Copyright New York Magazine
Theater 1. See The Baker’s Wife Song is the staff of life. Classic Stage Company, opens October 23. Stephen Schwartz has been a hitmaker for most of his career: This fall, he’s got both The Queen of Versailles and Wicked: For Good coming out. But you rarely hear about this late-’70s curio that never made it to Broadway and is most famous for producing the great song “Meadowlark.” Here’s your chance to see it with Ariana DeBose in the title role and Scott Bakula as the baker she abandons. —Jackson McHenry TV 2. Watch I Love L.A. A voice of a generation, again. HBO, November 2. The long-foretold rise of comedian Rachel Sennott finally brings her to prestige-TV shores. Across the country, columnists crack their knuckles and buckle down to begin think pieces about how the next big generational comedy is set in Los Angeles rather than New York. —Kathryn VanArendonk Art 3. See Richard Serra Architectural and majestic. Gagosian, 522 West 21st Street; through December 20. Serra’s terrific three-piece work Running Arcs (For John Cage) was exhibited only once before in Germany. Its curved plates are inviting, intimidating, and pleasurable to behold. We peer in awe, navigate its space, and contemplate its otherness. —Jerry Saltz Movies 4. See Paperhouse Troubled visitations. Museum of the Moving Image, October 26. Less a children’s movie than a movie about the tumult and uncertainty of being a child, this 1988 British dark fantasy is filled with more haunting imagery than any slasher. A fever-stricken girl dreams about visiting the house she’s been drawing, only to find a boy there who has his own devastating health problems. —Alison Willmore Music 5. Listen to Love? Or Something Like It Doing what the girls do best. Parkwood Entertainment, Columbia Records, October 24. She made a splash in Disney’s The Little Mermaid remake, and now Halle Bailey —known on land as an R&B prodigy and one-half of the Beyoncé-affiliated double act Chloe x Halle — releases her solo debut. It picks up after a trail of promising tunes like the resolute “braveface” and the cocksure “because i love you.” —Craig Jenkins TV 6. Watch Nobody Wants This Season Two Long live the rom-com. Netflix, October 23. One of last year’s breakout comedies returns with the next chapter in the classic fairy tale about a romance between a rabbi and a podcaster. Adam Brody and Kristen Bell remind audiences that they have incredibly endearing screen presences. Justine Lupe and Timothy Simons remind audiences that any show should be so fortunate as to have them in their cast. —K.V.A. Books 7. Read The Insider A page-turner about a page turner. Penguin Press, November 4. One of the less-public figures behind a slew of 20th-century American authors, the writer and editor Malcolm Cowley had a hand in the success of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and, later, Beats like Jack Kerouac. Gerald Howard’s account of his influence is a fascinating look at an industry that runs on personal taste. —Emma Alpern Music 8. Go to Durations Performances that play at the limit. Public Records and Pioneer Works, November 5 through 9. Chances are you’ve never heard of most of the artists performing at this festival. Do the names Suso Sáiz, Lyra Pramuk, or Fergus Jones mean anything to you? If so, you probably already have tickets. If not, know that they, along with dozens of other acts, are on the cutting edge of ambient and electronic music, gathered together Avengers style for days of weird, excellent sounds. —Matthew Schnipper Art 9. See Divine Egypt Visit the gods who ruled for a while. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ancient Egyptians believed that their 1,500 or so gods guided royals and non-royals in this life and the next, and the depiction of these deities has created a treasury unlike anything the world has known. From the jackal-headed Anubis to the feline Bastet and imperious Osiris, the selections here are divine indeed. —Wendy Goodman TV 10. Watch All’s Fair The power-suit budget alone … Hulu, November 4. Kim Kardashian probably didn’t go to law school to be cast in a Ryan Murphy procedural about L.A. divorce attorneys, but honestly, if she did, it might have been worth it. She stars with Naomi Watts and Niecy Nash as well as Glenn Close, Teyana Taylor, and, inevitably, Sarah Paulson. —K.V.A. Theater 11. See Bat Boy: The Musical Grocery-store checkout lines are buzzing. New York City Center, opens October 29. Tabloid readers, rejoice: We’re getting a revival of the 2001 Off Broadway musical about the titular cave creature. The show has a rousing score by Laurence O’Keefe (Legally Blonde, Heathers), and this run includes new songs and orchestrations. —J.M. Which Horror TV Will Give Me the Best Creeps? Roxana Hadadi tells you what to put on as you eat your Halloween candy. If you’re afraid of clowns: For nearly 40 years, Pennywise has loomed as a personification of the evil that threatens children. The prequel series It: Welcome to Derry (HBO) digs into his whole deal. If you’re afraid of toxic dads: Jason Clarke is unrecognizable (paunchy, sweaty, red-faced) in Murdaugh: Death in the Family (Hulu) as the South Carolina lawyer who murdered his wife and son to cover