Staff Picks No. 78 - January Festival Preview!
Night Side Songs : The Lazours & Taibi Magar
Lincoln Center (part of Under the Radar Festival)
January 14th-19th 2025
Featuring a communal score reminiscent of Heather Christian's work, Night Side Songs is a musical celebrating caregivers. How auspicious, given the healthcare doom that is our country. Come to play, come to grieve, and come to bear witness. The Lazours have crafted a singular experience, and see it now first: it performs with Under the Radar before heading off to two regional theaters (and hospitals, community centers, and more) this year.
Staffer: Billy McEntee
Temporary Boyfriend : Nile Harris and Malcom-x Betts
The Chocolate Factory (part of Under the Radar Festival)
January 11th-13th 2025
This is the first show of the new year that I am seeing! And the first of The Exponential Festival! It is the first weekend, so I am putting it on your radars now! Do not miss out. I have been lucky to see this project develop over time and even learned what the hell VTubing is! You will be surprised, entertained and challenged. What more could you want?! I cannot wait to be there for opening night!
Staffer: Eric Shethar
TELEMACHUS: Books I-IV of Homer's OdysseyMain : Joseph Medeiros
Theaterlab
January 3rd-13th 2025
I was gagged when I saw the announcement for this show in my inbox. I’ve seen some of Telemachus before from Joseph Medeiros, and I felt so alive! I’m not even really a Greek epic poem person. One of the best artistic experiences I’ve ever been in. Hop on this right now and be one of the blessed 15 audience members in one of the six, 6-hour shows.
Staffer: Marissa Joyce Stamps
Super Nothing : Miguel Gutierrez
New York Live Arts (part of Live Artery Festival)
January 12th-18th 2025
If you haven't joined the cult of Miguel Gutierrez yet, I'm not sure where you've been. Aloof but thoughtful, harsh but tender, Miguel Gutierrez is the queen of making a mess, and is generally recognized as Daddy of the Experimental Dance World. Expect rigor, expect disarray, expect to be moved in ways you didn't think a dance so seemingly simple could move you. And definitely expect to fall in love with this cast: Jay Carlon, Justin Faircloth, Wendell Gray II, and Evelyn Sanchez Narvaez.
Staffer: Noa Rui-Piin Weiss
Wonderful Joe : Ronnie Burkett
Lincoln Center (part of The Under Radar Festival)
January 7th-12th 2024
While this is sold out already, I will be hopping onto the waitlist because I LOVE PUPPETS. It's a treat to have an internationally acclaimed artist like Ronnie Burkett present a show in New York, where I do feel we have a deficit of exceptional adult puppet shows. BTW if you need help planning out when to see shows in January, I made a little website to help.
Staffer: Travis Amiel
MEOW! : Matthew Antoci and Meaghan Robichaud
Loading Dock Theatre (as part of The Exponential Festival)
January 10th-17th 2025
It is a massive challenge for me to choose one show for this week, as anyone can attest who’s been following Staff Picks or who knows me at all. I am attending over 40 shows in January and ALL of them are shows I am thrilled to have the opportunity to catch. But I also LOVE an assignment and the assignment this week for the Staff Picks team was PICK ONE SHOW THAT IS HAPPENING IN JANUARY FOR A YEAR END FESTIVAL PREVIEW. So I am picking MEOW!. Matthew and Meaghan are two incredibly unique, skilled, nasty, idiotic, brilliant artists who fill me with hope for the present and future of performance/art/theater… even clown (I have become very annoyed with clowns over the past decade or so because they have been so basic). They make work that surprises me, scares me and makes me cackle. They make work that defies categorization. They make work I really really want to experience. It is the only show I am seeing twice in January.
Staffer: Theresa Buchheister