Jay Chou Concert: Videos
 Jay Chou at Song Zuyings 2011 Taipei concert. Jay Chou at Song Zuyings 2011 Taipei concert.Credits: jay2u Songs: - Huang Pu Jiang Shen - Qing Hua Ci (Chinese Flower Pot ) - Ju Hua Tai. |  Jay Chou 2004 Incomparable Concert Live ���������. Jay Chou 2004 Incomparable Concert Live ���������.Remember right after Jay held this concert my sister was saying how amazing it was, and how. |  Jay Chou ���������Concert @ Sydney 20140411 - ������. Jay Chou ���������Concert @ Sydney 20140411 - ������.Jay Chou ���������Concert @ Sydney 20140411 - ������������. <a. |  Jay Zhou Opus World Tour Concert 2013. (Review. Jay Zhou Opus World Tour Concert 2013. (Review.Review seputar Jay Zhou dan sekilas mengenai konsernya di Jakarta, yang diulas oleh. |
 DONNIE YEN performs Double NUNCHAKU and. DONNIE YEN performs Double NUNCHAKU and.Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician,superstar of Asia.And Jay portrayed Kato in The Green. |  ���������������Jay Chou The ERA concert - YouTube ���������������Jay Chou The ERA concert - YouTubeA clip out of the Jay Chou The Era concert DVD version. I do not own this video in any direct. |  JayChou - Incomparable Concert Live 2004. JayChou - Incomparable Concert Live 2004.JayChou - Incomparable Concert Live 2004(Thienvv���). <a href=/channel/ UC4I6ObYYZ1eGPhv. |  Jay Chou World Tour Concert in Jakarta. Jay Chou World Tour Concert in Jakarta.Opus Jay World Tour Concert, MEIS Ancol - Jakarta - Indonesia, 12 Oct 2013. Special. |
 Orbit (Gui Ji) - Jay Chou Incomparable concert. Orbit (Gui Ji) - Jay Chou Incomparable concert.Jay Chou Incomparable concert in Taipei. Orbit was the last song of the concert. I am proud. |  Opus Jay Chou 2013 Concert in Singapore. Opus Jay Chou 2013 Concert in Singapore.Opus Jay Chou 2013 Concert in Singapore!!! <a href=/channel/ UC0VShGI7Y6b60OUn1D6h_Cw. |  Jay Chou - The One Concert Live 2002(Thienvv. Jay Chou - The One Concert Live 2002(Thienvv.th���t ra ����y hok ph���i l�� concert �����u ti��n c���a Jay ����u, m�� l�� c��i concert �����u ti��n Jay l��m c�� ����� ho��nh. |  Jay Chou Opus Concert 2013 - Singapore Indoor. Jay Chou Opus Concert 2013 - Singapore Indoor.Does anyone have a list of all the songs he sang at the concert? .. Jay Chou 2004 Incomparable. |
 Jay Chou - The Era 2010 World Tour [������������������. Jay Chou - The Era 2010 World Tour [������������������.just saw Jays concert in Hong Kong last night. Really great - would definitely go again if he. |  Jay Chou Concert Singapore 2012- ���������������+ ������. Jay Chou Concert Singapore 2012- ���������������+ ������.Jay Chou Concert Singapore 2012- ���������������+ ������. Jay Chou. |  Jay Chou Performs in HongKong [Opus Jay 2013. Jay Chou Performs in HongKong [Opus Jay 2013.Mandopop star Jay Chou on his Opus Jay 2013 World Tour.. Jay Opus Concert Singapore. |  Jay Chou ���������Opus 12 Concert at Jakarta (Qing. Jay Chou ���������Opus 12 Concert at Jakarta (Qing.Jakarta concert 2013 october. Jay Chou Far Away Piano ������. |
Jay Chou Concert: Photo Gallery
| Jay Chous first Australian concert wins fans hearts_English_Xinhua Jay Chous first Australian concert wins fans hearts_English_Xinhua singer Jay Chou performs | Jay-Chou-F1-Singapore-Concert-. Jay-Chou-F1-Singapore-Concert-. Jay-Chou-F1-Singapore-Concert-. | Jay Chou Studio - White feathers and flames, Jay Chous 4D concert Jay Chou Studio - White feathers and flames, Jay Chous 4D concert Jay Chous concert at the |  Singapore F1 Concert 2012: Jay Chou |
 Katy Perry - F1 Singapore |  Katy Perry - F1 Singapore |  Singapore F1 GP | Jay Chou ��������������������������������������������� The Era World Tour Concert. Jay Chou ��������������������������������������������� The Era World Tour Concert. Jay Chou The Era World Tour |
 Adam Levine - F1 Singapore |  in front of the piano that is in the movie call Secret directed by Jay Chou in front of the piano that is in the movie call Secret directed by Jay Chou | Singapore F1 - 2015 Formula 1 Night Race - Media - Press Release. Singapore F1 - 2015 Formula 1 Night Race - Media - Press Release. reigning RandB king JAY CHOU | Jay Chou Gives Fans Unforgetable Show With 4D Concert Jay Chou Gives Fans Unforgetable Show With 4D Concert Jay Chou Gives Fans |
| Singer Jay Chou holds concert in Tianjin - Xinhua | English.news.cn Singer Jay Chou holds concert in Tianjin - Xinhua | English.news.cn Singer Jay Chou performs at | Jay Chous concert tour heats up Tianjinenm Jay Chous concert tour heats up Tianjinenm Jay Chous concert tour heats |  Adam Levine - F1 Singapore | The Written Chapters The Written Chapters Jay Chou The World Tour |
 Adam Levine - F1 Singapore |  Jay Chou - 魔天伦2013 | Jay Chou fans unhappy with concert postponement to Dec 27 because. Jay Chou fans unhappy with concert postponement to Dec 27 because. Taiwanese singer Jay Chou | Jay Chou holds concert in Shanghai -- china. Jay Chou holds concert in Shanghai -- china. singer-songwriter Jay Chou |
| The Era Concert Live - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Era Concert Live - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Era Concert Live |  从读书，当兵，当舅舅了.还在听。 |  31-10-2014 vs 23-11-2014 No significant improvement Hope it will be better next month I really want to go to the Jay Chou Opus2 Concert!!!!!!!!!!!! 31-10-2014 vs 23-11-2014 No significant improvement Hope it will be better next month I really want to go to the Jay Chou Opus2 Concert!!!!!!!!!!!! | Event To Watch: Opus 2 Jay 2014 World Tour Comes to Singapore. Event To Watch: Opus 2 Jay 2014 World Tour Comes to Singapore. Jay-Chou-Opus-2014-500x290px |
| The Jay Chou Singapore F1 Concert - POPCulture Online The Jay Chou Singapore F1 Concert - POPCulture Online the-jay-chou-singapore-f1- |  in front of the piano that is in the movie call Secret directed by Jay Chou in front of the piano that is in the movie call Secret directed by Jay Chou | jay-chou.jpg jay-chou.jpg jay-chou.jpg |  Adam Levine - F1 Singapore |
 Jay Chou Concert！！！ Opus 2014 World Tour！！！ 魔天倫2 ！！！ Jay Chou Concert！！！ Opus 2014 World Tour！！！ 魔天倫2 ！！！ |  Adam Levine - F1 Singapore | Singer Jay Chou holds concert in Tianjin - Xinhua | English.news.cn Singer Jay Chou holds concert in Tianjin - Xinhua | English.news.cn Singer Jay Chou performs at |  Opus2 Jay concert Beijing Station! fans are so high, Jay Chou is so great! Hes a tough man, I love him! Opus2 Jay concert Beijing Station! fans are so high, Jay Chou is so great! Hes a tough man, I love him! |
Jay Chou Concert: Latest News, Information, Answers and Websites
The Listings
Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music.
Classical Music/Opera Listings for Jan. 28-Feb. 3
A selected guide to classical music and opera performances in New York.
New natural pitch for National Stadium before Junes SEA Games
Consequently, events such as Taiwanese pop star Jay Chous concert, originally scheduled on Nov 8, had to be postponed to Dec 27 to give the turf more breathing space ahead of the AFF Cup, which was played at the National Stadium from Nov 23-29.
Mariah Carey, Jay Chou fans upset over changes to concerts at National Stadium
Recently, the Sports Hub announced it is re-positioning the stage for the Mariah Carey concert this Friday and rescheduling the Jay Chous concert to ensure the quality of the National Stadium pitch ahead of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki.
The Listings: Dec. 16 -- Dec. 22
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, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Previews and Openings ALMOST, MAINE Opens Jan. 12. A comedy featuring 11 episodes, which all take place at 9 p.m. on a Friday, about love and heartbreak in a cold town in Maine (2:00). Daryl Roth Theater, 101 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212) 239-6200. BEAUTY OF THE FATHER Opens Jan. 10. The New York premiere of a new play by Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics) about a young woman who travels to Spain to reconcile with her father (2:10). Manhattan Theater Club, at City Center, Stage II, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-1212. CANDIDA Previews start today. Opens Dec. 28. George Bernard Shaws play about that very immoral -- his words -- title character who must choose between her husband and the poet who has fallen in love with her (1:55). Bouwerie Lane Theater, 330 Bowery Lane, at Bond Street, East Village, (212) 279-4200. THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED Opens Jan. 10. If youre pining for the television series Entourage, currently on hiatus, you might want to try Douglas Carter Beanes new comedy, which covers similar territory: Hollywood agent, cute movie star, tabloid gossip (2:10). Second Stage Theater, 307 West 43rd Street, Clinton, (212) 246-4422. MRS. WARRENS PROFESSION Opens Dec. 18. Dana Ivey stars in what might be the best play about hookers ever written, courtesy of George Bernard Shaw, who deftly exposes double standards in Victorian society (2:20). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 727-2737. Broadway CHITA RIVERA: THE DANCERS LIFE At 72, Ms. Rivera still has the voice, the attitude and -- oh, yes -- the legs to magnetize all eyes in an audience. If the singing scrapbook of a show that surrounds her is less than electric, theres no denying the electricity of the woman at its center (2:00). Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Ben Brantley) CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG The playthings are the thing in this lavish windup music box of a show: windmills, Rube Goldbergesque machines and the shows title character, a flying car. Its like spending two and a half hours in the Times Square branch of Toys R Us (2:30). Hilton Theater, 213 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100. ( Brantley) 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 Walkers Pulitzer Prizewinning 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. (Brantley) DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS On paper this musical tale of two mismatched scam artists has an awful lot in common with The Producers. But if you are going to court comparison with giants, you had better be prepared to stand tall. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz, never straightens out of a slouch (2:35). Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * DOUBT, A PARABLE (Pulitzer Prize, Best Play 2005, and Tony Award, Best Play 2005) Set in the Bronx in 1964, this play by John Patrick Shanley is structured as a clash of wills and generations between Sister Aloysius (Cherry Jones), the head of a parochial school, and Father Flynn (Brian F. OByrne), the young priest who may or may not be too fond of the boys in his charge. The plays elements bring to mind those tidy topical melodramas that were once so popular. But Mr. Shanley makes subversive use of musty conventions (1:30). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) JERSEY BOYS From grit to glamour with the Four Seasons, directed by the pop repackager Des McAnuff (The Whos 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) LATINOLOGUES Created and written by Rick Najera and directed by Cheech Marin, long since de-Chonged, this is a series of loosely linked monologues delivered in character by Mr. Najera and three other talented Latino performers. Mr. Najera and his compadres can be skillful slingers of one-liners, but the characters cooked up to transmit them are neither fresh nor fully realized. In contrast to the colorfully individualized portraits in John Leguizamos solo shows, the men and women of Latinologues are composites of worn, easy stereotypes (1:30). Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Charles Isherwood) THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Love is a many-flavored thing, from sugary to sour, in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucass encouragingly ambitious and discouragingly unfulfilled new musical. The show soars only in the sweetly bitter songs performed by the wonderful Victoria Clark, as an American abroad (2:15). Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE ODD COUPLE Odd is not the word for this couple. How could an adjective suggesting strangeness or surprise apply to a production so calculatedly devoted to the known, the cozy, the conventional? As the title characters in Neil Simons 1965 comedy, directed as if to a metronome by Joe Mantello, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise their star performances from The Producers, and its not a natural fit. Dont even consider killing yourself because the show is already sold out (2:10). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) SEASCAPE While George Grizzard sounds affecting depths in this audience-friendly revival of Edward Albees 1975 Pulitzer Prizewinner, Mark Lamoss production is most notable for being likable and forgettable, traits seldom associated with Albee plays. The ever-vital Frances Sternhagen plays life-affirming wife to Mr. Grizzards curmudgeonly husband, while Frederick Weller and the wonderful Elizabeth Marvel are the sea creatures who confront the old couple one afternoon at the beach (1:45). Lincoln Center Theater, at the Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200.(Brantley) SPAMALOT (Tony Award, Best Musical 2005) This staged re-creation of the mock-medieval movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail is basically a singing scrapbook for Python fans. Such a good time is being had by so many people that this fitful, eager celebration of inanity and irreverence has found a large and lucrative audience (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * SWEENEY TODD Sweet dreams, New York. This thrilling new revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheelers musical, with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone leading a cast of 10 who double as their own musicians, burrows into your thoughts like a campfire storyteller who knows what really scares you. The inventive director John Doyle aims his pared-down interpretation at the squirming child in everyone, who wants to have his worst fears both confirmed and dispelled (2:30). Eugene ONeill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) SWEET CHARITY This revival of the 1966 musical never achieves more than a low-grade fever when whats wanted is that old steam heat. In the title role of the hopeful dance-hall hostess, the appealing but underequipped Christina Applegate is less a shopworn angel than a merry cherub (2:30). Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) SOUVENIR Stephen Temperleys sweet, long love letter of a play celebrates the unlikely career of Florence Foster Jenkins, a notoriously tone-deaf soprano socialite. Its a show that could easily have been pure camp, and at over two hours it still wears thin. But with Vivian Matalon directing the redoubtable Judy Kaye as Mrs. Jenkins, and Donald Corren as her accompanist, the plays investigative empathy turns the first act into unexpectedly gentle, affecting comedy (2:15). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) A TOUCH OF THE POET It takes Gabriel Byrne, playing a self-dramatizing monster father, roughly an hour to find his feet in Doug Hughess lukewarm revival of Eugene ONeills drama. But when he does, in the shows second half, audiences are allowed a rare glimpse of a thrilling process: an actors taking hold of the reins of a runaway role and riding for all its worth. Unfortunately, nothing else in this underdirected, undercast production begins to match his pace (2:40). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, Manhattan, (212) 719-1300. (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 Finns score sounds plumper and more rewarding than it did Off Broadway, providing a sprinkling of sugar to complement the sass in Rachel Sheinkins 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. (Isherwood) THE WOMAN IN WHITE Bravely flouting centuries of accepted scientific theory, the creators of this adaptation of Wilkie Collinss spine tingler have set out to prove that the world is flat, after all. This latest offering from Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Trevor Nunn, seems to exist entirely in two dimensions, from its computer-generated backdrops to its decorative chess-piece-like characters (2:50). Marquis Theater, 211 West 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Off Broadway * ABIGAILS PARTY Scott Elliotts thoroughly delectable production of Mike Leighs 1977 comedy about domestic discord among the British middle classes. Jennifer Jason Leigh leads a superb ensemble cast as a party hostess who wields the gin bottle like a deadly weapon, resulting in an evening of savagely funny chaos (2:15). Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Isherwood) ALMOST HEAVEN: SONGS OF JOHN DENVER Almost 30 of John Denvers songs are rediscovered and reinvented, as the shows publicity material says, but not generally improved upon. But Nicholas Rodriguez hits the high notes of Calypso spectacularly (2:00). Promenade Theater, 2162 Broadway, at 76th Street, (212) 239-6200.(Neil Genzlinger) * 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). Dodger Stages, Stage 4, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200.(Isherwood) APPARITION Anne Washburns gothic shorts are like an excellent late-night storytelling session at the Vincent Price camp for disturbed children (1:20). Connelly Theater, 220 East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 352-3101. (Jason Zinoman) * CELEBRATION and THE ROOM The Atlantic Theater Companys production of the first and most recent plays by Harold Pinter gets only the later work right. (Thats Celebration, an unexpectedly boisterous comedy from 2000.) But if the italicized acting scales down dramatic effectiveness, it heightens thematic clarity. Essential viewing for anyone wondering why Mr. Pinter won the Nobel Prize this year (1:45). Atlantic Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) DRUMSTRUCK This noisy novelty is a mixed blessing. Providing a two-foot drum on every seat, it offers an opportunity to exorcise aggressions by delivering a good beating, and, on a slightly more elevated level, it presents a superficial introduction to African culture, lessons in drumming and 90 minutes of nonstop music, song and dancing by a good-natured cast (1:30). Dodger Stages, Stage 2, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Lawrence Van Gelder) FIVE COURSE LOVE This musical is pleasantly fluffy, but Heather Ayers may make a star vehicle out of it, thanks to an energetic, versatile performance in five roles. She, John Bolton and Jeff Gurner search for love in five restaurants, with a too-generous portion of bad accents and phallic jokes along the way, but lots of laughs (1:30). Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, Greenwich Village, (212) 307-4100. (Genzlinger) HAYMARKET Zayd Dohrn, son of Weather Underground members Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, mixes documentary, fiction and memory in this play about the bomb that exploded at an 1886 workers rally in Chicago and the anarchists who were hanged for the crime (2:05). Beckett Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Miriam Horn) HIS ROYAL HIPNESS LORD BUCKLEY IN THE ZAM ZAM ROOM Jake Broders scrupulous (and rigid) re-creation of the influential nightclub comic Lord Buckley, an unlikely mix of English royalty and Dizzy Gillespie (1:50). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200. ( Zinoman). INFERTILITY A harmless, insubstantial and highly amplified musical about the struggles of five people hoping to become parents (1:20). Dillons, 245 West 54th Street, Manhattan, (212) 868-4444. (Zinoman) * IN THE CONTINUUM Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter are both the authors and the performers of this smart, spirited and disarmingly funny show about two women: one a middle-class mother in Zimbabwe, the other a 19-year-old at loose ends in Los Angeles whose lives are upended by HIV diagnoses. Emphatically not a downer (1:30). Perry Street Theater, 31 Perry Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 868-4444. (Isherwood) * KLONSKY & SCHWARTZ Romulus Linneys amusing if thin drama follows the unbalanced friendship between the poet Delmore Schwartz and his protégé (1:30). Ensemble Studio Theater, 549 West 52nd Street, Clinton, (212) 352-3101. (Zinoman) MISS WITHERSPOON This poignant, funny mess of a comedy by Christopher Durang, set in an antechamber of the afterlife, cheerfully suggests that there are worse fates than death for sensitive souls in this self-destructive world. The play meanders but has the good fortune to star the priceless Kristine Nielsen as a dead woman who intends to stay that way (1:20). Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Brantley) MR. MARMALADE A zany comedy by Noah Haidle about emotionally disturbed children. Yes, you read that right. Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under plays the now-cuddly, now-abusive imaginary friend of a neglected 4-year-old. Unfortunately, Mr. Haidle never truly capitalizes on his provocative conceit, choosing instead to draw us a scary but ultimately hollow cartoon (1:50). Roundabout Theater Company, Laura Pels Theater, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Isherwood) THE OTHER SIDE In Ariel Dorfmans ponderous comedy-drama, an old couple standing in for all of Suffering Humanity endure the trials of warfare and the bureaucratic absurdities that come with peace. Even the redoubtable Rosemary Harris and John Cullum can do little to enliven the proceedings (1:30). Manhattan Theater Club, City Center Stage I, 131 West 55th Street, (212) 581-1212. (Isherwood) PETER PAN (2:00). Entertaining without being exhilarating (2:00). The Theater at Madison Square Garden, 4 Penn Plaza, (212) 307-7171. (Lawrence Van Gelder) Radio City Christmas Spectacular It remains prime entertainment (1:30). Radio City Music Hall, (212) 307-1000. (Van Gelder) ROPE The key revelation of this revival of the Patrick Hamilton play that became a Hitchcock movie: The whole darn thing was originally set in a fancy London parlor stuffed with fancy British people. David Warrens staging of this theatrical relic boasts a juicy cast, but the play just lies there, like the corpse in the chest at center stage (2:05). Zipper Theater, 336 West 37th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) TIGHT EMBRACE Jorge Ignacio Cortiñass political hostage drama wants to show, with its dash of magic realism and flickering poetic fire, how human beings use language as a weapon to betray one another. Good acting, especially by Zabryna Guevara, helps the play toward its goal (2:00). Intar Theater at the Kirk on Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Andrea Stevens) * THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL Led by Lois Smith in a heart-wrenching performance, the cast never strikes a false note in Harris Yulins beautifully mounted revival of Horton Footes drama, finding an emotional authenticity in a work largely remembered as a tear-jerking chestnut. This is not to say you should neglect to bring handkerchiefs (2:15). Signature Theater, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 244-7529. (Brantley) Off Off Broadway BIG APPLE CIRCUS -- GRANDMA GOES TO HOLLYWOOD Long on sweetness, rich in color and highly tuneful, but short on eye-popping, cheer-igniting wows (2:10). Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, Broadway and 63rd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Van Gelder) FEAR ITSELF: SECRETS OF THE WHITE HOUSE In the latest cartoonish send-up of the Bush administration, the simple task of translating ideas into dramatic form seems to have been overlooked (1:45). Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, at 10th Street, East Village; (212) 352-0255. ( Zinoman). THE REVENGERS TRAGEDY Sounds like Shakespeare, bleeds like a Friday the 13th movie. Authorship of this 400-year-old play is uncertain, but the Red Bull Theaters interpretation, adapted and directed by Jesse Berger, is definitive, anchored by a dynamite performance by Matthew Rauch as a fellow bent on avenging his loves death in a dukedom full of degenerates (2:05). Culture Project @ 45 Bleecker, 45 Bleecker Street, at Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 352-0255. (Genzlinger) THREE DOLLAR BILL Three exhaustingly clever one-acts by Kirk Wood Bromley about being gay, conservative and miserable (2:00). Center Stage, 48 West 21st Street, Flatiron district, fourth floor; (212) 501-4528. (Zinoman). Long-Running Shows AVENUE Q R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden, 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) FIDDLER ON THE ROOF The Shtetl Land pavilion in the theme park called Broadway. With Rosie ODonnell and Harvey Fierstein (2:55). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (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). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) MAMMA MIA! The jukebox that devoured Broadway (2:20). Cadillac Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212) 239-6200. (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) THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) Is there such a thing as stand-up existentialism? If not, Will Eno has just invented it. Stand-up-style comic riffs and deadpan hipster banter keep interrupting the corrosively bleak narrative. Mr. Eno is a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation (1:10). DR2 Theater, 103 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) WICKED Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Last Chance BACH AT LEIPZIG Itamar Mosess comedy is an ardent but hollow literary homage to Tom Stoppard stuffed with arcana about religious and musical squabbles in 18th-century Germany and knowingly feeble jokes. Despite the nimble gifts of a first-rate cast, the play never works up the farcical energy to lift us over the puddles of book-learning (2:15). New York Theater Workshop, 79 East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 239-6200, closing Sunday. (Isherwood) * CORONADO Dennis Lehane, the novelist known for Mystic River, tries his hand at playwriting and, remarkably, finds something fresh in the shady-characters-in-a-bar genre. The trick: throwing the clock out the window. The actors of the Invisible City Theater Company play it full throttle, to great effect (2:00). Invisible City Theater, at Manhattan Theater Source, 177 MacDougal Street, between Eighth Street and Waverly Place, Greenwich Village, (212) 981-8240, closing tomorrow. (Genzlinger) THIRD Heidi is having hot flashes. In this thoughtful, seriously imbalanced comedy, Wendy Wasserstein takes her archetypal heroine (most famously embodied in 1988 in The Heidi Chronicles) into the fog of menopausal, existential uncertainty. The wonderful but miscast Dianne Weist plays a feminist college professor forced to reconsider everything she stands for. Though Daniel Sullivans staging is too easygoing to build tension, the play exhales a poignant air of autumnal rue (2:00). Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 239-6200, closing Sunday. (Brantley) Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. AEON FLUX (PG-13, 95 minutes) Adapted from MTV animated shorts from a decade ago, this glossy, incoherent movie sends Charlize Theron 400 years into the future, where she runs around and does somersaults in a spandex body suit. (A. O. Scott) BE HERE TO LOVE ME (No rating, 99 minutes) Margaret Browns documentary biography of the brilliant, deeply troubled Texan singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt is a tender, impressionistic labor of love. (Stephen Holden) * BEE SEASON (PG-13, 104 minutes) A genuinely felt, finely made adaptation of the Myla Goldberg novel about an 11-year-old girl with an ineffable gift for summoning up perfectly strung-together words. With Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche, Max Minghella and the wonderful newcomer Flora Cross as the family nearly undone by that gift. (Manohla Dargis) * BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (R, 129 minutes) Candide meets Tom Jones in drag heaven might describe Neil Jordans picaresque fairy tale about a foundling who becomes a transvestite in 1970s and 80s London, against the backdrop of the Irish troubles. (Holden) * BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (R, 134 minutes) Annie Proulxs heartbreaking story of two cowboys who fall in love while herding sheep in 1963 has been faithfully translated onto the screen in Ang Lees landmark film. Heath Ledger (in a great performance worthy of Brando at his peak) and Jake Gyllenhaal bring them fully alive. (Holden) THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (PG, 135 minutes) This honorable adaptation of C. S. Lewiss novel has much of the power and charm of the source. The fusing of live action and computer-generated imagery is adequate, if rarely inspiring. Adult viewers are likely to imbibe the films wonders indirectly, through the eyes of accompanying children, who are likely to be delighted, and sometimes awed. (Scott) * DOWN TO THE BONE (No rating, 105 minutes) Down to the Bone, which won the special jury prize at last years Sundance Festival, is the kind of movie most independent films strive in vain to be: a small, beautifully faceted gem. Vera Farmiga gives a pitch-perfect performance as Irene, a mother of two whose life is precariously built around a cocaine addiction. (Dana Stevens) * GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. (PG, 90 minutes) George Clooney, with impressive rigor and intelligence, examines the confrontation between the CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow (a superb David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (himself). Plunging you into a smoky, black-and-white world of political paranoia and commercial pressure, the film is a history lesson and a passionate essay on power, responsibility and the ethics of journalism. (Scott) * HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (PG-13, 150 minutes) Childhood ends for the young wizard with the zigzag scar in the latest addition to the Potter saga, even as the director Mike Newell keeps its British eccentricity, fatalism and steady-on pluck irresistibly intact. (Dargis) IN THE MIX (PG-13, 97 minutes) This predictable, one-dimensional romantic comedy is all about its star, Usher, who plays a New York D.J. beloved by one and all. Beautiful women lust after him, but when a Mafia princess (Emmanuelle Chriqui) joins their number, her mobster father (Chazz Palminteri) disapproves. Even though Darrell (Usher) once took a bullet for him. (Anita Gates) ISNT THIS A TIME!: A TRIBUTE TO HAROLD LEVENTHAL (No rating, 90 minutes) Jim Browns touching documentary cuts between onstage musical numbers and behind-the-scenes recollections from the Weavers; Arlo Guthrie; Peter, Paul and Mary; and other folk musicians who organized and performed a Thanksgiving 2003 tribute concert to this distinguished manager and promoter, who helped establish their careers. (Laura Kern) * KING KONG (PG-13, 180 minutes) Peter Jacksons remake is, almost by definition, too much -- too long, too big, too stuffed with characters and effects-driven set pieces -- but it is also remarkably nimble and sweet. Going back to the Depression-era setting of the 1933 original, Mr. Jacksons film is as much a tribute to the old, seat-of-the-pants spirit of early motion pictures as it is an exercise in technological bravura. Naomi Watts as the would-be movie star Ann Darrow and Andy Serkis as the big monkey who loves her have a rapport that gives the spectacle the pathos and sweetness it needs, and help to turn a brute spectacle into a pop tragedy. (Scott) JARHEAD (R, 123 minutes) Sam Mendess film about marines waiting for action in the 1991 Persian Gulf war is often vivid and profane, like the Anthony Swofford memoir on which it is based, and some of the performances crackle with energy. But the film as a whole feels strangely detached and -- even more strangely, given its topical resonance -- irrelevant. (Scott) KISS KISS, BANG BANG (R, 103 minutes) Clever and dumb at the same time, this hectic pastiche of Los Angeles noir conventions offers opportunities for Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan to have a good time with hard-boiled dialogue, and the audience to have a few laughs watching them. The pictures self-conscious manipulations of tone and chronology might have seemed fresh and witty 10 years ago, but probably not even then. (Scott) KRISANA/THE FALLEN (No rating, 90 minutes, in Latvian) Walking on a bridge late one night, a dour Latvian bureaucrat witnesses a strangers suicide. Posing as the dead womans boyfriend, he slowly loses himself in a tormented investigation of the womans last days. Though its story is slight, Krisana is a moving meditation on guilt and responsibility. (Dana Stevens) MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (PG-13, 144 minutes) Think As the Geisha Turns with devious rivals, swoonworthy swains, a jaw-dropping dance number recycled from Madonnas Drowned World tour and much clinching, panting and scheming. Directed by Rob Marshall from the Arthur Golden book, and starring Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh. (Dargis) MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT (No rating, 108 minutes) This weepie about the tender friendship between a 70-something British widow (Joan Plowright) and a struggling young writer (Rupert Friend) is as anachronistic as the notion of a Terence Rattigan play set in the present. (Holden) * PARADISE NOW (PG-13, 90 minutes, in Arabic and Hebrew) This melodrama about two Palestinians, best friends from childhood, chosen to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv is a superior thriller whose shrewdly inserted plot twists and emotional wrinkles are calculated to put your heart in your throat and keep it there. (Holden) * PRIDE & PREJUDICE (PG, 128 minutes) In this sumptuous, extravagantly romantic adaptation of Jane Austens 1813 novel, Keira Knightleys Elizabeth Bennet exudes a radiance that suffuses the movie. This is a banquet of high-end comfort food perfectly cooked and seasoned to Anglophilic tastes. (Holden) RENT (PG-13, 135 minutes) Jonathan Larsons beloved musical is as loud, earnest and sentimental as ever. But somehow, as it has made the transition to the screen almost a decade after its theatrical debut (with much of the original stage cast), the show has dated less than the objections to it. Yes, the East Village was never really like this, but in Chris Columbuss hands, the hectic updating of La Bohème to the age of AIDS and gentrification feels surprisingly sweet and fresh. (Scott) * SYRIANA (R, 122 minutes) Ambitious, angry and complicated, Stephen Gaghans second film tackles terrorism, American foreign policy, global trade and the oil business through four interwoven stories. There are at least a half-dozen first-rate performances, and Mr. Gaghan, who wrote and directed, reinvents the political thriller as a vehicle for serious engagement with the state of the world. (Scott) TRANSAMERICA (R, 103 minutes) Felicity Huffmans performance as a preoperative transsexual on a cross-country journey with her long-lost son is sensitive and convincing, and helps the picture rise above its indie road-picture clichés. (Scott) TRAPPED BY MORMONS (No rating, 69 minutes) A labored exercise in facile camp, this would-be cult curiosity remakes a notorious 1922 Mormonsploitation flick about a mesmeric vampire recruiter for the Latter Day Saints and his dim-witted victim. No, it isnt as fun as it sounds. (Nathan Lee) WALK THE LINE (PG-13, 138 minutes) Johnny Cash gets the musical biopic treatment in this moderately entertaining, never quite convincing chronicle of his early years. Joaquin Phoenix, sweaty, inarticulate and intense as Cash, is upstaged by Reese Witherspoon, who tears into the role of June Carter (Cashs creative partner long before she became his second wife) with her usual charm, pluck and intelligence. (Scott) YOURS, MINE AND OURS (PG, 90 minutes) Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo inhabit roles originated by Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball in this snug, airtight remake of the 1968 comedy about the combining of two antagonistic families with 18 children between them. Cutesy unreality prevails. (Holden) ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE (PG, 113 minutes) In this extraterrestrial fantasy, adapted from a Chris Van Allsburg story, a magical board game sends two squabbling young brothers into space to fend off invaders and learn the meaning of brotherhood. The movie is sweeter, gentler and more family-friendly than Jumanji, to which it is the unofficial sequel. (Holden) Film Series ARTISTS CHOICE: STEPHEN SONDHEIM (Through Jan. 8) The Museum of Modern Arts 15-film series of works selected by Mr. Sondheim, the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist, begins on Monday with Kontrakt (1980), a Polish comedy that Mr. Sondheim describes as having, for my money, the most devastating last shot in cinema, and Mike van Diems Karakter (1997). The weeks films also include Gus Van Sants Elephant (2003) and Anthony Asquiths Pygmalion (1938), starring Leslie Howard. Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan; (212) 708-9400, $10. (Anita Gates) BLACK LIGHT: FILMS FROM THE AFRICAN DIASPORA The Museum of the Moving Images monthly series of classics and groundbreaking new films continues tomorrow and Sunday with Michel Ocelots Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), an animated feature based on a West African legend about a little boy defending his village. 35th Avenue, at 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, (718) 784-0077; $10. (Gates) BRIGHT STARS, BIG CITY: CHINESE CINEMAS FIRST GOLDEN ERA, 1922-1937 (Through Dec. 22). The Museum of Modern Art continues its celebration of early Chinese film and Shanghais movie stars. This weekends films include Street Angel (1937), a drama about Shanghai streetwalkers; Red Heroine (1929), a silent martial arts film; and Amorous History of the Silver Screen II (1931). Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400; $10. (Gates) ESSENTIAL HITCHCOCK (Through Jan. 12) Film Forums five-week retrospective of Alfred Hitchcocks films continues today and tomorrow with a double feature: The Lady Vanishes (1938), his mystery set on a prewar European train, and The 39 Steps (1935), the classic espionage thriller. Next weeks features include Shadow of a Doubt (1943), The Ring (a 1927 silent) and Hitchcocks first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village, (212) 727-8110; $10. (Gates) FASSBINDER (Through Feb. 26) IFC Centers Weekend Classics Program is presenting a series of 11 feature films and two shorts by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-82). This weekends films, shown today and Sunday at noon, are The American Soldier (1970), a drama about a German-American hit man, and the short The City Tramp (1966). 323 Avenue of the Americas, at West Third Street, (212) 924-7771; $10.75. (Gates) FOREVER GARBO: A RETROSPECTIVE (Through tomorrow) The American-Scandinavian Foundations program honoring Greta Garbos centennial concludes tomorrow with Rouben Mamoulians Queen Christina (1933), in which Garbo plays the young 17th-century Swedish monarch with interests beyond the throne. Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, between 37th and 38th Streets, (212) 879-9779; $8. (Gates) PIXAR: 20 YEARS OF ANIMATION (Through Feb. 6) A complete retrospective of Pixar animated films is under way at the Museum of Modern Art. This weekends features are A Bugs Life (1998), the story of an ant and an insect circus versus a gang of grasshoppers, and Toy Story (1995), about the rivalry between Woody the cowboy and Buzz Lightyear the robot. They will be accompanied by five Pixar shorts from the 1980s. 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400; $10; 65+ plus, $8; students, $6 (not including museum gallery admission). (Gates) A POPULAR CINEMA: NELSON PEREIRA DOS SANTOS (Through Tuesday) BAMcinémateks series of films by Mr. Dos Santos, often called the father of Cinema Novo in Brazil, continues on Monday with How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971), a mock documentary about a 16th-century explorer captured by Tupinamba natives, and closes on Tuesday with Tent of Miracles (1977), a political thriller about a janitor. 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, (718) 636-4100; $10. (Gates) Pop Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. NATASHA ALEXANDRA, LILY CUSHMAN CULHANE (Monday) The Canadian songstress Natasha Alexandra traffics in unschooled, confessional piano ballads. She plays here on a bill with the singer-songwriter Lily Cushman Culhane, whose tracks recall the trip-pop favored by wistful optimists like Dido and Jem. Her honeyed jazzy vocal technique sets her apart. 11 p.m., Joes Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8770; $10 cash, at the door only. (Laura Sinagra) ALY & AJ (Tomorrow) Alyson and Amanda Joy Michalka are singing actress sisters of the pre-tabloid Olsens sort, positioning themselves as happy-go-lucky sylphs with an optimism summed up in their cover of Lovin Spoonfuls Do You Believe in Magic? They open here for the Cheetah Girls, a group formed around the TV movie of the same name. 3 p.m., Nokia Theater, 1515 Broadway, at 44th Street, ticketmaster.com, (212) 307-7171; $36 and $46. (Sinagra) A.R.E. WEAPONS (Tuesday) During that strange early-millennium moment when electroclash was campaigning for genre status, this aggressive group emphasized the clash aspect. After the heroin death of its guitarist, the band imploded. Now its back. 10 p.m., Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 253-0036; free. (Sinagra) BON JOVI (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) Jon Bon Jovis band conquered the airwaves in the 1980s and 90s by sticking together everything catchy about 70s rock: Bruce Springsteens earnestness, Led Zeppelins crunch, Bostons harmonies and lyrics that paint romance as nothing less than a titanic adventure. 7:30 p.m., Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, N.J., (201) 935-3900; $49.50-$97. (Sinagra) THE BEAT GOES ON (Wednesday) This tour of rock history finds guest vocalists like James Chance, John S. Hall, Jon Paris and Andrew W. K. singing classics from the Brill Building to Big Star, backed by an ace back-up band. 8 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144; $20 in advance, $25 at the door. (Sinagra) THE EARLIES (Tonight) Composing their music by mail from across the pond -- half the group lives in Texas, the other in England -- the Earlies come up with an atmospheric space rock that recalls the warm buzz of the Mercury Rev. Maybe its the distance that gives them their message-in-a-bottle wistfulness. 11 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700;$10. (Sinagra) MIHO HATORI (Tonight) Miho Hatori sang with the arty, funky lounge band Cibo Matto. She performs her own eclectic music here with Mauro Refosco and Gilmar Gomes on percussion, Shelley Burgon on harp, and the vocalist Thomas on pump organ and various keyboards. 8, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7503; $10. (Sinagra) THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY (Tuesday) This Swedish band plays politically minded garage rock thats been getting less political lately. 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $13. (Sinagra) LYFE JENNINGS (Sunday) This Toledo, Ohio, native and repeat Amateur Night at the Apollo winner, released his debut album, Lyfe 268-192 (Columbia), last year. His ambitious, guitar-based songs inject crooning neo-soul with introspective narratives about hard knocks and tough choices. 8 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, (212) 997-4144; $25.50 in advance, $29 at the door. (Sinagra) THE LEMONHEADS (Tonight and tomorrow night) After spending the late 1990s in exile, the alt-pop heartthrob Evan Dando has cleaned up and taken tentative steps back into the limelight with solo projects and, now, a revisiting of his old hits and matter-of-fact melodicism. 8, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $25. (Sinagra) LIVING COLOUR (Tomorrow) The virtuoso guitarist and Black Rock Coalition co-founder Vernon Reids most famous bands intelligent and at times groovy heavy metal took the group well beyond the small bar scene in the late 1980s. It returns to play snug CBGBs in the legendary dives hour of need. 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800; $25 in advance, $30 at the door. (Sinagra) LAS RUBIAS DEL NORTE (Sunday) Led by the singers Allyssa Lamb and Emily Hurst, this band mixes musicians from the United States, France and Colombia who mine their Latin heritage in the performance of boleros, cha cha chas, cumbias, huaynos and cowboy songs. 9 p.m., Joes Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200; $15. (Sinagra) LOS STRAITJACKETS AND THE WORLD FAMOUS PONTANI SISTERS CHRISTMAS PAGEANT (Tuesday and Wednesday) The masked surf-rockers of Los Straitjackets augment their exuberant holiday compositions with choreography by the old-time burlesque trio the Pontani Sisters. 9:30 p.m., Joes Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200; $20. (Sinagra) A MCGARRIGLE CHRISTMAS WITH KATE AND ANNA MCGARRIGLE, EMMYLOU HARRIS, RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, MARTHA WAINWRIGHT AND TEDDY THOMPSON (Wednesday) The Canadian folkie McGarrigle sisters bring their gutsy, quirky stylings to the holiday fray. Special guests include the country-rock icon Emmylou Harris, as well as Kate McGarrigles children (and prickly cabaret talents themselves) Rufus and Martha Wainwright, along with another folk-rock scion, Richard and Linda Thompsons son Teddy Thompson. 8 p.m., Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $20 to $69. (Sinagra) THE MUSICAL BOX: LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY (Tonight and tomorrow night) Performing the entirety of Genesiss most bloated work of concert pageantry, 1974s Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, the Musical Box relives the days of grandiose and goofy art-rock, before Peter Gabriel left the band for a solo career, and Phil Collins took things in a poppier direction. 8, TriBeCa Performing Arts Center, Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, (212) 220-1460; $50. (Sinagra) ODETTA (Wednesday) Odetta has been a blues powerhouse since the 1950s, strumming hard and singing with a deep, leathery voice that harks back to field hollers and spirituals. She gives her songs the authority of archetypes. 12:30 p.m., Winter Garden, World Financial Center, West and Vesey Streets, Lower Manhattan, worldfinancialcenter.com, (212) 945-2600; free. (Pareles) MARTY SEXTON (Tonight) A hard-touring veteran of the late-1980s Boston folk scene, Marty Sexton writes heartfelt, autobiographical songs and has gained repute on the songwriter circuit. 8, Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800; $30.(Sinagra) MARC RIBOTS CERAMIC DOG (Tomorrow) The versatile guitarist Marc Ribot plays harder-edged, psychedelic-tinged rock with this trio, featuring Shazad Ismailly on bass and Chess Smith on drums. 9 p.m., Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103; $10 in advance, $12 at the door. (Sinagra) SAVES THE DAY, SENSES FAIL (Sunday) More in the Death Cab for Cutie vein of contemplative emo rock than in the glut of full-on screamo bands that followed it onto the scene, Saves the Day plays here with Senses Fail, which is less distinguishable from other bands in the angst-driven power chord set. 5 p.m., Warsaw, 261 Driggs Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, (718) 387-0505; $19.50 in advance, $23 at the door. (Sinagra) SEAN PAUL (Sunday) With his insinuating baritone, Sean Paul has become one of the most pop-minded exponents of Jamaican dancehall, preferring frisky party jams to the political screeds or raw sexual blasts of more hardcore peers. 7 p.m., Starland Ballroom, 570 Jernee Mill Road, Sayreville, N.J., (732) 238-5500; $32.50 in advance, 35 at the door. (Sinagra) DUNCAN SHEIK (Wednesday) The mild, jangly songwriter who had a 1996 hit with the pleasantly numbing Barely Breathing has a new album, but will play some Elliot Smith songs with the fellow songwriters on the bill, Chris Garneau and Jenny Owen Youngs, to raise money for a friends bone marrow transplant. 10 p.m., The Living Room, 154 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 533-7235; $20. (Sinagra) RONNIE SPECTORS X-MAS (Tonight and tomorrow night) Still as sexy and brash as ever, the leader of the Ronettes brings the voice and frankness that powered hits like Be My Baby to Christmas fare like Frosty the Snowman, Sleigh Ride and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. 9, B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144 ; $30 in advance, $34 at the door. (Sinagra) STAIND, P.O.D. (Tonight) This bill features two of the most prominent purveyors of bad-childhood metal, which made the late 1990s such a rock drag. Staind made a career of being Limp Bizkits alter egos -- big, tough guys strumming and sobbing on a candlelit stage. The born-again, reggae-tinged San Diego rockers P.O.D. scored with the more forceful cry of neglect, Youth of the Nation. 6:15 p.m., Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800; $36. (Sinagra) SUNN O))) (Sunday) The guitarists Stephen OMalley and Greg Anderson play ambient droning metal that has added sonic wrinkles over the years, even collaborating with the noise sculptor Merzbow, in addition to luminaries of doom metal. Growing and Nachtmystium open. 8 p.m., Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103; $10 in advance, $12 at the door. (Sinagra) TRALALA, PALOMAR (Tomorrow) The local bubblegum rock experiment Tralala tops insistent guitar surge with lackadaisical girl-group vocals. It plays tomorrow with Palomar, a local indie-pop quartet with winsome songs that harken back to the 1990s heyday of female-fronted guitar bands. 