Why Ted Cruz Is Such a Long Shot

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TheBlaze - Breaking news and opinion TheBlaze - Breaking news and opinion Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has a new	Big Government - Breitbart Big Government - Breitbart Senator Ted Cruz Tells	Why Ted Cruz Is Such a Long Shot - NYTimes. Why Ted Cruz Is Such a Long Shot - NYTimes. Senator Ted Cruz is the first Republican to officially enter the	Ted Cruz confidantes file super PAC papers with the FEC | Daily. Ted Cruz confidantes file super PAC papers with the FEC | Daily. SHARE PICTURE
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What Sheldon Adelson thinks of Ted Cruz for 2016 - CBS News What Sheldon Adelson thinks of Ted Cruz for 2016 - CBS News Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during	Why Ted Cruz Is Such a Long Shot - NYTimes. Why Ted Cruz Is Such a Long Shot - NYTimes. Senator Ted Cruz brought his daughters, Catherine, 4, right, and Caroline,	Ted Cruz: Democrats new bogeyman - CNN.com Ted Cruz: Democrats new bogeyman - CNN.com Ted Cruz, R-Texas,	Ted Cruz: Texas newest McCarthyite - Salon. Ted Cruz: Texas newest McCarthyite - Salon. Enlarge (Credit: Jeff Malet,

FULL Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p3 on CNN. FULL Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p3 on CNN. You like Ted Cruz a lot, she asks. Beck, in fact, does like the junior senator from Texas: I.	The Five: Ted Cruz Forced CNN, MSNBC to Air. The Five: Ted Cruz Forced CNN, MSNBC to Air. Ted Cruzs marathon quasi-filibuster against Obamacare th.. The black guy who recently.	Tea Party Rep. Clashes with MSNBC Anchor: Obama. Tea Party Rep. Clashes with MSNBC Anchor: Obama. 10/5/13 - In light of a New York Times article published Saturday that. Whos calling the.	Get On Up: Trailer for James Brown movie looks very. Get On Up: Trailer for James Brown movie looks very. . only to be shot down with confidence (���If it sounds good, and it feels. March 22 2015 7:04 AM.
FULL- Glenn Beck Debates with SE Cupp on CNN. FULL- Glenn Beck Debates with SE Cupp on CNN. You like Ted Cruz a lot, she asks. Beck, in fact, does like the junior senator from Texas: I.	Eric Holder and Lindsey Graham vs. Rand Paul and. Eric Holder and Lindsey Graham vs. Rand Paul and. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz stand against the old guard of the GOP on this issue.. Drone spotted.	Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p5 Beck Gets. Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p5 Beck Gets. You like Ted Cruz a lot, she asks. Beck, in fact, does like the junior senator from Texas: I.	Ted Cruz Wants To Fight Obama Over Immigration. Ted Cruz Wants To Fight Obama Over Immigration. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is calling for congressional Republicans to fight back against . There is.
Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p4 Untold Story. Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p4 Untold Story. You like Ted Cruz a lot, she asks. Beck, in fact, does like the junior senator from Texas: I.	FDNY Brooklyn - Flatbush section Ladder 147 NYC. FDNY Brooklyn - Flatbush section Ladder 147 NYC. Then again I gave up going to funerals of any kind a LONG time ago.. ���Pop Tart��� and ���Warning Shot.	Wolf Blitzer goes inside a Hamas tunnel - YouTube Wolf Blitzer goes inside a Hamas tunnel - YouTube Wolf has stated publically many times his total dislike..not just for hamas but for all Palesine.. in.	What will it take to destroy Hamas tunnels? - YouTube What will it take to destroy Hamas tunnels? - YouTube +pyro4002 Yea its not like im saying the actual tunnels shot at the GIs.. (there is a long.
FULL Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p2 on CNN. FULL Glenn Beck Interview with SE Cupp p2 on CNN. You like Ted Cruz a lot, she asks. Beck, in fact, does like the junior senator from Texas: I.	Rush Limbaugh Hammers GOP, David Brooks for. Rush Limbaugh Hammers GOP, David Brooks for. . go to stop Obamacare, with people like Ted Cruz calling for a government.. all-out.	Turkish prime minister proves that a 10-foot hologram. Turkish prime minister proves that a 10-foot hologram. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.. March 22.	Kanye West: American Psycho? Kanye directs Scott. Kanye West: American Psycho? Kanye directs Scott. . and a bizzarely entertaining New York Times interview, Kanye West finished off his.

Latest Updates on the Gun Violence Debate

. The massacre in Newtown, Conn., that killed 27 people, including 20 children, has reignited a conversation about our country’s relationship with firearms.

Conservative Presidential Candidates, Come On In, The Waters Fine

Former governors, such as Rick Perry of Texas and even George Pataki of New York are also in the mix, as is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, long a favorite of big government social conservatives.. Senator Ted Cruz, who has been the.

5 Must-Read Articles on Ted Cruzs Filibuster | Mediaite

���According to several Republican sources, most of whom declined to disparage a rising star on the record, the partys donor class is rolling its eyes at Cruzs last-minute, long-shot attempt to keep the controversial health care law. As New York Times columnist Charles Blow has noted, a new CNN/ORC Poll shows that while 35 percent of the public (the conservative base) oppose Obamacare because its too liberal, 16 percent oppose it because it isnt liberal enough.

LEAGUE FOR THE UNION.; MONSTER MASS MEETING. Fifty Thousand People Shouting for the Union. LIEUT.-GENERAL SCOTT PRESIDES. The Old Hero Wrapped in the American Flag. Addresess by George Bancroft, John Van Buren, Benry J. Raymond, Daniel S. Dickinson, Lyman Tremain, D. D. Field, E. Delafield Smith, Ethan Allen, Henry B. Stanton, G. W. Cartis, Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, D. T. Coddington, Mayor Opdyke, and Others. Delegations from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Trenton. A Loyal Speech from Mayor Chapman, of Baltimore, and a Stirring Letter from James T. Brady. The Greatest and Most Enthusiastic Gathering Even Heldin New-York. MUSIC, CANNONS, FLAGS AND CHEERS. Stand No. 1. SPEECH OF HON. GEO. BANCROFT. SPEECH OF HON. HENRY J. RAYMOND. SPEECH OF HON. JOHN VAN BUREN. THE GREAT UNION MEETING. COMMITTEE: SPEECH OF THE MAYOR OF BALTIMORE. SPEECH OF JUDGE ORTEN. Stand No. 2. SPEECH OF HON. DANIEL S. DICKINSON. Stand No. 3. SPEECH OF HON. LYMAN TREMAIN. Stand No. 4. SPEECH OF MAYOR OPDYKE. SPEECH OF DR. HITCHCOCK. LETTER OF HON. JAMES T. BRA

LEAGUE FOR THE UNION.; MONSTER MASS MEETING. Fifty Thousand People Shouting for the Union. LIEUT.-GENERAL SCOTT PRESIDES. The Old Hero Wrapped in the American Flag. Addresess by George Bancroft, John Van Buren, Benry J. Raymond, Daniel S. Dickinson, Lyman Tremain, D. D. Field, E. Delafield Smith, Ethan Allen, Henry B. Stanton, G. W. Cartis, Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, D. T. Coddington, Mayor Opdyke, and Others. Delegations from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Trenton. A Loyal Speech from Mayor Chapman, of Baltimore, and a Stirring Letter from James T. Brady. The Greatest and Most Enthusiastic Gathering Even Heldin New-York. MUSIC, CANNONS, FLAGS AND CHEERS. Stand No. 1. SPEECH OF HON. GEO. BANCROFT. SPEECH OF HON. HENRY J. RAYMOND. SPEECH OF HON. JOHN VAN BUREN. THE GREAT UNION MEETING. COMMITTEE: SPEECH OF THE MAYOR OF BALTIMORE. SPEECH OF JUDGE ORTEN. Stand No. 2. SPEECH OF HON. DANIEL S. DICKINSON. Stand No. 3. SPEECH OF HON. LYMAN TREMAIN. Stand No. 4. SPEECH OF MAYOR OPDYKE. SPEECH OF DR. HITCHCOCK. LETTER OF HON. JAMES T. BRA

