Horn of Plenty Protean musician Wynton Marsalis (below) transitions from jazz baby to Broadway baby this month. First up is the Nov. 3 opening night of After Midnight, a musical celebrating Duke Ellington’s years at Harlem’s Cotton Club and featuring his original Jazz Age orchestrations performed by a big band of 17 musicians selected by Marsalis, the show’s musical director. Ten days later, A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair, Marsalis’ collaboration with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, starring Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters, premieres. With a roster of A-list talents like these, is it any wonder prognosticators forecast a life for the piece beyond the limited engagement? » After Midnight,
photos: garth fagan dance, brendan bannon; ing new york city marathon, courtesy of nyrr; isa genzken, “disco soon (ground zero),” 2008, courtesy the artist and galerie buchholz, cologne/berlin © isa genzken; wynton marsalis, clay mcbride; macy’s thanksgiving day parade, macy’s, inc.; andrea marcovicci, elizabeth rooney
hot happenings around town
Shock Value Where the ashes of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center once fell, a majestic memorial of two waterfalls now commemorates the lives lost on 9/11. Nearby, a new skyscraper, One World Trade Center, rises a symbolic 1,776 feet in the air. But if contemporary (and iconoclastic) German artist Isa Genzken had been consulted, she would have rebuilt Ground Zero quite differently, turning it into a brightly colored sculptural and social playground. One of her fanciful concepts for the area, “Disco Soon (Ground Zero)” (right, 2008), is among the approximately 200 works on view in Genzken’s first comprehensive exhibition in an American museum. » Isa Genzken: Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., 212.708.9400, Nov. 23-Mar. 10, 2014
Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St., 877.250.2929; A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair, New York City Center, 131 W. 55th St., 212.581.1212, Nov. 13-17
Leap Frog Life as a giant balloon in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is not always sunshine and roses. Just ask Kermit the Frog (left), whose signature song, “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” could be about the trials and tribulations he has suffered in the parade. The first Kermit balloon effortlessly soared in 1977; but in 1985, rainy weather bogged it down, and a tree ripped lowflying Kermit’s stomach. Ouch. Deflated, the trouper nonetheless finished the parade. In 1991, tree branches again ripped into the intrepid Muppet, who limped to the finish line at Herald Square. Battered and bruised, Kermit sat out the parade for 10 years. But the story has a happy ending: A brand-new Kermit—78 feet long, 61 feet high, 35 feet wide and filled with 11,000 cubic feet of helium—debuted in 2002. And since then, the crowd favorite has flown without incident. Fingers—better make that frog’s legs—crossed. » Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, 212.494.4495, Nov. 28
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nov. 29-jan. 4, 2014
Cheers to actress, singer, cabaret superstar and native New Yorker Andrea Marcovicci, who celebrates her 65th birthday at Joe’s Pub. 425 Lafayette St., 212.539.8778
It’s beginning to look a lot like … George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker returns for the holidays. New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, Columbus Ave., at W. 63rd St., 212.496.0600
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for more “Skyline” news, turn to entertainment (p. 58), museums (p. 78) and visit innewyork.com
10/11/13 4:56:43 PM