10:30 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700; $10. (Sinagra) TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA (Monday) Christmas songs on mid-1980s rock steroids, for those who like their holiday spirit as bombastic as possible. 8 p.m., Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741; $33.50 to $65.50. (Pareles) WHEATUS (Tonight) The Long Island melodist Brendan B. Brown is still writing pop-rock odes to adolescence and adulthood, despite suffering some major-label disappointments. His bands latest self-produced material is introspective but still energized. 10, Maxwells, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N. J., (201) 653-1703; $10. (Sinagra) Z100 JINGLE BALL (Tonight) Nothing says Happy Holidays like a pop radio package extravaganza. This one will feature the best that the comeback-less Backstreet Boys, the energetic Fall Out Boy, the beat-friendly crooner Frankie J, the happy-go-lucky rapper Ludacris and the smooth chatterer Sean Paul have to offer. Tonights stars will obviously be the outspoken and eloquent rapper-producer Kanye West and the brainy Columbian bombshell Shakira. 7:30, Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741; $25 to $230. (Sinagra) Cabaret Full reviews of recent cabaret shows: nytimes.com/music. BARBARA CARROLL (Sunday) Even when swinging out, this Lady of a Thousand Songs remains an impressionist with special affinities for Thelonious Monk and bossa nova. 2 p.m., Oak Room, Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 419-9331; $55, including brunch at noon. (Stephen Holden) Michael Feinstein (Tonight and tomorrow night, and Monday through Thursday) From crooning to clowning, Christmas meets Hanukkah in this singer-pianists jolly one-man variety show, A Holiday Romance. 8:30 p.m., with late shows at 11 tonight and tomorrow night, Feinsteins at the Regency, 540 Park Avenue, at 61st Street, (212) 339-4095; $60 cover and $40 minimum. (Holden) * Andrea Marcovicci (Tonight and tomorrow night, and Tuesday through Thursday) In her spellbinding retrospective Ill Be Seeing You Love Songs of World War II, Ms. Marcovicci balances nostalgia for songs associated with the good war with acknowledgment of the real pain and sacrifice that inspired so many of them, providing a dusting of reality. 9 p.m., with late shows at 11:30 tonight and tomorrow night, Oak Room, Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 419-9331; $65 cover, $60 Tuesday through Thursday, with a $50 prix fixe dinner at the early shows from Wednesday to Saturday, and a $20 minimum on Tuesday and at the late shows. (Holden) ANNIE ROSS (Wednesday) Cool, funny, swinging and indestructible, this 75-year-old singer and sometime actress exemplifies old-time hip in its most generous incarnation. 9:15 p.m., Dannys Skylight Room, 346 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 265-8133; $25, with a $12 minimum. (Holden) SINGING ASTAIRE (Tomorrow and Sunday) This smart, airy revue, which pays tribute to Fred Astaire, has returned, featuring Eric Comstock, Hilary Kole and Christopher Gines. 5:30 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; $30, with a $10 minimum. (Holden) STEVE TYRELL (Tonight and tomorrow night, and Tuesday through Thursday) Mr. Tyrell has one of those where-have-I-heard-it-before growls that sounds great on a movie soundtrack but loses its charm in a club, as he rolls standards off the assembly line as if they were all the same song. 8:45, with additional shows at 10:45 tonight, tomorrow and Thursday nights, Cafe Carlyle, Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 744-1600; $100 tonight and tomorrow; $90 Tuesday through Thursday. (Holden) Jazz Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. MONTY ALEXANDER AND FRIENDS (Tuesday through Dec. 25) Mr. Alexander, an effervescent pianist originally from Jamaica, focuses on Christmas songs and Sinatra songs, with collaborators like the saxophonist Red Holloway, the trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and the drummer Herlin Riley. 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592; cover, $35 at tables, with a $5 minimum, or $20 at the bar, and a one-drink minimum. (Nate Chinen) MICHAËL ATTIAS AND CREDO (Sunday) The saxophonist and composer Michaël Attias celebrates the long-delayed release of Credo (Clean Feed), an album inspired by liturgical music, by reconvening some of its contributors: the trombonist Reut Regev, the bassist Chris Lightcap and the drummer Igal Foni. 10 p.m., Barbes, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $8. (Chinen) OMER AVITAL GROUP (Tonight and tomorrow night) Mr. Avital, a powerful bassist and insistently creative composer, leads a band with the pianist Aaron Goldberg and the drummer Ali Jackson; the saxophonist Greg Tardy joins them for tonights set, transforming the trio into a quartet. 10, Fat Cat, 75 Christopher Street, at Seventh Avenue, West Village, (212) 675-7369; cover, $15. (Chinen) BENDING TOWARDS THE LIGHT: A JAZZ NATIVITY (Tuesday and Wednesday) This staged production, created and composed by Anne Phillips, tells the story of Christmas through jazz; the Three Kings will be played by the trombonist Slide Hampton, the flutist Dave Valentin and the tap dance legend Jimmy Slyde. 8 p.m., Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400; $35 to $55 ($30 to $50 for members). (Chinen) * RAN BLAKE QUARTET (Wednesday) Mr. Blake, a pianist with an attraction to cinematic imagery and spooky silence, pays a rare visit from his native Boston; his ensemble includes the guitarists David Fabris and Jonah Kraut, and the trombonist Joel Yennior. 8 p.m., Cobis Place, 158 West 48th Street, Manhattan, (516) 922-2010; cover, $25. (Chinen) * BROOKLYN SAXOPHONE QUARTET / EHRAN ELISHAS SPIRAL (Wednesday) An experimental ethos dominates this double bill, which opens with Spiral, an octet led by the drummer Ehran Elisha and featuring the trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., and concludes with the Brooklyn Saxophone Quartet, a powerful and worldly ensemble founded by the saxophonists David Bindman and Fred Ho. 8 p.m., Makor, 35 West 67th Street, Manhattan; cover, $15. (Chinen) FREDDY COLE (Wednesday through Dec. 24) A charismatic and offhandedly urbane vocalist, Mr. Cole takes a broad approach to repertory that nearly disarms comparisons to his older brother Nat. 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; cover, $30, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) MARK DRESSER AND FRIENDS (Tuesday) Unconventional timbres and extended techniques are Mr. Dressers specialty as a bassist, and he surrounds himself with musicians similarly inclined. He begins this evening in duologue with the trombonist Roswell Rudd; a second set will feature the saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, the pianist Denman Maroney, the bassist Mark Helias and the drummer Mike Sarin. 8 and 10 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $10 per set, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) ELLERY ESKELIN TRIO (Thursday) Mr. Eskelin is a tenor saxophonist known for gruff abandon; his longtime band with the accordionist Andrea Parkins and the drummer Jim Black handles abstraction as well as groove. 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883; cover, $10. (Chinen) ALAN FERBER NONET (Thursday) As on his recent album, Scenes From an Exit Row (Fresh Sound), the trombonist Alan Ferber presents his own elastic compositions for nonet; the ensemble includes John Ellis on tenor saxophone and Douglas Yates on bass clarinet. 10 p.m., Smalls, 183 West 10th Street, West Village, (212) 675-7369; cover, $20. (Chinen) CURTIS FULLER BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION (Tonight and tomorrow night) Mr. Fuller, a hard-bop trombonist with a warm and burnished tone, celebrates his 71st birthday with friends: the tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, the pianist Ronnie Matthews, the bassist Nat Reeves and, as a special guest, the drummer Louis Hayes. 8 and 9:45, Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Avenue, at 38th Street, (212) 885-7119; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) DONALD HARRISON/PATRICE RUSHEN QUINTET (Through Sunday) Mr. Harrison is an alto saxophonist schooled in bebop but drawn to soulful grooves, and Ms. Rushen is a songwriter and pianist known for R&B; their ensemble features Christian Scott, a 22-year-old trumpeter brimming with promise. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow night, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, 60th Street and Broadway, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (212) 258-9595; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar. (Chinen) JAZZ GALLERY DUO PIANO SERIES (Tonight and tomorrow night) Concluding a series of piano pairings, the Jazz Gallery presents the panexperimental stylists Amina Claudine Myers and Vijay Iyer (tonight) and the more traditional but no less rigorous Kenny Barron and Gerald Clayton (tomorrow). 9 and 10:30, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063; cover, $20. (Chinen) SHEILA JORDAN (Thursday) Ms. Jordan is an accomplished jazz singer with a history of working with top-shelf musicians, like the bassist Cameron Brown, who joins her here. 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) OKKYUNG LEE QUARTET (Wednesday) Ms. Lee is a cellist who travels extensively in avant-garde circles; her compositions form a loose framework for this ensemble, which features the clarinetist Anthony Burr, the pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and the drummer John Hollenbeck. 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) ADAM LEVY QUARTET (Sunday) The guitarist Adam Levy, best known for his association with Norah Jones, draws on a broader dynamic range in his band, with the violinist Jenny Scheinman, the bassist Todd Sickafoose and the drummer Ben Perowsky. 9:30 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883; cover, $5. (Chinen) MALABY/SANCHEZ/RAINEY (Tonight and Sunday) A collective trio that treads a middle ground between lyricism and abstraction, with Tony Malaby on saxophones, Angelica Sanchez on piano and Tom Rainey on drums; they come touting a new album, Alive in Brooklyn Vol. 2, recorded live at Barbes. Tonight at 8 and 10, Barbes, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $10. Sunday at 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) JOHN MCNEILS EAST COAST COOL (Tonight) Mr. McNeil, a trumpeter drawn to unfettered harmonic terrain, presents a group loosely inspired by Gerry Mulligans pianoless 1950s quartets; Allan Chase fills the baritone saxophone chair, while John Hebert and Ted Poor handle bass and drums. 9, Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * THE ORGAN SUMMIT (Wednesday through Dec. 25) This descriptively titled engagement features no fewer than three Hammond B-3 organists -- Jimmy McGriff, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Reuben Wilson -- together with the saxophonist Houston Person and the guitarist Melvin Sparks, among others. 8 and 10 p.m., with an 11:30 set Fridays and Saturdays, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121; cover, $27.50 and $30, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) BOBBY PREVITE GROUP (Wednesday) Mr. Previte is a drummer with adventurous tastes but an abiding sense of groove; his ensemble features such likeminded souls as the trumpeter Steven Bernstein, the alto saxophonist Dave Binney and the keyboardist Marco Benevento. 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883; cover, $10. (Chinen) RED HOT HOLIDAY STOMP (Through Sunday) Wynton Marsalis heads up a Christmas celebration, New Orleans-style; his collaborators include the trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, the saxophonists Victor Goines and Joe Temperley, and the bassist and banjoist Don Vappie. 8 p.m., Frederick P. Rose Hall, 60th Street and Broadway, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500; $105 and $135. (Chinen) JOSHUA REDMAN ELASTIC BAND (Through Sunday) The tenor and soprano saxophonist Joshua Redman has been working with this groove-oriented ensemble for several years, and recent performances have attested to its growth; this incarnation includes Sam Yahel on organ and keyboards, Mike Moreno on guitar and Jeff Ballard on drums. 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592; cover, $35 at the tables, with a $5 minimum, and $20 at the bar, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * DIANNE REEVES AND FREDDY COLE (Tonight) Ms. Reeves, a powerfully gifted singer whose Good Night, and Good Luck soundtrack is up for a Grammy Award, revisits another good genre effort, Christmas Time is Here (Blue Note); she shares billing with the winsome crooner Freddy Cole. 8, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street, Newark, (888) 466-5722, www.njpac.org; $17 to $50. (Chinen) BEN RILEYS MONK LEGACY SEPTET (Tuesday through Dec. 23) Mr. Riley, one of the most buoyant drummers ever to serve under Thelonious Monks employ, honors that pianist and composers memory with this rock-solid septet, stocked with players like the trumpeter Don Sickler and the baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber. 8 and 10 p.m., with an 11:45 set Fridays, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $25 and $30. (Chinen) VANESSA RUBIN SINGS DAMERON (Tuesday through Dec. 25) Ms. Rubin, a likable singer, rounds up an impressive cast in this evening of songs by the bebop composer Tadd Dameron; among them are the trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, the alto saxophonist Antonio Hart, the pianist John Cowherd and the drummer Carl Allen. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, 60th Street and Broadway, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (212) 258-9595; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar. (Chinen) YOSHIDA TATSUYA FESTIVAL (Sunday through Dec. 24) Mr. Tatsuya, a percussionist closely associated with Japans noise-rock scene, plays a weeks worth of performances with avant-garde improvisers as guests; among the highlights is a meltdown meeting with the saxophonist John Zorn and the guitarist Elliot Sharp. 8 and 10 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, www.thestonenyc.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) CECIL TAYLORS AHA (Through Sunday) The leonine father figure of free-jazz piano has lost none of his percussive fire, as hell demonstrate with this large ensemble, which includes stalwart improvisers like the trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, the drummer Tony Oxley and the trombonist Steve Swell. 8 and 10 p.m., with an 11:30 set tomorrow night, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121; cover, $32.50 and $35, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) CEDAR WALTON (Through Sunday, with trio; Tuesday through Dec. 25, with quartet) As a pianist and composer, Mr. Walton heeds an articulate, almost courtly variety of hard-bop; hes at his best when his forms spark solos from collaborators like the trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who plays through Sunday, and the alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, who comes aboard next week. 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037; cover, $20 to $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (Tonight and Wednesday) Tobias Pickers much-anticipated opera, a rare Metropolitan Opera commission, breaks no new ground for musical originality and dramatic inventiveness. Whole stretches of Mr. Pickers neo-Romantic score would not be out of place on Broadway. Still, with an effective libretto by Gene Scheer based on Theodore Dreisers landmark 1925 novel, An American Tragedy has its own kind of sweep and passion. The production by Francesca Zambello, with its three-tiered set, is impressive to see and flows deftly. And the cast could not be better, with the dashing baritone Nathan Gunn as Clyde Griffiths, the ambitious social climber; the soprano Patricia Racette as the wistful factory worker Roberta; and the mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as the moneyed and dazzling Sondra. Tonight at 8, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $26 to $205. (Anthony Tommasini) CARMEN (Tomorrow) All things must come to an end; and so the Carmen revival, having made its lumbering way through a host of principals, is finally winding to its close (for this season, at least). The last gasp is had by Denyce Graves, in one of her signature roles, partnered by the very loud but not very interesting Marco Berti as Don José. Ana Maria Martinez has just made her debut with the company as Micaëla, and been well regarded; Erwin Schrott is Escamillo; and Philippe Jordan remains the crisp and able conductor. 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $150 and $220 tickets remaining. (Anne Midgette) LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Tuesday) On opening night of the Mets revival of this Donizetti opera in late October, the admirable American soprano Elizabeth Futral gave a vocally top-notch and sensitive performance of the touchstone title role. Still, determined to sing this daunting role with musicianly honesty, she seemed hesitant to plumb the emotional recesses of this unstable and fascinating character. So it should be interesting to hear her Lucia now that she has gotten the jitters out and lived with the role. The veteran bel canto tenor Ramón Vargas sings Edgardo. 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $26 to $175. (Tommasini) THE MERRY WIDOW (Tomorrow and Sunday). The tiny Amato Opera can pick up on a holiday tradition with the best of them. For the 100th anniversary of Lehars classic operetta, its offering the piece in a new English translation. Tomorrow night at 7:30, Sunday afternoon at 2:30, Amato Opera, 319 Bowery, at Second Street, East Village, (212) 228-8200; $30, $25 for students and 65+. (Midgette) RIGOLETTO (Tomorrow) The soprano Anna Netrebko and the tenor Rolando Villazón, operas hottest vocal couple of late, bring star appeal and impressive artistry to the Mets 1989 Otto Schenk production of Verdis Rigoletto. With her dusky-toned and exciting voice, Ms. Netrebko gives an unusually emotional portrayal of Gilda. Mr. Villazón brings an ardent voice, Verdian style and virile energy to the Duke of Mantua. Yet these valuable young artists are still growing, and the hype about their work does not help them any. The baritone Carlo Guelfi is an honorable Rigoletto; Asher Fisch conducts a dynamic performance. 1:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; sold out, though returns may be available at the box office. (Tommasini) Classical Music EMANUEL AX AND RICHARD STOLTZMAN (Tonight) The pianist Emanuel Axs superb musicianship and Richard Stoltzmans energetic approach to the clarinet should yield lively performances of works by Debussy, Brahms, Gershwin, Bernstein and Lukas Foss. 8, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, (212) 570-3949; $40. (Allan Kozinn) BARGEMUSIC (Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday) Great views and an unusual setting make this floating concert hall one of the citys more inviting places for chamber music. This weekend, the violinist Mark Peskanov and colleagues will charge through all six of Beethovens Opus 18 sting quartets. Tonight will be Nos. 1 to 3; tomorrow and Sunday, Nos. 4 to 6. Tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30, Sunday at 4 p.m., Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing, next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, (718) 624-2083; $35. (Jeremy Eichler) A BOHEMIAN CHRISTMAS (Tomorrow and Sunday) The Bohemians of the title are not funky artists, but residents of medieval Prague. Early Music New York offers a program of 13th- to 15th-century music from Bohemia and, incongruously, Poland; it isnt all Christmas music by any means, but its a nicely organized program. Tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 3 p.m., Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street, Morningside Heights, (212) 280-0330; $40. (Midgette) A CEREMONY OF CAROLS (Sunday) Everyone has a favorite holiday piece: for me, its Brittens Ceremony of Carols, a set of beautiful, not-quite-traditional choral works that are a part of Ignatius Loyolas Christmas concert (also featuring the Omega Liturgical Dance Company). 4 p.m., Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Park Avenue, at 84th Street, (212) 288-2520; $35 and $45; $25 for students and 65+. (Midgette) LEON FLEISHER YOUNG ARTISTS CONCERTS (Tomorrow and Sunday) Under the auspices of Carnegie Halls professional training workshops, the pianist, conductor and teacher Leon Fleisher worked with four younger pianists for a week earlier this fall, preparing performances of Mozart piano concertos. This month the coaching sessions continued in Philadelphia with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra. Mozart-lovers in New York can hear the results this weekend, as Mr. Fleisher conducts two all-Mozart programs featuring the Concertos Nos. 12, 19, 23 and 27. Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $15. (Tommasini) LIONHEART (Sunday) This veteran all-male vocal ensemble reprises its unusual holiday program, Tydings Trew, with carols and motets drawn from the various Christmas feasts of medieval England. 1 and 3 p.m., the Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park, Washington Heights, (212) 650-2290; $35. (Eichler) MASTERWORK CHORUS (Thursday) Andrew Megill leads this veteran group in the first of its two annual Messiah performances in Carnegie Hall. Julianne Baird, Margaret Lattimore, Philippe Castagner and Brian Mulligan are the soloists. This is typically a solid competitor in a crowded Messiah field. 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $20 to $100. (Eichler) MUSICA SACRA (Sunday and Tuesday) Richard Westenburgs account of Handels Messiah has traditionally been robust and deeply felt, not to mention performed by one of New Yorks most finely polished choirs. The solo roster is estimable as well, with Lisa Saffer, soprano; Michael Chance, countertenor; Rufus Müller, tenor, and Kevin Deas, bass-baritone. 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $20 to $120. (Kozinn) NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Today and tomorrow) This week the orchestra has split into two ensembles: one to play the regular subscription program, conducted by Christian Zacharias, at Avery Fisher Hall, the other to play Handels Messiah at Riverside Church. Most of the week, the two programs compete directly -- as they do tomorrow evening -- but today a Philharmonic fan can have both. Mr. Zacharias conducts Haydn and Mozart in the morning, and Mr. Hickox leads Handel tonight, with the Westminster Symphonic Choir providing choral heft an attractive solo roster that includes Christine Brandes, soprano; Sara Mingardo, contralto; Mark Tucker, tenor; and John Relyea, bass-baritone. The Haydn and Mozart program is at 11 a.m. today and 8 p.m. tomorrow, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center; $23 to $76; Messiah is at 8 tonight and tomorrow night, Riverside Church, Riverside Drive at 122nd Street, Morningside Heights; $29 to $72. (212) 721-6500. (Kozinn) ORATORIO SOCIETY OF NEW YORK (Monday) This venerable choir, supported by the Westchester Philharmonic, presents its first Messiah under its new director, Kent Tritle, a conductor whose work at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola offers reason to suppose that good things are in the offing. The soloists are Sharla Nafziger, soprano; Mary Phillips, mezzo-soprano; Rufus Müller, tenor; and Philip Cutlip, baritone. 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $17 to $75. (Kozinn) PRISM CONCERTS (Sunday) This eclectic program, called Heroes, by George!, consists of highlights from various Handel oratorios, including Solomon, Esther and Samson. Thrown into the mix will be one of Handels organ concertos (with Martin Ennis as soloist) and the American Brass Quintets premiere of a new work by Paul Moravec. For the oratorios, Judith Clurman leads the Orchestra of St. Lukes, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and various soloists. 7 p.m., Central Synagogue, Lexington Avenue, at 55th Street, (212) 581-0400; $25. (Eichler) SPECULUM MUSICAE (Monday) If holiday shopping is numbing your senses, here is a concert that should give a bracing jolt to your psyche. The top-notch and highly respected contemporary music ensemble Speculum Musicae presents a formidable and typically adventurous program, with works by Jacob Druckman, Chou Wen-chung, Toru Takemitsu and Charles Wuorinen, and the New York premiere of David Rakowskis Inside Story, a piano trio composed this year. 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 799-2227; $20; $10 for students. (Tommasini) LES TALENS LYRIQUES (Tonight) This French period-instrument band, led by the harpsichordist Christophe Rousset, has made a strong impression on disc and in past appearances, and offers a program with several curiosities, among them Mr. Roussets reconfiguration of Bachs D minor Harpsichord Concerto (BWV 1059), using parts of the Cantata No. 35 as his source. Included as well are Bachs Orchestral Suite No. 1, and works by Leclair and Rameau. 7:30, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $42 to $55. (Kozinn) UNSILENT NIGHT (Sunday) Phil Klines boombox holiday procession has taken root in cities from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Sydney, Australia. But the original one, now a tradition of 14 years standing, begins at Washington Square Park and moves, its boomboxes chiming with Mr. Klines specially prepared cassette tapes, through the East Village in an event thats part caroling party, part meditation. Meets at 6:45 p.m. at the Washington Arch; procession begins at 7 and continues to Tompkins Square Park. No tickets necessary, but try to bring a boombox. Information: (212) 227-6255 or boombox@mindspring.com. (Midgette) VIENNA CHOIR BOYS (Sunday) There are plenty of ensembles with a long history, and then there is the Vienna Choir Boys. Founded in 1498, the group comes this weekend with a program called Christmas in Vienna, under the baton of Martin Schebesta. 2 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $19 to $70. (Eichler) Dance Full reviews of recent performances: nytimes.com/dance. * ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER (Tonight through Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday) Amid the shifting repertory from this vibrant company, there are four evening programs this week of dances or productions new this season -- tonight, tomorrow, Sunday and Wednesday. (The overall season runs to Jan. 1.) Tonight, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday at 8, tomorrow and Wednesday at 2 p.m., Sunday at 3 and 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday at 7 p.m., City Center, 131 West 55th Street, (212)581-1212, www.alvinailey.org or www.nycitycenter.org; $25 to $75. (John Rockwell) ARMITAGE GONE! DANCE (Tonight through Sunday) Back in New York City after a European career, Karole Armitage presents her new in this dream that dogs me, which draws from sources as various as calligraphy and the South Central Los Angeles street dance known as krumping. Tonight at 8, tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.; the Duke, 229 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 239-6200 or www.telecharge.com; $35. (Jennifer Dunning) MONICA BILL BARNES (Tonight and tomorrow night) Ms. Barnes likes to burrow into pop culture in her sometimes comical dances. Her new Hollywood Endings is performed, she says, by small dancers with large personas. 8, Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, between Houston and Prince Streets, SoHo, (212) 219-0736, ext. 110 or www.dixonplace.org; $10 to $15. (Dunning) COMPAGNIE MARIE CHOUINARD (Tonight through Sunday) A Montreal choreographer offers Étude No. 1, a hypnotic solo, and Chorale, which creates a festive universe of sexuality and divinity. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 2 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-0800 or www.joyce.org; $40. (Jack Anderson) DANCEWAVES KIDS COMPANY (Tomorrow) This troupe of child dancers performs dances by some pretty impressive adults, here Mark Morris, Trisha Brown and the choreographic duo of Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig, in a special family matinee. Tomorrow at 2 p.m., Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, (718) 522-4696, www.dancewave.org; $15;$10 for children. (Dunning) FOOD FOR THOUGHT (Tonight through Sunday) This worthy project has three Danspace Project staff members each organizing an evening of dance to raise funds for the AIDS Service Center NYC. The choreographers are not particularly well known, but here is a chance to see whom the professionals are picking out and feel charitable. 8:30, St. Marks Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194; $5 with two cans of food, or $10. (Roslyn Sulcas) SAVION GLOVER (Tuesday through Thursday) This Tony Award-winning tap stylist is back again, doing what he does best. (Through January 15. ) 8 p.m. Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-0800; $34 to $42. (Dunning) DANIEL GWIRTZMAN DANCE COMPANY (Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday) This downtown choreographers work has not been seen in New York for the last three years. His new Chapters, with original music by three composers, traces the trajectories of two lives in a nonlinear fashion. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 3 p.m., Citigroup Theater, Ailey Studios, 405 West 55th Street, Clinton, (212) 868-4444; $25; $15 for students, artists and 65+. (Sulcas) JASPERSE (Tonight and tomorrow) Be warned: for Mr. Jasperses new Prone, the audience will watch not only from chairs but also while lying on the floor among the dancers. Given the delicacy and imagination of his choreography, it might be worth it. Tonight and tomorrow night at 7 and 9, the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 255-5793 or www.thekitchen.org; $15. (Dunning) CADEN MANSON/BIG ART GROUP (Tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday through Thursday) House of No More re-enacts a crime from many perspectives, sometimes contradictory. 7:30 p.m., Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 924-0077 or www.dtw.org; $15 and $25. (Anderson) ELIZA MILLER AND CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS (Tomorrow) In a shared program that is part of the theaters informal free DraftWork series, Ms. Miller will present a piece loosely based on the Roman Catholic requiem Mass, and Mr. Williams will present dances about male saints and the effect of traditional Catholicism on intercultural gay relationships. 3 p.m. Danspace Project, St. Marks Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194. (Dunning) * THE NUTCRACKER (Tonight through Sunday, and Monday through Thursday) The New York City Ballet in George Balanchines perennial holiday favorite, with ever-shifting casts. The Nutcracker is on until Dec. 30, and then on Jan. 3 regular winter-season repertory begins. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, tomorrow at 2 p.m., Sunday at 1 and 5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6 p.m., New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 870-5570, www.nycballet.com; $20 to $99. (Rockwell) PASCAL RIOULT DANCE THEATER (Tomorrow and Sunday) Mr. Rioults unusual perspective on familiar pieces of choreography and music will be seen in the programs presentation of his reworked Firebird, Bolero and his Wein, set to Ravels Valse. Tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., Queens Theater in the Park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, (718) 760-0064; $37; $33 for 65+; $20 for students. (Dunning) SOUNDANCE, INC./VANESSA PAIGE DANCE (Tomorrow) Ms. Paige specializes in dance theater pieces, and this program includes some funny-sounding works, among them one about people who believe that they have a direct line to God (sound familiar?) and another on Christmas shopping fatigue. 8 p.m., Soundance at the Stable, 281 North Seventh Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (212) 946-1771; $12; $10 for students and 65+. (Dunning) A TRIBUTE TO MURRAY LOUIS (Tomorrow and Sunday) An enduring presence in New York dance for about five decades, Mr. Louis created a demanding and distinctive modern-dance style that will be seen here in his Schubert, Index ( to necessary neurosis) and Four Brubeck Pieces, performed by members of the Boston Conservatory Dance Theater. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Kaye Playhouse, Hunter College, East 68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues, (212) 772-4448; $20; $10 for students and 65+. (Dunning) Art Museums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. Museums Brooklyn Museum: Edward Burtynsky: Manufactured Landscapes, through Jan. 15. Large, expertly made color images by a Canadian photographer show industrial subjects like marble quarries in India, a tire dump in California and modern development in China. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000. (Ken Johnson) * Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: FASHION IN COLORS, through March 26. Drawn from the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute in Kyoto, Japan, this sumptuous show arranges 68 often lavish Western gowns and ensembles according to the colors of the spectrum and reinforces their progress with a posh color-coordinated installation design. For an experience of color as color, it is hard to beat, but it also says a great deal about clothing, visual perception and beauty. 2 East 91st Street, (212) 849-8400. (Roberta Smith) * GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM: RUSSIA!, through Jan. 11. This survey of nine centuries of Russian art ranges from 13th-century religious icons to a smattering of 21st-century works, achieving its astounding effect without resorting to a single egg, or anything else, by Fabergé. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212) 423-3600. (Smith) JEWISH MUSEUM: SARAH BERNHARDT: THE ART OF HIGH DRAMA, through April 2. This exhibition is devoted to the flamboyant 19th-century actress whose name was once invoked by mothers as a warning to melodramatic daughters: Who do you think you are, Sarah Bernhardt? Its almost overstuffed roster of items includes original Félix Nadar photos of Bernhardt at 20 and the costumes she wore as Cleopatra and Joan of Arc. 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423-3200. (Edward Rothstein) * Metropolitan Museum of Art: FRA ANGELICO, through Jan. 29. An exhibition as rare as it is sublime brings the divine Angelico down to earth, showing how he had the best of both worlds, using the innovations of the Renaissance to parlay the radiant colors, gilded surfaces and doll-like figures of Gothic art into a final flowering. Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, (212) 535-7710. (Smith) METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: DAVID MILNE: PAINTING TOWARD THE LIGHT, through Jan 29. Watercolors by a Canadian painter little known in the United States, although he spent some 25 years in New York City and other parts of the state. In his quiet, spare renditions of urban vignettes, country landscapes, trees and domestic life, David Milne (1882-1953) focused mainly on aesthetic matters, like color, line and light, while skirting the avant-garde. Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, (212) 535-7710. (Grace Glueck) * METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: THE PERFECT MEDIUM: PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE OCCULT, through Dec. 31. Hands down, the most hilarious, not to mention the most charming, exhibition the Met has done in years: an assemblage of 19th-century and early-20th-century spirit photographs, séance reportage and other examples of transparent tomfoolery. Like all examples of great humor, it is, at heart, also a sneakily serious affair. Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, (212) 535-7710. (Michael Kimmelman) * Museum of Modern Art: Beyond the Visible: The Art of Odilon Redon, through Jan. 23. The timing was off for the big Odilon Redon retrospective in Chicago in 1994. The art worlds mind was on identity politics and neo-conceptualism. Fin-de-siècle drawings of moony monsters and lamp-bright flowers existed on some other planet. Now theres another Redon survey, smaller, very beautiful, culminating in his lush, pixilated late paintings. And the timing for it is just right. 11 West 53rd Street, (212) 708-9400. (Holland Cotter) * Museum of Modern Art : ELIZABETH MURRAY, through Jan. 9. Here is the complete range of shape-shifting, dizzily colored pictures that Elizabeth Murray has produced over four decades. The colors are noisy, the harmonies pungent, the scale big and bold. While art-world fashion has drifted here and there, Ms. Murray has stuck to her craft, with all its difficulties and at the occasional cost of failure and neglect. Her show is a meaty, openhearted, eye-popping event. (See above.) (Kimmelman) * The Museum for African Art: Lasting Foundations: The Art oF Architecture in Africa, through Jan. 6. Like most architectural shows, this one uses lots of photographs and texts, and more than many, it also incorporates objects: Dogon door locks from Mali; carved Igbo doors from Nigeria; Swahili window frames, rich with Indian and Islamic motifs, from Kenya World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery, 220 Vesey Street, Lower Manhattan, (718) 784-7700. (Cotter) * New York Public Library: THE SPLENDOR OF THE WORD: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS, through Feb. 12. Few objects encapsulate their times like the exquisite full-service concentrations of text, image and decoration that are illuminated manuscripts, and few institutions in North America have as many great ones as New York Citys favorite library. Fifth Avenue, at 42nd Street, (212) 869-8069. (Smith) * Rubin Museum of Art : What is it? HimalAyan Art, For a basic guide to the art of Tibet and Nepal, you will do no better than to take a slow walk through this new show, which, using an array of gorgeous objects, distills knotty visual and spiritual systems to a soothing but stimulating entry-level form. 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, (212) 620-5000. (Cotter) The Noguchi Museum: The Imagery of Chess Revisited, through March 12. In 1944, the artists Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp and the gallery director Julien Levy organized an attention-getting New York exhibition devoted to chess, once a chic pastime for members of the artistic intelligentsia. Organizers of this historically intriguing show managed to find most of the works that were in the original exhibition, including chess sets designed by the artists Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Calder and Man Ray * Whitney Museum of American Art: THE ART OF RICHARD TUTTLE, through Feb. 5. For 40 years Richard Tuttle has murmured the ecstasies of paying close attention to the worlds infinitude of tender incidents, making oddball assemblages of prosaic ephemera, which, at first glance, belie their intense deliberation and rather monumental ambition. Out of cord, tin, Styrofoam, florists wire and bubble wrap he has devised objects whose status is not quite sculpture or drawing or painting but some combination of the three, and whose exquisiteness is akin to that of jewelry. His outstanding retrospective is a cross between a kindergarten playroom and a medieval treasury. 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, (800) 944-8639. (Kimmelman) Galleries: Uptown Charles Biederman: Works from the Thirties One of the most interestingly maverick and talented of between-the-wars American Modernists, Biederman left New York in 1942 for Minnesota, where he continued to make art and write art theory until his death in 2004. This small exhibition of biomorphic abstract paintings and one glossy construction of squares and knobs from the 1930s shows what an excellent student he was of European Surrealism and Constructivism. Meredith Ward, 60 East 66th Street, (212) 744-7306, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) GEORGE GROSZ: HIS VISUAL AND THEATRICAL POLITICS This small banquet of George Groszs drawings from 1914 to 1930 -- before he came to the United States -- shows his work in two arenas, for publication and for the stage, at the height of his wit and moral indignation. Achim Moeller Fine Art, 167 East 73rd Street, (212) 988-4500, through Dec. 23. (Glueck) * Claes Oldenburg This excellent show of works from the 60s by this seminal Pop artist includes paint-splattered objects like oversize sneakers and a slice of pie à la mode and soft, stuffed objects like a toilet and a giant house key. Zwirner & Wirth, 32 East 69th Street, (212) 517-8677, through Dec. 23.(Johnson) Richard Pousette-Dart: Presences: The Imploding of Color Though routinely associated with Abstract Expressionists, Pousette-Dart had metaphysical and symbolist interests that distinguished him from better-known members of that group. In the 1960s and 70s, he turned to what you might call Pointillist Color Field Painting, and though the sensuous impact of light, color and thickly stippled paint is strongly asserted, the works are also animated by intimations of cosmic mysticism. Knoedler, 19 East 70th Street, (212) 794-0550, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) CY TWOMBLY: BACCHUS Eight paintings deliver a red-hot visual tsunami via the artists characteristic spiraling scribbles writ large across amazing, angry, joyful enveloping surfaces that are in the grand tradition of the aging painter letting it rip. Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, at 77th Street, (212) 744-2313, through Dec. 23. (Smith) Galleries: 57th Street Gerhard Richter This celebrated German master presents two sets of paintings. One set, made in his familiar manner of squeegeeing layers of wet paint, is enigmatically punctuated by a photograph of Mr. Richters own painting of flying fighter planes from the 1960s. The other, consisting of large canvases bearing blurry, all-gray patterns based on silicate molecules, casts a spell of visionary pessimism. Marian Goodman, 24 West 57th Street, (212) 977-7160, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) Galleries: Chelsea Abetz/Drescher The Berlin-based collaborators Maike Abetz and Oliver Drescher paint large, busily detailed pictures of Renaissance ruins densely populated by fashion models, broken guitars and televisions and naked figures from pagan myth in a style you might call Psychedelic Pre-Raphaelite. Though not impressive formally or technically, they do capture a certain wildly eclectic and deeply narcissistic state of youthful consciousness. Goff & Rosenthal, 537B West 23rd Street, (212) 675-0461, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) Carolina Raquel Antich: All of a Sudden An Argentinian who lives in Venice, where she was included in last summers Biennale, Ms. Antich makes extremely spare paintings and drawings of children that exude moods of such sweet innocence that you cant help suspecting something malevolent lurking just beyond the outer edges of her imagery. Florence Lynch, 531-539 West 25th Street, (212) 924-3290, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) Dave Cooper: pictorial ruminations on the volume and density of mostly pillowy girls Comically weird illustration is enjoying great popularity among artists under 40. The Ottawa-based Mr. Cooper is a master of the genre. His manically surrealistic paintings and drawings of toothy, pop-eyed women in hectic situations mix attraction and repulsion with infectious verve. Jonathan Levine, 529 West 20th Street, (212) 243-3822, through Dec. 23. (Johnson) Gwen Hardie: Face Paintings Each of Ms. Hardies quietly arresting, medium-size canvases depicts a much enlarged part of someones face -- an eye, a nose, the top of a lip -- realized in thin layers of smudgy color. Detail is suppressed, and the paintings veer toward an evocatively blurry and enigmatic generalization that verges in some cases on abstraction. Dinter, 547 West 27th Street, (212) 947-2818, through Dec. 23. (Johnson) BYRON KIM: ODDLY FLOWING Most interesting in this rambling show by an artist who made a splash in the early 1990s by comparing the skin tones of different people in monochromatic canvases are his photographic assemblages under the rubric of What I See. These impressions of important places in his life, like the one of his backyard in Park Slope, Brooklyn, have a sweet, nostalgic poignancy. Each is the result of a 360-degree sweep with a digital camera, with the images reassembled into an intensified whole. They tweak the landscape in lively fashion. But the show needs focus; the inclusion of other, unrelated works weakens its impact. Max Protetch, 511 West 22nd Street, (212) 633-6999, through Dec. 23. (Glueck) TIM NOBLE & SUE WEBSTER: THE GLORY HOLE The latest gimmickry from this British art team consists of metal scrap assemblages that conjure up 1950s junk sculptures and, properly lighted, cast shadows of the artists faces or bodies in profile. Briefly diverting side-show humanism. Bortolami Dayan, 510 West 25th Street, (212) 727-2050, through Dec. 23. (Smith). Lari Pittman New, weirdly antic pictures of domestic interiors rendered in a luminous, splintery Cubist style by this Los Angeles-based painter are visually captivating and poetically mysterious. Gladstone, 515 West 24th Street, (212) 206-9300, through Dec. 23. (Johnson) Paula Scher: The Maps Big paintings in the form of maps of Europe, North America, Los Angeles and Long Island combine abstraction and eccentric cartography with invigorating, subtly comical verve. Maya Stendhal, 545 West 20th Street, (212) 366-1549, through Jan 21. (Johnson) Catherine Sullivan: The Chittendens In a multiprojection video work, professional actors, none speaking, perform scripted sequences of actions. At first the effect is comical, but humor is overridden by an academic mission to deconstruct codes of behavior in film, theater and real life. Metro Pictures, 519 West 24th Street, (212) 206-7100, through Dec. 23. (Johnson) * Zarina Zarina Hashmi was a nomad long before a peripatetic way of life became art-world fashion. Now in her 60s, she was born in India, has spent long stretches of time in other parts of Asia, and in Europe and Latin America. Even after making New York City her base in the 1970s, she kept on the move, and the semiabstract, minimalist art in this beautiful show is about self-location, past and present, in the face of constant change. Bose Pacia, 508 West 26th Street, 11th floor, Chelsea, (212) 989-7074, through Dec. 23. (Cotter) Galleries: SoHo * JIM DRAIN and ARA PETERSON: HYPNOGOOGIA With a kaleidoscopic, mirrored DVD installation and multifaceted sculptures that resemble gaudy 12-foot-high soccer balls, two of contemporary arts most interesting collaborators have masterminded a kind of wonderland of digital and analog psychedelia. The best piece is best experienced by descending into a kind of rabbit hole on a ladder. The total effect is amazing, if a little vacant. Deitch Projects, 18 Wooster Street, (212) 343-7300, through Jan. 28. (Smith) Other Galleries Traffic As usual for its big group exhibitions, Exit Arts current Biennial, this one devoted to the theme of traffic -- vehicular and otherwise -- is messy, youthful, noisy, crowded and entertaining. Highlights include a miniature model of a sidewalk construction site walkway by Chantel Foretich; portraits of 10 New York art dealers -- i.e., art traffic controllers -- by Tom Hébert; a finely made plywood tower mimicking a mold for pouring concrete highway bridge supports, by Mike Wsol; a set of ceramic train cars by David Packer; and many variously amusing, tedious and distracting videos. Exit Art, 475 10th Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 966-7745, through Dec. 23. (Johnson) Last Chance JOHN GRAHAM: SUM QUI SUM A rare survey of an artist whose ideas and eye were crucial to avant-garde American art in the 1930s and 40s reveals a painter who roamed through Modernism but was most original when he connected to his lifelong obsession with women. Allan Stone Gallery, 113 East 90th Street, (212) 987-4997, closing on Thursday. (Smith) * Mfengu The power of female creativity courses through this exquisite show of South African garments at Axis Gallery. All but one of the skirts and capes were made for, and by, women of the Mfengu cultural group. In every case, the surfaces are ornamented with lines of beadwork, as fine and taut as compass needles. Agnes Martin would have adored the elegant probity of this work, and its message of strength in restraint. Axis Gallery, 453 West 17th Street, fourth floor, (212) 741-2582, closing Thursday.. (Cotter) * The Women of Giacometti This museum-quality show of paintings and sculptures focuses on Alberto Giacomettis curiously asexual representations of his mother, sister, wife and other women in his life. PaceWildenstein, 32 East 57th Street, (212) 421-3292, closing tomorrow. (Johnson)
Classical Music/Opera Listings for Feb. 11-17
A selected guide to classical music performances in New York.