THE LISTINGS | APRIL 28-MAY 4

Selective listings by critics of The New York Times of new and noteworthy cultural events in the New York metropolitan region this week. * denotes a highly recommended film, concert, show or exhibition. Theater Approximate running times are in parentheses. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, show times and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Previews and Openings BRUNDIBAR and BUT THE GIRAFFE, A CURTAIN RAISER TO HANS KRASAS BRUNDIBAR Previews start today. Opens May 7. Tony Kushner has written a new adaptation of Hans Krasas World War II-era libretto about a brother and a sister who join forces with three talking animals to outwit a sinister organ grinder. Maurice Sendak has designed the sets, and Euan Morton stars. But the Giraffe, a curtain raiser, is a new short by Mr. Kushner. (1:35). New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street, (212) 239-6200. THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL In previews. Opens May 7. Try not to think of Ross from Friends when you see David Schwimmer in this revival of Herman Wouks adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a lawyer who defends a Navy lieutenant accused of mutiny. With Tim Daly and Zeljko Ivanek. Jerry Zaks directs (2:15). The Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. CIRQUE DU SOLEIL -- CORTEO In previews. Opens Thursday. A clown imagines his own festive funeral procession in the latest extravaganza from this ever-growing Canadian circus troupe. It features 55 artists from 16 countries (2:30). Grand Chapiteau at Randalls Island, (800) 678-5440. THE DROWSY CHAPERONE In previews. Opens Monday. This little-musical-that-could about an unscrupulous Broadway producer in the 1920s (some things never change) began at the Toronto Fringe Festival and now makes its unlikely premiere on the Great White Way. Directed by Casey Nicholaw (1:40). Marquis Theater, 1535 Broadway, at 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. FAITH HEALER In previews. Opens Thursday. Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones and Ian McDiarmid make up the dream cast of this revival of Brian Friels classic collection of Rashomonesque monologues about a man peddling salvation, his long-suffering wife and his manager (2:35). Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. FAUST, PARTS I AND II In previews. Opens Sunday. Target Margin stages an ambitious new six-hour translation of Goethes epic. David Herskovits directs (6:00). Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, East Village, (212) 279-4200. HOT FEET In previews. Opens Sunday. Earth, Wind and Fire get in on the jukebox musical trend with this new show about a woman who dreams of dancing on Broadway. Maurice Hines directs and choreographs (2:30). Hilton Theater, 213 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100. THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE In previews. Opens Wednesday. The Atlantic Theater Companys acclaimed production of Martin McDonaghs very bloody, exceptionally black comedy about Irish terrorism moves to Broadway (1:45). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. NO CHILD Previews start tomorrow. Opens May 10. Nilaja Sun plays teachers, students and janitors in the Epic Theater Centers one-woman examination of the public school system. Hal Brooks directs (1:10). Beckett Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. SHINING CITY In previews. Opens May 9. A guilt-ridden man tells his therapist that he has seen the ghost of his wife in Conor McPhersons new play, which received good reviews at the Royal Court in London. Brian F. OByrne, Martha Plimpton and Oliver Platt star (1:45). Biltmore Theater, 261 West 47th Street, (212) 239-6200. SORE THROATS In previews. Opens Sunday. Theater for a New Audience presents a revival of Howard Brentons Strindbergian study of what happens to a 39-year-old housewife when her marriage falls apart. (2:10). The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street, (212) 239-6200. A SPALDING GRAY MATTER Previews start Wednesday. Opens May 6. In a New Group production, the solo artist Michael Brandt explores the tragic final days of Spalding Gray and their parallels to his own life (1:10). Clurman Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. TARZAN In previews. Opens May 10. Phil Collins lends his invisible touch to the score of the latest Disney musical. David Henry Hwang wrote the book (2:30). Richard Rodgers Theater, 226 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4100. Broadway * AWAKE AND SING! Dreams and disappointments, hopes and fears, encouraging words and bitter put-downs clash by day and night in Clifford Odetss turbulent comedy-drama about a Jewish family struggling to stay afloat in the 1930s. A gifted roster of performers -- including Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, Zoë Wanamaker and Ben Gazzara -- manage to locate the dreaming centers of their characters, buried beneath layers of political sloganeering, everyday gripes or street slang. And even when the focus occasionally blurs in Bartlett Shers ultimately moving revival, Odetss zesty dialogue, in which jazzy period colloquialisms are slung around like punches at a prize fight, is a joy to hear (2:30). Belasco Theater, 111 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Charles Isherwood) BAREFOOT IN THE PARK For a work that celebrates the liberating force of spontaneity, this revival of Neil Simons 1963 comedy doesnt have one scene that feels organic, let alone impromptu. Directed by Scott Elliott, and starring Patrick Wilson and a miscast Amanda Peet as newlyweds in Greenwich Village, this Barefoot has the robotic gait of Frankensteins monster (2:20). Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Ben Brantley) * BRIDGE & TUNNEL This delightful solo show, written and performed by Sarah Jones, is a sweet-spirited valentine to New York City, its polyglot citizens and the larger notion of an all-inclusive America. In 90 minutes of acutely observed portraiture gently tinted with humor, Ms. Jones plays more than a dozen men and women participating in an open-mike evening of poetry for immigrants (1:30). Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) THE COLOR PURPLE So much plot, so many years, so many characters to cram into less than three hours. This beat-the-clock musical adaptation of Alice Walkers Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about Southern black women finding their inner warriors never slows down long enough for you to embrace it. LaChanze leads the vibrant, hard-working cast (2:40). Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS The arrival of Jonathan Pryce and his eloquent eyebrows automatically makes this the seasons most improved musical. With Mr. Pryce (who replaces the admirable but uneasy John Lithgow) playing the silken swindler to Norbert Leo Butzs vulgar grifter, its as if a mismatched entry in a three-legged race had become an Olympic figure-skating pair (2:35). Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) FESTEN An intensely staged, indifferently acted production of David Eldridges adaptation of a 1998 Danish film about a grim family reunion, which was a big hit in London under the same director, Rufus Norris. While the mise en scène remains unsettlingly stark, the Broadway cast (which includes Michael Hayden, Julianna Margulies, Jeremy Sisto and Ali MacGraw) registers the tension and testiness of people suffering from a collective bad hair day. Music Box Theater, 239 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * THE HISTORY BOYS Madly enjoyable. Alans Bennetts play about a battle for the hearts and minds of a group of university-bound students, imported with the original British cast from the National Theater, moves with a breezy narrative swagger that transcends cultural barriers. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, with a perfectly oiled ensemble led by the superb Richard Griffiths and Stephen Campbell Moore as schoolmasters with opposing views of history and education (2:40). Broadhurst Theater, 235 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) JERSEY BOYS From grit to glamour with the Four Seasons, directed by the pop repackager Des McAnuff (The Whos Tommy). The real thrill of this shrink-wrapped bio-musical, for those who want something more than recycled chart toppers and a story line poured from a can, is watching the wonderful John Lloyd Young (as Frankie Valli) cross the line from exact impersonation into something far more compelling (2:30). August Wilson Theater, 245 West 52nd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) LESTAT A musical sleeping pill, adapted from Anne Rices Vampire Chronicles and featuring songs by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, that could well give the makers of Ambien a run for their money. Dare to look upon this tale of the undead and keep your eyelids from growing heavier and heavier and heavier (2:30). Palace Theater, 1564 Broadway, near 47th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Love is a many-flavored thing, from sugary to sour, in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucass encouragingly ambitious and discouragingly unfulfilled new musical. The show soars only in the sweetly bitter songs performed by the wonderful Victoria Clark, as an American abroad (2:15). Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE ODD COUPLE Odd is not the word for this couple. How could an adjective suggesting strangeness or surprise apply to a production so calculatedly devoted to the known, the cozy, the conventional? As the title characters in Neil Simons 1965 comedy, directed as if to a metronome by Joe Mantello, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise their star performances from The Producers, and its not a natural fit. Dont even consider killing yourself because the show is already sold out (2:10). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) * THE PAJAMA GAME Sexual chemistry in a Broadway musical? Isnt that illegal now? If it were, then Harry Connick Jr. and Kelli OHara -- the white-hot stars of Kathleen Marshalls delicious revival of this 1954 musical -- would be looking at long jail terms. This intoxicating production, which features a charming supporting cast led by Michael McKean, allows grown-up audiences the rare chance to witness a bona fide adult love affair translated into hummable songs and sprightly dance (2:30). American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, (212) 719-1300. (Brantley) * SWEENEY TODD Sweet dreams, New York. This thrilling new revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheelers musical, with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone leading a cast of 10 who double as their own musicians, burrows into your thoughts like a campfire storyteller who knows what really scares you. The inventive director John Doyle aims his pared-down interpretation at the squirming child in everyone who wants to have his worst fears both confirmed and dispelled (2:30). Eugene ONeill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THREE DAYS OF RAIN (2:30). In this revival of Richard Greenbergs slender, elegant drama of family disconnectedness, Julia Roberts is stiff with self-consciousness, glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays and deeply, disturbingly beautiful. Otherwise, it is almost impossible to discern the virtues of the play itself in this wooden and splintered production, directed by Joe Mantello and also starring Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper, who have little chance of capturing the audiences attention (2:30). Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE THREEPENNY OPERA Presented as a long, pansexual orgy, Scott Elliots numbing revival of the Brecht-Weill classic feels like a party where the hangover begins almost as soon as the evening does. The starry cast includes Alan Cumming (as Mac the Knife) and a Dietrich-like Cyndi Lauper, though only Jim Dale and Nellie McKay appear to have a clue as to what the show is about (2:40). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Brantley) * THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE The happy news for this happy-making little musical is that the move to larger quarters has dissipated none of its quirky charm. William Finns score sounds plumper and more rewarding than it did on Off Broadway, providing a sprinkling of sugar to complement the sass in Rachel Sheinkins zinger-filled book. The performances are flawless. Gold stars all around (1:45). Circle in the Square, 1633 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) * WELL Lisa Krons sparkling autobiographical play about illness, integration and her mother (portrayed with majestic warmth and weariness by Jayne Houdyshell) helps restore the honor of that tarnished literary form, the memoir. Though it shows the strain of scaling up for Broadway, this singular work, which stars Ms. Kron as herself, opens windows of insight and emotion found in no other show (1:40). Longacre Theater, 220 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) Off Broadway ASSISTED LOVING This warm and witty monologue by Bob Morris, who contributes the Age of Dissonance column to the Sunday Style section of The New York Times, is performed by the author, who chronicles his widowed fathers and his own search for love in and around New York. Engaging, subtle and winning (1:10). Daryl Roth Theater, D-Lounge, 103 East 15th Street, at Union Square, (212) 239-6200.(George Hunka) BASED ON A TOTALLY TRUE STORY A chatty, autobiographical comedy by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa about a writer for comic books who moonlights as a screenwriter and playwright. Juggling his two jobs, the busy writer begins backsliding in his unofficial third, being a loving, giving, emotionally available boyfriend. Minor-key angst ensues in this perky two hours of comic navel-gazing (2:00). Manhattan Theater Club at City Center Stage II, 131 West 55th Street, (212) 581-1212. (Isherwood) THE CONTRAST Royall Tylers slender 1787 romantic comedy -- one of the first professional American plays ever produced -- should be of more interest to historians than to theatergoers (2:30). Theater at St. Clements, 423 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 868-4444. (Jason Zinoman). DEFIANCE The second in John Patrick Shanleys cycle of morality plays that began with Doubt, this ambitious tale of racial relations and the military mindset on a North Carolina marine base feels both overcrowded and oddly diffuse. If Doubt has an elegant and energy-efficient sprinters gait, Defiance progresses with a flustered air of distraction. The excellent Margaret Colin, as an officers wife, provides a welcome shot of credibility (1:30). Manhattan Theater Club, Theater 1, 131 West 55th Street, (212) 581-1212. (Brantley) DRUMSTRUCK This noisy novelty is a mixed blessing. Providing a two-foot drum on every seat, it offers an opportunity to exorcise aggressions by delivering a good beating, and, on a slightly more elevated level, it presents a superficial introduction to African culture, lessons in drumming and 90 minutes of nonstop music, song and dancing by a good-natured cast. So, while literally and figuratively giving off many good vibes, it adds up to lightweight entertainment that stops just short of pulverizing the eardrums (1:30). Dodger Stages, Stage 2, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Lawrence Van Gelder) ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE Scott Elliss underpowered production of Joe Ortons great farce of sexual hypocrisy, which stars Alec Baldwin in a comedy sketch of a performance, is breezy, often funny and rarely convincing. (2:00). Laura Pels Theater at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Brantley) GEORGE M. COHAN TONIGHT! The all-singing, all-dancing Jon Peterson summons the spirit of this legendary Broadway entertainer in this engaging one-man musical, devised and directed by Chip Deffaa (1:30). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 727-2737. (Hunka) GUARDIANS Peter Morriss play juxtaposes the moral decline of two disparate characters caught up in the destructive tailwinds of the American invasion of Iraq: a cold-blooded tabloid journalist in London and a soldier in the United States Army. Lee Pace and Katherine Moennig give persuasive performances as the sleazy hack and the scapegoated grunt, but Mr. Morriss play is more flashily provocative than truly thoughtful (1:30). Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, at Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 253-9983. (Isherwood) THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Lynn Redgrave is an unusually vigorous Lady Bracknell in Sir Peter Halls new production of Oscar Wildes peerless comedy from 1895. A satisfactory production that works effectively as a romantic farce but more erratically as a vehicle for Wildes paradox-perfumed wit. (2:25) Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, (718) 636-4100. (Isherwood) JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS A powerfully sung revival of the 1968 revue, presented with affectionate nostalgia by the director Gordon Greenberg. As in the original, two men (Robert Cuccioli and Rodney Hicks) and two women (Natascia Diaz and Gay Marshall) perform a wide selection of Brels plaintive ballads and stirring anthems. Ms. Marshalls captivating performance of Ne Me Quitte Pas, sung in the original French and with heart-stirring transparency, represents Brel at his best. (2:00). Zipper Theater, 336 West 37th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) * LANDSCAPE OF THE BODY This terrific revival, directed by Michael Greif, identifies the unbearable wistfulness of being in John Guares delirious heartbreaker of a comedy from 1977. The top-flight cast is led by Lili Taylor and Sherie Rene Scott as sisters -- one living, one a singing ghost -- who move in and out of a lyrical and sordid world where tabloid prurience has become a religion. Signature Theaters Peter Norton Space, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 244-7529. (Brantley) LOS BIG NAMES In the lesbian comic Marga Gomezs friendly new solo show, she measures out affection and mockery in equal doses as she recalls her parents, Willy and Margarita, a comedian and a dancer who lived a splashy life on a small scale in the circumscribed world of New York Latino culture in the 1960s. Ms. Gomez pairs stories of their performing careers with comic tales of her own struggles to pursue success in the entertainment industry. A sendup of the movie Sphere is particularly delicious (1:30). 47th Street Theater, 304 West 47th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) MACRUNES GUEVARA The Young Mirror arm of Mirror Repertory revives John Spurlings odd 1969 play about an artist who left behind a wall full of drawings of Che Guevara, and the man who saw something profound in them. Parts of the play read today like a funny sendup of art critics who see too much brilliance in outsider-art gibberish; other parts seem a bit like gibberish of their own (2:15). St. Clements, 423 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 868-4444. (Neil Genzlinger) THE MISTAKES MADELINE MADE An unhappy office worker rebels by boycotting bathing in Elizabeth Meriwethers frenetic new comedy, which reveals some compelling theatrical moments but doesnt totally cohere (1:20). Culture Project, 45 Below, 45 Bleecker Street, at Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 868-4444. (Zinoman). THE PROPERTY KNOWN AS GARLAND Adrienne Barbeau as Judy, backstage on the night of her last concert in Copenhagen. Billy Van Zandts play is tawdry and dull, and Ms. Barbeaus performance offers neither the minor rewards of a decent impersonation nor the guilty pleasures of an indecent one. (1:30). The Actors Playhouse, 100 Seventh Avenue South, at Fourth Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) RED LIGHT WINTER A frank, occasionally graphic story of erotic fixation and the havoc it can wreak on sensitive types. Written and directed by Adam Rapp, this play is both a doomy romantic drama and a morbid comedy about the anxieties of male friendship. Although somewhat contrived, it features a lovely performance by Christopher Denham as a lonely soul starved for intimacy (2:25). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, West Village, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) SANDRA BERNHARD: EVERYTHING BAD AND BEAUTIFUL Sandra Bernhard was a proverbial rock star long before headline-making folks in even the most prosaic walks of life were being referred to as such. Her new show, a collection of songs interspersed with musings on her life and on public figures ranging from Britney Spears to Condoleezza Rice, is casual to the point of being offhand. That said, its invigorating to be in the presence of a true original (2:00). Daryl Roth Theater, 101 East 15th Street, at Union Square, East Village, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) * STUFF HAPPENS Daniel Sullivans sharp, invigorating production of David Hares journalistic drama about the road to war in Iraq is conducted on the modest scale of a town-hall meeting. The characters (who have names like Bush and Blair) seem less like destiny-shaping gods than the ego trippers in your office. If that means theyre too close for comfort, then Stuff Happens is doing its job (2:50). The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) TRYST A suspense drama of a distinctly old-fashioned stamp about the romance between a handsome cad (Maxwell Caulfield) and a lonely spinster (Amelia Campbell). Will the wily predator seduce and abandon the mousy milliner? Karoline Leachs play springs a few twists that lack psychological credibility but keep the plot on the boil (2:00). Promenade Theater, 2162 Broadway, at 76th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) Off Off Broadway ADVENTURES OF CAVEMAN ROBOT: THE MUSICAL A disjointed but vivid homage and musical parody, by Jeff Lewonczyk and Debby Schwartz, of comic books and superheroes. Sloppy and long, too (2:10). Brick Theater, 575 Metropolitan Avenue, at Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 907-3457. (Hunka) Long-Running Shows * ALTAR BOYZ This sweetly satirical show about a Christian pop group made up of five potential Teen People cover boys is an enjoyable, silly diversion (1:30). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200.(Isherwood) AVENUE Q R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden, 252 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Cartoon made flesh, sort of (2:30). Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley) CHICAGO Irrefutable proof that crime pays (2:25). Ambassador Theater, 219 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200.(Brantley) DOUBT, A PARABLE (Pulitzer Prize, Best Play 2005, and Tony Award, Best Play 2005) John Patrick Shanley makes subversive use of musty conventions in the clash between the head of a parochial school and the young priest who may or may not be too fond of the boys in his charge (1:30). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) HAIRSPRAY Fizzy pop, cute kids, large man in a housedress (2:30). Neil Simon Theater, 250 West 52nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) THE LION KING Disney on safari, where the big bucks roam (2:45). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) MAMMA MIA! The jukebox that devoured Broadway (2:20). Cadillac Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Who was that masked man, anyway? (2:30). Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE PRODUCERS The ne plus ultra of showbiz scams (2:45). St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) RENT East Village angst and love songs to die for (2:45). Nederlander Theater, 208 West 41st Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) SPAMALOT (Tony Award, Best Musical 2005) This staged re-creation of the mock-medieval movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail is basically a singing scrapbook for Python fans. Such a good time is being had by so many people that this fitful, eager celebration of inanity and irreverence has found a large and lucrative audience (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) WICKED Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Last Chance CHAMPION and THE STUTTERING PREACHER Two new one-act plays, one a well-drawn family drama and the other a brash and ribald romantic comedy, from the New Federal Theater and Black Spectrum Theater. Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street, Lower East Side, (212) 279-4200; closing Sunday. (Hunka) GREY GARDENS As the socialite in limbo called Little Edie Beale, Christine Ebersole gives one of the most gorgeous performances ever to grace a musical. Unfortunately, shes a pearl of incalculable price in a show that is mostly costume jewelry. Adapted from the Maysles brothers 1975 cult documentary movie, a camp favorite, and directed by Michael Greif, with the excellent Mary Louise Wilson as Edies bedridden mother (2:40). Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200; closing Sunday. (Brantley) RING OF FIRE The man in black turns sunshine yellow in a show that strings songs associated with Johnny Cash into a big, bright candy necklace of a musical revue, created and directed by Richard Maltby Jr. In the current bio-flick Walk the Line, Cash wrestles demons; Ring of Fire wrestles with a really bad case of the cutes (2:00). Ethel Barrymore Theater, 243 West 47th Street, (212) 239-6200; closing Sunday. (Brantley) A SAFE HARBOR FOR ELIZABETH BISHOP The life of a great poet becomes the stuff of stale prose in this one-woman bio-play by Marta Góes, starring Amy Irving (1:30). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, (212) 279-4200; closing Sunday. (Isherwood) SHOW PEOPLE Paul Weitzs eyebrow-pencil-thin comedy about a man who hires actors to impersonate his family feels like one long, occasionally amusing party game whose players dont know when to call it a night. The excellent four-member cast, led by Debra Monk and directed by Peter Askin, finds charm and energy amid the vaporous bait-and-switch plot reversals (2:00). Second Stage Theater, 307 West 43rd Street, Clinton, (212) 246-4422; closing Sunday. (Isherwood) * [TITLE OF SHOW] Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell are the authors, stars and subject matter of this delectable new musical about its own making. The self-consciousness is tempered by a wonderful cast performing with the innocence of kids cavorting in a sandbox. Its a worthy postmodern homage to classic backstage musicals, and an absolute must for show queens (1:30). Vineyard Theater, 108 East 15th Street, at Union Square, East Village, (212) 353-0303; closing Sunday. (Isherwood) Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, show times and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. AMERICAN DREAMZ (PG-13, 107 minutes) In Paul Weitzs seriously unfunny comedy about a faltering American president, a wildly popular television talent show and the Svengalis behind them both, the jokes dont just fizzle into insignificance; they flop about with gaudy ineffectualness. With Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid and Mandy Moore. (Manohla Dargis) ATL (PG-13, 103 minutes) A couple of rap stars make respectable starts on acting careers in this tale of black teenagers in Atlanta, despite a script marred by clichés and predictability. Tip Harris -- the rapper T. I. -- is intriguing as a young man who takes on the responsibility of raising his younger brother when their parents are killed, and Antwan Andre Patton -- Big Boi from OutKast -- makes a terrific drug lord. (Neil Genzlinger) * THE BEAUTY ACADEMY OF KABUL (No rating, 74 minutes, in English and Dari) In the summer of 2004, a group of volunteer American hairstylists arrived in Kabul to open a school. In The Beauty Academy of Kabul, the director Liz Mermin documents the hilarious, moving and sometimes fractious meeting of diametrically different cultures, one having suffered unimaginable horrors and the other believing a good perm is the answer to everything. (Jeannette Catsoulis) DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (PG-13, 110 minutes) The romantic cliché that all artists are a little bit mad is put through its paces (if never seriously questioned) in this documentary about Daniel Johnston, a mentally ill songwriter whom Kurt Cobain, the lead singer for Nirvana, once called the greatest living. Jeff Feuerzeig, who won the best director award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, cobbles together a moving portrait of the artist as his own ghost, using a wealth of material provided by Mr. Johnston, from home movies to audiocassette diaries to dozens of original, and often heartbreakingly beautiful, songs. (Dana Stevens) * DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 (No rating, 135 minutes) Most of this stately film of few words, conceived and directed by the artist Matthew Barney, who stars with his wife, Bjork, takes place on a Japanese whaling ship afloat in Nagasaki Bay. Steeped not only in Japanese seafaring lore but also in centuries-old traditions of Japanese ritual, the film could be described as Mr. Barneys Moby-Dick. (Stephen Holden) ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN (PG, 93 minutes) Creative exhaustion haunts Ice Age: The Meltdown, as the characters from 2002s Ice Age face global warming and the submersion of their valley. While the animals head for safety in a giant, arklike boat, the director, Carlos Saldanha, indulges in biblical imagery and bad science. Over all, a flat and uninspired follow-up to a vastly superior movie. (Catsoulis) * INSIDE MAN (R, 128 minutes) The latest from Spike Lee takes a familiar setup -- in this case, a Wall Street bank heist that mutates into a hostage crisis -- and twists it ever so slightly and nicely. Among the films most sustained pleasures are its holy trinity -- Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster -- and the best lineup of pusses and mugs outside The Sopranos. (Dargis) KINKY BOOTS (PG-13, 106 minutes) In this silly, quasi-inspirational British comedy, a staid shoe factory in Northern England avoids ruin by switching from the manufacture of mens dress shoes to that of thigh-high, stiletto-heeled boots worn by drag queens. The recipe for this feel-good movie, which cries out to be made into a musical, comes from the same cookbook that gave us The Full Monty. (Holden) * LENFANT (THE CHILD) (R, 100 minutes, in French) The latest from the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne involves a young thief (Jérémie Renier) who one day sells his newborn son for a fat envelope of cash. What interests the Dardennes -- what invests their work with such terrific urgency -- is not only how a man would sell a child as casually as a slab of beef, but also whether a man like this, having committed such a repellent offense, can find redemption. (Dargis) LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN (R, 110 minutes) This star-studded jigsaw puzzle of revenge and mistaken identity thinks that its terribly smart, although it amounts to an empty, self-satisfied imitation of Pulp Fiction that reputable actors like Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley cant salvage. (Holden) * THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE (R, 91 minutes) With the help of her charmingly enthusiastic star, Gretchen Mol, the director Mary Harron unwraps the great 1950s pinup queen Bettie Page, who for years was a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a web of expertly tied rope. (Dargis) SCARY MOVIE 4 (PG-13, 83 minutes) This parasitic franchise is back to feed on last years disposable distractions, proving, if nothing else, that theres a laugh or two left in Brokeback Mountain parodies and Viagra overdoses. (Nathan Lee) THE SENTINEL (PG-13, 108 minutes) The question is why: why would a star of Michael Douglass stature and obvious intelligence attach himself to a Washington thriller as deeply ridiculous, suspense-free and potentially career-damaging as The Sentinel? (Holden) * SIR! NO SIR! (No rating, 84 minutes) In this smart, very timely documentary, the filmmaker David Zeiger revisits one of the memorable and least revisited chapters of the Vietnam War, the antiwar movement inside the military. (Dargis) SISTERS IN LAW (No rating, 106 minutes, in English and pidgin) Grass-roots feminism thrives in a Cameroon village, thanks to the pair of warmhearted, tough-minded women of law profiled in this excellent verité documentary. (Lee) * SOMERSAULT (No rating, 106 minutes) The story of a beautiful 16-year-old runaway (an astonishing lead performance by Abbie Cornish) was garlanded by 13 awards by the Australian Film Institute. Cool-headed and emotionally distanced from its characters, it trains an X-ray eye on their precarious balancing of civilized and bestial impulses. (Holden) TAKE THE LEAD (PG-13, 108 minutes) Hip-hop and ballroom dancing styles fuse in a South Bronx high school at which a dance teacher, Antonio Banderas, turns gawky ducklings into gliding swans. Its sloppy but mildly endearing. (Holden) THANK YOU FOR SMOKING (R, 92 minutes) The director Jason Reitman has made a glib and funny movie from Christopher Buckleys glib and funny novel about a Big Tobacco lobbyist, but the real attraction here is the hard-working star, Aaron Eckhart. (Dargis) V FOR VENDETTA (R, 131 minutes) James McTeigue directs this D-for-dumb future-shock story about a masked avenger (Hugo Weaving) and his pipsqueak sidekick (Natalie Portman) at war against a totalitarian British regime. (Dargis) THE WILD (G, 94 minutes) Filled with softness and texture, The Wild follows Samson the lion (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) as he escapes from the zoo to rescue his cub, who has stowed away on a ship bound for Africa. With inspired voice work from Eddie Izzard as a pukka koala and William Shatner as a menacing wildebeest, the movie also finds time to explore the travails of single fatherhood and the evils of oppression. (Catsoulis) Film Series BAC 40TH INTERNATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL (Through May 7) The Brooklyn Arts Councils festival of work by independent and student filmmakers continues this weekend. Tomorrow and Sundays screenings include Micah Schaffers Death of Two Sons, about Amadou Diallo and a Peace Corps volunteer who lived with his family; Kevin Burgets Harold Weston: A Bigger Belief in Beauty, a portrait of Weston, the Modernist painter; and Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud: Teen Suicide, an 18-minute documentary with almost a dozen directors. Brooklyn Museum, Cantor Auditorium, 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 625-0080 ; most screenings free with museum admission. (Anita Gates) THE FILMS OF MIKIO NARUSE (Through May 10) BAMcinémateks tribute to Naruse (1905-69), the Japanese realist filmmaker, continues tonight with Sound of the Mountain (1954), Naruses own personal favorite, about an ignored housewife who bonds with her father-in-law. Tomorrows feature is Repast (1951), also about an unhappy housewife. Mother (1952), the story of a struggling single mother, will be shown on Sunday. BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, (718) 636-4100; $10. (Gates) KUROSAWA (Through Sept. 17) The IFC Centers weekend series honoring Akira Kurosawa continues this weekend with I Live in Fear (1955), starring Toshiro Mifune as an elderly man obsessed with the prospect of nuclear war. Other films in the series will include Kurosawas classics Ran (1985), May 12 through 14; Rashomon (1950), May 19 through 21; Seven Samurai (1954), May 26 through 29; and Yojimbo (1961), June 30 and July 2 and 4. 323 Avenue of the Americas, at West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 924-7771; $10.75. (Gates) PRIX JEAN VIGO (Through Dec. 30) The Museum of Modern Art is honoring Vigo (1905-34), the French filmmaker, with a series of 41 films from directors who have won the prize that bears his name. Thursdays features are Joël Fargess Pondichéry, Juste Avant lOubli (1987), an ode to the directors hometown in South India. It will be shown with Alain Resnais and Chris Markers short about African sculpture in museums, Les Statues Meurent Aussi, and the original English version of Mr. Markers science-fiction short La Jetée (1962). (212) 708-9400; $10. (Gates) REDISCOVERING ROSCOE: THE CAREER OF FATTY ARBUCKLE (Through May 15). The Museum of Modern Arts 54-film retrospective of the acting and directing career of the scandal-ridden Arbuckle (1887-1933) continues tomorrow with a program that includes Fattys Faithful Fido (1915), Bridge Wives (1932) and Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916), with Mabel Normand. Three other programs will be shown next week, including Early Keystones, a collection of eight silents made in 1913 and 1914. (212) 708-9400; $10. (Gates) Pop Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. AQUALUNG (Monday) Matt Hales, the piano-playing Briton who records as Aqualung, studiously borrows all the most tedious and indulgent aspects of Coldplay and Radiohead -- the slow-motion brooding, the epic self-pity -- while missing their joyful grandeur. With David Ford. At 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $20. (Ben Sisario) BENEVENTO-RUSSO DUO (Tonight) The keyboardist Marco Benevento and the drummer Joe Russo have made a gradual rise on the jam-band circuit with kinetic meanderings that often begin in peaceful soul-funk and end up in poundingly insistent climaxes that might as well be punk rock. Figo opens. At 9, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $15 in advance, $18 at the door. (Sisario) BROADWAY BY THE YEAR: THE MUSICALS OF 1968 (Monday) The year 1968 might be remembered for student protests, escalation in Vietnam and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but on Broadway it was the year of the grooviest musical ever, Hair. That show, along with Zorba, Promises, Promises, The Happy Time and others, will get the oh-what-a-time treatment from Brad Oscar, Scott Coulter, Annie Golden, Chip Zien, Lorinda Lisitza and friends. 8 p.m., Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 840-2824; $40 and 45. (Sisario) * ROSANNE CASH (Thursday) Ms. Cash performs the live premiere of the songs on her new album, Black Cadillac (Capitol), a contemplative cycle about the deaths, over two years, of her stepmother, June Carter Cash; her father, Johnny Cash; and her mother, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin. 8 p.m., St. Anns Warehouse, 38 Water Street, at Dock Street, Brooklyn, (718) 254-8779; $40. (Sisario) CITIZEN COPE (Tomorrow) Clarence Greenwood, a k a Citizen Cope, is the umpteenth singer-songwriter to use hip-hop beats and drawled rap-sung vocals in search of novelty. 8 p.m., Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-7171; $26. (Sisario) CULTURE (Tuesday) Culture, led by Joseph Hill, has been a steadfast roots reggae band since the 1960s, singing about Rastafarian faith and everyday suffering and putting a groove behind its messages. In Cultures songs, a dance party and a gospel service are never far apart. 11 p.m., S.O.B.s, 204 Varick Street, at Houston Street, South Village, (212) 243-4940; $20 in advance, $22 at the door.(Jon Pareles) * DJ A-TRAK (Tonight) Born Alain Macklovitch in Montreal, DJ A-Trak has been a turntable celebrity since 1997, when he won DMCs World D.J. Championship at age 15. Still a baby-faced prodigy, he is now Kanye Wests D.J., and on this solo tour, watching his arms flail back and forth as he scratches records at cartoon speed should be half the fun. He appears with a small posse of guests, including DJ Ayres and Cosmo Baker, two of the hosts of the Rub, a regular hip-hop dance party in Brooklyn; GLC, a phlegmatic rapper from Chicago; and Cuizinier and DJ Orgasmic of the French hip-hop crew TTC. 10 p.m., Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006; $10. (Sisario) THOMAS DOLBY (Wednesday and Thursday) Thomas Dolby entered pop eternity in the guise of a bespectacled, wild-haired mad scientist, with the 1983 novelty hit She Blinded Me With Science. He returns after a long absence -- in his other life he has been an innovative creator of ring tones -- with a tour that finds him largely in the same gearhead persona (sans the hair), surrounded by bizarre-looking doohickeys with colorful gauges and oversize knobs. Wednesday at 10 p.m., Thursday at 7 (with the singer-songwriter Carey Ott) and 10 p.m., Joes Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778; $20. (Sisario) DRAGONFORCE (Tuesday) A six-man metal army from London -- with members from Ukraine, Hong Kong, New Zealand and South Africa -- DragonForce sounds like some combination of Iron Maiden, the Scorpions and Yngwie Malmsteen on frantic fast-forward: all the chant-along major-key melodies and fretboard-tickling guitar solos of those 80s metal heroes are there, but sped up to an exhilarating degree. With Protest the Hero and Sanctity. 8 p.m., Avalon, 662 Avenue of the Americas, at 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 807-7780 or (212) 307-7171; $15 and $17. (Sisario) * FAUN FABLES (Thursday) On a bed of ghostly acoustic folk, Faun Fabless Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl build an astonishing and unpredictable kind of pop theater, at once grandiose and nightmarish and silly. The bands new album, The Transit Rider (Drag City), is a creepily obsessive song cycle about the commuting life, begun by Ms. McCarthy in 1994 and done as a theater piece in San Francisco four years ago. Here it comes on tour, complete with costumes, film and a cast of four. Bonfire Madigan and Transmitting open the show. At 9 p.m., Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, near Sterling Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-0236; $10 in advance, $12 at the door. (Sisario) FORRÓ IN THE DARK (Sunday) For three years, this group has been leading one of New Yorks best and lowest-tech dance parties at the East Village bar Nublu. The groove is a humble and sexy two-beat dance from northeastern Brazil called forró, made with accordion, hand-held percussion and, since this is New York, whiffs of distorted electric guitar. It travels well, and on Sunday the band comes to S.O.B.s for a special forró night that includes dance lessons. 9 and 11 p.m., 204 Varick Street, at Houston Street, South Village, (212) 243-4940; $7. (Sisario) FRUIT BATS (Tonight and tomorrow) Centered on the guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Johnson, Fruit Bats, from Chicago, play weightless little nuggets of psych-folk that are deceptively wistful. Behind their apparent melancholy is a playful wit and a modest awe: It takes cold fronts and sackcloth skies, Mr. Johnson sings. It takes leviathans down in the abyss/ The hidden messages of the things that you missed. Tonight at 9, with Amandine and Jason Friedman (of the Boggs), at the Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700; tomorrow at 9:30 p.m., with Amandine and Sam Jayne (of Love Is Laughter), at Maxwells, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201) 653-1703. Both are $12. (Sisario) HANGDOGS (Tonight) With weary voices and staunch, down-home roots-rock guitars, the Hangdogs sing about unglamorous, hard-drinking men and the women they love and leave. At 10, Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 683-6500; free. (Pareles) COLIN HAY (Tonight and tomorrow night) Not all forgotten pop stars age as gracefully as Mr. Hay, who in the 1980s was the voice and face of the Australian new wave goofballs Men at Work. Recently he has been developing a new following with gentle, ruminative acoustic songs; one, I Just Dont Think Ill Ever Get Over You, was a heart-stopper in the film Garden State. 8 p.m., Canal Room, 285 West Broadway, at Canal Street, TriBeCa, (212) 941-8100; $25 in advance, $30 at the door. (Sisario) ISIS, DALEK (Thursday) Isis creates a fearsomely beautiful sludge out of atonal guitars and a permanently distorted bass. As it works its way to repeated climaxes, the music can feel like a glorious release or the last thrashings of a captured animal. Dalek is a hip-hop trio from Newark led by a rapper of the same name, who intones apocalyptic rhymes over noisy, atmospheric backing tracks. 7:30 p.m., Avalon, 662 Avenue of the Americas, at 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 807-7780 or (212) 307-7171; $13 in advance, $15 at the door. (Sisario) ROBY LAKATOS ENSEMBLE (Tonight) A fiery Gypsy violinist from Hungary descended from Janos Bihari, a legendary player from the early 19th century, Mr. Lakatos is equally at home in classical, jazz and folk repertories. Backed by cimbalom, guitar, bass and piano, he plays everything from traditional pieces and a Liszt dance to a Russian tango and Honeysuckle Rose. At 8:30, Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; sold out. (Sisario) LL COOL J (Tonight) One of the first bigger-than-the-block personalities of rap, LL Cool J still follows the same few guidelines of self-representation that have served him throughout his long career: be photographed shirtless as often as possible, title all your albums either after yourself (Todd Smith, his latest, refers to his given name, James Todd Smith) or some superlative that Muhammad Ali might have used (Phenomenon, Greatest of All Time) and be as sweatily vigorous a performer as possible. At 8, Nokia Theater, 1515 Broadway, at 44th Street, (212) 307-7171; $40. (Sisario) THE MOONLIGHTERS (Monday) Few would expect members of Helmet and the Pain Teens to play ukulele-strumming, steel-guitar-sliding, sweetly harmonized, optimistic Hawaiian-style songs. But the Moonlighters do just that, writing anachronistic ballads and swing-style tunes that Bliss Blood sings without a hint of campiness. 10 p.m., Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 683-6500; free. (Pareles) * JOSH RITTER, HEM (Thursday) Mr. Ritters guileless, boy-next-door voice is the first clue that he doesnt need a lot of fancy tricks to make a point. Powerfully minimal songwriting is another. But there is no limit to the depth and ambition of his songs, whether he is confessing a simple crush or following his thoughts on a long, Whitmanesque incantation, as he does for more than nine minutes on Thin Blue Flame from his new album, The Animal Years (V2). Hem plays somewhat prosaic alt-country, but in such delicate, sensuous arrangements that it doesnt matter. 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111; $15 in advance, $16 at the door. (Sisario) SUPER DIAMOND (Tonight and tomorrow night) A tribute to the songs of Neil Diamond, particularly his triumphal 1970s material. Smirking is optional. At 8:30, Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800; $26.50 in advance, $30 at the door. (Pareles) * TINARIWEN (Monday) Welcome to the desert, announced one member of Tinariwen, wrapped in a turban and a long robe, at a recent concert. It was an unnecessary statement: from the first droning electric guitar lines and hypnotically repetitive handclaps, the audience was already there. Tinariwen, a group of Tuareg nomads from northern Mali, play stark, seemingly endless patterns of modal blues that occasionally snarl in anger or align into stately funk. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778; $20. (Sisario) Cabaret Full reviews of recent cabaret shows: nytimes.com/music. * KAREN AKERS (Tonight and tomorrow, and Tuesday through Thursday) The regal cabaret singer and the brassy songs of Kander and Ebb that she is offering in her new show may not be an obvious fit. But Ms. Akers locates the heart inside the brass and sass. 9 p.m., with additional shows tonight and tomorrow night at 11:30, Algonquin Hotel, Oak Room, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 419-9331; cover, $60, with a $20 minimum; $60 prix fixe dinner required on Thursdays and at the early shows tonight and tomorrow. (Stephen Holden) BARBARA CARROLL (Sunday) Even when swinging out, this Lady of a Thousand Songs remains an impressionist with special affinities for Thelonious Monk and bossa nova. 2 p.m., the Algonquin Hotel, Oak Room, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 419-9331; $55, including brunch at noon. (Holden) * DIAHANN CARROLL (Tonight and tomorrow night) Ms. Carrolls first New York nightclub appearance in 40 years is a grand but unpretentious summing up by a performer (accompanied by an eight-member band) who has breached racial boundaries while exploring the four corners of show business. Historic anecdotes, nuggets of practical wisdom and show-stopping renditions of songs popularized by Frank Sinatra, Sophie Tucker and others blend into a complex and winning self-portrait. 8:30 and 11 p.m., Feinsteins at the Regency, 540 Park Avenue, at 61st Street, (212) 339-4095; $60, with a $40 minimum. (Holden) BLOSSOM DEARIE (Tomorrow and Sunday) To watch this singer and pianist is to appreciate the power of a carefully deployed pop-jazz minimalism combined with a highly discriminating taste in songs. The songs date from all periods of a career remarkable for its longevity and for Ms. Dearies stubborn independence and sly wit. Tomorrow at 7 p.m., Sunday at 6:15 p.m., Dannys Skylight Room, 346 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 265-8133; $25, with a $15 minimum, or $54.50 for a dinner-and-show package. (Holden) BABY JANE DEXTER (Tomorrow) This booming pop-blues contralto may not be demure, but she is tasteful in a smart, regal, big-mama way, and she is astute in her choices of often obscure soul, blues and jazz songs that play to her contradictory mixture of the lusty and the philosophical. 7 p.m., Helens, 169 Eighth Avenue, near 18th Street, Chelsea, (212) 206-0609; $20, with a $15 minimum. (Holden) * MARY CLEERE HARAN (Tonight and tomorrow) A wonderful no-frills singer with a sophisticated wit, Ms. Haran has a remarkable talent for simultaneously interpreting standards in the spirit in which they were written and looking at them through 21st-century eyes. At 8:45 and 10:45, Café Carlyle, at the Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 744-1600; $60. (Holden) ANNIE ROSS (Wednesday) Cool, funny, swinging and indestructible, this 75-year-old singer and sometime actress exemplifies old-time hip in its most generous incarnation. 9:15 p.m., Dannys Skylight Room, 346 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 265-8133; $25, with a $12 minimum. (Holden) Jazz Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. CLAUDIA ACUÑA QUINTET (Tonight and tomorrow night) A vocalist guided by the pulse and passion of her native Chile, Ms. Acuña sounds best when supported and stretched by sympathetic musicians, like the pianist Jason Lindner, the cellist and trombonist Dana Leong, the bassist Omer Avital and the percussionist Pernell Saturnino. At 9 and 10:30, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063; cover, $15; students, $10. (Nate Chinen) WES ANDERSON QUARTET (Tuesday through May 7) Mr. Anderson, known as Warmdaddy, is an alto saxophonist with a tart and bluesy sound. The strength of his quartet has a lot to do with the presence of Marc Cary, an adventurous but well-grounded pianist. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set Fridays and Saturdays, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 258-9595; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar. (Chinen) FAHIR ATAKOGLU TRIO (Tonight) An accomplished symphonic composer in his native Turkey, Mr. Atakoglu recently released If (Far & Here), an album featuring his piano playing in a trio setting. As on the album, he plays here with the rhythm team of Anthony Jackson on electric bass and Horacio (El Negro) Hernandez on drums. At 8 and 10, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626; cover, $20, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) MICHAËL ATTIAS QUARTET (Thursday) Mr. Attias assembles a texturally minded and exploratory ensemble consisting of his fellow saxophonist Tony Malaby, the bassist John Hebert and the drummer Gerald Cleaver. 8 and 10 p.m., Jimmys Restaurant, 43 East Seventh Street, East Village, (212) 982-3006; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) BROOKS QAWWALI PARTY (Tonight) The Sufi devotional music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan provides a mandated repertory for this sprawling ensemble, led by the drummer Brook Martinez. Faithful to its source mainly in exuberance, the group creates a roiling polyphony of percussion, saxophones and brass, bass, harmonium and guitar. At 9 and 10:30, Tea Lounge, 837 Union Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 789-2762; no cover. (Chinen) MICHEL CAMILO TRIO (Through Sunday) A percussive, often cathartic pianist, Mr. Camilo recently released a recording of Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue (Telarc) with a 95-piece symphony orchestra. His trio, with the bassist Charles Flores and the drummer Dafnis Prieto, can sometimes seem nearly as expansive. 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592; cover, $35 at tables with a $5 minimum, or $20 at the bar, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET (Tuesday through May 7) The trumpeter Dave Douglas always seems on the verge of forming a new band, but this one -- with Uri Caine on piano and Fender Rhodes, James Genus on bass and Clarence Penn on drums -- has been a solid entity for several years. Here they celebrate a new album, Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf), and a valuable new member, the tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin. At 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037; cover, $20; $25 on Friday and Saturday, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) LIBERTY ELLMAN SEXTET (Tuesday) Ophiuchus Butterfly (Pi), Mr. Ellmans ambitious new album, knowingly takes a page or two from his frequent employer, the saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill. Its hyper-literate polyphony should sound even better live, as performed by Mr. Ellmans acoustic guitar and an ensemble consisting of two alto saxophones, a tuba, an acoustic bass and drums. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $20; students, $10. (Chinen) ORRIN EVANS QUINTET (Tomorrow) Mr. Evans is a percussive pianist equally attuned to hip-hop and hard bop, and he often surrounds himself with rhythmically assertive compatriots. Here that roll call includes Ralph Bowen, tenor and soprano saxophones; J. D. Walter, vocals; Mark Kelly, bass; and Donald Edwards, drums. 8 and 10 p.m. and midnight, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626; cover, $20, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) KENNY GARRETT QUARTET (Wednesday through May 6) Mr. Garrett is a bulldozer on the alto saxophone, which he uses for blazing post-Coltrane calisthenics, and an introspective artisan on the soprano, with which he investigates East Asian folk timbres. At 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080; cover, $30; $35 on Friday and Saturday, with a $10 minimum.(Chinen) LAFAYETTE GILCHRIST (Tomorrow) On his recent album Towards the Shining Path (Hyena), Mr. Gilchrist reconciles avant-garde pianism with the backbeat swagger of hip-hop, creating a compellingly funky amalgam. Tomorrow night at 12:30, Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592; cover, $8, with a $5 minimum. (Chinen) * A GREAT NIGHT IN HARLEM (Thursday) The Jazz Foundation of America, a nonprofit musicians aid organization that has been hard at work in the months since Hurricane Katrina, has stocked this edition of its annual gala with appearances by the Rebirth Brass Band, the trumpeter Clark Terry, the singers Abbey Lincoln and Odetta, and dozens of other guests (including nonmusical luminaries like Bill Cosby, Dick Parsons and Danny Glover). 8 p.m., Apollo Theater, 253 West 125th Street, Harlem, (212) 245-3999, ext. 29, www.jazzfoundation.org; $100 and $250 for the concert seats; $500 for the concert with the after party; $1,500 for full package, including dinner. (Chinen) CURTIS HASSELBRINGS DECOUPAGE (Wednesday) Mr. Hasselbring, a trombonist, aims for a chamber-improv ideal in this collaboration with the vibraphonist Matt Moran, the guitarist Mary Halvorson and the percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. 8 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177; cover, $8. (Chinen) GERRY HEMINGWAY QUARTET (Sunday) Texture is more of a priority than tempo in Mr. Hemingways drumming, and his compositions reveal a fruitful fascination with polytonality. He plays here with his longtime collaborators Herb Robertson, a trumpeter, and Mark Helias, a bassist, as well as James Finn on tenor saxophone. 10 p.m., Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue, near North Third Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 218-6934; no cover. (Chinen) * JOE LOVANO AND HANK JONES (Through Sunday) Mr. Jones, a pianist in his 80s, and Mr. Lovano, a tenor saxophonist in his 50s, model an exquisitely responsive duologue that would seem rarefied if not for its absolute lack of pretension. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 258-9595; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar. (Chinen) TONY MALABY TRIO (Tonight) Mr. Malaby, a versatile and increasingly prominent tenor saxophonist, enlists the bassist Drew Gress and the drummer Gerald Cleaver in a program of original music and choice standards, with an exploratory ethos prevailing. At 9, Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) KEIKO MATSUI (Through Sunday) Sometimes billowing and ethereal, sometimes crisp and gently funky, the music of Keiko Matsui has been celebrated in smooth jazz and New Age circles. At times, it can also suggest the worldly fusion of Weather Report, which isnt such a bad thing. At 8 and 10 p.m., Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121; cover, $35, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) BEN MONDER GROUP (Sunday) Oceana (Sunnyside), the most recent album by the guitarist Ben Monder, was one of last years great surprises: a small-scale but ambitious suite of original music that didnt sound quite like anything else. Mr. Monder presents much of the same material here, with the bassist Chris Lightcap and the drummer Ted Poor. At 8 and 10 p.m., BAR4, 444 Seventh Avenue, at 15th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 832-9800, www.bar4.net; cover, $5. (Chinen) * NEW ORLEANS: CONGO SQUARE (Thursday through May 6) Jazz at Lincoln Center concludes its city-hopping season with a focus on New Orleans, a place that had deep resonance for the organization long before Hurricane Katrina. In the Rose Theater, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra will present new music inspired by Congo Square, with help from the African percussionists Yacub Addy and Odadaa. In the Allen Room, the trombonist Wycliffe Gordon will play spirituals and gospel tunes. 7:30 p.m. in the Allen Room, 8 p.m. at Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 721-6500; $105.50 and $135.50. (Chinen) JEROME SABBAGH QUARTET (Tuesday) Mr. Sabbagh, an unassumingly self-assured tenor saxophonist and composer in the postmodern mainstream, leads a sleek ensemble with Lage Lund on guitar, Gary Wang on bass and Ted Poor on drums. At 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883; cover, $8. (Chinen) TIERNEY SUTTON / LOSTON HARRIS (Tonight and tomorrow night) Ms. Suttons clear, sweetly sonorous voice isnt inherently a jazz timbre, but she is irrefutably a jazz singer, as she has demonstrated on a number of recent engagements. She shares a bill with Mr. Harris, a singer and pianist with a style patterned after Nat King Cole. At 7:30, Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 721-6500; $135.50. (Chinen) TERRASSON-OKEGWO-PARKER TRIO (Through Sunday) Throughout the latter half of the 1990s, the pianist Jacky Terrasson led one of jazzs fresher-sounding acoustic piano trios, distinguished not only by his fluid pianism but also by the resonant bass tone of Ugonna Okegwo and the pared-down percussive drive of Leon Parker. Regrouping here, the musicians present themselves as a collective. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow night, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232; cover, $25; $30 tonight and tomorrow night. (Chinen) STEVE TURRE QUINTET (Tonight and tomorrow night) Mr. Turre, the trombonist and conch shell player, applies both virtuosity and restraint to the conventions of small-group hard bop, in a group including the tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, the pianist Ronnie Mathews, the bassist Buster Williams and the drummer Dion Parsons. At 8, 10 and 11:30, Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) PETE ZIMMER QUARTET (Tomorrow) The hard bop of the 1960s provides thematic sustenance for Mr. Zimmer, a drummer, and his working band, which features the smartly assertive tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm. At 9 p.m., Night and Day, 230 Fifth Avenue, at President Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 399-2161, www.nightanddayrestaurant.com; cover, $10, with a $7 minimum. (Chinen) Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera CENDRILLON (Tonight and Sunday) Massenets version of the Cinderella fairy tale, first seen in 1899, is not produced that often, which is surprising, since French opera connoisseurs consider it among his finest and most approachable works. Opera buffs should thank the Manhattan School of Music for staging a production, directed by Chuck Hudson and conducted by Laurent Pillot. Tonight at 8 and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., Manhattan School of Music, Broadway and 122nd Street, Morningside Heights, (917) 493-4428; $20. (Anthony Tommasini) * DON PASQUALE (Tonight) The veteran Austrian director Otto Schenk, who is also an acclaimed comic actor in his homeland, understands that the way to make a rich comic opera like Donizettis Don Pasquale work is to treat it seriously. In his wonderful new production for the Met, he accomplishes this vividly. The cast is splendid, especially the charismatic soprano Anna Netrebko, the robust dynamic young baritone Mariusz Kwiecien and, in the title role, the stylish Italian bass Simone Alaimo. Derrick Inouye conducts. 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; sold out. (Tommasini) * LOHENGRIN (Tomorrow and Wednesday) The revival of Robert Wilsons 1998 production of Wagners Lohengrin is not the same show that earned the director lusty boos at its premiere. The abstract sets are as haunting as ever. But this time the singers seem more comfortable with the glacial movements and stylized hand and arm gestures, which have been simplified. The riveting cast is headed by the dramatic tenor Ben Heppner in the title role and the charismatic soprano Karita Mattila, in glorious voice as Elsa. (Klaus Florian Vogt makes his Met debut on Wednesday, filling in for Mr. Heppner as Lohengrin.) The conductor Philippe Auguin draws incisive playing from the Met orchestra. Tomorrow at 1 p.m., Wednesday at 7 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; sold out tomorrow; $26 to $175 on Wednesday. (Tommasini) OPERA ORCHESTRA OF NEW YORK (Thursday) Montemezzis Amore Dei Tre Re receives an infrequent, if unstaged, hearing from an organization that specializes in such things. 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $25 to $125. (Bernard Holland) RIGOLETTO (Monday and Thursday) Though Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, the opera worlds hottest soprano-tenor couple, have moved on to other things, Verdis Rigoletto is still with us at the Met, but with an entirely new cast. Paolo Gavanelli sings the title role, with Norah Amsellem as Gilda, and Roberto Aronica as the Duke, Italian operas most caddish character. Monday at 8 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $26 to 175. (Tommasini) * RODELINDA (Tuesday) The Mets premiere production of Handels Rodelinda, a highlight last season that played to sold-out houses, returns in the handsome staging by Stephen Wadsworth. Renée Fleming again brings her rich voice and courageous vulnerability to the title role. The countertenor Andreas Scholl makes his Met debut as Bertarido, Rodelindas husband, the Lombard king of Milan, who has been usurped and is thought dead, but returns to the court incognito. Patrick Summers conducts. 7:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; $26 to $175. (Tommasini) SUSANNAH (Tonight through Sunday) Its easy to poke fun at Carlisle Floyds opera for its folksy score, run through with hymn tunes, square dances and Appalachian ditties. Yet this opera, the story of a sensual young woman in rural Tennessee who inadvertently stirs up envy and desire among the townspeople, is more sophisticated than it appears. Mr. Floyd deftly blends folk music elements with a pungently dissonant harmonic language to achieve emotional richness and genuine tragedy. The Dicapo Opera Theater presents a 50th-anniversary production, directed by Michael Capasso and conducted by Steven Osgood. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 4 p.m., St. Jean-Baptiste Church, 184 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 289-9438; $47.50. (Tommasini) * TOSCA (Tomorrow) The soprano Deborah Voigt will not be everyones idea of a Tosca. Her bright and penetrating singing recalls the Nordic sound and temperament of Birgit Nilssons in the role. Ms. Voigt invests the part with personal touches, bringing out Toscas vulnerability. And she sings with daring abandon during the confrontation with the villainous Scarpia, here the bass James Morris, who sounds terrific. 8:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000; sold out. (Tommasini) Classical Music AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA (Wednesday) A cluster of pieces new to most of us and titled Erotic Spirits offers Deborah Voigt as visiting soprano and Steven Sloane as conductor: with music by Derek Bermel, Brian Current, Kristin Kuster and Stephen Paulus. 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $15 to $42. (Holland) BRENTANO STRING QUARTET (Tonight) This first-rate quartet tilts toward the contemporary in a program that begins with Debussys Quartet in G minor and ends with Shostakovichs Quartet No. 15. Between them, the ensemble gives the premiere of David Hornes Quartet No. 4. 7:30, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800; $42. (Allan Kozinn) CONTINUUM (Sunday) This adventurous new-music band performs a program billed as A Celebration of Modern American Jewish Composers, with works by Paul Schoenfield, Osvaldo Golijov Darius Milhaud and Samuel Adler. 3 p.m., Kane Street Synagogue, 236 Kane Street, between Court and Clinton Streets, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, (718) 875-1550; $20. (Jeremy Eichler) * EMERSON STRING QUARTET (Sunday and Thursday) Among the great composers of the 20th century, Shostakovich was the most inscrutable. But in his 15 string quartets he came closest to showing his hand. These works are like entries in a diary, and he never imagined that they would become as popular as they are today. The Emerson Quartet plays these seminal works compellingly and has recorded them complete. They are performing them in chronological order, a chance to follow Shostakovichs development. No. 4 through No. 6 will be performed Sunday at 5 p.m., and No. 7 through No. 9 on Thursday at 8 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500; $60. (Tommasini) * NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Tonight, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday) Sir Colin Davis returns with some of the composers who have long been his calling cards. Tonight and tomorrow, Ian Bostridge sings Berliozs exquisite Nuits dÉté on a program that also includes Mozarts Haffner Serenade. On Wednesday and Thursday, the program is split between Mozart (the overture to La Clemenza di Tito, the Piano Concerto No. 26 and the aria Chio mi scordi di te?) and Sibelius (Luonnotar and the Third Symphony), with the pianist Mitsuko Uchida and the soprano Soile Isokoski. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500; $26 to $94. (Kozinn) * SPECULUM MUSICAE (Monday) One of New York Citys most venerable new-music ensembles, Speculum Musicae offers a contemporary classic, Lukas Fosss Paradigm, as well as works by Louis Andriessen, Harrison Birtwistle and Hughes Dufourt. 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 501-3330; $20. (Kozinn) Dance Full reviews of recent performances: nytimes.com/dance. BALLET FIESTA MEXICANA (Tonight through Sunday) Yloy Ybarras company returns in a program of work from Mexico, with live music performed by the group Semilla. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 4 p.m., Thalia Spanish Theater, 41-17 Greenpoint Avenue, Sunnyside, Queens, (718) 729-3880; $25 to $30. (Jennifer Dunning) * LA BOULE BLANCHE (Monday) The one, the only, the incomparable Katherine Dunham will be celebrated on her 96th birthday in a program of readings from Kaiso!, a new book of writings by and about Ms. Dunham, and performances of her dances by artists including Loretta Abbott, Glory Van Scott and the Charles Moore Dance Theater. Ms. Dunham is expected to be present. And wear white (its required). 7 p.m., Theater of the Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Avenue, Morningside Heights, (212) 502-0895; free. (Dunning) * H. T. CHEN & DANCERS (Wednesday and Thursday) Mr. Chen, a longtime presence on the citys modern-dance scene, will present what he teasingly calls a dim sum dance experience with programming in honor of Asian Heritage Month. It includes a revival of his 1984 Mott Street, a celebration of the bustling life of Chinatown, set to music by Charlie Chin. (Through May 7.) 7 p.m., Mulberry Street Theater, 70 Mulberry Street, at Bayard Street, Chinatown, (212) 349-0126; front row, $25; general admission, $15; students and 65+, $10. (Dunning) NAI-NI CHEN DANCE COMPANY (Tomorrow) The company will perform Ms. Chens new American Landscape, a collaboration with the composer and singer Joan LaBarbara that examines immigration in America. 7:30 p.m., New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street, Newark, (888) 466-5722 or www.njpac.org; $32. (Dunning) DANCE FILMS ASSOCIATION (Sunday) This association celebrates its 50th anniversary and Isadora Duncan with The Sensual Woman, a program of short films and live performances. 7 p.m., Galapagos Art Space, 70 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 782-5188, galapogosartspace.com; $10. (Claudia La Rocco) DANCES PATRELLE (Thursday) Francis Patrelles new Pop, set to music by Noël Coward and Jerry Lee Lewis and a medley of songs about New York City, focuses on three different nightclubs from three eras, from the 1930s to the 1950s. (Through May 6.) 8 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400 or symphonyspace.org; $40 and $35; students and 65+, $36 and $31; $20 for Saturday childrens matinee. (Dunning) DAO ANH KHANH/STEPHAN KOPLOWITZ (Thursday through Sunday). Vietnam meets America, only this time its not a war but A Walk Between Two Worlds. At 7:30 p.m. through tomorrow, with a 2 p.m. performance on Sunday, Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 924-0077 or dtw.org; $15 and $25. (La Rocco) * E-MOVES (Tonight through Sunday) Theyve thought of everything here, with programs of E-Merging and E-Volving dance by 13 choreographers and companies (tomorrow night) and E-Stablished dance by Cynthia Olivers COCo Dance Theater and Arthur Aviless Typical Theater, the latter in choreography set to 1950s music by Tito Puente and Celia Cruz (tonight and Sunday). Tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30, Sunday at 3 p.m., Aaron Davis Hall, City College, Convent Avenue and West 135th Street, Hamilton Heights, (212) 650-7100; $18 per program, $26 for both. (Dunning) * THE FORSYTHE COMPANY (Tuesday through Thursday) The United States debut of William Forsythes new company, which he founded after the demise of his Frankfurt Ballet and which first performed in Frankfurt last year. The program consists of his Kammer/Kammer (2000), with live video projected around the theater. (Through May 6.) 7:30 p.m., Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, (718) 636-4100 or bam.org; $20 to $70. (John Rockwell) HEDWIG DANCES (Tonight through Sunday) From Chicago, this august modern-dance troupe will perform works by Jan Bartoszek (the companys artistic director), Jan Eckert and Maray Gutierrez that has been inspired by themes ranging from Goyas Caprichos to the intimate rules of the bath. At 8, Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, between Houston and Prince Streets, (212) 334-7479; $18; students and 65+, $15. (Dunning) MARK JARECKE PROJECT (Tonight through Sunday) Mr. Jareckes Everything Up Until Now and Including is an evening-long and physically demanding solo performed by, and created in collaboration with, Andrea Johnston. At 8:30, Danspace Project, St, Marks Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194 or danspaceproject.org; $15. (Jack Anderson) JOYCE SOHO PRESENTS 2006 (Thursday) Twelve new choreographers will be featured in this showcase in programs that will be performed Thursdays through Saturdays through May 20. 8 p.m., Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, (212) 334-7479; $15; $12 for students and 65+; $35 for a three-weekend pass. (Dunning) * AKRAM KHAN (Tonight and tomorrow night) The United States premiere performances of a commissioned work, ma (earth), by this fashionable and successful London-based, Kathak-trained choreographer. At 8, Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, (212) 721-6500 or lincolncenter.org; $30 to $58. (Rockwell) * MIAMI CITY BALLET (Tonight through Sunday, and Tuesday) Edward Villellas Balanchine-flavored company, offering repertory by Balanchine, Robbins, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp in theaters around but not in New York City. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, C. W. Post College campus of Long Island University, Brookville, N.Y., (516) 299-3100 or tillescenter.org; $40 to $70. Sunday at 5 p.m., the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, State University of New York, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, N.Y., (914) 251-6200 or www.artscenter.org; $42 to $62. Tuesday at 8 p.m., McCarter Theater, 91 University Place, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., (609) 258-2787 or (888) 278-7932 or mccarter.org; $42 to $55. (Rockwell) * RICHARD MOVE (Tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday through Thursday) Mr. Move, fresh from his appearance as Martha Graham and his duet with Desmond Richardson at the Graham Dance Company gala, presents The Show (Achilles Heels). This mega-hip take on things Greek will offer Deborah Harry (a k a Blondie) singing live songs as Athena, and Rasta Thomas in the title role, originally performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov in the pieces out-of-town White Oak Dance Project premiere in 2002. The cast also includes Katherine Crockett from the Graham company. Arto Lindsay did the score. Tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday through May 6, at 8, at the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 255-5793, ext. 11 or thekitchenorg; $20.(Rockwell) NATIONAL DANCE THEATER COMPANY OF JAMAICA (Tomorrow and Sunday) Dance and music reflecting Jamaican culture, by the company director Rex Nettleford, Arsenio Andrade and Christopher Walker. Tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 2 p.m., Brooklyn Center at Brooklyn College, one block from the junction of Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues, Flatbush, Brooklyn, (718) 951-4500 or brooklyncenter.com; $20 to $40. (Dunning) NATIONAL DANCE WEEK (Sunday) The celebration in New York concludes this weekend with a free performance and film screenings, also free. The United States Latin Dance Champion Melanie LaPatin will join six professional and studio companies in a performance. 2:30 p.m., Dance Times Square, 156 West 44th Street, Manhattan, ndw-nyc.org. The film programs include Henry Chalfonts Mambo to Hip-Hop, which will be screened on Sunday at 3 p.m. (Dunning) * NEW YORK CITY BALLET (Tonight through Sunday, and Tuesday through Thursday) The companys intermittent run of Balanchines full-evening Midsummer Nights Dream can be seen tonight, tomorrow afternoon and Sunday afternoon. The Diamond Project, with its seven premieres, gets under way tomorrow night with a new ballet by Eliot Feld, part of an all-Feld program repeated Wednesday, and continues on Thursday with a premiere by Mauro Bigonzetti. The season runs until June 25. Tonight, tomorrow and Thursday nights at 8; tomorrow at 2 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 870-5570 or nycballet.org; $30 to $86; student rush tickets, $15. (Rockwell) NEW YORK THEATER BALLET (Tonight and tomorrow night) This chamber ballet company wraps up its spring season with a program honoring Agnes de Mille as a dancer in ballets like Anthony Tudors Judgment of Paris, and as the choreographer of classic musicals, including Oklahoma! and Brigadoon. At 7:30, Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-4100 or ticketmaster.com; $30; $15 for 65+ and students. (La Rocco) PERIPHERAL DANCES (Sunday) The program includes dances by choreographers including Gail Accardi, Laurie DeVito, Akiko Tomikawa and Mami and Maki, and dance film by Kristina Jones. (Sundays through May 14.) 7:30 p.m., Green Space Studio Theater, 34-24 24th Street, Long Island City, Queens, (212) 995-8089; $10. (Dunning). PMT SPRING SHOWCASE (Tonight and tomorrow night) The company of the hip-hop teacher Pavan Thimmaiah will perform with six other troupes and individuals in a program of modern, jazz and hip-hop dance. At 8, Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium, 122 Amsterdam Avenue, between 65th and 66th Streets, Manhattan, (212) 924-5694; $16. (Dunning) SILVER-BROWN DANCE COMPANY (Tonight and tomorrow night) The company will perform dances by Eva Silverstein to music by Otis Redding. At 8, Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street, Clinton, (212) 352-0255 or theatermania.com; $20. (Dunning) JEANETTE STONER & DANCERS (Thursday) Ms. Stoner, who has performed with Alwin Nikolais and Nancy Meehan, will present multimedia dance that includes her new Light, an exploration of different kinds of illumination. (Through May 7.) 8 p.m., Stoner Loft, 83 Leonard Street, between Broadway and Church Street, SoHo, (212) 226-1576; $15. (Dunning) STREB S.L.A.M. (Tonight through Sunday) Batten down the hatches. Elizabeth Strebs fearless high-flyers are at it again in Wild Blue Yonder, a new spring program paying tribute to early heroes of aviation, presented informally with popcorn. (Through May 14.) Tonight at 7, tomorrow at 3 and 7 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, 51 North First Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (212) 352-3101 or theatermania.com; $15; $10 for children; under 4, free. (Dunning) Art Museums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. Museums * AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM: WHITE ON WHITE (AND A LITTLE GRAY), through Sept. 17. The importance of neo-Classicism to early American architecture, silver and fine furniture is not exactly news. This small, beautiful show follows its spread into more personal corners of visual culture: often exquisite, strikingly dimensional white-work bedcovers; luminously grisaille, sometimes wacky marble-dust drawings; and print-work embroidery mourning pictures. Few exhibitions this size (35 pieces) present quite such a vivid and rewarding picture of artistic assimilation and transformation. 45 West 53rd Street, (212) 265-1040. (Roberta Smith) * BARD GRADUATE CENTER: AMERICAN STREAMLINED DESIGN: THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, through June 11. Streamlining, a particularly American design concept born of our love of speed and admiration for industrial production, peaked in the 1930s and 40s, and is now said to be undergoing a revival. This tribute to it includes more than 180 objects, from boring but useful items like a receipt printer designed by Walter Dorwin Teague in 1946 to a plastic bicycle helmet of flowing teardrop shapes designed by John Larkin in 2000. The show doesnt shy away from the grittier aspects of industrial design, presenting objects like air compressors and electric sanders along with those of higher style, like a harmonica of chromium-plated and enameled steel with rounded edges and a ribbed binding, designed by John Vassos about 1939. The show is perhaps too packed with repetitive examples -- do we need to see three similar electric drills? -- but dont let that stop you. Theres no shortage of wonderful things to look at here. 18 West 86th Street, (212) 501-3000. (Grace Glueck) * BROOKLYN MUSEUM: SYMPHONIC POEM: THE ART OF AMINAH BRENDA LYNN ROBINSON, through Aug. 13. This prodigious show, by an artist born and still living in Columbus, Ohio, celebrates her heritage in paintings, drawings, sculpture, stitchery, leather work and less classifiable forms of expression. Besides its sheer visual wizardry, using materials like leaves, twigs, bark, buttons and cast-off clothes, her art is compelling in that it ruminates on the history of black migration to, and settlement in, the United States, from early times to the present, in a garrulous, very personal way. 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, (718) 638-5000. (Glueck) * BROOKLYN MUSEUM: WILLIAM WEGMAN: FUNNEY/STRANGE, through May 28. Descended from Marcel Duchamp and Buster Keaton, Mr. Wegman has straddled high and low for more than three decades, using his signature Weimaraners to make the art worlds funniest videos, as well as television commercials, calendars and childrens books. (See above.) (Smith) DAHESH MUSEUM OF ART: STORIES TO TELL: MASTERWORKS FROM THE KELLY COLLECTION OF AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION, through May 21. During the Golden Age of Illustration -- the 1880s to the 1930s -- images made by painters for magazines and books captivated the collective American psyche. Original works by some of the best of those artists, including J. C. Leyendecker, N. C. Wyeth and Charles Dana Gibson, are included in this extensive and well-selected exhibition. 580 Madison Avenue, near 57th Street, (212) 759-0606. (Ken Johnson) * FRICK COLLECTION: GOYAS LAST WORKS, through May 14. This compact show is sublime. The most humane portraits are mixed with sketches, like diary entries, in which society is an irredeemable mob of lunatics and murderers. In exile in Bordeaux, Goya spent his last days in physical misery, lamenting mans essential evil while experimenting with the new medium of lithography and inventing the most exquisite, luminous paintings on tiny chips of ivory. Like the late works of Titian or Rembrandt, Goyas late works achieve a whole new level of freedom and depth, haunted by death but exalted. 1 East 70th Street, (212) 288-0700. (Michael Kimmelman) * FRICK COLLECTION: VERONESES ALLEGORIES: VIRTUE, LOVE AND EXPLORATION IN RENAISSANCE VENICE, through July 16. Paolo Veronese (1528-88), a superb colorist and one of the most suavely sensuous of Renaissance Venetian painters, used the age-old device of allegory to make abstract concepts visual, often by means of human or mythological figures. In this five-painting show, the first to include all of his large-scale allegories from American collections, high ideals mingle with earthy and sometimes erotic physicality, as in the painting Venus and Mars United by Love. (See above.) (Glueck) * SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM: DAVID SMITH: A CENTENNIAL, through May 14. David Smith is best known for his worst work, bulky sculptures of the important kind that museums and banks like to buy. Much (though not all) of that material has been excised from this survey in favor of smaller, earlier, nonmonumental pieces that the curator, Carmen Gimenez, presents with plenty of air and light. The result is exemplary as a David Smith experience, an American Modernism experience and a Guggenheim Museum experience. (212) 423-3500. (Holland Cotter) * INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SNAP JUDGMENTS: NEW POSITIONS IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHY, through May 28. If Martians tuned into our television news broadcasts, theyd have a miserable impression of life on Earth. War, disease, poverty, heartbreak and nothing else. Thats exactly how most of the world sees Africa: filtered through images of calamity. The Nigerian-born curator Okwui Enwezor offers a bracing alternative view in this show of recent photography from Africa. He isnt interested in simply exchanging an upbeat Africa for a downbeat one, smiles for frowns, but in engineering a slow, complex, panoptical turn in perspective, one that takes in many moods and directions. The results are stimulating, astringent, brimming with life. 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street, (212) 857-0000. (Cotter) METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: HATSHEPSUT, through July 9. Can a queen be a king, too? Consider the case of Hatshepsut, an Egyptian ruler of the 15th century B.C. She assumed the supreme title of pharaoh and ruled Egypt in that powerfully masculine role until her death. Hatshepsut is the subject of a celebratory show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one that commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Mets department of Egyptian art. Organized by the Met and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, it includes many objects from the Mets own extensive holdings, excavated at its digs in the 1920s and 30s. But it isnt so easy to follow Hatshepsuts trail in this ambitious show, what with the number of relatives, subordinates, minor officials and such who also have a place in it, along with scarabs, jewelry, pottery, furniture and other artifacts. (212) 535-7710. (Glueck) MET: KARA WALKER AT THE MET: AFTER THE DELUGE, through July 30. The Metropolitan Museum of Arts first foray into artist-organized shows is a small tour de force of curatorial creativity. Inspired partly by Hurricane Katrina, Ms. Walker has combined works from the Met with examples of her own art, connecting shared themes of race, poverty and water to illuminate contemporary arts inevitable dialogue with past art. The show has as many crosscurrents and undertows as a river. (See above.) (Smith) THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: EDVARD MUNCH: THE MODERN LIFE OF THE SOUL, through May 8. This affecting, full-scale retrospective is the first survey of this Norwegian painter in an American museum in almost 30 years. Its more than 130 oils and works on paper cover Munchs entire career, from 1880 to 1944. (212) 708-9400. (Glueck) * THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: WITHOUT BOUNDARY: SEVENTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING, through May 22. This excellent group show considers what Islamic means in the work of several contemporary artists, and it means many things, none simple. Just to see the uses made of calligraphy by Shirazeh Houshiary, Rachid Koraichi and Shirin Neshat is to understand the lesson in variety put forward here. At the same time, the show is far from didactic. Its beautiful, sexy and, in the case of Raqib Shaws painting and Kutlug Atamans video of Sufi meditation, ecstatic. (See above.) (Cotter) NEUE GALERIE: KLEE AND AMERICA, through May 22. For a long time, the Swiss-born artist Paul Klee (1879-1940), regarded as a leading Modernist figure in Europe, didnt believe his delicate, chimerical work had much of a future in the United States. Yet, thanks to artists, collectors and dealers with close contacts in Germany who had begun to discover his work, by the early 1920s, Klees impact began to be felt here. This show of more than 60 paintings and drawings assembled exclusively from American holdings covers the wide spectrum of Klees work. 1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street, (212) 628-6200. (Glueck) * THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM: ENERGY/EXPERIMENTATION: BLACK ARTISTS AND ABSTRACTION, 1964-1980, through July 2. During one of the most radical periods in 20th-century American politics, the Black Power era, a group of African-American artists was working in one of the most radical forms of 20th-century art: abstraction. This show is stylishly installed (one gallery bursts with color, another has a cool platinum shimmer); the 15 artists are intensely individualistic and part of an important history. One, the sculptor Tom Lloyd (1921-96), opened the Studio Museum with a solo show in 1968. 144 West 125th Street, (212) 864-4500. (Cotter) WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: WHITNEY BIENNIAL 2006: DAY FOR NIGHT, through May 28. This biennial will provoke much head-scratching by uninitiated visitors. A hermetic take on what has been making waves, its packaged -- branded might be the better word -- as a show long on collaboration and open-endedness: several shows under one roof, including a revival of the 1960s Peace Tower, which rises like a Tinker Toy construction from the Whitney courtyard, with contributions by dozens of artists. As a counter to the image of the art world as rich, youth-besotted and obsessed with crafty little nothings, the ethos here is provisional, messy, half-baked, cantankerous, insular -- radical qualities art used to have when it could still call itself radical and wasnt like a barnacle clinging to the cruise ship of pop culture. That was back in the 1970s. And much of whats here (including works by bohemians and other senior eccentrics around then) harks back to that moment. (800) 944-8639 or www.whitney.org. (Kimmelman) Galleries: Uptown BALÁZS KICSINY: EXACT TIME Representing Hungary in the 2005 Venice Biennale, Mr. Kicsiny showed the surrealistic, Matthew Barneyesque video on view here. Called The Cobblers Apprentice, it presents the overhead view of a giant clock; a woman at each numeral strikes the hour with a shoemakers hammer, as a man crawls endlessly around the rim. Also on view are a video of a performance called In the Pump Room and a series of small surrealistic watercolors. Janos Gat, 1100 Madison Avenue, at 82nd Street, (212) 327-0441, through April 29. (Johnson) * ECHOES FROM THE STEPPES: MONGOLIAN 17TH-, 18TH- AND 19TH-CENTURY BRONZES AND PAINTINGS The bronzes represent the four styles of Mongolian religious sculpture, but the main event is the 77 sakhuis paintings -- small, finely wrought, richly colored portraits of Buddhist priests and protective or wrathful deities that the nomadic Mongols wore, framed in silver, as amulets. E. & J. Frankel, 1040 Madison Avenue, at 79th Street, (212) 879-5733, through May 6. (Smith) Galleries: 57th Street DARREN ALMOND /JANICE KERBEL: THE IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPE Nothing is obvious in this handsome show of works by two London-based Conceptualists. The connection is that both make visible things that are in different ways impossible. Ms. Kerbels elegantly abstracted designs for gardens in an office, a Laundromat and other unlikely places are meant to be imagined but never actually built. Mr. Almonds sumptuous, subtly eerie landscape photographs were shot at night using long exposures, making visible what would be invisible to the naked eye. The Horticultural Society of New York, 128 West 58th Street, (212) 757-0915, through May 5. (Johnson) Galleries: SoHo THE GARDEN PARTY This crowded group show on the theme of the erotic garden looks as if it were produced by a college fraternity for its spring festival. It includes high-profile artists like Vanessa Beecroft, Olafur Eliasson and Yoko Ono. Deitch Projects, 76 Grand Street, near Greene Street, (212) 343-7300, through May 13. (Johnson) HANNA LIDEN: HAIRFACES, SCAPEGOATS, BIRDS, BLOODSUCKERS, SQUAREHEADS & A FEW DEATHS A Swedish artist who is in this years Whitney Biennial, Ms. Liden produces staged color photographs that resemble stills from a low-budget gothic horror movie. With young people in tribal masks menaced by black shrouded figures of death in beautiful wilderness settings, they suggest a meeting of Ingmar Berman and The Road Warrior. Rivington Arms, 4 East Second Street, East Village, (646) 654-3213, through May 14. (Johnson) Galleries: Chelsea ED CLARK: REBIRTH Mr. Clark, who turns 80 on May 6, uses push brooms to sweep great quantities of paint across medium-large canvases, creating bold, suave and sensuous Abstract Expressionist evocations of oceanic flux. G. R. NNamdi, 526 West 26th Street, (212) 929-6645, through May 11. (Johnson) JAMES SURLS: COMPLETE FRAGMENTS Mr. Surls, who lives in Carbondale, Colo., used to cultivate a funky, Southwestern Outsider style in his carved- and burnt-wood sculpture. Now under the influence of Miró and Picasso, his constructions of abstracted flowers in wood and metal have acquired a curious, kitschy Modernist elegance. Charles Cowles, 537 West 24th Street, (212) 741-8999, through May 13. (Johnson) DAVOR VRANKIC With impressively skillful application of graphite on paper, this Paris-based Croatian artist creates darkly comical images of big-eyed, E.T.-like monsters who appear to be undergoing some terrible psychological suffering. The Proposition, 559 West 22nd Street, (212) 242-0035, through May 13. (Johnson) Other Galleries AN AMERICAN ABROAD: SANDRA FISHER AND HER SCHOOL OF LONDON FRIENDS Fisher, who was married to the painter R. B. Kitaj, was an American who lived in London until her death in 1994 at age 47. This show of more than 60 drawings and paintings, mostly portraits or nudes, reveals a modestly talented traditionalist with a deft, painterly touch and a down-to-earth affection for her subjects. Also included are some portraits of Fisher by artists like Frank Auerbach, Avigdor Arikha and Mr. Kitaj. New York Studio School, 8 West Eighth Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 673-6466, through May 13. (Johnson) Last Chance *AL HANSEN A lively, compact retrospective of the career of an artist known for silhouettes of curvy women made by collaging cut-up pieces of Hershey candy bar wrappers. Andrea Rosen, 525 West 24th Street, Chelsea, (212) 627-6000; closes tomorrow. (Johnson) *MIYOKO ITO (1918 to 1983) was an inspiration for many artists who came of age in Chicago in the 1960s and 70s. This beautiful exhibition of paintings from that time is the first presentation of her work in New York since 1978. Adam Baumgold, 74 East 79th Street, (212) 861-7338; closes tomorrow. (Johnson) SIOBHAN LIDDELL: LIMINAL Best known for slight, ephemeral forms of sculpture and installation, this British artist is now attempting more substantial fare in unglazed ceramic and cut-paper collage. The result is a nervy but unfocused array. The high point may be her embroidery of a dragon, hanging in the office. CRG Gallery, 535 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 229-2766; closes Thursday. (Smith) GIANNI MOTTI: SPIRIT OF JOHN LENNON Can a psychic hired by an artist summon the ghost of this Beatle to a large, dark, closed-off gallery in Chelsea? Dont hold your breath. And dont expect the video installation orchestrated around the concept to be too entertaining, either. Metro Pictures, 519 West 24th Street, (212) 206-7100; closes tomorrow. (Smith) ANDY WARHOLS WORLD: PHOTOGRAPHY & TELEVISION A wall-to-wall selection of 313 previously unpublished, unexhibited photographs from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s offers further proof of Andy Warhols extraordinary talent and the offhand yet driven way he wielded it, while also forming a visual diary of his peripatetic social life. Zwirner & Wirth, 32 East 69th Street, (212) 517-8677; closes tomorrow. (Smith)

Movie Listings for Aug. 24-30

A guide to movies playing in and outside the New York area as well as noteworthy film series.

