Good afternoon, this is W42ST Lifestyle Editor Sarah Beling with “Make Way For The Weekend” — your curated guide to the best of New York events in one convenient newsletter!
As New Yorkers we have a unique relationship with strangers. We live shoulder to shoulder in a semi-inescapable public bubble, our loves and lives and breakdowns on full display to each other. Despite the feeling of hardly ever just being in private, in the Age of Social Anxiety AKA Text, Don’t Call, it can be hard to know when to interact with people you don’t know. And while certainly not every occasion calls for chatting up a stranger, it’s days like Marathon Sunday where the pure joy of communing with your fellow New Yorkers — runners and spectators alike — demonstrates the real value of actively choosing community over the convenience of retreating into your own world. Though it may not always be a day for cheering strangers on the street, there’s something to be said for living your life in a way where you’re rooting for people you don’t know.
I’m rooting for you — have a wonderful weekend!
…when you can only think as far ahead as Monday!
🥣 it’s soup season, bitches
Is your favorite part of any Super Bowl party the chili bar 🙋? Then you too should come on down to this year’s Chilifest at Chelsea Market November 11 for a full day of tastings from local New York chefs, with proceeds being donated to nonprofits chosen by the chili makers. Warms my heart!!
🎞️ start getting real
I truly regretted missing out on last year’s DOC NYC Film Festival (back up and running November 8-26) and therefore missing my chance at seeing the absolutely wild Queen of the Deuce. Let’s go — and hope that there is another banger of a doc about a chain-smoking grandma who happens to run the city’s porn theaters.
🖼️ 5,6,7,8
A striking, visceral exploration of “the life and labor of Black dancers”, artist Karon Davis’s Beauty Must Suffer is now showing at Salon 94 through December 23 and features multiple sculptural works with features like the piles of hand-painted skin tone pointe shoes and figures that “stand, kneel, skip, crouch and jump for eternity.”
🎶 a mighty wind??
Check out the Brooklyn Folk Festival, playing November 10-12 at the beautiful St Ann’s church for live performances from over 30 bands, dance and jam sessions, film screenings and a promised “Banjo Toss” (??!!!). I’m intrigued!
🍂 harvest time
Join the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers — the oldest Native American dance company in New York — for a special Harvest Dance Celebration at the Queens County Farm Museum November 12, where representatives from 10 Nations will perform and Native craft vendors will offer traditional jewelry, ceramics and textiles.
🎭 green thumbs
Travel to 1940s Argentina under the shadow of the Perón regime — and witness Tony Award winner (and Broadway legend) Priscilla Lopez embody the life story of fellow Broadway artist and choreographer Graciela Daniele in The Gardens of Anuncia running now through December 31 at Lincoln Center. It’s written by Wild Party composer Michael John LaChiusa and also stars B’way vets Mary Testa, Eden Espinosa and Andréa Burns, sooooooo I am deeply intrigued.
🎺 veteran’s day
Stop by the New York City Veterans Day Parade November 11 to see more than 280 units march up 5th Avenue, led by this year’s Grand Marshal, retired General Mike Linnington, CEO of Wounded Warrior Project.
🎭 new work alert!!
Check out the public reading of Habib Yazdi’s Goldberg Play Prize winning Ajax at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts November 10, telling the story of 1953 Tehran, where “Kambiz, a local pool boy, is lured into the affairs of a strange American and the Shah of Iran.”
🖼️ frame it
Have you always wanted to be a Charlotte York-esque gallerina, but lack her nearly endless disposable income?? Head to The Other Art Fair November 9-12 at ZeroSpace in Brooklyn for three days of affordable pieces from over 100 independent artists, DJ sets and a full bar! It’s the SATC dream minus the SATC budget, y’all!!!
SPONSORED POST
Dracula agrees. The critics have great taste! Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors is a high-octane, low-down, hilarious reimagining of the gothic classic. With fangs of fury and abs of steel, the stakes are high for Count D as he flees lady vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing and her motley entourage. If you’re a sucker for a bash brimming with bits, bites and bats, you can B Positive that this 90-minute, gender-bending, quick-change Stoker-joker is just your type. This Dracula has got the chops to make it on stage and leave audiences dying for more. He may not be the next Phantom, but he’s in the same vein. You can Count on it. draculacomedy.com
🎭 from verona to the caribbean
Caribbean repertory company Don’t Pass the Peppa Sauce comes to The Tank with their fresh adaptation of the Shakespearean classic, Caribbean Romi & Juliet November 11 — where, as they put it, “Shakespeare is already dramatic. Now imagine Romeo and Juliet but if they were Caribbean. Bring on the Drama!”