So long Jay Chou, thanks for all the songs
It emerged only when we - a few friends and I - asked our past and present colleagues to our Christmas party on Dec 27, and they had to decline because they had a date with Taiwanese pop king Jay Chou at the National Stadium. Right. The concert had .
Opus 2 Jay 2014 World Tour on 27 December 2014.
Anyway, this year, it is Jay Chous first ever full scale outdoor Singapore concert and this is something all Jay Chou fans should not miss ��� Its a MUST-GO! jay-chou-488420. Not forgetting that if you judge from all the sell-out��.
He Manages Mostly Mozart And Great Performers, Too; Celebrated Summer Soloists Lockwood
Ever since P.T. Barnum and Sol Hurok, the image of the impresario has been a flamboyant one. But there are quietly powerful people in the field of arts administration and promotion, too, and one of the more.. John Rockwell profile of and interview with Lockwood; illus (M)
The Search for the ���Malaysia Jay Chou��� is On! | vvens.com
As you all have already know, Jay Chou will be holding his upcoming concert ���Opus 2��� in Malaysia this 14 and 15 November. Need more deets? Click on my previous post here. And to that, the main presenter of the concert,��.
Jay Chou concert postponed to keep National Stadium field ready for Suzuki Cup
Taiwanese pop star Jay Chous concert at the National Stadium on Nov 8 has been postponed till Dec 27 to give the much-maligned field some respite, before the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup kicks off on Nov 23. In a statement released on .
Opus2 Jay 2015 World Tour in Xiamen on June 13
Taiwanese singer, songwriter, actor and entertainer Jay Chou will come back to host a concert entitled ���Opus2 Jay 2015 World Tour��� in Xiamen next June. Jay Chou was Singapores most-streamed artist on Spotify in 2014, while the top track streamed was .
Jay Chou fans unhappy with concert postponement to Dec 27 because it clashes.
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou performs at the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix Formula One (F1) Concert 2012 held at the Padang Stage Zone 4 on Sept 21, 2012. The postponment of the Taiwanese pop superstars concert here at the National Stadium from Nov .
Jay Chou concert, rugby match to proceed at National Stadium despite pitch.
Taiwanese pop star Jay Chous concert at the National Stadium on Nov 8 will go ahead as planned, even as the multi-purpose venue comes under pressure from the Asean Football Federation (AFF) to clear its schedule for 15 working days prior to the start.
Jay Chous Singapore Concert Moved to December 27 Due.
Taiwanese super star Jay Chous Opus 2 World Concert Tour in Singapore has been postponed and will be held in December due to the condition of the Singapore Sports Hub.
Opus 2 tour at 80000 seater stadium - Jay Chou Studio
On the 2nd Jay Chou held a concert at Shanghais 80,000 seater stadium, he started the Opus world tour concert back in May last year, yesterday night was the 40th night, due to it being the second time he held a concert in��.
STClassifieds ��� Win Jay Chou concert tickets and other.
Come and say hi at the STClassifieds booth, where you can win exclusive prizes, including a pair of tickets to Jay Chous Opus 2 concert in Singapore! STClassifieds.sg is an online marketplace by SPH, for you to find��.
Sequels? Sure. But Godard, Too.
THE Jedi knights are back. So are the under-age spies, the small-town serial killer, the talking mouse, the mod 60s agent with bad teeth and a pair of men who look great in black. Otherwise it looks like a catchall season, maybe because so much has happened since Americans last settled in for something as frivolous as a new batch of summer movies. There are films based on works by Melville, Wilde and Capote and just as many that began as Saturday-morning cartoon shows, Web-site series and theme-park attractions. In one unfortunate town, residents are being attacked by giant spiders; elsewhere, a young man in a red spider suit is attacking evildoers.
WTS: Jay Chou ��������� Concert VIP Section PF1 1 Pair.
WTS: Jay Chou ��������� Concert VIP Section PF1 1 Pair Tickets Private Marketplace - Others.
Jay Chous Concert Being Postponed Leads To A Delay In.
Jay Chou and his girlfriend Hannah Quinlivan were said to have gone to Europe to take wedding photographs. With their 11-day trip, fans and the media believe that Jay is indeed getting married in December. He had said in��.
Jay Chou ��������� to Hold Opus II Concert at Singapores.
Update: Jay Chous Opus II concert has been postponed to 27 December as a result of works needed to be done to the new Singapore Stadium. With the new Singapore Sports Hub set to soft-launch in April, and open fully in��.
All-grass field for National Stadium
Taiwanese superstar Jay Chous concert this Saturday and British boy band One Directions gig in March will go ahead as planned, with a protective cover being placed on top of the existing playing field. jonwong@sph.com.sg. This article was first.
Jay Chou needs more grass at Spore Sports Hub to be able.
Its official: More grass is needed in the Singapore Sports Hub pitch to entice Jay Chou to perform there. Taiwan superstar Jay Chou released a statement on Oct. 17, 2014 saying that a vital ingredient for his concert, which��.
Radio; Wednesday Friday Thursday Tuesday Saturday Today Today: Leading Events News Broadcasts Monday The Weeks Concerts
Radio; Wednesday Friday Thursday Tuesday Saturday Today Today: Leading Events News Broadcasts Monday The Weeks Concerts
Jay Chou ��� The Era��� Concert 2010 | Eepings Dream
Is it worth it? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! KL2011, here I come. I have fallen in love with Jay Chou AGAIN. Everytime it seems I decided that I was getting too old for such idol siliness, the talented one will come up with��.
The Listings
Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music.
Jay Chou Publicly Acknowledges Relationship with Hannah.
Jay also revealed his aspirations to become a father before he turns 36. ���Although Im a celebrity, Im also human. I also want to have a great family and kids. I would like mini Jay Chou to watch my concert in the future, so I��.
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Several hundred refunds issued for Jay Chous concert after postponement
SINGAPORE - Come Dec 27, might Taiwanese pop superstar Jay Chou have to perform to empty seats at a concert in Singapore? His show here this year at the National Stadium, originally scheduled for Nov 8, was sold out, with more than 30,000 tickets .
CLASSICAL MUSIC AND DANCE GUIDE
A selective listing by critics of The Times of new or noteworthy opera, classical music and dance events this weekend in the Northeast. Opera GLIMMERGLASS OPERA. Once again, the Alice Busch Opera Theater, home of the adventurous Glimmerglass Operas summer festival, is itself one of the best reasons to travel to Cooperstown, N.Y. (a four-hour drive from Manhattan). This 900-seat theater is near ideal for opera. The offerings this summer are interesting, as always. Brittens gritty chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia has been staged grippingly by Christopher Alden. The Male and Female who narrate and comment upon the story (William Burden and Christine Goerke) are here portrayed as a sullen couple sitting on a couch in roughly the time of the operas composition, the mid-1940s. As they tell the tale of envy, lust and rape in pagan Rome, they interact with the characters with whom they eerily identify. Michelle DeYoung as Lucretia and Nathan Gunn as the menacing Etruscan prince Tarquinius give powerful performances. Handels Agrippina, a satirical telling of the story of the Emperor Claudiuss wife, who tries to get him to name Nero, her son from a previous marriage, as heir, gets a suitably witty, imaginative and compelling staging here. The cast members look and act better than they sing. But the opera is a masterpiece, and the show is enjoyable. The strongest members of the cast of Mozarts Nozze di Figaro are Joyce Guyer, as the forlorn, fragile and dignified Countess, and Christopher Schaldenbrand, as the preening, sexually voracious and dangerously handsome Count. Dean Ely and Nicole Heaston as Figaro and Susanna are also admirable. The director Stephen Lawless keeps confusing the narrative by making points. Still, it is an imaginative production. Finally, Chabriers comic opera LÉtoile, one of the best-kept secrets of 19th-century opera, with a harmonically rich and musically refined score, is almost spoiled by Mark Lamoss directing. He encouraged the cast to deliver the spoken lines and bound about the stage with annoying comic exaggeration. Still, with its gleaming Art Deco sets and colorful costumes, the production looks great. And the music, conducted by Stewart Robertson, is a marvel. Agrippina, tonight at 8; The Rape of Lucretia, tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.; Le Nozze di Figaro, tomorrow night at 8; LÉtoile, Sunday at 2 p.m. Alice Busch Opera Theater, Glimmerglass Opera, Cooperstown, N.Y., (607) 547-2255. Tickets: $48 to $94 (Anthony Tommasini).
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EPIC and FAIL
In order to give the grass more breathing space, Taiwanese pop star Jay Chous concert was postponed ahead of Novembers Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup - co-hosted by the Republic - and lights costing $1.5 million were wheeled in to accelerate .
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Daily news: Jay Chous concert at Singapores National.
The Jay Chou concert originally scheduled for November 8 has been pushed back to December 27 to help pitch recovery at Singapore National Stadium ��� Today picSINGAPORE Oct 18 ��� The Singapore Sports Hub has��.
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Fugitive undergoes plastic surgery so he can attend Jay.
A 23-year-old fugitive, surnamed Hong, who had been on the run for six months, reportedly underwent plastic surgery so he could go incognito to Chinese pop singer Jay Chous concert. He was caught by the police in Hefei��.
Jay Chous Premieres New Music Video Extra Large Shoes
Taiwanese singer jay chou performs at his concert in Hong Kong, China, 19 November 2014. [Photo: Imagine China]. Taiwan singer Jay Chou is back on the music scene with his latest Charlie Chaplin inspired music video Extra Large Shoes. Its the first .
The Listings | Jan. 6-Jan. 12
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, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Previews and Openings BRIDGE & TUNNEL Previews start Thursday. Opens Jan. 26. The Surface Transit star Sarah Jones takes her comic solo show about a diverse poetry slam to Broadway (1:30). Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street; (212) 239-6200. RABBIT HOLE Previews start Thursday. Opens Feb. 2. A husband and wife drift apart in the wake of a terrible accident in David Lindsay-Abaires new family drama. Cynthia Nixon and Tyne Daly star (2:10). Biltmore Theater, 261 West 47th Street; (212) 239-6200. ZOMBOID! Previews start Thursday. Opens Jan. 25. Richard Foreman, a downtown institution, tries multimedia in his latest experimental event, which features large projections shot in Australia (1:15). Ontological-Hysteric Theater, 131 East 10th Street, East Village; (212) 352-3101. ALMOST, MAINE Opens Thursday. A comedy consisting of 11 episodes that all take place at 9 p.m. on a Friday, about love and heartbreak in a cold town in Maine (2:00). Daryl Roth Theater, 101 East 15th Street, Flatiron district; (212) 239-6200. BEAUTY OF THE FATHER Opens Tuesday. The New York premiere of a new play by Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics) about a young woman who travels to Spain to reconcile with her father (2:10). Manhattan Theater Club, at City Center, Stage II, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan; (212) 581-1212. THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED Opens Monday. If you are pining for the television series Entourage, currently on hiatus, you might want to try Douglas Carter Beanes new comedy, which covers similar territory: Hollywood agent, cute movie star, tabloid gossip (2:10). Second Stage Theater, 307 West 43rd Street, Clinton; (212) 246-4422. Broadway CHITA RIVERA: THE DANCERS LIFE At 72, Ms. Rivera still has the voice, the attitude and -- oh, yes -- the legs to magnetize all eyes in an audience. If the singing scrapbook of a show that surrounds her is less than electric, there is no denying the electricity of the woman at its center (2:00). Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street; (212) 239-6200. (Ben Brantley) 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 Walkers Pulitzer Prizewinning 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. (Brantley) DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS On paper this musical tale of two mismatched scam artists has an awful lot in common with The Producers. But if you are going to court comparison with giants, you had better be prepared to stand tall. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz, never straightens out of a slouch (2:35). (On Jan. 17, Jonathan Pryce will assume Mr. Lithgows role.) Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street; (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * DOUBT, A PARABLE (Pulitzer Prize, Best Play 2005, and Tony Award, Best Play 2005) Set in the Bronx in 1964, this play by John Patrick Shanley is structured as a clash of wills and generations between Sister Aloysius (Cherry Jones), the head of a parochial school, and Father Flynn (Brian F. OByrne), the young priest who may or may not be too fond of the boys in his charge. The plays elements bring to mind those tidy topical melodramas that were once so popular. But Mr. Shanley makes subversive use of musty conventions (1:30). (On Tuesday, Eileen Atkins will assume Ms. Joness role, and Ron Eldard Mr. OByrnes.) Walter Kerr Theater; 219 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) JERSEY BOYS From grit to glamour with the Four Seasons, directed by the pop repackager Des McAnuff (The Whos 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) THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Love is a many-flavored thing, from sugary to sour, in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucass encouragingly ambitious and discouragingly unfulfilled new musical. The show soars only in the sweetly bitter songs performed by the wonderful Victoria Clark, as an American abroad (2:15). Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center; (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE ODD COUPLE Odd is not the word for this couple. How could an adjective suggesting strangeness or surprise apply to a production so calculatedly devoted to the known, the cozy, the conventional? As the title characters in Neil Simons 1965 comedy, directed as if to a metronome by Joe Mantello, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise their star performances from The Producers, and its not a natural fit. Dont even consider killing yourself because the show is already sold out (2:10). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street; (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) SPAMALOT (Tony Award, Best Musical 2005) This staged re-creation of the mock-medieval movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail is basically a singing scrapbook for Python fans. Such a good time is being had by so many people that this fitful, eager celebration of inanity and irreverence has found a large and lucrative audience (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street; (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * SWEENEY TODD Sweet dreams, New York. This thrilling new revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheelers musical, with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone leading a cast of 10 who double as their own musicians, burrows into your thoughts like a campfire storyteller who knows what really scares you. The inventive director John Doyle aims his pared-down interpretation at the squirming child in everyone who wants to have his worst fears both confirmed and dispelled (2:30). Eugene ONeill Theater, 230 West 49th Street; (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) A TOUCH OF THE POET It takes Gabriel Byrne, playing a self-dramatizing monster father, roughly an hour to find his feet in Doug Hughess lukewarm revival of Eugene ONeills drama. But when he does, in the shows second half, audiences are allowed a rare glimpse of a thrilling process: an actors taking hold of the reins of a runaway role and riding it for all its worth. Unfortunately, nothing else in this underdirected, undercast production begins to match his pace (2:40). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street; (212) 719-1300. (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 Finns score sounds plumper and more rewarding than it did on Off Broadway, providing a sprinkling of sugar to complement the sass in Rachel Sheinkins 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 WOMAN IN WHITE Bravely flouting centuries of accepted scientific theory, the creators of this adaptation of Wilkie Collinss spine tingler have set out to prove that the world is flat, after all. This latest offering from Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Trevor Nunn, seems to exist entirely in two dimensions, from its computer-generated backdrops to its decorative chess-piece-like characters (2:50). Marquis Theater, 211 West 45th Street; (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Off Broadway * ABIGAILS PARTY Scott Elliotts thoroughly delectable production of Mike Leighs 1977 comedy about domestic discord among the British middle classes. Jennifer Jason Leigh leads a superb ensemble cast as a party hostess who wields the gin bottle like a deadly weapon, resulting in an evening of savagely funny chaos (2:15). Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton; (212) 279-4200. (Isherwood) * 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). Dodger Stages, Stage 4, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton; (212) 239-6200.(Isherwood) BINGO Play bingo, munch on popcorn and watch accomplished actors freshen up a stale musical about game night (1:20). St. Lukes Theater, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton; (212) 239-6200. (Jason Zinoman) CANDIDA The two men -- David Tillistrand as Candidas husband and Danaher Dempsey as the sniveling poet who falls under her spell -- arent strong enough to make this a great Candida, but Shaws insights still shine a century after he wrote the play, and the director, Michael Halberstam, manages to draw some good laughs in the third act (1:55). Bouwerie Lane Theater, 330 Bowery Lane, at Bond Street, East Village; (212) 279-4200. (Genzlinger) * CELEBRATION and THE ROOM The Atlantic Theater Companys production of the first and most recent plays by Harold Pinter gets only the later work right. (Thats Celebration, an unexpectedly boisterous comedy from 2000.) But if the italicized acting scales down dramatic effectiveness, it heightens thematic clarity. Essential viewing for anyone wondering why Mr. Pinter won the Nobel Prize this year (1:45). Atlantic Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea; (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD The Peanuts characters grow up, do drugs and have sex in this dark, disposable parody. Good grief (1:30). Century Center for the Performing Arts, 111 East 15th Street, Flatiron district; (212) 239-6200. (Zinoman) DRUMSTRUCK This noisy novelty is a mixed blessing. Providing a two-foot drum on every seat, it offers an opportunity to exorcise aggressions by delivering a good beating, and, on a slightly more elevated level, it presents a superficial introduction to African culture, lessons in drumming and 90 minutes of nonstop music, song and dancing by a good-natured cast (1:30). Dodger Stages, Stage 2, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton; (212) 239-6200. (Lawrence Van Gelder) INFERTILITY A harmless, insubstantial and highly amplified musical about the struggles of five people hoping to become parents (1:20). Dillons, 245 West 54th Street; (212) 868-4444. (Zinoman) * IN THE CONTINUUM Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter are both the authors and the performers of this smart, spirited and disarmingly funny show about two women: one a middle-class mother in Zimbabwe, the other a 19-year-old at loose ends in Los Angeles whose lives are upended by HIV diagnoses. Emphatically not a downer (1:30). Perry Street Theater, 31 Perry Street, Greenwich Village; (212) 868-4444. (Isherwood) MR. MARMALADE A zany comedy by Noah Haidle about emotionally disturbed children. Yes, you read that right. Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under plays the now-cuddly, now-abusive imaginary friend of a neglected 4 year old. Unfortunately, Mr. Haidle never truly capitalizes on his provocative conceit, choosing instead to draw us a scary but ultimately hollow cartoon (1:50). Roundabout Theater Company, Laura Pels Theater, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 West 46th Street; (212) 719-1300. (Isherwood) *MRS. WARRENS PROFESSION An absolutely splendid Dana Ivey takes the title role in Charlotte Moores sensitively acted production of Bernard Shaws famously provocative play, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary on the New York stage this year (2:20). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea; (212) 727-2737. (Isherwood) THE OTHER SIDE In Ariel Dorfmans ponderous comedy-drama, an old couple standing in for all of Suffering Humanity endure the trials of warfare and the bureaucratic absurdities that come with peace. Even the redoubtable Rosemary Harris and John Cullum can do little to enliven the proceedings (1:30). Manhattan Theater Club, City Center Stage I, 131 West 55th Street; (212) 581-1212. (Isherwood) RFK This solo show written and starring Jack Holmes is a reasonably accurate historical portrait, but the performance, unfortunately, lacks the charisma and charm that made the real Bobby Kennedy a star (1:35). Culture Project @ 45 Bleecker, 45 Bleecker Street, at Lafayette Street, East Village; (212) 253-9983. (Jonathan Kalb) * THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL Led by Lois Smith in a heart-wrenching performance, the cast never strikes a false note in Harris Yulins beautifully mounted revival of Horton Footes drama, finding an emotional authenticity in a work largely remembered as a tear-jerking chestnut. This is not to say you should neglect to bring handkerchiefs (1:50). Signature Theater, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton; (212) 244-7529. (Brantley) Off Off Broadway * JACKIE HOFFMAN: CHANUKAH AT JOES PUB The return of a beloved ritual for those wanting a reprieve from enforced benevolence and good cheer. The fearless, explosively funny Ms. Hoffman radiates anything but love and charity as she reviews the year in outrage, both global and personal (1:10). Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village; (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) WALKING IN MEMPHIS: THE LIFE OF A SOUTHERN JEW Part memoir, part stand-up routine, this autobiographical piece is endearing, but not quite as colorful as it thinks it is. Jonathan Ross, the pieces creator, grew up Jewish in Memphis: anecdotes about his life may make for good theater, but will probably be better when he gets a little older (1:20). Abingdon Theater Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street; (212) 868-4444. (Anne Midgette) Long-Running Shows AVENUE Q R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden, 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) FIDDLER ON THE ROOF The Shtetl Land pavilion in the theme park called Broadway. With Rosie ODonnell and Harvey Fierstein (2:55). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street; (212) 307-4100. (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). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street; (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) MAMMA MIA! The jukebox that devoured Broadway (2:20). Cadillac Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street; (212) 239-6200. (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) WICKED Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street; (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Last Chance APPARITION Anne Washburns gothic shorts are like an excellent late-night storytelling session at the Vincent Price camp for disturbed children (1:20). Connelly Theater, 220 East Fourth Street, East Village; (212) 352-3101; closing Sunday. (Zinoman) BIG APPLE CIRCUS -- GRANDMA GOES TO HOLLYWOOD Long on sweetness, rich in color and highly tuneful, but short on eye-popping, cheer-igniting wows (2:10). Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, Broadway and 63rd Street, (212) 307-4100; closing Sunday. (Van Gelder) FEAR ITSELF: SECRETS OF THE WHITE HOUSE In the latest cartoonish sendup of the Bush administration, the simple task of translating ideas into dramatic form seems to have been overlooked (1:45). Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, at 10th Street, East Village; (212) 352-0255; closing Sunday. (Zinoman) SEASCAPE While George Grizzard sounds affecting depths in this audience-friendly revival of Edward Albees 1975 Pulitzer Prizewinner, Mark Lamoss production is most notable for being likable and forgettable, traits seldom associated with Albee plays. The ever-vital Frances Sternhagen plays life-affirming wife to Mr. Grizzards curmudgeonly husband, while Frederick Weller and the wonderful Elizabeth Marvel are the sea creatures who confront the old couple one afternoon at the beach (1:45). Lincoln Center Theater, at the Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street; (212) 239-6200; closing Sunday. (Brantley) SOUVENIR Stephen Temperleys sweet, long love letter of a play celebrates the unlikely career of Florence Foster Jenkins, a notoriously tone-deaf soprano socialite. Its a show that could easily have been pure camp, and at over two hours it still wears thin. But with Vivian Matalon directing the redoubtable Judy Kaye as Mrs. Jenkins, and Donald Corren as her accompanist, the plays investigative empathy turns the first act into unexpectedly gentle, affecting comedy (2:15). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street; (212) 239-6200; closing Sunday. (Brantley) Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. * BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (R, 129 minutes) Candide meets Tom Jones in drag heaven might describe Neil Jordans picaresque fairy tale about a foundling who becomes a transvestite in 1970s and 80s London, against the backdrop of the Irish troubles. (Stephen Holden) * BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (R, 134 minutes) Annie Proulxs heartbreaking story of two ranch hands who fall in love while herding sheep in 1963 has been faithfully translated onto the screen in Ang Lees landmark film. Heath Ledger (in a great performance worthy of Brando at his peak) and Jake Gyllenhaal bring them fully alive. (Holden) * CACHÉ (HIDDEN) (R, 121 minutes, in French) Michael Haneke, one of the most elegantly sadistic European directors working today, deposits his audience at the intersection of voyeurism and paranoia in this tense, politically tinged psychological thriller about vengeance and injustice. Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil are in top form as an affluent Parisian couple menaced by mysterious drawings and videotapes. (A. O. Scott) EL CARRO (No rating, 93 minutes, in Spanish) Pleasant but slight, this sociological farce from Colombia tells the story of a vintage convertible that changes the lives of the middle-class Velez family to mildly humorous effect. (Nathan Lee) * CASANOVA (R, 110 minutes) Heath Ledger affirms his status as the pansexual art-house heartthrob of the moment in this high-spirited farce suggested by the career of 18th-century Venices most notorious seducer. Silly, sly and delightful. (Scott) CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 (PG, 100 minutes) In this unnecessary sequel to a mediocre remake, Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his clan visit Lake Winnetka, also the regular summer dwelling of Toms longtime archrival (Eugene Levy). A tiresome film, full of repetitive, misfired jokes, false emotions and caricatures. Even the pairing of Mr. Martin and Mr. Levy fails to inspire anything more than the occasional smile.(Laura Kern) CHICKEN LITTLE (G, 80 minutes) The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Well, its not as bad as that. Almost, though. (Scott) THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (PG, 135 minutes) This honorable adaptation of C. S. Lewiss novel has much of the power and charm of the source. The fusing of live action and computer-generated imagery is adequate, if rarely inspiring. Adult viewers are likely to imbibe the films wonders indirectly, through the eyes of accompanying children, who are likely to be delighted and sometimes awed. (Scott) THE FAMILY STONE (PG-13, 102 minutes) A home-for-the-holidays movie about a tribe of ravenous cannibals that bares its excellent teeth at anyone who doesnt accommodate its preening self-regard, most recently a big-city executive played by a very good Sarah Jessica Parker. (Manohla Dargis) * GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. (PG, 90 minutes) George Clooney, with impressive rigor and intelligence, examines the confrontation between the CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow (a superb David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (himself). Plunging you into a smoky, black-and-white world of political paranoia and commercial pressure, the film is a history lesson and a passionate essay on power, responsibility and the ethics of journalism. (Scott) * HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (PG-13, 150 minutes) Childhood ends for the young wizard with the zigzag scar in the latest addition to the Potter saga, even as the director Mike Newell keeps its British eccentricity, fatalism and steady-on pluck irresistibly intact. (Dargis) INITIAL D (No rating, 95 minutes, in Cantonese) A street-racing film based on a popular Japanese comic book, Initial D pitches swaggering Takeshi (Shawn Yue) against diffident Takumi (Jay Chou), a reluctant hero who prefers the charms of his girlfriend (Anne Suzuki) to the dangers of hairpin bends. A slick but silly affair unlikely to appeal to anyone over 15. (Jeannette Catsoulis) * THE INTRUDER (No rating, 130 minutes, in French) The French director Claire Deniss most ambitious and poetically intuitive film explores the troubled soul of a brooding loner who undergoes a heart transplant and travels halfway around the world, from the Jura mountains to the South Seas, to begin a new life. This visually rhapsodic film is both profound and profoundly enigmatic. (Holden) * KING KONG (PG-13, 180 minutes) Peter Jacksons remake is, almost by definition, too much -- too long, too big, too stuffed with characters and effects-driven set pieces -- but it is also remarkably nimble and sweet. Going back to the Depression-era setting of the 1933 original, Mr. Jacksons film is as much a tribute to the old seat-of-the-pants spirit of early motion pictures as it is an exercise in technological bravura. Naomi Watts as the would-be movie star Ann Darrow and Andy Serkis as the big monkey who loves her have a rapport that gives the spectacle the pathos and sweetness it needs, and help to turn a brute spectacle into a pop tragedy. (Scott) * MATCH POINT (R, 124 minutes) Woody Allens best in years, and one of his best ever. Beneath the dazzling, sexy surface, this tale of social climbing in London (brilliantly acted by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson and Emily Mortimer) is ice cold and pitch black, which curiously enough makes it a superior diversion. (Scott) THE MATADOR (R, 96 minutes) Pithy remarks put into the mouth of a star (Pierce Brosnan) playing against type impart a greasy sheen of sophistication to this weightless, amoral romp about a professional hit man facing a midlife crisis. (Holden) MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (PG-13, 144 minutes) Think As the Geisha Turns, with devious rivals, swoonworthy swains, a jaw-dropping dance number recycled from Madonnas Drowned World tour and much clinching, panting and scheming. Directed by Rob Marshall from the Arthur Golden book, and starring Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh. (Dargis) MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT (No rating, 108 minutes) This weepie about the tender friendship between a 70-something British widow (Joan Plowright) and a struggling young writer (Rupert Friend) is as anachronistic as the notion of a Terence Rattigan play set in the present. (Holden) * PARADISE NOW (PG-13, 90 minutes, in Arabic and Hebrew) This melodrama about two Palestinians, best friends from childhood, chosen to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv is a superior thriller whose shrewdly inserted plot twists and emotional wrinkles are calculated to put your heart in your throat and keep it there. (Holden) * PRIDE & PREJUDICE (PG, 128 minutes) In this sumptuous, extravagantly romantic adaptation of Jane Austens 1813 novel, Keira Knightleys Elizabeth Bennet exudes a radiance that suffuses the movie. This is a banquet of high-end comfort food perfectly cooked and seasoned to Anglophilic tastes. (Holden) THE PRODUCERS (PG-13, 127 minutes) At a fraction of the Broadway ticket price, its no bargain. (Scott) RENT (PG-13, 135 minutes) Jonathan Larsons beloved musical is as loud, earnest and sentimental as ever. But somehow, as it has made the transition to the screen almost a decade after its theatrical debut (with much of the original stage cast), the show has dated less than the objections to it. Yes, the East Village was never really like this, but in Chris Columbuss hands, the hectic updating of La Bohème to the age of AIDS and gentrification feels surprisingly sweet and fresh. (Scott) THE RINGER (PG-13, 94 minutes) A hilarious and resourceful cast of intellectually challenged actors smartens up an otherwise brain-dead comedy produced by the Farrelly brothers. Johnny Knoxville stars, dimly, as a cash-strapped office clerk who tries to rig the Special Olympics. (Lee) RUMOR HAS IT (PG-13, 96 minutes) Jennifer Aniston, trying her best, traipses through this pointless updating of The Graduate, in which we learn that Ann Bancroft was really Shirley MacLaine all along, and that Dustin Hoffman grew up to be Kevin Costner. Actually, that makes the movie sound much more interesting than it is. (Scott) * SYRIANA (R, 122 minutes) Ambitious, angry and complicated, Stephen Gaghans second film tackles terrorism, American foreign policy, global trade and the oil business through four interwoven stories. There are at least a half-dozen first-rate performances, and Mr. Gaghan, who wrote and directed, reinvents the political thriller as a vehicle for serious engagement with the state of the world. (Scott) TRANSAMERICA (R, 103 minutes) Felicity Huffmans performance as a preoperative transsexual on a cross-country journey with her long-lost son is sensitive and convincing, and helps the picture rise above its indie road-picture clichés. (Scott) WALK THE LINE (PG-13, 138 minutes) Johnny Cash gets the musical biopic treatment in this moderately entertaining, never quite convincing chronicle of his early years. Joaquin Phoenix, sweaty, inarticulate and intense as Cash, is upstaged by Reese Witherspoon, who tears into the role of June Carter (Cashs creative partner long before she became his second wife) with her usual charm, pluck and intelligence. (Scott) THE WHITE COUNTESS (PG-13, 135 minutes) Set in Shanghai in 1936 and starring Ralph Fiennes and three Redgraves, the final collaboration between James Ivory and Ismail Merchant (who died during post-production) wants to be a pulse-racing cross between Casablanca and The English Patient. But this fussy, pieced-together epic manqué never develops any stamina. (Holden) YOURS, MINE AND OURS (PG, 90 minutes) Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo inhabit roles originated by Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball in this snug, airtight remake of the 1968 comedy about the combining of two antagonistic families with 18 children between them. Cutesy unreality prevails. (Holden) Film Series ARTISTS CHOICE: STEPHEN SONDHEIM (Through Sunday) The Museum of Modern Arts 15-film series of works chosen by Mr. Sondheim, the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist, concludes this weekend with a selection of period films. They include Truffauts Story of Adele H. (1975); Stanley Kubricks gorgeous romantic drama Barry Lyndon (1975); Louis Malles sexy comic drama Le Voleur (1967); and I Compagni (1963), Mario Monicellis drama, starring Marcello Mastroianni, about a textile factory strike. Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400; $10. (Anita Gates) ESSENTIAL HITCHCOCK (Through Thursday) Film Forums five-week retrospective of Alfred Hitchcocks films comes to an end next week. The final features include Vertigo (1958), starring James Stewart and Kim Novak; To Catch a Thief (1955), pairing Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in Monaco; the silent version of Blackmail (1929); and I Confess (1953), starring Montgomery Clift as a Québécois priest suspected of murder. 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village, (212) 727-8110; $10. (Gates) FASSBINDER (Through Feb. 26) IFC Centers Weekend Classics Program is presenting a series of 11 feature films and 2 shorts by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1946-82). This weekends film is Love Is Colder Than Death (1969), a romantic triangle involving a pimp, his mistress and a man sent to kill him, shown with the 1966 short The Little Chaos, about door-to-door salesmen who turn to crime. 323 Avenue of the Americas, at West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 924-7771; $10.75. (Gates) NEW YORK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL (Through Jan. 26) The 15th annual program opens Wednesday, sponsored by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Opening day offers the United States premiere of Guillaume Moscovitzs Belzec (2005), a French documentary about a Polish death camp, and two New York premieres. They are Jerry Blumenthal and Gordon Quinns Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes (2004), a follow-up to their first film on the artist Leon Golub, and Radu Mihaileanus Live and Become (2005), a drama about a young boy in a Sudanese refugee camp who takes on a Jewish identity. Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5600; $10. (Gates) PIXAR: 20 YEARS OF ANIMATION (Through Feb. 6) A complete retrospective of Pixar animated films continues at the Museum of Modern Art. This weeks films are Toy Story 2 (1999) and two Oscar-winning shorts, Geris Game (1997), about an old man playing chess, and For the Birds (2000), about a group of snobbish feathered friends. 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400; $10. (Gates) Pop Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. AKIM FUNK BUDDHA AND THE EBONYASIA PROJECT (Sunday) The American-born, Zimbabwe-raised Akim Ndlovu, who performs as Akim Funk Buddha, creates theatrical mash-ups involving dance, poetry, music and storytelling. Here he offers a program exploring Asian music and movement styles. 10 p.m., Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue, at Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 218-6934. No cover. (Laura Sinagra) ANTHRAX (Tomorrow) The amiable speed punk-metal band Anthrax had a tough time defending its name during the countrys post-9/11 bout with actual anthrax. After a decade and a half of quitting and reconciliations, the original band is back in support of a greatest-hits collection. God Forbid opens. 8 p.m., Nokia Theater, 1515 Broadway, at 44th Street, (212) 307-7171, ticketmaster.com; $25. (Sinagra) AUTORICKSHAW (Thursday) This Canadian quartet, consisting of the vocalist-pianist Suba Sankaran, the tabla player Ed Hanley, the bassist Rich Brown and the percussionist Debashis Sinha, mixes South Indian traditional sounds and Bollywood-flavored pieces with funk and jazz. 7:30 p.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200; $15. (Sinagra) CHRIS BROWN (Tonight) Riding rough beats with a still discernable childlike sweetness on the single Run It, the frisky teenage R & B singer Chris Brown snags both the adult hip-hop crowd and younger fans who liked Ushers Yeah, despite not being quite sure what the lyrics were about. 8, Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, N.J., (201) 816-8160; $35 to $45. (Sinagra) CORDERO (Tuesday) Mixing the open atmospherics of the Southwest with the gritty feel of the Brooklyn art scene, the bilingual Ani Cordero (who has worked with Calexico and Giant Sand) and her band make guitar rock that gives urban brashness some borderland mystery. 7:30 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700; $8. (Sinagra) THE BUSH TETRAS, MATT SWEENEY (Monday) The Bush Tetras are no-wave luminaries whose funky punk made them downtown stars in 1980, and who are now enjoying New Yorks return to the sound they helped invent. The local guitarist Matt Sweeney has been in the subcultural spotlight lately because of his Superwolf collaboration with Will Oldham. 9 p.m., Lit Lounge, 93 Second Avenue, near East Fifth Street, East Village, (212) 777-7987; no cover. (Sinagra) DAMON & NAOMI, WINGDALE COMMUNITY SINGERS (Tonight) After the bumpy breakup of the less-is-more indie-rock trio Galaxie 500, the drummer Damon Krukowski and the bassist Naomi Yang morphed into a ghostly dream-rock duo. They play tonight with the intimate, improvisatory horn players Bhob Rainey and Greg Kelley. In the Wingdale Community Singers, the atmospheric guitarist David Grubbs, the vocalist Hannah Marcus and the novelist Rick Moody get together and make literate Brooklynite folk. 8, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, at Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; $10. (Sinagra) DION (Monday) Dion DiMucci sang The Wanderer just as his wildest ups and downs were getting under way. His journey through the 70s and beyond involved folk-rock redirection, returns to doo-wop form, drugs, recovery and bouts of Christianity. Here he plays acoustic versions of songs by the likes of Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon and Hank Williams. 9:30 p.m., Joes Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200; $35 (sold out). (Sinagra) DIPLO (Tonight) This Philadelphia D.J. continues to explore hip-hops global permutations, weaving rap and new wave with dancehall and Brazilian baille funk. Bonus: All galleries are open. 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., Guggenheim Auditorium, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212) 423-3500; $15 (free for museum members). (Sinagra) THE DOUBLE, CELEBRATION, KYP MALONE (Tomorrow) The kaleidoscopic Double uses all the tools at its lo-fi disposal in service of arty pop undercut with burbles, dark surges and twinges. Celebrations noisy rock is a vehicle for the vocalist Katrina Fords guttural acrobatics. Kyp Malone is a vocalist and guitarist in the spacey TV on the Radio. For years a fixture on San Franciscos underground art scene, hes been doing his own thing lately. 8:30 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $12.(Sinagra) GREG GARING (Tonight) Greg Garing once mixed country with electronica, but hes moved steadily toward countrys roots, holding on to old-fashioned, heart-on-sleeve honky-tonk. 9, Sin-é, 150 Attorney Street, Lower East Side, (212) 388-0077; $10. (Jon Pareles) REBECCA GATES (Tuesday) As the lead singer and guitarist for the spare 90s duo the Spinanes, from Portland, Ore., Rebecca Gates wrote thoughtful but driving songs made more intimate by her low, breathy vocals. Lately shes been trying out new solo material. 7:30 p.m., Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006; $9. (Sinagra) BEN GIBBARD (Tuesday) The wistful, sad-voiced Death Cab for Cutie frontman (and the voice of the electronic offshoot Postal Service) will perform solo. 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $20 (sold out). (Sinagra) IMOGEN HEAP (Wednesday) Taking overproduced sheen to the far reaches of existential loneliness, Imogen Heaps single Hide and Seek sounds like the work of an a cappella boy band after facing off with the malevolent computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. She ventures into shoe-gazey pop, too. Zoe Keating also plays. 7 p.m., Avalon, 662 Avenue of the Americas, at 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 807-7780 or ticketmaster.com or (212) 307-7171; $20 in advance, $22 at the door. (Sinagra) IOs (Tomorrow) Just like the Canadian band Stars, the iOs remind you of that exuberant 90s moment when bands like Mavis Piggott and Madder Rose made it seem that smart girl voices over big guitars were the way of the future. The iOs have a guy singer, too. But as in Stars, the female voice is the more affecting. The Primms, the Sugarbeats and Jennifer OConnor also play. 9 p.m., Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow Street, near Stanton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 253-0036; $7. (Sinagra) IVY (Tonight) This dreamy pop trio -- the guitarist and producer Andy Chase, Andy Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and the sultry French singer-next-door Dominique Durand -- specializes in shimmery upbeat songs about evanescent love and wintery ennui. Matt Costa opens. 10, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $16 in advance, $18 at the door. (Sinagra) KAKANDE (Tomorrow) Famoro Dioubaté is a Guinean griot whose band, Kakande, makes music featuring balafon, African and European flutes and cello over electric bass, drums and congas. 10 p.m., Barbès, 379 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; $5. (Sinagra) MORNINGWOOD, THE EXIT (Wednesday) Morningwood is a local band that plays muscularly melodic rock with a hint of 80s bar-pop panache. The bands singer, Chantal Claret, is often compared to the Pretenders Chrissie Hynde. The Exit, a guitar trio, makes melodic punk. Army of Me also plays. 7 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111;, $13 in advance, $15 at the door. (Sinagra) MUSETTE EXPLOSION (Tomorrow) Taking as inspiration the French accordion music of the 30s and 40s as well as Django Reinhardt-style jazz, Musette Explosion plays a kind of Gypsy hybrid thats different from the music of the currently proliferating Gypsy-punk scene. 6 p.m., Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000; free. (Sinagra) LAS RUBIAS DEL NORTE (Sunday) Led by the singers Allyssa Lamb and Emily Hurst, this band mixes musicians from the United States, France and Colombia who mine their Latin heritage in the performance of boleros, cha-chas, cumbias, huaynos and cowboy songs. 10 p.m., Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 683-6500; no cover. (Sinagra) RYE COALITION (Tomorrow) Rye Coalition began as an angular rock band in the style of Fugazi but now mixes in more elements of 70s hard rock. 8 p.m., Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006; $10. (Sinagra) SA-RA (Wednesday) This hip-hop production group, made up of OmMas Keith, Taz Arnold and Shafiq Husayn, has produced songs for Common, Bilal and Erykah Badu, among others. It has its own soul-based songs as well, some of which will be released by Kanye Wests label next year. 10 p.m., Canal Room, 285 West Broadway, at Canal Street, Chinatown, (212) 941-8100; $10. (Sinagra) SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES (Tonight and tomorrow night) While his friend Bruce Springsteen left the Jersey Shore behind and went on to write all-American anthems and parables, Southside Johnny Lyon stuck to the old bar-band basics: rolling R & B vamps and raspy-voiced, good-natured soul plaints, complete with horn section. 8, B. B. Kings Blues Club and Grill, 237 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144; $35. (Sinagra) TEDDY THOMPSON (Wednesday) A British folk-rock scion, Teddy Thompson looks to distinguish himself from his parents, Richard and Linda, while still honoring their legacy. His baritone voice sounds like his fathers without the bite, not always a bad thing. 9 p.m., the Living Room, 154 Ludlow Street, near Stanton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 533-7235; no cover (suggested $5 donation). (Sinagra) LA TROUPE MAKANDAL (Tomorrow) La Troupe Makandal continues to bring the spiritually directed drumming, dancing and chanting voodoo rituals of Haiti to the larger public. Here, in a program called Carnival Dawn, the group concentrates on the rites of winter, particularly the koupe gato, a celebration of the festival of the Three Kings. 8 p.m., the Great Room at South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, (718) 953-6638; $15; students with ID and ages 65+, $10; children under 12, $5. (Sinagra) WE ARE SCIENTISTS, OXFORD COLLAPSE (Thursday) The pointy guitars and firecracker drums of this local band propel the tremulous pleas of Keith Murray into a full-on lust panic. Where similar bands like Hot Hot Heat can sound too studied, We Are Scientists makes its precise parts seem inspired. The trio Oxford Collapse offers shaggy art-rock that recalls acerbic forebears like the Embarrassment. Bishop Allen and the Kites also play. 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $13 (sold out). (Sinagra) Cabaret Full reviews of recent cabaret shows: nytimes.com/music. ANNIE ROSS (Wednesday) Cool, funny, swinging and indestructible, this 75-year-old singer and sometime actress exemplifies old-time hip in its most generous incarnation. 