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Theo Caldwell, an international investor and broadcaster, has been a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and the Kansas City Board of Trade.. Meanwhile, somewhere, New York Governor.

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Ted Cruz will announce Monday that he will seek the presidency, with a campaign that aims to energize the partys Tea Party and socially conservative wings. Cruzs plans were confirmed Sunday by two senior advisers with direct knowledge of his plans.

LEAGUE FOR THE UNION.; MONSTER MASS MEETING. Fifty Thousand People Shouting for the Union. LIEUT.-GENERAL SCOTT PRESIDES. The Old Hero Wrapped in the American Flag. Addresess by George Bancroft, John Van Buren, Benry J. Raymond, Daniel S. Dickinson, Lyman Tremain, D. D. Field, E. Delafield Smith, Ethan Allen, Henry B. Stanton, G. W. Cartis, Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, D. T. Coddington, Mayor Opdyke, and Others. Delegations from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Trenton. A Loyal Speech from Mayor Chapman, of Baltimore, and a Stirring Letter from James T. Brady. The Greatest and Most Enthusiastic Gathering Even Heldin New-York. MUSIC, CANNONS, FLAGS AND CHEERS. Stand No. 1. SPEECH OF HON. GEO. BANCROFT. SPEECH OF HON. HENRY J. RAYMOND. SPEECH OF HON. JOHN VAN BUREN. THE GREAT UNION MEETING. COMMITTEE: SPEECH OF THE MAYOR OF BALTIMORE. SPEECH OF JUDGE ORTEN. Stand No. 2. SPEECH OF HON. DANIEL S. DICKINSON. Stand No. 3. SPEECH OF HON. LYMAN TREMAIN. Stand No. 4. SPEECH OF MAYOR OPDYKE. SPEECH OF DR. HITCHCOCK. LETTER OF HON. JAMES T. BRA

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OFFICIAL Washington is reluctantly coming to the conclusion that another very serious revolution is in the making in Mexico. Two weeks ago the news coming out of Mexico indicated a nation at peace, a nation slowly recovering the stability which was cast into the discard when, in the Spring of 1911.. por and career in sp art on revolution in Mexico

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The Listings: Jan. 12 - Jan. 18