🎞️ but is die hard a Christmas movie?
Anyone else here find that their go-to stress response is to rewatch the same 80s/90s/00s movies over and over again (I’m sorry but the 2010s were a deadzone for great movies — fight me lol)? If so, you’re in luck — the Midtown Rooftop Cinema Club has started showing classic fall and holiday movies this weekend including hits like When Harry Met Sally, Elf, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Die Hard and Home Alone. And if you’re not stuck in the past like me, they are also showing Barbie on the 19th!!!
🎶 not on her own
Confession: When I first started listening to Les Mis I swore that the gal singing On My Own was Bernadette Peters lololol but either way LOVED HER!! Anyway the (actual) original Eponine Frances Ruffelle joins fellow West End star Norman Bowman in Frankie & Beausy playing November 10-11 at 54 Below, where the pair will perform an evening of songs conjuring everything “from the Highlands to Hollywood, Brigadoon to Broadway, Scotland to Sondheim, they humorously celebrate the ups and downs of imperfect relationships.”
🖼️ can it
Shopping? Stop by Brookfield Place to see Canstruction now on display, where various architectural and design firms compete to win the most popular sculpture in cans — and display materials are donated ahead of Thanksgiving.
…what’s happening before and just after I hit your inbox next!
🎭 he’s a broadway baby
Marvelous MC and performer with the most Chris Timson hosts another round of Broadway trivia at VERS November 13 — and be sure to warm up that mix, because the night ends with an epic singalong!!
📚 two sebastians are better than one
Gather among the literati and celebrate the launch of poets Sebastian Merrill and Sebastián H Páramo’s new book at the free Sebastian X Sebastian party and poetry reading November 18, where fellow writers Shuli Branson, Zefyr Lisowski, Emily Lee Luan, Alicia Mountain, Megan Pinto, Margaret B Ray, Phil Saint Denis Sanchez, Dane Slutzky and Mike Soto will also read excerpts of their own work!
🎭 may we have this dance
The groundbreaking new musical How to Dance in Ohio — based on the HBO documentary of the same name that follows a group of young autistic adults preparing for a formal dance — takes to the Main Stem with a talented cast of neurodivergent performers starting November 15!
💃 the best of bachata
Cafe 424 hosts another night of Bachata Under the Stars November 16, where you can enjoy an evening of dance, wine and romance for everyone from “9-5ers and Broadway professionals. Get ready for an unforgettable night; dance, taste, and be in bed by 11pm.” Incredible. We love it!!!
…for when you need to secure those hot tickets before they sell out!!!
🎤 get out your baseball hat
Susan Stroman is yet another theater professional who, despite having never met her, I consider my parasocial friend and refer to her as “Stro”. I’m sure the feeling is mutual lol. The legendary Broadway director and choreographer accepts the Louis Achincloss Prize at the Museum of the City of New York December 4!
🔥 Hot tip
On a recent trip to the previously mentioned Sweet Pickle Books (it’s great!!), I realized that I was growing precariously close to becoming the Hangry Demon that many of you who know me IRL have met. Luckily, just around the corner from the bookstore was Shu Jiao Fu Zhou, where some of the greatest pork and chive dumplings I’ve ever eaten reside. Considering the place was packed at a very after-lunch hour of 3pm, I would wager that many other people agree. Run don’t walk!!!
⚠️ Omg I forgot to tell you
St Malachy’s is hosting a concert of remembrance on November 10 at the Actors’ Chapel
The Rink at Rockefeller Center is now open
St Clements celebrates 60 years as a premier Off-Broadway theater and active church November 12
The New York Jewish Book Festival is November 12-19
There’s a Missoni Sample Sale November 14
There’s a Diwali celebration at the Seaport November 10 and The Taste of the Seaport Festival is November 11
Patti LuPone and Aubrey Plaza are roommates lol
That’s it for now! Call me beep me if you want to reach me! (sarah@w42st.com)
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