9:15 p.m., Dannys Skylight Room, 346 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 265-8133; $25, with a $12 minimum. (Stephen Holden) SINGING ASTAIRE (Tomorrow and Sunday) This smart, airy revue, which pays tribute to Fred Astaire, has returned, featuring Eric Comstock, Hilary Kole and Christopher Gines. 5:30 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; $30, with a $10 minimum. (Holden) * ELAINE STRITCH (Tonight and tomorrow, and Tuesday through Thursday) Dispensing with her theatrical signature numbers, Ms. Stritch weaves 16 songs new to her repertory into a funny running monologue of her adventures in and out of show business. 8:45 p.m., Cafe Carlyle, Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 744-1600; $125; dinner, which is required, is served at 6:30. (Holden) Jazz Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. ANDERSKOV ACCIDENT (Wednesday) The Danish keyboardist Jacob Anderskov leads this electro-acoustic project, which released its strong second album, Unity of Action, last year; for this rare New York engagement, the bands personnel will include the trumpeter Cuong Vu, the multireedist Chris Speed and the trombonist Peter Dahlgren, among others. 8 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Nate Chinen) PETER BERNSTEIN QUARTET (Thursday through Jan. 14) Mr. Bernstein, a guitarist with a clean tone and a crisp technique, rounds up some estimable longtime compatriots: the pianist Brad Mehldau, the bassist Doug Weiss and the drummer Bill Stewart. 9 and 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662; cover, $30, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) MICHAEL BISIO (Tonight) The physicality of Mr. Bisios bass playing puts him in touch with numerous predecessors in the avant-garde, but his expressive touch is distinctive; he plays an early set with a quartet featuring the saxophonist Avram Fefer, and a later set in trio with the pianist Matthew Shipp and the drummer Jay Rosen. 8 and 10, the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, www.thestonenyc.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) BUSHWACKED (Wednesday) The title of this avant-garde oratorio by the saxophonist Mark Whitecage provides a good indication of its political bent and degree of subtlety; the pieces New York premiere will feature Roy Campbell Jr. on trumpet and vocals, Rozanne Levine on clarinet, Joe Fonda on bass and Jay Rosen on drums. 8 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, www.thestonenyc.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) RAVI COLTRANE QUARTET (Tuesday) As on the excellent recent album In Flux (Savoy), Mr. Coltrane places his tenor and soprano saxophones against the cohesive stirrings of a working band: the pianist Luis Perdomo, the bassist Drew Gress and the drummer E. J. Strickland. 10 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $15, $12 in advance. (Chinen) * DETROIT: MOTOR CITY JAZZ (Thursday through Jan. 14) The bassist Ron Carter leads this conceptual study of Detroits undervalued jazz legacy, touching on the music of Milt Jackson, Kenny Burrell and Barry Harris; also on hand are the saxophonists Yusef Lateef and Charles McPherson, the trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and the trombonist Curtis Fuller. 8 p.m., Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 721-6500, www.jalc.org; $30 to $130. (Chinen) KURT ELLING (Tuesday through Jan. 14) Mr. Ellings sure-footed musicality and literary sensibility have made him one of the premier vocalists of our time; he comes with a flexible rhythm section, spearheaded by the pianist Laurence Hobgood. 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; cover, $40, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) PETER EPSTEIN/BRAD SHEPIK/MATT KILMER (Tuesday) As on the album Lingua Franca (Songlines), this trio blends world folk influences with jazz improvisation; Mr. Epsteins alto saxophone, Mr. Shepiks guitar and Mr. Kilmers percussion each play an equal role in the collective. A preceding set, at 10 p.m., will feature Crunch, a band composed of Mr. Epstein, the bassist J. Anthony Granelli and the slide guitarist David Tronzo. 11 p.m., Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, between Houston and Bleecker Streets, East Village, (212) 614-0505; cover, $8. (Chinen) THE MUSIC OF TOMMY FLANAGAN AND MILT JACKSON (Tuesday through Jan. 15) Tommy Flanagan and Milt Jackson were, respectively, a grippingly erudite pianist and a sophisticatedly bluesy vibraphonist; this tribute features the worthy inheritors Renee Rosnes and Steve Nelson on piano and vibes, and the sterling rhythm team of Peter Washington and Lewis Nash on bass and drums. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set on Fridays and Saturdays, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 258-9595; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar.(Chinen) THE FOUR BAGS (Sunday) The instrumental palette of this collaborative quartet -- trombone, accordion, guitar and reeds -- creates the impression of a contemporary chamber jazz; so does the repertory, which includes arrangements of Chopin and Brian Wilson, along with thoughtful original compositions. 7 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $8. (Chinen) CURTIS FULLER AND LOUIS HAYES (Thursday) Mr. Fuller, the trombonist, and Mr. Hayes, the drummer, were both prominent participants in the golden era of hard-bop; here they enlist Mulgrew Miller on piano and Robert Hurst on bass, and spotlight a couple of young trumpeters on the rise, Maurice Brown and Sean Jones. 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) CHICO HAMILTON AND FRIENDS (Thursday) Since the 1940s, Mr. Hamilton has practiced a perceptive and colorful approach to jazz percussion; he performs here with a number of younger colleagues. 8 p.m., Makor, 35 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 601-1000; cover, $15. (Chinen) JOHN HEBERT QUARTET (Tonight) Mr. Hebert, a bassist with experimental tendencies and compositional ambitions, leads a versatile group with the guitarist John Abercrombie, the tenor saxophonist Adam Kolker and the drummer Bob Meyer. 10 p.m., Detour, 349 East 13th Street, East Village, (212) 533-6212; cover, $10, with a two-drink minimum. (Chinen) JOHN HOLLENBECKS CLAUDIA QUINTET (Thursday) This improvising chamber ensemble pursues texturally oriented and often contrapuntal exploration; Mr. Hollenbecks drumming is one color on a palette that also includes Chris Speeds clarinet and tenor saxophone, Ted Reichmans accordion and Matt Morans vibraphone. They share their billing with Jazz Big Band Graz, an accomplished group from Austria. 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $10 and one-drink minimum. (Chinen) INDO-PAK (Thursday) The alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa leads this new trio, which fuses Indian music with jazz improvisation; his partners are Rez Abbasi on guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla. 9:30 p.m., Joes Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778; cover, $15, with a two-drink minimum. (Chinen) MAT MANERI GROUP (Thursday) On the recent album Pentagon (Thirsty Ear), the violinist and violist Mat Maneri plugged into electric fusion without forsaking the tenor and thrust of free-jazz; he reprises those explorations in a group featuring his father, Joe Maneri, on reeds, along with Jacob Sacks on piano, John Hebert on bass and Gerald Cleaver and John McLellan on drums. 8 and 10 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $10 per set. (Chinen) ANDY MILNE AND DAPP THEORY (Sunday and Wednesday) With Dapp Theory, the keyboardist Andy Milne fashions a contemporary fusion explicitly indebted to hip-hop; his band includes Loren Stillman on saxophones, Janek Gwizdala on bass, Sean Rickman on drums and John Moon on percussion and spoken word. Sunday at 8 and 10 p.m., Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626; cover, $10, with a $10 minimum; no cover for students with ID. Wednesday at 10 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $8. (Chinen) BOB MINTZER BIG BAND (Tonight and tomorrow night) Mr. Mintzer, a saxophonist and decade-long member of the Yellowjackets, has led this 16-piece outfit for roughly the same span; its a brightly brassy ensemble with a modernistic sheen. 8 and 10 and midnight, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626; cover, $20, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) BEN MONDER TRIO (Tuesday) In the hands of Mr. Monder, the electric guitar is a coloristic instrument first and foremost; his fine recent album, Oceana (Sunnyside), showcases both his dizzyingly proficient solo puzzles and his coolly convoluted pieces for trio. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $20. (Chinen) JAMES MOODY QUARTET (Tonight and tomorrow) Like his mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, the alto saxophonist James Moody is a stalwart bebopper and one of jazzs most ebullient entertainers; he leads a solid group consisting of the pianist Renee Rosnes, the bassist Todd Coolman and the drummer Adam Nussbaum. 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; cover, $40, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) A TRIBUTE TO DANNY MOORE (Tonight and tomorrow) The trumpeter Danny Moore, who died last February, was the quintessential musicians musician. Fittingly, this tribute features players with similar reputations: the tenor saxophonist George Coleman, the pianist Anthony Wonsey, the drummer Joe Farnsworth and the bassist John Webber. 9 and 11 p.m., and 12:30 a.m., Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662; cover, $30, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) JOE MORRIS TRIO WITH KEN VANDERMARK (Tuesday) Mr. Morris is a guitarist who applies the clear tone of Jim Hall to darker and pricklier purposes; he performs here with another uncompromising explorer, the multireedist Ken Vandermark, and a frequent collaborator, the drummer Luther Gray. 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $10. (Chinen) * NYC JAZZ ALTERNATIVES: THE NEW GENERATION (Wednesday) This one-night mini-festival rounds up half a dozen groups from the margins of jazz culture: Gutbucket, a raucous jam band; Rashanim, an avant-garde klezmer group; Okkyung Lee, an adventurous cellist; a pair of trios led by the pianist Benny Lackner and the trombonist Jacob Garchik; and a plugged-in sextet led by the trumpeter Shane Endsley. It wont be a survey of jazzs new generation so much as a series of snapshots, intriguing and inconclusive. 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $12. (Chinen) GRETCHEN PARLATO (Tonight and Monday) The lilting cadence and mellow sonority of Ms. Parlatos voice have earned her a good many casual admirers; a recent deluge of critical acclaim has more to do with her musicianship, underscored here by a deep rapport with the guitarist Lionel Loueke. Tonight at 6,, 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883; no cover. Monday at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $15. (Chinen) JEREMY PELT QUARTET (Thursday) The clarion tone and preternatural poise of Mr. Pelts trumpet playing have earmarked him as a rising star in the jazz mainstream; as on his recent album Identity (MaxJazz), he plays here with the pianist Frank LoCrasto, the bassist Vicente Archer and the drummer Eric McPherson. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $20. (Chinen) RE: ARRANGED: THE MUSIC OF JACO PASTORIUS, GIL EVANS, LENNON & McCARTNEY (Tuesday through Jan. 15) The sweep of this project, which clearly runs the risk of incoherence, could be a perfect challenge for the pianist and accordionist Gil Goldstein, one of the most resourceful arrangers in jazz today. Just as promising is the lineup, featuring the trumpeter Randy Brecker, the saxophonist Chris Potter, the vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, the bassist Richard Bona, the percussionist Don Alias and an improvising string trio led by the violinist Joyce Hammann. 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 475-8592; cover, $35 at tables, with a $5 minimum or $20 at the bar, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * KURT ROSENWINKEL GROUP (Tuesday through Jan. 15) Mr. Rosenwinkel is almost certainly the most widely hailed jazz guitarist under 40, especially among musicians; his deeply sympathetic rapport with the tenor saxophonist Mark Turner provides the focal point of this shadowy and slippery ensemble, which also includes Aaron Goldberg on piano, Joe Martin on bass and Eric Harland on drums. 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037; cover, $20 to $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) LOREN STILLMAN QUARTET (Wednesday) With his recent album, It Could Be Anything (Fresh Sound New Talent), Mr. Stillman reinforces his reputation as an alto saxophonist with an inquisitive relationship to jazz tradition; he performs here with Jacob Sacks on piano, Scott Lee on bass and Jeff Hirschfield on drums. 8 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $8. (Chinen) STEVE WILSON QUARTET WITH NICHOLAS PAYTON (Through Sunday) An alto saxophonist with a dry tone but a rounded sense of phrase, Mr. Wilson recruits a well-established rhythm section -- Bruce Barth on piano, Ed Howard on bass and Adam Cruz on drums -- and locks horns with Mr. Payton, one of the outstanding trumpeters of our time. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow night, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $20 and $25. (Chinen) Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera LELISIR DAMORE (Tomorrow) The good news of the Mets revival of its 1991 production of Donizettis Elixir of Love is the entrancing performance of Ruth Ann Swenson as Adina. Some opera buffs have long found Ms. Swensons work vocally exquisite but temperamentally bland. Here she brings a breezy comic grace to the role of a wealthy young landowner in an Italian village who thinks herself immune to sentimental notions about love, until the painfully shy peasant Nemorino gets through to her. Ms. Swenson sings with her trademark creamy sound, effortful richness and impressive agility. The tenor Ramón Vargas is an ardent and endearing Nemorino. Maurizio Barbacini conducts. 1:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $42 to $220. (Anthony Tommasini) DIE FLEDERMAUS (Tomorrow) Most stagings of Strausss ever-popular operetta, including some revivals of the Mets 1986 Otto Schenk production, seem uncomfortable with the mix of silliness and cynicism in the story of playful infidelities in 1870s Vienna. But the Metropolitan Operas current presentation boasts a winning cast of singers who, for the most part, take the story seriously and give subtle portrayals, especially Bo Skovhus as the ladies man Eisenstein, Sondra Radvanovsky as his knowing wife, Marlis Petersen as the perky chambermaid and Earle Patriarco as the wily Dr. Falke. Jacques Lacombe conducts a lithe and fresh performance. And with the comedic actor Bill Irwin as the drunken jailor Frosch, the show has plenty of hilarity. 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $42 to $220. (Tommasini) H.M.S. PINAFORE, THE MIKADO (Tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday) The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players are a small city institution in their own right, dedicated to presenting polished light-opera performances. Two of the most popular are this winters fare, as well as a concert of other highlights on Thursday night. Pinafore, tonight at 8 and tomorrow at 2 p.m.; Mikado, tomorrow at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., and Tuesday at 7 p.m.; Quintessential G&S concert, Thursday at 8 p.m., City Center, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-1212; $40 to $86. (Anne Midgette) WOZZECK (Tonight) Alban Bergs bleak atonal opera may not strike many people as quite the thing to usher in the New Year. But James Levine is a masterly interpreter of this musically stunning and dramatically compelling work, which he keeps bringing back to the Met in a noble effort to make Wozzeck essential to the companys repertory. With Mark Lamoss arrestingly abstract 1997 production and an inspired cast led by Alan Held in the title role, this revival should be seen by all serious opera fans. Mr. Levine elicits a searingly beautiful performance from the great Met orchestra. 8, Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $36 to $205. (Tommasini) Classical Music AVALON STRING QUARTET (Thursday) This young quartet offers the first of its two Romantic Frontiers concerts (the second is on Jan. 14). The program is Beethovens Quartet in F (Op. 59, No.1) and Schoenbergs Quartet No. 1. 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 501-3330; $20; $10 for students and 65+. (Allan Kozinn) JUPITER SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS (Monday) In the spirit of its idiosyncratic founder, Jens Nygaard, this feisty ensemble offers programs that combine oddities and familiar works. The ensemble and its guests -- including Mikhail Kopelman, the former first violinist of the Borodin String Quartet, and his daughter, Elizaveta Kopelman, a pianist -- perform Griegs Movement in C minor, Elgars Harmony Music 5 and a Rimsky-Korsakov piano trio. 2 and 7:30 p.m., Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, 152 West 66th Street, Manhattan, (212) 799-1259; $10 to $25. (Kozinn) MET ORCHESTRA (Sunday) Three realms of the soprano Renée Flemings repertory are explored in this concert by the Met Orchestra, with James Levine conducting. She sings the Letter Scene from Tchaikovskys Eugene Onegin, the closing scene from Strausss Capriccio and, of special interest, the harmonically murky and expressionistic Altenberg Lieder of Alban Berg. Mr. Levine also offers performances of Tchaikovskys Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture and Wagners Overture and Bacchanale from Tannhäuser. 3 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $46 to $155. (Tommasini) NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Tonight, tomorrow, Tuesday and Thursday) The young Canadian violinist James Ehnes joins Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic to play Waltons sumptuous and too rarely heard Violin Concerto at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and at Avery Fisher Hall. On Thursday, the superb English conductor Jonathan Nott takes over, leading a program that includes Strausss Alpine Symphony and John Coriglianos Red Violin, a 2003 concerto based on themes from Mr. Coriglianos score for the film The Red Violin. Joshua Bell, for whom the piece was composed, is the soloist. Tonight at 8, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street, Newark, (888) 466-5722; $27 to $92. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500; $26 to $99. (Kozinn) NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC ENSEMBLES (Sunday) Members of the Philharmonic have one of their periodic chamber-music gatherings in an offbeat program of Bridge, Prokofiev, Enescu, Diamond and Françaix. 3 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 501-3330; $29. (Bernard Holland) RICHARD TUCKER FOUNDATION GALA (Wednesday) Perhaps responding to the increase of cancellations by big-name singers in past seasons, the annual Tucker gala has downsized this year, moving from Avery Fisher Hall to Alice Tully Hall and focusing less on superstars than on rising young talents. Not that theyre unknown quantities: most, like Laquita Mitchell, Jennifer Aylmer, Carolyn Betty and Jordan Bisch, have active performing schedules. The master of ceremonies is Denyce Graves, while the tenor Matthew Polenzani makes a belated appearance to compensate for the fact that he couldnt attend the gala in 2004, the year he won the foundation award. 7:30 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500; $75 and $100. (Midgette) Dance Full reviews of recent performances: nytimes.com/dance. LORI BELILOVE & COMPANY (Opens Thursday) From Russia With Love, a program inspired by the troupes recent tour of Russia, features dances choreographed by Isadora Duncan when that great modern-dance pioneer visited Russia early in the 20th century. (Through Jan. 14.) 7:30 p.m., Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation Studios, 141 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212) 691-5040, www.isadoraduncan.org; $25 in advance, $30 at the door. (Jack Anderson) A CELEBRATION OF JUILLIARD DANCE: THE MARTHA HILL YEARS (Thursday) In this free anniversary program, a panel including Daniel Lewis, Dennis Nahat and Michael Uthoff will discuss the schools growth under the direction of the feisty Hill. 6 p.m., New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 642-0142. (Jennifer Dunning) DANCE CONVERSATIONS AT THE FLEA (Tuesday) This free performance and discussion series, moderated this week by John Jasperse, features Rebecca Lazier, Peter Schmitz, Tommy Noonan and Diane Vivona. 7 p.m., Flea Theater, 41 White Street, between Broadway and Church Streets, TriBeCa, (212) 226-2407, www.TheFlea.org. (Dunning) * DANCE ON CAMERA (Today, tomorrow and Tuesday) New Yorks (and Americas) premier festival of dance films continues at the Walter Reade Theater with varied programs through Jan. 14. The ones today at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. and tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. can be especially recommended among this weeks offerings. There is also a program of shorts on Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and a panel discussion on Tuesday at the Donnell Media Center. Today at 1, 3:30, 6:15 and 8:30 p.m.; tomorrow at 1, 4, 6:15 and 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday at 1 and 3:30 p.m. Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 496-3809, www.filmlinc.com; $10. Sunday at 8 p.m., Galapagos Art Space, 70 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 782-5188; $5. Tuesday at 6 p.m., Donnell Media Center, New York Public Library, 20 West 53d Street, Manhattan; free. Complete schedule at www.dancefilmsassn.org. (John Rockwell) DANCE THEATER OF HARLEM OPEN HOUSE SERIES (Sunday) This months program, Celebrating Dr. Kings World House Vision, will include the guest artists Amir Vahab in a performance of Sufi music; Jean Freeman in Bharata Natyam dance; the mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sebron; and the Nai Ni Chen Dance Company. 1 and 3:30 p.m., Dance Theater of Harlem, 466 West 152nd Street, between Amsterdam and St. Nicholas Avenues, (212) 690-2800, www.dancetheatreofharlem.org; $8 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under (1 p.m. performance); and $18 for adults and $14 for children 12 and under (3:30 performance, which includes a reception).(Dunning) ANDREA DEL CONTE DANZA ESPAñA (Thursday) Guest artists include the singer Sanghametra Chatterjee, the tabla player Dibyarka Chatterjee and the Niños de Flamenco Performance Group. (Through Jan. 15.) 8 p.m., Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, between Houston and Prince Streets, (212) 334-7479, www.joyce.org; $50 (opening gala and reception only). (Dunning) FAMILY MATTERS: DANCES BY VERY YOUNG CHOREOGRAPHERS (Tonight and tomorrow) Students of Ellen Robbins will present their own dances. Tonight at 7:30; tomorrow at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 924-0077, www.dtw.org; $20 for adults; $10 for children.(Dunning) FIRST WEEKENDS NEW PERFORMANCE AND DISCUSSION SERIES (Tonight and tomorrow night) New works by Milka Djordjevich, Alicia Díaz, Jack Marion Ramírez and MOB Productions will be followed by discussions with the dancers. 8, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, 421 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 832-0018, www.bax.org; $15; members, $10; low income, $8. (Anderson) FULL CIRCLE (Opens Wednesday) Innaviews takes a look at the lives of hip-hop dancers. (Through Jan. 14.) 7:30 p.m., Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 924-0077; $20 and $12. (Anderson) LAVA (Tonight through Feb. 19) Sara East Johnsons w(HOLE) traces the course of cosmic evolution with the aid of dance, acrobatics and trapeze acts. Thursdays through Saturdays at 7 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m., Flea Theater, 41 White Street, between Broadway and Church Streets, TriBeCa, (212) 352-3101; $25; $15 for students and 65+. (Anderson). EARL MOSLEYS DIVERSITY OF DANCE INC. (Tomorrow and Sunday) A portion of the proceeds from More Dance, More Hope, a program of new works and a revival that includes the guest artists Christopher Huggins, Troy Powell and Dwana Smallwood, will go to the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund. 7 p.m., Martin Luther King High School Auditorium, 122 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street, (347) 365-4029; $18 and $16; $10 for students and 65+ (cash only). (Dunning) * NEW YORK CITY BALLET (Today through Sunday, and Tuesday through Thursday) Its all Swan Lake all the time this week, except for a mixed-bill program tomorrow night. Peter Martinss version of this ornithological classic is well worth seeing, and the casts will shift throughout the run. Tonight, tomorrow night and Thursday night at 8.; tomorrow afternoon at 2; Sunday at 3 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 870-5570, www.nycballet.com; $30 to $86. (Rockwell) SUNDAYS @ THREE: CALPULLI MEXICAN DANCE COMPANY (Sunday) This informal performance and discussion series will feature a young troupe performing traditional Mexican dance and music and Aztec and Spanish dance forms. 3 p.m., 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500; $10. (Dunning) CASSIE TERMAN AND SHINICHI MOMO KOGA (Tonight and tomorrow night) Known as the Fred Astaire of Butoh, Mr. Koga will perform The Smallest Country, a program of improvised duets, with Ms. Terman, who trained in physical theater with Ruth Zaporah. 8, CRS, 123 Fourth Avenue, between 12th and 13th Streets, East Village, (212) 352-3101; $12. (Dunning) Art Museums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. Museums ASIA SOCIETY: VIETNAM: DESTINATION FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM -- THE ART OF DINH Q. LE, through Jan. 15. Born in Vietnam, Mr. Le moved to the United States at 11 and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York. This small exhibition presents high-concept photographic and sculptural works about the Vietnam War and its effects, as well as a pair of sleek sculptures representing communications satellites that satirize Vietnams plans to enter the Space Age and the global consumerist economy. 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street, (212) 288-6400.(Ken Johnson) BROOKLYN MUSEUM: EDWARD BURTYNSKY: MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES, through Jan. 15. Large, expertly made color images by a Canadian photographer show industrial subjects like marble quarries in India, a tire dump in California and modern development in China. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, (718) 638-5000. (Johnson) CHELSEA ART MUSEUM: THE BODY IMAGE IN CRISTÓBAL GABARRÓNS ART, 1963-2005, through Jan. 14. A member of the mid-20th-century European Informal art movement based on mentally improvised rather than formal motifs, this Spanish artist is concerned with the body, but not in its traditional manifestations. His abstractions and semiabstractions give it a morphing, metaphysical presence; sometimes they involve the depiction of actual body parts, but they rely more on textures, colors and vague forms to evoke the bodys ever-shifting sense of itself. But for all the blustery vigor on display, the work gives the viewer a powerful sense of been-there-seen-that. 556 West 22nd Street, (212) 255-0719.(Grace Glueck) * COOPER-HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM: FASHION IN COLORS, through March 26. Drawn from the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan, this sumptuous show arranges 68 often lavish Western gowns and ensembles according to the colors of the spectrum and reinforces their progress with a posh color-coordinated installation design. For an experience of color as color, it is hard to beat, but it also says a great deal about clothing, visual perception and beauty. 2 East 91st Street, (212) 849-8400. (Roberta Smith) INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY: AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERNACULAR PHOTOGRAPHY, through Feb. 26. These days, collectors and curators prize vernacular photographs -- commercial studio portraits, postcards, snapshots and other sorts of often anonymous photographic kitsch. Here that trend intersects with a commitment to photography as a form of social documentation in an exhibition of about 70 vernacular photographs depicting African-Americans from 1860 to 1940. 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street, (212) 857-0000. (Johnson) * JAPAN SOCIETY: HIROSHI SUGIMOTO: HISTORY OF HISTORY, through Feb. 19. A personal, whimsical exhibition by this well-known Japanese photographer who incorporates into his work artifacts he has collected, particularly from East Asia and Japan. Mr. Sugimotos reach is long and his range is broad, from fossils to textiles to undersea dioramas to Japanese calligraphy to the Trylon and Perisphere (a minisculpture) that symbolized the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. 333 East 47th Street, (212) 832-1155. (Glueck) JEWISH MUSEUM: SARAH BERNHARDT: THE ART OF HIGH DRAMA, through April 2. This exhibition is devoted to the flamboyant 19th-century actress whose name was once invoked by mothers as a warning to melodramatic daughters: Who do you think you are, Sarah Bernhardt? Its almost overstuffed roster of items includes original Félix Nadar photos of Bernhardt at 20 and the costumes she wore as Cleopatra and Joan of Arc. 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423-3200. (Edward Rothstein) * METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: FRA ANGELICO, through Jan. 29. An exhibition as rare as it is sublime brings the divine Angelico down to earth, showing how he had the best of both worlds, using the innovations of the Renaissance to parlay the radiant colors, gilded surfaces and doll-like figures of Gothic art into a final flowering. Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, (212) 535-7710. (Smith) MET: DAVID MILNE: PAINTING TOWARD THE LIGHT, through Jan 29. Watercolors by a Canadian painter little known in the United States, although he spent some 25 years in New York City and other parts of the state. In his quiet, spare renditions of urban vignettes, country landscapes, trees and domestic life, David Milne (1882-1953) focused mainly on aesthetic matters, like color, line and light, while skirting the avant-garde. (See above.) (Glueck) * MET: ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: COMBINES, through April 2. Big and handsome almost to a fault. Theres something weird about seeing once joyfully rude and over-the-top contraptions from the 1950s and 60s lined up like choirboys in church, with their ties askew and shirttails out. But even enshrined, the combines still manage to seem incredibly fresh and odd, almost otherworldly. I thought of a medieval treasury -- all the rich colors and lights and intricate details. The most beautiful tend to be the early ones: large but delicate, with a subtle, fugitive emotional pitch. (See above.) (Michael Kimmelman) * MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: BEYOND THE VISIBLE: THE ART OF ODILON REDON, through Jan. 23. The timing was off for the big Odilon Redon retrospective in Chicago in 1994. The art worlds mind was on identity politics and neoconceptualism. Fin-de-siècle drawings of moony monsters and lamp-bright flowers existed on some other planet. Now theres another Redon survey, smaller, very beautiful, culminating in his lush, pixilated late paintings. And the timing for it is just right. 11 West 53rd Street, (212) 708-9400. (Holland Cotter) MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: PIXAR: 20 YEARS OF ANIMATION, through Feb. 6. With more than 500 drawings, collages, storyboards and sculptured models by 80 artists; numerous projections; and a mesmerizing three-dimensional zoetrope, this exhibition offers a detailed glimpse of the creative and technological processes behind such computer-animation wonders as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. In the end, nothing has as much art or magic as these films themselves, but the concentrated effort and expertise that go into them is nonetheless something of a wonder, too. (See above.) (Smith) EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO: THE (S) FILES/THE SELECTED FILES 05, through Jan. 29. The definition of what Latino art means is changing in a post-identity-politics time, and this modest biennial, drawn mostly from unsolicited proposals submitted by artists in the greater New York area, is an indicator of what that change looks like. 1230 Fifth Avenue, at 104th Street, (212) 831-7272. (Cotter) NEUE GALERIE: EGON SCHIELE: THE RONALD S. LAUDER AND SERGE SABARSKY COLLECTIONS, through Feb. 20. This extensive exhibition mostly of works on paper gives an informative account of the regrettably brief career of one of the 20th centurys great draftsmen and romantic rebels. Schieles self-portraits, drawings and watercolors of sexy young women still burn with fires of narcissistic yearning, erotic desire and bohemian dissent. 1048 Fifth Avenue, (212) 628-6200. (Johnson) ONASSIS CULTURAL CENTER: FROM BYZANTIUM TO MODERN GREECE: HELLENIC ART IN ADVERSITY, 1453-1830, through May 6. This show is a busy, ambitious hodgepodge that sets out to present all aspects of the visual art in Greece during this period. The range spans wonderful early paintings and icons, like a panel by the youthful El Greco; examples of domestic crafts practiced by Greek women; jewelry and church ornaments; and maps and charts. 645 Fifth Avenue, at 52nd Street, (212) 486-4448. (Glueck) * RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART : WHAT IS IT? HIMALAYAN ART, For a basic guide to the art of Tibet and Nepal, you will do no better than to take a slow walk through this new show, which, using an array of gorgeous objects, distills knotty visual and spiritual systems to a soothing but stimulating entry-level form. 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, (212) 620-5000. (Cotter) * STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM: FREQUENCY, through March 12. Despite some marked unevenness, this display of new and recently emerged talent confirms the current vitality of black art, contemporary art and midsize New York museums. Names to look out for include Kalup Linzy, Leslie Hewitt, Jeff Sonhouse, Shinique Amie Smith, Demetrius Oliver, Michael Paul Britto, Nick Cave, Mickalene Thomas and Michael Queenland, but dont stop there. 144 West 125th Street, (212) 864-4500. (Smith) * WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: THE ART OF RICHARD TUTTLE, through Feb. 5. For 40 years Richard Tuttle has murmured the ecstasies of paying close attention to the worlds infinitude of tender incidents, making oddball assemblages of prosaic ephemera, which, at first glance, belie their intense deliberation and rather monumental ambition. Out of cord, tin, Styrofoam, florists wire and bubble wrap he has devised objects whose status is not quite sculpture or drawing or painting but some combination of the three, and whose exquisiteness is akin to that of jewelry. His outstanding retrospective is a cross between a kindergarten playroom and a medieval treasury. 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, (800) 944-8639. (Kimmelman) Galleries: Uptown CHARLES BIEDERMAN: WORKS FROM THE 30S One of the most interestingly maverick and talented of between-the-wars American Modernists, Biederman left New York in 1942 for Minnesota, where he continued to make art and write art theory until his death in 2004. This small exhibition of biomorphic abstract paintings and one glossy construction of squares and knobs from the 1930s shows what an excellent student of European Surrealism and Constructivism he was. Meredith Ward, 60 East 66th Street, (212) 744-7306, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) OSCAR BLUEMNER Known for his soulful, jewel-colored, Cubist pictures of houses in semirural locales, Bluemner remains one of the most appealing of American Modernists who were active between World Wars I and II. This substantial exhibition of works on paper extends the full-scale Bluemner retrospective now at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Barbara Mathes, 22 East 80th Street, (212) 570-4190, through Jan. 28. (Johnson) * THE THIRD EYE: FANTASIES, DREAMS AND VISIONS The ostensible theme for this dizzying, diverting assortment of 89 very high-end drawings and prints is the fantastical, visionary strain of Romanticism that persists through Symbolism right up to now. Goya gets things officially started. The show takes in contemporaries or near-contemporaries like Eva Hesse, Basquiat and Matthew Ritchie. It rambles around two floors in no particular order: a connoisseurs heaven. Richard L. Feigen & Company, 34 East 69th Street, (212) 628-0700, through Jan. 28. (Kimmelman) Galleries: 57th Street * SAUL LEITER: EARLY COLOR In their painterly concentration on shadows, reflections, light and color, the distinctive color photographs that the fashion photographer Saul Leiter took in New York in the 1950s reform street photography by concentrating less on pedestrians than on what they might see. Howard Greenberg Gallery, 41 East 57th Street, (212) 334-0010, through Jan. 21. (Smith) GERHARD RICHTER This celebrated German master presents two sets of paintings. One set, made in his familiar manner of squeegeeing layers of wet paint, is enigmatically punctuated by a photograph of Mr. Richters own painting of flying fighter planes from the 1960s. The other, consisting of large canvases bearing blurry, all-gray patterns based on silicate molecules, casts a spell of visionary pessimism. Marian Goodman, 24 West 57th Street, (212) 977-7160, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) STRUCTURE Hardly any artist today takes geometry as seriously as certain American Modernists did, following the lead of Mondrian in the mid-20th century. So this well-produced show of geometric relief sculptures by Ilya Bolotowsky, Nikolai Kasak and Charles Biederman, among others, comes as a nice surprise. Eli Bornsteins truly beautiful, neatly gridded constructions of floating wood blocks painted lovely confectionery colors are alone worth the trip. Forum, 745 Fifth Avenue, (212) 355-4545, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) Galleries: Chelsea MARINA ABRAMOVIC: BALKAN EROTIC EPIC This performance artists staged video tableaus illustrating beliefs about the magical efficacy of certain sexually charged acts are interesting and amusing but less arousing than you might have hoped. Sean Kelly, 528 West 29th Street, (212) 239-1181, through Jan. 21. (Johnson) ELLEN ALTFEST: STILL LIVES Painted from life in the studio and outside, these thoughtful images of plants, cactuses, logs and driftwood reflect old-fashioned painterly values but still manage a fresh intensity of surface, space, form and intention. Bellwether Gallery, 134 10th Avenue, near 18th Street, (212) 929-5959, through Jan. 21. (Smith) NOBUYOSHI ARAKI, PAINTING FLOWER AND DIARIES Mr. Araki is one of Japans great photographers, but his installation of pictures of tied-up nude young women interspersed with pictures of exotic flowers garishly slathered with paint is too fashionably transgressive. Anton Kern, 532 West 20th Street, (212) 367-9663, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) * TAMY BEN-TOR, EXPLORATION IN THE DOMAIN OF IDIOCY On video -- and live on Friday and Saturday afternoons -- a wonderfully talented comic performance artist creates hilariously self-absorbed characters. Zach Feuer, 530 West 24th Street, (212) 989-7700, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD Ms. Butterfield continues to make horses out of weathered branches and scrap steel that are, at best, magically lifelike. In the big one lying down in the gallery, the metal seems just as alive as the illusory animal. Three horses on the Park Avenue median, however, are out of their element -- too delicate to compete with the traffic and the giant buildings, but perhaps because of that, poetically poignant. Edward Thorp, 210 Eleventh Avenue, between 24th and 25th Streets; and on the Park Avenue median between 52nd and 54th Streets; (212) 691-6565, through Jan. 28. (Johnson) MIKI CARMI: PSYCHIC READYMADES This young Israeli-born painter makes strangely creepy pictures of oversize bald heads based on those of elderly members of his family. He lavishes painterly attention on veins, age spots, baggy eyes, wrinkles and drooping lips, and he floats the heads like weird balloons against white backgrounds. The paintings are far from beautiful, but their unsettling impact feels right for the often confusing roles that elders play in our psychic lives. Stux, 530 West 25th Street, (212) 352-1600, through Jan. 21. (Johnson) * ROY DE FOREST: NEW PAINTINGS At 75, this underappreciated West Coast artist, a sort of Neo-Expressionist before the fact, brings a new vehemence of color and texture, amplified by clearer compositions, to his comic-sinister universe of bright-eyed, zoned-out men and animals. George Adams, 525 West 26th Street, (212) 564-8480, through Jan. 28. (Smith) MATTHEW MCCASLIN This inventive sculptor plays with the tension between nature and technology. A working fountain has water flowing from sunflowers made of wide showerheads and copper pipe planted in a claw-foot bathtub. And the arrangement of a cuckoo clock and a flat-screen video view of peaceful lake waters on a natural plywood wall slyly enhances the faux-rustic ambience. Sandra Gering, 534 West 22nd Street, (646) 336-7183, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) GORDON MOORE Elegantly understated paintings animated by ghostly linear figures and their shadows, which gambol before the large-paned grid of -- well, maybe a factory window. Composed of lines of different lengths and colors and various thicknesses, these antic figures seem to vibrate on and under the paintings lightly brushed surfaces. Mr. Moore rings many intricate variations on his basic format, which, while it commits to the visible, manages to engage the mystery of what lies beyond it. Betty Cuningham Gallery, 541 West 25th Street, (212) 242-2772, through Jan. 28. (Glueck) NICHOLAS NIXON: LIFE AND TIMES Among other photographs from the last 30 years, this show features Mr. Nixons famous Brown Sisters, a set of group portraits of four sisters made annually, starting in 1975. It is almost painfully touching to see the beautiful siblings evolve from teenagers to late middle age. And then you begin to wonder how long this can go on before one of the five participants will no longer be available. Yossi Milo, 525 West 25th Street, (212) 414-0370, through Jan. 21. (Johnson) * LAMAR PETERSON In a show that is transitional in a good way, this promising young artist expands his reach, taking his bright, dystopic portrayals of the American dream onto canvas and into distinctive collages that pit the hand against the camera with succinct bluntness. Fredericks & Freiser, 536 West 24th Street, (212) 633-6555, through Jan. 21. (Smith) PAULA SCHER: THE MAPS Big paintings in the form of maps of Europe, North America, Los Angeles and Long Island combine abstraction and eccentric cartography with invigorating, subtly comical verve. Maya Stendhal, 545 West 20th Street, (212) 366-1549, through Jan 21. (Johnson) ROBERT STONE Made with a loose, watercolorlike touch, this young British artists oil-on-canvas paintings depict enigmatic and vaguely comical scenes, like tiny Canadian Mounties having a secret funeral in the woods, or a pair of travelers in oddly mixed costumes posing with a coffin. They are just sweet and peculiar enough to give you pause. James Nicholson, 547 West 27th Street, (212) 967-5700, through Jan. 28. (Johnson) Galleries: SoHo MARTIN BEAUREGARD, SOMNAMBULIC Old videos of absurdist performances and a new one about meditating and dreaming are eclipsed by two large stuffed-animal sculptures: a sumptuously furry teddy bear the size of a real cub made from a real bearskin, fearsome big claws and all; and a real moose head with majestic, silver-leafed antlers. Location One, 26 Greene Street, (212) 334-3347, through Feb. 4. (Johnson) * JIM DRAIN AND ARA PETERSON: HYPNOGOOGIA With a kaleidoscopic, mirrored DVD installation and multifaceted sculptures that resemble gaudy, 12-foot-high soccer balls, two of contemporary arts most interesting collaborators have masterminded a kind of wonderland of digital and analog psychedelia. The best piece is best experienced by descending on a ladder into a kind of rabbit hole. The total effect is amazing, if a little vacant. Deitch Projects, 18 Wooster Street, SoHo, (212) 343-7300, through Jan. 28. (Smith) SUZAN FRECON An accomplished abstract painter presents a serene installation of six large works -- three grid-based and three featuring simple, curvy shapes -- all in deep, rich reds, blues and greens. Peter Blum, 99 Wooster Street, (212) 343-0441, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) Other Galleries MONUMENTS FOR THE USA The critic Ralph Rugoff invited more than 50 artists to submit proposals for a never-to-be-built national monument. All the proposals, mostly illustrative works on paper ranging in spirit from scathingly critical to earnestly visionary, are presented by this entertaining if not especially profound exhibition. White Columns, 320 West 13th Street, West Village, (212) 924-4212, through Jan. 28. (Johnson) Last Chance ABETZ/DRESCHER The Berlin-based collaborators Maike Abetz and Oliver Drescher paint large, busily detailed pictures of Renaissance ruins densely populated by fashion models, broken guitars, televisions and naked figures from pagan myth in a style you might call psychedelic pre-Raphaelite. Though not impressive formally or technically, they do capture a certain wildly eclectic and deeply narcissistic state of youthful consciousness. Goff & Rosenthal, 537B West 23rd Street, Chelsea, (212) 675-0461, closing tomorrow. (Johnson) * GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM: RUSSIA! This survey of nine centuries of Russian art ranges from 13th-century religious icons to a smattering of 21st-century works, achieving its astounding effect without resorting to a single egg, or anything else, by Fabergé. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212) 423-3600, closing Wednesday. (Smith) * FRANCO MONDINI-RUIZ: QUATTROCENTO In a bit of performative art-making that sends up art-world preciousness with intimations of tourist souvenirs, the 400 paintings here are seductive, portable, priced to sell ($400) and sometimes made on the spot. Also good, at Envoy, a gallery that shares the Taylor space, is the New York debut of Nils Erik Gjerdevik, a young Norwegian artist who cannibalizes snippets from Art Nouveau to graffiti into playfully calligraphic designs. Frederieke Taylor Gallery, 535 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (646) 230-0992; Envoy, (212) 242-7524; both closing tomorrow. (Smith) * MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: ELIZABETH MURRAY Here is the complete range of shape-shifting, dizzily colored pictures that Elizabeth Murray has produced over four decades. The colors are noisy, the harmonies pungent, the scale big and bold. While art-world fashion has drifted here and there, Ms. Murray has stuck to her craft, with all its difficulties and at the occasional cost of failure and neglect. Her show is a meaty, openhearted, eye-popping event. (See above.) Closing Monday. (Kimmelman) * THE MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART: LASTING FOUNDATIONS: THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE IN AFRICA Like most architectural shows, this one uses lots of photographs and texts, and more than many, it also incorporates objects: Dogon door locks from Mali; carved Igbo doors from Nigeria; Swahili window frames, rich with Indian and Islamic motifs, from Kenya. World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery, 220 Vesey Street, Lower Manhattan, (718) 784-7700, closing today. (Cotter) ANNYSA NG: LOVE & FEAR A beautiful new gallery occupying two floors of a tiny brick house presents works of postmodernist faux-antiquity by a Chinese artist who has studied in Hong Kong, New York and Germany. The large, Victorian-style silhouettes are not without possibilities, though perhaps they are too Kara Walker-like; the hanging assemblages made of braided hair, fabric and found objects have an erotically stirring poetic delicacy. Holasek Weir, 502 West 27th Street, Chelsea, (212) 367-9093, closing Tuesday. (Johnson) RICHARD POUSETTE-DART: PRESENCES: THE IMPLODING OF COLOR Though routinely associated with Abstract Expressionists, Pousette-Dart had metaphysical and symbolist interests that distinguished him from better-known members of that group. In the 1960s and 70s, he turned to what you could call Pointillist Color Field Painting, and though the sensuous impact of light, color and thickly stippled paint is strongly asserted, the works are also animated by intimations of cosmic mysticism. Knoedler, 19 East 70th Street, (212) 794-0550, closing tomorrow. (Johnson) RUSSIA 2: BAD NEWS FROM RUSSIA An entertaining, congested and abrasive exhibition presents stridently and antically political contemporary works by 15 individuals and groups who live and work in Russia. White Box, 525 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212) 714-2347; and the Annex, 601 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (646) 638-3785; closing Wednesday. (Johnson) FELIX SCHRAMM: COMBER It looks as if a tornado ripped parts off an ordinary house and slammed them into the gallery, creating a Cubist-Expressionist-style environment that was, in fact, carefully designed and assembled by this young and innovative German sculptor. Grimm/Rosenfeld, 530 West 25th Street, Chelsea, (212) 352-2388, closing tomorrow. (Johnson)
several hundred refunds issued for jay chous concert after.