Selective listings by critics of The New York Times of new and noteworthy cultural events in the New York metropolitan region this week. * denotes a highly recommended film, concert, show or exhibition. Theater Approximate running times are in parentheses. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, show times and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Previews and Openings THE FEVER In previews; opens on Jan. 24. Wallace Shawn stars in his own play about a man who wakes up in a war-torn country feeling under the weather (1:40). Acorn Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200. FRANKS HOME Previews start tomorrow. Opens on Jan. 30. Richard Nelsons new bio-play about the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright stars Peter Weller (as Wright) and Harris Yulin (who plays Louis Sullivan) (1:45). Playwrights Horizons Mainstage, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 719-4200. THE GAZILLION BUBBLE SHOW Performances begin on Wednesday. Fan Yan holds the worlds record for the largest bubble ever blown, and in an even more amazing feat, hes parlayed this oddball stunt into a bubble-themed, family-friendly show (2:00). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. IN THE HEIGHTS In previews; opens on Feb. 8. A new Off Broadway musical about two days in the life of Washington Heights, presented from the vantage point of a corner bodega (2:10). 37 Arts, 450 West 37th Street, (212) 307-4100. KIKI AND HERB On the heels of a Broadway stint, these cabaret hipsters return to their downtown roots (1:30). Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 967-7555. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE In previews; opens on Feb. 4. F. Murray Abraham plays Shylock in this Theater for a New Audience production. Darko Tresnjak directs (2:20). The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street, (212) 239-6200. A SPANISH PLAY In previews; opens on Feb. 1. Zoe Caldwell leads an extraordinary cast (Linda Emond, Denis OHare, Larry Pine, Katherine Borowitz) in Yasmina Rezas new backstage play, in which real life and fiction blur (1:30). Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, East Village, (212) 352-3101. TRANSLATIONS In previews; opens on Jan. 25. Brian Friels drama about a British officer in 19th-century rural Ireland deals with themes of language, imperialism and culture clash. Garry Hynes directs (2:15). Biltmore Theater, 261 West 47th Street, (212) 239-6200. Broadway THE APPLE TREE The amazing Kristin Chenoweth gives Imax-screen-size life to three curvaceous doodles who by rights shouldnt be any larger than figures in the Sunday funnies. Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnicks 1966 musical, directed by Gary Griffin, shows its age but is given theatrical verve by Ms. Chenoweth, Brian dArcy James and Marc Kudisch (2:30). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Ben Brantley) A CHORUS LINE If you want to know why this show was such a big deal when it opened 31 years ago, you need only experience the thrilling first five minutes of this revival. Otherwise, this archivally exact production, directed by Bob Avian, feels like a vintage car that has been taken out of the garage, polished up and sent on the road once again (2:00). Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * THE COAST OF UTOPIA The exhilarating first two installments of Tom Stoppards trilogy about 19th-century Russian intellectuals dreaming of revolution, these productions pulse with the dizzy, spring-green arrogance and anxiety of a new generation moving as fast as it can toward the future. Jack OBrien directs a fresh, vigorous and immense cast that includes Brian F. OByrne, Jennifer Ehle, Billy Crudup and Ethan Hawke (2:45). Vivian Beaumont Theater, 150 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * COMPANY Fire, beckoning and dangerous, flickers beneath the frost of John Doyles elegant, unexpectedly stirring revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furths era-defining musical from 1970, starring a compellingly understated Raul Esparza. Like Mr. Doyles Sweeney Todd, this production finds new clarity of feeling in Sondheim by melding the roles of performers and musicians (2:20). Barrymore Theater, 243 West 47th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE DROWSY CHAPERONE (Tony Awards, best book of a musical and best original score, 2006) This small and ingratiating spoof of 1920s stage frolics, as imagined by an obsessive show queen, may not be a masterpiece. But in a dry season for musicals, it has theatergoers responding as if they were withering houseplants finally being watered after long neglect. Bob Martin and Sutton Foster are the standouts in the avid, energetic cast (1:40). Marquis Theater, 1535 Broadway, at 45th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) * GREY GARDENS Christine Ebersole is absolutely glorious as the middle-aged, time-warped debutante called Little Edie Beale in this uneven musical adaptation of the notorious 1975 documentary of the same title. She and the wonderful Mary Louise Wilson (as her bedridden mother), in the performances of their careers, make Grey Gardens an experience no passionate theatergoer should miss (2:40). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED The comedy of manners, a form widely believed to be extinct in the American theater, has actually resurfaced on Broadway with all its vital signs intact in Douglas Carter Beanes breezy but trenchant satire about truth and illusion, Hollywood style. With the wonderful Julie White as the movie agent you hate to love (but just cant help it) (2:00). Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) MARY POPPINS This handsome, homily-packed, mechanically ingenious and rather tedious musical, adapted from the P. L. Travers stories and the 1964 Disney film, is ultimately less concerned with inexplicable magic than with practical psychology. Ashley Brown, who sings prettily as the family-mending nanny, looks like Joan Crawford trying to be nice and sounds like Dr. Phil. Directed by Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne (2:30). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley) LES MISÉRABLES This premature revival, a slightly scaled-down version of the well-groomed behemoth that closed only three years ago, appears to be functioning in a state of mild sedation. Appealingly sung and freshly orchestrated, this fast-moving adaptation of Victor Hugos novel isnt sloppy or blurry. But its pulse rate stays well below normal (2:55). Broadhurst Theater, 235 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) * SPRING AWAKENING Duncan Sheik and Steven Saters bold adaptation of the Frank Wedekind play is the freshest and most exciting new musical Broadway has seen in some time. Set in 19th-century Germany but with a ravishing rock score, it exposes the splintered emotional lives of adolescents just discovering the joys and sorrows of sex. Performed with brio by a great cast, with supple direction by Michael Mayer and inventive choreography by Bill T. Jones (2:00). Eugene ONeill Theater, 230 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Charles Isherwood) TARZAN This writhing green blob with music, adapted by Disney Theatrical Productions from the 1999 animated film, has the feeling of a superdeluxe day care center, equipped with lots of bungee cords and karaoke synthesizers, where children can swing when they get tired of singing, and vice versa. The soda-pop score is by Phil Collins (2:30). Richard Rodgers Theater, 226 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley) THE VERTICAL HOUR David Hares soggy consideration of the Anglo-American cultural divide stars Julianne Moore (representing the Americans) and Bill Nighy (leading the British), directed by Sam Mendes. The Yanks dont stand a chance. With his irresistibly mannered performance as a laconic doctor, Mr. Nighy mops the floor with Ms. Moore. Actually, he mops the floor with Mr. Hares play (2:20). Music Box Theater, 239 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) Off Broadway THE BIG VOICE: GOD OR MERMAN? Think of two gifted and smart gay men with years of life together deploying their considerable talents from the two pianos you happen to have in your living room. The result is a hilarious and very touching memoir of two decades of love and the funky glories of show business life (2:00). Actors Temple Theater, 339 West 47th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Honor Moore) *THE CLEAN HOUSE Sarah Ruhls comedy about the painful but beautiful disorder of life has arrived in New York at last in a gorgeous production directed by Bill Rauch. Blair Brown and Jill Clayburgh delight as sisters with different views on the meaning of cleaning, and Vanessa Aspillaga is equally good as the depressed maid with little affection for her work but a deep conviction that a good joke can be a matter of life and death (2:15). Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, 150 West 65th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) DAI (ENOUGH) Iris Bahrs unnerving one-woman show doesnt have much to add to the Middle East debate, but it sure leaves a lasting impression. Ms. Bahr plays an assortment of characters who have the misfortune of being in a Tel Aviv cafe that is about to be visited by the havoc common to such establishments. The attack is rendered in jarring fashion, repeatedly; you watch the play on pins and needles, waiting for the next burst. Gimmicky? Sure. But viscerally effective (1:40). Culture Project, 55 Mercer Street, at Broome Street, SoHo, (212) 253-9983. (Neil Genzlinger) EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL This likable horror comedy based on Sam Raimis gory movies wants to be the next Rocky Horror Show. To that end, it offers deadpan lyrics, self-referential humor and geysers of stage blood (2:00). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Anita Gates) THE FANTASTICKS A revival -- well, more like a resuscitation -- of the Little Musical That Wouldnt Die. This sweet-as-ever production of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidts commedia-dellarte-style confection is most notable for Mr. Joness touching performance (under the pseudonym Thomas Bruce) as the Old Actor, a role he created when the show opened in 1960. Mr. Jones also directs (2:05). Snapple Theater Center, 210 West 50th Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS A powerfully sung revival of the 1968 revue, presented with affectionate nostalgia by the director Gordon Greenberg. As in the original, two men and two women perform a wide selection of Brels plaintive ballads and stirring anthems (2:00). Zipper Theater, 336 West 37th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) A JEW GROWS IN BROOKLYN You dont have to be Jewish or Brooklynish to empathize with Jake Ehrenreich, but in terms of fully appreciating his essentially one-man show, it probably helps. Especially the Catskills jokes (2:05). 37 Arts, 450 West 37th Street, (212) 560-8912. (Gates) MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS This musical is too big for its stage, but the young turn-of-the-last-century sweethearts have great chemistry, and there are four terrific songs (2:00). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 727-2737. (Gates) MY MOTHERS ITALIAN, MY FATHERS JEWISH AND IM IN THERAPY Steve Solomon does skillful impersonations in his one-man show, but some of his jokes are as old as the hills (1:30). Little Shubert Theater, 422 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Gates) NO CHILD Teachers will love Nilaja Suns one-woman show about the challenges of teaching drama at Malcolm X High School (1:10). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, at Seventh Avenue South, West Village, (212) 239-6200. (Gates) REGRETS ONLY Old acquaintance comes under siege in Paul Rudnicks chiffon-thin comedy about the varieties of love and marriage. But no one who sees this latest offering from one of the funniest quipmeisters alive is going to doubt that Christine Baranski is a one-liners best friend (2:00). City Center Stage I, 131 West 55th Street, (212) 581-1212. (Brantley) RIDDLELIKELOVE (WITH A SIDE OF KETCHUP) This one-woman show, in which Julie Fitzpatrick tells of her friendship with a deaf woman, is cloying and thin, but the sign-language interpretation provided at each performance gives it an interesting extra dimension, helping to bring the subject to life (1:30). Ensemble Studio Theater, 549 West 52nd Street, Clinton, (212) 352-3101. (Genzlinger) ROOM SERVICE The Peccadillo Theater Company puts a charge into this comedy from the 1930s, thanks to a brisk pace by the director, Dan Wackerman, and a dozen dandy performances. David Edwards is the would-be producer whose bills threaten to swamp his efforts to put a show on Broadway, and Fred Berman is particularly fine as his director (2:00). SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, South Village, (212) 691-1555. (Genzlinger) SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER As the luscious (and lobotomy-threatened) damsel in distress in Tennessee Williamss famously lurid melodrama, Carla Gugino gives a gutsy assurance to a production that otherwise lacks compelling confidence. Mark Brokaw directs a cast that includes Blythe Danner, in a fascinating but misconceived performance as a smothering mother from hell (1:30). Laura Pels Theater, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 719-1300. (Brantley) 25 QUESTIONS FOR A JEWISH MOTHER This is the comedian Judy Golds fiercely funny monologue, based on her own life as a single Jewish lesbian mother and interviews with more than 50 other Jewish mothers (1:20). St. Lukes Theater, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Phoebe Hoban) TWO TRAINS RUNNING Directed by Lou Bellamy, a rough-edged revival of August Wilsons 1992 play about the stark economics of life and death for African-Americans, set in a dying diner in Pittsburgh in the late 1960s. The pace drags in this production, but it remains a bracing reminder of Mr. Wilsons singular talent for making cold, hard numbers sing hot, molten blues (3:40). Signature Theater at Peter Norton Space, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 352-3101. (Brantley) * THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE David Mamet has cleanly and cannily adapted Harley Granville Barkers 1905 play about corruption in the genteel world of Victorian finance. An excellent cast and a sumptuous production bring extra immediacy to a tale of embezzlement and entitlement that feels as fresh as tomorrows stock options (1:50). Atlantic Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) Off Off Broadway FLUKE A meditative collage of enigmatic riffs on Moby-Dick presented by the rambunctious experimental company Radiohole (1:30). Collapsable Hole, 146 Metropolitan Avenue, at Berry Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 388-2251. (Jason Zinoman) T J AND DAVE The comics T. J. Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi miraculously improvise a one-hour play at every performance. This is an impressive feat of mental athletics, but the results are also observant, complex and frequently enormously funny (1:00). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, West Village, (212) 239-6200. (Gates) Long-Running Shows ALTAR BOYZ This sweetly satirical show about a Christian pop group made up of five potential Teen People cover boys is an enjoyable, silly diversion (1:30). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) AVENUE Q R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden Theater, 252 West 45th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Cartoon made flesh, sort of (2:30). Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, (212) 307-4747. (Brantley) CHICAGO Irrefutable proof that crime pays (2:25). Ambassador Theater, 219 West 49th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE COLOR PURPLE Singing CliffsNotes for Alice Walkers Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (2:40). Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Often more entertaining than the real thing (1:45). 47th Street Theater, 304 West 47th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) HAIRSPRAY Fizzy pop, cute kids, large man in a housedress (2:30). Neil Simon Theater, 250 West 52nd Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) JERSEY BOYS The biomusical that walks like a man (2:30). August Wilson Theater, 245 West 52nd Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE LION KING Disney on safari, where the big bucks roam (2:45). Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street at Broadway, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) MAMMA MIA! The jukebox that devoured Broadway (2:20). Cadillac Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Who was that masked man, anyway? (2:30). Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE PRODUCERS The ne plus ultra of showbiz scams (2:45). St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) RENT East Village angst and love songs to die for (2:45). Nederlander Theater, 208 West 41st Street, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) SPAMALOT A singing scrapbook for Monty Python fans (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street, (212) 239-6200. (Brantley) THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE A Chorus Line with pimples (1:45). Circle in the Square, 254 West 50th Street, Manhattan, (212) 239-6200. (Isherwood) WICKED Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin Theater, 222 West 51st Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-4100. (Brantley) Last Chance BUTLEY In this uneasy revival of Simon Grays portrait of a toxic English professor, directed by Nicholas Martin, Nathan Lane fires off witticisms as if they were silver bullets with Made in Britain engraved on them. A less-than-perfect marriage of a first-rate actor with a first-rate play (2:30). Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, Manhattan, (212) 239-6200; closes on Sunday. (Brantley) AN OAK TREE Tim Crouch plays a hypnotist in this elusive puzzle of a play about grief and the power of suggestion (1:05). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, at Seventh Avenue, West Village, (212) 239-6200; closes on Sunday. (Zinoman) PURITY The provocateur Thomas Bradshaws horror show confronts black-on-black racism (1:15). Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue, at Ninth Street, East Village, (212) 352-3101; closes on Sunday. (Zinoman) SLAVAS SNOWSHOW Clowns chosen by the Russian master Slava Polunin stir up laughter and enjoyment. A show that touches the heart as well as tickles the funny bone (1:30). Union Square Theater, 100 East 17th Street, (212) 307-4100; closes on Sunday. (Lawrence Van Gelder) Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, show times and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. BABEL (R, 143 minutes, in English, Spanish, Japanese, Berber, Arabic and sign language) This hugely ambitious movie tells four loosely linked, not quite simultaneous stories set on three different continents, with dialogue in several languages. The themes, to the extent they are decipherable, include loss, fate and the terrible consequences of miscommunication. Written by Guillermo Arriaga and directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, the movie is an intellectual muddle but a visceral tour de force, and the power of the filmmaking almost overcomes the fuzziness of the ideas. Almost. (A. O. Scott) BLACK CHRISTMAS (R, 100 minutes) Its been more than 30 years since the original Black Christmas revealed how much fun it could be to unleash a psycho in a sorority house. Glen Morgans disastrous remake not only sidelines the originals hilariously obscene phone calls but also drags its unseen killer, and his psychoses, into the light. Smothering terror beneath a blanket of unnecessary information, the movie is no more than a dismal Christmas card to its predecessor. (Jeannette Catsoulis) BLOOD DIAMOND (R, 138 minutes) The makers of this foolish thriller about illegal diamond trafficking in Africa, starring an excellent Leonardo DiCaprio, want you to know there may be blood on your hands, specifically your wedding finger. Too bad they havent thought through what it means to turn human misery into entertainment. (Manohla Dargis) * BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN (R, 89 minutes) In this brainy, merciless comedy, a Kazakh journalist named Borat Sagdiyev, a k a the British comic Sacha Baron Cohen, invades America. America laughs, cries, surrenders. (Dargis) CASINO ROYALE (PG-13, 144 minutes) The latest James Bond vehicle finds the British spy leaner, meaner and now played by an attractive piece of blond rough named Daniel Craig. Zap, pow, ka-ching! (Dargis) CHARLOTTES WEB (G, 113 minutes) Gary Winicks adaptation of E. B. Whites great childrens novel is faithful to the wit and feeling of the source. The celebrity-voiced animals are charming, and Julia Roberts is in fine form as the heroic spider, whose writing ability saves the life of a pig. (Scott) * CHILDREN OF MEN (R, 100 minutes) The end is nigh in this superbly directed political thriller by Alfonso Cuarón about a nervously plausible future. Based on the P. D. James book, the film stars an excellent Clive Owen and features equally sterling support from the actors Michael Caine, Danny Huston and Chiwetel Ejiofior, among others, as well as the great cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. (Dargis) CODE NAME: THE CLEANER (PG-13, 91 minutes) Cedric the Entertainer clogs the arteries of what could have been a savvy riff on the Bourne films with way too much ham, playing a janitor who wakes up with amnesia, a dead man beside him. A missing computer chip fuels the plot, aided by Lucy Liu and Nicollette Sheridan. Though its all too dumb to amuse grownups, its harmless fun for tweener types. (Neil Genzlinger) COMEDY OF POWER (No rating, 110 minutes, in French) Isabelle Huppert is brisk and fierce as a French investigative judge going after corrupt fat cats. The director, Claude Chabrol, is more interested in the forms of ruling-class behavior than in the details of high-level criminality, but his detached, complacent style makes for an interesting contrast with Ms. Hupperts conviction. (Scott) CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (R, 114 minutes, in Mandarin) The Chinese director Zhang Yimou aims for Shakespeare and winds up with Jacqueline Susann in this Tang dynasty melodrama roiling with incest, fraternal rivalry and madness-inducing fungus. As an emperor and empress fighting for control of their three sons, Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li lend the film a core of marital toxicity thats deliciously unstable. Directing with operatic delirium, Mr. Zhang has created a movie in which the line between tragedy and black comedy has been all but erased. (Catsoulis) THE DEAD GIRL (R, 93 minutes) An impressively well-acted movie, The Dead Girl has a chip on its shoulder. The relentless emotional violence in it, a compendium of five vignettes related to a young woman whose naked, mutilated corpse is discovered on a barren hillside, is of a level rarely found in movies, even those steeped in gore. There is some gore in The Dead Girl, but it is eclipsed in intensity by the verbal abuse hurled by its desperately unhappy characters at the people closest to them. (Stephen Holden) * THE DEPARTED (R, 150 minutes) Martin Scorseses cubistic entertainment about men divided by power, loyalty and their own selves is at once a success and a relief. Based on the crackling Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, it features fine twinned performances from Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, and a showboating Jack Nicholson. (Dargis) DHOOM 2 (No rating, 151 minutes, in Hindi) A slick and satisfying example of the new, thoroughly modern Bollywood, this cops-and-robbers tale is animated by old-fashioned star power. Hrithik Roshan plays the smartest and coolest thief alive, and Aishwarya Rai is the small-time crook who loves him. (Rachel Saltz) ERAGON (PG, 99 minutes) This lad-and-his-dragon fantasy set in a land bristling with Tolkienesque nomenclature and earnest British actors is as lacking in fresh ideas as Tim Allens manager. Directed by the wonderfully named Stefen Fangmeier, it boasts the usual genre lineup: an evil king (John Malkovich), a whey-faced hero (Edward Speleers) and a serene warrior-maiden (Sienna Guillory), as well as the required rebel hordes and bucolic landscapes. Some of the characters wont be returning for the sequel, but no matter. In all likelihood, neither will the audience. (Catsoulis) * FLUSHED AWAY (PG, 85 minutes) Sewer rats, singing leeches and whimsical British anarchy -- this computer-animated feature from Aardman Animations (Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run) is completely delightful. (Scott) FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION (PG-13, 86 minutes) This satire of pre-Oscar-nomination buzz in Hollywood is far and away the broadest comedy Christopher Guest and his improvisatory company have made. It is also the flimsiest, and unlike Mr. Guests earlier films, it has no airs of being a fake documentary. As farce trumps satire, the humors subversive edge is lost, along with meaningful character development, with the brilliant exception of Catherine OHara. (Holden) FREEDOM WRITERS (PG-13, 123 minutes) Hilary Swank uses her characteristic neediness to fine effect in a true-to-life story about a teacher making a difference in a Southern California high school. The writer and director Richard LaGravenese provides the smartly laid foundation, but its the kids who give the film its strong emotional tug. (Dargis) THE GOOD GERMAN (R, 102 minutes) In his adaptation of the Joseph Kanon novel, Steven Soderbergh tries to resurrect the magic of classical Hollywood, principally by sucking out all the air, energy and pleasure from his own filmmaking. Its no wonder George Clooney, who stars alongside a vamping Cate Blanchett, looks confused. (Dargis) HAPPILY NEVER AFTER (PG, 87 minutes) Like Dreamworkss Shrek comedies, Happily is a grab-bag parody set in a fantasyland derived from bedtime stories and Disney films. The adopted chambermaid Ella (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar, drawn like Winona Ryder) and the poor dishwasher Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr.) battle Ellas wicked stepmother, Frieda (Sigourney Weaver). Despite self-aware touches, this is another tired kidsploitation product in which a wasp-waisted ingénue and a shallow beau drive the plot and live happily ever after. (Matt Zoller Seitz) HAPPY FEET (PG, 100 minutes) The director George Miller gets happy and snappy, then goes dark and deep, in a musical about an animated penguin who was born to dance. Take hankies. (Dargis) * INLAND EMPIRE (No rating, 179 minutes) David Lynchs extraordinary, savagely uncompromised new film stars a dazzling Laura Dern as an actress who tumbles down rabbit holes inside rabbit holes inside rabbit holes. As cracked as Mad magazine, though generally more difficult to parse, the film has the power of nightmares and is one of the few this year that deserve to be called art. (Dargis) THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (R, 121 minutes) Kevin Macdonald paints a queasily enjoyable portrait of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin from inside the palace walls. Forest Whitaker plays the mad king, while James McAvoy plays the fool. (Dargis) * LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (R, 141 minutes, in Japanese) Another masterwork from Clint Eastwoods astonishing late period, and one of the best war movies ever. Ken Watanabe is especially fine as the general commanding Japanese troops in the doomed defense of the island of Iwo Jima. (Scott) * LITTLE CHILDREN (R, 130 minutes) Todd Fields adaptation of Tom Perrottas novel of suburban adultery is unfailingly intelligent and faultlessly acted. Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson are superb as the parents of young children who meet at the playground and enact a two-handed variation on Madame Bovary against a backdrop of social paranoia and middle-class malaise. (Scott) MISS POTTER (PG, 92 minutes) In Miss Potter, Renée Zellweger, her face pickled in cheeriness, is Beatrix Potter, the creator of Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin and Mrs. Tittlemouse, among other beloved characters in childrens literature. As portrayed by Ms. Zellweger, Potter is almost as chipper as Julie Andrewss Mary Poppins, a proto-feminist, proto-environmentalist and perfect lady to boot. There was plenty of drama in Potters life, but the movie turns major conflicts and losses into minor setbacks in a charmed, entirely virtuous life. The movie is far too nice for its own good. (Holden) NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM (PG, 108 minutes) In this chaotic, overstuffed family comedy, Ben Stiller is a night watchman at the American Museum of Natural History, where the exhibits come to life at night and attack him and one another. This computerized spectacle spares no expense, but the storytelling is weak, and the hit-or-miss jokes miss more than hit. (Holden) NOTES ON A SCANDAL (R, 92 minutes) Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett play a misogynistic game of cat and mouse from which no one emerges unscathed, including the audience. Adapted by Patrick Marber from a novel by Zoë Heller and directed by Richard Eyre. (Dargis) * PANS LABYRINTH (R, 119 minutes, in Spanish) Guillermo del Toros tale of a young girls ordeal in post-Civil-War fascist Spain is either a fairy tale in the guise of a political allegory or vice versa. In either case it is a moving, enchanting, strange and humane example of popular art at its very best. (Scott) THE PAINTED VEIL (PG-13, 125 minutes) Nicely directed by John Curran, this version of the W. Somerset Maugham novel draws you in by turning a distaff bildungsroman into a fine romance with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. (Dargis) PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (R, 147 minutes) Theres no other way to say it: Tom Tykwers excruciatingly literal-minded adaptation of the best-selling novel about an 18th-century serial killer with an acute sense of smell is a real stinker. (Scott) THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (PG-13, 117 minutes) How you respond to this fairy tale in realist drag may depend on whether you find Will Smiths performances so overwhelmingly winning that you buy the idea that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic toil and dreams. (Dargis) * THE QUEEN (PG-13, 103 minutes) Directed by Stephen Frears from a very smart script by Peter Morgan, and starring a magnificent Helen Mirren in the title role, The Queen pries open a window in the House of Windsor around the time of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, blending fact with fiction. (Dargis) ROCKY BALBOA (PG, 102 minutes) Surprisingly, the sixth installment of this franchise is no embarrassment. Like its forerunners, it goes the distance almost in spite of itself. Its all heart and no credibility, except as a raw-boned fable. From the very beginning, Rocky Balboa was about as lifelike a character as Popeye pumped up with spinach. But that may be the point of a series that peddles the notion that if you dream it hard enough, you can live it. (Holden) UNACCOMPANIED MINORS (PG, 89 minutes) The title doubles as an advisory. Your kids may like it; pick them up when its over. (Scott) VENUS (R, 91 minutes) A modest, diverting, touching tale of a young woman who attracts the interest -- avuncular and also erotic -- of an aging actor, played with effortless aplomb by the great Peter OToole. (Scott) * VOLVER (R, 121 minutes, in Spanish) Another keeper from Pedro Almodóvar, with Penélope Cruz -- as a resilient widow -- in her best role to date. (Scott) WE ARE MARSHALL (PG, 128 minutes) This fact-based story of a West Virginia college town recovering from the death of its entire football team in a 1970 plane crash is a stiff, manipulative dud that gets wrong everything Friday Night Lights got right. Matthew McConaughey hams it up as the colleges goofy new coach, who whips the replacement team into decent shape. (Holden) Film Series Sven Nykvist Remembered (Tonight through Sunday) Three films this weekend highlight the achievements of this great Swedish cinematographer, who died in September. The Silence (1963) is one of several films he shot for the director Ingmar Bergman, this time in brooding black and white; An-Margritt is a 1969 Norwegian film by Arne Skouen featuring one of Mr. Bergmans favorite performers, Liv Ullmann, as a young woman struggling to survive in a 17th-century mining community; Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) finds Woody Allen in a Bergmanesque mood, contemplating the silence of God as Nykvist lights a strangely Nordic New York City. Museum of Modern Art, Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, (212) 708-9400, moma.org; $10. (David Kehr) CRITICS CHOICE: GREAT DOCUMENTARIES (Tomorrow and Sunday) Members of the New York Film Critics Circle introduce some of their favorite nonfiction films. The Thin Blue Line, presented tomorrow by Mike DAngelo of Esquire magazine, is the 1993 Errol Morris film that reopened a Dallas murder case, resulting in the exoneration of the man convicted for the crime, told in a slick, semifictional style. Also tomorrow, Stephen Whitty of The Star-Ledger offers Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, a look at a multiple killing in the deep South by the directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, who will attend. On Sunday, J. Hoberman of The Village Voice reaches further back into the past for Dziga Vertovs deliriously subjective Soviet propaganda film of 1928, The Man with a Movie Camera, which will be shown in an archival print from the George Eastman House. (Through Feb. 25.) Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue, at 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, (718) 784-0077, movingimage.us; $10. (Kehr) THE 2007 NY JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL (Tomorrow through Thursday) Among this weeks many programs: Lisa Azueloss Gorgeous, about a group of North African Jewish women who meet to discuss their new lives in Paris; Love and Sacrifice, a newly restored Yiddish melodrama shot in New York in 1936 by the director George Roland; and Our Children, a 1948 comedy starring Shimon Dzigan and Israel Shumacher that is said to be the last Yiddish-language film made in Poland. (Through Jan. 25.) Walter Reade Theater 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 975-5600, filmlinc.org; $10. (Kehr) Pop Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. TUNDE ADEBIMPE AND ALIANnA KALABA (Tomorrow) Time was when the members of TV on the Radio, now the most critically adored band in New York, played in tiny clubs, blending electronic noises with Tunde Adebimpes haunting falsetto. They have since graduated to much bigger gigs, but tomorrow at Tonic, the Lower East Side headquarters of the avant-garde, Mr. Adebimpe collaborates with Alianna Kalaba, the drummer of the Chicago band We Ragazzi. What will they do? Perhaps they dont even know, and thats why it will be good. Also on the bill are Pit Er Pat, Matteah Baim and Bear in Heaven. At 10 p.m., 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, (212) 358-7501, tonicnyc.com; $10. (Ben Sisario) ANTI-SOCIAL MUSIC (Tomorrow) The final frontier for weird rock is classical music. Anti-Social Music, a collective of New York musicians who play in various pop and new-music bands -- including some big ones, like the Hold Steady -- is one of a handful of groups that boldly go into this realm, playing works for strings, woodwinds and other instruments by its 11 members (six of whom have degrees in music composition, the groups Web site, antisocialmusic.org, declares). Skeptics note: it can get pretty rowdy. At 9 p.m., BAMCafé, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, (718) 636-4100, bam.org; no cover. (Sisario) MAX BEMIS (Sunday) Screamed warnings of being at the end of ones rope are standard issue in emo. But Mr. Bemis, the singer of the Los Angeles band Say Anything, isnt kidding: the groups latest release was delayed when he went missing, only to turn up in a mental institution in Houston. His songs bounce manically from exuberant to cynical, tender to bombastic, and, even at their most despairing, have a certain swaggering showmanship. He plays a solo acoustic show with Andy Jackson, the guitarist of the band Hot Rod Circuit. At 7 p.m., Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006, knittingfactory.com; $12. (Sisario) ANDREW BIRD (Wednesday) A talented multi-instrumentalist, Mr. Bird shows off his fiddle and guitar playing in songs that are as wistful as they are fantastical. But his most impressive technique is not on fiddle or guitar, nor on the electronic effects that he uses to make the music breathe; rather, its his dexterous, expressive whistling, which floats high above in eerily beautiful tones. With John Southworth. At 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; sold out. (Sisario) CARNIVORE (Tomorrow) For fans of obscure New York metal only: before founding Type O Negative, Peter Steele led Carnivore, one of the most aggressive and, perhaps not coincidentally, offensive bands of the mid-80s thrash scene. (Typical song title: Jesus Hitler.) The new version of the band does not include any original members besides Mr. Steele. With Krieg, Lair of the Minotaur, A.C., Embalmer, Dimentianon and Annunaki. At 7 p.m., Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103, northsix.com; $30. (Sisario) * COLD WAR KIDS (Wednesday) The craggy guitars and piano, verge-of-a-breakdown vocals and elliptical songwriting of this band from Austin, Tex., put it at the top of the music-blogger food chain last year. Now comes the hard part: maintaining popularity as the Internet eye roves again. This month the band is bouncing back and forth between New York and Los Angeles each week in a bicoastal residency. At 8 p.m., Union Hall, 702 Union Street, at Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 638-4400, unionhallny.com; sold out. (Sisario) ROBERT CRAY (Tuesday) The embodiment of the clean, commercial -- some might say rootless -- style that has defined the blues since the 1980s, Mr. Cray has an elegant touch with his Fender Stratocaster, and sings about desire and infidelity in a cool croon that is closer to pop than to Howlin Wolf. At 8 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 237 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144, bbkingblues.com; $47 in advance, $50 at the door. (Sisario) dBS (Tomorrow) In the early 1980s, the dBs, four guys from North Carolina who relocated to New York, were local favorites for their nervy, hummable hybrid of New Wave and the jangly pop-rock of the Byrds and Big Star, with some country thrown in as well. The reunited band -- Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder -- recorded a song for Hurricane Katrina relief and are working on a new album. The two opening acts here are family: Mitch Easter and his band, and the Sneakers, consisting of Mr. Stamey, Mr. Rigby, Mr. Easter and Robert Keely. At 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; $16 in advance, $18 at the door. (Sisario) MARK EITZEL (Thursday) Depression is Mr. Eitzels element; as leader of the American Music Club and through a solo career, he has anatomized melancholy down to the molecular level. In a weary voice, with tunes that blur folk songs and torch songs in a smoky haze, he looks at estrangement and betrayal, loneliness and separation, and bad luck. Its easy to believe him when he sings, Im tired to the bone of always telling you goodbye. With the Black Swans. At 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501, tonicnyc.com; $12 in advance, $14 at the door. (Jon Pareles) * FALL OUT BOY (Tuesday) One of the first groups to get wide attention for its popularity on MySpace, Fall Out Boy, from Chicago, is the model second-wave (or is this the third?) emo band: snarky and jumpy, interested in relationships over solitude, and bursting with melodic pop-punk riffs that come down from Green Day and Blink-182. With New Found Glory, Lifetime and Permanent Me. At 6:15 p.m., Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-7171, mcstudios.com; $35. (Sisario) PAUL GREEN SCHOOL OF ROCK MUSIC (Tomorrow and Sunday) As seen in the documentary Rock School, Mr. Green offers an extensive curriculum at his Philadelphia school, teaching youngsters the rock n roll canon, as well as the fundamentals of power chords and budda-budda bass lines. Here his students offer their version of Jesus Christ Superstar. At 2:30 p.m., Rebel, 251 West 30th Street, Manhattan, (212) 695-2747, rebelnyc.com; $10. (Sisario) GRUPO NICHE, JIMMY BOSCH (Tomorrow) Grupo Niche, from Colombia, holds on to the high-powered horns-and-percussion salsa forged in the 1970s. Jimmy Bosch is a trombonist who savors the Latin jazz tradition of the descarga, a jam session everyone can dance to. This hard salsa takes musical chances but never lets go of the beat. At 8 p.m., Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West and Goulden Avenue, the Bronx, (718) 960-8833, lehmancenter.org; $30 to $45. (Pareles) * HASSAN HAKMOUN (Tomorrow) A leading ambassador of the ecstatic, vaguely bluesy Gnawa music of Morocco, Mr. Hakmoun, who created a sensation in the world-music circuit when he arrived in New York 20 years ago, plays one of his somewhat rare traditional concerts. Playing the sintir (a long-necked, resonant lute), Mr. Hakmoun leads spellbinding trance ceremonies, and with castanets around his ankles, performs acrobatic dances. Also on the bill is Berber music by Abderahim Boutat. At 8 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 545-7536,symphonyspace.org or worldmusicinstitute.org; $27; $15 for students. (Sisario) HOLMES BROTHERS (Tuesday) Steeped in blues and gospel, Sherman and Wendell Holmes harmonize and raise the rafters with songs that draw hope from hard times. Their version of gospel is a close neighbor of Southern soul and country. At 7:30 p.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 967-7555, joespub.com; $20. (Pareles) LITTLE RICHARD (Monday) He may always be most celebrated for bringing scat to rock (A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop-bam-boom!), but Little Richards delirious falsetto oooh! and androgynous showmanship have influenced everybody from Paul McCartney to Prince. At 8 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 237 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144, bbkingblues.com; $60 in advance, $64 at the door. (Sisario) BARRY MANILOW (Tuesday through Thursday) If Velveeta could sing At 8 p.m., Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741, thegarden.com; $49.50 to $279.50. (Pareles) LIZ McCOMB (Thursday) A mezzo pop-gospel singer who grew up in Cleveland but has lived in Europe for the last 25 years, Ms. McComb moves from smoothness to Pentecostal abandon; she has been something of an ambassador in France and not that well known in her home country. At 7:30 p.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 967-7555, joespub.com; $20. (Ben Ratliff) MOS DEFS BIG BAND (Wednesday) Lincoln Centers American Songbook series, getting gradually more adventurous each year, opens with Mos Def, the talented and always surprising rapper and actor. Here he picks up a musical avocation, crooning with a big band, in music by Miles Davis and others. At 8:30 p.m., Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, (212) 721-6500, lincolncenter.org; sold out. (Sisario) MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND (Wednesday) In an expressively slippery voice, Shara Worden, who performs as My Brightest Diamond, spins luxurious fantasies that leap in scale from music boxes to colliding heavenly bodies. With Jeremy Denk and Soovin Kim, and Gabriel Kahane. At 8 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501, tonicnyc.com; $8. (Sisario) ANDERS PARKER (Wednesday) Mr. Parker, who led the band Varnaline, immerses his songs in the stoic drama of country and folk music, resulting in a melancholy that is sometimes indistinguishable from cynicism. (The hours Ive wasted here I could have wasted anywhere.) With the mericans. At 8 p.m., Living Room, 154 Ludlow Street, near Stanton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 533-7235, livingroomny.com; $8. (Sisario) STEVE ROSS (Tonight) In Americans in Paris, this ever-dapper singer and pianist performs a program of Parisian-scented songs in conjunction with an exhibition of paintings, Americans in Paris, 1860-1900, on view through Jan. 28. Expect lots of Cole Porter, whose airy spirit Mr. Ross channels with lilting, lighthearted suavity. At 7, Metropolitan Museum of Art, (212) 570-3949, metmuseum.org; $40. (Stephen Holden) RON SEXSMITH (Tonight) Mr. Sexsmith seems self-effacing and hesitant at first, with a voice that sidles up to notes like a wallflower trying to slip into a party unnoticed. But behind the outward modesty is a craftsman who stubbornly upholds the verities of 1960s songwriting, placing supple melodies atop unexpected harmonies and offering wistful regret and consolation in equal parts. With Kim Taylor. At 8:30, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; $17. (Pareles) SLOAN (Thursday) Like modern metafictions, Sloans pop-rock songs twist inward on themselves. With their winsome tunes and neo-Beatles intricacies, Sloans songs are not just about unrequited yearnings, but also about the process of writing pop songs about unrequited yearnings. Theyre rarely so clever that their heart doesnt come through. With Spiral Beach and the Love Loves. At 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; $20. (Pareles) TEXT OF LIGHT (Tonight) Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Alan Licht offer a guitar soundtrack to photographs and films by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian artist and Bauhaus principal, and also improvise musical accompaniment to avant-garde films by Stan Brakhage and others. The performance is presented by the Whitney Museum in conjunction with an exhibition, Albers and Moholy-Nagy: From the Bauhaus to the New World, on view until Jan. 21. At 7:30, 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, (212) 570-3676, whitney.org; free with pay-what-you wish admission to the museum, after 6. (Sisario) WHEATUS (Monday) Seven years after this cheeky Long Island power-pop band scored a minor novelty hit with its Weezeresque Teenage Dirtbag, it soldiers on. New topics include BMX bikers and even the twin towers, which Brendan B. Brown, the groups leader and songwriter, says reminded him of Motown 60s skinny ties. With Midstates and Mason Dixon. At 8:30 p.m., Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103, northsix.com; $10. (Sisario) Jazz Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. CLAUDIA ACUÑA (Tuesday through Thursday) Ms. Acuña is a vocalist attracted to lyrical high drama and guided by the pulse and passion of her native Chile. She sounds best when supported by sympathetic musicians like the pianist Jason Lindner, who leads her rhythm section here. (Through next Friday.) At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232, jazzstandard.net; cover, $25. (Nate Chinen) BEN ALLISON (Tomorrow) Mr. Allison, a bassist and composer, has a knack for assembling hardy and sophisticated ensembles like this one, with Michael Blake on saxophones, Frank Kimbrough on Wurlitzer keyboard and Michael Sarin on drums. At 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883, 55bar.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) * KENNY BARRON TRIO (Tuesday through Thursday) Kenny Barron is the leading practitioner of an elegant, economical and rhythmically surefooted piano style that thrives in any mainstream setting; hell explore at least a few different styles here, with Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Francisco Mela on drums. (Through Jan. 21). At 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com; cover, $20, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) RICHARD BONA (Tonight) Mr. Bona, the Cameroonian bassist and singer, received a Grammy nomination in the contemporary world music category for his album Tiki (Decca), which he will revisit here. At 9:30, Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778, joespub.com; cover, $20, with a two-drink minimum. (Chinen) JAMES CARNEY GROUP (Tomorrow and Sunday) James Carney, a smart keyboardist and a broadly imaginative composer, leads a trio with the flexible rhythm team of Chris Lightcap on bass and Mark Ferber on drums. Tomorrow at 9 p.m., Biscuit BBQ, 230 Fifth Avenue, at President Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 399-2161, biscuitbbq.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. Sunday at 9 p.m., Bar 4, 444 Seventh Avenue, at 15th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 832-9800, bar4.net; suggested cover, $5. (Chinen) GERALD CLAYTON TRIO (Tomorrow) Gerald Clayton was the popular favorite at last years Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, though he finished second. His eloquent and full-bodied style finds a good showcase in a trio with David Wong on bass and Pete Van Ostrand on drums. