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The Best Things To Do In NYC This Week, From An Animation Fest To A Surrealist Soirée

Oriana Leckert

Published Feb 4, 2020

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Oriana Leckert

Published Feb 4, 2020

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See a new side of Fashion Week at the No Ring Extravaganza this Thursday

Carl Gunhouse

Riot Song @ Joe's Pub

Queer up the night at Riot Song, a musical docu-play about New York’s LGBTQ community. The performance is based on first-person accounts of six Greenwich Village denizens, including a 74-year-old bartender, a homeless trans woman, a party boy, and an activist. Playwright Oscar Lopez intersperses their stories with gospel and R&B-infused songs by Matthew Dean Marsh, and the action moves from a church basement to the Stonewall Inn to a spotlit ballroom runway.

Tuesday, February 4th, 7 p.m. // Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St, Manhattan // Tickets: $25

New York Fashion Week No Ring Death Match Extravaganza @ Our Wicked Lady

Former model and professional wrestler MV Young is working to bring the wild world of wrestling to new audiences. This week he’s taking it to the runway at the New York Fashion Week No Ring Death Match Extravaganza. The evening will feature a fashion showcase by Shopberriez, Ungra8ful, and SeriesNY, music by Fleshlight Suicide, Karabas Barabas, and Birthday Girl, and, of course, no-ring wrestling matches pitting Billy Dixon against David Lawless and Young himself against Casanova Valentine. All proceeds go to the Trans Women of Color Collective.

Thursday, February 6th, 7:30 p.m. // Our Wicked Lady, 153 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn // Tickets: $20

Slow Burn Live @ The New School Auditorium

The third season of Slate’s hit narrative podcast Slow Burn—which took a deep dive into the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.—finished late last year, but there’s still more to be told. Slow Burn Live brings out a new story in the saga, performed by host Joel Anderson. He’ll talk with Brooklyn producer Easy Mo Bee, who worked with both rappers; Nasheim Myrick, an original member of the Bad Boy Records production team; and Rev. Conrad Tillard., the “hip-hop minister” who once led the Nation of Islam’s mosque in Harlem.

Thursday, February 6th, 7:30 p.m. // The New School Auditorium, 66 West 12th St, Manhattan // Tickets: $35

Get your fill of French cartoons at the Animation First Fest

Still from Marona's Fantastic Tale

Animation First Fest @ French Institute: Alliance Française

It’s time again to fête French illustrators at the Animation First Fest, the only festival in the United States dedicated to French animation. This year’s roster includes 18 premieres, award-winning shorts, immersive exhibits, virtual reality, video game demonstrations, and panels. A few highlights: Hello World!, made with papier-mâché puppets animated in stop-motion with hand-crafted sculptures; Lorenzo Mattotti’s The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily, inspired by a classic Italian children’s book; The Swallows of Kabul, which uses illuminates the brutality of life under the Taliban regime with shimmering watercolor-style animation; and the documentary Notre Dame de Paris The Age of the Builders, which spans 850 years.

Friday, February 7th, through Sunday, February 9th // FIAF, 55 East 59th St, Manhattan // Tickets: $16

A Surrealist Soirée @ Morgan Library

Explore unconventional worlds at the Morgan Library’s Surrealist Soirée, presented in conjunction with two of their exhibits: Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect and Alfred Jarry: The Carnival of Being. Hear gallery talks on both men and their fantastical, humorous works, and then try your hand at the surrealist party game Exquisite Corpse. There will also be French wine and cheese, as well as French-inspired gypsy jazz and swing from the Bailsmen.

Friday, February 7th, 6 p.m. // Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave, Manhattan // Free

Marvel at an opera set in the Met

Paula Lobo

The Mother of Us All @ The Metropolitan Museum

Have a heaping helping of high art at The Mother of Us All, a reimagined classic opera that tells the story of Susan B. Anthony and the movement for women’s suffrage. The production incorporates pieces from the Met’s collection, like Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s iconic “Diana” and a typically unseen bronze of Gertrude Stein, who wrote the libretto. The cast features 20 actors, including soprano Felicia Moore, who will play Anthony, as well as 10 chorus singers from Julliard and six musicians from the New York Philharmonic.

Opens Saturday, February 8th, 7 p.m. // The Metropolitan Museum, Gallery 700, 1000 Fifth Ave, Manhattan // Tickets: $115

Switch n' Play: Vamp @ National Sawdust

Feel a chill down your spine at Brooklyn drag collective Switch n' Play’s fourth-annual Vamp. Billed as “a celebration of all things queer, bloodthirsty, and decadent,” the variety show will explore vampire mythology through innovative drag and burlesque. Performers include collective members Divina GranSparkle, Miss Malice, Nyx Nocturne, Vigor Mortis, and more; they’ll be joined by guest artists Louisianna Purchase, Untitled Queen, Sweet Lorraine, and MiscAllaneous DomTop.

Saturday, February 8th, 9 p.m. // National Sawdust, 80 North 6th St, Brooklyn // Tickets: $20

Andrew Bird

Shutterstock

Live from Here @ Town Hall

Get in on that public radio magic at Live from Here, a weekly variety show taped live at Town Hall and broadcast to nearly 600 stations across the country. Musician and songwriter Chris Thile hosts the show, welcoming a range of comedians, musicians, and more. This week’s roster includes multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird, Syrian American singer-songwriter Bedouine, folk and roots singer Sarah Jarosz, essayist extraordinaire Jia Tolentino, and comedian and radio host Tom Papa.

Saturday, February 8th, 5:45 p.m. // Town Hall, 123 West 43rd St, Manhattan // Tickets: $61 and up

100 Years of Theremin @ Bushwick United Methodist Church

Enjoy an ethereal evening at Ambient Church’s 100 Years of Theremin in honor of the instrument’s centennial anniversary. Hear original compositions by the NY Theramin Orchestra, which was founded by Issue Project Room director Suzanne Fiol and Dorit Chrysler, including pieces by Kraftwerk and Brian Eno and a score written for the restoration of Fritz Lang’s M. There will also be a tribute to virtuoso theremin player Clara Rockmore, and a talk contextualizing the theremin in popular culture by Moog Synthesizer co-inventor Herb Deutsch.

Saturday, February 8th, 7 p.m. // Bushwick United Methodist Church, 1139 Bushwick Ave, Brooklyn // Tickets: $40

Romeo & Juliet @ Kings Theater

Fall in star-crossed love with the National Ballet Theater of Odessa’s rendition of Shakespeare’s classic Romeo & Juliet. One of the most choreographed modern ballets, this production features 55 dancers and the neoclassical score composed in 1935 by Sergei Prokofiev, who is also known for his scores for Cinderella and Peter and the Wolf. Woven in with the Shakespearean plot, Prokofiev’s music includes themes from WWII Russia, such as the need for self-unity and support for the national struggle.

Sunday, February 9th, 3 p.m. // Kings Theater, 1027 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn // Tickets: $60

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Oriana Leckert

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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