Come Dec 27, might Taiwanese pop superstar Jay Chou have to perform to empty seats at a concert in Singapore? His show here this year at the National Stadium, originally scheduled for Nov 8, was sold out, with more than��.
Taiwanese star Jay Chou is coming back to Malaysia for more
After a series of successful concerts in Taiwan and Hong Kong, plus three sold-out shows in Malaysia last year, youd expect Jay Chou to take a break. But no. the Taiwanese superstar will return to Kuala Lumpur for two shows in November. The Opus 2.
SuperChans Jackie Chan Blog: Jay Chou Concert Visit
Taking a break from filming, Jackie makes an appearance at Jay Chous OPUS 2 concert in Hong Kong last night. Jackie gave Jay a large bouquet of flowers and sang one song (Ming Ming Bai Bai) with him onstage.
GOWNS OF ALL SORTS
MISS ANNIE BEST wore at a recent dance an Empire princess robe of white net with lace appliques over white chiffon and satin. Several overlapping lace flounces over chiffon finished the lower edge, above which were tiny garlands of small pink roses, with-out foliage.
Jay Chou ��������� to Hold Opus II Concert at Singapores New National Stadium
The Sports Hub will give Singapore the economy of scale to host large sporting events and concerts as the Southeast Asian city-state markets itself as a world-class leisure and lifestyle destination and has unveiled Jay Chous Opus II Concert ������������.
The Listings
Theater A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway shows this weekend. Approximate running times are in parentheses. * denotes a highly recommended show. + means discounted tickets were available at the Theater Development Funds TKTS booth for performances last Friday and Saturday nights. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Broadway +BROOKLYN BOY One of the mortifications of middle age is being forced to admit the truth in those extra-mossy clichés that you mock when you are young and arrogant. The past always catches up with you; blood is thicker than water; be careful what you wish for. These are among the stale-but-true bromides that are acknowledged by the title character in Donald Marguliess sincere but doggedly unsurprising new play about the midlife crisis of a suddenly successful novelist (Adam Arkin). While this comic drama is steeped in an admirably humble and often touching spirit of acceptance, it seldom does what Mr. Margulies has achieved repeatedly before: make the familiar seem fresh. Polly Draper and Ari Graynor stand out in an excellent cast, smoothly directed by Daniel Sullivan (2:20). Biltmore Theater, 261 West 47th Street, (212)239-6200. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets: $26 to $79. BEN BRANTLEY +FIDDLER ON THE ROOF From the moment it sounds its first word in David Leveauxs placid revival, the voice of Harvey Fierstein (who has replaced Alfred Molina in the central role of Tevye) makes the audience prick up its ears. Heard not so long ago issuing from the plus-size form of Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray, Mr. Fiersteins voice is one of the most distinctive in theater, variously evoking a kazoo, a congested saxophone, wind in a bottle and echoes from a crypt. It is, in a way, its own multicolored show. Whether it fits comfortably into the little Russian village of Anatevka is another issue. But at least it brings a bit of zest to Mr. Leveauxs abidingly bland production (2:55). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street, (212)307-4100. Tuesdays at 7 p.m.; Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets: $35 to $100. BRANTLEY +GOOD VIBRATIONS Even those who believe that everything on this planet has a purpose may at first have trouble justifying the existence of Good Vibrations, the singing headache that manages to purge all catchiness from the surpassingly catchy hits of the Beach Boys. But audience members strong enough to sit through this rickety jukebox of a show will discover that the production, directed and choreographed by John Carrafa, does have a reason to be. Good Vibrations sacrifices itself to make all other musicals on Broadway look good. As the shows washboard-stomached performers smile, wriggle and squeak with the desperation of wet young things hung out to dry, you feel their pain. It is unlikely, however, to be more acute than yours (2:15). Eugene ONeill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, (212)239-6200. Tuesdays at 7 p.m.; Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m. Tickets: $76 to $101; a limited number of $25 student rush tickets are available at the box office on the day of the show. BRANTLEY +LITTLE WOMEN Sutton Foster never merely walks when she can scamper in this perky, sketchy adaptation of Louisa May Alcotts classic novel of a Civil War-era New England girlhood. Portraying Jo the tomboy, Ms. Foster creates a dizzyingly hyperkinetic creature who, were she living in the 21st century, would probably be on Ritalin. Ms. Foster (a Tony winner for Thoroughly Modern Millie) shows a gift for fresh, comic line readings. But her energy is often less infectious than exhausting. The same can be said of the show, directed by Susan H. Schulman and featuring a book by Allan Knee, with songs by Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein. Watching the production is rather like speed-reading Alcotts novel. And the cast members, who include the mellow-voiced Maureen McGovern, mostly bring to mind 1860s-themed editions of the American Girl series of dolls (2:20). Virginia Theater, 245 West 52nd Street, (212)239-6200. Tuesdays at 7 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets: $60 to $100. BRANTLEY Off Broadway +BELFAST BLUES The Belfast Blues of Geraldine Hughess solo show arent the kind youd expect. Yes, the troubles between Roman Catholics and Protestants that have roiled Northern Ireland for decades do cast an emotional shadow over this heartfelt and funny if unexceptional stage memoir, descriptively subtitled one wee girls story about family, war, Jesus and Hollywood. But Ms. Hughess title more directly refers to her big, inquisitive and exceptionally expressive eyes, which helped secure that wee girl a ticket to a happier life. Belfast Blues, which recounts her experience growing up amid poverty and violence in Belfast in the 1970s and 80s, does not bring any groundbreaking insights to familiar territory. But Ms. Hughes is a bright, inviting presence, and the surprising agent of her deliverance from the troubled atmosphere of her youth gives the show a modestly refreshing twist (1:25). Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, (212)307-4100. Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m. Tickets: $45; a limited number of $20 student rush tickets are available at the box office one hour before the performance. CHARLES ISHERWOOD THE CHERRY ORCHARD In this stunningly powerful production, an intriguing balance arises between Lopakhin, the bourgeois former serf, and the aristocratic family that owns the cherry orchard and whose fortunes are all but dried up. The landowner Lyubov Ranevskaya (Petronia Paley), returning penniless from her life abroad, is as elegant as she is self-delusional. Against her beauty and her dignity, Lopakhin (Wendell Pierce), the archetype of the small-minded arriviste, is a hard man to like. But this production brings out their shared past in subtle but forceful gestures that complicate the audiences sympathies (2:00). Harlem School of the Arts Theater, 645 St. Nicholas Avenue, near 141st Street, (212)868-4444. Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets: $25. CAMPBELL ROBERTSON COUNSELLOR-AT-LAW Entertainment in abundance radiates from the Peccadillo Theater Companys new production of the old Elmer Rice drama Counsellor-at-Law. Starring the Tony Award-winning John Rubinstein, Counsellor-at-Law is a drama that throbs with New York life and brims with touchstones of another time, like George Whites Scandals and the Court of General Sessions. But it also retains relevance to ambition and success in the 21st century. It has a hero worth rooting for, a healthy dose of sacred and profane love, some sharp jabs at class difference, villains who merit a hearty hiss and plenty of New York attitude and humor (2:45). Theater at St. Clements, 423 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212)868-4444. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets: $55; $20 student rush tickets available at the box office 15 minutes before the performance. LAWRENCE VAN GELDER +SABINA Once a forgotten ghost in the annals of psychoanalysis, Sabina Spielrein is proving to have surprising staying power. A patient of Carl Jung and an acquaintance of Sigmund Freud who ultimately became a psychoanalyst herself, Spielrein has a history that has provided material for two movies and two plays. The first of these was Willy Holtzmans Sabina, first produced by Primary Stages in 1996 and now in revival as part of the companys 20th-anniversary season. The new production, directed by Ethan McSweeny, is hampered by an unsatisfactory performance from Marin Ireland in the title role. But the history of Spielreins relationships with the founder of psychoanalysis and his protégé turned apostate is nonetheless engrossing. It provides a provocative window into the much-studied relationship between Freud and Jung. Peter Strauss gives an admirably understated performance as a paternalistic Freud, and Victor Slezak, as Jung, gives persuasive dramatic life to a now-mythic figure. (2:15). Primary Stages, at 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212)279-4200. Tuesdays at 7 p.m.; Wednesdays though Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets: $55. ISHERWOOD SHYLOCK Deconstructing Shakespeare is a dangerous sport; its impossible to be more imaginative or clever than the playwright himself, even if you are Harold Bloom. Gareth Armstrong gives it a game try, but Shylock, his 80-minute dissertation on the evolution of one of Shakespeares most memorable characters, although deftly performed, is no exception. While his pocket synopses of anti-Semitism, Elizabethan England, Marlowes Jew of Malta and even a Baedeker of famous actors renditions of Shylock are edifying, they are not sufficiently enlightening or entertaining. The most riveting lines of Mr. Armstrongs monologue belong to Shakespeare himself (1:35). Perry Street Theater, 31 Perry Street, Greenwich Village, (212)868-4444. Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets: $55; a limited number of $20 student/senior rush tickets available at the box office 30 minutes before the performance. PHOEBE HOBAN +SLEEPING BEAUTY Trust a British Sleeping Beauty to pivot on a fairys flatulence. Yes, that surefire laugh trigger in old Blighty plays an unexpectedly large role in Rufus Norriss murky new version of the familiar fairy tale for the Young Vic Theater Company. Mr. Norris, a talented young British director whose Broadway-bound production of Festen snapped up many London theater awards, isnt interested in pretty pictures. His vigorously staged, grotesquely comic Sleeping Beauty, which unfolds in smoky darkness beneath a queasy yellow moon, is entirely in tune with the current vogue for teasing out thickets of disturbing subtext in childrens literature. The productions eccentric designs accentuate the predominantly eerie air (2:00). New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street, (212)239-6200. Tonight at 7; tomorrow and Sunday at 1 and 7 p.m. Tickets: $10, $20 and $30. ISHERWOOD +TEXAS HOMOS Often in theater, the provocativeness of a plays title correlates with quality, and not in a good way. But Texas Homos is a pleasant exception. The titles tone does serve a purpose: it signals that the language in this show is far filthier than some theatergoers might care for, but the play is artfully constructed and convincingly acted, especially by Reed Birney and Richard Bekins in the central roles. Cecil (Mr. Birney) and Jim Bob (Mr. Bekins) have been caught engaging in gay sex in a police sting at a public restroom in Tyler, Tex. Since one is the town doctor and the other a preacher, and since both have wives and children, this creates more than a few problems. Texas Homos is not really about gay men at all. It is about everyone who has a secret life, and the nightmare that envelops such people once they are discovered. Mr. Birneys portrait of desperation and defiance feels dead on, and so does Mr. Bekinss of resignation and surrender (2:00). June Havoc Theater, Abingdon Theater Complex, 312 West 36th Street, (212)868-4444. Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 3. Tickets: $25. NEIL GENZLINGER *THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) Is there such a thing as standup existentialism? If not, Will Eno has just invented it. This monologue, which runs just over an hour and requires minimal stagecraft, is as unassuming in its means as it is astonishing in its impact. Its one of those treasured nights in the theater -- treasured nights anywhere, for that matter -- that can leave you both breathless with exhilaration and, depending on your sensitivity to meditations on the bleak and beautiful mysteries of human experience, in a puddle of tears. Also in stitches, here and there. Mr. Eno and his performer, the actor James Urbaniak, hereby reinvent that seemingly moribund theatrical genre, the solo show. They are immeasurably aided by the work of the director Hal Brooks. Mr. Enos voice, or the voice of the narrator/protagonist/master of ceremonies played by Mr. Urbaniak, is alternately lyrical and affectless, ecstatic and flat, sardonic and sincere. Standup-style comic riffs and deadpan hipster banter keep interrupting the corrosively bleak narrative: Mr. Eno might be called a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation. Lets try that again, minus the conditional: Mr. Eno is a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation (1:10). DR2 Theater, 103 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212)239-6200. Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 6 and 9 p.m.; Sundays at 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets; $45. ISHERWOOD *THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE This lovably inconsequential, entirely adorable new musical brings to the stage the cultures current mania for celebrating that most revered of American virtues, the will to victory. A mock spelling bee, it pokes serious fun at its twitchy tween contestants -- in the loopy spirit of the movies Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show -- but also pays affectionate tribute to these quirky young spelling titans. William Finns nimble, upbeat score provides the emotional underpinning for Rachel Sheinkins more satirical -- indeed often riotously funny -- book. The director James Lapine, Mr. Finns collaborator on Falsettos, is also in impeccable form, managing to transform into virtues two of the theaters most reliable pitfalls, namely audience participation and the usually ghastly conceit of adult actors playing kids (1:45). Second Stage, 307 West 43rd Street, Clinton, (212)246-4422. Tuesdays at 7 p.m.; Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Wednesdays at 2 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets: $75. ISHERWOOD WASTED (THE MYSTERY/HISTORY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND HOW IT GOT THAT WAY) In Wasted, the Irondale Ensemble Project tries to answer a very difficult question: How do you make a play about the history of the public school system in American without being terribly boring? While they came up with a number of solutions, none were satisfactory. History is reduced to good guys and bad guys, who both talk in slogans: should school teach kids to think for themselves or prepare them for the workforce? The decline of the school system is told simply as a story of dark conspiracies motivated by corporate greed. In the end, you get the sense that this show is made by people who have spent little time reflecting on the ideas of the other side (2:00). Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, at Ninth Street, East Village, (212)352-3101. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Tickets: $25; $15 for seniors, students and New York City Public School teachers; on Thursdays pay what you can afford. JASON ZINOMAN Off Off Broadway THE CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND JUDY The anarchist Punch and his wife, Judy, have been beating each other senseless for centuries, but while the famously warring married couple is usually performed by puppets, two real-life actors do the quarreling in The Confessions of Punch and Judy, a rigorously performed modern update with a surplus of energy and a deficit of direction. Ker Wells and Tannis Kowalchuk, who wrote the drama with the director Raymond Bobgan, play the pair in this pedestrian production, which mixes mime, ballroom dance, first-person monologues, puppetry and naturalistic acting. The play has few original thematic or design ideas and never reinvents the stock characters in an interesting way. In the end, it has no insight that you wont learn later this year in the revival of Edward Albees Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1:10). Here Arts Center, 145 Avenue of the Americas, at Dominick Street, South Village, (212)868-4444. Wednesdays through Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets: $15. ZINOMAN DAY OF RECKONING This play about the anarchist and labor reformer Lucy Parsons is unevenly paced and clumsily staged, but it has this saving grace: unlike some other theatrical efforts associated with Black History Month, it is not shallow hero worship. Parsons was a decidedly flawed hero, and Melody Cooper, the playwright, leaves those flaws in plain sight. As a young woman, Parsons, played by Ms. Cooper, called herself Lucy Gonzalez and tried to pass as Mexican and American Indian, chafing at any suggestion that she was black. And in her militant-labor phase, with her white husband, Albert, she exhorted followers, Learn to use explosives. When the Parsonses domestic bliss is shattered by the Haymarket Riot of 1886, Lucy loses her bearings, and her son pays an appalling price. Ms. Coopers recounting of this fascinating life could benefit from a large infusion of understatement, but still, Parsonss story is one that deserves to be told, especially at a time when those with radical ideas are again under intense scrutiny (1:50). All Stars Projects Performing Arts and Education Center, 543 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212)941-1234. Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets: $15. GENZLINGER THE FLID SHOW With the drug Vioxx making headlines because of its recent recall over adverse side effects, Richard Willetts play The Flid Show gains an unsettling topicality. The play traces the history of Thalidomide, the sleeping pill widely distributed in Europe in the late 1950s and early 60s that caused birth defects when taken by pregnant women. Mat Fraser, a seasoned and charismatic British actor who was himself a Thalidomide baby, stars as Duncan, a lounge singer coming to grips with the anger and resentment fueled by his lifelong struggles. In Mr. Willetts fanciful dramatic scheme -- borrowed from a certain Dickens holiday favorite, as he acknowledges -- Duncans psychological scars are healed by a series of ghostly visitors who sweep him through time and space. The documentary aspects of the play are absorbing and often poignant (particularly Amy Staats monologue as a bereaved Belgian mother), but Duncans personal story, centering on his rocky romance with a doctor and a reconciliation, in spirit at least, with his dead mother, is crudely drawn and clichéd. The director Eliza Beckwiths production is also on the clunky side, with most of the acting not up to the standard set by Mr. Fraser in the central role (2:15). Medicine Show Theater, 549 West 52nd Street, Clinton, (212)352-3101. Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 8 p.m. Tickets: $15; $30 for a special benefit performance on Feb. 24. ISHERWOOD Last Chance +THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA The role of Bernarda Alba has not changed in this production: she is still the tyrannical widowed mother of five daughters who are burning to free themselves from her stifling house. But here its Poncia (Joanne Camp), the maid, who sets the tone. Poncias world-weariness instills the play with an earthy, prosaic feel rather than a poetic one. Gone is the passion, and gone, too, is the terror when the tragic consequences of Bernardas tyranny are revealed. Gone, in other words, is the heat that permeates the play. In its place is a comfy warmth, a fireside instead of an inferno (1:45). Pearl Theater Company, at Theater 80, 80 St. Marks Place, East Village, (212)598-9802. Tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets: $50 for tomorrow evening and Sunday; matinee tomorrow, $40. ROBERTSON *A NUMBER Since the 1970s, Caryl Churchill has produced studies of a world quaking under constant siege, in which style somehow always uniquely mirrors content. In this stunning, elliptical play about a fathers experiment with genetic engineering, this invaluable dramatist considers a threat to the very cornerstone of Western civilization since the Renaissance: the idea of human individuality, a subject she manages to probe in depth in a mere 62 minutes of spartan sentences and silences. Every word, gesture and pause in this dramatic fugue for two actors -- meticulously directed by James MacDonald and performed by Arliss Howard and Dallas Roberts -- sets off echoes of multiple meaning. The play trenchantly makes the point that we no longer have the apparatus, verbal or psychological, to accommodate the changes in a time when science is moving faster than society. It is hard to think of another contemporary playwright who combines such economy of means and breadth of imagination (1:05). New York Theater Workshop, 79 East Fourth Street, East Village, (212)239-6200. Tonight at 8; tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets: $65. BRANTLEY Movies A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy movies playing this weekend in the New York metropolitan region. * denotes a highly recommended film. Ratings and running times are in parentheses. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. ALIENS OF THE DEEP Directed by James Cameron and Steven Quale. (G, 48 minutes). When the director James Cameron proclaimed himself king of the world on winning the Oscar for Titanic, who knew that he also had designs on the rest of the solar system? His newest film, Aliens of the Deep, is a grandiose hybrid of undersea documentary and outer-space fantasy that begins on our planets ocean floor and ends many miles under the ice crust that covers Europa, the second moon of Jupiter. The movies sneaky transition from undersea documentary to speculative fantasy of a journey yet to be undertaken is so seamless that you could easily mistake the last portion of the film for the record of an actual space voyage. Mr. Camerons theory, supported by astrobiologists, is that the life forms found at the deepest levels of the ocean where no light from the sun penetrates may hold clues to the nature of possible life in outer space. Filmed in Imax 3-D, it is a visual adventure worthy of that much-degraded adjective, awesome. STEPHEN HOLDEN ASSISTED LIVING Starring Michael Bonsignore and Maggie Riley. Directed by Elliot Greenebaum. (No rating, 77 minutes). As nursing homes go, Meadow View, the site of this hard-headed comedy that feels like a documentary, is a far cry from the hellholes we sometimes read about, where the elderly are dumped and treated like prisoners. The rooms are clean and the staff efficient. Life there is viewed through the institutions scruffy 27-year-old janitor (Mr. Bonsignore) who regularly sneaks off to smoke pot, is careless about punctuality, and plays affectionate pranks on the residents to relieve his boredom. The wisp of a plot follows Todds relationship with a patient (Ms. Riley) suffering from early Alzheimers disease. Assisted Living may be a comedy, but its images of physical frailty are inescapably unsettling. HOLDEN THE AVIATOR Starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Directed by Martin Scorsese (PG-13, 169 minutes). The famously eccentric and reclusive empire builder Howard Hughes was born alone and died alone -- two times when he was no different from anyone else. For the rest of his life, the high-flying Hughes seemed to have drifted in from some distant aerie, where exotic birds hatch far from everyday worries. At the age of 18, he was both an orphan and a millionaire, and while he could never be called ordinary, in the following two decades his wealth and all that it afforded brought him a very American kind of celebrity. It is that celebrity, fueled by money, stoked by matinee looks and playboy style, that preoccupies The Aviator, Mr. Scorseses visually sumptuous if disappointingly hollow account of Hughess early life. Written by John Logan, the story principally covers the late 20s through the 40s, when Hughes, played by Mr. DiCaprio, was gadding about both Hollywood and the aviation world. MANOHLA DARGIS BOOGEYMAN Starring Barry Watson. Directed by Stephen Kay (PG-13, 86 minutes). There are a lot of close-ups of doorknobs and water faucets in Mr. Kays would-be horror film. There is a supernaturally speedy killing accomplished with heavy-duty plastic wrap. There is frequent whooshing and rapid camera movement. Despite all of that, it isnt scary. Mr. Watson, of Seventh Heaven, plays Tim, a grown man who has been afraid of the boogeyman ever since he was 8, when something creepy sucked his father into a closet and out of this life. After his mothers death, Tim vows to spend a night in his childhood home to allay his fears, but, sure enough, the boogeyman is back and after him and everyone he cares about (well, an uncle and two girlfriends). The house is very creaky; so is the movie. ANITA GATES COACH CARTER Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Rob Brown, Robert Richard, Rick Gonzalez, Nana Gbewonyo and Antwon Tanner. Directed by Thomas Carter (PG-13, 137 minutes). In this solid, unsurprising inspirational-coach drama, Mr. Jackson plays Ken Carter, who returns to his old high school in the tough Northern California city of Richmond to turn a squad of underachieving misfits into winners, both on and off the court. Based on a true story, the movie combines sports-picture suspense with heroic-educator uplift when Carter, dismayed that his players are slipping academically, padlocks the gym in the midst of an undefeated season. Mr. Carter (the director, not related to the coach) infuses this sentimental warhorse with some flourishes of realism, which are bolstered by the hip-hop soundtrack and by the performances of the younger cast members, especially Mr. Brown as a talented forward struggling with his responsibilities, Ashanti as his girlfriend, and Mr. Gonzalez as a player sliding toward a life of crime. A.O. SCOTT *HEAD-ON Starring Birol Unel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck and Guven Kirac. Directed by Fatih Akin (Not rated, 118 minutes). In German and Turkish, with English subtitles. Love doesnt just hurt in the jagged German romance Head-On; it cuts and bleeds and even kills. A story about a lonely man and a still-lonelier woman fighting against their worlds and what often seems like their own best interests, the film has caused a stir in Germany for the murky, troubling light it sheds on the lives of the countrys Turkish immigrants. Its popularity made it a fleeting social phenomenon and a minor cultural footnote. But it doesnt explain why this film about two strangers with suicidal tendencies and a deep commitment to self-aggrandizing drama is the first very good movie of this very young year. One of the truisms about romances, even those shaded pitch black and set to banging rock music, is that you have to fall in love with the characters when theyre falling for each other. It takes a long time for Cahit (Mr. Unel) and Sibel (Ms. Kekilli) to get inside each others heads, much less anywhere else, but it doesnt take us long to care about these two perfectly imperfect beings. DARGIS HIDE AND SEEK Starring Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Irving, Dylan Baker and Melissa Leo. Directed by John Polson. (R, 105 minutes). In the downbeat, sufficiently unsettling Hide and Seek, Mr. De Niro plays a New York City shrink, David, whos married to a somnolent type (Ms. Irving), whose love for their daughter, Emily (Ms. Fanning), cant disguise her unhappiness. Soon after the story starts, violence descends on the family, and David and Emily move to the country for some healing. Once there, things go from lousy to worse, as Emily starts staring blankly into the surrounding woods and palling around with a sinister invisible friend called Charlie. Blood drips into the story; then it pours. One of the most gifted child actors around, Ms. Fanning has both chops and a preternaturally intense screen presence; even when you dont believe the setup, you buy what she is selling. Thats a good thing when it comes to this horror-thriller hybrid, which was written by Ari Schlossberg and needs all the help it can get from its actors. DARGIS *HOTEL RWANDA Starring Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte. Directed by Terry George (PG-13, 121 minutes). This wrenching political thriller, based on fact, performs the valuable service of lending a human face to an upheaval so savage that it seemed beyond the realm of imagination when news of it filtered into the West. The movie certainly isnt the first screen depiction of a nation consumed in ethnic strife. But its vision of the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis by the ruling Hutu tribe in Rwanda during a hundred-day bloodbath in 1994 offers a devastating picture of media-driven mass murder left unchecked. The story is based on the real-life experiences of Paul Rusesabagina (Mr. Cheadle), the soft-spoken Hutu manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines, in Kigali, who with his Tutsi wife, Tatiana (Ms. Okonedo), and children, narrowly escapes death several times. Mr. Rusesabagina was directly responsible for saving the lives of more than 1,200 Tutsis and Hutu moderates by sheltering them in the hotel and bribing the Hutu military to spare them. The movie, which is squeamish about showing the full extent of savagery, hammers every button on the emotional console. HOLDEN IN GOOD COMPANY Starring Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson. Written and directed by Paul Weitz (PG-13, 106 minutes). This gently revisionist fairy tale about good versus evil is set on the battlefield of contemporary corporate culture, a site of our leading blood sport. Mostly, though, the movie is about men. The two men at the storys engaging center are Carter Duryea (Mr. Grace), a young executive who has been promoted beyond his abilities to run the advertising department of a magazine with the resonant name of Sports America. The man whom Carter is meant to make redundant is the 51-year-old Dan Foreman, a ruggedly appealing adult who brings out the best in everyone. Dan has a picture-perfect family and is the kind of unabashedly old-fashioned masculine type that Mr. Quaid has been slow-cooking to perfection over the years and which, on American screens at least, has lately gone missing. DARGIS LOST EMBRACE Starring Daniel Hendler. Directed by Daniel Burman (not rated, 100 minutes; in Spanish, with English subtitles). Set in a shabby Buenos Aires shopping mall, this antic, melancholy comedy gives a Latin American twist to a story of young, male Jewish identity crisis that will be familiar to fans of Philip Roth, Neil Simon and Woody Allen. Ariel (the fast-moving, nervous-looking Mr. Hendler) is a young man in a hurry, without much of a sense of direction. He carries on an anxious affair with an older woman, pines for his former girlfriend, and fantasizes about emigrating to Poland, from which his family fled two generations before. Mostly, though, he is haunted by the absence of his father, Elias, who abandoned him as a baby to go to Israel to fight in the 1973 war. The film, while busy and diffuse, is also touching and funny, and its modesty and haphazardness are among its charms. SCOTT MEET THE FOCKERS Starring Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo and Owen Wilson. Directed by Jay Roach (PG-13, 114 minutes). Like Meet the Parents, the follow-up new comedy Meet the Fockers hinges on the well-traveled idea that theres something comic about being Jewish in America. Not the Philip Roth, take-no-prisoners funny, in which Jewish identity is good, bad, happy, sad, a historical chip on the shoulder, a sign of radical difference. Rather, the post-Borscht Belt funny of the genial sitcom Jew whose difference is amorphous enough to be thoroughly unthreatening; the Jew as an ethnic accessory that non-Jews on both sides of the camera can enjoy without anxiety, like the cute cabala string Madonna likes to wear. And so, just as Bernie loved Bridget, and Rhoda loved Mary, so does Greg Focker (Mr. Stiller) love Pam Byrnes (Ms. Polo). And because Greg loves Pam, Pams father, Jack (Mr. De Niro), doesnt love Greg. Not because no man could ever be good enough for his daughter, but because Greg doesnt look like Pams old squeeze, the fair-haired Kevin (Mr. Wilson). DARGIS *THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and Lynn Collins. Directed by Michael Radford (R, 127 minutes). Shakespeares most problematic play -- at least with respect to modern sensitivities -- receives an intelligent interpretation from Mr. Radford and a superb cast. Mr. Pacino, showing welcome restraint after a series of overdone stage and screen performances, emphasizes Shylocks grief and estrangement, turning him into a fragile monster. But his villainy, however much it smacks of blood libel, cannot be discarded without compromising the plays complex ideas about justice and duty, and Mr. Radford does not try to wash away the stain of anti-Semitism that is woven into the heart of his source. He does remind us how much more is going on in the play, and along with his talented production designer and cinematographer, he renders Venice as a series of Renaissance paintings -- tableaus that in evoking Velázquez, Rembrandt, Titian and Vermeer immerse us in the ferment of early modern Europe. Mr. Irons is quietly mesmerizing in the title role, a creature of mysterious melancholy whose soul seems at once pure and rotted. The movie really belongs to Ms. Collins, who gives Portia her rightful wit and charisma, and makes her the plays cruel and lovely moral center. SCOTT *MILLION DOLLAR BABY Starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. Directed by Mr. Eastwood (PG-13, 135 minutes). Mr. Eastwood takes what appears to be a conventional boxing-melodrama plot about a crusty old trainer whose heart is melted by a spirited young fighter and turns it into a glowing, somber meditation on friendship, ambition and death. The pictures scale is small, and its pacing leisurely, which gives you a chance to savor three lovely performances: from Ms. Swank as the young boxer, Mr. Freeman as a world-weary former contender and Mr. Eastwood as the trainer, Frankie Dunn. At 74, Mr. Eastwood has achieved a level of mastery that leaves him with nothing to prove, and so, unafraid of sentiment and willing to risk cliché, he has made a graceful, lyrical, devastating masterpiece -- the best film released by a major Hollywood studio in 2004. SCOTT *NOBODY KNOWS Starring Yuya Yagira.. Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (PG-13, 141 minutes; in Japanese, with English subtitles). Based on the true story of four children abandoned by their mother in a small Tokyo apartment, Mr. Kore-edas fourth film is at once harrowing and tender, an urban horror story with overtones of fairy tale. Restricting himself to the childrens point of view, the director creates an almost unbearable sense of dread in the audience; you cant help suspecting that, at every moment, something terrible is about to happen. But at the same time, because the children themselves do not perceive the full terribleness of their situation, the terror is mitigated by a sense of wonder and adventure. The keys to this meticulous and deeply humane film are Mr. Kore-edas deft camera sense and the remarkable performance of the 12-year-old Mr. Yagira as Akira, the oldest of the four siblings, who must somehow preserve his own innocence while protecting his more vulnerable brother and sisters. SCOTT A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT Starring Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jean-Pierre Becker, Dominique Bettenfeld, Clovis Cornillac and Marion Cotillard. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (R, 133 minutes; in French, with English subtitles). If you like battleground carnage delivered with aesthetic brio, the kind that ensures that when a soldier explodes into confetti, his flesh will dapple a trenchmate as decoratively as pink rosettes on a cake, this new French film will serve you nicely. Set during World War I and its immediate aftermath, and directed by the cult favorite Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it follows the adventures of a young woman, Mathilde (Ms. Tautou), who holds fast to the hope that her young soldier fiancé will return home from his apparent grave. Even when death seems to part them, the cord of her love remains unbroken. Best known for Amélie, a modern fairy tale also starring Ms. Tautou, Mr. Jeunet possesses a distinctive visual style thats part Rube Goldberg, part F.A.O. Schwarz, and generally enjoyable for about 15 minutes. DARGIS THE WEDDING DATE Starring Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney. Directed by Clare Kilner. (PG-13, 90 minutes). Either Ms. Kilner or Dana Fox, her screenwriter, must have adored Four Weddings and a Funeral, because their new romantic comedy struggles from beginning to end to capture that earlier films charm and ebullience. Their efforts are largely unsuccessful. Ms. Messing stars as Kat Ellis, a New Yorker en route to London for her younger half-sisters wedding. Since there is no man in Kats life, she turns to the classified ads for male escorts. In a fantasy worthy of Pretty Woman, the male prostitute she hires turns out to be a hunk (Mr. Mulroney) with beautiful manners and a degree in comparative literature from Brown. Both stars are highly appealing, despite a shaky script with aphorisms that dont quite deliver. After rowdy parties in London, everyone heads for the glorious English countryside for family-bonding activities. The Wedding Date proves that there is nothing inherently magical about a group of adults frolicking on a lawn with an old pop-music hit in the background. What charms it does have would be far more enjoyable if the movie werent so in love with its own supposed cuteness. GATES. THE WOODSMAN Starring Kevin Bacon. Directed by Nicole Kassell (R, 87 minutes). Ms. Kassell directs this story of a paroled child molester struggling to re-enter society after 12 years in prison in a lean, unassuming style, which suits the subject matter and gives the fine cast room to explore their complicated, unhappy characters. The story is not always plausible, and the atmosphere sometimes feels programmatically grim, but the film is a serious, compassionate attempt at psychological realism, anchored by Mr. Bacons precise, unsettling performance as a man trying to untangle his decent impulses from his destructive, predatory urges. SCOTT Pop A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy rock and pop concerts in the New York metropolitan region this weekend. * denotes a highly recommended concert. Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. APOLLO SUNSHINE, Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718)599-5103. The tunefulness of folk-rock and the Beatles goes joyously off the rails in the songs of this Boston band, which tends to get more raucously enthusiastic somewhere around the second verse. Tonight at 9, with Falcon and Brian Bonz opening; admission is $10. JON PARELES *NEKO CASE, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212)533-2111. In one of her songs, Neko Case declares, Im a dying breed who still believes, haunted by American dreams. Her songs look back to the era when country music addressed death, sin and heartbreak. She sings honky-tonk and torch songs in a voice thats intimate with tragedy and desire. Sunday and Monday nights at 8, with the Sadies sharing the bill; tickets are $20, $18 in advance. PARELES C.J. CHENIER, Satalla, 37 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212) 576-1155. C.J. Chenier, the son of Clifton Chenier, who was the undisputed king of zydeco, picked up his late fathers accordion and his Red Hot Louisiana Band in the 1980s, carrying on the family tradition of bayou dance music laced with blues. Sunday afternoon as part of the Lets Zydeco series, with dance lessons at 1:30 and music at 2; admission is $22. PARELES SANDRA COLLINS, Avalon, 662 Avenue of the Americas, at 20th Street, Chelsea, (212)807-7780. Ms. Collins tends toward clean, energetic progressive-house tracks, letting misty atmospherics and grand synthesizers glide over precise rhythm tracks. Tomorrow night after 10, with Pete Tong, Eyal Hen and Eddie Lee; admission is $30. KELEFA SANNEH *BO DIDDLEY/GENYA RAVAN, B.B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42d Street, (212) 997-4144. When Bo Diddley plays his namesake beat and growls the metaphysical boasts of Who Do You Love, its easy to hear the fire and syncopation that made him a rock pioneer. Behind them is a profound education in the blues. Genya Ravan, who sang with the band Ten Wheel Drive and was a pioneering female rock producer, opens the show. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $30 in advance, $35 tomorrow. PARELES *THOMAS FEHLMAN, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, (212)358-7503. Mr. Fehlman, a German producer, has been tinkering with electronic beats since the 1980s. Last year he released Lowflow (Plug Research), a warm CD full of minimalist pulses and languid breakbeats. Tonight at midnight; admission is $5. SANNEH *HEART & SOUL VALENTINES CONCERT, Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, (212)247-0200. This is the kind of concert where the audience seems likely to outperform the performers. Not that theres anything wrong with the veteran R&B acts scheduled to appear. The lineup includes Harold Melvins Blue Notes, Ted Mills (formerly of Blue Magic), Melisa Morgan and, perhaps best of all, Staten Islands Force M.D.s, who were combining smooth R&B with bumpy hip-hop long before it was as popular (or, as the members probably know all too well, as lucrative) as it is today. Still the real thrill will probably be the crowd full of quiet men and notably unquiet women, clutching roses and drinks and -- if the singers are doing their job right -- one another. Tomorrow night at 9; tickets are $45, and you might as well obey the fliers and dress to impress. SANNEH *NORMAN JAY, APT, 419 West 13th Street, West Village, (212) 414-4245. One of Britains most popular D.J.s comes to this cozy (thats a euphemism) nightclub in support of Good Times 4 (Resist), a laid-back double-disc compilation put together by Norman Jay and his brother, Joey Jay. Expect a night of elegant funk, in the broadest sense -- the compilation includes appearances by everyone from the reggae act Zap Pow to the big band overseen by the British electronica producer Matthew Herbert. Tomorrow night after 10, with Citizen Kane; tickets are $8. SANNEH KOOL KEITH, B.B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212)997-4144. Kool Keith is hip-hops definition of multiple personality syndrome, from his days with the Ultramagnetic M.C.s to more recent metamorphoses into Dr. Octagon and Reverand Tom. Depending on his chosen role, he could be rapping comedy, science or smut. Tonight at 11; tickets are $20. PARELES KITKA, Satalla, 37 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212)576-1155. The drones, dissonances and eerie beauty of Eastern European womens vocal music are the province of Kitka, which has been singing them since 1979. Tonight at 7:30; tickets are $20. PARELES *JENS LEKMAN/THE IMPOSSIBLE SHAPES/PARKER & LILY/THE SILENT LEAGUE, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212)260-4700. Pop gets twisted in highly personal ways on this quadruple bill. Jens Lekman, a Swedish songwriter whose lyrics are in English, writes wistful ditties that can be wry or depressive. The Impossible Shapes look back to the psychedelically warped pop of the late 1960s, while Parker & Lily sing slowly and quietly about the wreckage of romance in reverberant arrangements. Brian Wilsons legacy shimmers through the songs of the Silent League, which uses a handful of musicians to create grandly expansive orchestral pop. Tomorrow night at 8:30; tickets are $10. PARELES LOSERS LOUNGE TRIBUTE TO QUEEN: NO TIME FOR LOSERS, Fez (downstairs at the Time Cafe), 380 Lafayette Street, at Great Jones Street, East Village, (212)533-2680. Joe McGinty and his coterie of songwriting connoisseurs first applied themselves to the mixture of hard-rock grandiosity and campy arrogance that was Queen five years ago. Theyre back at it, with ingenious ways to reinterpret the multitracked splendors of songs like Bohemian Rhapsody. Tonight at 8; admission is $25. Tomorrow night at 7, admission is $25; tomorrow night at 10:30, admission is $20. PARELES *ENRIQUE MORENTE/TOMATITO, Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Avenue, at 57th Street, (212)247-7800. This concert brings together two musicians who combine flamencos austere tradition of volatile, smoldering passion with the urge to reinvent it. Enrique Morente is a singer who has reached back to old styles and also looked outside the tradition for forms and texts, from a flamenco Mass to rock fusions. This time, he will be in a more traditional format, collaborating with the remarkable guitarist Tomatito, whose improvising vocabulary includes both the deepest flamenco and the harmonies of jazz. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $22 to $69. PARELES ERICK MORILLO, Crobar, 530 West 28th Street, near 10th Avenue, Chelsea, (212)629-9000. This veteran house producer may still be best known for producing the huge 1993 hit I Like to Move It, but since then hes established himself as one of New Yorks most popular D.J.s, known for raucous, clattering sets that sometimes gesture toward his love of Latin music. This party celebrates his new release, a four-disc set called The 2 Sides of My World (Subliminal), which includes both original productions (one track, Dance I Said, features P. Diddy) and D.J. mixes. Tonight after 10; tickets are $30 in advance, more at the door. SANNEH JOHNNY PACHECO/LA SONORA PONCEÑA/TITO ROJAS, Copacabana, 560 West 34th Street, (212) 239-2672. The flutist and bandleader Johnny Pacheco was born in the Dominican Republic but fell in love early with Afro-Cuban music. He has been a prime mover in New York Latin music since the 1960s, when he helped start Fania Records; he went on to lead the Fania All-Stars, the band that defined New York salsa. La Sonora Ponceña has been one of the cornerstones of Puerto Rican salsa since it was founded in 1954. Its arrangements are at once transparent and propulsive, with pinpoint horns, percussion and keyboard behind ardent vocals; they have urged more than one generation of dancers into motion. Tito Rojas has been one of the leading Puerto Rican salsa singers since the 1980s, making hits with both ballads and dance tunes. Tomorrow night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.; admission is $25. PARELES *SMOKEY AND MIHO/CHOCOLATE GENIUS, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212)358-7503. Miho Hatori sang and wrote songs for the funk-rap-lounge band Cibo Matto; Smokey Hormel has played guitar with Tom Waits and Beck. Leading a band, they delve into -- what else? -- Brazilian music. Theyre joined for this show, a benefit for Tonic, by the percussionist Cyro Baptista and the drummer Billy Martin from Medeski, Martin and Wood. Marc Anthony Thompson, aka Chocolate Genius, writes desolate, telling, unsparing songs about goodbyes, from doomed romances to senile parents. With his husky voice and the backup of Marc Ribot on guitar, hell have twilit ballads and, probably, some droll comments in between. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $20. PARELES MARCO ANTONIO SOLÍS/ANA GABRIEL, Madison Square Garden, 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan, (212)465-6741. Latin pop lives for love songs, and this pre-Valentines Day Concierto del Amor presents two Mexican ballad singers who wholeheartedly revel in romance. Marco Antonio Solís is suave and earnest in his yearning songs, while Ana Gabriel pours drama into songs with a streak of tragedy. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $59.50 to $99.50. PARELES SOULIVE, Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, at Sterling Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718)230-0236. Soulive is an organ-guitar-drums trio that harks back to the 1950s and 1960s, playing meaty, blues-centered jazz for dancers who like straightforward funk. Lately, it has been hooking up with a little hip-hop. Tonight at 9; tickets are $25. PARELES SUPER DIAMOND, Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212)777-6800. A tribute to the songs of Neil Diamond, particularly his triumphal 1970s material. Smirking is optional. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $26. PARELES *KEITH SWEAT, Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th Street, (212)496-7070. For the not-getting-any-younger slow-jam specialist Keith Sweat, every other weekend of the year must be merely preparation for this one -- no matter what else happens (or doesnt happen) in his career, hell probably always be a big draw around Valentines Day. Expect an audience full of longtime fans to scream and whoop for a set full of plaintive (but never, ever wimpy) love songs, sung by a man who knows how to find a balance between tenderness and rakishness. Sunday night at 7:30, with Atlantic Starr and Melisa Morgan; tickets are $53.50 to $73.50. SANNEH Cabaret A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy cabaret shows in Manhattan this weekend. * denotes a highly recommended show. Full reviews of recent cabaret shows: nytimes.com/music. RUTH BROWN, Le Jazz au Bar, 41 East 58th Street, (212)308-9455. This rhythm-and-blues legend has weathered one personal disaster after another, but misfortunes that might have silenced a less determined performer have only added dimension to Ms. Browns already larger-than-life musical personality. Exhibiting a flamboyant showmanship that recalls her peer James Brown, she proudly presents herself as an indomitable member of royalty and stylistic descendant of the Queen of the Blues herself, Dinah Washington. Tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 and 9:30, and Sunday night at 8. Cover: $50; no minimum. STEPHEN HOLDEN BARBARA CARROLL, Oak Room, Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, (212)419-9331. The Lady of a Thousand Songs is back in the Oak Room for Sunday brunch and evening performances. This elegant red-headed musician and singer is a poised entertainer whose impeccable pianism belongs to the school of jazz that maintains a sense of classical decorum at the keyboard. Even when swinging out, she remains an impressionist with special affinities for Thelonious Monk and bossa nova. Vocally, she belongs to the conversational tradition of Mabel Mercer, with a style thats blasé but never cold. Sunday at 2 and 8 p.m. Cover: $55 at 2, including brunch at noon; $42 at 8, with a $15 minimum. (An $80 dinner-and-show package is available.) HOLDEN *BLOSSOM DEARIE, Dannys Skylight Room, 346 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212)265-8133. To watch this singer and pianist is to appreciate the power of a carefully deployed pop-jazz minimalism combined with a highly discriminating taste in songs. She remains the definitive interpreter, at once fey and tough, of the pop-jazz satirist Dave Frishberg, as astute and unforgiving a social critic as exists. The songs -- her own and other peoples -- date from all periods of a career remarkable for its longevity and for Ms. Dearies stubborn independence and sly wit, which have never gone stale. Tomorrow night at 7; Sunday night at 6:15. Cover: $25, with a $15 minimum; a $54.50 dinner-and-show package is available. HOLDEN UTE LEMPER, Cafe Carlyle, Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, (212)570-7189. This imperious, Dietrichesque cabaret singer, who is performing with a pop quartet through Feb. 26, lends the entire nightclub enterprise a German Expressionist seriousness. If her latest show is entirely different from the program of original songs she performed last year at Le Jazz au Bar, its attitude is similar. Most of the material doesnt deal directly with politics, history and literature, like the sprawling topical broadsides of the earlier show. But she still invests it with a ferocity that infuses the art (and artifice) of cabaret with an unrelenting dramatic intensity. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8:45 and 10:45. Cover: $65; $40 at the bar; no minimum. HOLDEN Jazz A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy jazz concerts in the New York metropolitan region this weekend. * denotes a highly recommended concert. Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. ERIC ALEXANDER QUARTET, Smoke, 2751 Broadway at 106th Street, Manhattan, (212)864-6662. A young tenor saxophonist with a beautiful sound, centering in the Coltrane-ish lower-middle register; if he is a little unabashedly entranced by a particular area of jazzs past, around 1955 to 1965, he does well by it. Sets are tonight and tomorrow at 9, 10:30 and midnight; cover charge is $25. BEN RATLIFF RASHIED ALI QUARTET, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626. Best known as John Coltranes drummer in his last few years and his foil on the duet album Interstellar Space, Mr. Ali has never stopped collaborating with up-and-coming musicians. Sets are tonight and tomorrow at 8, 10 and midnight; cover charge is $20 and there is a $10 minimum. RATLIFF J.D. ALLEN TRIO PLAYS THE MUSIC OF BUTCH MORRIS, Louis, 649 East Ninth Street, at Avenue C, East Village, (212)673-1190. J.D. Allen, an able young tenor saxophonist who has played with Betty Carter, Cindy Blackman, Eric Revis and others, is doing his part in Butch Morriss month-long Black February series of nightly performances. Hes playing in most of the large improvising ensembles conducted by Mr. Morris through the month, and hes also playing this weekly gig with his own trio. On the music stand will be Mr. Morriss own compositions going back to the 1970s, which graced a number of old David Murray albums. Theyre powerfully appealing melodies; its been too long since theyve been heard. Tomorrow night at 8:30 pm; free admission. RATLIFF COOPER-MOORE/WILLIAM PARKER, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center /LES Gallery, 107 Suffolk Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4080. The multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore needs no special context to be understood: he plays as if he is trying to grab the attention of pedestrians on a busy street. Hell play boogie-woogie piano, pushing form into abstraction; stamp out a rhythm with hand percussion; play beautiful ballads with home-made harps, or bark out a blues on the harmonica. This performance celebrates a Cooper-Moore boxed set, on the 50 Miles of Elbow Room label, which includes five seven-inch records and a booklet inside a small cedar box. It includes solo performances by Cooper-Moore and and William Parker on bass, and a duet between the two musicians. Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m; admission is $6. RATLIFF GOLD SPARKLE BAND, Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue between Metropolitan and North Third Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718)218-6934. The Gold Sparkle Band has been in New York since the late 80s; it channels the East-Coast jazz avant-garde of the mid-1960s. Sunday night at 10; free admission. RATLIFF LEE KONITZ TRIO, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, midtown, (212)581-3080. Lee Konitz, the alto saxophonist, was one of Lennie Tristanos closest associates in the late 1940s and early 50s; that experience left a permanent impression on his subsequent career, in terms of repertory, instrumentation and many other things. Even so, he is as original a player as there is in jazz, with a sound that has remained limpid and innocent and an emphasis on melody that makes him always easy to follow. He plays this weekend with the brothers Ed and George Schuller, on bass and drums. Sets tonight and tomorrow are at 9 and 11; cover charge is $30 and there is a $10 minimum. RATLIFF JASON LINDNER GROUP, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, South Village, (212) 242-1073. Jason Lindner, a smart, rhythmic pianist who brings together bop, Cuban and all sorts of progressive influences, has become a regular feature at this club; this particular group includes the bassist Reggie Washington, the drummer Tony Escapa, and as guests, the saxophonist Jimmy Vass and the singer Baba Israel. Sets are tonight and tomorrow at 9 and 10:30; admission is $15 per set. RATLIFF SERGIO MENDES, Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212)475-8592. Three decades before Bebel Gilberto could be heard in restaurants all across the country, Sergio Mendes was the populist face of Brazilian music, making albums that souped up bossa nova for international audiences. Sets tonight and tomorrow night at 8 and 10:30; cover charge is $40 at the tables, $30 at the bar, with a $5 minimum. RATLIFF *BUTCH MORRIS, Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue between Metropolitan Avenue and North Third Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718)218-6934; Belt Theater, 336 West 37th Street, Manhattan, (212) 563-0487; Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, East Village, (212)614-0505. Butch Morris has set up performances every night during February; hes calling it Black February, and this month officially celebrates 20 years of Mr. Morriss conductions, performances in which he conducts groups of improvisers, jazz or otherwise, with his own language of signals and baton movements. Hes playing with different ensembles each night, and heres the weekend schedule: with Butchlandband at Zebulon, tonight at 10 and midnight; free admission; with the 18 piece Free Zone/Sound Infusion Orchestra tomorrow at 4 pm at the Belt Theater; admission is $10; with the New York Skyscraper Ensemble Sunday at 5 and 6 p.m., at Bowery Poetry Club; admission is $12. Check his Web site, www.conduction.us, for further information on these and other performances. RATLIFF HOUSTON PERSON QUARTET, Lenox Lounge, 288 Lenox Avenue near 125th Street, Harlem, (212)427-0253. A veteran tenor saxophonist who keeps things pleasurable. His background is in the 1950s, when a good deal of jazz was completely submerged in rhythm and blues, and he is one of the few mainstream jazz performers today who can routinely find access to the deep language of pleasure from that time. Mr. Person has an elastic, sequential solo-building style that links him to Sonny Rollins and occasionally a fat, breathy tone that links him to Ben Webster. Enjoy him. Sets are tonight and tomorrow at 8:30, 10 and 11:30; cover charge is $20 per set, and there is a one-drink minimum. RATLIFF *BEN RILEYS MONK LEGACY SEPTET, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, 5th Floor, (212)258-9595. Led by the drummer Ben Riley, who played regularly with Thelonious Monk through the 1960s, this seven-piece band will do something unusual: play new arrangements of Monk material with no pianist. Since Monks songs bear up beautifully through any number of reinterpretations, and since Mr. Riley is a lovingly sensitive drummer, it should be a worthwhile week. Sets through Sunday night are at 7:30 and 9:30, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover, $30, with a $10 minimum at the tables, $5 at the bar. RATLIFF *JIMMY SCOTT, Iridium, 1650 Broadway at 51st Street, midtown, (212) 582-2121. This singer of sepulchral jazz songs keeps rolling along, with the cracks and crevices in his voice seeming either more authentic or more disturbing, depending on your point of view. But he is also one of the old-school jazz performers who know how to hold audiences tightly from beginning to end. Sets through Sunday night are at 8:30 and 10:30; cover, $35, and there is a $10 minimum. RATLIFF JOE WILDER WITH MICHAEL WEISS TRIO, Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Avenue at 38th Street, Manhattan, (212)885-7125. Mr. Wilder, a marvelous trumpeter who played with big bands in the 1940s and 50s and finally went full time into studio and television work, plays a kind of tabula-rasa swing language: theres very little slang in there to clog the music. Sets are tonight at 9 and 10:45; cover charge is $15, and there is a $10 minimum. RATLIFF BUSTER WILLIAMS QUARTET, Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212)255-4037. Mr. Williams, an agile bassist with a liquid tone, has been setting up bands stocked with the best players in New York. This one includes the saxophonist Steve Wilson, the pianist George Colligan and the drummer Lenny White. Sets through Sunday night are at 9 and 11; cover charge is $30. RATLIFF MATT WILSONS ARTS AND CRAFTS, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232. Regardless of whos in his band -- and membership has changed several times over the last few years -- the jazz drummer Matt Wilson is a plenty good enough draw all by himself. Influenced by the late Billy Higgins, among others, Mr. Wilsons style swings with a fairly light touch; but he is fiendishly attentive to what his sidemen are doing, and he uses every bit they give him, playing off their gestures, stoking their furnaces in turn. He has a sense of play thats hard to miss. Sets through Sunday night are at 7:30 and 9:30, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $25, and $20 on Sunday. RATLIFF Classical A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy opera and classical music events this weekend in the New York metropolitan region. * denotes a highly recommended event. Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera ARIANNA IN CRETA With first-rate production values as well as musical ones devoted to professional revivals of virtually unknown works, the Gotham Chamber Opera can claim to be the pre-eminent small opera company in New York. This season is practically mainstream by the companys standards as it jumps onto the bandwagon of the current Handel fad with a work from the composers prime (1734), the first in a planned series of Ariadne-themed operas. The cast includes some notable young singers, Caroline Worra and Hanan Alattar among them; the conductor is the companys founder, Neal Goren; Christopher Alden will direct. Tomorrow night at 7:30, Henry Street Settlement, 466 Grand Street, Lower East Side, (212)279-4200. Tickets: $30 to $60. ANNE MIDGETTE LA BOHÈME Its been some time since the Metropolitan Operas crowd-pleasing production of Puccinis Bohème has held much interest for adventurous opera buffs. But this seasons revival offers an impressive and intriguing cast. The golden-voiced coloratura soprano Ruth Ann Swenson continues her exploration of the rich lyric soprano repertory as she sings the role of Mimi, with the hardy tenor Roberto Aronica as Rodolfo. The vibrant soprano Patricia Racette sings Musetta, with the robust baritone Dwayne Croft as her off-again, on-again boyfriend Marcello. Daniel Oren conducts. Tomorrow at 8, Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212)362-6000. Sold out; returned tickets may be available at the box office. ANTHONY TOMMASINI Classical Music AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Leon Botstein and his American Symphony Orchestra keep coming at us with irresistible repertory. Sunday afternoon brings the orchestras latest adventure into French opera: Le Roi Malgré Lui by Chabrier. This comedy for the opera stage will be performed at Avery Fisher Hall, and anyone interested in the byways of this strain of opera should try to go -- either for love or just curiosity. Sunday at 3 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212)721-6500. Tickets: $25 to $53. BERNARD HOLLAND BARGEMUSIC There are few better places to hear chamber music in New York than this floating concert hall on the Brooklyn side of the East River. Once a coffee barge, it offers the intimacy that chamber music demands, as well as a wonderful view of lower Manhattan through the bay windows that make up the back wall of the stage. This weekend, Mark Peskanov, the violinst and Bargemusics executive and artistic director, presides over performances of two Mozart Divertimentos -- those in B flat (K. 287) and D (K. 334). The performers, along with Mr. Peskanov, include Aaron Boyd, violinist; Miranda Sielaff, violist; Eric Jacobsen, cellist; Timothy Cobb, bassist, and Wei-Ping Chou and Brad Gemeinhardt, hornists. Tonight and tomorrow nights at 7:30, and Sunday at 4 p.m., Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, (718)624-2083. Tickets: $40; $25 for students. ALLAN KOZINN CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER Ravel was a big admirer of jazz and couldnt understand why more American classical composers did not integrate it into their music. The composer himself suggested how it might be done in his catchy jazz-tinged Violin Sonata, to be performed at this concert by the fine French violinist Philippe Graffin and the pianist André-Michel Schub. Paul Neubauer (viola) and Gary Hoffman (cello) join for the remainder of the French-themed program, including music by Fauré and Saint-Saens. Tonight at 8 and Sunday at 5 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, (212) 875.5788. Tickets: $27.50 to $48. JEREMY EICHLER COLUMBIA SINFONIETTA This ambitious group was founded in 2000 to address a perceived dearth of larger scale New York ensembles devoted exclusively to contemporary music. The group closed up shop after one season but it has recently re-formed under its previous director, the conductor and percussionist Jeffrey Milarsky, to pick up where it left off presenting both classic works of recent decades that are rarely heard in New York, and new compositions. In the former category this weekend will be Messiaens Oiseaux Exotiques, an important piece from the mid-1950s that is derived, like so much of the composers music, from bird songs. Also on the program will be a 1979 percussion work by Michael Finnissy as well as more recent music by Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez, David Rakowski and Eric Chasalow. Sunday at 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212)501-3330. Tickets: $10. EICHLER *SHARON ISBIN Guitarists typically build their performances around either solo works, concertos or chamber music. Sharon Isbin, one of the finest guitarists performing now, both technically and interpretively, will draw on all three repertories in her concert on Sunday. She opens with Vivaldis Concerto in D (RV 93), and closes with a chamber score, the Boccherini Quintet in D (G. 448). Between them, she offers an arrangement by John Duarte of the Albinoni Adagio, Mr. Duartes own Joan Baez Suite in its New York premiere, Fallas Siete Canciones Populares Españolas and Rodrigos Aranjuez ma pensée. Ms. Isbins collaborators include Catherine Cho and Soovin Kim, violinists; Cynthia Phelps, violist; Carter Brey, cellist, and Daniel Druckman, percussionist. Sunday at 3, 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212)415-5500. Tickets: $40. KOZINN MET CHAMBER ENSEMBLE A few seasons ago, Dawn Upshaw joined James Levine and the Met Chamber Ensemble -- players from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra -- in remarkably sensual, eloquent rendering of Schoenbergs Pierrot Lunaire. Ms. Upshaw returns to sing the work again with Mr. Levine and company in an all-contemporary program that also includes Luigi Dallapiccolas Piccola Musica Notturna, Elliott Carters Luimen and Schoenbergs own chamber arrangement of his Five Pieces (Op. 16). Sunday at 5, Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212)247-7800. Tickets: $48 to $64. KOZINN NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC In his last years with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, an ensemble with a great Mahler tradition, Riccardo Chailly was becoming a formidable Mahlerian. Now, in the first of his two weeks with the New York Philharmonic, an orchestra with its own personal connection to the composer, Mr. Chailly conducts Mahlers Seventh Symphony. And a fuller exposure to Mr. Chailly as a Mahlerian can be had in a recording of the Ninth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, released late last year by Decca. Today at 2 p.m., tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212)721-6500. Tickets: today, $22 to $74; tomorrow and Tuesday, $25 to $90. JAMES R. OESTREICH JOSÉ VAN DAM Both in opera and in the song repertory, the Belgian bass-baritone José Van Dam has been among the most vocally splendid and artistically refined singers of our time. A few seasons back, as Mr. Van Dam turned 60, his voice, understandably, showed signs of decline. But in the last two years he has gained new-found vocal vitality, most recently as Golaud in the Metropolitan Operas production of Debussys Pelléas et Mélisande. At 64 he is singing with uncanny freshness and incomparable artistry. His recital, the first of two programs for Lincoln Centers Art of the Song series, should be marvelous. With the pianist Maciej Pikulski, he will sing French works by Fauré, Debussy, Massenet, Berlioz and Bizet. (The second program is on Wednesday) Sunday at 2 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, (212)721-6500. Tickets: $48. TOMMASINI GAY VALENTINE MUSIC CELEBRATION Tomorrow night Canticorum Virtuosi, the nonprofit organization that oversees the activities of two respected area choruses, the New York Virtuoso Singers and the Canticum Novum Singers, presents an elaborate and eclectic concert to honor same-sex love and affection, to quote the presenters. The distinguished and varied roster of performers includes the composer and pianist David Del Tredici, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, the tenor John Wesley Wright, the Gay Gotham Chorus, the Ambassador Singers of the New York City Gay Mens Chorus, a roster of cabaret performers and Harold Rosenbaum directing the Canticum Novum Singers and the New York Virtuoso Singers. The program is a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Tomorrow night at 8, Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan, (212)307-7171. Tickets: $20 to $100. TOMMASINI NIKOLAI MEDTNER This Russian pianist and composer, who died in 1951, is no longer a household name, but his passionate supporters during his lifetime included Rachmaninoff, who in 1912 labeled him the most talented of all the modern composers. Medtners late-Romantic solo and chamber works are the focus of a program tonight that, with David Dubal as host, features a selection of piano miniatures or Skazki (fairytales) as well as his Piano Quintet in C, among other works. Tonight at 8, Renee Weiler Concert Hall, Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow Street, West Village, (212)242-4770. Tickets: $15; $10 for students and 65+. EICHLER ORLANDO CONSORT Among the challenges of performing very old music are, first, figuring out how it went and, second, making it come alive. Both challenges are grist for the mill of this male vocal quartet, founded in 1988 (but recently joined by a new tenor), celebrated for its performances of music written before 1500, and supported by musicologists in preparing varied programs like this weekends, which includes music from their latest album, devoted to the 15th-century composer Antoine Busnois. Other star composers -- stars, at least, to specialists in this particular area -- are Hayne van Ghizeghem, Walter Lambe and Henry VIII. Tomorrow night at 8, Low Library Rotunda at Columbia University, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights, (212)854-7799. Tickets: $35; $21 for students. MIDGETTE TOKYO STRING QUARTET The Tokyo String Quartet is currently in residence at the 92d Street Y, and the theme of the series of concerts it has been performing is immigrant composers. Tomorrows program consists of the Rider Quartet from Haydns Op. 74, Zemlinskis Fourth Quartet and Hanns Eislers Septet No. 2 with added flute, piccolo, clarinet and bassoon. Viewing Haydn as an immigrant stretches the point. The Op. 74 may have coincided with his famous visits to London, but that is all. Still Haydn is always welcome regardless of passport status. Zemlinski and Eisler, who ended up back in East Germany, are legitimate topics. Tomorrow night at 8, 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212)415-5500. Tickets: $35. HOLLAND Dance A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy dance events this weekend in the New York metropolitan region. * denotes a highly recommended event. Full reviews of recent dance performances: nytimes.com/dance. BEIJING MODERN DANCE COMPANY A troupe founded in 1995 and one of the principal forces in contemporary Chinese dance makes its New York debut in Rear Light, an evening-long work to music by Pink Floyd that reflects the struggle of a young Chinese generation to reconcile traditional culture with influences from abroad and a thirst for intellectual freedom. Tonight at 8, tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212)242-0800. Tickets: $34. JACK ANDERSON AKIM FUNK BUDDHA The ever-exuberant Mr. Buddha (or is it Funk Buddha?) specializes in dance-theater that combines unblinking stillness, storytelling, tap and Mongolian throat-singing. He adds martial arts, breakdancing, beat-boxing, and Japanese, Zulu and urban English talk to the mix in his new Amazulu: Dance as a Weapon: the Hip-Hop Circus -- Part I. Tonight and tomorrow (and next Thursday through Saturday) at 10 p.m.; Sunday (and next Sunday) at 5:30 p.m. La MaMa E.T.C., 74A East Fourth Street, west of Second Avenue, Manhattan, (212)475-7710 or www.lamama.org. Tickets: $15. JENNIFER DUNNING BUTTER MELTS AWAY MY LETTERS Choreographed by Stephanie Rafferty and conceived and directed by Gian Marco Lo Forte, this theater-dance piece visits a group of young runaways to New York City who cannot quite shrug off the past. Tonight and tomorrow (and Thursdays through Saturdays through Feb. 26) at 8 p.m.; Sunday (and Sundays through Feb. 27) at 2:30 and 8 p.m., La MaMa E.T.C., 74A East Fourth Street west of Second Avenue, Manhattan (212) 475-7710. Tickets: $15; TDF vouchers accepted. DUNNING *FLAMENCO FESTIVAL The festival closes with Flamenco at the Crossroads, in which the dancer Rafaela Carrasco will join traditional and new-style flamenco singers in an exploration of this age-old Gypsy art. Sunday at 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan, (212)247-7800. Tickets: $22 to $69. And for those who wish to continue the exploration, there is a free series saluting the great Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura and his flamenco films, many made with Antonio Gades, ending on Feb. 23 with Mr. Sauras classic, all-encompassing Flamenco. Wednesdays beginning at 6 p.m. Instituto Cervantes, 211-215 East 49th Street, Manhattan, (212)308-7720 or www.cervantes.org. DUNNING I LOVE TANGO This tango musical boasts four dancers and live string, bandoneon, piano and vocal music. Tonight (and Thursdays and Fridays through March 25) at 8 p.m.; tomorrow (and Saturdays through March 26) at 3 and 8 p.m.; Sundays (through March 27) at 4 p.m., Thalia Spanish Theater, 41-17 Greenpoint Avenue, Sunnyside, Queens, (718)729-3880 or www.thaliatheatre.org. Tickets: $30; $27 for students and 65+; $25 (on Thursdays). DUNNING MARK JARECKE A choreographer who has studied philosophy as well as dance and whose creations often have an architectural quality offers Dendron, an in-the-round piece during which the audience is free to move around the performance area. Theatergoers are also encouraged to bring portable radios with earphones to savor the shifts in the sound environment by Chris Peck and Jon Moniaci. Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 8:30, Danspace Project, St. Marks Church, Second Avenue at Tenth Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194. Tickets: $15. ANDERSON CLEO MACK DANCE PROJECT Ms. Mack and her New Jersey-based company specialize in modern dance that she describes as highly choreographed life. The program includes new and recent dances that explore emotional states and one in which a 30-foot long skirt is a character. Tomorrow and Sunday at 8 p.m., Merce Cunningham Studio, 55 Bethune Street, at Washington Street, Manhattan, (908)561-5454. Tickets: $15. DUNNING MOISEYEV DANCE COMPANY Russias most famous folk-dance troupe makes its only New York appearance this season. Founded in 1936 by Igor Moiseyev, who at 98 continues to choreograph, the company is known for its spirited acrobatic dancing, theatrical flair and a repertory of works from Russia and many European and Asian nations. The dancing world travelers also perform American jazz and rock pieces. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, Brooklyn College, near Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues, Brooklyn, (718)951-4500. Tickets: $45, $40. ANDERSON PARSONS DANCE COMPANY The program includes four modern-dance pieces by David Parsons, a former Paul Taylor star, and music by the Ahn Trio, a group of three Korean-born sisters. Tonight at 8, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, C.W. Post Campus, Long Island University, Route 25A, Brookville, (516)299-3100 or www.tillescenter.org. Tickets: $38, $50 and $60; $35; $47 and $57 (65+). DUNNING ROCHA DANCE THEATER This program of modern-dance choreography by Jenny Rocha and the guest artist Kelli Wicke Davis, explores hidden human behavior, in part to music by Marty Beller. It includes -- we like this -- a piece with interactive newspaper costumes. Tonight through Sunday at 8 p.m., Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, between Houston and Prince Streets, Manhattan, (212)334-7479. Tickets: $15. DUNNING THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS Dances of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Inuit, Hop and Pueblo peoples will be included in this 30th annual Pow-Wow, along with a new modern-dance piece by Tom Pearson, a Creek Cherokee. Tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 5 p.m., Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue at Tenth Street, Manhattan (212) 254-1109. Tickets: $10; $1 for children under 12 accompanying ticket-bearing adults on Sunday. DUNNING WAVE OF HUMANITY This four-part, eight-hour dance event, a benefit for tsunami relief efforts, features nearly 40 individuals and companies chosen by nine dance institutions. Participants include Earl Mosley, Amanda Loulaki and Short Mean Lady, Ivy Baldwin Dance, Noemi LaFrance, Clare Byrne, Erica Essner Performance Co-Op, 3rd Rail Dance and House Dance Project. Tonight from 6 to 8 p.m.; 8 to 10 p.m.; 10 to 11:30 p.m., and 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., New Dance Space Center, 280 Broadway at Chambers Street, Manhattan, (212)625-8369 ext. 55 or www.dancespacecenter.org. Tickets: $20 (first through third parts); $15 (fourth part); $60 for all four; $100 VIP tickets for all four. DUNNING Art A selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy art, design and photography shows at New York museums and galleries this weekend. At many museums, children under 12 and members are admitted free. Addresses, unless otherwise noted, are in Manhattan. Most galleries are closed on Sundays and Mondays, but hours vary and should be checked by telephone. Gallery admission is free unless noted. * denotes a highly recommended show. Full reviews of recent shows: nytimes.com/art. Museums CONTEMPORARY VOICES: WORKS FROM THE UBS ART COLLECTION. Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, (212) 708-9400, through April 25. Whats wrong with this picture? The Museum of Modern Art, the most visionary museum of the 20th century, is inaugurating the temporary-exhibition galleries in its 21st-century home with an exhibition of gifts from a corporate collection. It is an ambitious, carefully selected corporate collection, but that doesnt keep the ensemble from feeling corporate, monotonous and by-the-book. The 40 (of 64) works given or promised to the Modern are nearly all by white, male artists and they are all already represented in the collection. Theres nothing wrong with the individual works by artists like Philip Guston, Jasper Johns and Vija Celmins that wont be cured by integrating them into the Moderns collection, but the ensemble effect is dispiriting. With an emphasis on a narrow swath of the 1980s mainstream, the show feels like an excessively edited letter in a bottle from an art world that no longer exists. Hours: Saturdays through Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Fridays, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; closed Tuesdays. Admission: $20; $16 for 65+; $12 for students. Free on Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m. ROBERTA SMITH RUTH DUCKWORTH, MODERNIST SCULPTOR, Museum of Arts and Design, 40 West 53rd Street, (212)956-3535, through April 3. A sculptor whose basic medium is clay, Ms. Duckworth makes everything from tiny, delicate vessels to monumental outdoor sculptures. Though her work fits in -- but not too neatly -- with the modernist tradition, her eye has roamed everywhere, resulting in a bewildering variety of styles and influences, from Brancusi to a beef bone found in her soup. Sometimes the influences combine awkwardly, making her work seem a little strained and quirky, but often enough her venturesomeness pays off, producing images of eloquence and power. Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission: $9; $6 for 65+ and students. Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. is pay what you wish. GRACE GLUECK *FROM FILIPPO LIPPI TO PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA: FRA CARNEVALE AND THE MAKING OF A RENAISSANCE MASTER, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, (212)535-7710, through May 1. The Italian Renaissance artist-priest known as Fra Carnevale was an art-world somebody in his day, but a shadowy figure to modern historians, known primarily for two extraordinary paintings of tiny figures in fantastic architectural settings. Both paintings are in this intricate think-piece of a show that tries to reconstruct his career by bringing his known paintings together. At the same time, it uses his work, along with that of major figures like Filippo Lippi and Piero della Francesca, to explore larger ideas about self-created professional identity in a cultural epoch far more diverse than it is sometimes thought to have been. A few of the paintings mustered as evidence are pretty strange; many are glorious. Hours: Sundays, Tuesdays through Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays until 9 p.m. Admission: $15; 65+, $10; students, $7. HOLLAND COTTER IMAGES OF DON QUIXOTE: THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION AND PRINTMAKING, the Hispanic Society of America, 613 West 155th Street, (212)926-2234, through Feb. 20. A few years back, a poll of international writers voted Don Quixote the greatest book of all time. This year Cervantess novel is four centuries old, and the Hispanic Society of America is celebrating the occasion with this exhibition of illustrations of the story printed from the 17th through 20th centuries. Despite its small size, the show demonstrates how attitudes toward the book changed in different eras, from raucous comedy to Romantic tragedy. And in designs by artists like John Vanderbank, Fragonard and Gustave Doré, there are fascinating images and ideas to consider. Hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Free. COTTER I WANNA BE LOVED BY YOU: PHOTOGRAPHS OF MARILYN MONROE, Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718)638-5000, through March 20. Monroe was one of the great movie stars of the 20th century, but does that make her a good subject for a museum show? Fans might enjoy the almost 200 photographs from a private collection presented in this exhibition, but though many are by famous photographers, including Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the show as a whole is like a walk-in special issue of People magazine: diverting but superficial and enervating. Hours: Wednesdays to Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (to 11 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month). Admission: $8; students and 65+, $4. KEN JOHNSON Galleries: Uptown MIQUEL BARCELÓ, C&M Arts, 45 East 78th Street, (212)861-0020, through March 5. Paint as a natural force is the consuming interest of Mr. Barceló, a Spanish artist steeped in a grand realist tradition. His feeling for the past includes an admiration for the lush Spanish still lifes known as bodegónes. But his abstract-figurative use of paint, in thick impasto crusts and slathers, is also indebted to the dense pigment-plus canvases of post-World War II idols like Jackson Pollock, Antoni Tapiès, and Jean Dubuffet. His surfaces are often bulked up with vegetative matter, sand and other materials to suggest natural surfaces like the sea and its inner life. GLUECK Galleries: 57th Street LEON POLK SMITH: FORMS AND FUNCTIONS, Washburn, 20 West 57th Street, (212)397-6780, through March 5. Spaces and their boundaries fascinated this hard-edge abstractionist (1906-1996) and in this show of his biomorphic paintings from the 1950s his elegantly calculated contrivance of one space impinging on another pleasingly asks the eye to tease out figure-ground relationships. In Over Easy, a large, partly heart-shaped figure of mauve thrusts on to a black ground at an angle; or is it the curvy black space that cuts into the aggressor? Smiths clean, flat surfaces, each restricted to two colors, are shown with examples of sleek, minimal contoured furniture by front-line designers of the period, Charles and Ray Eames and Isamu Noguchi among them. The biomorphic shapes of the furniture and their colors play nicely off Smiths snart, snappy formats. GLUECK VIEW EIGHT: A FEW DOMESTIC OBJECTS INTERROGATE A FEW WORKS OF ART, Mary Boone, 745 Fifth Avenue, (212)752-2929, through Feb. 26. This canny show of artworks and objects of design includes Josiah McElhenys curvy mirrored coffee table bearing mirrored blobby objects; beautiful blobby ceramic sculptures by Ken Price; delicate, biomorphic hanging lights by Lionel Theodore Dean; a twisted, retro-futuristic orange bench by Sachio Hihara; and, like the nightmare that domestic utopianism tries to insulate us from, one of Lee Bontecous early, scarily militaristic reliefs. JOHNSON Galleries: SoHo *LOG CABIN, Artists Space,38 Greene Street, (212)226-3970, through Feb. 26. Given the cultural climate, wedding bells wont be playing Over the Rainbow any time soon, and men and women wont be coming out of the closet and going into the Army. So what can Log Cabin Republicans, gay supporters of the ruling party, be thinking? This is one of the questions posed, however indirectly, by the 33 participants in a snappy, discursive group show that serves as field report on what art with queer identity as a theme is looking like these days. As surveyed by the curator, Jeffrey Uslip, its looking good and heterogeneous: ambisexual, interracial and multigenerational, though short on lesbian artists, who are making some of the best work anywhere. COTTER WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST? Guild & Greyshkul, 28 Wooster Street, (212)625-9224, through Feb. 26. This engaging exhibition about approaches to storytelling includes a life-size space station interior handmade by Lisi Raskin; a Modernist theater environment with a mysterious sci-fi video called Moon Colony by Ohad Meromi, the shows organizer; a short, strange sci-fi story written by Halsey Rodman; a storyboard for a film about a father and his young son by Guy Ben-Ner; and a Pop-Cubist head of cut and painted paper by Ryan Johnson. JOHNSON Galleries: Chelsea KNUT ASDAM: FILTER CITY, Gasser & Grunert, 524 West 19th Street, (212)807-9494, through Feb. 19. This Norwegian artist who has exhibited extensively in Europe presents a slow, enigmatic, 21-minute film about two young women -- one small and white, the other tall and black -- who, between long pauses, emit oracular, world-weary utterances about social issues and obscure personal concerns. It is well-produced and nice to watch, though it borders inadvertently on a parody of pretentious avant-garde filmmaking. JOHNSON SANTE DORAZIO: PAM: AMERICAN ICON, Stellan Holm, 524 West 24th Street, (212) 627-7444, through March 5. Pamela Anderson -- yes, that Pamela Anderson -- in all her pneumatic, mostly unclothed glory is the subject of large and surrealistically vivid photographs that were originally commissioned but not published by Playboy magazine. Students: discuss criteria for judging the value -- aesthetic and otherwise -- of these artworks. JOHNSON JOHN LURIE, Roebling Hall, 606 West 26th Street, (212)929-8180, through Feb. 26. The stream-of-consciousness notational ink drawings and radiant gouaches of the musician John Lurie have precedents in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and William Wegmans early Conceptual drawings and maybe the cartoons of Roz Chast, but they have their own sense of wiry line and texture, wordplay, sexual bluntness and radiant color. SMITH NATARAJ SHARMA, Bose Pacia, 508 West 26th Street, (212)989-7074, through Feb. 19. The first New York solo exhibition of this Indian painter who has exhibited internationally is too diverse to give a clear picture of what he is about, but the best works have an intriguing allegorical resonance. They are made in a neat and orderly style combining Pop, photo-based realism and hints of Indian traditionalism. Most impressive is the large picture in which a naked man peeps into a temple filled with an semiabstract orgy of interpenetrating pink bodies. JOHNSON Other Galleries MATTHEW ANTEZZO, Maccarone, 45 Canal Street, (212)431-4977, through March 13. Among works by the artist known for deadpan copies of art magazine ads are nondescript penciled copies of photographs of feminist heroines like Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem; copies in pencil of news photographs of American Indian protest events that took place in 1975; and a painting of an ancient statue of Diogenes of Sinope titled Cynic. What it all means could keep an undergraduate seminar busy for some time. JOHNSON NEW YORKS FINEST, Canada, 55 Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, (212) 925-4631, through March 5. This exhibition of paintings by 19 mostly young and emerging artists has an eclectic, anarchic spirit. The common ground includes an interest in material, be it the store-bought fabric with which Joe Bradley conjures up a Minimalist seaman, or the Expressionist effusions of Anke Weyer and Wallace Whitney. Variations on a knowing but unjaded Pop-Expressionism prevail, mixed in varying ratios by Katherine Bernhardt, Brendan Cass, Bill Saylor, Carrie Moyer and Josh Smith, who has lately abandoned paper for canvas to good effect. Laissez-faire, but mean it! might be the collective rallying cry. SMITH Last Chance THE AZTEC EMPIRE, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212)423-3500, closing on Sunday. When a big survey of Aztec art opened in London in 2002, everybody flipped out. It was one of the hottest ancient-art events since Tutankhamen. Now an expanded version of the London show is at the Guggenheim, and its a stunner. Objects from pre-Aztec Mexico set the stage, but it is material from the bloody-minded, deity-besotted Aztec culture that fills the museums darkened ramps. Set on jutting platforms and dark recesses are a skull-headed earth goddess in a skirt of writhing snakes, a warrior metamorphosing into a bird and a god of spring and fertility shedding his skin. Funky clay images of domestic life alternate with ultrasophisticated gold jewelry. Hours: Saturdays through Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission: $18; $15, students and 65+. COTTER COMIC GROTESQUE: WIT AND MOCKERY IN GERMAN ART, 1870-1940, Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street, (212)628-6200, closing on Monday. The horrors of World War I are usually credited with inspiring the dark, often scathing humor that was used to comment on and combat some very unfunny developments in Germany in the first four decades of the century. But the Neue Galeries splendidly multimedia revisionist show takes a broader view. It identifies paintings by Arnold Bocklin from the 1870s as a point of origin and then sweeps forward in a selective yet encompassing manner, touching on painting, poetry, graphic design and popular entertainment. It places artists like Lionel Feininger and Alfred Kubin in context. It culminates in the films of the great Karl Valentin, a star of stage, screen and cabaret who was Germanys Charlie Chaplin. Hours: Saturdays through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission: $10; students and 65+, $7. SMITH CORY ARCANGEL, Team Gallery, 527 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212) 279-9219, closing tomorrow. In one of the seasons best debuts, the collaboratively inclined Cory Arcangel and his cohorts create quasi-interactive sound and video pieces of startling and subversive beauty by commandeering various electronic or digital staples including music videos, karaoke tunes, video games, the Internet and even a long phone message. The sense that anything man-made is grist for personal expression is exhilarating. SMITH ONE-ARMED BANDIT, DAmelio Terras, 525 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212)352-9460, closing tomorrow. This three-artist show is notable mainly for its playful installation. Presented in groups of three with each artwork framed by red tape applied to the wall, Polly Apfelbaums gridded drawings of cartoon blossoms on white velvet, Tony Fehers flattened, glitter-covered found boxes and Joanne Greenbaums buoyant abstract pictures are displayed in various permutations like slot machine icons. JOHNSON
RADIO PROGRAMS SCHEDULED FOR CURRENT WEEK.
