Staff Picks No. 38
Meow Meow
Carnegie Hall
Saturday, March 23rd 2024
She smokes four cigarettes at once, is usually waiting for another celeb to join her onstage (they never do), and — yes — she crowd surfs. Plus, her cover of Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" is perhaps one of my favorite musical experiences. Always dissecting artifice while also embodying it, Meow Meow is a true maverick and, IMHO, isn't beloved enough. Go see her.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
The Banality of Evil: Meta-Phys. Ed
The Brick Theater
March 21st - April 6th 2024
I try to not alllllwayyyyys recommend shows happening at The Brick, but the truth is, I just believe in them so much that it is hard not to. Jesse Freedman is one of the artists in NY dearest to my heart because he is always trying something new, working in fascinating ways, adjusting to the reality of the world, and carving out time for kindness all the while. Today is a day that I feel especially grateful for that and Jesse happens to have a show opening this week! They have a great team of actors and designers. Their combined magic will surely illuminate, engage and entertain.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister
Miriam Elhajli, Ali Dineen
The Owl Music Parlor
Saturday, March 23rd 2024
In 2023, Miriam Elhajli released “Brand New Mexican” a voicememo collection of music and field recordings, glowing with tender humor and intimacy and awe-striking beauty, a kind of fractured vérité audio document of a traveling life in song. In particular, I’m so moved by her cover of Woody Guthrie’s 'Deportee', impossibly relevant though written 75 years ago. She performs at The Owl on Saturday March 23, with Ali Dineen who’s playing songs from her semi-memoir Joan of Arc folk puppet opera. Come through!
Staffer: Joshua Dumas
Travels: James Harrison Monaco
Ars Nova
March 20th - April 20th 2024
There's not a ton of text for this on the website but I am excited by everything that's said: an "electro thrill ride" that seems to deconstruct and re-imagine how we tell stories in this day and age.
Staffer: hillary gao
For All Your Life: Leslie Cuyjet, Sean Donovan
Chocolate Factory Theater
April 10th - April 13th 2024
Leslie Cuyjet and Sean Donovan is the off-kilter, multihyphenate dream team that I didn't even know I've been really wanting to see. Leslie and Sean both have, as performers, a charm and capability they deploy like that of highly trained secret agents. Watching them, I feel a great confidence: no matter the show, they can always get the job done. I heard from Maria Baranova that I needed to see this show and coming from the woman that has seen everything, that's a recommendation I take seriously.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein
I DANCE ALL THE TIME: Isa Spector
PAGEANT
March 28th - March 29th 2024
As a performer, Isa has an undeniable wit, charisma, and integrity. You can catch them at any point in a show—whether front + center or upstage + out of focus—and they'll be mid-scene, fully committed to details that you just know they improvised in the moment which make you want to reorient the whole piece toward them. I can only imagine their directorial vision dispersed among this stacked cast will make for an electric night of slightly askew characters clanging into each other in an uncanny reflection of our world.
Staffer: Lena Engelstein