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!
Weekday holidays always inspire a bit of chaos — people disappear from their email inboxes for weeks at a time (no hate/be free 😅), you’re never quite sure when businesses will close (the day before? For the whole week? I forgot to go to the Post Office again), there are gatherings and celebrations for days on end — to the point that by the time you actually get to the holiday, you’re kind of spent. I say, embrace it! If we’ve learned anything at this point, it’s to occasionally live in a fugue state of “fauxcation”. Take yourself out to a random, midday diner lunch! Browse a bookstore for hours! Have a cookout and a day where you sit around watching And Just Like That (I’m sorry, I had to, don’t hate me). School’s out, baby!!!
…when you can only think as far ahead as Monday!
🎭 party like it’s 1923
The Jazz Age meets Sleep No More with The Great Gatsby: The Immersive Show, now playing at the Gatsby Mansion (aka The Central Park Hotel) in a glittering, song-and-dance filled extravaganza where dressing to meet the occasion is encouraged. I’ve already seen a few Broadway notables post about attending — why not go and see who you run into on the dance floor!
🎬 ahoy!
Embrace your inner pirate not by trading bitcoin but instead by attending this month’s Free Friday at the Intrepid June 30 for admission-free access to the museum’s many maritime exhibits, food, drink and an onboard screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl!
🎶 beyond the desk
There was a period deep in quarantine where I was essentially surviving by watching old recordings of NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts. There’s something so soothing about the stripped down, acoustic versions of your favorite songs played amongst bric-a-brac, IDK!! Take your love for the tiny desk outside and attend a concert dedicated to NPR’s Tiny Desk series at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park July 1 featuring Ibrahim Maalouf, Hermanos Gutiérrez and 2023 Tiny Desk Contest Winner, Little Moon!
🍸 🌈 happy hour herstory
Cap off a chock-full PRIDE Month with a scenic Rooftop Happy Hour with Lesbian Herstory Archives at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library June 30, where speakers will share materials from the group’s comprehensive chronicling of lesbian history from the 1970s onward.
👯 disco ain’t dead
Ever-bitter that I missed out on the 1970s (well, at least some of it, OK! lol), I’m pretty thrilled to see the disco revival spreading across town. To that point, Joe McGinty and the Loser’s Lounge Present: Disco! at Lincoln Center June 30, which includes both a concert and a silent, late-night disco dance party “for you to boogie-oogie-oogie ’till you just can’t boogie no more!”
🍸 breezy beverages
Take a casual “bar” crawl through Industry City’s finest mixology vendors while learning the history of the area and sampling tasty bites at the Brooklyn Waterfront cocktail tour this weekend!
📽️ cue john williams
Keeping with my nostalgia for a time I (mostly) wasn’t present for, head to the Museum of the Moving Image for See It Big: Summer Movies (70s and 80s) Edition now through July 28, where you can enjoy big-screen, air-conditioned (!) viewings of hits like ET, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Risky Business, An American Werewolf in London, Star Wars, Purple Rain, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Do the Right Thing and more!
🎶 monsoon weather
Fresh off of her critically-acclaimed run in Broadway’s Chicago, drag artist Jinkx Monsoon presents her new rock variety show, Everything at Stake at the beautiful Kings Theatre July 1. As Jinkx puts it, “At a time where literally everything is at stake, get ready for a spellbinding, bombastic, and revolutionary experience straight from the heart of this ‘internationally tolerated superstar.’”
…what’s happening before and just after I hit your inbox next!
🎬 stick it to the man
I’m sorry, you just can’t beat Jack Black’s charisma!!! See him teach rock n’ roll and chutzpah to a bunch of children who are now surely in their 30s in the classic School of Rock screening July 3 in Bryant Park!
🎆 baby ur a firework etc
If you’re in town this long weekend, you will likely hear a lot of unofficial fireworks lol but should you be tuning into the city’s festivities, you can see the Macy’s fireworks over the East River July 4 at watch parties held at The Edge and the Empire State Building. And if you’re a West Sider, walk over to the park to see New Jersey’s fireworks over the Hudson, also July 4.
🌭 stay hungry
Someday I’ll research and write a dissertation as to why we as a society love watching people enter eating contests (myself included lol) but until then enjoy Nathan’s 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on the Coney Island boardwalk July 4!
🎶 in her broadway era
OK I heard Tay-Tay put on a good show but did she have a live orchestra?! You can hear your fave stars from Hamilton, Six, Waitress, Kinky Boots, Wicked and Merrily We Roll Along belt out Ms Swift’s songs to a live, full orchestra at Broadway Sings Taylor Swift July 6 and 9 at the Cutting Room!
🎼 swing it!
Support Birdland mainstay and 18-piece ensemble Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra during their al fresco set at Bryant Park Picnic Performances July 7!
…for when you need to secure those hot tickets before they sell out!!!
🎶 just like buddy holly
Grab your horn-rimmed glasses and feel the 90s indie rock scene wash over you — Weezer plays Forest Hills Stadium July 13!
🎬 bam barbie
Y’all, the Barbie movie has permeated The Intellectual Discourse™ so much that it’s screening at BAM July 20! Get ready for takes on takes!!
🔥 Hot tip
Want a beachy weekend sans beach traffic? Take the A train to the Rockaways (it’s still quicker than sitting in Tri-State area standstills!), enjoy the sun and sand, and then grab one of the famous burgers at Rippers. Like any good “vacation” spot, it’s also got merch!
⚠️ Omg I forgot to tell you
A Cars tribute band is playing City Winery July 2
Paw Patrol: The Movie is playing at DeWitt Clinton Playground July 8 at 8pm
Summer Independence Day Brunch and Shop at the Grand Bazaar July 2
There’s a house party dance set at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Sun Sets series July 2
That’s it for now! Call me beep me if you want to reach me! (sarah@w42st.com)
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