. Eds on criticism in Senate and debate on Hughes apptmt
2014 in review: Exciting times for music lovers
. Carey and Jay Chou. And we havent even begun counting the number of K-pop acts who came to our shores, such as PSY, BIGBANG and 2NE1 for the YG Family 2014 Galaxy Tour, as well as EXO and FT Island for their own concerts. (Unfortunately, Lee .
THIS WEEKS RADIO PROGRAMS; RADIO CONCERTS
THIS WEEKS RADIO PROGRAMS; RADIO CONCERTS
The Listings: Dec. 30 - Jan. 5
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, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Previews and Openings ALMOST, MAINE Opens Jan. 12. A comedy consisting of 11 episodes, which all take place at 9 p.m. on a Friday, about love and heartbreak in a cold town in Maine (2:00). Daryl Roth Theater, 101 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212) 239-6200. BEAUTY OF THE FATHER Opens Jan. 10. The New York premiere of a new play by Nilo Cruz (Anna in the Tropics) about a young woman who travels to Spain to reconcile with her father (2:10). Manhattan Theater Club, at City Center, Stage II, 131 West 55th Street, (212) 581-1212. THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED Opens Jan. 9. If you are pining for the television series Entourage, currently on hiatus, you might want to try Douglas Carter Beanes new comedy, which covers similar territory: Hollywood agent, cute movie star, tabloid gossip (2:10). Second Stage Theater, 307 West 43rd Street, Clinton, (212) 246-4422. Broadway CHITA RIVERA: THE DANCERS LIFE At 72, Ms. Rivera still has the voice, the attitude and -- oh, yes -- the legs to magnetize all eyes in an audience. If the singing scrapbook of a show that surrounds her is less than electric, there is no denying the electricity of the woman at its center (2:00). Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Ben Brantley) 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 Walkers Pulitzer Prizewinning 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. (Brantley) DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS On paper this musical tale of two mismatched scam artists has an awful lot in common with The Producers. But if you are going to court comparison with giants, you had better be prepared to stand tall. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz, never straightens out of a slouch (2:35). Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) (On Jan. 17, Jonathan Pryce will assume Mr. Lithgows role.) * DOUBT, A PARABLE (Pulitzer Prize, Best Play 2005, and Tony Award, Best Play 2005) Set in the Bronx in 1964, this play by John Patrick Shanley is structured as a clash of wills and generations between Sister Aloysius (Cherry Jones), the head of a parochial school, and Father Flynn (Brian F. OByrne), the young priest who may or may not be too fond of the boys in his charge. The plays elements bring to mind those tidy topical melodramas that were once so popular. But Mr. Shanley makes subversive use of musty conventions (1:30). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) (On Jan. 10, Eileen Atkins will assume Ms. Joness role and Ron Eldard Mr. OByrnes.) JERSEY BOYS From grit to glamour with the Four Seasons, directed by the pop repackager Des McAnuff (The Whos 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) THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Love is a many-flavored thing, from sugary to sour, in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucass encouragingly ambitious and discouragingly unfulfilled new musical. The show soars only in the sweetly bitter songs performed by the wonderful Victoria Clark, as an American abroad (2:15). Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE ODD COUPLE Odd is not the word for this couple. How could an adjective suggesting strangeness or surprise apply to a production so calculatedly devoted to the known, the cozy, the conventional? As the title characters in Neil Simons 1965 comedy, directed as if to a metronome by Joe Mantello, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise their star performances from The Producers, and its not a natural fit. Dont even consider killing yourself because the show is already sold out (2:10). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) SEASCAPE While George Grizzard sounds affecting depths in this audience-friendly revival of Edward Albees 1975 Pulitzer Prizewinner, Mark Lamoss production is most notable for being likable and forgettable, traits seldom associated with Albee plays. The ever-vital Frances Sternhagen plays life-affirming wife to Mr. Grizzards curmudgeonly husband, while Frederick Weller and the wonderful Elizabeth Marvel are the sea creatures who confront the old couple one afternoon at the beach (1:45). Lincoln Center Theater, at the Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200.(Brantley) SPAMALOT (Tony Award, Best Musical 2005) This staged re-creation of the mock-medieval movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail is basically a singing scrapbook for Python fans. Such a good time is being had by so many people that this fitful, eager celebration of inanity and irreverence has found a large and lucrative audience (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * SWEENEY TODD Sweet dreams, New York. This thrilling new revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheelers musical, with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone leading a cast of 10 who double as their own musicians, burrows into your thoughts like a campfire storyteller who knows what really scares you. The inventive director John Doyle aims his pared-down interpretation at the squirming child in everyone who wants to have his worst fears both confirmed and dispelled (2:30). Eugene ONeill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) SOUVENIR Stephen Temperleys sweet, long love letter of a play celebrates the unlikely career of Florence Foster Jenkins, a notoriously tone-deaf soprano socialite. Its a show that could easily have been pure camp, and at over two hours it still wears thin. But with Vivian Matalon directing the redoubtable Judy Kaye as Mrs. Jenkins, and Donald Corren as her accompanist, the plays investigative empathy turns the first act into unexpectedly gentle, affecting comedy (2:15). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) A TOUCH OF THE POET It takes Gabriel Byrne, playing a self-dramatizing monster father, roughly an hour to find his feet in Doug Hughess lukewarm revival of Eugene ONeills drama. But when he does, in the shows second half, audiences are allowed a rare glimpse of a thrilling process: an actors taking hold of the reins of a runaway role and riding it for all its worth. Unfortunately, nothing else in this underdirected, undercast production begins to match his pace (2:40). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, Manhattan, (212) 719-1300. (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 Finns score sounds plumper and more rewarding than it did on Off Broadway, providing a sprinkling of sugar to complement the sass in Rachel Sheinkins 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 WOMAN IN WHITE Bravely flouting centuries of accepted scientific theory, the creators of this adaptation of Wilkie Collinss spine tingler have set out to prove that the world is flat, after all. This latest offering from Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Trevor Nunn, seems to exist entirely in two dimensions, from its computer-generated backdrops to its decorative chess-piece-like characters (2:50). Marquis Theater, 211 West 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Off Broadway * ABIGAILS PARTY Scott Elliotts thoroughly delectable production of Mike Leighs 1977 comedy about domestic discord among the British middle classes. Jennifer Jason Leigh leads a superb ensemble cast as a party hostess who wields the gin bottle like a deadly weapon, resulting in an evening of savagely funny chaos (2:15). Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. (Isherwood) * 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). Dodger Stages, Stage 4, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200.(Isherwood) APPARITION Anne Washburns gothic shorts are like an excellent late-night storytelling session at the Vincent Price camp for disturbed children (1:20). Connelly Theater, 220 East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 352-3101. (Jason Zinoman) BINGO Play bingo, munch on popcorn and watch accomplished actors freshen up a stale musical about game night (1:20). St. Lukes Theater, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Zinoman) * CELEBRATION and THE ROOM The Atlantic Theater Companys production of the first and most recent plays by Harold Pinter gets only the later work right. (Thats Celebration, an unexpectedly boisterous comedy from 2000.) But if the italicized acting scales down dramatic effectiveness, it heightens thematic clarity. Essential viewing for anyone wondering why Mr. Pinter won the Nobel Prize this year (1:45). Atlantic Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD The Peanuts characters grow up, do drugs and have sex in this dark, disposable parody. Good grief (1:30). Century Center for the Performing Arts, 111 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212) 239-6200. (Zinoman) DRUMSTRUCK This noisy novelty is a mixed blessing. Providing a two-foot drum on every seat, it offers an opportunity to exorcise aggressions by delivering a good beating, and, on a slightly more elevated level, it presents a superficial introduction to African culture, lessons in drumming and 90 minutes of nonstop music, song and dancing by a good-natured cast (1:30). Dodger Stages, Stage 2, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Lawrence Van Gelder) INFERTILITY A harmless, insubstantial and highly amplified musical about the struggles of five people hoping to become parents (1:20). Dillons, 245 West 54th Street, Manhattan, (212) 868-4444. (Zinoman) * IN THE CONTINUUM Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter are both the authors and the performers of this smart, spirited and disarmingly funny show about two women: one a middle-class mother in Zimbabwe, the other a 19-year-old at loose ends in Los Angeles whose lives are upended by HIV diagnoses. Emphatically not a downer (1:30). Perry Street Theater, 31 Perry Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 868-4444. (Isherwood) MR. MARMALADE A zany comedy by Noah Haidle about emotionally disturbed children. Yes, you read that right. Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under plays the now-cuddly, now-abusive imaginary friend of a neglected 4 year old. Unfortunately, Mr. Haidle never truly capitalizes on his provocative conceit, choosing instead to draw us a scary but ultimately hollow cartoon (1:50). Roundabout Theater Company, Laura Pels Theater, at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Isherwood) *MRS. WARRENS PROFESSION An absolutely splendid Dana Ivey takes the title role in Charlotte Moores sensitively acted production of Bernard Shaws famously provocative play, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary on the New York stage this year (2:20). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 727-2737. (Isherwood) THE OTHER SIDE In Ariel Dorfmans ponderous comedy-drama, an old couple standing in for all of Suffering Humanity endure the trials of warfare and the bureaucratic absurdities that come with peace. Even the redoubtable Rosemary Harris and John Cullum can do little to enliven the proceedings (1:30). Manhattan Theater Club, City Center Stage I, 131 West 55th Street, (212) 581-1212. (Isherwood) * THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL Led by Lois Smith in a heart-wrenching performance, the cast never strikes a false note in Harris Yulins beautifully mounted revival of Horton Footes drama, finding an emotional authenticity in a work largely remembered as a tear-jerking chestnut. This is not to say you should neglect to bring handkerchiefs (1:50). Signature Theater, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 244-7529. (Brantley) Off Off Broadway BIG APPLE CIRCUS -- GRANDMA GOES TO HOLLYWOOD Long on sweetness, rich in color and highly tuneful, but short on eye-popping, cheer-igniting wows (2:10). Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, Broadway and 63rd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Van Gelder) FEAR ITSELF: SECRETS OF THE WHITE HOUSE In the latest cartoonish sendup of the Bush administration, the simple task of translating ideas into dramatic form seems to have been overlooked (1:45). Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, at 10th Street, East Village, (212) 352-0255. (Zinoman) * JACKIE HOFFMAN: CHANUKAH AT JOES PUB The return of a beloved ritual for those wanting a reprieve from enforced benevolence and good cheer. The fearless, explosively funny Ms. Hoffman radiates anything but love and charity as she reviews the year in outrage, both global and personal (1:10). Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) WALKING IN MEMPHIS: THE LIFE OF A SOUTHERN JEW Part memoir, part stand-up routine, this autobiographical piece is endearing, but not quite as colorful as it thinks it is. Jonathan Ross, the pieces creator, grew up Jewish in Memphis: anecdotes about his life may make for good theater, but will probably be better when he gets a little older (1:20). Abingdon Theater Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street, (212) 868-4444. (Anne Midgette) Long-Running Shows AVENUE Q R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden, 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) FIDDLER ON THE ROOF The Shtetl Land pavilion in the theme park called Broadway. With Rosie ODonnell and Harvey Fierstein (2:55). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (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). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) MAMMA MIA! The jukebox that devoured Broadway (2:20). Cadillac Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212) 239-6200. (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) WICKED Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Last Chance ALMOST HEAVEN: SONGS OF JOHN DENVER Almost 30 of John Denvers songs are rediscovered and reinvented, as the shows publicity material says, though not generally improved upon. But Nicholas Rodriguez hits the high notes of Calypso spectacularly (2:00). Promenade Theater, 2162 Broadway, at 76th Street, (212) 239-6200, closing tomorrow. (Neil Genzlinger) CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG The playthings are the thing in this lavish windup music box of a show: windmills, Rube Goldbergesque machines and the shows title character, a flying car. Its like spending two and a half hours in the Times Square branch of Toys R Us (2:30). Hilton Theater, 213 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100, closing tomorrow. (Brantley) A CHRISTMAS CAROL Spirited entertainment (1:30). Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 279-4200, closing tomorrow. (Van Gelder) FIVE COURSE LOVE This musical is pleasantly fluffy, but Heather Ayers may make a star vehicle out of it, thanks to an energetic, versatile performance in five roles. She, John Bolton and Jeff Gurner search for love in five restaurants, with a too-generous portion of bad accents and phallic jokes along the way, but lots of laughs (1:30). Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, Greenwich Village, (212) 307-4100, closing tomorrow. (Genzlinger) HIS ROYAL HIPNESS LORD BUCKLEY IN THE ZAM ZAM ROOM Jake Broders scrupulous (and rigid) re-creation of the influential nightclub comic Lord Buckley, an unlikely mix of English royalty and Dizzy Gillespie (1:50). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200, closing tomorrow. (Zinoman). LATINOLOGUES In contrast to the colorfully individualized portraits in John Leguizamos solo shows, the men and women of Latinologues are composites of worn, easy stereotypes (1:30). Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200, closing tomorrow. (Isherwood) *MEASURE FOR MEASURE The joyous surprise of this Shakespeares Globe production, directed by John Dove, is how it floods this famously dark play with continuously roaming beams of comic light. In particular, Mark Rylance, the troupes departing artistic director, is an endearingly clueless Duke Vincentio (3:05). St. Anns Warehouse, 38 Water Street, at Dock Street, Brooklyn, (718) 254-8779, closing Sunday. (Isherwood) MISS WITHERSPOON This poignant, funny mess of a comedy by Christopher Durang, set in an antechamber of the afterlife, cheerfully suggests that there are worse fates than death for sensitive souls in this self-destructive world. The play meanders but has the good fortune to star the priceless Kristine Nielsen as a dead woman who intends to stay that way (1:20). Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200, closing Sunday. (Brantley) ONE-MAN STAR WARS TRILOGY Charles Rosss sprint through Episodes IV through VI strives for the atmosphere of a Star Wars convention but ends up achieving something like a religious revival (which is sort of the same thing). True believers will love how Mr. Ross, a self-confessed geek who plays every major role in under an hour, simulates R2D2, but all others will scratch their heads (1:00). Lambs Theater, 130 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200, closing tomorrow. (Zinoman) ON SECOND AVENUE This genial show by the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater, celebrating Second Avenues theatrical heyday, somehow manages to be both a perfect ensemble production and a star vehicle for Mike Burstyn. The production, first seen last March and April, is in its second go-round (2:00). J.C.C. in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue, at 76th Street, (212) 239-6200, closing Sunday. (Genzlinger) * ORSONS SHADOW Austin Pendletons play, about a 1960 production of Ionescos Rhinoceros, which was directed by Orson Welles and starred Laurence Olivier, is a sharp-witted but tenderhearted backstage comedy about the thin skins, inflamed nerves and rampaging egos that are the customary side effects when sensitivity meets success (2:00). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 239-6200, closing tomorrow. (Isherwood) PETER PAN Entertaining without being exhilarating (2:00). The Theater at Madison Square Garden, 4 Penn Plaza, closing tomorrow. (212) 307-7171. (Van Gelder) Radio City Christmas Spectacular It remains prime entertainment (1:30). Radio City Music Hall, (212) 307-1000, closing Monday. (Van Gelder) SWEET CHARITY This revival of the 1966 musical never achieves more than a low-grade fever when whats wanted is that old steam heat. In the title role of the hopeful dance-hall hostess, the appealing but underequipped Christina Applegate is less a shopworn angel than a merry cherub (2:30). Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200, closing tomorrow. (Brantley) TIGHT EMBRACE Jorge Ignacio Cortiñass political hostage drama wants to show, with its dash of magic realism and flickering poetic fire, how human beings use language as a weapon to betray one another. Good acting, especially by Zabryna Guevara, helps the play toward its goal (2:00). Intar Theater at the Kirk on Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200, closing Monday. (Andrea Stevens) WAITING FOR GODOT (2:30). In this solid production, it is Sam Coppola (Vladimir) and Joseph Ragno (Estragon) who are waiting for the worlds most famous no-show. Its been 50 years since Samuel Becketts play was first staged on Broadway, and the changes in the world since then give the never-changing world of Didi and Gogo some interesting new resonance. Theater at St. Clements, 423 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200, closing Sunday. (Genzlinger) Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. AEON FLUX (PG-13, 95 minutes) Adapted from MTV animated shorts from a decade ago, this glossy, incoherent movie sends Charlize Theron 400 years into the future, where she runs around and does somersaults in a spandex body suit. (A. O. Scott) * BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (R, 129 minutes) Candide meets Tom Jones in drag heaven might describe Neil Jordans picaresque fairy tale about a foundling who becomes a transvestite in 1970s and 80s London, against the backdrop of the Irish troubles. (Stephen Holden) * BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (R, 134 minutes) Annie Proulxs heartbreaking story of two ranch hands who fall in love while herding sheep in 1963 has been faithfully translated onto the screen in Ang Lees landmark film. Heath Ledger (in a great performance worthy of Brando at his peak) and Jake Gyllenhaal bring them fully alive. (Holden) * CACHÉ (HIDDEN) (R, 121 minutes, in French) Michael Haneke, one of the most elegantly sadistic European directors working today, deposits his audience at the intersection of voyeurism and paranoia in this tense, politically tinged psychological thriller about vengeance and injustice. Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil are in top form as an affluent Parisian couple menaced by mysterious drawings and videotapes. (Scott) * CASANOVA (R, 110 minutes) Heath Ledger affirms his status as the pansexual art-house heartthrob of the moment in this high-spirited farce suggested by the career of 18th-century Venices most notorious seducer. Silly, sly and delightful. (Scott) CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 (PG, 100 minutes) In this unnecessary sequel to a mediocre remake, Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his clan visit Lake Winnetka, which is also the regular summer dwelling of Toms longtime archrival (Eugene Levy). A tiresome film, full of repetitive, misfired jokes, false emotions and caricatures. Even the pairing of Mr. Martin and Mr. Levy fails to inspire anything more than the occasional smile. (Laura Kern) CHICKEN LITTLE (G, 80 minutes) The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Well, its not as bad as that. Almost, though. (Scott) THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (PG, 135 minutes) This honorable adaptation of C. S. Lewiss novel has much of the power and charm of the source. The fusing of live action and computer-generated imagery is adequate, if rarely inspiring. Adult viewers are likely to imbibe the films wonders indirectly, through the eyes of accompanying children, who are likely to be delighted and sometimes awed. (Scott) THE FAMILY STONE (PG-13, 102 minutes) A home-for-the-holidays movie about a tribe of ravenous cannibals that bares its excellent teeth at anyone who doesnt accommodate its preening self-regard, most recently a big-city executive played by a very good Sarah Jessica Parker. (Manohla Dargis) GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN (R, 134 minutes) This lumbering vehicle for the rap star 50 Cent blends gangster intrigue with follow-your-dream striving. The story is a mess, and the star is no actor, but a fine supporting cast and Jim Sheridans warmhearted direction make it watchable. (Scott) * GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (PG, 90 minutes) George Clooney, with impressive rigor and intelligence, examines the confrontation between the CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow (a superb David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (himself). Plunging you into a smoky, black-and-white world of political paranoia and commercial pressure, the film is a history lesson and a passionate essay on power, responsibility and the ethics of journalism. (Scott) * HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (PG-13, 150 minutes) Childhood ends for the young wizard with the zigzag scar in the latest addition to the Potter saga, even as the director Mike Newell keeps its British eccentricity, fatalism and steady-on pluck irresistibly intact. (Dargis) INITIAL D (No rating, 95 minutes, in Cantonese) A street-racing film based on a popular Japanese comic book, Initial D pitches swaggering Takeshi (Shawn Yue) against diffident Takumi (Jay Chou), a reluctant hero who prefers the charms of his girlfriend (Anne Suzuki) to the dangers of hairpin bends. A slick but silly affair unlikely to appeal to anyone over 15. (Jeannette Catsoulis) * THE INTRUDER (No rating, 130 minutes, in French) The French director Claire Deniss most ambitious and poetically intuitive film explores the troubled soul of a brooding loner who undergoes a heart transplant and travels halfway around the world, from the Jura mountains to the South Seas, to begin a new life. This visually rhapsodic film is both profound and profoundly enigmatic. (Holden) * KING KONG (PG-13, 180 minutes) Peter Jacksons remake is, almost by definition, too much -- too long, too big, too stuffed with characters and effects-driven set pieces -- but it is also remarkably nimble and sweet. Going back to the Depression-era setting of the 1933 original, Mr. Jacksons film is as much a tribute to the old, seat-of-the-pants spirit of early motion pictures as it is an exercise in technological bravura. Naomi Watts as the would-be movie star Ann Darrow and Andy Serkis as the big monkey who loves her have a rapport that gives the spectacle the pathos and sweetness it needs, and help to turn a brute spectacle into a pop tragedy. (Scott) * MATCH POINT (R, 124 minutes) Woody Allens best in years, and one of his best ever. Beneath the dazzling, sexy surface, this tale of social climbing in London (brilliantly acted by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson and Emily Mortimer) is ice cold and pitch black, which curiously enough makes it a superior diversion. (Scott) MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (PG-13, 144 minutes) Think As the Geisha Turns, with devious rivals, swoonworthy swains, a jaw-dropping dance number recycled from Madonnas Drowned World tour and much clinching, panting and scheming. Directed by Rob Marshall from the Arthur Golden book, and starring Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh. (Dargis) MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT (No rating, 108 minutes) This weepie about the tender friendship between a 70-something British widow (Joan Plowright) and a struggling young writer (Rupert Friend) is as anachronistic as the notion of a Terence Rattigan play set in the present. (Holden) * PARADISE NOW (PG-13, 90 minutes, in Arabic and Hebrew) This melodrama about two Palestinians, best friends from childhood, chosen to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv is a superior thriller whose shrewdly inserted plot twists and emotional wrinkles are calculated to put your heart in your throat and keep it there. (Holden) * PRIDE & PREJUDICE (PG, 128 minutes) In this sumptuous, extravagantly romantic adaptation of Jane Austens 1813 novel, Keira Knightleys Elizabeth Bennet exudes a radiance that suffuses the movie. This is a banquet of high-end comfort food perfectly cooked and seasoned to Anglophilic tastes. (Holden) THE PRODUCERS (PG-13, 127 minutes) At a fraction of the Broadway ticket price, its no bargain. (Scott) RENT (PG-13, 135 minutes) Jonathan Larsons beloved musical is as loud, earnest and sentimental as ever. But somehow, as it has made the transition to the screen almost a decade after its theatrical debut (with much of the original stage cast), the show has dated less than the objections to it. Yes, the East Village was never really like this, but in Chris Columbuss hands, the hectic updating of La Bohème to the age of AIDS and gentrification feels surprisingly sweet and fresh. (Scott) THE RINGER (PG-13, 94 minutes) A hilarious and resourceful cast of intellectually challenged actors smartens up an otherwise brain-dead comedy produced by the Farrelly brothers. Johnny Knoxville stars, dimly, as a cash-strapped office clerk who tries to rig the Special Olympics. (Nathan Lee) RUMOR HAS IT (PG-13, 96 minutes) Jennifer Aniston, trying her best, traipses through this pointless updating of The Graduate, in which we learn that Ann Bancroft was really Shirley MacLaine all along, and that Dustin Hoffman grew up to be Kevin Costner. Actually, that makes the movie sound much more interesting than it is. (Scott) * SHOPGIRL (R, 107 minutes) This delicate, deceptively simple film, taken from Steve Martins novella, spins perfect romance out of loneliness, compromise and the possibility of heartbreak. As a young retail clerk adrift in Los Angeles, Claire Danes gives a flawless performance, and Mr. Martin and Jason Schwartzman, as the very different men competing for her affection, bring gallantry, farce and sweetness to this funny, sad, insightful movie. (Scott) * SYRIANA (R, 122 minutes) Ambitious, angry and complicated, Stephen Gaghans second film tackles terrorism, American foreign policy, global trade and the oil business through four interwoven stories. There are at least a half-dozen first-rate performances, and Mr. Gaghan, who wrote and directed, reinvents the political thriller as a vehicle for serious engagement with the state of the world. (Scott) TRANSAMERICA (R, 103 minutes) Felicity Huffmans performance as a preoperative transsexual on a cross-country journey with her long-lost son is sensitive and convincing, and helps the picture rise above its indie road-picture clichés. (Scott) WALK THE LINE (PG-13, 138 minutes) Johnny Cash gets the musical biopic treatment in this moderately entertaining, never quite convincing chronicle of his early years. Joaquin Phoenix, sweaty, inarticulate and intense as Cash, is upstaged by Reese Witherspoon, who tears into the role of June Carter (Cashs creative partner long before she became his second wife) with her usual charm, pluck and intelligence. (Scott) THE WHITE COUNTESS (PG-13, 135 minutes) Set in Shanghai in 1936 and starring Ralph Fiennes and three Redgraves, the final collaboration between James Ivory and Ismail Merchant (who died during post-production) wants to be a pulse-racing cross between Casablanca and The English Patient. But this fussy, pieced-together epic manqué never develops any stamina. (Holden) YOURS, MINE AND OURS (PG, 90 minutes) Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo inhabit roles originated by Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball in this snug, airtight remake of the 1968 comedy about the combining of two antagonistic families with 18 children between them. Cutesy unreality prevails. (Holden) ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE (PG, 113 minutes) In this extraterrestrial fantasy, adapted from a Chris Van Allsburg story, a magical board game sends two squabbling young brothers into space to fend off invaders and learn the meaning of brotherhood. The movie is sweeter, gentler and more family-friendly than Jumanji, to which it is the unofficial sequel. (Holden) Film Series ARTISTS CHOICE: STEPHEN SONDHEIM (Through Jan. 8) The Museum of Modern Arts 15-film series of works selected by Mr. Sondheim, the legendary Broadway composer and lyricist, continues. This weekends films include Akira Kurosawas crime thriller Tengoku to Jigoku (1962), Michael Powell and Ludwig Bergers fantasy The Thief of Baghdad (1940) and Hal Hartleys Henry Fool (1997). Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400; $10. (Anita Gates) ESSENTIAL HITCHCOCK (Through Jan. 12) Film Forums five-week retrospective of Alfred Hitchcocks films continues. This weeks features include Rope (1948), about a corpse at a cocktail party; Dial M for Murder (1954), starring Grace Kelly; and two Tippi Hedren films, The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village, (212) 727-8110; $10. (Gates) FASSBINDER (Through Feb. 26) IFC Centers Weekend Classics Program is presenting a series of 11 feature films and 2 shorts by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1946-82). This weekends films are Lola (1981), Fassbinders update of The Blue Angel, and Veronika Voss (1982), his drama about a morphine-addicted actress. 323 Avenue of the Americas, at West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 924-7771; $10.75. (Gates) MAYSLES FILMS: FIVE DECADES (Through tomorrow) The Museum of Modern Arts monthlong retrospective of films by the documentarians Albert and David Maysles concludes this weekend with music-related features including Jessye Norman Sings Carmen (1982) and Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic (1985), in which Horowitz prepares for a private recital. Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400; $10. (Gates) PIXAR: 20 YEARS OF ANIMATION (Through Feb. 6) A complete retrospective of Pixar animated films continues at the Museum of Modern Art. This weeks features include Finding Nemo (2003), a father-and-son fish story, and The Incredibles (2004), the Oscar-winning story of superheroes trapped in a world of mediocrity. 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9400; $10. (Gates) Pop Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. THE BLACK CROWES, TREY ANASTASIO, THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS (Tomorrow) Jam bands have long claimed New Years Eve at Madison Square Garden. This triple bill looks toward Southern rock jams with the reunited Black Crowes, whose raspy-voiced frontman, Chris Robinson, brings a rare touch of charisma to the jam scene, and the North Mississippi All-Stars, who build their jams on the idiosyncratic riffs of blues learned at the source. Trey Anastasios old band, Phish, used to headline New Years Eve shows at the Garden; now, hes back with his new one. 8 p.m., Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741; $45 to $65. (Laura Sinagra) BRAZILIAN GIRLS (Tomorrow) Boasting zero members from Brazil and only one girl (the multilingual surrealist jazz singer Sabina Sciubba), this downtown quartet, smithied in the arty Nublu club scene, plays its erotic, electronica-inflected reggae and bossa novas on keyboards, computers, bass and drums. 8 p.m. and midnight, Coda, 34 East 34th Street, Manhattan, (212) 685-3434; $50 in advance, $75 at the door. (Sinagra) MARIAH CAREY (Tomorrow) If cramming your body into a two-block radius with a crowd of thousands to watch a glowing ball drop is the only thing that will start your year off right, you may also catch a few notes from the pop R&B star Mariah Carey, whose appearance will be the first live music performance by a singer on Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve. 11:30 p.m., Times Square, free. (Sinagra) CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH, THE NATIONAL, DR. DOG (Tomorrow) The Brooklyn quintet Clap Your Hands Say Yeah recalls the shamanic whine and thrum of the mid-1990s lo-fi rockers Neutral Milk Hotel, and sometimes the slippery paranoid quirk of the Talking Heads. The National is a group of New York-based Ohio natives who turn out a kind of pent-up, countrified indie rock that underplays its hand enough to seem modest. Shaggy Philly lo-fi rockers Dr. Dog open. 9:30 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800; $25 in advance, $30 at the door. (Related article, Page 1 of Weekend.) (Sinagra) GOVT MULE (Tonight and tomorrow night) Govt Mules guitarist and leader, Warren Haynes, brings the gravity of the blues and the rolling grooves of Southern rock together with the bleary determination of grunge. His songs are haunted by death and memory, and he leads them into jams that can be both soaring and unsparing. 8, Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th Street, (212) 496-7070; tonight, $39.50 to $59.50; tomorrow, $53.50 to $73.50. (Jon Pareles) HARLEM GOSPEL CHOIR (Sunday) Founded in 1986 by Allen Bailey, the Harlem Gospel Choir, which includes voices from several uptown church choirs, focuses its rhetoric and repertory on promoting peace and relief for the city and the nations poor. The choir is home now after a recent tour of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Noon and 2:45 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144; $35. (Sinagra) HOLLADAY JAM TOUR (Tonight) This collection of R&B hitmakers skews to the twitchy teenage side of the genre. Performers include Bow Wow (who has dropped his diminutive Lil), the up-and-coming youngster Chris Brown and the singers Omarion and Ciara, posited as a new Aaliyah, a singer who could ride hip-hop beats with a conspiratorial, low-key urgency. Also appearing will be Dem Franchize Boys, Marques (Batman) Houston and Trey Songz. 7 p.m., Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741; $39.75 to $54.75. (Sinagra) JAMES HUNTER (Thursday) The English soul singer James Hunter aims for a sound that draws on the influences of Sam Cooke and Van Morrison. 7 p.m., the Living Room, 154 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 533-7235; $5 suggested donation. (Sinagra) JORDAN KNIGHT, JEFF TIMMONS (Thursday) This pairing unites two former boy-band cuties, New Kids on the Blocks Jordan Knight -- a strong singer who hasnt enjoyed a post-Kids success equal to that of the later boy-band heir Justin Timberlake -- and 98 Degreess Jeff Timmons, who just might be better off than his more famous former bandmate and soon-to-be Jessica Simpsons ex-hubby, Nick Lachey. 8 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144; $25 in advance; $50 V.I.P. ticket (includes entry into the room at 6 p.m. and an autographed poster). (Sinagra) KUDU (Tomorrow) Anchored by Sylvia Gordons vocals, the hip-hop-inflected Kudu plays an electronic blend of jazz and soul. This show will also include performances by Certainly, Sir; Langhorne Slim; and Roy Dank & Brennan Green, among others. 11 p.m., Asterisk* Art Project, 258 Johnson Avenue, between Bushwick Avenue and White Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn; details at www.reupmag.com; $20 at the door, $15 with Web site R.S.V.P. (Sinagra) LITTLE STEVENS UNDERGROUND GARAGE: ESPN NEW YEARS EVE (Tomorrow) This expensive event makes strange bedfellows of wispy hipsters and the ESPN rock n jock crowd. The price includes dinner, drinks and performances by the longstanding bluesy garage-rockers the Chesterfield Kings and the seminal genre progenitors the Troggs, along with their like-minded heirs, the Mooney Suzuki and the Woggles. The nights big draw will be the reunited glam-punk godfathers the New York Dolls. The radio host, television star and rocker Little Steven is the host of this weird, sweaty amalgam, along with the animated ESPN anchor Stuart Scott. 8:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Hard Rock Cafe, 1501 Broadway, at 43rd Street, ticketmaster.com or (212) 307-7171; $300. (Sinagra) THE JUAN MaCLEAN (Tonight) These know-it-all hipster musicologists play electro disco ornamented by clang and mooglike warps. Its the sound of post-industrial slackers having a party in a junk shop, dancing freely. 11:30, Avalon, 662 Avenue of the Americas, at 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 807-7780, or ticketweb.com; $20. (Sinagra) JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, DJ STEPHIN MERRITT (After midnight tomorrow) With the Magnetic Fields Stephin Merritt acting as DJ, the actor, singer and director John Cameron Mitchell is the host of a downtown dance party, capped off with a 4 a.m. Sunday breakfast buffet. Creative guests include J D Samson (Le Tigre); Flotilla DeBarge; Larry Krone; Jim Andralis; Lauren Molina (Sweeney Todd); the Shortbus movies Jay Brannan and Scott Matthew; and the performance artists Bradford Scobie, Taylor Mac and Dynasty. 1 a.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8770; $25 in advance, $30 at the door. (Sinagra) MURPHYS LAW, PRIMER BLACK, THE DICKIES (Tomorrow) The hard-core lifers Murphys Law bash their way into 2006, along with the campy Los Angeles punkers the Dickies and the band Primer Black. Midnight, Continental, 25 Third Avenue, at St. Marks Place, East Village, (212) 529-6924; $15 in advance, $20 at the door. (Sinagra) PRINCESS SUPERSTAR (Tomorrow) The cheeky, ironic trash-rapper Princess Superstar, whose songs about the joys of juvenile delinquency, like Bad Babysitter, gained her a reputation as the female Eminem, plays DJ and host at this hipster New Years Eve bash, which may feature pop-in performances by other acts as well. 9 p.m., Delancey, 168 Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 254-9920; $15 in advance, $20. (Sinagra) RADIO 4, TUSSLE, TIM FITE (Tomorrow) Radio 4 plays punk-funk with a political conscience. Tussle plays progressive disco dub with found-object percussion, and Tim Fite makes sample-based art-folk music drawing on obscure country and blues recordings. 9 p.m., Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006; $20 in advance, $25 at the door. (Sinagra) REX THE DOG (Tomorrow) This dance party thrown by Crucial Get Down and Enabler (enablernetwork.org) features Rex the Dog, the musician and remix DJ behind the Kompakt labels electro-rock singles Prototype and Frequency, and the glitch and grime DJs Team Shadetek. 10 p.m., 14th Street Loft, 69 West 14th Street (third and fourth floors), Greenwich Village; $25 in advance from themusicgallery.net, more expensive at the door. (Sinagra) CHRIS SCRUGGS (Tomorrow) Chris Scruggs is the son of the country singer Gail Davies and the grandson of the bluegrass banjoist Earl Scruggs. A regular at the Grand Ole Opry, he is also the erstwhile frontman of the Nashville honky-tonk band BR5-49. 10 p.m., Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 683-6500; free. (Sinagra) SEPHARDIC MUSIC FESTIVAL (Tomorrow) The last night of the Sephardic Music Festival features a performance by Frank Londons Klezmer Brass All-Stars, followed by the Boys of Balagan Boogaloo (DJ Shotnez of Balkan Beat Box & DJ Handler of Afronomics), who will spin a mix of bhangra, baile funk, 80s freestyle and more. 9 p.m., Makor, Steinhardt Building, 35 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 601-1000, or www.sephardicmusicfestival.com; $65 in advance, $75 at the door. (Sinagra) PATTI SMITH AND HER BAND (Tonight and tomorrow) The punk poet rocker Patti Smith still has the sinewy swagger to trump young imitators. This falls performances of her classic Horses album showed that her raging middle-aged band members Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty can still scare the hipsters into doing an angular approximation of the alligator. Tonight at 8, tomorrow at 9 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; tonight, $40 (sold out); tomorrow, $55. (Sinagra) THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (Tomorrow) The whip-smart wits of the novelty pop lifers They Might Be Giants have lately taken a run at recording clever childrens albums. Hopefully, theyll ring in the New Year with old faves like Dont Lets Start and the quirkily optimistic Birdhouse in Your Soul. 7 and 11 p.m., Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103; $20 (11 p.m. show sold out). (Sinagra) ALLEN TOUSSAINT: BENEFIT FOR NEW ORLEANS (Tonight) The legendary New Orleans songwriter, producer and pianist Allen Toussaint, at one point rumored missing after Hurricane Katrina, performs for the benefit of continuing hurricane relief efforts in the Crescent City. 7:30, Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8770; $30. (Sinagra) ULRICH SCHNAUSS (Tonight) Ulrich Schnauss of Berlin piqued interest in 2001 with Far Away Trains Passing By (City Centre Offices), a weird mix of shoe-gazer dreaminess and the electronica of the moment. Since then, he has moved even further in that direction, inspired by the likes of My Bloody Valentine as much as by techno. Tonight, Mahogany, Project Skyward and Autumn Thieves also play. 7, Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006; $15. (Sinagra) VODOU DRUMS OF HAITI (Tomorrow) This group of drummers and rhythmic dancers led by Bonga Jean-Baptiste, a former member of the Haitian voodoo-rock band Boukman Eksperyans, performs in a more ritualistic, spiritually inspired Afro-Haitian style. 10 p.m., Zebulon Cafe Concert, 258 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 218-6934; free. (Sinagra) THE WOOD BROTHERS (Thursday) The Wood Brothers are Oliver and Chris Wood, musical siblings reared in the Northwest, whose divergent paths led Oliver to blues rock bands in Atlanta, and Chris to New York, where he ended up in Medeski, Martin & Wood. Together they make roots rock and will release a record in 2006. 8 p.m., Living Room, 84 Stanton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 533-7235; $5 suggested donation. (Sinagra) YO LA TENGO (Tonight through Sunday) As night falls over Hoboken, N.J., at the end of each day of Hanukkah, the indie-rock trio Yo La Tengo -- the bassist James McNew and the husband-and-wife team of Ira Kaplan on guitar and Georgia Hubley on drums -- plays reflective and furious music from its own catalog, while also playing host to opening acts like the 80s indie veterans the Volcano Suns (tonight), the Scene Is Now (tomorrow) and the singer-songwriter Lois (Sunday). Tonight at 9:30, tomorrow at 10 p.m., Sunday at 8:30 p.m., Maxwells, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, (201) 653-1703; $20 (sold out). (Sinagra) OTOMO YOSHIHIDE AND IKUE MORI (Tonight) The improvisational guitarist and turntablist Otomo Yoshihide teams up with the electronic musician Ikue Mori for two exploratory shows, the first as a duo and the second with a fellow sonic adventurer, Yasunao Tone. 8 and 10, the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, thestonenyc.com; $10. (Sinagra) Cabaret Full reviews of recent cabaret shows: nytimes.com/music. Michael Feinstein (Tonight and tomorrow) From crooning to clowning, Christmas meets Hanukkah in this singer-pianists jolly one-man variety show, A Holiday Romance, tonight at 8:30 and 11. Mr. Feinstein presents a special New Years Eve show with a band led by John Oddo, tomorrow night at 10:30, with dinner served at 9. Feinsteins at the Regency, 540 Park Avenue, at 61st Street, Manhattan, (212) 339-4095; $60 cover and $40 minimum tonight; $650 tomorrow, including party favors and a bottle of Champagne. (Stephen Holden) VINCE GIORDANO AND THE NIGHTHAWKS (Tomorrow) Gala dinner and dancing from 8 to 2 a.m. with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. Oak Room, Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 419-9331; $400, including open bar from 8 to 9, dinner at 9 and Champagne toast at midnight. (Holden) * Andrea Marcovicci (Tonight, and Tuesday through Thursday) In her spellbinding retrospective Ill Be Seeing You Love Songs of World War II, Ms. Marcovicci balances nostalgia for songs associated with the good war with acknowledgment of the real pain and sacrifice that inspired so many of them, providing a dusting of reality. On Tuesday she begins a new show, Andrea Sings Astaire. 