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!
It’s obvious that New Yorkers are deeply dependent on the weather (shoutout to Phil for keeping us more accurately up to date than the iPhone app!!!). An arbiter of small talk and frequently the deciding factor in the MTA’s functionality, New York’s weather, I would argue, is also a definitive mood setter. And yes, before you ask — I am one of those people who cares when it’s a full moon (scientific evidence of the moon cycle’s effect on human behavior proven by my mother’s many decades of research as a preschool teacher LOL).
The subtle mood shifts of the weather become decidedly louder as the sun blares down on shuffling New Yorkers suddenly too sapped to argue with each other, or strangers whose eyes meet as they dash into a bar to escape a thunderstorm. A strangely communal bond is forged as we all watch the snow pile up outside of an office or move to the center of the subway platform as the roof leaks 🙃. We’re all in this together, at least until the storm passes.
Stay cool and dry this weekend, my friends!
❓ Quick question
Do you have a favorite (publicly accessible) pool in NYC? I’d ask about the beach but there are sharks 🦈
🎭 you look so enviably cool
An appropriately sweltering, stifling drama suited to our current heatwave, Tennessee Williams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opens this Sunday (preview performances ongoing) at Theatre St Clements, featuring a star-studded cast that includes theatrical legend Austin Pendleton (fresh off of his run of Broadway’s The Minutes — the man does not take a break!).
🪴 still growing
Please don’t unsubscribe because I won’t stop talking about Little Shop of Horrors!! It’s the musical gift that keeps on giving IMO!! If you, like me, are a superfan, theatrical social club SNOB (Sunday Night on Broadway) is hosting a celebratory “Skid Row” block party this Saturday between shows in honor of the musical’s 40th anniversary and featuring prizes, performances, free food and face painting. And before I officially retire my LSOH content…Jim Carnahan Casting, if you are reading this I am available to play Audrey. THX!
🌹 a rose by this name
We recently had the pleasure of profiling Midtown’s newest House of Yes style speakeasy, The Rose Room. Tucked into a discreet back corner of the Producers Club on W44th, this intimate club venue aiming to be the “real life Moulin Rouge” puts on nightly cabaret and circus shows for a wild and wooly night of entertainment you won’t soon forget.
🎶 strike up the sinfonietta
A lush, 25-piece orchestra serenades Bryant Park this Friday as the Broadway Sinfonietta, an all-women and majority women-of-color ensemble takes to the stage to perform hits from indie pop to classic and contemporary musical theatre. Guest vocalists include Arielle Jacobs of Broadway’s Aladdin and Solea Pfeiffer — who was an unreal Eva Peron in the City Center Encores 2019 production of Evita.
🎭 who isn’t unbalanced these days lol
Off-Broadway new works incubator AMT Theater presents founder and venerable composer Al Tapper’s musical review, An Unbalanced Mind, opening this weekend! Seems relevant!!
SPONSORED POST
West Bank Cafe owner Steve Olsen told us about some guests last weekend. “Six women came in for Sunday Brunch and all six had our Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. I welcomed them and asked them what show they were going to. They replied, ‘We’re not going to a show; we love your pancakes so much we decided to drive in from New Jersey just for the pancakes.’ I thanked them and sent over a round of Mimosas and they left very happy. Now that’s commitment,” said Steve. Make your reservation here…
🎭 reality bites
In a searing rumination on toxic masculinity, a father and son attempt to reconcile their relationship as the latter competes on a drag queen reality competition. LGBTQIA+ theater company The Other Side of Silence present Robert Macke’s world premiere play, House of Chavis which opened last weekend at the Flea Theater in TriBeCa and runs through August 6!
🎤 this time in verse
Brand-new literary mag Lit128 hosts A Night of Poetry, Music, and Photography at Brooklyn’s Legible Light Collective (feel cool and RSVP for exact address!!) next Tuesday, featuring some of the city’s most exciting up-and-coming artists and including the poems of Megan Pinto, whose work perfectly mixes the lofty philosophical with the messy business of being a human who lives in New York.
🎅 have a holly jolly july
Trying to transport your mind to a cooler time of year? Head to My Big Fat Gay Jewish Christmas Spectacular at 3 Dollar Bill this Tuesday for an evening of rocking around the tree/Menorah with top-notch comedians (including Brooklyn-based Tessa Skara, the mind behind Gay Songs for the End of Times), all benefiting The Ali Forney Center!
🎤 another title that got me
For the second week in a row, I am very intrigued by a comedy show title — this time, it’s Sharing and Crying at Union Hall playing tonight and featuring comedians Matt Barats (once fired from Blue Man Group) and John Reynolds (who you may recognize from TBS’s Search Party or as a police officer terrorizing the children of Stranger Things!)
🎄 even more christmas in july, baby!!
Though you won’t see any snow falling, it’s still worth heading to 230 Fifth’s Rooftop bar for their Christmas in July Drag Show this Sunday for champagne, cheer, and perhaps a few unseasonal tunes from drag artists Selma Nilla and Peachez!
🎶 party like it’s 1999
My warped sense of millennial time dictates that I always consider 1990 ten years ago, not 30 years ago. Anyway! Time travel (30) years ago with me to Uptown Bounce: I Love the 90s tonight where Museo del Barrio and the Museum of the City of New York host a free summer block party featuring DJ performances, a 90s step-and repeat photo op and summer drinks and bites.
💎 this will not help my jewelry obsession
Alert! Alert! Fellow dainty gold jewelry addicts, Brooklyn-based Catbird is holding a summer block party this Saturday at their flagship Williamsburg location. Enjoy a bake sale, book swap, music, an ASPCA cat adoption truck, vintage clothes shopping and of course, Catbird’s signature trinkets. As a bonus, you’ll be shopping for a good cause — 25 percent of in-store sales will be split between The Brigid Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights and Catbird pledges to give an additional $25k!
🔥 Hot tip
Restaurant Week (month) began this Monday, bringing you prix fixe, multi-course meals for less at many of your faves. Check out our guide to all of the West Side joints participating and book those reservations!!
⚠️ Omg I forgot to tell you
There’s an ABBA-inspired disco dance party at Le Poisson Rouge this Saturday
West Side Story subject Marc McBarron Kessler is performing in Strangers of 46th Street, a new musical he penned this Saturday
Hell’s Kitchen gallerinas! The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio program opened a new artist residency exhibit this week
Don’t forget to stop by the Shed’s Open Call artist showcases this month
That’s it for now! Call me beep me if you want to reach me! (sarah@w42st.com)
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