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063, jazzgallery.org; cover, $15. (Chinen) COMMON THREAD/BRASS CONSCIOUSNESS (Wednesday) Common Thread is a cadre of incisive players currently or formerly apprenticed to the influential avant-garde saxophonist Steve Coleman: the trumpeters Jonathan Finlayson and Shane Endsley, the trombonist Tim Albright, the bassist Chris Lightcap and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. Brass Consciousness, which plays a later set, adds one more trumpeter, Ralph Alessi. At 8 and 10 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, thestonenyc.com; cover, $10 per set. (Chinen) * CUBANA BE, CUBANA BOP (Tonight and tomorrow night) The precision-honed Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of the pianist Arturo OFarrill, presents a tribute to the pioneering Latin jazz of Dizzy Gillespie, who first performed the George Russell composition Cubano Be, Cubano Bop with his big band in the 1940s. Also on the program are reliable Gillespie flag-wavers from the same era, like Manteca. At 8, Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 721-6500, jalc.org; cover, $32.50 to $127.50. (Chinen) DANCE NOW MUSIC (Tuesday through Thursday) Avant-garde music and movement are equal partners in this off-season Vision Festival series, which runs through next Sunday. Next weeks highlights include trios led by the multireedists Joe McPhee (Tuesday) and Cooper-Moore (Wednesday), and a duo by the dancer Julia Wilkins and the alto saxophonist Matana Roberts (Thursday). (Through Jan. 21.) At 7:30 p.m., Teatro La Tea at Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street, near Rivington Street, Lower East Side, (212) 696-6681, visionfestival.org; $20 a night ($10 for students), or three nights for $40. (Chinen) SCOTT DUBOIS QUARTET (Wednesday) Scott DuBois, a guitarist equally devoted to intricate compositional forms and spacious free improvisation, celebrates the release of a new album, Tempest (Soul Note); his former teacher, the saxophonist David Liebman, joins a group with Thomas Morgan on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums. At 10, 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883, 55bar.com; cover, $8. (Chinen) ANDREW DURKINS INDUSTRIAL JAZZ GROUP/DARCY JAMES ARGUES SECRET SOCIETY (Sunday) Two powerful big bands, each guided by a clear vision. The Industrial Jazz Group, based in Los Angeles and led by the pianist Andrew Durkin, offers retro sounds with an ironic touch; the Secret Society, let by the composer Darcy James Argue, is future-minded and dead serious. At 8 p.m., Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, near Bleecker Street, East Village, (212) 614-0505; cover, $12. (Chinen) HARRIS EISENSTADT LOW TRIO (Sunday) The drummer Harris Eisenstadt features a lower register, and his own tunes, in this experimental trio with Jose Davila on tuba and Ben Gerstein on trombone. At 7 p.m., Jimmys, 43 East Seventh Street, East Village, (212) 982-3006, freestylejazz.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) SONNY FORTUNE QUARTET (Tonight and tomorrow night) Since the 1960s, countless saxophonists have adopted the methodology of John Coltrane, but few have captured his restless spirit. Sonny Fortune, the saxophonist of choice for the Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones, is chief among them. At 8, 10 and midnight, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, at Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626, sweetrhythmny.com; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) AL FOSTER QUARTET (Tonight and tomorrow night) The well-traveled Al Foster has a lithe touch as a drummer, ideal for modern jazz and more than suitable for funk; his band consists of the tenor saxophonist Eli Degibri, the pianist Kevin Hays and the bassist Doug Weiss. At 8, 10 and 11:30, Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662, smokejazz.com; cover, $25. (Chinen) HARRISON ON HARRISON (Tonight) On a recent album, the guitarist Joel Harrison interprets songs by a slightly more famous figure with the same surname, George Harrison. He repeats the same homage here, with David Binney on alto saxophone, Gary Versace on piano, Stephan Crump on bass and Ben Wittman on drums. At 7, Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, (212) 620-5000, Ext. 344, rmanyc.org; $20. (Chinen) JON HENDRICKS (Wednesday and Thursday) Mr. Hendricks is the godfather of vocalese, and still irrepressible, though his voice has weathered over the years. On Tuesday he sits in with David Bergers Sultans of Swing; for the rest of the week he leads something called LHR Redux, in reference to his groundbreaking vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. (You wonder whether hell mention that Annie Ross, listed below, has her own gig downtown.) (Through Jan. 20.) At 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080, birdlandjazz.com; cover, $40, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) JOHN HOLLENBECKS CLAUDIA QUINTET (Tomorrow) This improvising chamber ensemble pursues texturally oriented and often contrapuntal exploration; Mr. Hollenbecks drumming is one color on a palette that also includes Chris Speeds clarinet and tenor saxophone, Ted Reichmans accordion, John Heberts bass and Matt Morans vibraphone. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $12, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * HANK JONES TRIO (Tuesday through Thursday) Mr. Jones, one of the most estimable pianists in postwar jazz, augments his stately trio with a pair of prominent guests: the trumpeter Roy Hargrove and the singer Roberta Gambarini. (Through Jan. 21.) At 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592 bluenote.net; cover, $35 at tables, $20 at the bar, with a $5 minimum. (Chinen) GEOFFREY KEEZER TRIO (Tonight and tomorrow night) A versatile post-bop piano trio, led by the articulate Geoffrey Keezer and featuring the bassist Tal Wilkenfeld and the drummer Terreon Gully. At 9:30 and 11:15, AC Pianocraft Showroom, 333 West 52nd Street, Clinton, (212) 254-1840, acpianocraft.com; $20. (Chinen) DANIEL LEVIN QUARTET (Monday) Daniel Levin, a cellist, makes music full of pregnant pauses and gradual crescendos. He has dynamic cohorts in Rob Brown on alto saxophone, Joe Morris on bass and Matt Moran on drums. At 10 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501, tonicnyc.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) DAVID LIEBMAN (Tonight) An incantatory saxophonist working in the post-Coltrane idiom, Mr. Liebman plays here with the bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and the drummer Tom Rainey. At 10, 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883, 55bar.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) CHRIS LIGHTCAP QUINTET (Tonight) A bassist with credentials in both straight-ahead and experimental circles, Chris Lightcap fronts a group that effectively splits the difference: Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby on tenor saxophones, Jacob Sacks on Fender Rhodes piano and Ted Poor on drums. At 9 and 10:30, , Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $12, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) RENÉ MARIE (Tuesday through Thursday) A soulful jazz singer and vibrant performer with a growing book of sturdy original tunes. (Through Jan. 21.) At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, (212) 258-9595, jalc.org; cover, $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar. (Chinen) AARON PARKS QUARTET (Tomorrow) Aaron Parks, a precocious member of Terence Blanchards groove-oriented band, leads his own working quartet with Mike Moreno on guitar, Derrick Hodge on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063, jazzgallery.org; cover, $15. (Chinen) RE:ACTION (Wednesday) The bassist Sean Conly features his own compositions in this aptly titled band, with Tony Malaby and Michaël Attias on saxophones and Take Toriyama on drums. At 10 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177, barbesbrooklyn.com; cover, $10. (Chinen) ERIC REED QUARTET (Tonight) The pianist Eric Reed applies his trademark sophistication to the sound of a quartet featuring Stacey Dillard on tenor and soprano saxophones. At 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232, jazzstandard.net; cover, $30. (Chinen) ANNIE ROSS (Tuesday) Ms. Ross has covered every inch of territory as a jazz singer, and yet she has her own style: supple, surefooted and knowing. She performs with a small group that includes Jon Weber on piano and Leroy Williams on drums. At 7 p.m., Metropolitan Room at Gotham, 34 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 206-0440, metropolitanroom.com; cover, $25, with a two-drink minimum. (Chinen) ANGELICA SANCHEZ/TONY MALABY/TOM RAINEY (Sunday) A collective trio that treads a middle ground between lyricism and abstraction, with Ms. Sanchez on piano, Mr. Malaby on saxophones and Mr. Rainey on drums. At 8:30 and 10 p.m., Jimmys, 43 East Seventh Street, East Village, (212) 982-3006, freestylejazz.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) JENNY SCHEINMAN (Tuesday) Ms. Scheinman is that rare jazz violinist who embraces her instruments folksier side without making concessions to genre. Her Tuesday night engagement features different players each week; this time around, the cast includes the clarinetist Doug Wieselman and the guitarist Steve Cardenas. At 7 p.m., Barbès, 376 Ninth Street, at Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 965-9177, barbesbrooklyn.com; cover, $8. (Chinen) TERELL STAFFORD (Tomorrow) Mr. Stafford, a bright and assertive trumpeter, previews material from his next album, New Beginnings (MaxJazz), with a quintet that includes Tim Warfield Jr. on saxophones, Bruce Barth at the piano, Derrick Hodge on bass and Dana Hall on drums. At 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232, jazzstandard.net; cover, $30. (Chinen) LOREN STILLMAN AND TRIO ALTO (Thursday) Trio Alto Volume One (Steeplechase), the most recent album by the alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, suggests an explorer with one foot planted in tradition and the other caught in midstride. Mr. Stillman leads a different rhythm section here -- Sean Conly on bass and Take Toriyama on drums -- but his confident and probing approach should come across just fine. At 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) * TERRASSON, OKEGWO, PARKER (Wednesday and Thursday) Throughout the latter half of the 1990s, the pianist Jacky Terrasson led one of jazzs fresher-sounding acoustic piano trios, distinguished not only by his fluid pianism but also by the resonant bass tone of Ugonna Okegwo and the pared-down percussive drive of Leon Parker. Last spring the trio regrouped as a collective, with uneven but deeply promising results. At 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121, iridiumjazzclub.com; cover, $30, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) J. D. WALTER / REFUGE TRIO (Tomorrow) J. D. Walters voice is a flexible instrument, given to soaring scat solos and growling burrs. Another expressive vocalist, Theo Bleckmann, leads the Refuge Trio, with Gary Versace on keyboards and John Hollenbeck on drums. At 7 p.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778, joespub.com; cover, $15, with a two-drink minimum. (Chinen) Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera * CONCRETE (Wednesday and Thursday) Robert Ashleys operas have been compared to James Joyces writing: the composer examines the ordinary world, and its language, by running it through the filters of his own creativity. Concrete, here in its world premiere, is billed as an old mans musing about people he has cared about. Mr. Ashleys orchestra will consist of computer samples that vary at each performance, and the singers will key their pitches and inflections to the sounds, creating music truly born of speech, with a conversational spontaneity. Many of the singers have worked with Mr. Ashley for decades, including Joan La Barbara, Jacqueline Humbert and Sam Ashley, the composers son. (Through Jan. 21.) At 8 p.m., La MaMa Annex Theater, 74A East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 475-7710, lamama.org; $15 and $20. (Anne Midgette) THE FIRST EMPEROR (Tomorrow) The excitement of a world premiere at the Met, combined with widespread interest among the general public in the composer Tan Dun, who won an Oscar for his film score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, have resulted in a sold-out run for The First Emperor. Though the story of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who unified the country through brutality and conquest, is compelling, Mr. Tans ponderous score is a huge disappointment. There are gripping moments, especially some propulsive orchestra passages that incorporate Chinese instruments. But the operas lyrical flights are slow-moving, ponderous and sometimes cloying. Mr. Tan has tried to meld Chinese melody and Italianate lyricism. His music, though, seems caught in some nowhere land between Crouching Tiger and Puccinis Turandot. Even the great Plácido Domingo, bravely taking on the challenging title role, cannot save the show. The colorful production is by the Chinese film director Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers). Mr. Tan conducts. At 1:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; sold out. (Anthony Tommasini) * MOSTLY OPERETTA (Tonight, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) Once popular entertainment, today often presented as hackneyed spectacle, operetta deserves to be rehabilitated for the 21st century. At least, this is the premise of an ambitious festival at the Austrian Cultural Forum that presents both the familiar (excerpts from Lehars Merry Widow) and the less familiar (Lehars little-known songs), sung by operetta specialists, with innovative, cutting-edge visuals by Victoria Coeln. Tonights program (in English) is a salute to operettas that appeared on Broadway; Monday and Tuesdays is an all-Lehar program; and Thursdays juxtaposes Lehar and Kalman with less-known composers like Rudolf Friml and Leo Fall. Tonight at 8 (introductory lecture at 7); Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7; 11 East 52nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 319-5300, acfny.org; free, but reservations are required. (Midgette) NEW YORK GILBERT AND SULLIVAN PLAYERS (Tonight through Sunday) When this troupe was founded by Albert Bergeret in 1974, it was one of a handful of small companies devoted to the Savoyard repertory in New York. Now it is the only one left, and its performances, with Mr. Bergeret still at the helm, and with casts well drilled in the style, are always a treat. Its current season includes two perennial favorites, The Mikado and Yeomen of the Guard, and the company can be counted on to bring their splendid silliness to life. The Mikado is tonight at 8, tomorrow at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.; Yeomen of the Guard is tomorrow night at 8. City Center, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-1212, nycitycenter.org; $40 to $96. (Allan Kozinn) * OTELLO (Wednesday) Rossinis 1816 version of Otello predates Verdis great opera by more than 70 years. Choosing Shakespeares complex play as a subject was a risky stroke for Rossini at the time. The Naples opera company that presented it forced the composer to tweak, soften and simplify the story. The first two acts are uneven. But the great third act, dominated by Rossinis noble music for the anguished Desdemona, struck the composer Meyerbeer as really godlike. The Opera Orchestra of New York is billing its concert performance as the first New York presentation of Rossinis work. In any event, the cast looks promising, with the soprano Ruxandra Donose as Desdemona and the tenor Robert McPherson as Iago. (The tenor Ramón Vargas was to have sung the title role, but dropped out because of illness; he is being replaced by Bruce Ford.) Eve Queler conducts. At 7:30 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $25 to $125. (Tommasini) THE TENDER LAND (Tomorrow and Sunday) In 1976, when the enterprising Bronx Opera Company first presented Coplands Tender Land, the composer participated in rehearsals and attended productions. For its current production, the company is using the effective chamber version of the orchestral score, arranged by Murry Sidlin. Royston Coppenger is the director. Elizabeth W. Scott conducts tomorrow, and Michael Spierman on Sunday. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Lovinger Theater, Lehman College, Bedford Park Boulevard West and Goulden Avenue, Bedford Park, the Bronx, (718) 960-8833, bronxopera.org; $15 to $30. (Tommasini) LE VILLI (Tonight through Sunday) This opera, Puccinis first work for the stage, is a short tale of a trusting young woman from a Black Forest town in medieval Germany who is forsaken by her betrothed. When the grieving woman dies, her guilt-stricken fiancé is subjected to supernatural justice. Though the score was deeply influenced by operatic styles of the day, Puccinis intensely lyrical and richly harmonic voice comes through. The adventurous Dicapo Opera Theater presents a choreographic production of this seldom-heard work on a double bill with a staged performance of Puccinis major sacred work, the Messa di Gloria. Francisco Bonnin conducts. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 4 p.m., Dicapo Opera Theater, at St. Jean Baptiste Church, 184 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 288-9438, dicapo.com; $47.50. (Tommasini) DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (Tonight) This revival of Julie Taymors production continues at the Metropolitan Opera, complete with the magical puppets and stage effects that made it an audience hit when it opened in 2004. James Levine conducts a cast that includes Lisa Milne as Pamina, Erika Miklosa as Queen of the Night, Matthew Polenzani as Tamino, Rodion Pogossov as Papageno, Eike Wilm Schulte as the Speaker and Morris Robinson as Sarastro. At 8, Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; $110 to $205 tickets remaining. (Vivien Schweitzer) Classical Music ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN AND RUSSELL BRAUN (Sunday) Patriotism has brought the fine Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and the light Canadian baritone Russell Braun together frequently before. But the motivation for this weekends joint recital is the George London Foundation, which presents the two singers, together with their spouses, the pianists Carolyn Maule and Serouj Kradjian, in a program of Schumann, Schubert, Debussy and Pauline Viardot (whose songs Ms. Bayrakdarian has recorded, very well). At 4 p.m., Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 877-6347, www.themorgan.org; $45; $30 for Morgan members. (Midgette) CALEFAX (Sunday) The intimate chamber music hall at the Frick Collection has become a reliable place to discover soloists and ensembles who are new to New York but prove durable additions to the citys musical life. Calefax, a reed quintet from the Netherlands, makes its debut with an era-spanning program that runs from music by Ockeghem (born in 1410) through Sander Germanus (born in 1972). At 5 p.m., 1 East 70th Street, Manhattan, (212) 288-0700, frick.org; $25. (Kozinn) CARNEGIE HALL FESTIVAL CHORUS (Tomorrow) Helmuth Rilling leads the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus and the excellent Orchestra of St. Lukes in a performance of Bachs monumental St. Matthew Passion. The soloists are the tenor James Taylor, who sings the Evangelist; the bass Klaus Häger, who sings Jesus; the soprano Sibylla Rubens; the mezzo-soprano Ingeborg Danz; the tenor Thomas Cooley; and the bass Michael Nagy. At 7 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $25 to $82. (Schweitzer) CHAMBERFEST (Tuesday through Thursday) ChamberFest is an appropriate name for this series of concerts, which showcase Juilliard students who have spent their final week of winter break in daily rehearsals and coaching sessions. The program on Tuesday includes Strausss Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche and Debussys String Quartet; Wednesday nights concert includes Ravels Introduction et Allegro and Brahmss Clarinet Trio, while on Thursday, works by Prokofiev, Brahms and Walton will be performed. At 8 p.m., Paul Hall, Juilliard School, 60 Lincoln Center Plaza, at 65th Street, (212) 769-7406, juilliard.edu; free. (Schweitzer) * EIGHTH BLACKBIRD (Tonight and tomorrow) This inventive and energetic young new-music ensemble from Chicago has built its audience with eclectic programming and commissioning. It has also impressed listeners by playing complex scores by memory, a feat rarely seen in ensembles playing even much more familiar music. The groups program tonight includes works by Steve Mackey, Jennifer Higdon, Gordon Fitzell and David M. Gordon. Tomorrow it is performing as part of the closing concert of the Chamber Music America national conference. Tonight at 8, the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 255-5793, thekitchen.org; $10. Tomorrow at 4 p.m., St. Lukes Lutheran Church, 308 West 46th Street, Clinton, (212) 242-2022, chamber-music.org; free. (Kozinn) ALLISON ELDREDGE (Tonight) This cellist, a faculty member at the New England Conservatory, performs Beethovens Sonata in G minor (Op. 5, No. 2); Hindemiths Sonata; Brahmss Sonata in F; and Paganinis virtuoso Variations on One String on a Theme of Paganini. Max Levinson, her husband, is the pianist. At 8, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $20; $10 for students and 65+. (Schweitzer) GUARNERI STRING QUARTET (Sunday) In its continuing campaign to make classical music available to all, the indispensable Peoples Symphony Concerts, which offer leading artists and ensembles at very affordable prices, present the Guarneri String Quartet at Town Hall in a program of works by Haydn, Dohnanyi and Dvorak. At 2 p.m., 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 586-4680, pscny.org; $9 and $11. (Tommasini) MET ORCHESTRA (Sunday) High in fiber, high in calories and generally high in content, the Met Orchestras Carnegie Hall concerts are the Danny Meyer meals of classical music. They are long, satisfying and generally delectable, depending on the condition of the chef-conductor, James Levine. The program offers something for every taste, including the expected high-modernist course -- the premiere of Theologoumenon by Charles Wuorinen -- and the expected star soloist: the brilliant, rigorous violinist Christian Tetzlaff, playing the Beethoven concerto. But the main course is the Brahms Third. At 3 p.m., (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $50 to $160. (Midgette) NEW YORK COLLEGIUM (Tonight) Those favoring a reductive sweep of music history called Arnold Schoenberg and his contemporaries the Second Viennese school, the implication being that the thriving music world running roughly from Mozart through Beethoven and Schubert was the First. But what of Viennese music before that? The New York Collegium explores Baroque-era Viennese music, with works by Biber, Schmelzer and others who might prove worth a fresh look. At 8 (preconcert talk at 7), Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, Lexington Avenue at 66th Street, (212) 717-9246, nycollegium.org; $30 to $60. (Kozinn) NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Tomorrow and Thursday) Zubin Mehta, music director of the Philharmonic from 1978 to 1991, returns to conduct the orchestra in Bruckners Symphony No. 7. But the highlight of the evening is likely to be Alisa Weilerstein, a passionate and highly talented 24-year-old cellist, who makes her subscription debut with the orchestra, playing Elgars intense Cello Concerto. On Thursday Riccardo Muti conducts a program including Scriabins Divin Poème and Tchaikovskys Violin Concerto, with the excellent Russian violinist Vadim Repin as soloist. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, nyphil.org; $28 to $96. (Schweitzer) SONGS OF PEACE AND WAR (Wednesday) Delving into the song repertory to uncover surprising and pleasing nuggets, the New York Festival of Song has as much to teach singers as audiences. For their second collaboration with singers enrolled at the Juilliard School, the directors Steven Blier and Michael Barrett return to a program that originated in 2003, offering a range of songs, by composers from Shostakovich to Bob Dylan, on themes that remain all too timely. At 8 p.m., Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Juilliard School, 155 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 769-7406, www.nyfos.org; free, but tickets are required. (Midgette) TRIBUTE TO ARTURO TOSCANINI (Tuesday) The Symphonica Toscanini, founded last year in Rome, with Lorin Maazel as its music director, is introducing itself to New York in a collaboration with Mr. Maazels other orchestra, the New York Philharmonic. The concert, billed as a tribute to the Italian orchestras namesake on the 50th anniversary of his death, includes Strausss Don Juan and Tchaikovskys Francesca da Rimini, as well as arias by Cilea, Puccini and Rossini. Renée Fleming is the soloist. At 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, nyphil.org; $50 to $175. (Kozinn) Dance Full reviews of recent performances: nytimes.com/dance. CLARE BYRNE DANCE (Tonight through Sunday) Clare Byrne, a nicely quirky longtime presence in New York modern dance, describes her Rounds, the First Last Dance, or the Last First Dance, or an Ordination as calling up the doing-ness of dance. Uh-oh. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, Sunday at 3 p.m., Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway, at Chambers Street, TriBeCa, (212) 279-4200, ticketcentral.com; $20. (Jennifer Dunning) CEDAR LAKE CONTEMPORARY BALLET (Thursday) The company opens its winter season with a program of dance by Jacopo Godani of Italy, Edgar Zendejas of Mexico and New Yorks own Benoit-Swan Pouffer, who directs Cedar Lake. (Through Jan. 27.) At 8 p.m., Cedar Lake Theater, 547 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212) 868-4444, smarttix.com; $30; $20 for 65+ and students with ID. (Dunning) * Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks (Tuesday through Thursday) In her first appearance at Dance Theater Workshop since the 1980s, Yoshiko Chuma uses 15 musicians and dancers to explore the stories of artists living in Albania, Macedonia, Japan and the United States. Dont miss what should be a layered, evocative depiction of nations struggling amid war. (Through Jan. 20.) At 7:30 p.m., Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 924-0077, dtw.org; $15 and $25. (Claudia La Rocco) COMPANY EAST (Tonight through Sunday) Hiroshi Jins Company East makes its United States debut in a dance-theater production of Medea that incorporates elements of Noh theater, Western modern dance and karate stances. Tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30, Sunday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., La MaMa E.T.C., 74A East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 475-7710, lamama.org; $20; $15 for students and 65+. (Dunning) COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET (Tonight through Sunday) This company, founded in 1994 by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, is notable for its wonderful dancers and, often, less-than-wonderful choreography. But this season looks promising, with a work by Mr. Rhoden to the music of Marvin Gaye; new pieces by Jodie Gates; and a solo for Mr. Richardson -- one of dances true stars -- by Taye Diggs. Yes, that Taye Diggs. Tonight at 8, tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-0800, joyce.org; $42; $32 for Joyce members. (Roslyn Sulcas) * DANCE ON CAMERA FESTIVAL (Today and tomorrow) Presented by the Dance Films Association and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, this festival ranges more widely than ever, with nine dance programs created for the camera, documentaries and archival compilations. Other programs, at other locations, include a retrospective of work by Elaine Summers and discussions on editing and creating dance with a narrative. Today at 1, 3:30, 6:15 and 8:30 p.m.; tomorrow at 2 and 4 p.m., Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 496-3809, dancefilms.org; $10; $5 for 65+ and children 6 through 12. (Dunning) JEAN ISAACS SAN DIEGO DANCE THEATER (Tonight and tomorrow night) This program includes a new piece by Jeffrey Gerodias, a former Alvin Ailey dancer, and four quartets to music by Steve Reich. At 8:30, Danspace Project, St. Marks Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194, danspaceproject.org; $20; $15 for students and 65+. (Dunning) * Japanese Contemporary Dance Showcase (Tuesday through Thursday) If its January in New York, it must be time for Japanese dance. For this events 10th anniversary, the Japan Society has relocated to the Joyce. But the eclectic, pop-influenced sampler should be just as strange and beguiling as ever. Two programs feature work by Pappa Tarahumara, Kim Itoh & the Glorious Future, Leni-Basso and Noism07. (Through Jan. 21.) Tuesday through Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 8 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-0800; $30; $23 for members. (La Rocco) * LOWER LIGHTS COLLECTIVE (Tonight, tomorrow and Thursday) Members of this multimedia group have worked with some pretty impressive people in dance. And how can you go wrong with a group that describes its collaborative process as ignoring one another while allowing for the subtle influence of what is seen out of the corner of the eye? In its new CRAM, the group will pour dance; a live horror film; sound and noise installations; a living sculpture using potatoes as percussion; and an orchestra of instruments made from architectural salvage into every cranny of this space. (Through Jan. 20.) At 8 p.m., Chocolate Factory, 5-49 49th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, (212) 352-3101, chocolatefactorytheater.org; $15. (Dunning) NETA DANCE COMPANY (Sunday) Produced by Neta Pulvermacher and Marisa Beatty, this second season of monthly dance-and-talk series, The A.W.A.R.D. Show, opens with a program featuring dance by Amanda Loulaki, Kiyoko Kashiwagi, Ming-Lung Yang and Mei-Yin Ng. The series, which runs through May 20, concludes with one participant receiving a $10,000 grant. At 7 p.m., Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street, between Houston and Prince Streets, (212) 334-7479, joyce.org; free. (Dunning) * NEW YORK CITY BALLET (Tonight through Sunday, and Tuesday through Thursday) The last four performances of The Sleeping Beauty, with Wendy Whelan, Nikolaj Hübbe and Jennie Somogyi (Friday); Ashley Bouder, Benjamin Millepied and Amanda Hankes (Saturday matinee); Megan Fairchild, Joaquin De Luz and Ellen Bar (Saturday evening); and Sterling Hyltin, Jared Angle and Teresa Reichlen (Sunday matinee). Next week the company begins its controversial theme programming, beginning on Tuesday with Stravinsky and Balanchine: An Eternal Partnership (Agon, Monumentum/Movements, Duo Concertant and Symphony in Three Movements). The project continues on Wednesday and Thursday with Tradition and Innovation (George Balanchines Mozartiana and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, and Mauro Bigonzettis In Vento). Who knows? The selections may well encourage audiences to ruminate on these weighty conceits. Tonight at 8, tomorrow at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 8 p.m., New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 870-5570, nycballet.com; $20 to $95. (Dunning) * PEAK PERFORMANCES @ MONTCLAIR: TRISHA BROWN (Thursday) Ms. Brown, now 70, celebrates her long and influential career in modern dance with a new work, I love my robots, that suggests that she is as innovative as ever. A collaboration with the visual artist Kenjiro Okazaki and the performance artist Laurie Anderson, robots will feature what Mr. Okazaki describes as two interactive sculptural apparitions. The evening also includes performances of Ms. Browns 1983 Set and Reset and her 2005 how long does the subject linger on the edge of the volume? (Through Jan. 21.) At 7:30 p.m., Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, N.J., (973) 655-5112, peakperfs.org; $35. (Dunning) LAURA PETERSON CHOREOGRAPHY (Tonight and tomorrow night) Ms. Peterson, who has danced with everyone from Risa Jaroslow to Poppo and the GoGo Boys, describes her new I Love Dan Flavin as a tongue-in-cheek futuristic dance with fluorescent light and pioneering techno music. (Through Jan. 27.) At 8, Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, between Houston and Prince Streets, Lower East Side, (212) 219-0736, Ext. 11, dixonplace.org; $12 to $15 or T.D.F. vouchers; $10 for students and 65+. (Dunning) Martine Pisani (Thursday) Three may be a crowd, but in Bande à Part (Band of Outsiders), four is a solo. The French choreographer Martine Pisani seeks to mold the work of four performers into one solo, a single performer at a time, while the rest of the ensemble looks on. (Through Jan. 21.) At 8:30 p.m., Danspace Project, St. Marks Church, 131 East 10th Street, East Village, (212) 674-8194; $15 or T.D.F. vouchers. (La Rocco) VISION DANCE MUSIC SERIES (Tuesday through Thursday) This six-day festival has two to four shows a night featuring collaborations among dance and music artists like Sally Silvers, Baraka de Soleil and Gloria McLean. (Through Jan. 21.) At 7:30 p.m., Teatro La Tea @ Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street, Lower East Side, (212) 696-6681, visionfestival.org; $20 a night; $10 a night for students and 65+; $40 for three nights. (Dunning) Art Museums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. Museums * American Museum of Natural History: GOLD, through Aug. 19. Having delved into pearls, diamonds and amber, the museum applies its time-tested show-and-tell formula to gold. An astounding array of art, artifacts and natural samples, larded with fascinating facts and tales, ranges from prehistoric times to the present. Stops along the way include pre-Columbian empires, sunken treasure, Bangladesh dowry rituals and the moon landing. It turns out that gold comes from the earth in forms as beautiful as anything man has thought to do with it. Central Park West and 79th Street, (212) 769-5100, amnh.org. (Roberta Smith) China Institute: Shu, through Feb. 24. This second installation of a two-part show glances back at the period of artistic expansion in the 1970s, and its contraction, after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Qiu Zhijies photographic library, which papers the walls of the China Institutes main staircase, makes evident the information explosion in the 80s. Among the thousands of titles are Chinese classics, books on natural sciences and treatises by Plato, Disraeli and Harold Bloom. Such a trove might have been considered a treasure before Tiananmen Square; afterward, such resources became sources of angst. The figure that appears throughout Zhang Xiaogangs 1991 series Private Notes, for example, looks as if he is losing his mind -- and his head, torso and myriad other body parts -- as he struggles to write letters and decode illegible manuscripts. Without easy access to words, the images imply, there can be no such thing as free expression. 125 East 65th Street, (212) 744-8181, chinainstitute.org. (Bridget L. Goodbody) Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: DESIGN LIFE NOW: NATIONAL DESIGN TRIENNIAL 2006, through July 29. This ambitious show illuminates the volatile, contradictory and ever-expanding field, but fails to call it to order. The inclusions cover medical innovation, military hardware, frivolous reiterations of received ideas, sundry Web sites and magazines, haute couture, architecture and more varieties of recycling than you can easily count. The show coalesces into deliberately orchestrated skirmishes between conflicting principles and entities: corporate and private, decorative and essential. 2 East 91st Street, (212) 849-8400, ndm.si.edu. (Smith) * GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM: Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso, TIME, TRUTH, AND HISTORY through March 28. This show is carried along on its sheer star power and optical finesse. There are dozens of Goyas and Velázquezes and Zurbaráns and El Grecos and Riberas and Dalís and Picassos, many famous, many not. The big point is that Spanish art did not constantly reinvent itself over time. It was a bubble culture, sustained for centuries by its political and religious isolation and its national loner mindset. Velázquezs painting of a dwarf is alone worth crossing a continent to see. 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, (212) 423-3500, guggenheim.org. (Michael Kimmelman) * THE METropolitan museum of art: GLITTER AND DOOM: GERMAN PORTRAITS FROM THE 1920s, through Feb. 19. This shows 100 paintings and drawings are by 10 artists, among them George Grosz, Christian Schad, Rudolf Schlichter and Karl Hubbuch, and most conspicuously the unrelentingly savage Otto Dix and his magnificent other, Max Beckmann. In their works the Weimar Republics porous worlds reassemble. We look into the faces of forward-looking museum directors and cabaret performers, society matrons and scarred war veterans, prostitutes and jaded aristocrats who were watching their world slide from one cataclysm to the next. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Smith) * THE MET: LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY AND LAURELTON HALL -- AN ARTISTS COUNTRY ESTATE, through May 20. Laurelton Hall may have burned to the ground in 1957, but this exhibition does an excellent job of reassembling what remains of this extraordinary house-museum and its gardens, which Tiffany created for himself in the early 1900s. The Gilded Age opulence of the place, which occupied 580 acres overlooking Long Island Sound -- and of the Tiffany residences preceding it -- is conveyed most blatantly by the Temple-of-Dendur-size Daffodil Terrace, in wood, marble and glass. The main events are the glass windows, vases and lamps, where Tiffanys genius for color, love of the exotic and reverence for nature coalesce into an unforgettable mystical materialism. (See above.) (Smith) * MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM: SAUL STEINBERG: ILLUMINATIONS, through March 4. Saul Steinbergs famous New Yorker cover positioning Manhattan at the center of the world may be his best-known drawing, but he took on everything with visual puns, manic doodles, grandiloquent calligraphy and other inspired artifice. As this show of more than 100 drawings, collages and constructions goes on, Steinbergs progress is evident: from relatively simple cartoons like Feet on Chair (1946), in which a fellow reading a newspaper parks his feet on the seat of an ornate Victorian monstrosity, to complex comments on the state of the world, like Street War (Cadavre Exquisis) (about 1972-74), derived from news clips of postcolonial troubles in the Middle East and Africa. The flow of his work amazes. 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 685-0008, morganlibrary.org. (Grace Glueck) * MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: A CITY ON PAPER: SAUL STEINBERGS NEW YORK, through March 25. A very lively adjunct to the Morgan show, this smaller display of some 40 drawings focuses on New York. An architect, Steinberg was particularly attracted to edifices like the Chrysler Building, which appears here looming majestically over brownstones and in another incarnation, from a perspective directly below it, looking positively squat. New York people, in Steinbergs eyes, could be monuments, too. You may think you know Steinbergs work, but these shows make it new. 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, (212) 534-1672, mcny.org. (Glueck) Whitney Museum of American Art: Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005, through Feb. 11. Many things fly and float here: men and women, harpies and angels, birds and beasts, toadstools and stars. And some things fall to earth, or rather to the museums black stone floors, maybe to rise again, maybe not. The whole show, a midcareer retrospective, suggests a Victorian fairy tale, its tone at once light, grievous and dreamlike. But fanciful as it is, Ms. Smiths art is also deeply, corporeally realistic. It wears moral and mortal seriousness on its sleeve, if not tattooed on its wrist. It is about life and death, the essential things. 945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street, (212) 570-3676, whitney.org. (Holland Cotter) Galleries: Chelsea * SERGIO PREGO To take the fullest pleasure in this exhibition, you must stand perfectly still and quiet in front of Black Monday (2006), a single-channel video of still life photographs of con trolled fireworks explosions taken inside an abandoned factory in Bilbao, Spain. In all, the artist took more than a thousand photographs of 17 different explosions, using 40 cameras. He then scanned them into a computer, cropped them and ran them together to create the video. He also composed what he calls a sequencing of sounds, a series of repeating ambient electronic noises that serve as the soundtrack. The result is a multifaceted representation of something that is usually invisible to the eye: explosion clouds immobilized in time and space, forming immensely beautiful sculptural shapes. Lehmann Maupin Gallery, 540 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212) 255-2923, www.lehmannmaupin.com, through Feb 10. (Benjamin Genocchio) Last Chance * HENRY DARGER: THE VIVIAN GIRLS EMERGE Further proof that Henry Dargers epic art did not spring whole from a fevered outsider brain is provided by a cache of his early forays into image collecting and collage. Most spectacular is The Battle of Calverhine, a leathery, reliclike panorama of carefully knit and hand-tinted found images. It teems with all things Darger (and not a little Pop) and has never been exhibited in this country. Andrew Edlin Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 206-9723; closes tomorrow. (Smith) * CANDIDA HOFER In large color photographs of the different galleries of the Louvre, taken on Tuesdays when the museum is closed, both the long, vaulted spaces and the painting and sculpture they contain speak of different times and styles. Equally affecting, if not a little frightening, is the lavish, timeless grandeur of these vistas. A palace that became a museum, the Louvre is also a precursor of the barrel-vaulted arcades that sprang up in Paris in the first half of the 19th century. Most of them are gone, but the Louvres arcades live on. Sort of. Sonnabend Gallery, 536 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212) 627-1018; closes tomorrow(Smith) NINA KATCHADOURIAN: OFFICE SEMAPHORE Ms. Katchadourian has borrowed marine flag signaling techniques to create an interactive art project consisting of an old-fashioned tourist telescope installed at the corner of a plaza in the middle of the financial district, its lens trained on the window of an upper-floor office in a nearby skyscraper. Each day the man working in the office, or his assistant, arranges objects on his widow sill. The combination and order of the objects represent a specific message, which viewers down on the plaza can interpret using a key-chart on the telescope. 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, corner of Liberty and William Streets, Lower Manhattan; stairway entrance to the plaza is on William Street, at Cedar Street; www.publicartfund.org; closes on Sunday. (Genocchio) * The MET: SEAN SCULLY: WALL OF LIGHT The capacious, day-lighted mezzanine galleries at the Met are the perfect setting for Sean Scullys bold and energizing Wall of Light paintings from the series he started in 1998. These large-scale oils on canvas wow the viewer with their scale, intensity of color and sheer dominance of space. They are complemented by tiny independent watercolors that Mr. Scully sees as antidotes to the big ones. All have this in common: They are richly painted surfaces of close-laid vertical and horizontal bars (he calls them bricks), whose arrangement suggests constructed walls of stone. Although they appear totally abstract, with their all-over arrangements of bars that superficially vary only in color, size and juxtaposition, they evoke landscapes, people, events, the work of other artists. Im trying to turn stone into light, Mr. Scully has said, and the more you look at them, the more filled with light and life they become. (212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org; closes on Monday. (Glueck) HELEN MIRRA: BREAK CAMP This show of carefully composed, low-lying sculptures made from cut-up wood pallets has a smooth, almost Zen serenity, but its thoughtful brand of Post-Minimalism seems both precious and overly familiar, creating the impression of an engaging sensibility that could aim much higher. Peter Freeman Inc., 560 Broadway, at Prince Street, SoHo, (212) 966-5154; closes tomorrow. (Smith) * Museum of Arts & Design: Simply DROOG: 10 + 3 YEARS OF CREATING DISCUSSION AND INNOVATION. Droog Design, a many-headed, loosely affiliated collective of usually, but not entirely, Dutch designers and architects, has probably generated more discussion than innovation in its 13 years of existence. Presented in a free-flowing, Droog-designed layout, this show vigorously continues the process. It includes about 150 mostly domestic objects by scores of designers. Some are great, some are silly, some are Conceptual Art. But there is plenty to sink your teeth into, especially with help from the small free brochure containing label information and rationales for each item. 40 West 53rd Street, (212) 956-3535, madmuseum.org; closes on Sunday. (Smith) * Moma: BRICE MARDEN: A RETROSPECTIVE OF PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS This quietly magnificent 40-year retrospective pays tribute to an artist who helped rebuild painting in the 1970s, working back from the brink of single-panel monochromes to elegant tangles of thick line on vibrant monochrome grounds that encompass a tremendous emotional range and sense of physical energy, and give the lie to the idea that any art can be purely formal or completely abstract. Mr. Marden converted the rule-ridden zone of Minimalist abstraction into a capacious yet disciplined place, pushing it toward landscape, the figure and its roots in Abstract Expressionism and beyond, in non-Western art. And he may have saved the best for last. (212) 708-9400; closes on Monday. (Smith) * P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center: DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER With 46 artists and a mix of usual and unusual suspects, this exhibition forms a black hole in which Dada, Fluxus, Punk, Pop, Conceptual and Neo-Conceptual mingle like cackling furies, along with Performance art, feminism, abject art and various forms of appropriation. While its dour tone becomes a bit relentless, it is admirably consistent and shows artists grappling with reality, which has its own kind of comfort. 22-25 Jackson Avenue, at 46th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, (718) 784-2084, ps1.org; closes on Monday. (Smith) P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center: THE GOLD STANDARD Gold is both color and subject in this glittering, pertinent show, installed on creamy yellow walls. Even though a generally dim view of contemporary society prevails, it is scary how good gold makes everything look. (See above.) Closes on Monday (Smith) Sigmar Polke Painting is mans oldest conjuring trick, and Sigmar Polke is one of its reigning magicians. In this show, new paintings and those from the 1980s, all two-sided and painted with resin, surround a small selection of German Baroque amber (Bernstein is German for amber) jewelry and exquisite tchotchkes. The show simulates a Wunderkammer, a darkened wonder cabinet of the 17th or 18th century. The paintings, made translucent by the resin, nearly defy deciphering. Doodles and abstract splashes of white paint overlay murky washes of glowing resin on both sides of their membranous support, then cast dim shadows on the wall behind, so that the pictures seem suspended in midair, floating. Michael Werner Gallery, 4 East 77th Street, (212) 988-1623, www.michaelwerner.net; closes tomorrow (Kimmelman) Queens Museum of Art: Queens International 2006: Everything All at Once. The 52 artists and two collaboratives in this exhibition are natives of various regions of North America, as well as of Bosnia, China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Peru and Venezuela. The only common ground, perhaps, is that they all live in Queens. Instead of arranging the work according to medium, ethnicity or generalized themes, the curators follow the edict of the exhibitions subtitle. The show tries to balance the interests of the art crowd and local residents. Sometimes these concerns dovetail nicely, as in Sophia Peers quick-cut video Everyday, which shows her aging parents moving around their cramped home in Queens like latter-day, empty-nest Bunkers. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, (718) 592-9700, www.queensmuseum.org; closes on Sunday. (Martha Schwendener)