9 p.m., with a late show at 11:30 tonight, Oak Room, Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 419-9331; $65 cover; $60 Tuesday through Thursday, with a required $60 prix-fixe dinner at the early shows Wednesday and Thursday, and a $20 minimum on Tuesday and at the late shows. (Holden) ANNIE ROSS (Wednesday) Cool, funny, swinging and indestructible, this 75-year-old singer and sometime actress exemplifies old-time hip in its most generous incarnation. 9:15 p.m., Dannys Skylight Room, 346 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 265-8133; $25, with a $12 minimum. (Holden) SINGING ASTAIRE (Sunday) This smart, airy revue, which pays tribute to Fred Astaire, has returned, featuring Eric Comstock, Hilary Kole and Christopher Gines. 5:30 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; $30, with a $10 minimum. (Holden) ELAINE STRITCH (Tomorrow, and Tuesday through Thursday) Ms. Stritch performs her raucous, sentimental and wonderful show, Elaine Stritch at Home at the Carlyle, at the Trianon Room at 10 tomorrow night, with a five-course tasting menu beginning at 7:30, and she returns to the Cafe Carlyle on Tuesday for a five-week engagement, with nightly shows at 8:45. Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 744-1600; $500 tomorrow, including dinner, party favors and a bottle of Champagne Taittinger; $125 Tuesday through Thursday. (Holden) STEVE TYRELL (Tonight and tomorrow) Mr. Tyrell has one of those where-have-I-heard-it-before growls that sounds great on a movie soundtrack, but loses its charm in a club, as he rolls standards off the assembly line as if they were all the same song. 8:45 and 10:45 tonight, 11 and 1:30 a.m. tomorrow for New Years Eve, with dinner served at 8. Cafe Carlyle, Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 744-1600; $100 tonight; $500 tomorrow, including dinner, Champagne toast at midnight, party favors and a bottle of Champagne Taittinger; the late show tomorrow night is free to those who attend the early show; it has a $95 cover otherwise. (Holden) Jazz Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. RALPH ALESSI/TIM BERNE/SHANE ENDSLEY (Wednesday) Mr. Alessi and Mr. Endsley, both trumpeters, and Mr. Berne, a saxophonist, each have a distinctive take on contemporary avant-gardism; their collaborative method doesnt suggest a middle ground so much as a common language. 10 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $8. (Nate Chinen) GATO BARBIERI (Through Sunday) This Argentinean saxophonist, best known for his theme to the film Last Tango in Paris, brings his dramatic atmospherics to the vicinity of Times Square; prices will soar on New Years Eve, but hopefully so will the music. 8 and 10 tonight and Sunday, 8 and 11 p.m. tomorrow, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121; cover, $32.50, with a $10 minimum tonight and Sunday; $55 to $95, with a $20 to $25 minimum tomorrow night. (Chinen) ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY AND THE DIVA JAZZ ORCHESTRA (Tuesday through Jan. 8) Ms. Callaways burnished alto and broad cabaret sensibility make for a good match with Diva, the brassy all-female big band. 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592; cover, $25 at tables, $15 at the bar, with a $5 minimum. (Chinen) CERAMIC DOG (Tomorrow) Marc Ribot, whose jangly electric guitar has been a protean presence on the downtown scene, leads a trio featuring Shahzad Ismaily on guitars and percussion, Ches Smith on drums, and, were told, Mahogany Plywood on guest vocals; their set follows a John Zorn extravaganza, in which Mr. Ribot will take part (see below). 1 a.m. Sunday morning, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $20. (Chinen) JOEY DEFRANCESCO TRIO (Tuesday through Jan. 8) The Hammond B-3 organ doesnt have a more effective evangelist than Mr. DeFrancesco, whose rhythmic thrust and bluesy sensibility recall his mentor, the pioneering Jimmy Smith. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 p.m. set Fridays and Saturdays, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 258-9595; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar. (Chinen) * PAQUITO DRIVERA AND PANAMERICANA (Through Sunday) Few musicians have a better claim to pan-Americana than Paquito DRivera, the clarinetist, saxophonist and longtime Cuban exile who toured extensively with Dizzy Gillespies United Nation Orchestra. Headlining the club that bears Gillespies name, Mr. DRivera features a diverse array of sidemen, including the trumpeter Claudio Roditi, the cellist and trombonist Dana Leong and the steel drum player Andy Narell. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 258-9595; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar, tonight and Sunday; $130 to $195, including cover, prix fixe dinner and gratuity, tomorrow (sold out). (Chinen) AN EVENING OF JAZZ GUITAR (Thursday) The latest installment in Jack Kleinsingers Highlights in Jazz series shines a spotlight on guitarists; among the evenings stars are the elder statesmen Bucky Pizzarelli and Gene Bertoncini, and the younger veterans Frank Vignola and Russell Malone. 8 p.m., TriBeCa Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street, between Greenwich and West Streets, (212) 220-1460; $30. (Chinen) * JOE FARNSWORTH AND FRIENDS (Tonight and tomorrow) The hard-charging swing of Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers is always a touchstone for the drummer Joe Farnsworth, who convenes a cadre of like-minded players: the trumpeter Jim Rotondi, the tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, the trombonist Steve Davis, the pianist David Hazeltine and the bassist John Webber. 8 and 9:45 tonight, 9:30 and 11:15 p.m. tomorrow, Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Avenue, at 38th Street, (212) 885-7119; cover, $20, with $10 minimum tonight, $20 to $40, with a $10 minimum, tomorrow. (Chinen) JIMMY GREENE QUARTET (Tuesday through Jan. 8) Mr. Greene brings an athletic self-assurance to his tenor and soprano saxophone playing; his solid post-bop band includes the pianist Xavier Davis, the bassist Reuben Rogers and the drummer Eric Harland. 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037; cover, $20 to $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) DREW GRESSS 7 BLACK BUTTERFLIES (Thursday) As on the fine recent album of the same name, this ensemble features the compositions and bass playing of Mr. Gress, along with a passel of progressive modernists: the trumpeter Ralph Alessi, the alto saxophonist Tim Berne, the keyboardist Craig Taborn and the drummer Tom Rainey. 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883; cover, $10. (Chinen) * ROY HARGROVE (Tonight and tomorrow) Mr. Hargrove, one of the finest hard-bop trumpeters to emerge in the last 20 years, closes out a big-band engagement tonight; tomorrow, he leads a promising septet featuring the saxophonists Ron Blake, Jaleel Shaw and Jason Marshall. 9 and 10:30 tonight, 8 and 10:30 p.m. tomorrow, and 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063; cover, $25 tonight, $40 to $80 tomorrow. (Chinen) MARK HELIASS OPEN LOOSE (Tonight) Together with the tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and the drummer Gerald Cleaver, the bassist-composer Mark Helias walks a line between form and freedom, confirming that there can be rigor in both. 9, Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * JOHN HICKS/BUSTER WILLIAMS/LOUIS HAYES (Tonight and tomorrow night) Streamlined hard bop is the common language of this all-star trio, featuring Mr. Hicks on piano, Mr. Williams on bass and Mr. Hayes on drums. 8 and 10, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum tonight; $60, with a $20 minimum tomorrow. (Chinen) * CHICO OFARRILL JAZZ ORCHESTRA (Through Sunday) Chico OFarrill, who died in 2001, led one of the sharpest and best large bands in Latin music, which continues under the leadership of his son Arturo. On New Years Eve, the band will share a bill with the suave jazz-cabaret singer Hilary Kole. 9 and 11 tonight and Sunday night, 8 and 11 p.m. tomorrow, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; cover, $30 to $40, with a $10 minimum tonight and Sunday; $40 to $60, with a $20 minimum tomorrow. (Chinen) * MARC RIBOTS SPIRITUAL UNITY (Thursday) This quartet of experimental all-stars, recently documented on an album of the same title, pays tribute to the fire-breathing saxophonist Albert Ayler. In addition to Mr. Ribots bracing electric guitar, the group features the athletic bass playing of Henry Grimes, the tart pocket trumpet and fat flugelhorn of Roy Campbell and the insistent drumming of Chad Taylor. 10 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, www.thestonenyc.com; cover, $20. (Chinen) PETE ROBBINS AND CENTRIC (Tuesday) Mr. Robbins, an alto saxophonist and clarinetist with a cool tone and a thoughtfully off-kilter sensibility, leads an ensemble consisting of Sam Sadigursky on tenor and soprano saxophones, Ryan Blotnick on guitar, Thomas Morgan on bass and Dan Weiss on drums. 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319; cover, $6, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) JEROME SABBAGH QUARTET (Thursday) Mr. Sabbagh is a quietly commanding tenor saxophonist and composer in the postmodern mainstream; he plays here in an open trio setting, with Ben Street on bass, and Otis Brown III on drums. 9 p.m., Louis 649, 649 East Ninth Street, at Avenue C, East Village, (212) 673-1190; no cover. (Chinen) JAMIE SAFT BLUES EXPLOSION (Thursday) Mr. Saft is a keyboardist given to abstraction and mystery, but hes not averse to nestling into a groove; both impulses should be satisfied by this band, with the drummer Bobby Previte and the bassist Jonathan Maron. 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $10. (Chinen) JENNY SCHEINMAN AND ADAM LEVY (Tuesday) Ms. Scheinman, the violinist, and Mr. Levy, the guitarist, have worked together in settings ranging from Norah Joness band to the Hot Club of San Francisco; their rapport, grounded in rootsy cosmopolitanism, is deeply inscribed. 7 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $8. (Chinen) TAIN AND THE EBONIX (Tonight) Jeff (Tain) Watts, one of the most dazzlingly propulsive drummers to emerge in the last 25 years, presents the premiere of a groove-oriented band stocked with fellow Berklee School of Music alumni: the electric bassist Victor Bailey, the tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, the keyboardist Lawrence Fields and the guitarist Bryan Baker. 9:30 p.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778; cover, $20, with a $12 minimum. (Chinen) CHRIS WASHBURNE AND SYOTOS (Tomorrow) Mr. Washburne, a scholar and historian of New Yorks Latin music scene, lends his tight arrangements and strong trombone playing to this long-running Latin-jazz ensemble. 9 and 11 p.m., Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662; cover, $40 to $70. (Chinen) CHARLES WATERSS CHROMACOLOSSUS (Wednesday) Mr. Waters, a saxophonist and clarinetist best known for his rambunctious Gold Sparkle Band, performs a work called Thirteen Views of the City, with Chris McIntyre on trombone, George Rush on bass and tuba and Andrew Barker on percussion and cello. 8 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, www.thestonenyc.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) * CASSANDRA WILSON (Through Sunday) A jazz singer by training and temperament, Ms. Wilson takes obvious pleasure in a genre-blind repertory; she has the right accompanists, including Brandon Ross and Marvin Sewell on guitars, Grégoire Maret on harmonica and Reginald Veal on bass. On New Years Eve, Ms. Wilson will play a special double bill with the guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart, for a special price. 8 and 10:30 tonight and Sunday night, 7 and 10 p.m. tomorrow, Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592; cover, $55 at tables, $35 at the bar, with a $5 minimum tonight and Sunday; $85 at tables, $55 at the bar tomorrow at 7 p.m.; $125 at tables, $85 at the bar tomorrow at 10 p.m.. (Chinen) STEVE WILSON QUARTET WITH NICHOLAS PAYTON (Wednesday through Jan. 8) An alto saxophonist with a dry tone but a rounded sense of phrase, Mr. Wilson recruits a well-established rhythm section -- Bruce Barth on piano, Ed Howard on bass and Adam Cruz on drums -- and locks horns with Mr. Payton, one of the outstanding trumpeters of our time. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $20 to $25. (Chinen) * JOHN ZORNS HEMOPHILIAC AND ELECTRIC MASADA (Tomorrow) Cacophony is always celebratory in John Zorns universe, and this New Years Eve celebration should live up to its promise. The early set begins with Hemophiliac (Mr. Zorn on alto saxophone, Mike Patton on vocals and Ikue Mori on electronics) and moves on to Electric Masada (the aforementioned plus a half-dozen others, including the drummer Joey Baron and the guitarist Marc Ribot). A second set features Electric Masada exclusively. 7 and 10 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501; cover, $60 each set. (Chinen) Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera LELISIR DAMORE (Monday) The Met is bringing back its colorful John Copley production of Donizettis delightful romantic comedy about a shy Tuscan country bumpkin who, thanks to a quack doctor who sells him a love potion (in truth, a bottle of wine), is emboldened to approach the girl he pines for from afar. The cast looks strong, with the ardent tenor Ramón Vargas and the splendid soprano Ruth Ann Swenson in the leading roles. 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $26 to $175. (Anthony Tommasini) DIE FLEDERMAUS (Tomorrow and Wednesday) Most stagings of Strausss ever popular operetta, including some revivals of the Mets 1986 Otto Schenk production, seem uncomfortable with the mix of silliness and cynicism in the story of playful infidelities in 1870s Vienna. But the Mets current presentation boasts a winning cast of singers who, for the most part, take the story seriously and give subtle portrayals, especially Bo Skovhus as the ladies man Gabriel von Eisenstein, Sondra Radvanovsky as his knowing wife, Marlis Petersen as the perky chambermaid Adele and Earle Patriarco as the wily Dr. Falke. Jacques Lacombe conducts a lithe and bracing performance. And with the masterly comedic actor Bill Irwin as the drunken jailer Frosch, the show has plenty of hilarity. Those attending the New Years Eve gala performance can count on surprise guests showing up to sing during the party scene in Act II. (There will be several cast changes for Wednesdays performance.) Tomorrow night at 7 and Wednesday night at 7:30, Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $50 to $250 tomorrow, $26 to $175 on Wednesday. (Tommasini) LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Tonight and Thursday) Sometimes, late in the run of a production at the Met, the changes in casting can get a little dizzying. Such is the case for the final two performances this season of Donizettis Lucia di Lammermoor, starting tonight. There will be a new Lucia, the established Korean soprano Youngok Shin. The young Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti, who made an impressive Met debut earlier in the run as Lucias beloved Edgardo, returns to the cast to sing the role tonight. But Ramón Vargas, a veteran bel canto tenor, takes over on Thursday. Edoardo Müller, who has been conducting the revolving-door Lucia casts all along, provides some consistency on the podium. 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $26 to $205. (Tommasini) WOZZECK (Tomorrow and Tuesday) Alban Bergs bleak atonal opera may not strike many people as quite the thing to usher in the New Year. But James Levine is a masterly interpreter of this musically stunning and dramatically compelling work, which he keeps bringing back to the Met in a noble effort to make Wozzeck essential to the companys repertory. With Mark Lamoss arrestingly abstract 1997 production and an inspired cast headed by Alan Held in the title role, this revival should be seen by all serious opera fans. Mr. Levine elicits a searingly beautiful performance from the great Met orchestra. Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. and Tuesday at 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $26 to $220. (Tommasini) Classical BACHWORKS (Tomorrow) Over the last decade, traversals of Bachs Brandenburg Concertos have joined Handels Messiah as seasonal favorites. Dont let the fact that the works have no historical connection to the holidays worry you; neither does Messiah, which was composed for performances around Easter. Anthony Newman leads the BachWorks ensemble in these six great compositions. 8 p.m., St. Bartholomews Church, Park Avenue at 50th Street, (212) 378-0248; $35 to $100; $20 for students and 65+. (Allan Kozinn) GILBERT AND SULLIVAN GALA (Tomorrow) The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, experts in the repertory of their namesakes, usher out 2005 in the spirit of lightheartedness, parody and sheer silliness, with an evening of scenes and songs from the Savoyard canon. In addition to the planned excerpts, the troupe, supported by a full orchestra, will take audience requests. 8 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400; $55 to $75. (Kozinn) NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Tonight, tomorrow, Tuesday and Thursday) The German violinist Julia Fischer says that the second movement of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto reminds her of Lenskys aria from Eugene Onegin. Hearing her make that link in her performance should be enlightening. The program also includes a rarity, the Weber Bassoon Concerto, with Judith LeClair as the soloist, and Lorin Maazels reading of the Sibelius Fifth Symphony. That program straddles the New Years weekend, but for New Years Eve, Mr. Maazel and company are joined by the soprano Angela Gheorghiu for an evening of Italian opera arias. On Thursday, the young Canadian violinist James Ehnes is the soloist in Waltons sumptuous Violin Concerto. Lorin Maazel also conducts Wagners Flying Dutchman Overture and the Dvorak Seventh Symphony. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500; $26 to $94, except $80 to $235 tomorrow. (Kozinn) WILLIAM TRAFKA (Tomorrow) Mr. Trafka, the organist and music director at St. Bartholomews Church, plans to while away the final hour of 2005 playing works by Bach, Widor, Langlais, Handel, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky, with Coplands Fanfare for the Common Man closing the concert at the stroke of midnight. 11 p.m., St. Bartholomews Church, Park Avenue at 50th Street, (212) 378-0248; free. (Kozinn) YING QUARTET (Thursday) This quartet continues its series of enterprising programs at Symphony Space with an evening built around the music of Tod Machover. The centerpiece of the concert is the New York premiere of Mr. Machovers but not simpler , and interludes by Mr. Machover will connect the other works on the program, which includes music by Elliott Carter, John Cage, Bach, Byrd and the Beatles. 7:30 p.m., the Thalia at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400; $21; $18 for students and 65+. (Kozinn) Dance Full reviews of recent performances: nytimes.com/dance. * ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER (Through Sunday) This is the last weekend of this vibrant companys annual City Center season, with the last of the programs of seasonal novelties tonight. Tonight at 8, tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., City Center, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-1212, www.alvinailey.org or www.nycitycenter.org; $25 to $75. (John Rockwell) SAVION GLOVER (Today, tomorrow and Tuesday through Thursday) This Tony Award-winning tap stylist (Bring In da Noise, Bring In da Funk) is back again, doing what he does best. Today at 2 and 8 p.m., tomorrow at 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday at 8 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-0800; $34 to $42. (Jennifer Dunning) ITS A DANCE THING (Thursday) Choreographed by Prisca Ouya and Kiazi Malonga, this dance play is based on a Congolese legend about the mermaid Mami Wata and her love for the mortal King Mfumi of the Bakongo Kingdom. (Through Jan. 8.) 7:30 p.m., LaMaMa E.T.C., 74A East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 475-7710; $20. (Dunning) SARAH EAST JOHNSON (Thursday through Feb. 19) Ms. Johnsons award-winning, all-women company, LAVA, presents (w)HOLE (short for The Whole History of Life on Earth), its first new work since 2003. Using trapeze, Chinese acrobatics and swing dancing, among other things, the company tackles rock formation, punctuated equilibrium theory and magnetic polarity reversal with its usual strength and verve. Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m., Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa, (212) 352-3101, www.TheaterMania.com; $20 to $25. (Erika Kinetz) * NEW YORK CITY BALLET (Today and Tuesday through Thursday) The last two performances of Balanchines Nutcracker are today, with the opening of the regular winter repertory season, which runs until Feb. 26, following on Tuesday. Today at 2 and 8 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday at 8 p.m., New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 870-5570, www.nycballet.com: Nutcracker, $20 to $99; regular season, $30 to $86. (Rockwell) THIS WAY THAT WAY (Today and tomorrow) The show, developed by Mark Lonergan of Parallel Exit, follows two con men on a cross-country adventure in a production that blends vaudeville, physical theater and dance, with the stars Joel Jeske and Ryan Kasprzak. Today at 2:15 and 7:15 p.m., tomorrow at 4:15 and 8:15 p.m., 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212) 279-4200, www.59E59.org; $35; $15 for children. (Dunning) Art Museums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. Museums Asia society: Vietnam: Destination for the New Millennium -- The Art of Dinh Q. LE, through Jan. 15. Born in Vietnam, Mr. Le moved to the United States at 11 and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York. This small exhibition presents high-concept photographic and sculptural works about the Vietnam War and its effects, as well as a pair of sleek sculptures representing communications satellites that satirize Vietnams plans to enter the Space Age and the global consumerist economy. 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street, (212) 288-6400.(Ken Johnson) Brooklyn Museum: Edward Burtynsky: Manufactured Landscapes, through Jan. 15. Large, expertly made color images by a Canadian photographer show industrial subjects like marble quarries in India, a tire dump in California and modern development in China. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000. (Johnson) CHELSEA ART MUSEUM: THE BODY IMAGE IN CRISTÓBAL GABARRÓNS ART, 1963-2005, through Jan. 14. A member of the mid-20th-century European Informal art movement based on mentally improvised rather than formal motifs, this Spanish artist is concerned with the body but not in its traditional manifestations. His abstractions and semiabstractions give it a morphing, metaphysical presence; sometimes they involve the depiction of actual body parts, but they rely more on textures, colors and vague forms to evoke the bodys ever-shifting sense of itself. But for all the blustery vigor on display, the work gives the viewer a powerful sense of been-there-seen-that. 556 West 22nd Street, (212) 255-0719. (Grace Glueck) * Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: FASHION IN COLORS, through March 26. Drawn from the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan, this sumptuous show arranges 68 often lavish Western gowns and ensembles according to the colors of the spectrum and reinforces their progress with a posh color-coordinated installation design. For an experience of color as color, it is hard to beat, but it also says a great deal about clothing, visual perception and beauty. 2 East 91st Street, (212) 849-8400. (Roberta Smith) * GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM: RUSSIA!, through Jan. 11. This survey of nine centuries of Russian art ranges from 13th-century religious icons to a smattering of 21st-century works, achieving its astounding effect without resorting to a single egg, or anything else, by Fabergé. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212) 423-3600. (Smith) INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRaPHY: African-American Vernacular Photography, through Feb. 26. These days, collectors and curators prize vernacular photographs -- commercial studio portraits, postcards, snapshots and other sorts of often anonymous photographic kitsch. Here that trend intersects with a commitment to photography as a form of social documentation in an exhibition of about 70 vernacular photographs depicting African-Americans from 1860 to 1940. 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street, (212) 857-0000. (Johnson) * JAPAN SOCIETY: HIROSHI SUGIMOTO: HISTORY OF HISTORY, through Feb. 19. A personal, whimsical exhibition by this well-known Japanese photographer who incorporates into his work artifacts he has collected, particularly from East Asia and Japan. Mr. Sugimotos reach is long and his range is broad, from fossils to textiles to undersea dioramas to Japanese calligraphy to the Trylon and Perisphere (a minisculpture) that symbolized the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. 333 East 47th Street, (212) 832-1155. (Glueck) JEWISH MUSEUM: SARAH BERNHARDT: THE ART OF HIGH DRAMA, through April 2. This exhibition is devoted to the flamboyant 19th-century actress whose name was once invoked by mothers as a warning to melodramatic daughters: Who do you think you are, Sarah Bernhardt? Its almost overstuffed roster of items includes original Félix Nadar photos of Bernhardt at 20 and the costumes she wore as Cleopatra and Joan of Arc. 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423-3200. (Edward Rothstein) * Metropolitan Museum of Art: FRA ANGELICO, through Jan. 29. An exhibition as rare as it is sublime brings the divine Angelico down to earth, showing how he had the best of both worlds, using the innovations of the Renaissance to parlay the radiant colors, gilded surfaces and doll-like figures of Gothic art into a final flowering. Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, (212) 535-7710. (Smith) MET: DAVID MILNE: PAINTING TOWARD THE LIGHT, through Jan 29. Watercolors by a Canadian painter little known in the United States, although he spent some 25 years in New York City and other parts of the state. In his quiet, spare renditions of urban vignettes, country landscapes, trees and domestic life, David Milne (1882-1953) focused mainly on aesthetic matters, like color, line and light, while skirting the avant-garde. Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, (212) 535-7710. (Glueck) * MET: Robert Rauschenberg: Combines, through April 2. Big and handsome almost to a fault. Theres something weird about seeing once joyfully rude and over-the-top contraptions from the 1950s and 60s lined up like choirboys in church, with their ties askew and shirttails out. But even enshrined, the combines still manage to seem incredibly fresh and odd, almost otherworldly. I thought of a medieval treasury -- all the rich colors and lights and intricate details. The most beautiful tend to be the early ones: large but delicate, with a subtle, fugitive emotional pitch. (See above.) (Michael Kimmelman) * Museum of Modern Art: Beyond the Visible: The Art of Odilon Redon, through Jan. 23. The timing was off for the big Odilon Redon retrospective in Chicago in 1994. The art worlds mind was on identity politics and neo-conceptualism. Fin-de-siècle drawings of moony monsters and lamp-bright flowers existed on some other planet. Now theres another Redon survey, smaller, very beautiful, culminating in his lush, pixilated late paintings. And the timing for it is just right. 11 West 53rd Street, (212) 708-9400. (Holland Cotter) * Museum of Modern Art: ELIZABETH MURRAY, through Jan. 9. Here is the complete range of shape-shifting, dizzily colored pictures that Elizabeth Murray has produced over four decades. The colors are noisy, the harmonies pungent, the scale big and bold. While art-world fashion has drifted here and there, Ms. Murray has stuck to her craft, with all its difficulties and at the occasional cost of failure and neglect. Her show is a meaty, openhearted, eye-popping event. (See above.) (Kimmelman) Museum of Modern Art: PIXAR: 20 YEARS OF ANIMATION, through Feb. 6. With more than 500 drawings, collages, storyboards and sculptured models by 80 artists; numerous projections; and a mesmerizing three-dimensional zoetrope, this exhibition offers a detailed glimpse of the creative and technological processes behind such computer-animation wonders as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. In the end, nothing has as much art or magic as these films themselves, but the concentrated effort and expertise that go into them is nonetheless something of a wonder, too. (See above.) (Smith) EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO: THE (S) FILES/THE SELECTED FILES 05, through Jan. 29. The definition of what Latino art means is changing in a post-identity-politics time, and this modest biennial, drawn mostly from unsolicited proposals submitted by artists in the greater New York area, is an indicator of what that change looks like. 1230 Fifth Avenue, at 104th Street, (212) 831-7272. (Cotter) * The Museum for African Art: Lasting Foundations: The Art oF Architecture in Africa, through Jan. 6. Like most architectural shows, this one uses lots of photographs and texts, and more than many, it also incorporates objects: Dogon door locks from Mali; carved Igbo doors from Nigeria; Swahili window frames, rich with Indian and Islamic motifs, from Kenya. World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery, 220 Vesey Street, Lower Manhattan, (718) 784-7700. (Cotter) neue galerie: Egon Schiele: The Ronald S. Lauder and Serge Sabarsky Collections, through Feb. 20. This extensive exhibition mostly of works on paper gives an informative account of the regrettably brief career of one of the 20th centurys great draftsmen and romantic rebels. Schieles self-portraits, drawings and watercolors of sexy young women still burn with fires of narcissistic yearning, erotic desire and bohemian dissent. 1048 Fifth Avenue, (212) 628-6200. (Johnson) * Rubin Museum of Art : What is it? HimalAyan Art, For a basic guide to the art of Tibet and Nepal, you will do no better than to take a slow walk through this new show, which, using an array of gorgeous objects, distills knotty visual and spiritual systems to a soothing but stimulating entry-level form. 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, (212) 620-5000. (Cotter) * Studio Museum in Harlem: FREQUENCY, through March 12. Despite some marked unevenness, this display of new and recently emerged talent confirms the current vitality of black art, contemporary art and midsize New York museums. Names to look out for include Kalup Linzy, Leslie Hewitt, Jeff Sonhouse, Shinique Amie Smith, Demetrius Oliver, Michael Paul Britto, Nick Cave, Mickalene Thomas and Michael Queenland, but dont stop there. 144 West 125th Street, (212) 864-4500. (Smith) * Whitney Museum of American Art: THE ART OF RICHARD TUTTLE, through Feb. 5. For 40 years Richard Tuttle has murmured the ecstasies of paying close attention to the worlds infinitude of tender incidents, making oddball assemblages of prosaic ephemera, which, at first glance, belie their intense deliberation and rather monumental ambition. Out of cord, tin, Styrofoam, florists wire and bubble wrap he has devised objects whose status is not quite sculpture or drawing or painting but some combination of the three, and whose exquisiteness is akin to that of jewelry. His outstanding retrospective is a cross between a kindergarten playroom and a medieval treasury. 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, (800) 944-8639. (Kimmelman) Galleries: Uptown Charles Biederman: Works from the 30s One of the most interestingly maverick and talented of between-the-wars American Modernists, Biederman left New York in 1942 for Minnesota, where he continued to make art and write art theory until his death in 2004. This small exhibition of biomorphic abstract paintings and one glossy construction of squares and knobs from the 1930s shows what an excellent student of European Surrealism and Constructivism he was. Meredith Ward, 60 East 66th Street, (212) 744-7306, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) Richard Pousette-Dart: Presences: The Imploding of Color Though routinely associated with Abstract Expressionists, Pousette-Dart had metaphysical and symbolist interests that distinguished him from better-known members of that group. In the 1960s and 70s, he turned to what you could call Pointillist Color Field Painting, and though the sensuous impact of light, color and thickly stippled paint is strongly asserted, the works are also animated by intimations of cosmic mysticism. Knoedler, 19 East 70th Street, (212) 794-0550, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) * THE THIRD EYE: FANTASIES, DREAMS AND VISIONS The ostensible theme for this dizzying, diverting assortment of 89 very high-end drawings and prints is the fantastical, visionary strain of Romanticism that persists through Symbolism right up to now. Goya gets things officially started. The show takes in contemporaries or near-contemporaries like Eva Hesse, Basquiat and Matthew Ritchie. It rambles around two floors in no particular order: a connoisseurs heaven. Richard L. Feigen & Company, 34 East 69th Street, (212) 628-0700, through Jan. 28. (Kimmelman) Galleries: 57th Street Gerhard Richter This celebrated German master presents two sets of paintings. One set, made in his familiar manner of squeegeeing layers of wet paint, is enigmatically punctuated by a photograph of Mr. Richters own painting of flying fighter planes from the 1960s. The other, consisting of large canvases bearing blurry, all-gray patterns based on silicate molecules, casts a spell of visionary pessimism. Marian Goodman, 24 West 57th Street, (212) 977-7160, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) Structure Hardly any artist today takes geometry as seriously as certain American Modernists did, following the lead of Mondrian in the mid-20th century. So this well-produced show of geometric relief sculptures by Ilya Bolotowsky, Nikolai Kasak and Charles Biederman, among others, comes as a nice surprise. Eli Bornsteins truly beautiful, neatly gridded constructions of floating wood blocks painted lovely confectionery colors are alone worth the trip. Forum, 745 Fifth Avenue, (212) 355-4545, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) Galleries: Chelsea Abetz/Drescher The Berlin-based collaborators Maike Abetz and Oliver Drescher paint large, busily detailed pictures of Renaissance ruins densely populated by fashion models, broken guitars, televisions and naked figures from pagan myth in a style you might call psychedelic Pre-Raphaelite. Though not impressive formally or technically, they do capture a certain wildly eclectic and deeply narcissistic state of youthful consciousness. Goff & Rosenthal, 537B West 23rd Street, (212) 675-0461, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) Marina Abramovic: Balkan Erotic Epic This performance artists staged video tableaus illustrating beliefs about the magical efficacy of certain sexually charged acts are interesting and amusing but less arousing than you might have hoped. Sean Kelly, 528 West 29th Street, (212) 239-1181, through Jan. 21. (Johnson) ELLEN ALTFEST: STILL LIVES Painted from life in the studio and outside, these thoughtful images of plants, cactuses, logs and driftwood reflect old-fashioned painterly values but still manage a fresh intensity of surface, space, form and intention. Bellwether Gallery, 134 10th Avenue, near 18th Street, (212) 929-5959, through Jan. 21. (Smith) Carolina Raquel Antich: All of a Sudden An Argentine who lives in Venice, where she was included in last summers biennale, Ms. Antich makes extremely spare paintings and drawings of children that exude moods of such sweet innocence that you cant help suspecting something malevolent lurking just beyond the outer edges of her imagery. Florence Lynch, 531-539 West 25th Street, (212) 924-3290, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) Nobuyoshi Araki, Painting Flower and Diaries Mr. Araki is one of Japans great photographers, but his installation of pictures of tied-up nude young women interspersed with pictures of exotic flowers garishly slathered with paint is too fashionably transgressive. Anton Kern, 532 West 20th Street, (212) 367-9663, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) Miki Carmi: Psychic Readymades This young Israeli-born painter makes strangely creepy pictures of oversize bald heads based on those of elderly members of his family. He lavishes painterly attention on veins, age spots, baggy eyes, wrinkles and drooping lips, and he floats the heads like weird balloons against white backgrounds. The paintings are far from beautiful, but their unsettling impact feels right for the often confusing roles that elders play in our psychic lives. Stux, 530 West 25th Street, (212) 352-1600, through Jan. 21. (Johnson) * ROY DE FOREST: NEW PAINTINGS At 75, this underappreciated West Coast artist, a sort of Neo-Expressionist before the fact, brings a new vehemence of color and texture, amplified by clearer compositions, to his comic-sinister universe of bright-eyed, zoned-out men and animals. George Adams, 525 West 26th Street, (212) 564-8480, through Jan. 28. (Smith) RYAN DOOLAN: RATIONAL GAYZ This appealingly arcane debut by a Scottish artist includes small, vaguely photo-based paintings and a photo-performance work involving golf that look great in this austere but cozy new gallery. Broadway 1602, 1182 Broadway, at 29th Street, (212) 481-0362, through Jan. 11. (Smith) Matthew McCaslin This inventive sculptor plays with the tension between nature and technology. A working fountain has water flowing from sunflowers made of wide showerheads and copper pipe planted in a claw-foot bathtub. And the arrangement of a cuckoo clock and a flat-screen video view of peaceful lake waters on a natural plywood wall slyly enhances the faux-rustic ambience. Sandra Gering, 534 West 22nd Street, (646) 336-7183, through Jan. 14. (Johnson) GORDON MOORE Elegantly understated paintings animated by ghostly linear figures and their shadows, which gambol before the large-paned grid of -- well, maybe a factory window. Composed of lines of different lengths and colors and various thicknesses, these antic figures seem to vibrate on and under the paintings lightly brushed surfaces. Mr. Moore rings many intricate variations on his basic format, which, while it commits to the visible, manages to engage the mystery of what lies beyond it. Betty Cuningham Gallery, 541 West 25th Street, (212) 242-2772, through Jan. 28. (Glueck) Annysa Ng: Love & Fear A beautiful new gallery occupying two floors of a tiny brick house presents works of postmodernist faux-antiquity by a Chinese artist who has studied in Hong Kong, New York and Germany. The large, Victorian-style silhouettes are not without possibilities, though perhaps they are too Kara Walker-like; the hanging assemblages made of braided hair, fabric and found objects have an erotically stirring poetic delicacy. Holasek Weir, 502 West 27th Street, (212) 367-9093, through Jan. 20. (Johnson) Nicholas Nixon: Life and Times Among other photographs from the last 30 years, this show features Mr. Nixons famous Brown Sisters, a set of group portraits of four sisters made annually, starting in 1975. It is almost painfully touching to see the beautiful siblings evolve from teenagers to late middle age. And then you begin to wonder how long this can go on before one of the five participants will no longer be available. Yossi Milo, 525 West 25th Street, (212) 414-0370, through Jan. 21. (Johnson) * LAMAR PETERSON In a show that is transitional in a good way, this promising young artist expands his reach, taking his bright, dystopic portrayals of the American dream onto canvas and into distinctive collages that pit the hand against the camera with succinct bluntness. Fredericks & Freiser, 536 West 24th Street, (212) 633-6555, through Jan. 21. (Smith) PAULA SCHER: THE MAPS Big paintings in the form of maps of Europe, North America, Los Angeles and Long Island combine abstraction and eccentric cartography with invigorating, subtly comical verve. Maya Stendhal, 545 West 20th Street, (212) 366-1549, through Jan 21. (Johnson) Felix Schramm: Comber It looks as if a tornado ripped parts off an ordinary house and slammed them into the gallery, creating a Cubist-Expressionist-style environment that was, in fact, carefully designed and assembled by this young and innovative German sculptor. Grimm/Rosenfeld, 530 West 25th Street, (212) 352-2388, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) Catherine Sullivan: The Chittendens In a multiprojection video work, professional actors, none speaking, perform scripted sequences of actions. At first the effect is comical, but humor is overridden by an academic mission to deconstruct codes of behavior in film, theater and real life. Metro Pictures, 519 West 24th Street, (212) 206-7100, through Jan. 21. (Johnson) Galleries: SoHo and TriBeCa * JIM DRAIN and ARA PETERSON: HYPNOGOOGIA With a kaleidoscopic, mirrored DVD installation and multifaceted sculptures that resemble gaudy, 12-foot-high soccer balls, two of contemporary arts most interesting collaborators have masterminded a kind of wonderland of digital and analog psychedelia. The best piece is best experienced by descending on a ladder into a kind of rabbit hole. The total effect is amazing, if a little vacant. Deitch Projects, 18 Wooster Street, SoHo, (212) 343-7300, through Jan. 28. (Smith) The Last Generation More or less obscurely, this group show addresses how digital forms of communication and representation are altering human experience. Best are Kota Ezawas black-and-white animation of a scene from Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Jan Mancuskas text and video sculpture; motorized military hats doing synchronized movements, by Malachi Farrell; and Laurent Montarons combination of a digital photograph of someone sleeping and an audio system that plays on headphones the sounds a sleeper makes. Apexart, 291 Church Street, TriBeCa, (212) 431-5270, through Jan. 7. (Johnson) Last Chance * THE FRICK COLLECTION: MEMLINGS PORTRAITS Just over 30 portrait paintings by Hans Memling survive from the 15th century. Of those, about 20 are on view at the Frick. Thats a whale of a lot of paintings by any major early Northern European artist to be in any one place at one time, and there is little question that this show -- two rooms of compact pictures, each picture a main event -- will figure on any shortlist of outstanding events of the year. 1 East 70th Street, (212) 288-0700, closing tomorrow. (Cotter) * MET: THE PERFECT MEDIUM: PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE OCCULT Hands down the most hilarious, not to mention the most charming, exhibition the Met has done in years: an assemblage of 19th-century and early-20th-century spirit photographs, séance reportage and other examples of transparent tomfoolery. Like all examples of great humor, it is, at heart, also a sneakily serious affair. (See above.) Closing tomorrow. (Kimmelman) * Met: VINCENT VAN GOGH: THE DRAWINGS Think again before deciding youve got a case of van Gogh fatigue and skipping this exhibition -- not just because the focus is on drawings, which on the whole are less well known than the paintings and were so important to the early spread of his reputation, but also because in the flesh, great art, no matter how often it has been dully reproduced or mistaken for a price tag or overrun by crowds, retains its dignity and originality and utter strangeness. (See above.) Closing tomorrow. (Kimmelman) NEW MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: BRIAN JUNGEN Aware that the Nike Air Jordan sneakers worn by the basketball star Michael Jordan are a fetish item for youth throughout the world, Mr. Jungen, a young British Columbian partly of Northwest Coast Indian descent, has cleverly refashioned these trophy sneakers into ceremonial masks that strikingly suggest those produced by Northwest Coast tribes.. A sardonic and wizardly craftsman is at work here. 556 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 219-1222, closing tomorrow. (Glueck) Derek Walcott: Another Life In his spare time, the 1992 Nobel laureate in literature makes amateurish but appealing Impressionist-style oil and watercolor paintings of Caribbean towns and beaches. June Kelly, 591 Broadway, SoHo, (212) 226-1660, closing today. (Johnson) Richard Walker: Beacon Road Paintings Working on compact panels in a deft, painterly style that mixes influences of Alex Katz and Neil Welliver, this Scottish artist creates vividly atmospheric views of snowy woods and other quiet nature scenes. Alexander, 41 East 57th Street, (212) 755-2828, closing today. (Johnson)
Jay Chou holds a successful concert
Then, a huge gasp from the audience as a misty curtain suddenly jetted out in front of the stage and Jay Chou disappeared from view. After making close to a dozen movies and numerous music videos, it appears that Chou now possesses an amazing grasp .
Win a Free Ticket to the JAY CHOU CONCERT in San Jose, CA
Mike Price, the founder of a new social networking site, ThinkTaiwan.com, is giving away a FREE front row ticket to the Jay Chou Concert in San Jose California on New Years Eve, December 31st, 2010. Youll have to do a��.
Jay Chou thrills crowd at National Stadium
SINGAPORE: Taiwanese Mandopop star Jay Chou finally performed for fans at the National Stadium on Saturday (Dec 27). Originally set for Nov 8, the Singapore leg of his Opus 2 World Tour concert had to be postponed to allow the grass at the National .
