By Tracy Zwick
May 22nd through 25th
Shakespeare in the Park “Romeo & Juliet”: The Delacorte Theater in Central Park; 8 p.m.every night but Mondays through June 28th; free
The Public Theater’s famous “Shakespeare in the Park” summer programming begins tonight with “Romeo & Juliet” by William Shakespeare, featuring Spanish translations by Alfredo Michel Modenesi. In this new production, the play unfolds in English, but the young lovers from warring families speak to one another in Spanish. Free tickets are released in several ways, detailed here, including by online lottery, in-person lottery at The Public Theater, and in-person distribution in Central Park.
Free Sunset Jazz Concert in Riverside Park: 125th and Marginal Street; Friday, May 22nd from 7 to 8:30 p.m.; free (first-come, first-served unreserved seating)
The Jazz Foundation of America is presenting a series of sunset concerts this summer featuring renowned bandleaders playing a variety of jazz and Latin styles. This Friday night, The Harmony Bartz Experience, led by Taify (“Harmony”) Bartz, daughter of jazz saxophonist and two-time Grammy winner Gary Bartz, will be playing jazz, blues, neo-soul, R&B, and funk, with Bartz’s own vocal stylings. The Sunset Jazz Concert series is part of Riverside Park Conservancy’s “Summer on the Hudson” slate of programs.
Luciana Souza at Smoke: Smoke Jazz Club on Broadway between 105th and 106th Streets; Friday, May 22nd through Sunday, May 24th with multiple shows each evening, including dinner shows at 6 and 8 p.m.; tickets start at $25 and go up to $65
Grammy-winning vocalist Luciana Souza will be joined by guitarist Chico Pinheiro and percussionist Rogerio Boccato for several evenings of Brazilian music, jazz improvisation, and lyrical storytelling at beloved local world-class jazz institution, Smoke. Born in São Paulo to a family of Bossa Nova innovators, Souza has released more than a dozen critically acclaimed recordings, receiving multiple Grammy nominations, and has collaborated with Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon, James Taylor, and Bobby McFerrin.
“Kind Hearts & Coronets” at New Plaza Cinema: 35 West 67th Street (between Columbus Ave. and Central Park West); Sunday, May 24th at 12:15 p.m.; tickets start at $14
This 1949 British crime comedy features Alec Guinness playing eight characters – all vulnerable relatives in a scheme to steal a large inheritance. Viewers may recognize Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi, Colonel Nicholson, and George Smiley from a few of his other hit films. But earlier in his career, in “Kind Hearts & Coronets,” the comedy factory at Britain’s Ealing Studios gave him a chance to display his versatility in this scathingly satirical take on English high society.
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Can you add the annual Memorial Day event at the Soldiers & Sailors Mounment at 1000 on Monday?