Moewe Officers Story of Famous Sea Raider; There Never Was a Quicker Ship at Changing Her Clothes -- Captures Made by the German Ship Dramatically Told

MERELY as a matter of dramatic value in a story it would have been better if the crew of the German sea raider Mowe had found it necessary to use the dynamite, which they always kept in readiness, to blow up their own vessel in midocean to save her from capture by the British cruisers.

Notable Books

This list has been selected from books reviewed since the Holiday Books issue of December 1998. It is meant to suggest some of the high points in this years fiction and poetry, nonfiction, childrens books, mysteries and science fiction. The books are arranged alphabetically under genre headings. The complete reviews of these books may be found at The New York Times on the Web: www.nytimes.com/books. FICTION & POETRY AHABS WIFE: Or, The Star-Gazer. By Sena Jeter Naslund. (Morrow, $28.) The great whaling novel reworked from a female, liberal, Protestant point of view, with compassion replacing obsession and good deeds determining a happy ending; Ahabs wife gets along without him very well. AMSTERDAM. By Ian McEwan. (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $21.) In this tartly comic novel, winner of the 1998 Booker Prize, the author dispatches his self-important heroes, a composer and an editor, on the very short road from hubris to nemesis. AMY AND ISABELLE. By Elizabeth Strout. (Random House, $22.95.) This evocative first novel examines with ruthless intimacy the relationship between a girl of 16 and her mother, who have only recently begun to hate each other. THE ANNIVERSARY: And Other Stories. By Louis Auchincloss. (Houghton Mifflin, $25.) A collection of short stories about life in the upper crust by the master of the contemporary fiction of manners. ANOTHER WORLD. By Pat Barker. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.) Old hatreds, wounds and guilt, simmering from World War I and beyond, haunt a family in a novel set in modern Newcastle. THE ARTISTS WIDOW. By Shena Mackay. (Moyer Bell, $21.95.) The Scottish writer deliciously skewers fin de siecle solipsism in a novel where characters proffer cloying floral tributes and canned platitudes, and where the only genuine sensibility is the title characters grief. BE COOL. By Elmore Leonard. (Delacorte, $24.95.) The further adventures of Chili Palmer, mobster turned movie producer, now in the record business. THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY. Edited by John Updike and Katrina Kenison. (Houghton Mifflin, $28.) A collection that celebrates short fiction in the United States and a series called Best American Short Stories, in whose annual volumes each of the stories in this anthology once appeared. BONE BY BONE. By Peter Matthiessen. (Random House, $26.95.) The last of three novels inhabited and propelled by Edgar J. Watson, a cane planter, developer and murderer whose conquest of Floridas Gulf Coast marches with the imperialist impulses of the young United States. THE BOOK BORROWER. By Alice Mattison. (Morrow, $24.) A wrenching novel that embraces two stories: the 20-year friendship of two women in contemporary New York, and the career of an anarchist agitator of the 1920s, a woman who shows up in old age to make a lot of trouble. THE BOOK OF HAPPINESS. By Nina Berberova. (New Directions, $23.95.) Set in the years surrounding the Russian Revolution, this novel of passionate candor allows its characters to love without irony and to speak ingenuously about what they really want (including happiness). THE BREAKAGE. By Glyn Maxwell. (Houghton Mifflin, $22.) With a host of dexterous and nimbly honed lines and images, this young poet blends the brutally honest introspection of American poets like Frost and Lowell with accessible, lighthearted language reminiscent of mid-20th-century British masters like Auden and Betjeman. BREAKFAST ON PLUTO. By Patrick McCabe. (HarperFlamingo, $22.) An effusively cheerful transvestite, disengaged in a London paralyzed by I.R.A. bombs, is the protagonist of this novel by a master of the literary macabre. Breath and Shadows. By Ella Leffland. (Morrow, $24.) Suffused with a moonlit melancholy, this novel braids together three generations of a Danish family to pose a haunting question: what do we leave behind to prove we have ever existed? Brief interviews with hideous men. By David Foster Wallace. (Little, Brown, $24.) In their depictions of characters whose deviant behavior puts them an angstrom away from undiluted sociopathy, these stories employ an incisive moral sensibility to dissect WASP-y male self-absorption. CAN YOU WAVE BYE BYE, BABY? Stories. By Elyse Gasco. (Picador USA, $17.) A vivid first story collection, revolving around contentious issues of adoption and parenthood; mothers are uncertain on points of biology and feeling, while fathers may be absent but never suffer doubts. CHOCOLAT. By Joanne Harris. (Viking, $22.95.) An accomplished and tempting novel in which a French village priest is inspired to sabotage when he perceives (correctly) a chocolate festival that coincides with Easter as an assault on the faith. CITY OF LIGHT. By Lauren Belfer. (Dial, $24.95.) In this historical novel, the headmistress of a girls school in turn-of-the-century Buffalo finds herself caught between scientists and environmentalists as Niagara Falls is tapped for electric power. COLLECTED POEMS: 1920-1954. By Eugenio Montale. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $40.) Jonathan Galassis superb translation, with commentary, of the three principal books of a man of letters now recognized as one of Italys greatest poets. THE Colony of Unrequited Dreams. By Wayne Johnston. (Doubleday, $24.95.) An eloquent biographical anti-epic novel whose protagonist, the nebbishy but effectual Joseph Smallwood, betrays its real hero, the great, mysterious island of Newfoundland, into incorporation with Canada. THE CONVERSION. By Aharon Appelfeld. (Schocken, $22.) An apostate seems to learn that Jews should remain Jews in this quasi-historical novel that analyzes the significance of religious identity in the disintegrating Hapsburg Empire. THE COUNTRY LIFE. By Rachel Cusk. (Picador USA, $24.) A controlled and subversive comic novel in the British tradition of wet and weedy country life, inhabited by unscrupulous rural tyrants, told by a governess from London who is off her own hinges. CRYPTONOMICON. By Neal Stephenson. (Avon, $27.50.) A sprawling, picaresque post-modern narrative about code making and code breaking, set both during World War II and in the present day. DAMASCUS. By Richard Beard. (Arcade, $23.95.) Time goes nowhere in this deft, charming novel whose lead characters, two otherwise unremarkable Britons, are born, fall in love, suffer immersion in a triangle and do whatever else they do on the identical date in November. A Dangerous Friend. By Ward Just. (Peter Davison/Houghton Mifflin, $23.) As its well-meaning civilian hero attempts to find an American officer captured in Vietnam, this novel emerges as an allegory for this countrys place in the increasingly deranged world of the mid-1960s. DEVILS VALLEY. By Andre Brink. (Harcourt Brace, $24.) A mythographic novel that resurrects and reburies the Afrikaner past by creating a town, isolated for 150 years, where all is so white a portrait painter forbids himself brown pigments. DREAMLAND. By Kevin Baker. (HarperCollins, $26.) A jampacked historical fantasy that flings real and imaginary characters into the whirlwind of dangerous, irresistible energy that was New York City in the first decade of this century. THE DREAM MISTRESS. By Jenny Diski. (Ecco, $23.95.) A novel that weaves narrative, dream and memory into a web of resonant interconnections between a woman who suffers from trances and a bag lady who has neither name nor face. DUANES DEPRESSED. By Larry McMurtry. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) In fact, Duanes not so depressed; hes just taking time out at 62 to rework and unclutter his life in the final volume of the expansive half-century Texas trilogy that began with The Last Picture Show. EAST INTO UPPER EAST: Plain Tales From New York and New Delhi. By Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. (Counterpoint, $25.) Stories by a spellbinding urban fabulist, concerning divided souls -- people whose protective coloration belies their inner longings -- in two great cities. Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice. By A. S. Byatt. (Random House, $21.95.) In stories that home in on the place where aesthetics and moralism meet, priggish northerners fettered by incuriosity (the greatest crime in the universe of Byatts creation) are forced to rub shoulders with a warmer-blooded breed -- artists, mostly -- who share an unremitting interest in the world around them. EMPRESS OF THE SPLENDID SEASON. By Oscar Hijuelos. (HarperFlamingo, $25.) A tender novel, by the author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, in which a beautiful Cuban emigre who works as a cleaning lady is the victim of a struggle between her instinct for self-invention and her inability to devise a suitable self. ENGLAND, ENGLAND. By Julian Barnes. (Knopf, $23.) This satirical novel suggests that while there may always be an England, its immediate future looks more like a theme park than an empire. THE EXPERIMENT. By John Darnton. (Dutton, $24.95.) A scientific thriller, by the culture editor of The New York Times, in which things go hair-raisingly wrong when the commanders of new technologies succumb to the lust for immortality. EXPOSE. By Laura Van Wormer. (Mira, $21.95.) In this romantic suspense novel, a reporter returns home to Connecticut and solves the murder of her father two decades earlier. FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES. By Nathan Englander. (Knopf, $22.) Ambitious short stories by a 29-year-old former yeshiva student from New York, now living in secular Israel; his characters are able to flourish in a borderland between the authors old world and that new one. FREDY NEPTUNE. By Les Murray. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.50.) This verse novel follows an itinerant Everyman from Australia, afflicted with an unusual power, as he travels through the horrors of the 20th century. FREEDOM SONG: Three Novels. By Amit Chaudhuri. (Knopf, $24.) Brilliant, artfully plotless narratives by a writer less interested in any particular story than in the bits of life and temporary states out of which lives are made. GAP CREEK. By Robert Morgan. (Algonquin, $22.95.) Rotten luck almost always prevails for the penniless characters in Morgans third novel, set in rural North Carolina at the turn of the century; but the book sings with its detailed evocations of daily life and strategies for getting through it. A GESTURE LIFE. By Chang-rae Lee. (Riverhead, $23.95.) In this wise and tender novel, kindly Franklin Hata, Korean-born, prosperous in a New York suburb, reflects on his acts in World War II and tries to work out his true identity. THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET. By Salman Rushdie. (Holt, $27.50.) Gods, humans and rock performers mix and match conduct -- some horrific, some charming -- in a novel not of our world but of a dangerous, fragile one, riven with earthquakes and set at a refractive angle to ours. HANNIBAL. By Thomas Harris. (Delacorte, $27.95.) The rematch between the intrepid F.B.I. agent Clarice Starling and the monstrous Dr. Hannibal Lecter. HARLEM GALLERY: And Other Poems. By Melvin B. Tolson. (University Press of Virginia, cloth, $60; paper, $18.95.) A collection by a great voice of the Harlem Renaissance. Havana Bay. By Martin Cruz Smith. (Random House, $24.95.) Arkady Renko, taciturn Russian police detective and star of Gorky Park, fetches up in Cuba bent on suicide; he is revitalized when his plan is rudely thwarted by a would-be assassin. HAVING EVERYTHING. By John LHeureux. (Atlantic Monthly, $24.) The secret neurosis of a psychiatrist at Harvard leads into an unwanted affair with a colleagues wife in this sendup of psychiatry and the academy. HEAVY WATER: And Other Stories. By Martin Amis. (Harmony, $21.) Stories in which Amiss comic timing, perfect pitch and curatorial eye are applied to issues like sexual norms, the rewards of poetry and the date of the end of the world. HOMESICKNESS. By Murray Bail. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, paper, $14.) An Australian novel that cogitates on the dubious pleasures of mass tourism as a group of 13 follows a senseless itinerary through surreal and baffling museums. THE HONEY THIEF. By Elizabeth Graver. (Hyperion, $22.95.) An elegant, straightforward novel in which a troubled 11-year-old girl, her widowed mother and a reclusive beekeeper attain, not happiness, but a position in which it is possible. HUMAN VOICES. By Penelope Fitzgerald. (Mariner/Houghton Mifflin, paper, $12.) In her wry novel set during the blitz, the author uses the BBCs Broadcasting House as a microcosm in which the 9 oclock news kept Britain abreast of the progress of its finest hour. ICE FIRE WATER: A Leib Goldkorn Cocktail. By Leslie Epstein. (Norton, $23.95.) A travel tale, a historical meditation, a Holocaust revenge fantasy, a bedroom farce and a comedy of manners, starring Epsteins indestructible hero in his third and most ambitious appearance. INCUBUS. By Ann Arensberg. (Knopf, $24.) Symptoms of witchcraft (wilted crops, monstrous births), followed by bodiless sexual entities, descend on a Maine town, apparently as metaphors for its social inadequacies, in this postmodern psychological Gothic novel. IN SEPTEMBER, THE LIGHT CHANGES: Stories. By Andrew Holleran. (Hyperion, $23.95.) Finely made stories, sharply awake to the idioms, cadences and concerns of gay life in the late 20th century, obsessionally aware of the passing of friends, health and youth. Interpreter Of Maladies: Stories. By Jhumpa Lahiri. (Mariner/Houghton Mifflin, paper, $12.) In an elegant debut collection that navigates the cultural border between India and America, people marry in haste and, wondrously, acquire sympathy for their improbable mates at leisure. THE INTUITIONIST. By Colson Whitehead. (Anchor, $19.95.) An ingenious, original first novel that pits empiricism against intuition in elevator inspection by way of approaching racial struggle and social progress. ITALIAN FEVER. By Valerie Martin. (Knopf, $22.) Consciousness rather than plot develops in this novel that uses Italy as background to examine the effects of lovemaking on its reflective heroine. JACKSTRAWS: Poems. By Charles Simic. (Harcourt Brace, $22.) In several poems addressed to the moral and eschatological dimensions of insect life, Simic snatches profundities from the air around him, like so many flies to some wanton boy. Jem (and Sam). By Ferdinand Mount. (Carroll & Graf, $25.95.) A rollicking novel of the Restoration, told from the viewpoint of one Jeremiah Mount (in real life a drinking buddy of Samuel Pepys and a possible progenitor of the author), who, though gripped by a professional envy that would stagger Salieri, comes at last to find saving grace in failure. THE JEW OF NEW YORK. By Ben Katchor. (Pantheon, $20.) Set in a shadowy, understated, mysteriously opaque New York of 1830, this graphic novel revolves, often at some distance, around a plan for a Jewish refuge upstate and a wandering, disgraced kosher slaughterer who has briefly been there. A JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM. By A. B. Yehoshua. (Doubleday, $24.95.) Starting in A.D. 999, the pre-eminent Israeli modernist whisks some Jewish merchants across Europe to expose and examine the breaches between Sephardi and Ashkenazi, Jew and Christian, Muslim and Jew, men and women. Juneteenth. By Ralph Ellison. Edited by John F. Callahan. (Random House, $25.) Assembled by his literary executor from mountains of notes, this story of a racist white senator raised as black may or may not be construed as Ellisons second novel. KAFKAS CURSE. By Achmat Dangor. (Pantheon, $22.) A novel of magical fables in which the lies and lunacy of apartheid in the old South Africa continue their work in the new -- when, for instance, a man who had faked his race for a higher notch is metamorphosed into a tree. THE KIND IM LIKELY TO GET: A Collection. By Ken Foster. (Quill/Morrow, paper, $12.) Mostly urban short stories about mostly urban characters on whom the authors delicacy and attention confer a measure of lovability, though one wouldnt really want to know them. THE LAST LIFE. By Claire Messud. (Harcourt Brace, $24.) Messuds second novel concerns the conflicted history of the French who returned from Algiers and the thoughtful, prematurely wise narrators imaginative efforts to trace that history in her own inner formation. Last Things. By Jenny Offill. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23.) A quirky first novel follows its 7-year-old protagonist as she observes the descent into madness of her mother, who has built a private cosmos filled with signs and wonders. Layover. By Lisa Zeidner. (Random House, $24.) This novels heroine, who has endured maternal loss and marital betrayal, simply fails to come home one day, embarking on a parallel life of free (read illegal) hotel rooms and relentless sexual conquest. LIGHT IN THE CROSSING: Stories. By Kent Meyers. (St. Martins, $21.95.) A first collection of stories in a communal voice; their characters, dwellers in a Minnesota farm town, endure whatever arises, some by tenacity, others by hope. LITTLE GREEN MEN. By Christopher Buckley. (Random House, $24.95.) A witty, high-spirited political satire whose pretext is that flying saucers are a hoax by a government organization so secret even the president doesnt know about it. THE LONG FIRM. By Jake Arnott. (Soho, $25.) This challenging first novel (with five narrators) constructs, from the elements of Londons 1960s demimonde, a towering gay gangster, Harry Starks, who earns both our admiration and horror. THE LONG HOME. By William Gay. (MacMurray & Beck, $24.95.) This first novelist fears no theme, however large; its good versus evil in Faulkner territory, and good succeeds only when its better armed than evil and willing to exert violence. LOSING NELSON. By Barry Unsworth. (Doubleday, $23.95.) A provocative, absorbing novel whose mad hero hides from his own life by his elaborate identification with Admiral Nelson, a folly he understands well enough to labor at the same time to destroy it. LOUSE. By David Grand. (Arcade, $23.95.) An eerie and angry first novel that mirrors the anguish of workers in an age of job insecurity, video surveillance and shameless corporate euphemisms; its finest character is a monstrous capitalist modeled on the aging Howard Hughes. Love in a Dead Language: A Romance. By Lee Siegel. (University of Chicago, $25.) An ambitious and imaginative novel, masquerading as a commentary on the Kama Sutra, becomes a literary puzzle in which Nabokov, Joyce and Philip Roth provide the clues. LOVERS FOR A DAY. By Ivan Klima. (Grove, $24.) Twelve stories by the Czech writer reach from 1962 to 1994, describing the intersections of love and lovers before and after Communism. THE METAPHYSICAL TOUCH. By Sylvia Brownrigg. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.) A suicidal vagabond diarist who may or may not exist and a merely depressed flesh-and-blood graduate student in philosophy meet on the Internet in a first novel that explores the nature of being. MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN. By Jonathan Lethem. (Doubleday, $23.95.) An energetic, out-of-kilter detective novel that is as much about consciousness as crime; the narrator is a gumshoe afflicted with Tourettes syndrome. MR. DARWINS SHOOTER. By Roger McDonald. (Atlantic Monthly, $25.) An intellectually curious novel in which a devout seamans life is distorted by helping Darwins research and later believing Darwin meant all along to prove there is no God. MR. WROES VIRGINS. By Jane Rogers. (Overlook, $24.95.) An engaging, serious novel whose hero, the real-life prophet John Wroe (1782-1863), asked his congregation for seven virgins for his comfort and succor, and got them. MUSIC FOR TORCHING. By A. M. Homes. (Rob Weisbach/Morrow, $26.) Another provocative novel from an author who was almost banned in Britain, this time about a very odd couple in a middle-class suburbia that even Cheever never imagined. THE MUSIC LESSON. By Katharine Weber. (Crown, $21.) An elegant, suspenseful novel about a New York art historian who becomes part of an I.R.A. plot to steal a Vermeer painting. MY DATE WITH SATAN: Stories. By Stacey Richter. (Scribner, $22.) Sometimes very funny, sometimes bizarre to excess, the stories in this first collection are linked to one another by a sense of common humanity, even when it is displayed by scary-looking rock stars. MY FATHER, DANCING: Stories. By Bliss Broyard. (Knopf, $22.) The protagonists in Broyards first story collection have lived relatively sheltered, privileged lives as the daughters of sophisticated, worldly fathers whose influence is hard to shake. MY PEOPLES WALTZ. By Dale Ray Phillips. (Norton, $22.95.) A first collection of short stories, all concerning a family of bighearted sinners and their fortunes, which run to bad debts, bad love affairs and bad fishing trips but are always supported by a misguided capacity for hope. My Russian. By Deirdre McNamer. (Houghton Mifflin, $24.) When her husband is shot and gravely wounded and her virile Slavic gardener disappears without a trace, the heroine of this novel does what any sensible person would do: drops out of sight and returns incognito to redraw the course of her own life. THE NEW SWEET STYLE. By Vassily Aksyonov. (Random House, $29.95.) A luscious Russian novel with a love story at its heart, surrounded by picaresque events in America and demanding, the author insists, frequent help from the reader. THE NIGHT INSPECTOR. By Frederick Busch. (Harmony, $23.) A Union sniper in the Civil War, encased in a mask to hide his disfigurement from a wound that ended his Army career, makes unlikely friends with a famous author down on his luck who sounds a lot like Melville. NOTES OF A DESOLATE MAN. By Chu Tien-Wen. (Columbia University, $19.95.) The political isolation of Taiwan becomes a metaphor for the life of gay men in this lively, sharp-witted novel (written by a woman but narrated by a man) that directly addresses the consciousness of mortality. NOVEMBER 1916. The Red Wheel: Knot II. By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $35.) Disbelief is suspended in this huge novel as the mass of muddle and detail confronting ordinary Russians transcends the readers knowledge of what really ensued. ON THE BUS WITH ROSA PARKS. By Rita Dove. (Norton, $21.) In her meditations on Rosa Parks and other civil rights veterans, the poets eye and voice, trained for the nearly invisible detail, rescue characters from obscurity by illuminating their ordinariness. OPENED GROUND: Selected Poems, 1966-1996. By Seamus Heaney. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25.) A selection from earlier books, along with a few previously uncollected poems and his 1995 Nobel Prize address, that eloquently confirms Heaneys status as the most skillful and profound poet writing in English. ORIGINAL BLISS. By A. L. Kennedy. (Knopf, $21.) A novel by a Glaswegian woman in which another Glaswegian woman, hungry for love and touch, enters into a dark romance with a pop-psych guru, more or less arranged, she understands, by divine providence. OUT OF THE WOODS: Stories. By Chris Offutt. (Simon & Schuster, $21.) Lean, brilliant examinations of romantic obsessions whose love objects are not men and women but the whole state of Kentucky and in particular its landscape. THE PALACE. By Lisa St. Aubin de Tern. (Ecco, $23.95.) Glittering, passionate, minute description of material acquisitions enhances this novel about a former political prisoner who rises in society and builds a palace for the girl of his dreams. PARIS TRANCE: A Romance. By Geoff Dyer. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23.) A novel about a dithering young Englishman who comes to Paris to write a book and finds that contentment can curdle into inertia. THE PECULIAR MEMORIES OF THOMAS PENMAN. By Bruce Robinson. (Overlook, $24.95.) This first novel by the writer and director of Withnail and I conveys an implausible empathy for a horrid British schoolboy searching for personal identity in the grim, unregretted 1950s. THE PEKING LETTER: A Novel of the Chinese Civil War. By Seymour Topping. (Cornelia and Michael Bessie/Public Affairs, $25.) Combining personal memory, the intrigue of Chinas civil war and duscussions of Taoism, a former foreign correspondent and managing editor of The Times portrays a scholar who becomes involved in the revolutionary movement. PERLMANS ORDEAL. By Brooks Hansen. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.) This novels protagonist, a scrupulously ethical mesmerist practicing in London in 1906, is undone in a battle with a spiritualist over the treatment of a young girl who wants only to tell him about her invisible companion, an ancient demigoddess. PLAINSONG. By Kent Haruf. (Knopf, $24.) A novel solidly built in a single place, the high plains of Colorado; the characters unadorned lives are registered in unadorned prose, and people who doubt they could ever change go right ahead and change, without fussing, when they have to. THE PLEASING HOUR. By Lily King. (Atlantic Monthly, $24.) A first novel whose heroine, an American au pair in France, survives (but not undamaged) both the difficult social ambiguities and the more primitive urges that she encounters in her involvement with a French family. A Prayer for the Dying. By Stewart ONan. (Holt, $22.) In a novel that explores both the nature of evil and the limits of human endurance, a Civil War veteran must save a small Midwestern town beset by fire and plague -- catastrophes with mutually exclusive solutions -- or go mad trying. PU-239: And Other Russian Fantasies. By Ken Kalfus. (Milkweed, $22.) Short stories and a novella by a virtuoso of the dismal comedy of Soviet life, in which protagonists who keep the Soviet faith are most likely to become its victims. RIVER OF DARKNESS. By Rennie Airth. (Viking, $24.95.) A thriller about a British soldier deranged by the violence of World War I who becomes a psychopathic killer upon demobilization. THE RIVER SOUND: Poems. By W. S. Merwin. (Knopf, $23.) In his 70s, a poet who has won most of the prizes is still at work on the grieving that adheres to daily life, though part of his project is now to discern how the pain of learning what is lost is transformed into light at last. THE SEA CAME IN AT MIDNIGHT. By Steve Erickson. (Bard/Avon, $23.) Several stories mesh together, or fail to do so, at the level of echo and metaphor rather than plot in this firmly apocalyptic novel at whose center is a dislocated girl who sells memories in a Japanese brothel. THE SILENT DUCHESS. By Dacia Maraini. (Feminist Press, $19.95.) In this novel by one of Italys most prominent writers, an 18th-century Sicilian noblewomans refusal to speak is depicted in a slyly suspenseful story of grace and endurance. SINGLE & SINGLE. By John le Carre. (Scribner, $26.) International finance and Oedipal tensions form the backdrop for the new novel by the fictional spymaster. SMOKE SCREEN. By Vincent Patrick. (Morrow, $24.) Things are bad, and quickly get worse, for the cop and the crook who work together to foil Cuban biological blackmail in this novel by the author of The Pope of Greenwich Village. SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME: Stories. By Richard Bausch. (HarperFlamingo, $24.) In this collection, the author examines the human desire for solicitude. SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE. By John Rolfe Gardiner. (Knopf, $24.) A thoughtful, well-built novel whose hero, an American doctor in World War I, becomes estranged from his family and bewitched by a French nurse and healer. SONNY LISTON WAS A FRIEND OF MINE: Stories. By Thom Jones. (Little, Brown, $23.) His third collection of hard-nosed short stories features Joness usual suspects: souls awash in unwanted circumstances and mind-altering drugs. THE SOPRANOS. By Alan Warner. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.) A kind of gloomy farce by a young, talented Scottish novelist who has every sympathy with a pack of teenage choirgirls down in the big city, where wishfully licentious outbreaks fill up, for a while, the vacancy of hope. THE SOUND OF TRUMPETS. By John Mortimer. (Viking, $23.95.) The final third of the Rapstone Chronicles, in which Leslie Titmuss tries to sabotage the campaign of the local Tory candidate for Parliament. SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN. By Haruki Murakami. (Knopf, $22.) A pair of lovers, parted before they understand their fated mutual rightness, are forever unable to reclaim the past in this wise, discouraging novel. Still Waters In Niger. By Kathleen Hill. (Triquarterly/Northwestern University, $24.95.) Memory and anxiety are intertwined in a lyrical autobiographical novel, set in West Africa, that illuminates the losses and lapses of motherhood. Sugar and Rum. By Barry Unsworth. (Norton, paper, $13.) First published in Britain in 1988 and newly released here, this novel rails bitterly against Thatcherism, sending its aging, hard-drinking hero to do battle against the forces of despotism -- and writers block -- in a decaying Liverpool. THE SUMMER OF 39. By Miranda Seymour. (Norton, $23.95.) An adulterous episode in the life of the poet Laura Riding (described in Seymours biography of Robert Graves) is reworked in this novel to project issues beyond the real-life facts. THE TESSERACT. By Alex Garland. (Riverhead, $24.95.) A novel in the form of an often breathtaking narrative collage, set in the Philippines, in which the characters, stubborn in their belief in consequence and causation, cant figure out why things are happening to them. THE THINGS WE DO TO MAKE IT HOME. By Beverly Gologorsky. (Random House, $22.95.) A first novel that concerns Vietnam veterans and their wives, all of them wounded, none of them beyond the authors skill or her generosity. THUMBSUCKER. By Walter Kirn. (Broadway, paper, $14.) A kind of witty haplessness afflicts the characters in this novel of teenage angst inverted; Justin Cobb, narrator and protagonist, reduces the adults around him to childishness. Timbuktu. By Paul Auster. (Holt, $22.) Bereft of his longtime companion, this novels flea-bitten protagonist longs for nothing more than a bed, a bone and a biscuit but will settle for no more than perpetual enlightenment. THE TINY ONE. By Eliza Minot. (Knopf, $22.) Ostensibly an elegy for a mother, this persuasive novel inspects the questing, swerving quality of the life and mind of an 8-year-old girl from her own perspective and those of others. Tipping the Velvet. By Sarah Waters. (Riverhead, $25.95.) Suffused with eros, this picaresque first novel chronicles a wide-eyed Victorian girls ardor for a music-hall actress, her life in the mean streets of London and her eventual redemption. Tough, Tough Toys For Tough, Tough Boys. By Will Self. (Grove, $23.) Short fiction, at once amusing and appalling, that glories onomatopoetically in the yucky and unmasks revulsion as a species of the genus Desire. THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE. By Geoffrey Hill. (Houghton Mifflin, $22.) A book-length meditation in verse, weighted with private and literary allusion, that strives to honor the faith and innocence of the untold millions who have died violently in this awful century. TRUE AT FIRST LIGHT. By Ernest Hemingway. Edited by Patrick Hemingway. (Scribner, $26.) Edited by one of his sons, this is a fictional account based on Hemingways African safari in 1954. TURN OF THE CENTURY. By Kurt Andersen. (Random House, $24.95.) A novel about a yoga-practicing Jew and a lapsed Unitarian who are married and competing in the silicon rat race of the new millennium, where life is only slightly more crazy than the old one. WAITING. By Ha Jin. (Pantheon, $24.) A novel, winner of the National Book Award in 1999, centered on a Chinese couple who must wait 18 years to marry; its action is determined by individual character and by the strictures of Chinese society, which is painstakingly elaborated. THE WALKING TOUR. By Kathryn Davis. (Houghton Mifflin, $23.) A brilliantly dexterous novel that manages to contain a 20th-century murder mystery, told in a post-global-disaster future by one victims daughter. (The other victim was somehow responsible for the disaster.) The Way People Run: Stories. By Christopher Tilghman. (Random House, $21.95.) These stories about the ties that bind catalog a diverse collection of unhappy families, whose members are united only by their breathtaking capacity for unlove. WELDING WITH CHILDREN. By Tim Gautreaux. (Picador USA, $22.) This second collection of short stories reports with unflinching detail and unconcealed affection from the back roads of Cajun Louisiana, where auto engines hang from trees and country folk outwit malicious outsiders just by talking sense. A WEREWOLF PROBLEM IN CENTRAL RUSSIA: And Other Stories. By Victor Pelevin. (New Directions, $23.95.) Antic, enigmatic satires by a young (37) Russian, in which metaphysical intuitions about the meaning of existence clash with the banalities of real life. WEREWOLVES IN THEIR YOUTH: Stories. By Michael Chabon. (Random House, $22.95.) Chabons characters inhabit more genre worlds than one but are surrounded, wherever they are, by a witty, resonant prose in which sharp observation often shades into metaphor. WHAT SHE LEFT ME: Stories and a Novella. By Judy Doenges. (Middlebury College/ University Press of New England, $22.95.) A first collection by a writer whose keen sense of how the emotions operate enables her to startle the reader on many fronts. WHILE I WAS GONE. By Sue Miller. (Knopf, $24.) This painstaking fictional meditation on marital fidelity attends to a womans complex feelings about her husband and her no less complex feelings and fantasies about another man. WHO DO YOU LOVE? Sto- ries. By Jean Thompson. (Harcourt Brace, $23.) Emotional needs are rarely stated and more rarely met (romance and family dont help) in these quiet, devastating, all-downhill-from-here short stories. Whos Irish? Stories. By Gish Jen. (Knopf, $22.) Focusing on the lives of Chinese immigrants to the United States, these short stories are concerned with the confusion of identities and tangle of loyalties that ensue when Old World parents confront their hyphenated children. THE WOMAN WHO CUT OFF HER LEG AT THE MAIDSTONE CLUB: And Other Stories. By Julia Slavin. (John Macrae/Holt, $22.) The grotesque cheerfully haunts the suburbs, among the fears and anxieties and dangerous impulses underlying family commitments, in this debut collection. THE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD: Stories. By David Gates. (Knopf, $23.) The disaffected Scarsdale Galahads of these stories may be stuck riding the train in suits, but they refuse to slide into middle age without a fight -- or a joint. NONFICTION AARON COPLAND: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man. By Howard Pollack. (Holt, $37.50.) A professional, open-minded life of a great and durable (1900-90) American composer whose national convictions were central to his art. AGAINST THE TIDE: The Battle for Americas Beaches. By Cornelia Dean. (Columbia University, $24.95.) Beaches may disappear unless serious conservation efforts begin immediately, warns the science editor of The New York Times. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, AMERICAN. By Richard Brookhiser. (Free Press, $25.) A dramatic, compact biography that argues for virtues not always attributed to Hamilton, like intelligence, idealism, character and vision. THE AMATEUR: An Independent Life of Letters. By Wendy Lesser. (Pantheon, $24.) Hardly anybody can do this anymore: personal essays that talk intelligently about some external subject while revealing (and creating) the authors personality. Lesser calls herself an 18th-century man of letters, and makes good on the boast. THE AMBER FOREST: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World. By George Poinar Jr. and Roberta Poinar. (Princeton University, $29.95.) The authors -- a leading expert on fossils in amber and an electron microscopist -- reconstruct the ecosystem of an island off the Dominican Republic that existed between 15 million and 45 million years ago. AMERICAN BEACH: A Saga of Race, Wealth, and Memory. By Russ Rymer. (HarperCollins, $25.) An inquiry into race and politics, cultural erosion, power and powerlessness in two Florida communities, both once exclusively black. AMERICAN CULTURE, AMERICAN TASTES: Social Change and the 20th Century. By Michael Kammen. (Knopf, $30.) A distinguished historians essay on the problems of commercial culture, on its interpretation by others and on ideas for more useful distinctions in the future. Anglomania: A European Love Affair. By Ian Buruma. (Random House, $25.95.) In a work that is part intellectual history and part family memoir, the author investigates the exquisite blend of elitism and tolerance, vulgarity and gentility that makes Britain Britain. ANOTHER LIFE: A Memoir of Other People. By Michael Korda. (Random House, $26.95.) A book editor recounts his life in publishing and tells how what he thought would be a gentlemanly pursuit of erudition was in reality the entertainment business. BALTHUS: A Biography. By Nicholas Fox Weber. (Knopf, $40.) An exploration of the life, art and self-mythologizing of the 91-year-old painter best known for his sexually charged canvases. BETWEEN SILK AND CYANIDE: A Codemakers War, 1941-45. By Leo Marks. (Free Press, $27.50.) A natural storytellers real-life thriller about the struggles, at once technical and sanguinary, against the Nazis and within competing British intelligence bureaucracies during World War II. THE BIG TEST: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy. By Nicholas Lemann. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.) The story of how educational testing became so important, and an argument that every American should be educated at Federal direction and expense. BLACK HAWK DOWN: A Story of Modern War. By Mark Bowden. (Atlantic Monthly, $24.) A frightening immediacy characterizes this reporters reconstruction of the bloody urban battle between American forces and Somali street fighters in Mogadishu in 1993. THE BLACK ROOM AT LONGWOOD: Napoleons Exile on Saint Helena. By Jean-Paul Kauffmann. (Four Walls Eight Windows, $25.) The obsessive, quiet record of a French writers week in Napoleons last home, meditating on the impoverished reality of captivity. BLIND EYE: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder. By James B. Stewart. (Simon & Schuster, $25.) The real-life story of a doctor who is under investigation in the deaths of patients, and an indictment of the medical authorities for inadequately supervising him. A BOOK OF REASONS. By John Vernon. (Houghton Mifflin, $23.) A novelist turns to science and history to explore, in this nonfiction excursion, the puzzle of his brother, Paul, whose distressingly pathological mind Vernon began to comprehend only after his brothers death. The Boy on the green bicycle: A Memoir. By Margaret Diehl. (Soho, $25.) After the deaths of her brother and father, the author devised a host of inventive, if ultimately destructive, self-intoxications; she enumerates them in a memoir that explores the line between enchantment and insanity. BROADWAY BABIES SAY GOODNIGHT: Musicals Then and Now. By Mark Steyn. (Routledge, $27.) A history of the Broadway musical by an English critic who fears that while there may once have been no business like show business, its not exactly thriving in these times. THE BROKEN ESTATE: Essays on Literature and Belief. By James Wood. (Random House, $24.) A combative, polemical critic examines the transition from religious belief to literary belief in the 19th century and its sequels down to our time. THE BROKEN TOWER: A Life of Hart Crane. By Paul Mariani. (Norton, $35.) The first biography of the poet in 30 years depicts his short life and suicide as a great Greek tragedy in Jazz Age dress. THE BURDEN OF RESPONSIBILITY: Blum, Camus, Aron and the French Twentieth Century. By Tony Judt. (University of Chicago, $17.50.) A study celebrating three figures who resisted the fashionable Marxism of the Left Bank, Leon Blum, Albert Camus and Raymond Aron. BYRON: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame. By Benita Eisler. (Knopf, $35.) A lively, well-informed biography shows that Byrons private life was even a bigger mess than anyone knew. CAIRO: The City Victorious. By Max Rodenbeck. (Knopf, $27.50.) An affectionate description, historical and contemporary, of the huge city, the cities that were there before it and the people responsible for so much of its dusty charm. CARAVAGGIO: A Life. By Helen Langdon. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30.) A deeply learned life of the great and turbulent Counter-Reformation painter who scorned both social and artistic conventions. CARELESS LOVE: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. By Peter Guralnick. (Little, Brown, $27.95.) The second and final volume of Guralnicks remarkable biography of an amazing American emblem, a man who got everything he had ever wanted and died of it. A Clearing in the distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century. By Witold Rybczynski. (Scribner, $28.) How a modest man with no formal training in landscaping became a symphonist of public space, designing Central Park and other scenic masterworks. CLEAR SPRINGS: A Memoir. By Bobbie Ann Mason. (Random House, $25.) The author revisits her old Kentucky home, giving readers a glimpse at the inspiration for much of her fiction, and finds the sun still shines bright. CONVERSATIONS WITH WILDER. By Cameron Crowe. (Knopf, $35.) An admiring book-length interview, by a writer-director, with the deathless (now 93) creator of such classics as Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina and Some Like It Hot. THE COUSINS WARS: Religion, Politics, and the Triumph of Anglo-America. By Kevin Phillips. (Basic Books, $32.50.) The demographics of basic attitudes inspire the authors view of British and American history, 1642-1865, as one continuing struggle between Roundheads and Cavaliers. A COVERT LIFE. Jay Lovestone: Communist, Anti-Communist, and Spymaster. By Ted Morgan. (Random House, $29.95.) A journalists life of this former Communist who later dedicated himself to squelching Communism worldwide, especially in labor unions, by any means that came to hand. CREATING COLETTE. Volume 1: From Ingenue to Libertine, 1873-1913. By Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier. (Steerforth, $32.) How a girl from nowhere triumphed as author, lover, actress and Parisienne at the end of the belle epoque (and had plenty of fuel left for when the war was over). CREATING HYSTERIA: Women and Multiple Personality Disorder. By Joan Acocella. (Jossey-Bass, $25.) A journalistic expose of the sudden explosion of cases of multiple personality and ritual satanic abuse. CRIES UNHEARD. Why Children Kill: The Story of Mary Bell. By Gitta Sereny. (Metropolitan/Holt, $26.) A sensitive, probing examination of an Englishwoman who committed two murders in 1968, when she was 11 years old. THE CRIME OF SHEILA McGOUGH. By Janet Malcolm. (Knopf, $22.) A journalist whose specialty is the vexed relationship between objective truth and narrative truth inspects a case in which a lawyers incompetence at storytelling helped to land her in prison. CROSSING: A Memoir. By Deirdre McCloskey. (University of Chicago, $25.) A memoir by an economist and historian of considerable distinction who decided at 52 to become a woman; it focuses more on the emotional evolution of the crossover than its surgical side (though that was grueling enough). DARK CONTINENT: Europes Twentieth Century. By Mark Mazower. (Knopf, $30.) A shrewd historians contrarian interpretation that refuses to see liberal democracy as the norm and pre-1945 authoritarianism as the exception. dennis potter: A Biography. By Humphrey Carpenter. (St. Martins, $40.) A life of the arthritic, psoriatic, dyspeptic English television writer, who denied that The Singing Detective, his masterwork featuring an arthritic, psoriatic, dyspeptic hero, was somehow an autobiographical exercise. devil take the hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation. By Edward Chancellor. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25.) An epidemiology of the virulent and highly contagious malady known as speculative fever (pork bellies! plastics!) examines how spectacular futures bubbles are blown and just as spectacularly burst. THE DIARY OF VASLAV NIJINSKY: Unexpurgated Edition. Edited by Joan Acocella. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30.) The first complete publication of the great dancers diary, which reveals Nijinskys descent into madness. DISOWNED BY MEMORY: Wordsworths Poetry of the 1790s. By David Bromwich. (University of Chicago, $25.) A meditation on the crucial years of the poets development, in which his revolutionary ideals were confronted with the horrors of the Terror in France. the distance to the moon: A Road Trip Into the American Dream. By James Morgan. (Riverhead, $24.95.) The author sets out to see the country in his Porsche in a cross-country travelogue that explores the enduring relationship between man and his real best friend, the automobile. DOG HEART: A Memoir. By Breyten Breytenbach. (Harcourt Brace, $22.) The record of the expatriate Afrikaner poets visit to his birthplace and of the frustration of his search for meaning and permanence by disappointment in the future he once worked for. DOUBLE DOWN: Reflections on Gambling and Loss. By Frederick Barthelme and Steven Barthelme. (Houghton Mifflin, $24.) Two brothers, both writers of distinguished fiction, tell how they lost more than $300,000 and managed to be accused of cheating as well. DREAMING WITH HIS EYES OPEN: A Life of Diego Rivera. By Patrick Marnham. (Knopf, $35.) An urbane and entertaining biography of the politically minded Mexican muralist whose work celebrated workers but whose acquaintances included Rockefellers as well as Trotsky. EDWARD ALBEE. A Singular Journey: A Biography. By Mel Gussow. (Simon & Schuster, $30.) Three Pulitzer Prizes havent made this playwright a howling Broadway success, but his self-esteem and candor are in good shape at 71, according to this informed biography by a veteran cultural writer for The New York Times. EDWARD M. KENNEDY: A Biography. By Adam Clymer. (Morrow, $27.50.) A thorough, careful account of the growth of a senator who has earned far more respect than seemed likely in his youth; by the chief Washington correspondent of The Times. eleanor roosevelt. Volume 2: 1933-1938. By Blanche Wiesen Cook. (Viking, $34.95.) The continuing account of the First Lady who turned her gilded cage at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into a platform from which she could comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, not the least of whom was a man who shared her surname. THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. By Brian Greene. (Norton, $27.95.) A persuasive presentation of the 10-dimensional string theory that aspires to mediate between quantum mechanics and general relativity. ELEGY FOR IRIS. By John Bayley. (St. Martins, $22.95.) Humility, modesty, patience, humor and a certain self-conscious innocence adorn this memoir by a notable British critic about the descent into Alzheimers disease of his wife, the novelist Iris Murdoch. 1185 Park Avenue: A Memoir. By Anne Roiphe. (Free Press, $25.) Shunning confessionalism in favor of critical detachment, Roiphe recalls her affluent girlhood, where Scotch flowed daily at 5 and children wanted for nothing but parental affection. the elusive embrace: Desire and the Riddle of Identity. By Daniel Mendelsohn. (Knopf, $24.) In a meditation that is part memoir, part Rand McNally of the landscape of desire, a classicist uses family mythology to illuminate the nature of identity in general and gay identity in particular. EMBRACING DEFEAT: Japan in the Wake of World War II. By John W. Dower. (Norton/New Press, $29.95.) The winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1999, this magisterial, beautifully written account of Japan between August 1945 and April 1952 assesses the impact of Allied activity on modern Japanese history. ETHEL & ERNEST. By Raymond Briggs. (Knopf, $21.) A British artists extraordinary illustrated memoir of his parents, evoking with love and anguish their struggle in the post-World War II atmosphere of deprivation and self-denial. FASTER: The Acceleration of Just About Everything. By James Gleick. (Pantheon, $24.) A fact-filled romp through the technologies and social imperatives that compel us to do everything at once and waste our time anyhow. the first SEX: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World. By Helen Fisher. (Random House, $25.95.) An evolutionary anthropologist discusses how the physical differences between men and women will work to the advantage of women in the next century. A FLAME OF PURE FIRE: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring 20s. By Roger Kahn. (Harcourt, Brace, $28.) The celebrated sportswriter chronicles the iconic pugilist. FLU: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It. By Gina Kolata. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25.) A real-life thriller about scientists who pursued the flu into the age of DNA, trying to discover why it was so virulent and to forestall its recurrence; by a science reporter for The New York Times. FOR THE TIME BEING. By Annie Dillard. (Knopf, $22.) A meditation on the age-old question of how it could be that an all-powerful God permits evil to exist in the world. FRANCE ON THE BRINK. By Jonathan Fenby. (Arcade, $27.95.) A British Francophile -- the most hardened, inveterate kind -- reports on a France that he sees turning into just another country, with supermarkets, Marlboros and boring bread. FREEDOM FROM FEAR: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. By David M. Kennedy. (Oxford University, $39.95.) A history of the Roosevelt era, from the New Deal to V-E Day, and the America he taught to believe that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. FROM A HIGH PLACE: A Life of Arshile Gorky. By Matthew Spender. (Knopf, $35.) A biography of the obsessively deceptive artist, written by his son-in-law. GALILEOS daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love. By Dava Sobel. (Walker, $27.) Galileo and the scientific/theological struggle that engaged him rise to close-up dimensions in this account organized around the letters of his daughter Suor Maria Celeste. a gift imprisoned: The Poetic Life of Matthew Arnold. By Ian Hamilton. (Basic Books, $24.) This portrait of the poet as a young man argues that beneath the foppish facade of drinking, gambling and nude bathing lay a tortured artist for whom the act of composition was tantamount to self-evisceration. GIRLFRIEND: Men, Women, and Drag. By Holly Brubach. Photographs by Michael James OBrien. (Random House, $39.95.) A round-the-world examination of men who like to dress as women and what it all means. GODS PERFECT CHILD: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church. By Caroline Fraser. (Metropolitan/Holt, $30.) Fraser, herself a former Christian Scientist, gives a fascinating history of a religion that once loomed far larger on the American spiritual scene than it now does. A GOLFERS LIFE. By Arnold Palmer with James Dodson. (Ballantine, $26.95.) An enjoyable autobiography, as unpretentious as its subject, by golfs most charismatic player. THE GOOD MAN OF NANKING: The Diaries of John Rabe. By John Rabe. Edited by Erwin Wickert. (Knopf, $26.) The firsthand account by a German businessman (and Nazi supporter) of the Japanese slaughter in Nanjing in 1937 and of his rescue of thousands of Chinese. GOTHAM: A History of New York City to 1898. By Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace. (Oxford University, $49.95.) Two history professors at the City University of New York tell what happened in Manhattan from the ice age to the 20th century. THE GREAT DISRUPTION: Human Nature and the Reconstruction of the Social Order. By Francis Fukuyama. (Free Press, $26.) The big-thinking social scientist argues that the transition to the information age has had deleterious effects on society. THE GREAT SHAME: And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World. By Thomas Keneally. (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $35.) This real-life narrative by the author of Schindlers List focuses on the transportees to Australia, especially those who managed to continue the struggle for Irish independence. A GREAT WALL. Six Presidents and China: An Investigative History. By Patrick Tyler. (Century Foundation/Public Affairs, $27.50.) The inside story, reconstructed from documents and interviews, of how and why Richard Nixon and his successors dealt with China; by a former Beijing bureau chief of The New York Times. GROOVIN HIGH: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. By Alyn Shipton. (Oxford University, $30.) A thorough summary of the life and music of the innovative trumpeter that argues for his central role in the creation of bebop. THE HAUNTED WOOD: Soviet Espionage in America -- the Stalin Era. By Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev. (Random House, $30.) An American scholar and a Russian journalist, with access to Soviet secret documents, confirm both the magnitude of Stalins espionage effort and the guilt of certain long-suspect Americans. HENRY F. DU PONT AND WINTERTHUR: A Daughters Portrait. By Ruth Lord. (Yale University, $27.50.) The story of the founder of the Americana museum Winterthur by one of his daughters also gives a portrait of the upper class in the 20th century. THE HIDDEN WORDSWORTH: Poet, Lover, Rebel, Spy. By Kenneth R. Johnston. (Norton, $45.) A staggeringly industrious biography that shows Wordsworth as a more adventuresome sort than the nature lover of the schoolbooks. HITLER. 1889-1936: Hubris. By Ian Kershaw. (Norton, $35.) A British professor of history concentrates on the development of Hitlers power and the grotesque match between a most-unlikely-to-succeed street ranter and a culturally advanced nation that rushed to embrace him. HITLERS POPE: The Secret History of Pius XII. By John Cornwell. (Viking, $29.95.) A painstaking study of the pope who was never able to condemn the Nazis; changes in his churchs structure and its external relations were among his motives, the author says, as well as fear of Communism. THE HOLOCAUST IN AMERICAN LIFE. By Peter Novick. (Houghton Mifflin, $27.) A historians contrarian speculations about the impact of the Final Solution on American consciousness in the last quarter of the 20th century. HOMEMADE ESTHETICS: Observations on Art and Taste. By Clement Greenberg. (Oxford University, $30.) A series of seminars given by the legendarily influential art critic at Bennington in 1971 argues for the importance of taste and craft in making aesthetic evaluations. HOME TOWN. By Tracy Kidder. (Random House, $25.95.) The author turns his investigative eye on Northampton, Mass., a city of 30,000 that most young natives leave when they grow up but that is changing its blue collars to white through the steady arrival of newcomers. HOPE AGAINST HISTORY: The Course of Conflict in Northern Ireland. By Jack Holland. (John Macrae/Holt, $25.) A veteran journalists guide to the complexities and vagaries of 30 years of grief that may conceivably now be near an end. HOT SEAT: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993. By Frank Rich. (Random House, $39.95.) Some 330 reviews and essays from Richs days as The Timess chief drama critic, during an era when the theater was not exactly flourishing. THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD: Moneys Prophets, 1798-1848. By Niall Ferguson. (Viking, $34.95.) Both European and Jewish history are illuminated by this intensely detailed account of the rise and rise again of the financial house founded in Frankfurt by an obscure coin dealer. THE HUNGRY YEARS: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America. By T. H. Watkins. (Marian Wood/Holt, $32.50.) A richly graphic account of the 1930s that focuses chiefly on the lives of ordinary Americans. THE IMMACULATE INVASION. By Bob Shacochis. (Viking, $27.95.) The author, a fiction writer, turns reporter in this account of an American military intervention that failed to intervene sufficiently in Haiti in 1994. INSIDE THE OVAL OFFICE: White House Tapes From FDR to Clinton. By William Doyle. (Kodansha, $28.) A comparative survey of how presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton have recorded their conversations and what their methods reveal about their governing styles. IRREPARABLE HARM: A Firsthand Account of How One Agent Took On the CIA in an Epic Battle Over Secrecy and Free Speech. By Frank Snepp. (Random House, $26.95.) A former C.I.A. agent recounts his futile court battle with the government over a book that contained no classified information. Jonathan swift: A Portrait. By Victoria Glendinning. (Holt, $35.) A life of the obscure country vicar and inveterate bath taker turned dirty-minded public rogue suggests that its subject may have suffered from one of the earliest recorded cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder. KOSOVO CROSSING: American Ideals Meet Reality on the Balkan Battlefields. By David Fromkin. (Free Press, $21.) A lucid, learned examination of Kosovo as a case study for exploring the possibilities of action for the better in the world by the United States today. THE LAST SURVIVOR: In Search of Martin Zaidenstadt. By Timothy W. Ryback. (Pantheon, $21.) An American reporters prose morality play about the Munich suburb Dachau, where normal life is foreclosed and an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor remembers more horrors than anyones records can confirm. THE LAST TREK -- A NEW BEGINNING: The Autobiography. By F. W. de Klerk. (St. Martins, $35.) The former president of South Africa recalls how his country made the transition from apartheid to all-race democracy. LATER AUDEN. By Edward Mendelson. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30.) The second volume of Audens biography, covering his years during World War II and after, written by the poets literary executor. LEGACY: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg. By Christopher Ogden. (Little, Brown, $29.95.) A colorful, closely observed family epic about the immmigrant who created a publishing empire and his son, a playboy turned philanthropist. THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE. By Thomas L. Friedman. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.50.) A columnist, formerly a correspondent, for The Times explains, with anecdotes as well as analyses, what the instant electronic global economy is and what it may take to live there. THE Life and times of pancho Villa. By Friedrich Katz. (Stanford University, cloth, $85; paper, $29.95.) A huge biography, embodying decades of research, that supplies global and regional context to the Mexican outlaw and revolutionary general best known in this country for his raid on a New Mexico town in 1916. LIFE IN THE TREETOPS: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology. By Margaret D. Lowman. (Yale University, $27.50.) A funny, unassuming chronicle of the trials and achievements of a woman (and mother) engaged in studying tree canopies and inventing techniques to do it. LIVES OF THE POETS. By Michael Schmidt. (Knopf, $35.) Straightforward, even old-fashioned, this big book (940 pages plus bibliography and index) is a history of English poetry from the mid-14th century to the present, by a British publisher and editor who has read just about everything and has no fear of evaluation. Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire. By Jason Goodwin. (John Macrae/Holt, $32.50.) A journalist and travel writer illuminates the history and culture of a former seat of imperial splendor, from its humble origins to glittering eminence to lumbering decline. LOST CHORDS: White Musicians and Their Contributions to Jazz, 1915-1945. By Richard M. Sudhalter. (Oxford University, $35.) A mountainous work that restores to history the considerable influence of white musicians on the development of jazz. LOVE ACROSS COLOR LINES: Ottilie Assing and Frederick Douglass. By Maria Diedrich. (Hill & Wang, $35.) A chronicle of the nearly three-decade affair between Douglass and a German journalist. LOVE IS WHERE IT FALLS: The Story of a Passionate Friendship. By Simon Callow. (Fromm International, $23.) The personal account of a grand if unusual (platonic) love affair between the gay actor and playwright and a woman 40 years his senior, Margaret Ramsay, the pre-eminent English play agent. THE MAKING OF THE MASTERS: Clifford Roberts, Augusta National, and Golfs Most Prestigious Tournament. By David Owen. (Simon & Schuster, $25.) An account of the innovator who founded golfs premier contest. Making the wiseguys weep: The Jimmy Roselli Story. By David Evanier. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.) A life of the Italian crooner from Hoboken -- no, not that one -- who sang like a nightingale but whose powerful enemies threatened to send him to sleep with the fish. MANDELA: The Authorized Biography. By Anthony Sampson. (Knopf, $30.) A careful study of the master of political imagery who became South Africas indispensable man; Mandela is demythologized without losing his heroic stature. Mary Pickford Rediscovered: Rare Pictures of a Hollywood Legend. By Kevin Brownlow. (Abrams/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, $39.95.) Americas first film star, this celebratory reappraisal argues, was far more than the sum of her golden ringlets: urchin and princess, tomboy and coquette, she was an adroit shapeshifter worthy of serious critical attention. MATINEE IDYLLS: Reflections on the Movies. By Richard Schickel. (Ivan R. Dee, $26.50.) A collection by the film critic for Time that illustrates the breadth, depth and intensity of his passion for motion pictures and the people who make them. matisse: Father & Son. By John Russell. (Abrams, $39.95.) In a biographical diptych informed by previously unpublished (and revealingly intimate) family correspondence, Matisse pere and Matisse fils emerge as twin titans, one at making art, the other at selling it. THE MEME MACHINE. By Susan Blackmore. (Oxford University, $25.) An informed effort to popularize the theory that cultures are controlled by replicating units (memes) analogous to the genes of biological theory, and that their operations drive cultural evolution. MICHAEL JORDAN AND THE NEW GLOBAL CAPITALISM. By Walter LaFeber. (Norton, $22.95.) The historian uses the sports superstar to examine how American corporations employ popular culture to disguise what he labels economic imperialism. MIND OF THE RAVEN: Investigations and Adventures With Wolf-Birds. By Bernd Heinrich. (Cliff Street/HarperCollins, $25.) With a graceful, light-footed prose style, a biologist investigates the brainest of birds. MORE MATTER: Essays and Criticism. By John Updike. (Knopf, $35.) A fat (900 pages) aggregation of nonfiction and nonpoetry by a stylish man of letters who fears no subject and has yet to be defeated by any. MY KITCHEN WARS. By Betty Fussell. (North Point, $23.) In a memoir that joins with her specialty, food writing, the author describes her marriage to the scholar and critic Paul Fussell, and its dissolution. MY MOVIE BUSINESS: A Memoir. By John Irving. (Random House, $19.95.) A measured and genial personal history of seeing Irvings novels made (or not made) into movies; the rancor with which book people are often said to regard film people appears nowhere, or hardly anywhere. MY PILGRIMS PROGRESS: Media Studies, 1950-1998. By George W. S. Trow. (Pantheon, $24.) This book-length study by a proven stargazer on cultural artifacts has less to do with media than with the loss of influence over much of anything by traditionally civilized people like himself. NAME-DROPPING: From F.D.R. On. By John Kenneth Galbraith. (Houghton Mifflin, $26.) The nonagenarian economist recalls, in delicious anecdotes, some of the historical figures he has encountered. NANSEN: The Explorer as Hero. By Roland Huntford. (Barnes & Noble, paper, $19.95.) A biography, 12 years in the making, of the Norwegian explorer, diplomat and Nobel laureate who became the mentor to a generation of adventurers and whose life seemed to come from an Ibsen play. THE NEW NEW THING: A Silicon Valley Story. By Michael Lewis. (Norton, $25.95.) A smart, revealing (and sometimes troubling) profile of Jim Clark, the brilliant, anarchic entrepreneur who cast the technology stock market into the nutty molds that shape it today. NIGHT FALLS FAST: Understanding Suicide. By Kay Redfield Jamison. (Knopf, $26.) An agonized and agonizing study about the prevalence of suicide (high) and the chances that society can organize what it knows to cut suicide rates (low). NO GO THE BOGEYMAN: Scaring, Lulling, and Making Mock. By Marina Warner. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $35.) A romp through a catalog of scary stuff -- goblins, bugbears, orcs, witches, you name it -- that asks why we love to be frightened and finds that to utter our fears is to tame them. NO OTHER BOOK: Selected Essays. By Randall Jarrell. Edited by Brad Leithauser. (HarperCollins, $27.50.) An essay collection that fairly represents the best work of an astute and generous critic. on sunset boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder. By Ed Sikov. (Hyperion, $35.) This prodigiously researched chronicle charts its subjects rise from Berlin gigolo to Hollywood director, one gifted -- and contrarian -- enough to cast Ginger Rogers as a 12-year-old nymphet. THE ORCHID THIEF. By Susan Orlean. (Random House, $25.) The first book-length narrative by a stylish, tightly focused journalist whose hero is an orchid thief but whose real subject is monomania. OUR KIND OF PEOPLE: Inside Americas Black Upper Class. By Lawrence Otis Graham. (HarperCollins, $25.) An ambitious, occasionally reverent anatomy of the segment of black society that has experienced generations of material well-being and produced a number of engaging organizations and personalities. OUT FOR GOOD: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America. By Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney. (Simon & Schuster, $30.) Written by an editorial writer and a reporter at The New York Times, this is a rich, valuable history of gay activism from the Stonewall events through the AIDS epidemic. OUT OF PLACE: A Memoir. By Edward Said. (Knopf, $26.95.) The scholar describes the transition of his life from a childhood in Egypt to an academic career in the United States. PASSAGE TO JUNEAU: A Sea and Its Meanings. By Jonathan Raban. (Pantheon, $26.50.) This hydrophilic traveler describes a physical and intellectual journey with a 35-foot ketch, some books and a deep alertness to what the sea has been up to for the Indians and their successors. PASSIONATE NOMAD: The Life of Freya Stark. By Jane Fletcher Geniesse. (Random House, $27.95.) A subtle, generous portrait of the irrepressible traveler, explorer, Arabist and writer whose unorthodox Middle Eastern circuits unnerved British officialdom in the 1950s. THE PITY OF WAR. By Niall Ferguson. (Basic Books, $30.) The traditional views on the causes of World War I are called into question, and the author suggests that had England stayed at home, the world might be a different place today. PLAYING FOR KEEPS: Michael Jordan and the World He Made. By David Halberstam. (Random House, $24.95.) Journalist and social historian, Halberstam illuminates Jordans career and its consequences for the world with insight, balance, analysis, pertinent anecdotes and well-dug facts. A POSITIVELY FINAL APPEARANCE: A Journal, 1996-98. By Alec Guinness. (Viking, $24.95.) In the most recent (and, he announces, the last) volume of his memoirs, the actor shares his thoughts on his craft, his faith and the pleasures of living. PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD: Sex, Immorality and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934. By Thomas Doherty. (Columbia University, cloth, $49.50, paper, $19.50.) An examination of American films before the imposition of the Production Code, with an argument that restrictions on content were instrumental in creating what is now regarded as Hollywoods Golden Age. PREEMPTING THE HOLOCAUST. By Lawrence L. Langer. (Yale University, $22.50.) A collection of essays that reiterates this scholars conviction that the Nazi murder of the Jews is an unforgivable crime that is beyond guilt and atonement. THE PRIDE OF HAVANA: A History of Cuban Baseball. By Roberto Gonzlez Echevarria. (Oxford University, $35.) A chronicle and a celebration of the national pastime of Cuba, lovingly told by a professor of Hispanic literature at Yale who has been a semipro catcher himself. PRIMO LEVI: Tragedy of an Optimist. By Myriam Anissimov. (Overlook, $37.95.) A serious, lively, conscientiously researched biography of the distinguished Italian writer whose optimism and rationalism were not totally suppressed by his experience as an inmate of Auschwitz. A PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY JAMES: Two Women and His Art. By Lyndall Gordon. (Norton, $30.) A biography that pierces the myth the novelist built around his life by delving into the lives of Minny Temple and Constance Fenimore Woolson, two women who inspired him and became the models for some of his heroines. PUSHKINS BUTTON. By Serena Vitale. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30.) An Italian scholars vivid, meticulous account of the impulsive Russian poets death in a duel in 1837, and of the society that often encouraged people to die in that way. A RAGE TO LIVE: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton. By Mary S. Lovell. (Norton, $39.95.) A lucid, efficient, pro-Burton account of an eminent Victorian couple who offended nearly everyone by their intrepidity, self-regard and brass. The news is this: She didnt burn his diaries. RAY CHARLES: Man and Music. By Michael Lydon. (Riverhead, $27.95.) A tight and detailed biography of the rhythm and blues legend better known as the Genius. THE REAL AMERICAN DREAM: A Meditation on Hope. By Andrew Delbanco. (Harvard University, $19.95.) An acute social critic ponders a nation that believed first (with the Puritans) in God, later (with Lincoln and Whitman) in its own divine mission, finally in instant self-gratification, a stage in which he thinks we should not remain. THE REAL WILD WEST: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West. By Michael Wallis. (St. Martins, $35.) The larger-than-life story of the private ranch that helped shape Americans conception of the frontier. REFLECTIONS ON A RAVAGED CENTURY. By Robert Conquest. (Norton, $26.95.) In this collection of essays, the historian ponders why the last hundred years have been the most murderous in human history. REMEMBERING RANDALL: A Memoir of Poet, Critic, and Teacher Randall Jarrell. By Mary von Schrader Jarrell. (HarperCollins, $22.) A charming, personal but discreet memoir of Jarrells last years, by his second wife. REPORTING LIVE. By Lesley Stahl. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) The author captures the strains of belonging to the breakthrough generation of women in network television news, first as a tough political reporter, later as a fixture on 60 Minutes. REPORTING VIETNAM. Part One: American Journalism 1959-1969; Part Two: American Journalism 1969-1975. (Library of America, $35 each.) Writing by many adept correspondents who tried to capture the suffering, unredeemed by its consequences, of the war in Vietnam. RIGHTEOUS VICTIMS: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1999. By Benny Morris. (Knopf, $40.) A clinical and credible work by an Israeli historian whose narrative begins with the arrival of the first Zionists and identifies the reciprocal misunderstandings and economies of truth that have plagued both sides ever since. the rise and fall of the american teenager. By Thomas Hine. (Bard/ Avon, $24.) A plea to consider adolescence as apprenticeship for adulthood, not as a period of extended childishness. RITUALS OF BLOOD: Consequences of Slavery in Two American Centuries. By Orlando Patterson. (Civitas/Counterpoint, $29.50.) A scholar argues that the destructive internal dynamics of the black family, though created by slavery, are largely within the power of blacks (especially black men) to ameliorate. SAINT AUGUSTINE. By Garry Wills. (Lipper/Viking, $19.95.) An informed rendering of the life and thought of the African (A.D. 354-430) who became the most durable of theologians; with useful translations from the Ecclesiastical (for Confessions, read Testimony). SHADOW: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate. By Bob Woodward. (Simon & Schuster, $27.50.) The veteran investigative journalist examines how the rules of presidential politics have changed since the Nixon administration, with special emphasis on the travails of Bill Clinton. SHAKESPEARE: A Life. By Park Honan. (Oxford University, $30.) Admirable collection, synthesis and judgment exercised on the existing data of Shakespeares life and the life of the times around him; more is known than lots of people think. Shaking a leg: Collected Writings. By Angela Carter. (Penguin, paper, $15.95.) Incisive cultural journalism by the British novelist that among other delicious subversions invokes the Greeks to argue for wearing high heels with long skirts. SHOW ME A HERO: A Tale of Murder, Suicide, Race, and Redemption. By Lisa Belkin. (Little, Brown, $25.) A report, by a writer for The New York Times, on the polarizing conflict of 1988 that followed a judges order to build 200 units of low-cost subsidized housing in Yonkers. SILENT STARS. By Jeanine Basinger. (Knopf, $35.) A film historian argues that many of the stars of the silents wielded talent and cultural scope that have been forgotten as the films themselves were forgotten, lost or just unseen. SIN IN SOFT FOCUS: Pre-Code Hollywood. By Mark A. Vieira. (Abrams, $39.95.) A lavishly illustrated book that examines American movies before they fell under the restrictions of the Production Code. SLEEPING WITH EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety. By Wendy Kaminer. (Pantheon, $24.) Sometimes amused, sometimes horrified, a sharp thinker addresses the worlds of U.F.O.s, angels, New Age conclaves and whatever seems to her a bit much. speaking of diaghilev. By John Drummond. (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $20.) Based on interviews with Diaghilevs collaborators, this is a portrait and meditation on the great Russian impresario. STIFFED: The Betrayal of the American Man. By Susan Faludi. (Morrow, $27.50.) The author of Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women perceives an undiscerned war against American men, oppressed by an ornamental, service-oriented consumer culture into simulacra of their once useful selves. STRANGE BEAUTY: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics. By George Johnson. (Knopf, $30.) A portrait, by an informed enthusiast, of the brilliant, tormented man who dominated elementary particle physics in the heady 1950s and 60s. STRANGERS: A Family Romance. By Emma Tennant. (New Directions, $22.95.) A memoir by the British novelist that forms a lyrical meditation on the obscure psychodynamics of family life. THE SUN IN THE CHURCH: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories. By J. L. Heilbron. (Harvard University, $35.) A book both elegant and learned, exploring the installation of vast (but often easily overlooked) astronomical instruments in major churches by authorities sometimes thought, wrongly, to have looked with disfavor on astronomical research. TALES OF THE LAVENDER MENACE: A Memoir of Liberation. By Karla Jay. (Basic Books, $25.) A memoir by a professor of English at Pace University of her years as a radical lesbian activist from 1968 to 1972 that combines hilarity and poignant reflection. THROWIM WAY LEG: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds -- On the Track of Unknown Mammals in Wildest New Guinea. By Tim Flannery. (Atlantic Monthly, $25.) A scientists enthralling record of a life with unknown animals, untamed people and unimaginable landscapes. Time out of mind: The Diaries of Leonard Michaels, 1961-1995. (Riverhead, $24.95.) The multiply and turbulently married author of The Mens Club set down his observations on three decades of friends, wives and children in a stack of notebooks, which he carried with him wherever he went so that no one would read them. Now you can. THE TIMES OF MY LIFE: And My Life With The Times. By Max Frankel. (Random House, $29.95.) A tough, smart, scrupulous account of more than 40 years at this paper by its former executive editor, from which the reader can learn a lot about what makes newspapers function. TIS: A Memoir. By Frank McCourt. (Scribner, $26.) Continuing the chronicle of his life begun in Angelas Ashes, the author describes his emigration from Ireland at the age of 19 and his fraught confrontation with New York. A TRAITORS KISS: The Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751-1816. By Fintan OToole. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30.) A biography of a many-minded man who proceeded from playwriting and theater management to politics but failed to achieve high office, OToole argues, because he was a self-made man and an Irishman. THE TRUST: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times. By Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones. (Little, Brown, $29.95.) A monumental but lively and anecdote-rich account of Adolph S. Ochs, who bought The Times in 1896, and his successors down to the present day. TRUTH: Four Stories I Am Finally Old Enough to Tell. By Ellen Douglas. (Algonquin, $18.95.) The first nonfiction book by the venerable Southern novelist examines the events that provided themes for her fiction. TRYING IT OUT IN AMERICA: Literary and Other Performances. By Richard Poirier. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25.) In a wide-ranging collection of essays, the literary critic and scholar ponders how the artist infuses his creation with the energy of performance. TURKEY UNVEILED: A History of Modern Turkey. By Nicole Pope and Hugh Pope. (Overlook, $29.95.) A revealing guide, by two journalists, to the culture and politics of a prosperous, complex nation much beheld by tourists but otherwise much ignored by the West. UNVANQUISHED: A U.S.-U.N. Saga. By Boutros Boutros-Ghali. (Random House, $29.95.) The only Secretary General of the United Nations ever to be denied a second term tells his side of the clashes with the Clinton administration that led to his ouster. UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder. By Richard Dawkins. (Houghton Mifflin, $26.) An illustrious zoologist rakes the ignorant with fire at length before switching to his real metier, the conveyance of scientific ideas with beauty, clarity and affection. VeRA: (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov). By Stacy Schiff. (Random House, $27.95.) A thoughtful biography of Nabokovs wife, protector, dogsbody and perfect reader that opens up a 52-year marriage without pretending to explain every enigma. VIETNAM. The Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of Americas Most Disastrous Military Conflict. By Michael Lind. (Free Press, $25.) A bold, intriguing polemic that revivifies the domino theory in the light of the authors reading of global politics in the 1960s and since. THE VIEW FROM ALGERS WINDOW: A Sons Memoir. By Tony Hiss. (Knopf, $24.) In his steadfastly loyal, often painfully raw portrait of his father, the author maintains that the man he recalls as a loving and humane figure could not possibly have been a Soviet spy. WALKER EVANS. By James R. Mellow. (Basic Books, $40.) An evocative biography, posthumously published, that captures in Evans a private heartlessness belying the humanity of his photographs. WALKING ON WATER: Black American Lives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. By Randall Kenan. (Knopf, $30.) A nonfiction book by a black novelist and short-story writer that records the varied voices of black people across the United States. WALTER BENJAMIN AT THE DAIRY QUEEN: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond. By Larry McMurtry. (Simon & Schuster, $21.) A peculiar book, part memoir, part tour de force, part commonplace book, in which the author of Lonesome Dove regrets what he thinks is his failure to subvert fallacies about the Old West. THE WAY OF THE WORLD: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century. By David Fromkin. (Knopf, $25.) Everything there was, in 222 pages of text that set forth eight stages of universal history and are firmly Western and progressive in approach: things are better now than when they started out. WHAT WE OWE TO EACH OTHER. By T. M. Scanlon. (Belknap/Harvard University, $35.) A treatise arguing a set of basic principles for moral conduct by the Harvard philosopher. WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED: A Life of Vince Lombardi. By David Maraniss. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) A well-researched, vividly narrated biography of the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers. WHY THEY KILL: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist. By Richard Rhodes. (Knopf, $26.95.) An investigation into the nature of violent offenders follows the story of an unorthodox criminologist who himself survived a childhood of abuse. WINSTON AND CLEMENTINE: The Personal Letters of the Churchills. Edited by Mary Soames. (Houghton Mifflin, $35.) The private correspondence of one of the centurys most fascinating couples, edited by their youngest daughter, traces the love & honour of one of the gt romances through the colour & jostle of the high-way of the 20th century. WITNESS TO HOPE: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. By George Weigel. (Cliff Street, $35.) A fascinating, if somewhat lengthy, chronicle of the popes life and a defense of his papacy. WOMAN: An Intimate Geography. By Natalie Angier. (Houghton Mifflin, $25.) A personal celebration of the female of the species -- the glory, the rapture, the mystery of being a woman -- written from the point of view of a member of that sex (and a regular contributor to the Science Times section of The Times) but which may prove instructive for the other one as well. A WOMAN OF THE TIMES: Journalism, Feminism and the Career of Charlotte Curtis. By Marilyn S. Greenwald. (Ohio University, $26.95.) A biography of the editor at The Times who was instrumental in revolutionizing the womens sections of American newspapers. WONDERS OF THE AFRICAN WORLD. By Henry Louis Gates Jr.; photographs by Lynn Davis. (Knopf, $40.) A lively introduction to the archaeology and history of several African societies and their achievements, the fruit of visiting the continent for 30 years. YEARS OF RENEWAL. By Henry Kissinger. (Simon & Schuster, $35.) The national security adviser and secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations defends himself -- no surprise -- while confessing that Watergate was a grave setback for coherent, effective policy. YEATSS GHOSTS: The Secret Life of W. B. Yeats. By Brenda Maddox. (HarperCollins, $32.) A blithe, energetic account of the great Irish poets marriage and of how the couples involvement in mysticism inspired Yeatss greatest poetry and prose. YOURE MISSIN A GREAT GAME: From Casey to Ozzie, the Magic of Baseball and How to Get It Back. By Whitey Herzog and Jonathan Pitts. (Simon & Schuster, $25.) The plain-spoken former manager opines on the old days of baseball and how the game should be overhauled. CHILDREN THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE. By Louise Erdrich. (Hyperion, $14.99.) (Ages 9 to 12) The story of a young Ojibwa girl and her family is set on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, and the author draws on her familys experiences in their first encounters with the white men. Richly detailed and accessible. BLACK CAT. Written and illustrated by Christopher Myers. (Scholastic, $16.95.) (Ages 5 to 9) The text itself, about New York City, is spare; the illustrations, which combine photographs, collage, ink and gouache, are lush, startling and richly textured. BUD, NOT BUDDY. By Christopher Paul Curtis. (Delacorte, $15.95.) (Ages 8 to 12) Its 1936 in Flint, Mich., and a 10-year-old orphan, Bud Caldwell, is determined to find Herman E. Calloway, a bass fiddle player who just might be his father. Lighthearted and serious by turns and entertaining throughout. Frightfuls Mountain. Written and illustrated by Jean Craighead George. (Dutton, $15.99.) (Ages 8 and up) The story of Sam Gribley and the wilderness, which began 40 years ago with My Side of the Mountain, concludes with a novel about Frightful, the peregrine falcon Sam raised. The human plot is a tad mechanical but everything about the falcons -- their habits, migration, nesting -- is fascinating. The writing soars. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. By J. K. Rowling. (Levine/Scholastic, $17.95.) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. By J. K. Rowling. (Levine/Scholastic, $19.95.) (Ages 8 and up) The second and third years of the boarding education of a British wizard. An international phenomenon, entertaining for both children and adults. Monster. By Walter Dean Myers. Illustrated by Christopher Myers. (HarperCollins, $15.95.) (Ages 12 and up) Steve Harmon is 16 years old and accused of murder. Hes coping with his trial by transforming his experiences into a screenplay that he films in his mind. Chilling and engrossing. Sector 7. Written and illustrated by David Weisner. (Clarion, $16.) (All ages) A dazzling wordless adventure about a boy who leaves his class trip to the Empire State Building and finds himself in the mysterious place where clouds are manufactured and dispatched. Skellig. By David Almond. (Delacorte, $15.95.) (Ages 8 to 12) Michaels family has just moved into the house and its a very difficult time for everyone. Then Michael discovers Skellig, a strange, really strange man, almost dead in the garage and covered with dust. A magical novel about connection and recovery in everyday life. Through My Eyes. By Ruby Bridges. Edited by Margo Lundell. (Scholastic, $16.95.) (Ages 5 to 9) The story of the little girl who integrated a New Orleans elementary school in 1960 is told in simple, direct text and a range of photographs and period illustrations. An affecting account. MYSTERIES THE BIG BAD CITY. By Ed McBain. (Simon & Schuster, $25.) The man with the golden ear for urban street voices delivers another pitch-perfect 87th-Precinct police procedural, in which a nun, a psycho and a burglar who bakes cookies for his victims figure in a story about life in a city where things were happening all the time, all over the place. CHAINS OF COMMAND. By William J. Caunitz. (Dutton, $23.95.) As completed by Christopher Newman after his friends death, Caunitzs last book delivers just what you want from an urban police procedural: a crisis on the streets (here, its an all-out turf war for the New York drug market), corruption in the department and lots of dirty language. DARKNESS PEERING. By Alice Blanchard. (Bantam, $23.95.) This ambitious debut novel taps deep and twisted psychological roots with its unsettling story about the long-ago murder of a mentally retarded child that still haunts the residents of a small town in Maine, creating a poisonous atmosphere of fear and suspicion between parents and children. EASY MONEY. By Jenny Siler. (John Macrae/Holt, $24.) The offbeat but articulate heroine of this lethal debut thriller is a young drug courier, schooled in the trade by her dope-running father in Key West, who is chased clear across the country by sinister agents intent on retrieving a computer disk with secret evidence of an ugly Vietnam War conspiracy. HARD TIME. By Sara Paretsky. (Delacorte, $24.95.) Paretskys hotheaded Chicago private investigator, V. I. Warshawski, makes up for lost time in her first adventure in five years, taking on a tricky case of industrial espionage that slams her up against a powerful media conglomerate and eventually lands her in prison for a month of educational experiences. HEARTWOOD. By James Lee Burke. (Doubleday, $24.95.) The themes that obsess Dave Robicheaux in the bayous -- the arrogance of wealth, the corruption of power and the price a man pays for the sins of the past -- trail Burkes new series hero, Billy Bob Holland, out to Texas hill country in this tough story about the richest, meanest guy in town. IN A DRY SEASON. By Peter Robinson. (Avon Twilight, $24.) In a mystery with melancholy echoes from the past, Inspector Alan Banks sets out to identify a human skeleton that is unearthed when a flooded village emerges from the mud of a dried-up reservoir in the Yorkshire dales, only to discover some deeper secrets buried in the rural countryside during World War II. MARY, MARY. By Julie Parsons. (Simon & Schuster, $23.) A middle-aged widow who returns to her native Ireland to care for her dying mother takes vengeance on the killer who raped and murdered her daughter, in a dark, psychologically dense first novel that takes the suspense thriller into emotional territory where it rarely dares to wander. O IS FOR OUTLAW. By Sue Grafton. (Marian Wood/ Holt, $26.) People can stop telling Kinsey Millhone to get a life. Shes had one, thanks, and it comes back to bite her on this guilt trip of a case that has the California private investigator searching for her first husband, a former vice cop who is in bigger trouble today than when he got kicked off the force. PRAYERS FOR RAIN. By Dennis Lehane. (Morrow, $25.) In this character-building outing for his Boston-based private eye, Lehane supplies Patrick Kenzie with the compassionate insight to get him beyond quick-fix feats of violence and into some serious thinking about the sadistic acts of mental cruelty that drove a young client to commit suicide. A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES. By Ruth Rendell. (Crown, $24.) The worship of beauty leads to murder and madness, as this English mistress of suspense charts a collision course for two preternaturally beautiful teenagers: an unloved boy who grew up to be a sociopath and the overprotected girl who grew up to be his perfect victim. SOME DEATHS BEFORE DYING. By Peter Dickinson. (Mysterious Press/Warner, $23.) Only a daredevil stylist like Dickinson could pull off this tour de force of mental gymnastics, in which a 90-year-old Englishwoman, almost completely paralyzed, virtually speechless and very near death, exercises her indomitable will to break the code on a shameful family secret. SCIENCE FICTION THE EXTREMES. By Christopher Priest. (St. Martins, $24.95.) This serious novel about violence in our time subjects its heroine -- and the reader -- to a series of harrowing scenarios before achieving a surprising yet, on its own terms, believable happy ending. A remarkable achievement. THE MARTIANS. By Kim Stanley Robinson. (Spectra/ Bantam, $24.95.) Robinson is back on Mars, which should be recommendation enough for admirers of his Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars. This is not a sequel but rather a series of disquieting meditations on terraforming and other themes that informed Robinsons landmark trilogy. PARABLE OF THE TALENTS. By Octavia E. Butler. (Seven Stories, $24.95.) Continuing the story she began in The Parable of the Sower, Butler finds pathos and hope in the life of a 21st-century prophet who, at great personal cost, preaches that the true test of a religion is whether the solace it offers conforms with the nature of the universe we live in. STARFISH. By Peter Watts. (Tor/Tom Doherty, $23.95.) Since no one in his right mind would sign on for long-term duty in a fragile metal bubble on the ocean floor, the miles-deep Beebe Station is crewed by certifiable crazies. Watts, a marine biologist by trade, wrings both beauty and pity out of their attempts to triumph over their circumstances and themselves. THE STONE WAR. By Madeleine E. Robins. (Tor/ Tom Doherty, $23.95.) Hard to read, hard to forget, this disaster novel about a New York City suffering from a reality meltdown is, in the end, a story about love and the price to be paid when we ignore the human disasters in our midst.

