By Tracy Zwick
May 23 to 25, 2025
Preview Gustavo Dudamel conducting the NY Philharmonic: Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Lincoln Center, with additional performances next week and a free concert in Central Park on June 4th; more info and tickets on the Lincoln Center performances here and for the Central Park concert here.
The New York Philharmonic’s next music director, Gustavo Dudamel, is in town and warming up the orchestra for his stewardship, which will officially begin when the 2025-26 season launches this September. (He’ll add artistic director to his title in 2026.) Dudamel, who currently holds the same positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will be leading the musicians in concerts featuring works by Igor Stravinsky and Philip Glass this weekend; he’ll be joined by soprano Kate Soper, who will perform in the world premiere of a piece she wrote for the New York Philharmonic. Dudamel then heads to Central Park for the annual free NY Philharmonic concert on the Great Lawn in Central Park June 4th, which will be followed by fireworks. Mark your calendar!
Watch “Top Gun” on the deck of the Intrepid: Friday, May 23rd, doors open at 7 p.m.; Pier 86 on West 46th Street; more info here; free
Many free outdoor movie screenings take place over the summer in the city, but not many offer this kind of location-subject matter congruence. And it’s right off the West Side Highway, on the deck of the Intrepid, the World War II-era aircraft carrier that’s now a museum. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the film will begin at sunset.
Films: “Rebel with a Clause” and “Bad Shabbos” at New Plaza Cinema: Dates, times and tickets here
The documentary “Rebel with a Clause,” screening at New Plaza Cinema through next week, was right up my alley – period, end of sentence. It’s about Ellen Jovin, an UWSer who set up a “grammar table” and took it on the road to all 50 states so locals could stop by and ask her questions about grammar and punctuation. The 90-or-so minute film was directed by Jovin’s fellow traveler, who happens also to be her husband, Brandt Johnson. Think grammar, bracketed by humanity and punctuated with laughs. While at New Plaza, I bought tickets to see “Bad Shabbos” starring Kyra Sedgwick and Cliff “Method Man” Smith, which has been on my watch list since one of my 22-year-old’s friends called it a “must see” after catching an early screening last year. It’s a comedy in which a newly engaged Jew and gentile are introducing their parents at a Shabbat dinner in an Upper West Side apartment.
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Seeing “Bad Shabbos” on shabbos is a perfect UWS shabbat.
Two thumbs-up for “Rebel with a Clause,” which I had the pleasure of seeing yesterday. Ellen and Brandt are doing Q&A after almost every showing. Highly recommended.
+1. I went to a screening today after reading your post. I’m also reading her book and jumped at the chance to see the film around the corner from me – and attend the Q&A with Ellen and Brandt.
So glad I did, thanks for posting!
I’ll be there! Thanks!