. Jeremijenko's point: all species are connected. Her Franciscan demonstrations of how this is so are wise, witty and oddly fierce. Postmasters, 459 West 19th Street, (212) 727-3323, postmastersart.com, through Oct. 7. (Cotter) Dona Nelson The painter Dona Nelson is in midcareer, and her work process is more experimental than ever, on the evidence of the four large pieces in this show. One is made with layers of hosed-down pigment; another is festooned with ropes of stiffened cloth; a third is a rubbing from an earlier painting; a fourth is reversible. In messing around with form, Ms. Nelson lets beauty fall where it may, which makes her art feel exciting and awake. Thomas Erben Gallery, 526 West 26th Street, fourth floor, (212) 645-8701, thomsaserben.com, through Oct. 21. (Cotter) * RIVANE NEUENSCHWANDER: OTHER STORIES AND STORIES OF OTHERS The New York gallery debut of this young Brazilian artist is beautifully in step with the somewhat pious trend of making art out of almost nothing to circumvent the big, bad art market. In video, collages and typewriter drawings, randomness rules, and the centerpiece makes everyday magic from fans and bushels of bright tissue-paper circles. Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, 521 West 21st Street, (212) 414-4144, tanyabonakdargallery.com, through Oct. 14. (Smith) SARAH OPPENHEIMER: 554-5251 In the latest labor-intensive, wall-piercing installation to treat the gallery space as a malleable object, portions of the white cube have been sliced open and seemingly formed into two enormous tubes. Part tunnel, part basket and mostly plywood, these cut through the space, revealing the storage area and windows normally hidden from view, and requiring some walking in a crouched position. P.P.O.W., 555 West 25th Street, (212) 647-1077, ppowgallery.com, through Oct. 7. (Smith) * Mark Wagner and C. K. Wilde Mark Wagner and C. K. Wilde -- collagists, collaborators and co-founders of the Brooklyn Artists Alliance -- may or may not make money fromtheir art, but for sure they make their art from money. Mr. Wagner works with green-and-white United States currency, Mr. Wolfe with a rainbow of international tender. From tiny pieces of both they assemble intensely detailed pictures of staggering virtuosity, with Mr. Wilde specializing in cut-and-paste remakes of Goya's ''Disasters of War.'' Pavel Zoubok Gallery, 533 West 23rd Street, (212) 675-7490, pavelzoubok.com, through Oct. 7. (Cotter) Last Chance Morgan Library & Museum: CELEBRATING REMBRANDT: ETCHINGS FROM THE MORGAN, On the occasion of the opening of its newly rethought home, the Morgan Library has mounted a show of 50 of its greatest Rembrandt etchings. The selection demonstrates the range of the master's subjects (from the heights of biblical tragedy to the casually erotic) and also his amazingly expressive technique. It serves as reminder that Rembrandt's prints represent genius of the plainest, most accessible sort: sustaining classics that encompass the earthy and the exalted and offer fresh meanings with each encounter. Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 685-0008, themorgan.org; closes on Sunday. (Smith) Queen Sofía Spanish Institute: 'Albert Ràfols-Casamada, Paintings, 1950-2005,' This institute has devoted its two galleries to a half-century survey of the Spanish painter Albert Ràfols-Casamada. Blocky, indistinct shapes floating in broad expanses of watery color are the rule, for Mr. Ràfols-Casamada is a devotee of a brand of soft-edge, gesture-oriented, color-loving abstraction that was very chic in the 1950's and 60's. If there is something original about Mr. Ràfols-Casamada's work, it is his feathery layering of paint. His ambition is nothing much greater than this: eye-pleasing pictures suffused with harmony, rhythm and balanced color relations. 84 Park Avenue, at 68th Street, (212) 628-0420, queensofiaspanishinstitute.org; closes today. (Benjamin Genocchio) Alison Elizabeth Taylor This artist's wood-veneer inlay images dwell on the darker side of the suburban idyll. Sexual tension, waste, bigotry and violence underlie their luxurious-looking surfaces, along with a gnawing estrangement from nature: in this case, mostly the desert landscape around Las Vegas, where Ms. Taylor grew up. Couples and small groups of people embody fractured, ambiguous relationships in her carefully constructed marquetry ''paintings.'' James Cohan Gallery, 533 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212) 714-9500, jamescohan.com; closes tomorrow. (Genocchio)
General Interest Periodicals--United States; Libraries; Comedies; Theater; Museums; Painting; Dramatists; Art exhibits; New York; New York