Israel vs. Judaism

Lets go back to the day after the election, Jodi Rudorens New York Times article, ���Win Sets Netanyahu on Path to Remake Israeli Government,��� (Mar. 18), in which, despite evidence to the contrary, she offers the prospect of his having a freer hand to.

LATER FROM CALIFORNIA.; ARRIVAL OF THE NORTHERN LIGHT. IMPORTANT NEWS. Adams & Co., Wells, Fargo & Co., Page & Bacon, and the MIners Bank Failed, FIRE AT STOCKTON--LOSS $50,000 NO SENATOR CHOSEN. Gold Scarce. Shortest Passage Ever Made from California-- Only Twenty Days and Nine Honrs. Later from Oregon, Washington Territory, &c. Specie List. THE MONEY PANIC. Kern River Miners.

The Accessory Transit Companys steamship Northern Light, Capt. E. L. TINKLEPAUGH, arrived off Sandy Hook on Sunday evening. in 7 days and 6 hours from San Juan, with California dates per steamship Uncle Sam, to February 26. SHe brings 262 passengers, and $92,322 on freight.

Cruzing for Jewish support ��� Ted Cruz courts donors.

Jewish votes ��� especially during Republican primary season and especially in New York ��� arent likely to be of much help to Cruz (or any GOP candidate for that matter).. There seemed to be no such concerns at the ZOA dinner, where Cruz was the star of the show ��� no small accomplishment with the likes of Adelson, Boteach, Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus and Pastor John Hagee on the program (plus a touching. By most measures, Cruz is a long shot.

Ted Cruz announces 2016 presidential bid | New Yorks.

(CNN) ��� Ted Cruz is first out the gate. The first-term senator from Texas. ���Its a time for truth, a time to rise to the challenge just as Americans have always done,��� Cruz says over clips of American landscapes and people. ���Its going to take a new. While popular in conservative and tea party circles, Cruz has a long way to go in terms of broader support in the GOP base, according to public opinion polls. A CNN/ORC.. Sports �� Screen shot 2015-01-06 at 7.11.02 PM��.

Executing the Insane Is Against the Law of the Land. So Why Do We Keep Doing.

Six years before he shaved his head, donned camo fatigues, and fatally shot his in-laws in front of his estranged wife and daughter, Scott Panetti piled up furniture and valuables in his yard in Fredericksburg, Texas, and sprayed it all down with water.

Sen. Ted Cruz - New York Observer

While one source close to Mr. Adelson claimed the casino owner liked Mr. Cruz but found the senator ���too right wing��� and concluded he is a longshot to win the nomination, Mr. Adelson called the Observer after publication of this story to dispute that characterization of his reaction to Mr. Cruz. Mr. Adelson made clear to the Observer. The U.S. Stock market at an all-time high, real estate in New York is near that, the art market is insane. But what is not wonderful is the��.

His chances of victory are minuscule, but he and other hard-right candidates.

Bass seemed momentarily speechless, and not just because no one had warned her that a New York Times reporter would be sitting in on her job interview.. She enjoyed working on the Hill, she said, but the pay wasnt as high as the hours were long.

DownWithTyranny!: Like Ted Cruz, Sean Eldridge Was Born.

The first big New York Times coverage of Sean Eldridges campaign for the Republican-held blue seat in the upper Hudson Valley/Catskills (NY-19) killed his race among actual progressives. This sentence. With all that money he was spending on consultants, he paid one of them to map out a long-term strategy to get him into the White House. Jamie Kirchick:.. But everything about the Hughes-Eldridge pairing militated against such a portrayal. The prospect of a��.

READ IN: Alcoholic Russian Bears Edition

(New York Times). -- Perry: Backers of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) have created the Opportunity and Freedom PAC, a super PAC to support his second presidential bid. Former Perry chiefs of staff Ray Sullivan and Mike Toomey will serve as co-chairs.

The Trials And Triumphs Of Heidi Cruz

After a few years at J.P. Morgan in New York, she went to Harvard Business School and emerged, MBA in hand, with a bevy of lucrative job offers ��� including a highly coveted spot at Goldman Sachs. Instead, she took an unpaid job on George W... When.

Ted Cruz attacks president for not going to France, because.

315 Comments / 315 New. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks at the. All symbol, no substance. So apparently being outraged at President Obama for not personally going to Paris to participate in the weekend anti-terrorism solidarity. and to save yourself time you can imagine all of them being said by Dr. Keith Ablow, the Fox News resident explainer of why every single thing the president has ever done across the Atlantic or Pacific shows something devious is afoot.

Latest News: Ted Cruz, Confederate Flag, The Real Audience

. race is officially on. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, 44, is the first major candidate to formally start a presidential campaign.. Five siblings, ages 5 to 16, died in a fire that ripped through the home of an Orthodox Jewish family in New York.

EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE.; Advices to Last Evening by Ocean Telegraph. Passage of the Reform Bill in the House of Lords. The Alabama Correspondence to be Submitted to the House of Commons. The French Bishop Dupanloup a Probable Candidate for the Papacy. No Interview Projected Between Napoleon and the King of Prussia. GREAT BRITAIN. Passage of the Reform Bill to a Third Reading. Final Passage of the Reform Bill. The Correspondence in the Case of the Pirate Alabama to be Submitted to the House of Commons. The Brighton Races. The Contracts for Carrying the British Malls. The British Captives in Abyssinia. Weather in England. IRELAND. Conviction of Fenian Prisoners. FRANCE. Bishop Dupanloup a Candidate for the Papacy. No Interview Projected Between Napoleon and the King of Prussia. AUSTRIA. Negotiations for the Establishment of a New Concordat. PRUSSIA. Arrival of Minister Bancroft in Berlin. HUNGARY. Kossuth Declines to Occupy a Seat in the Diet. FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL. Financial. Commercial. MARINE NEWS. Arrivals Out.

In the House of Lords last night the amendment to the Reform Bill, increasing the basis of the lodger franchise from 10 to 15 per annum, was reconsidered and rejected. Before adjourning the House of Lords agreed to pass the Reform Bill to its third reading tonight.. Financial Affairs Discussed in French Chamber

Sheldon Adelson primary cranks up next month

New York Times drops Razib Khan. Prospective GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Mike Pence and Rick Perry are making pilgrimages to Las Vegas next month to appear before Sheldon Adelson and other major Jewish donors. The trio ��� as well as Ohio.

Evangelicals Aim to Mobilize an Army for Republicans in 2016

DES MOINES ��� One afternoon last week, David Lane watched from the sidelines as a roomful of Iowa evangelical pastors applauded a defense of religious liberty by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. That night, he gazed out from the stage as the pastors .

How Ted Cruz Is Making His Case to Sheldon Adelson

It was an opportunity for Cruz, an almost-certain presidential contender, to make his case to casino magnate, GOP mega-donor and audience member Sheldon Adelson���whose fundraising decisions are heavily influenced by candidates support for the security.

THE CAREER OF A SOLDIER; GEN. GRANTS BATTLES AND VICTORIES IN WAR AND PEACE. THE SAVIOR OF OUR UNION. THE TANNERS SON, THE ARMYS LEADER, THE NATATIONS HEAD.A SURVEY OF THE EVENTS OF TWO-THIRDS OF A CENTURY--TELLING A STORY THRILLING TO EVERY PATRIOT, INSTRUCTIVE TO EVERY OBSERVER OF THESE TIMES, AND HELPFUL TO CITIZENS IN EVERY STATION AND OF ALL BELIEFS WHO WISH THEIR COUNTRY WELL--THIS MAN, HUMBLY BORN, TAUGHT ONLY IN THE NATIONS SCHOOL, DONQUERS A PLACE AMONG THE GREATONES OF THE EARTH, RESTORES UNITY TO A DIVIDED PEOPLE, AND DIES A PLAIN AMERICAN CITIZEN, LAMENTED ALIKE BY GRATEFUL COUNTRYMEN, LOYAL COMRADES, AND ADMIRING FOES. EVENTS IN A GREAT CAREER. I. WEST POINT AND MEXICO. AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR. FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON. SHILOHS TWO DAYS OF BLOOD. VICKSBURG AND CHATTANOOGA. COMMAND OF ALL THE ARMIES. LEE AND THE WILDERNESS. THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. APPOMATTOX. RECONSTRUCTION DAYS. FIRST TERM AS PRESIDENT. THE FIRST CABINET. SAN DOMINGO. KUKLUX TIMES. STEPS FOR CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT. THE TREATY OF

On the 27th of April, 1822, in the village of Point Pleasant, Ohio, 25 miles above Cincinnati on the Ohio River, was born Hiram Ulysses Grant, the eldest of the six children of Jesse R. and Hannah Simpson Grant.. Career; Illness; Doctors; Memoirs; Religious Experiences as Recalled by Dr. Newman; THE TIMESS Sketch

It has begun - Ted Cruz just became the first major 2016 hopeful to officially.

Ted Cruz (R-Texas) launched his presidential campaign shortly after midnight on Monday with a brief message and video he posted on Twitter. Im running for President and I hope to earn your support! Cruz wrote in his tweet. Cruz has long been.

Ted Cruz Moves In To Demagogue On A New Crisis: The.

But of course getting that far is an extreme long shot, because Republicans likely would procedurally kill such a move at the level of the Rules Committee or in some other fashion. But its still worth doing, Ornstein says: ���Even if��.

EUROPE.; Administrative Reform in England. NEWS FROM INDIA AND CHINA. CLOSING OF THE VIENNA CONFERENCES. Interesting from Brazil and Buenos Ayres. Further Details by the Baltics Mails. FRENCH AND SPANISH CORRESPONDENCE, Description of the Places Recently Captured by the Allies.he Allies. THE WAR.

The late hour at which the Baltic arrived yester day morning rendered it impossible to publish any thing more than a hastily prepared summary of the intelligence. We give in addition this morning portions of our European correspondence, with such selections from our exchanges as are best cal culated to throw light on the interesting intelligence brought by this steamer.. Peace with Brazil

Wendy Davis Filibuster Heroic, Ted Cruz Filibuster Hopeless?

Ted Cruz (R ��� Tex.) spoke for 21 hours this week in a long-shot attempt to defund Obamacare, he was widely mocked by most of the media and even scorned by some members of his own party. Several journalists noticed this differential in news media coverage of the two Texas. When Cruz grandstands against Obamacare, he is a laughingstock in the eyes of many journalists on Twitter, an embarrassment in the eyes of The New York Times editorial board���

NY Dems Didnt Take Too Kindly to Ted Cruzs Swipe at the.

Senator Ted Cruz took a brief swipe at the Bronx during a speech he gave on Saturday. As a result, some New York Democrats fired back at Cruz for what they deemed a cheap shot about stereotypes in the Bronx.. FJoachim. Dimocrats are such hypocrites. They use this type of crap all the time. Just throw some BS out there and hope it sticks. Good for Cruz. Wish the GOP would use more of these Dimocratic tactics.

The Listings: JUNE 24-JULY 1

Theater Approximate running times are in parentheses. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/theater. Previews and Openings TWELFTH NIGHT Opens tomorrow. The Aquila Theater presents Shakespeares comedy about mistaken identities, unrequited love and the threats of a puritanical zealot (2:15). Baruch Performing Arts Center, 25th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues, (212)279-4200. SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS Opens Tuesday. Edward Albee covered man-goat love. Now Adam Bock looks into man-shark romance in his new nonrealistic comedy about young urban types (1:20). McGinn/Cazale Theater, 2162 Broadway, at 76th Street, fourth floor, (212)246-4422. BOOCOCKS HOUSE OF BASEBALL Opens Thursday. Sick of politics, Paul Boocock, a solo comic performer, searches for answers in the national pastime, relating stories about Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter and Pete Rose (1:00). Flea Theater, 41 White Street, Lower Manhattan, (212) 352-3100. DRIVING ON THE LEFT SIDE Previews start tomorrow.. Opens Thursday. A reggae-infused drama about four people in Jamaica searching for a new direction (2:00). TBG Theater, 312 West 36th Street, garment district (212)868-4444. AS YOU LIKE IT Previews start tomorrow. Opens July 12. Up-and-comer Lynn Collins, who was Portia in the recent film of The Merchant of Venice, plays one of Shakespeares most beloved heroines, Rosalind, in Mark Lamoss production in Shakespeare in the Park. Brian Bedford and Richard Thomas star (2:40). Public Theater at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Entrances at 81st Street and Central Park West and at 79th Street at Fifth Avenue, (212)539-8750. Broadway AFTER THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC Though its opening odd-couple-on-a-dance-floor skit shows promising charm, this evening of three sketches from the first lady of neurotic comedy, Elaine May, mostly feels terminally torpid in the way that overworked and familiar material often does, even from comic geniuses. Daniel Sullivan directs an ensemble that notably features Jeannie Berlin (Ms. Mays daughter and onstage alter ego) and the invaluable J. Smith-Cameron. (2:00). Manhattan Theater Club, at the Biltmore Theater, 261 West 47th Street, (212)239-6200.(Ben Brantley) ALL SHOOK UP In a pint-size theater with a campy young cast, All Shook Up might be a moderate hoot. Inflated to Broadway proportions, its a mind-numbing holler (2:10). Palace Theater, 1564 Broadway, at 47th Street, (212)307-4100. (Brantley) CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG The playthings are the thing in this lavish windup music box of a show: windmills, Rube Goldberg-like machines and the shows title character, a flying car. Its like spending two and a half hours in the Times Square branch of Toys R Us (2.30). Hilton Theater, 213 West 42nd Street, (212)307-4100. (Brantley) THE CONSTANT WIFE A stylish production of a creaky 1926 comedy by W. Somerset Maugham. Kate Burton stars as a well-heeled English wife who scarcely raises an eyebrow at her husbands philandering, scandalizing her friends. Maughams dialogue isnt quite as witty as the brisk Ms. Burton and Lynn Redgrave, who plays her imperious mother, manage to make it sound (2:15). American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212)719-1300. (Charles Isherwood) DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS On paper, this tale of two mismatched scam artists has an awful lot in common with The Producers. But if you are going to court comparison with giants, you had better be prepared to stand tall. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz, never straightens out of a slouch (2:35). Imperial, 249 West 45th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) * DOUBT, A PARABLE (Pulitzer Prize, Best Play 2005 and Tony Award, Best Play 2005) Set in the Bronx in 1964, this play by John Patrick Shanley is structured as a clash of wills and generations between Sister Aloysius (Cherry Jones), the head of a parochial school, and Father Flynn (Brian F. OByrne), the young priest who may or may not be too fond of the boys in his charge. The plays elements bring to mind those tidy topical melodramas that were once so popular. But Mr. Shanley makes subversive use of musty conventions (1:30). Walter Kerr, 219 West 48th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) FIDDLER ON THE ROOF From the moment it sounds its first word in this placid revival, the voice of Harvey Fierstein (who has replaced Alfred Molina in the central role of Tevye) makes the audience prick up its ears. Whether that voice fits comfortably into the Russian village of Anatevka is another issue. But at least it brings a bit of zest to this abidingly bland production (2:55). Minskoff, 200 West 45th Street, (212)307-4100.(Brantley) THE GLASS MENAGERIE This revival suggests that to recollect the past is to see life as if it had occurred underwater, in some viscous sea. Folks drown in this treacherous element. Unfortunately, that includes the shows luminous but misdirected and miscast stars, Jessica Lange and Christian Slater (2:30). Barrymore, 243 West 47th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) * GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (Tony Award, Best Play Revival 2005) Highly caffeinated bliss. Watching Joe Mantellos hopping revival of David Mamets play about a dog-eat-dog real estate office is like having espresso pumped directly into your bloodstream. But whats a little lost sleep when youve had the chance to see a dream-team ensemble, including Liev Schrieber and Alan Alda, pitching fast-ball Mamet dialogue with such pure love for the athletics of acting (1:50) Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, (212)239-6200.(Brantley) JACKIE MASON: FRESHLY SQUEEZED Jackie Mason has so cunningly manufactured and marketed his dyspeptic comic persona -- the herky-jerky movements used to embellish the routines, the voice thats like a sinus infection with a bad back -- that he may soon be able to refine all actual jokes out of his act, and still slay em. Thats chutzpah. And quite a talent, too (2:05). Hayes, 240 West 44th Street, (212)239-6200. (Isherwood) LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Love is a many-flavored thing, from sugary to sour, in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucass encouragingly ambitious and discouragingly unfulfilled new musical. The show soars only in the sweetly bitter songs performed by the wonderful Victoria Clark, as an American abroad (2:15). Beaumont, Lincoln Center, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) * THE PILLOWMAN For all its darkness of plot and imagery, Martin McDonaghs tale of a suspected child murderer in a totalitarian state dazzles with a brightness now largely absent from Broadway. Exquisitely directed and designed, The Pillowman features top-of-the-line performances from Billy Crudup, Jeff Goldblum, Zeljko Ivanek and Michael Stuhlbarg (2:40). Booth, 222 West 45th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) SPAMALOT (Tony Award, Best Musical 2005) This staged re-creation of the mock-medieval movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail is basically a singing scrapbook for Python fans. Still, it seems safe to say that such a good time is being had by so many people that this fitful, eager celebration of inanity and irreverence will find a large and lucrative audience (2:20). Shubert, 225 West 44th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) STEEL MAGNOLIAS Despite an ensemble featuring high-profile veterans of stage, film and television, sitting through this portrait of friendship among Southern women, set in a beauty parlor in small-town Louisiana, is like watching nail polish dry (2:20). Lyceum, 149 West 45th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE The capricious gods of casting have not been kind to Tennessee Williams of late. This staging, starring an erratic Natasha Richardson as Blanche, is not the hazy mess that the current Glass Menagerie is. But it, too, suffers from fundamental mismatches of parts, especially John C. Reillys sexually unmagnetic Stanley (2:45). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, (212)719-1300. (Brantley) SWEET CHARITY This revival of the 1966 musical, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Wayne Cilento, never achieves more than a low-grade fever when whats wanted is that old steam heat. In the title role of the hopeful dance-hall hostess, the appealing but underequipped Christina Applegate is less a shopworn angel than a merry cherub (2:30). Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) * THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE The happy news for this happy-making little musical is that the move to larger quarters has dissipated none of its quirky charm. William Finns score sounds plumper and more rewarding than it did Off Broadway, providing a sprinkling of sugar to complement the sass in Rachel Sheinkins zinger-filled book. The performances are flawless. Gold stars all around. (1:45). Circle in the Square, 1633 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212)239-6200. (Isherwood) * WHOS AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? Everybody ultimately loses in Edward Albees great marital wrestling match of a play from 1962. But theatergoers who attend this revealingly acted new production, starring a superb Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin, are destined to leave the Longacre feeling like winners (2:50). Longacre Theater, 220 West 48th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) Off Broadway * ALTAR BOYZ This sweetly satirical show about a Christian pop group made up of five potential Teen People cover boys is an enjoyable, silly diversion (1:30). Dodger Stages Stage 4, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212)239-6200.(Isherwood) BEAST ON THE MOON Richard Kalinoskis musty romantic drama depicts the fractious marriage of two survivors of the mass killings of Armenians during World War I. Larry Mosss production is respectable and effective, but the performances by Omar Metwally and Lena Georgas are exhaustingly busy (2:00). Century Center for the Performing Arts, 111 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212)239-6200. (Isherwood) * BORDER/CLASH: A LITANY OF DESIRES With razor-sharp cheekbones and two voluminous puffs of hair resting on top of a delicate wisp of a body, Staceyann Chin, the author and star of this new autobiographical solo show, is a caricaturists dream. Her appealing if not terribly original show follows her from a tumultuous childhood in Jamaica to New York City, where she starred on Broadway in Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam. (1:30). The Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, (212)307-4100. (Jason Zinoman) THE CHERRY ORCHARD The debate about evoking the proper measurements of humor and pathos in the plays of Anton Chekhov is settled evenly if dubiously in Scott Ziglers production for the Atlantic Theater Company: It fails more or less equally at eliciting laughter and tears (2:00). Atlantic Theater Company, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, (212)239-6200. (Isherwood) DRUMSTRUCK The noisy novelty at Dodger Stages, is a mixed blessing. Providing theatergoers a two-foot drum on every seat, it offers an opportunity to exorcise aggressions by delivering a good beating; and on a slightly more elevated level, it presents a superficial introduction to African culture, lessons in drumming and 90 minutes of nonstop music, song and dancing by a good-natured cast. So, while literally and figuratively giving off many good vibes, it adds up to lightweight entertainment that stops just short of pulverizing the eardrums (1:30). Dodgers Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212)239-6200.(Lawrence Van Gelder) * FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT This production features the expected caricatures of ego-driven singing stars. But even more than usual, the show offers an acute list of grievances about the sickly state of the Broadway musical, where, as the lyrics have it, everything old is old again (1:45). 47th Street Theater, 304 West 47th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) * HURLYBURLY If you are going to inhabit a wasteland, you might as well be thoroughly wasted. That seems to be the first rule of survival for the characters who have been brought so vibrantly and unforgivingly to life in this smashing revival of David Rabes 1984 play. But thanks to a terrific cast, theatergoers are likely to experience a heady buzz of excitement and clarity, which any of the desperate characters onstage would kill for (3:15). 37 Arts, 450 West 37th Street, garment district, (212)307-4100.(Brantley) LAZER VAUDEVILLE If this isnt an ancient showbiz rule, it ought to be: things will look a lot more impressive if they are done in the dark with a heavy dose of fluorescence. That seems to be the guiding principle behind this hodgepodge of juggling, rope twirling and such, delivered wordlessly by the cast (1:30). Lambs Theater, 130 West 44th Street, Midtown, (212)239-6200. (Neil Genzlinger) MANUSCRIPT Three talented, attractive young actors and some skillfully shaggy dialogue are the only reasons to see Paul Grellongs inconsequential play, a revenge tale centering on the theft of an unpublished manuscript expected to be of great literary merit. Implausibility is a big problem: there are plot holes here you could easily drive a hardback copy of Infinite Jest through (1:30). Daryl Roth Theater, 101 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212)239-6200. (Isherwood) THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS! The musical is the happy narcissist of theater; parody is the best form of narcissism. All it needs are smart writers and winning performers. Thats what we get in this case (1:30). Dodger Stages, Stage 5, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton, (212)239-6200. (Margo Jefferson) MY SWEETHEARTS THE MAN IN THE MOON When the eccentric millionaire Harry Thaw shot and killed the famed architect Stanford White on the roof of Madison Square Garden almost a century ago, the subsequent trial of the century -- the first of many in the 20th -- was a perfect storm of celebrity scandal. Don Nigros My Sweethearts the Man in the Moon, recounts the sensational events with nuance and admirable research, but the passionless production unfortunately has the whiff of the whiff of Masterpiece Theater (2:00). 14th Street Y, 344 East 14th Street, East Village, (212)868-4444.( Zinoman) * ORSONS SHADOW Austin Pendletons play, about a 1960 production of Ionescos Rhinoceros directed by Orson Welles and starring Laurence Olivier, is a sharp-witted but tenderhearted backstage comedy about the thin skins, inflamed nerves and rampaging egos that are the customary side effects when sensitivity meets success (2:00). Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street, Greenwich Village, (212)239-6200. (Isherwood) THE PARIS LETTER Jon Robin Baitzs ambitious but schematic play is a morality tale about a misspent life and the dangers of sexual repression. Cleanly directed by Doug Hughes, it features a pair of excellent performances by the superb actors John Glover and Ron Rifkin. But Mr. Baitz gets himself trapped in the mechanical working of an overcomplicated plot (2:00). Roundabout Theater Company, at the Laura Pels Theater, 111 West 46th Street, Midtown, (212)719-1300.(Isherwood) PEOPLE ARE LIVING THERE This unrewarding Athol Fugard play benefits from some rewarding performances by its four actors. OMara Leary is Milly, who on her 50th birthday has been dumped by her boyfriend, and tries to keep her spirits up by recruiting some pals to join her in what turns out to be the worst birthday party ever (1:30). Signature Theaters Peter Norton Space, 555 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212)279-4200.( Genzlinger) * PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES Alan Ayckbourns 67th play, a minor-key comedy about six Londoners leading lives of quiet desperation, is rueful, funny, touching and altogether wonderful. Sir Alans flawless cast amplifies the emotional impact of his writing in variously subtle and hilarious ways, while respecting the depth in his literary spareness (1:50). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212)279-4200.(Isherwood) SLAVAS SNOWSHOW Clowns chosen by the Russian master Slava Polunin are stirring up laughter and enjoyment. A show that touches the heart as well as tickles the funny bone (1:30). Union Square Theater, 100 East 17th Street, (212)307-4100. (Van Gelder) * THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) Is there such a thing as stand-up existentialism? If not, Will Eno has just invented it. Stand-up-style comic riffs and deadpan hipster banter keep interrupting the corrosively bleak narrative. Mr. Eno is a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation (1:10). DR2 Theater, 103 East 15th Street, Flatiron district, (212)239-6200. (Isherwood) THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY The story is familiar, and the script and lyrics are not especially innovative, but somehow Stephen Dolginoffs pocket musical about the Leopold and Loeb murder case lands like a well-placed punch. Every time Doug Kreeger, as Loeb, and Matt Bauer, as Leopold, blend their voices in close harmony, its a reminder that evil often looks and sounds beautiful (1:20). York Theater Company, at St. Peters Lutheran Church, Lexington Avenue, at 54th Street, (212)868-4444. (Genzlinger) TROLLS Dick DeBenedictis and Bill Dyers semi-terrific musical is about gay men who arent as young as they used to be. With a glorious opening, likable characters and affecting but derivative music, the show is worth seeing but needs some work (1:35). Actors Playhouse, 100 Seventh Avenue South, at Fourth Street, Greenwich Village, (212)239-6200.(Anita Gates) UNSUSPECTING SUSAN Celia Imrie stars as a snobbish Englishwoman in this funny, engaging (mostly) and tragic one-woman show written by Stewart Permutt. Ms. Imries character frets about her troubled son, living in London with a charming man, but doesnt begin to grasp how worried she should really be (1:10). Part of Brits Off Broadway. 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212)279-4200. ( Gates) Off Off Broadway BIG TIMES Did you hear the one about the three actresses who wrote themselves a play? The punchline is this sweet, slender homage to the glory days of vaudeville, complete with goofy jokes, gags, and good music by the Moonlighters: kids are as likely to enjoy it as adults. Walkerspace, 46 Walker Street, TriBeCa, (212)868-4444. (Anne Midgette) * DISPOSABLE MEN James Scruggs, who wrote and performed this collection of character pieces, engages issues of race in the button-pushing satirical style that Spike Lee was aiming for (yet failed to pull off) in his film Bamboozled. This multimedia show compares the way African-American men are portrayed in the media to images of monsters in classic horror films like Frankenstein and King Kong (1:10). Here Arts Center, 145 Avenue of the Americas, at Dominick Street, South Village, (212)868-4444.( Zinoman) SCREEN PLAY A.R. Gurneys gleefully partisan retooling of the film Casablanca sets one tough saloon owners battle between idealism and cynicism in Buffalo in the 21st century. Staged by Jim Simpson as a deftly orchestrated reading, Screen Play turns out to be more than a quick collegiate caper; its a morally indignant work that fights frivolity with frivolity (1:10). Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa, (212)352-3101.(Brantley) Long-Running Shows AVENUE Q R-rated puppets give lively life lessons (2:10). Golden, 252 West 45th Street, Manhattan, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Cartoon made flesh -- sort of (2:30). Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 West 46th Street, Manhattan, (212)307-4747. (Brantley) BLUE MAN GROUP Conceptual art as family entertainment (1:45). Astor Place Theater, 434 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212)254-4370. (Brantley) CHICAGO Irrefutable proof that crime pays (2:25). Ambassador, 219 West 49th Street, Manhattan, (212)239-6200.(Brantley) HAIRSPRAY Fizzy pop, cute kids, large man in a housedress (2:30). Neil Simon Theater, 250 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, (212)307-4100. (Brantley) THE LION KING Disney on safari, where the big bucks roam (2:45). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212)307-4100. (Brantley) MAMMA MIA! The jukebox that devoured Broadway (2:20). Cadillac Winter Garden Theater, 1634 Broadway, at 50th Street, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) MOVIN OUT The miracle dance musical that makes Billy Joel cool (2:00). Richard Rodgers Theater, 226 West 46th Street, Manhattan, (212)307-4100.(Brantley) NAKED BOYS SINGING Thats who they are. Thats what they do (1:05). Julia Miles Theater, 414 West 55th Street, Clinton, (212)239-6200. (Gates) THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Who was that masked man, anyway? (2:30). Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) THE PRODUCERS The ne plus ultra of showbiz scams (2:45). St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212)239-6200. (Brantley) RENT East Village angst and love songs to die for (2:45). Nederlander Theater, 208 West 41st Street, Manhattan, (212)307-4100. (Brantley) STOMP And the beat goes on (and on), with percussion unlimited (1:30). Orpheum Theater, Second Avenue at Eighth Street, East Village, (212)477-2477. (Brantley) WICKED Oz revisited, with political corrections (2:45). Gershwin, 222 West 51st Street, Manhattan, (212)307-4100.(Brantley) Last Chance BROOKLYN THE MUSICAL Try to imagine a sanitized Hair or a secular Godspell, with a helping of funky 70s disco, all filtered through the vocal pyrotechnics of American Idol (1:45). Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, (212)239-6200, closing on Sunday.(Brantley) LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (Tony Award, Best Musical Revival 2005) Robert Goulet is now striding gallantly through this garish revival of the Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein musical. Mr. Goulet brings a subdued professionalism to the role of Georges, the owner of a transvestite nightclub on the Riviera who is facing a rising soufflé of domestic conflict (2:30). Marquis, 1535 Broadway, between 45th and 46th Streets, (212)307-4100, closing on Sunday. ( Isherwood) FLAT This happily crass send-up of a BBC family drama is perfectly pitched for fans nostalgic for the self-parodying vulgarity of the sit-com Married With Children. Twelve episodes, quick scenes, stock characters and an opening montage sequence with a jingle that will lodge itself in your cranium, like it or not (1:00). Part of the Moral Values Festival. Brick Theater, 575 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (212)868-4444, closing on Sunday. (Zinoman) HECUBA Revenge is a dish served at room temperature in the intelligent but passionless production starring Vanessa Redgrave. Ms. Redgrave intriguingly brings forth the cool strategist inside the battered woman. But if we can admire this abject figures salvaged aplomb, we rarely get a visceral sense of the despair and the rage at injustice that make the character such a compelling one (1:45). Brooklyn Academy of Musics Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Avenue, (718)636-4100, closing on Sunday. (Isherwood) JACKSONS WAY Thirty-one-year-old Will Adamsdale isnt so much a comedian as a veritable wizard; a virtuoso of the transcendently absurd. Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, he spins a wacky world of increasingly bizarre nonsense out of thin air, creating an exquisitely idiosyncratic worldview that is as funny as it is wonderfully weird, all in the guise of being a life coach named Chris John Jackson, inventor of the motivational technique (1:15). Part of Brits Off Broadway. 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212)279-4200, closing on Sunday. (Phoebe Hoban) LITTLE MARY William S. Leavengoods parable about faith, politics and conservatism in the Roman Catholic Church can sound more like a position paper than a play, but the authors strong storytelling instincts cant be denied (2:10). Sanford Meisner Theater, 164 11th Avenue, at 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212)352-3101, closing on Sunday. (Andrea Stevens) * MARK TWAIN TONIGHT! In a role he has been playing over half a century, Hal Holbrook delivers a performance that is perhaps most remarkable for the energy it derives from a studied languor. Mr. Holbrooks Twain is an exhilarating master of theatrical passive aggression, while Twains observations about corrupt journalists, politicians and religious fanatics remain soberingly relevant (2:30). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street (212)307-4100, closing on Sunday. (Brantley) MARATHON 2005, SERIES C Horton Foote, the Chekhov of the South, tries something different with his gothic depression-eratale The One-Armed Man, the highlight of the third series of the Ensemble Studio Theaters annual collection of short plays, which always features a few wonderful pleasures. Along with Mr. Footes chilling drama is Craig Lucass shrewd portrait of a troubled woman, Your Call is Important, which plays on, among other things, New Yorkers neurosis about country life, and two minor pieces by Kate Long and Romulus Linney (2:00). Ensemble Studio Theater, 549 West 52nd Street, Clinton, (212)352-3101), closing on Sunday. (Zinoman) SENECAS OEDIPUS In the new production of Senecas Oedipus by the Theater by the Blind, the iconic story of the king of Thebes who unknowingly murders his father and marries his mother is performed in modern dress. The poet Ted Hughess masterly 1968 adaptation is vividly alive, contemporary and shocking (1:30). Mint Space, 311 West 43rd Street, Clinton, (212)868-4444, closing on Sunday. (Honor Moore) SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER This comedy, written more than two centuries ago by Oliver Goldsmith, doesnt have much to say today, and Charlotte Moore, the director of the Irish Repertory Theaters production, wisely doesnt try to pretend otherwise. Instead she lets the actors play with the audience, a restrained glee that ultimately pays off with some great laughs. This 1773 comedy mocks the London upper classs snobbery, while piling on the slapstick, mistaken identities and farce (2:30). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, (212)727-2737, closing on Sunday. (Genzlinger) TERRORISM Every element of everyday existence participates in the title activity of this smart, snarling shaggy dog of a play by the Siberian-born Presnyakov brothers. But while Will Frearss production makes its thematic points clearly, it is still searching for a style that convincingly blends Slavic urgency and ennui (1:20). The Clurman Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212)279-4200, closing on Sunday.(Brantley) THE WHORE OF SHERIDAN SQUARE Michael Baron has written and directed this merry tribute to Charles Ludlam, who died of AIDS at 44, cutting short one of the most influential careers in downtown theater. For many downtown theatergoers, this silly -- or should I say, ridiculous -- dramatization of the life of Ludlam will be a nostalgic kick, like bumping into an old friend who you havent seen in a long time (1:50). La MaMa, E.T.C., the Club, 74A East Fourth Street, East Village, (212)475-7710, closing on Sunday. ( Zinoman) Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/movies. THE ADVENTURES OF SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL IN 3-D (PG, 94 minutes) Theres a reason that children arent allowed to vote, drive or make movies with multimillion-dollar budgets. Lively and imaginative as their inner worlds may be, the very young still lack the discipline and maturity to shape their dream worlds into coherent and compelling stories -- a task the director Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Sin City) also fails to accomplish in this muddled quest narrative based on characters and themes created by his 7-year-old son, Racer Max. (Dana Stevens) * BATMAN BEGINS (PG-13, 137 minutes) Conceived in the shadow of American pop rather than in its bright light, this tense, effective iteration of Bob Kanes original comic book owes its power and pleasures to a director (Christopher Nolan) who takes his material seriously and to a star (a terrific Christian Bale) who shoulders that seriousness with ease. Batman Begins is the seventh live-action film to take on the comic-book legend and the first to usher it into the kingdom of movie myth. (Manohla Dargis) * CATERINA IN THE BIG CITY (No rating, 106 minutes, in Italian) In this contemporary political allegory from Italy, a disgruntled teacher and his family move from the country to Rome, where his 12-year-old daughter finds herself the object of a furious tug of war between two cliques, one left wing and bohemian, the other right wing and materialist. Bold, richly textured and entertaining.(Stephen Holden) CINDERELLA MAN (PG-13, 144 minutes) The best part of Ron Howards ingratiating, Depression-era weepie about the boxing underdog-turned-topdog James J. Braddock are, unsurprisingly, Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti, actors who could steal a movie from a basket of mewling kittens and an army of rosy-cheeked orphans. Renée Zellweger also stars. (Dargis) CRASH (R, 107 minutes) A gaggle of Los Angeles residents from various economic and ethnic backgrounds collide, sometimes literally, within an extremely hectic 36 hours. Well-intentioned, impressively acted, but ultimately a speechy, ponderous melodrama of liberal superstition masquerading as realism.(A.O. Scott) * ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM (Not rated, 110 minutes) This sober, informative chronicle of the biggest business scandal of the decade is almost indecently entertaining, partly because it offers some of the most satisfying movie villains in quite some time. Recommended for everyone except those likely to be in the Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling jury pools. (Scott) 5x2 (R, 90 minutes, in French) A couples relationship unravels backward, from divorce through the birth of their child to their first meeting. Interesting, but chilly. (Scott) HEIGHTS (R, 93 minutes) In its aspirations, design and worldview, Heights resembles a number of other films about cozily connected souls, a soap-operatic subgenre that might be called We Are the World. Everybody hurts, as Michael Stipe likes to sing, but people in Heights seem to hurt more or at least spend a lot of time nursing that hurt in brooding silence and noisy confrontation. (Dargis) * THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (PG, 103 minutes) In this hugely likable, long-awaited film of Douglas Adamss beloved book, the world comes to an end not just with a bang, but also with something of a shrug. Nicely directed with heart and sincerity by the newcomer Garth Jennings, the film features Martin Freeman, a sensational Sam Rockwell and some gloriously singing dolphins. (Dargis) THE HONEYMOONERS (PG-13, 90 minutes) Not the greatest, baby, but not as bad as it might have been. (Scott) * HOWLS MOVING CASTLE (PG, 118 minutes) The latest animated enchantment from Hayao Miyazaki. Lovely to look at, full of heart and mystery. ( Scott) THE INTERPRETER (PG-13, 123 minutes) A political thriller, both apolitical and unthrilling, notable for two accomplishments: turning the United Nations into a movie set and, even more remarkably, giving Nicole Kidman the opportunity to embody the suffering of Africans everywhere. (Scott) * KINGS AND QUEEN (No rating, 150 minutes, in French) About a hapless man and a woman who is alternately, perhaps even simultaneously, a mistress, monster, mother, murderer, object of lust and subject of loathing, this latest work from the wildly talented French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin is essential viewing. (Dargis) LADIES IN LAVENDER (PG-13, 104 minutes) Two dames of the British empire (Judi Dench and Maggie Smith) inhabit spinster sisters in Cornwall who nurse a handsome Polish violinist back to health in 1936. Amiably bogus. (Holden) LAYER CAKE (R, 104 minutes) Directed by Matthew Vaughn, making a smoothly assured debut, and written by J.J. Connolly, this is the newest in British gangland entertainment and the tastiest in years. The star of this show is the very good British actor Daniel Craig, who slices through Layer Cake like a knife. (Dargis) THE LONGEST YARD (PG-13, 97 minutes) In this crummy remake of the 1974 film of the same title, Adam Sandler stars as the former N.F.L. quarterback Paul Crewe, who years earlier was booted out of the league for shaving points and is now charged with leading a team of prisoners against a team of guards. In the original film, directed with seriocomic facility by Robert Aldrich, Crewe was played by Burt Reynolds with effortless charm and the tightest pants this side of Tony Orlando. The Aldrich version was recently released on DVD and makes for a nice evening in. (Dargis) MADAGASCAR (PG, 86 minutes) Like many computer-animated features, this one, about four celebrity-voiced animals exiled from the Central Park Zoo -- expends most of its imaginative resources on clever visuals. These, in the end, are not enough to compensate for the lack of interesting narrative, real characters or jokes on subjects other than flatulence, excrement and contemporary pop culture. (Scott) MAD HOT BALLROOM (PG, 105 minutes) This documentary follows fifth graders from three very different New York City public schools as they prepare to compete in a ballroom dancing tournament. The sight of 10-year-olds trying to master the graceful, grown-up motions of the fox trot and the tango is charming, and the glimpses of their lives in and outside of school are fascinating, though unfortunately the film offers little more than glimpses. (Scott) MR. AND MRS. SMITH (PG-13, 112 minutes) What counts in a movie like this are stars so dazzling that we wont really notice or at least mind the cut-rate writing (from Simon Kinberg) and occasionally incoherent action (from the director Doug Liman). Sometimes Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie succeed in their mutual role as sucker bait, sometimes they dont, which is why their new joint venture is alternately a goof and a drag. (Dargis) * MYSTERIOUS SKIN (Not rated, 99 minutes) Gregg Araki, onetime bad boy of the New Queer Cinema, has made a heartbreaking and surpassingly beautiful film out of Scott Heims cleareyed novel about two Kansas boys dealing with the consequences of their sexual abuse by a Little League coach. Superb performances, especially by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. (Scott) THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS (PG, 119 minutes) On a shopping trip, four teenage girls find a pair of thrift-store jeans that mysteriously flatters all four of them, despite their differing shapes and sizes. Deciding the jeans must be magic, they make a pact to share them for the summer, wearing them for a week apiece and then mailing them to the next friend. Like the four girls at its center, this fresh-scrubbed, eager-to-please film makes up in charm for what it lacks in sophistication. (Stevens) * STAR WARS: EPISODE III -- REVENGE OF THE SITH (PG-13, 142 minutes) George Lucas saved the best -- or at least one of the best -- for the end. Or for the middle. In any case, the saga is now complete, and has regained much of its original glory. (Scott) WAGING A LIVING and ROSEVELTS AMERICA (No rating, 85 and 25 minutes) An eye-opening, often heartbreaking documentary tracking four members of the working poor in the Northeast and California. Roger Weisbergs feature is accompanied by his short film, Rosevelts America, a vérité profile of the Liberian refugee Rosevelt Henderson.(Jeannette Catsoulis) Film Series HANNA SCHYGULLA (through June 30) The Museum of Modern Art concludes its 11-film retrospective of the work of Ms. Schygulla, the multi-award-winning German actress. On Sunday, Volker Schlöndorffs drama Die Fälschung (1981), in which Ms. Schygulla plays a wealthy widow having an affair with a German journalist, will be shown. The final offering, on Thursday, is Bela Tarrs Werckmeister Harmoniak (2000), about political rebellion and a traveling circus. At 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan, (212)708-9400, $10; $8, 65+; $6, students. (Anita Gates) IFC CENTER The new IFC Center, in the former Waverly Theater, is showing Dont Look Back, D.A. Pennebakers 1967 documentary about Bob Dylan on tour in Britain in the spring of 1965, as its premiere attraction. It is also showing Marc Singers 16-millimeter documentary Dark Days (midnight show); Yasujiro Ozus 1947 drama The Record of a Tenement Gentleman; and a new film, Miranda Julys Me and You and Everyone We Know, 323 Avenue of the Americas, at West Third Street, (212) 924-7771, $10; $7, children 12 and under and 62+. (Gates) NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (Through July 2) Subway Cinema presents 31 mainstream Asian films, including Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004), from China, about the pashmina trade; One Nite in Mongkok (2004), from Hong Kong; Green Chair (2003), from Korea; My Brother Nikhil (2005), from India, a Bollywood drama about AIDS; and the self-explanatory Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), from Japan. Anthology Film Archives (through Sunday), 32 Second Avenue, at Second Street, East Village, (212)505-5181. ImaginAsian Theater (today through July 2), 239 East 59th Street, Manhattan, (212)371-6682; (212)868-4444, $9.50.(Gates) VILLAGE VOICE BEST OF 2004 (through Wednesday) BAMcinématek continues this festival of critics selections with the class-conscious Talaye Sorkh (Crimson Gold), from the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, tonight; Darwins Nightmare, Hubert Saupers documentary about globalization and the Nile perch tomorrow; and Mo Gan Doh (Infernal Affairs), Andrew Lau and Alan Maks Hong Kong crime drama, on Sunday. BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, (718) 777-FILM or (718) 636-4100, $10. (Gates) Pop Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music. ALKALINE TRIO (Tonight) The drummer and bandleader Mike Skiba continues to add 80s brood-pop wrinkles to the straightforward pop punk that made his bands reputation a decade ago. 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, Union Square, (212)777-6800, $17, $20 at the door (sold out). (Laura Sinagra) ANNIE (Tuesday and Wednesday) The Norwegian singer Annies happy dance pop takes on darker aspects because of associations with the minimalist techno club scene and work with bands like Royksopp and St. Etienne. For these shows, she will DJ with her Finnish producer Timo Kaukolampi. Tuesday at 10 p.m., Hiro Ballroom, Maritime Hotel, 363 West 16th Street, Chelsea, (718)599-3101, $10. Wednesday at 10 p.m., Scenic, 25 Avenue B, Lower East Side, (866)468-7619, $10. (Sinagra) ANTIBALAS AND SOULIVE (Tonight) Antibalas delivers a New York makeover to Fela Kutis Afrobeat, the Nigerian funk propelled by burly saxophones, fierce percussion and righteous anger. Soulive is an organ-guitar-drums trio that harks back to the 1950s and 1960s, playing meaty, blues-centered jazz and funk. Lately, it has been hooking up with a little hip-hop. 7:30 p.m., Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park Bandshell, Prospect Park West and Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn; $3 suggested donation.(Jon Pareles) ALESSANDRA BELLONI AND BRAZILAIN GUESTS: NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STARS (Tomorrow) Ms. Belloni, the singer and tambourine player, has spent years researching ancient songs and trance rituals from southern Italy. Lately, she has become fascinated with Brazilian music. Recent performance programs have explored the mystical side of samba, baião, forro and capoeira. 8 p.m., Synod Hall, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, at 112th Street, Morningside Heights, (212)665-4516, $20. (Pareles) * DAVID BERKELEY (Tonight) David Berkeley has a lustrous, melancholy voice akin to Tim Buckley and Nick Drake, and his songs offer both misgivings and consolation. 7 p.m. Joes Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212)539-8778 or (212)239-6200, $12. (Pareles) THE BLUE VAN (Sunday) From Denmark, the Blue Vans play unabashed organ-driven 1960s-style garage-rock, tube amplifiers and all. With the Everyothers opening. 8 p.m. Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718)230-0236, $10. (Pareles) BOUKMAN EKSPERYANS, BOUKAN GINEN (Tonight) A double bill of Haitian rock based on voodoo rhythms. Boukman Eksperyans went to the Haitian countryside to collect the Afro-Haitian rhythms of rural voodoo and carnival music. Then it added electric guitars and lyrics hinting at revolutionary messages, and reshaped a generation of Haitian rock. Boukan Ginen was formed by an ex-member of Boukman Eksperyans. 12 a.m. and 2 a.m., S.O.B.s, 204 Varick Street, at Houston Street, South Village, (212)243-4940, $20, $22 at the door. (Pareles) DAVID BYRNE (Wednesday) The stylish, brainy punk rocker and world-music fixture David Byrne has been in danger of slipping into cliché. But at a recent show, Mr. Byrne was a man on fire, shaking and hurling his yelps into the balcony. His latest work features the Texas-based chamber group Tosca Strings, who will appear with him here. 5 p.m., Central Park Summerstage, Rumsey Field, midpark at 70th Street, (212)360-2777, $37, $40 at the door. (Sinagra) BILLY CORGAN (Monday and Tuesday) One of the more abrasive alternative rockers of the 90s, Billy Corgan (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) nonetheless penned some of the decades most triumphant pop complaints. After feigning humility for 2003s Zwan project, he released a book of his poems and recorded a just-released solo album. 8 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212)353-1600, $35, $40 at the door. (Sinagra) C-RAYZ WALZ, J LIVE, VAST AIRE (Wednesday) This trio of local rappers share an aesthetic that idealizes the East Coast Golden Age of elite M.C.s. That is, they pursue nuance over histrionics and hubris. 9 p.m., Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103, $15. (Sinagra) DGARY (Tonight) It has been a while since the Malagasy guitarist DGary was first hailed as the low-key prodigy from Madagascars back country whose self-taught style involved exquisitely detailed flourishes over unorthodox rhythms, but his approach remains distinctive. 10 p.m., Satalla, 37 West 26th Street, Manhattan, (212)576-1155, $18, $22 at the door.(Sinagra) * DR. DOG (Thursday) This emerging Philadelphia band loves breezy vocal harmonies, but the live show is much louder and more exuberant, especially when Scott McMicken unleashes one of his wailing, shape-shifting guitar solos. Opening for Apostle of Hustle. 9:30 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212)260-4700, $10. (Kelefa Sanneh) EISLEY (Tonight) The waifs in this pretty pop quartet are siblings, home schooled in a Texas small-town by Christian parents who supported their daughters Radiohead obsession. If they seem slight now, just wait. The youngest writes the best stuff, and her round, imploring voice sounds spookily like Christine McVies. 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212)533-2111, $15. (Sinagra) EELS (Thursday) Theres really only one eel, the prolific confessional indie rocker Mark Everett. His projects include the hip-hop kitsch of I Am the Messiah (SpinART). His latest work delves into family deaths and trauma, moving from countrified swoon to ironic flail to self-aware, yet nostalgic, regret. 8 p.m., Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Midtown, (212)840-2824, $24.50 and $29.50.(Sinagra) FEIST (Tomorrow) A pal and collaborator of the dirty electroclash queen Peaches and part of the Canadian indie collective Broken Social Scene, the warm-voiced Feist brings more of a cabaret swing to her own music. Shes good at affecting a Continental, beer-hall gloom, but her best songs are quirky, plucked jazz-tinged numbers that make her sound like a hipper Norah Jones. 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212)533-2111, $20. (Sinagra) RUTH GERSON (Thursday) With a voice that rises from tender endearments to a bluesy, impassioned growl, Ruth Gerson sings folk-rock songs that reach for the status of anthems. 8 p.m. Sin-e, 148 Attorney Street, Lower East Side, (212)388-0077, $10. (Pareles) THE GET UP KIDS, FRENCH KICKS (Tonight) The jumping-bean energy of the emo rock stalwarts the Get Up Kids shames anyone not pogo-ing to their earnest beat. The French Kicks have moved from the angular post-punk of their Washington roots to a more wistful new wave sound. 5 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212)353-1600, $18, $20 at the door (sold out).(Sinagra) HAMELL ON TRIAL (Wednesday) A solo performer with the force of a hard-rock band, Ed Hamell quick-strums his acoustic guitar and delivers torrents of words, sometimes funny, sometimes furious. 9:30 p.m., Satalla, 37 West 26th Street, Chelsea, (212)576-1155, $12. (Pareles) JOHN HIATT, THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS (Tomorrow) Mr. Hiatts songs get to the heart of human frailty, loyalty and love, even if they take a sidelong route. With a deep-diving baritone, a twang-happy band and enough strange facial expressions to rival Jim Carrey, Mr. Hiatt sings his songs as convincingly as anyone around. The jamming Southern rock band North Mississippi All-Stars play an asymmetrical, cantankerous blues from the Mississippi Delta and the hill country nearby. 7 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212)353-1600, $35, $40 at the door. (Pareles) HOPEWELL/DOS/THE BLUE VAN (Tomorrow) Hopewell looks back to the majestic side of psychedelia, wafting high tenor vocals over stately songs with wah-wah ripples at the edges. Dos includes Mike Watt, the bassist and singer of the Minutemen and Firehose, and Kira Roessler. See above for the Blue Van. Danko Jones opens. 8:30 p.m. Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, Lower East Side, (212)260-4700, $10. (Pareles) DANNY KRIVIT (Sunday) This longtime disco and house D.J. presides over a floating party organized by the 718 Sessions crew. 7 p.m., Circle Line Cruises, Pier 83, 43rd Street, at the West Side Highway, (212)978-8869, $27, $35 at the gate. (Sanneh) LA LEY (Thursday) La Ley, from Mexico, is a long-running Rock en Español band thats hugely popular south of the border. Its also a painfully earnest band aspiring to be Mexicos answer to U2 or Depeche Mode. This is billed as its final tour. 7 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212)353-1600, $35, $40 Thursday. (Pareles) TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS, RADIO 4 (Sunday) The Irish-American indie rocker Ted Leo plays soulful punk, nearly popping a neck vein for political justice. But his melodic sensibility and sudden falsetto also recall the melodic 70s arena-rock of bands like Thin Lizzy. Radio 4 plays steadily improving post-punk. 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, Union Square, (212)777-6800. $15.(Sinagra) * ELLA LEYA (Tomorrow) Born in Azerbaijan and celebrated as a jazz singer in what was the Soviet Union, Ella Leya rediscovered the melancholy songs called Russian romances after she emigrated to the United States. On her album Russian Romance (B-Elite), she sings them with a tenderly mournful voice, in exquisite arrangements that merge chamber music, Russian and Central Asian touches. 7:30 p.m. Joes Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212)539-8778 or (212)239-6200, $25. (Pareles) LEZ ZEPPELIN, (Wednesday) Strapping on the double-necked Gibson with attitude to burn, this all-girl quartet pays tribute to its swaggering namesake Led Zeppelin, ripping through the catalog with blazing accuracy. Of course, they also have their gender-bending way with macho metaphors about squeezed lemons and dripping honey. 9 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, Lower East Side, (212)260-4700, $15. (Sinagra) LHASA (Thursday) Lhasa sings in Spanish, French and English, with a husky, torchy voice that fills her music with the smoldering drama of Mexican boleros and French chansons. 8 p.m. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, $20, $25 at the door. (Pareles) THE LITTLE KILLERS, CHEATER SLICKS (Thursday) This garage-rock showcase stars the local trio the Little Killers and Cheater Slicks, a veteran band that finds ways to combine exuberance with meanness. 9 p.m., Sin-é, 148-150 Attorney Street, Lower East Side, (212)388-0077, $10. (Sanneh) * THE LONG BLONDES (Tomorrow) The Long Blondes, a three-woman, two-man band from England, hark back to the sparse, scrabbling late-1970s post-punk of the Slits and Delta Five on the handful of songs they have released, including the eager Giddy Stratospheres (Whats Your Rupture), which takes some unexpected turns. 11 p.m., TriBeCa Grand, 2 Avenue of the Americas, at Church Street, (212) 519-6677; free with RSVP to getrad@igetrvng.com. (Pareles) LONGWAVE (Wednesday) Longwave ponders self-destruction and transcendence in brooding songs with guitar lines that coil and climb. With Benzos opening. 8 p.m. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212)533-2111, $15. (Pareles) LYNYRD SKYNYRD (Sunday) Their funky Southern hard rock made them one of the best bands of the 70s, and the plane crash that killed the singer Ronnie Van Zant and others made Skynyrds story the most horrific Behind the Music tragedy. Remaining original members, the guitarist Gary Rossington and the keyboardist Billy Powell, continue in the tradition of the bands boogie stomp. 7 p.m., North Fork Theater at Westbury Music Fair, 960 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury, N.Y., (516)334-0800, $50.50. (Sinagra) MADLIB, PEANUT BUTTER WOLF (Monday) He has just released an album as Quasimoto, but the nasal-voiced motormouth and D.J. performs here under his more frequent moniker with label mates including his old-school Bay Area producer, Peanut Butter Wolf. 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, Union Square, (212)777-6800, $22.50. (Sinagra) MAGIK MARKERS (Tonight) This noise-rock trios sound assaults build from shirring buzz and ominous clang to maelstroms of bash and feedback. Kicking and jerking as the spirit moves her, the vocalist and guitarist Elisa Ambrogio surges from hiss to howl, wrestling with her guitar to choke out its most dangerous peals. 10 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, (212)358-7503, $8. (Sinagra) MC LYTE (Tonight) The last decade has been full of comeback attempts by this 80s hip-hop star who, along with artists like Roxanne Shante, was vocal about the macho rap game. If her music hasnt kept up with the latest trends, her feminist message about misogyny in hip-hop is timely. 10 p.m., Roxy, 515 West 18th Street, Chelsea, (212)645-5156, $20 in advance, $25 at the door. (Sinagra) MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO (Thursday) Jack Dangers has been layering together samples since the heyday of industrial rock in the 80s. On Meat Beat Manifestos latest album, At the Center (Thirsy Ear), he mixes jazz musicians and the voice of the poet Kenneth Rexroth, letting his densely packed tracks swing as much as they stomp. With Ming & FS and Dub trio opening. 8 p.m., Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Union Square, (212)777-6800, $22.50, $25 at the door. (Pareles) NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, THE STARS, THE SADIES (Tomorrow) This revved-up Vancouver outfits power-pop grandeur builds with a sort of time-release tension that makes anthems of their absurdist lyrical bric-a-brac. See below for Stars. The country rockers the Sadies open. 7:30 p.m., Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park Bandshell, Prospect Park West and Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn; $3 suggested donation. (Sinagra) OJOS DE BRUJO (Tuesday) Plunging flamenco into the disc-jockey era, Ojos de Brujo, from Barcelona, mixes club beats, punk guitar and socially conscious rapping with the old Gypsy passion. 8 p.m. Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Union Square, (212)777-6800,$25, $30 at the door. (Pareles) PAJO, GRIZZLY BEAR, SOFT CIRCLE, MIIGHTY FLASHLIGHT (Tomorrow) David Pajos meandering guitar forays have graced bands like Slint and Zwan. Hes joined here by the electronically inclined Soft Circle, the noise-folk wackos Grizzly Bear and the laptop-inflected folkies Mighty Flashlight. 2 p.m., East River Amphitheater, East River Park, Between the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges, free. (Sinagra) EDDIE PALMIERI (Tomorrow and Thursday) Latin pianists have a longstanding affinity for jazz, but Eddie Palmieri may well be the jazziest and most experimental of them all, plunging into modal harmonies and burly, splashing chord clusters, building suspense and then detonating it with rhythm. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, (212)247-7800, $45 to $85. Thursday at noon, BAM R&B Festival, Metrotech Commons, Downtown Brooklyn, free. (Pareles) ROBERT PLANT (Sunday and Monday) After scaling hard-rock peaks in his prime, the Led Zeppelin frontmans solo efforts never matched the skin-tight hedonism of his heyday. No one would blame him for joining the suit-and-standards circuit, but his new Mighty Rearranger (Sanctuary), rocks confidently, incorporating West African folk and the Islamic modal patterns that his band once mined with Kashmir. 8 p.m., Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th Street, (212)496-7070, $33.50 to $78.50. (Sinagra) PUCHO AND HIS LATIN SOUL BROTHERS (Tomorrow) In the 1960s, soul met Latin music in the form of the boogaloo, an earthy beat that has survived the intervening decades. The timbales player Henry Brown, aka Pucho, is loyal to the heyday of musicians like Joe Bataan and Mongo Santamaria. 7:30 p.m., Midsummer Night Swing, Lincoln Center Plaza, (212)875-5766, $15. (Pareles) * LUCIA PULIDO (Thursday) Lucia Pulido, a singer from Colombia, merges traditional Colombian songs with modern jazz. As Susana Baca has done with Afro-Peruvian songs, Ms. Pulido holds on to the rawness of the original melodies while giving them a sophisticated new context. 7:30 p.m., Satalla, 37 West 26th Street, Manhattan, (212)576-1155, $15. (Pareles) REEL BIG FISH (Wednesday) How many iterations is the punk-ska hybrid good for? Another one, at least, as bands like Reel Big Fish pump out bratty, bouncy pop. With El-Pus and Punchline opening. 7 p.m. Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Union Square, (212)777-6800, $21. (Pareles) THE ROOTS, DE LA SOUL, MF DOOM (Tuesday) The funky, experimental hip-hop band the Roots, the wordsmith rappers De La Soul. But the big news is the appearance of MF Doom, the MC sometimes known as Madvillain, whose wildly imaginative raps glower and shimmer over a current of poetic pain. A creator of New Yorks jazzy hip-hop sound, D.J. Premier is performing as well. 5 p.m., Rumsey Playfield, midpark at 70th Street, (212)307-7171, $36. (Sinagra) MICHELLE SHOCKED (Wednesday) The eclectic Texan folk-rocker Ms. Shocked will perform three shows in a row. The first gives Disney songs a Western kick, the second is countryfied rock, and the late show will be a borderland tribute to the singer-songwriters Southwestern roots. 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 9: 30, Joes Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212)539-8778, $30. (Sinagra) THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (Sunday) The Soundtrack of Our Lives, a Swedish band that sings in English. The band has learned a lot from the early Pink Floyd, the early Who, the Beatles circa 1967 and countless more obscure English and American bands; it recaptures the sense of teetering between discovery and disillusionment. Midnight. Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212)219-3006, $17. (Pareles) STARS (Tonight) The Canadian indie band the Stars play achingly pretty boy-girl vocal pop that makes a dreamy soundtrack for a quarter-life crisis. 11 p.m., Maxwells, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201)653-1703, $15.(Sinagra) JAMES TAYLOR (Tomorrow and Sunday) Mr. Taylor makes blanket music. Sometimes it is as reassuring as an electric blanket, other times its as annoying as a wet blanket, and almost all of the time it attempts to envelop existence in one large monochrome blanket, grappling with birth, love, pain, friendship, madness and death in such universal terms that to wallow in a specific tragedy -- and Mr. Taylor has been faced with many over the years -- is to commit a sin of solipsism. 8 p.m., PNC Bank Arts Center, Exit 116 Garden State Parkway, Holmdel, N.J., (732)335-0400. $25 to $69.50. (Pareles) TEGAN AND SARA, RON SEXSMITH, EAST VILLAGE OPERA (Sunday) The Canadian twins Tegan and Saras lyrics about love and loss are underground girl anthems. As of late, their acoustic folk has given way to power pop topped with their tart vocals. Mr. Sexsmith sings affecting folk rock, and the East Village Opera Company puts a glam rock spin on classic arias. 3 p.m., Central Park Summerstage, Rumsey Playfield, midpark at 70th Street, free. (Sinagra) RICHARD THOMPSON (Tuesday) Rocks smartest misanthrope is also one of its greatest guitarists. Richard Thompson, who was one of the architects of British trad-rock in the 1960s, writes songs steeped in Celtic melody and the stoicism of traditional ballads. This is a solo acoustic concert. 7 p.m., Hudson River Festival, World Financial Center, 200 Liberty Street, (212)945-2600, free (Pareles) MARY TIMONY (Tomorrow) Ms. Timony, who led the band Helium, has kept her tightly wound guitar riffs but has gradually left behind the personality crises of indie-rock to ponder higher thoughts and cosmic forces. With Medications, Bella Lea and Minaret opening. 8 p.m. Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718)599-5103, $10, $12 tomorrow. (Pareles) FRANCISCO ULLOA (Wednesday) Francisco Ulloa, from the Dominican Republic, is one of the worlds fastest, wildest accordion soloists. Playing merengue tunes that barely pause for breath, he takes off from the traditional fast arpeggios into breakneck solos that loop and stutter all over the galloping beat. 7:30 p.m., Midsummer Night Swing, Lincoln Center Plaza, (212)875-5766, $15. (Pareles) WINGDALE COMMUNITY SINGERS, CLAUDIA GONSON (Tonight) The guitarist David Grubbs, the vocalist Hannah Marcus and the novelist Rick Moody get together and make literate folk. Claudia Gonson, the ethereal secret weapon in Stephin Merritts Magnetic Fields, opens. 7 p.m., Housing Works Used Book Café, 126 Crosby Street, SoHo, (212)334-3324, $25.(Sinagra) Cabaret Full reviews of recent cabaret shows: nytimes.com/music. BARBARA CARROLL (Sundays at 2 and 8 p.m.) Even when swinging out, this Lady of a Thousand Songs remains an impressionist with special affinities for Thelonious Monk and bossa nova. Oak Room, Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212)419-9331. Cover: $55 at 2, including brunch at noon; $42 at 8, plus a $15 minimum; an $80 dinner-and-show package is available. (Stephen Holden) * BLOSSOM DEARIE (Tomorrow and Sunday) To watch this singer and pianist is to appreciate the power of a carefully deployed pop-jazz minimalism combined with a highly discriminating taste in songs. Dannys Skylight Room, 346 West 46th Street, Clinton; (212)265-8133. Tomorrow night at 7; Sunday night at 6:15. Cover: $25, with a $15 minimum; a $54.50 dinner-and-show package is available. (Holden) * EARTHA KITT (Tuesdays through Saturdays) The godmother of golddiggers, still glamorous as ever at 78, remains in full command of a voice that can tear into a song with a ravenous ferocity, and the personality to go with it. Cafe Carlyle, Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan; (212)744-1600, through July 2. At 8:45 p.m., with an additional show on Saturdays at 10:45. Cover: $85 Tuesdays through Thursdays, $95 on Fridays and Saturdays; no minimum. (Holden) Jazz Full reviews of recent jazz concerts: nytimes.com/music. TOSHIKO AKIYOSHI TRIO (Wednesday through July 2) A year and a half ago Ms. Akiyoshi retired her acclaimed big band, ending a longstanding Birdland engagement. Returning to the club with a trio, she places emphasis on her articulate piano playing. 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, (212)581-3080. Cover: $30, plus a $10 minimum. (Nate Chinen) MOSE ALLISON (Through Sunday) Mr. Allison is best known for his songs, which combine cosmopolitan wit with a folksy worldview. As a singer and pianist he enacts a similar fusion, recasting the Delta blues in bebops hipster argot. 8 and 10 p.m., with an 11:30 p.m. set tonight and tomorrow, Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212)582-2121. Cover: $35 tonight and tomorrow night, $30 on Sunday, with a $10 minimum all nights. (Chinen) RONI BEN-HUR (Tonight) Mr. Ben-Hur, a talented guitarist and composer, pays homage to the pianist Elmo Hope, with a quartet that includes Hopes widow, Bertha, on piano. 8 p.m., New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, 333 Adams Street, Downtown Brooklyn, (718)222-6543. No cover. (Chinen) TIM BERNES PARAPHRASE (Monday) This trio engages in an interplay that is unscripted but hardly formless; Mr. Berne, an alto saxophonist, has creative partners in Drew Gress, bassist, and Tom Rainey, drummer. 7 and 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212)929-9883. Cover: $8. (Chinen) DAVE BINNEYS BALANCE (Tuesday) The alto saxophonist Dave Binney heeds an avant-gardism that embraces harmony, melody and rhythm, along with amplification; he receives sinuous support from the keyboardist Craig Taborn, the bassist Thomas Morgan and the drummer Dan Weiss. 7 and 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212)929-9883. Cover: $10. (Chinen) CLIFFORD BROWN 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (Tuesday through July 3) Clifford Brown was a bebop trumpet player of unsurpassed skill, and his premature death has haunted jazz for 50 years. The vitality of his legacy should be evident at this tribute, which enlists the trumpeters Tom Harrell, Nicholas Payton, David Weiss and Jeremy Pelt. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set Fridays and Saturdays, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, 60th Street and Broadway, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (212)258-9595. Cover: $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar.(Chinen) DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET/ and JOHN PIZZARELLI QUARTET (Tonight) Mr. Brubeck, now in his mid-80s, plays the piano with undiminished vigor; what he shares with the 35-year old guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli is a style of performing that neednt condescend to entertain. 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212)247-7800. Tickets: $30 to $75, JVC Jazz Festival.(Chinen) DON BYRON (Through Sunday) This clarinetist, conceptualist and composer finishes a weeks engagement with two groups: Ivey-Divey, a trio, with guests (tonight and tomorrow); and the Don Byron Quintet (Sunday). 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212)255-4037. Cover: $30, JVC Jazz Festival. (Chinen) FRANCESCO CAFISO QUARTET (Tonight through Sunday) A precocious bop-leaning alto saxophonist from Sicily, matched with a fine New York rhythm section. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow, Dizzys Club Coca-Cola, Frederick P. Rose Hall, 60th Street and Broadway, Jazz at Lincoln Center, (212)258-9595. Cover: $30, with a minimum of $10 at tables, $5 at the bar.(Chinen) HARRY CONNICK JR. AND BRANFORD MARSALIS and /MIGUEL ZENÓN (Sunday) Mr. Connick has always been a pianist as well as a singer; here, as on the new record Occasion (Marsalis Music), hell play a round of duets with Mr. Marsalis, the saxophonist and fellow New Orleans transplant. The evenings highlight, however, just might be Jíbaro, a suite for jazz quartet by the Puerto Rican saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón. 8:30 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212)247-7800. Tickets: $39 to $66, JVC Jazz Festival. (Chinen) KURT ELLING (Tonight and tomorrow) Tonight Mr. Elling, a superbly skilled jazz singer, augments his trio with the vibraphonist Stefon Harris. Tomorrow he welcomes several elder-statesmanlike vocal influences: Jon Hendricks, Mark Murphy and Andy Bey. 9 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, (212)581-3080. Cover: $40, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen) THE FULLY CELEBRATED ORCHESTRA (Wednesday) The free-jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman serves as a touchstone for this Boston-based ensemble, which features a frontline of Jim Hobbs, alto saxophonist, and Taylor Ho Bynum, cornetist. 10 p.m., Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue, between North Third Street and Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718)218-6934. No cover. (Chinen) DIZZY GILLESPIE ALUMNI ALL-STAR BIG BAND (Tuesday through July 3) Gillespie, jazzs goateed ambassador, did some of his best work with big bands; as the title suggests, this one is well stocked with veterans of his employ, including the saxophonists James Moody, Frank Wess and Jimmy Heath. 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212)475-8592. Cover: $30 at tables with a $5 minimum or $20 at the bar with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) BARRY HARRIS TRIO (Tuesday through July 3) A crisp and courtly pianist firmly in the bebop idiom, Mr. Harris appears here with the drummer Leroy Williams and the bassist Earl May. 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212)255-4037. Cover: $30. (Chinen) JAVON JACKSON BAND (Through Sunday) Mr. Jackson is an accomplished tenor saxophonist with a laid-back rhythmic approach; here, as on the new CD Have You Heard (Palmetto), he applies his talents to straightforward funk, and enlists the dazzlingly proficient Mark Whitfield on guitar. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212)576-2232. Cover: $20, $25 tonight and tomorrow. (Chinen) KILLER JOEY (Monday) Joey Baron, a drummer with an irrepressibly buoyant rhythmic feel, leads this high-spirited quartet, with the guitarists Brad Shepik and Steve Cardenas and the bassist Tony Scherr. 10 p.m., Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue, between North Third Street and Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718)218-6934. No cover. (Chinen) KNEEBODY (Thursday) Rock, funk and electronic music commingle convincingly with jazz on Kneebody (Greenleaf), this quintets recent studio debut; its an update of the rugged, exploratory early fusion of Weather Report and Return to Forever, and just as likely to sound better live. 10 p.m., Zebulon, 258 Wythe Avenue, between North Third Street and Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718)218-6934. No cover. (Chinen) ABBEY LINCOLN QUARTET (Tonight through Sunday) Jazz has had only a handful of singers as powerfully expressive as Ms. Lincoln, whose performances can still approach the sublime; her band includes the estimable Marc Cary on piano. 8 and 10:30 p.m., Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212)475-8592. Cover: $35 at tables with a $5 minimum or $20 at the bar with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) RUSS LOSSING TRIO (Tuesday) Open spaces often insinuate themselves in the music of Mr. Lossing, who has an engaging new album, Phrase 6 (Fresh Sound), featuring John Hebert, bassist, and Jeff Williams, drummer. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212)576-2232. Cover: $15. (Chinen) LIONEL LOUEKE TRIO (Tomorrow) Mr. Loueke, a distinctive guitarist and vocalist, favors a form of global jazz deeply informed by his West African homeland of Benin. 9 and 10:30 p.m., Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, South Village, (212)242-1063. Cover: $15, $10 for members.(Chinen) MASADA STRING TRIO (Monday) The composer and club proprietor John Zorn has developed a few different incarnations of Masada, his tuneful klezmer project, over the years; the violinist Mark Feldman, the cellist Erik Friedlander and the bassist Greg Cohen comprise this one. 8 and 10 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village. Cover: $10, www.thestonenyc.com. (Chinen) MOUTIN REUNION QUARTET (Tonight) François and Louis Moutin, bassist and drummer respectively, lead this dynamic trans-Atlantic postbop ensemble; the groups other half consists of the saxophonist Rick Margitza and the pianist Pierre de Bethmann. 7 and 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212)929-9883. Cover: $10. (Chinen) * NEW YORK NOW! (Tomorrow) Fulfilling the JVC Jazz Festivals recommended downtown allowance, this one-night stand subsumes all three floors of the Knitting Factory in jazz; among the many highlights are the Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet, the Marty Ehrlich Sextet, the Robert Glasper Trio, Min Xiao Fens Blue Pipa Trio, Ben Allisons Kush Trio and the Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet. 8 p.m., Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212)219-3132. Cover: $35, $25 in advance, JVC Jazz Festival. (Chinen) NUBLU ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL (Through Sunday) Nublu, the Alphabet City hipster hideaway, marks its third birthday with a week of club favorites. Tonight the house band Love Trio joins forces with U-Roy, the Jamaican turntable pioneer; tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon the band Our Theory plays with Eric Truffaz, a French trumpeter and electro-jazz specialist. 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., Nublu, 62 Avenue C, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, East Village, (212)979-9925. Cover: $20. (Chinen) MAKOTO OZONE TRIO (Tuesday through July 3) Precision and propulsion are among the traits Mr. Ozone inherited from his pianistic hero, Oscar Peterson; his sterling trio, with the bassist James Genus and the drummer Clarence Penn, is augmented here with a string quartet. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212)576-2232. Cover: $20, $25 Fridays and Saturdays. (Chinen) EDDIE PALMIERI Y LA PERFECTA/ and RAY BARRETTO (Tomorrow) Mr. Palmieri, salsas pioneering pianist, leads a legacy version of the band that made his reputation; Mr. Barretto, the celebrated conga player, reunites with Fania All-Star vocalist Adalberto Santiago for his own salsa set. 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, (212)247-7800. Tickets: $45 to $85, JVC Jazz Festival. (Chinen) GRETCHEN PARLATO GROUP (Thursday) The lilting cadence and mellow sonority of Ms. Parlatos voice have earned her a good many casual admirers; a recent deluge of critical acclaim has more to do with her musicianship, underscored here by the guitarist Guilherme Monteiro, the bassist Ben Street and the drummer Adam Cruz. 9 and 10:30 p.m., Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063. Cover: $12, $10 for members. (Chinen) CASSANDRA WILSON (Tonight) A jazz singer by training and temperament, Ms. Wilson takes obvious pleasure in a boundless, genre-blind repertory; she has also applied her earthy alto lately to a smattering of original tunes. Tamar-Kali Pseudoacoustic opens the show. 7 p.m., Central Park SummerStage, (212)360-2777. Donation: $10. (Chinen) Classical Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music. Opera SAMSON ET DALILA (Friday) Its all about sex and violence, yet Saint-Sa

Can Wendy Davis Have It All?

A Texas-size tale of ambition, motherhood and political mythmaking.. Profile of Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, whose campaign for governor has drawn scrutiny and criticism due to the way she has presented her past; some argue the criticism she has received is driven in large part because she is a woman.

How Did Hugh Hewitt Become the GOPs Go-To Pundit?

He is not the most-heard talk-radio host, not by a long shot, with an audience one-tenth the size of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, according to Talkers, an industry trade magazine. Yet, as the 2016 cycle gets underway, he appears. Ted Cruz came to.

Does Jeb Bush Still Have a Place in the Republican Party.

. report at The New York Times, ���just that he will form a leadership PAC in January, which will pull him in line with other potential candidates who have already launched such PACs, like Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.. can say is that if he were Jeb Smith, a former two-term governor of Florida who has been out of politics since leaving office in 2007, and who has unorthodox positions in more than one policy area, he would be viewed as a longshot.

Senate to take up longshot amendment to regulate.

Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Democrats would soon bring the amendment up for a vote. ​The amendment. Ted Cruz of Texas, the other Republican who attended the hearing Wednesday, addressed the disclosure issue, at least partly. He called for allowing. But Cruz did not say whether he also supported such disclosures by dark money groups. A slate of campaign. He was previously an intern at The New York Times and The Seattle Times.

AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTH; Condition and Prospects of Tennessee. Geographical and Topographical Description of the State. Wonderful Growth and Prosperity of the Principal Cities. The Great Natural Highways and the Railroads. News from Georgia and Other Southern States. GEORGIA. The Questions of the Admission of the Southern Representatives--Fueling of the People. The Questions of the Admission of the Southern Representatives--Fueling of the People. MISSOURI. The Ice Blockade at St. Louis--Hon. Trusten Polk--Gen. Price, &c. KENTUCKY. The Freedman Question in the Legislature--Important Bill for the Recognition of Freedmens Rights -- Aim of the Freedmens Burean --- Legistive Action Against Military Interference -- Indications of Postpoment to an Adjourned Session of Important Questions. Gov. Patton on Legislation for the Negro. ALABAMA. The Churches in Alabama. GEORGIA. A Curious Document--Lamars Apology for Himself. GOV. Clarke, of Mississippi. NORTH CAROLINA. The Freedmen in North Carolina.

. Condition and Prospects of; TIMES Cor.

2016ers mostly mum as Hillary Clinton faces the cameras

A few long-shot GOP presidential contenders also slammed her: Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina tweeted ���In effect, @HillaryClinton told us to trust her.. Ted Cruz of Texas. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has weighed in before, but he didnt.

EUROPEAN NEWS.; Advices by the OCean Cable to Last Evening. No PRogress in Settling the Eastern Question. Turkey Determined to Continue the War in Candia. Arrest of Fenian Head Centres in Ireland. Two More War Vessels Sent to the Irish Coast. Another Outbreak Anticipated on Sunday. Atlantic Cable Banquet at Liverpool. THE EASTERN QUESTION.

It is stated that the European Powers have failed to agree on the Eastern question. Russia demands additional concessions for the Christian subjects of the Sultan. Dispatches from Constantinople state that the Turkish Government is determined to continue the war in Candia, and is preparing to send ton fresh battalions of troops to the island under the command of HASSAM PACHA.. Political Affairs in. Cor. TIMES

Ted Cruz to Make Important Speech at Liberty University.

Ted Cruzs political operation appears to be strongly encouraging attendance by the media at an event in Lynchburg, Va., Monday for whats being billed as ���an important speech.��� Aides to the Texas Republican, who has��.

Updates on the Senate Hearing on Gun Violence

. The Lede followed testimony on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing titled “What Should America Do About Gun Violence?”

NY Times Writer Calls Ted Cruz ���As Hispanic As Tom Cruise.

An Op-Ed writer is not the arbiter of a persons race or ethnicity, and it is unfortunate that The New York Times would allow someone a platform to pretend so. AMANDA CARPENTER. Communications Director. Office of��.

Is Ted Cruz, born in Canada, eligible to run for president.

Cruz -- full name: Rafael Edward Cruz --was born in Canada in 1970 because his father was working for the oil industry there.. New York Times, A Republican Voice With Tea Party Mantle and Intellectual Heft, Aug. 1, 2012��.

How John McCain Turned His Clichés Into Meaning

The “brave maverick” who became the “bitter old man” is now “learning to let go.”. Sen John McCain, who was widely considered to be embittered by his failed 2008 presidential bid, has now fashioned himself as a grown-up voice for civility, pragmatism and the best traditions of the Senate.

GOP Senate Hopes Slipping - FiveThirtyEight - The New.

The New York Times... Instead, their long-shot hopes might rest on New Jersey, where the approval ratings are tepid for the Democratic incumbent, Senator Robert Menendez, and where Republicans have a relatively moderate candidate in Joe. The model also gives an outside chance for an upset, about 8 percent, to the Democrat in Texas, Paul Sadler, although that is mostly because his race against Ted Cruz, the Republican candidate, has not been polled��.

OUR FOREIGN FILES.; Womens Rights in England. With Opium to Hong-Kong. Tom Taylor on Public Men and Things. The German Brotherhood. Working for Diamonds in the Decean Mikes. The Loafer Class in India. Rifled Guns vs. Turret Ships. The United States Naval Squadron at Queenstown. The Great Eastern and the Atlantic Telegraph. The Progress of Australia. A Conversation with Count Bismarek. The Wisdom of our Ancesters. The Recent Failures in London. The Late Mr. Cobden. FOREIGN ITEMS.

. Taylor, Tom, on Public Men and Things