up his financial misdeeds. If you’re afraid of rich people: Nothing good can come of getting on a yacht with a bunch of billionaires. Does this scenario, or open water generally, freak you out? The Woman in Cabin 10 (Netflix) will leave you deeply unsettled. If you’re afraid of hot vampires: Until the next season of the lusty and bloody Interview With the Vampire arrives next year, tide yourself over with the antics of Talamasca: The Secret Order, another expansion into the Anne Rice universe. Music 12. See Diana Ross You’ll be singing on the ferry home. St. George Theatre, October 29. Catch the Motown icon when her Beautiful Love Tour rolls through Staten Island. She’ll dip into a timeless catalogue of Supremes hits and disco-era solo staples that includes “Love Hangover” and “Upside Down.” —C.J. Art 13. See Sarah Theresa Lee Telling tales of innocence and upset. Ricco/Maresca, 529 West 20th Street. The work here, by a self-taught artist and psychiatric nurse who lives in London, appears innocent but lands hard. In one erotically charged painting, severed bear claws scratch at a naked woman; other works show masked girls, someone peering at herself in a dressing-room mirror, and images of what could be the artist’s patients. —J.S. Movies 14. See Shriekshow XIV Scream till you’re hoarse. Spectacle Theater, October 25. The bodega turned microcinema’s scary-movie marathon is back, and do you really have better things to do than commit to 14 hours of creepy oddities and obscurities that will let out at 2 a.m.? This year’s picks, while secret as always, include titles from Indonesia, Germany, Italy, and Japan as well as two homegrown horror flicks. —A.W. Theater 15. See Meet the Cartozians Directed by David Cromer. Second Stage Theater, opens October 29. A new play by Talene Monahon depicts the influx of Armenian immigrants in the 1920s and, 100 years later, their assimilated descendants’ pursuit of fame (one imagines a famous “Klique” may be the inspiration for that). Will Brill and Andrea Martin, the kind of theater actors you’re always happy to see, are among the cast. —J.M. TV 16. Watch The Witcher Season Four New Geralt, who dis? Netflix, October 30. Liam Hemsworth steps into the role of the silver-haired monster hunter, taking over from the winning nerd-himbo Henry Cavill. He’s joined by Laurence Fishburne alongside returning cast members Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra, all scattered to the winds after last season’s finale. —Nicholas Quah Art 17. See Dear Rabbi Kosher-style kitsch. A Hug From the Art World, 515 West 19th Street; through November 1. This gallery just keeps doing unexpectedly excellent shows. Artist and former gallerist Joel Mesler unveils a sub-sub-genre of bad Judaica, particularly thrift-store paintings of rabbis that hang alongside some he painted himself. Many of us grew up with this unnamed, uncared-for type of art. Most of it gets thrown away. Mesler enshrines it. —J.S. Music 18. Listen to hooke’s law Going deep with songs about liberation. XL Recordings, October 31. Five years after her acclaimed debut, Forever, Ya Girl, creative dynamo keiyaA follows it up brilliantly. Her new album is a whirlwind of wry political observations and gutting personal reflections served over production that twists through hip-hop, soul, jazz, noise, and electronic music. —C.J. Movies 19. See Auction A dark drama about art-world ethics. Film Forum, October 29 through November 6. Pascal Bonitzer directs a cutting film about an Egon Schiele masterpiece that’s rediscovered decades after being looted by the Nazis. The race to resell the stolen art reveals how toxic and absurd its new home in the present day might be. —Eric Vilas-Boas Music 20. See The Downhill Jam On their Pro Tour. Mercury Lounge, October 27. The Los Angeles–based band devoted to covering songs from the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtracks — a franchise known as much for its music curation as its arcade kick-flips — is making a stop on the Lower East Side. Visit for a dose of pure turn-of-the-millennium adrenaline. —N.Q. Books 21. Read Only Son A debut longlisted for the National Book Award. McSweeney’s, November 4. Left alone with his mother after his father’s death, a 9-year-old boy, adrift in grief, hunts snakes with his friends and becomes “a connoisseur of boredom.” Many years later, a dad himself, he begins to understand his childhood in a new way. Kevin Moffett’s novel is about fatherhood, Florida, and the light touch required to guide a child through the world. —E.A. Movies 22. See Cemetery Man It’s a living. Roxy Cinema, October 27. A rakish Rupert Everett plays a beleaguered cemetery caretaker in an Italian village who finds himself having to dispatch zombies when the dead turn out to have a habit of rising from their graves. Michele Soavi directs this bonkers 1994 cult favorite. —A.W. Music 23. Listen to Touch The band’s first album in almost a decade. International Anthem Recording Company, Nonesuch Records, October 24. Venerable post-rock outfit Tortoise returns with an eighth studio album. The early singles from their first outing on this Chicago post-jazz label, such as “Layered Presence,” find a versatile two-drummer crew sliding cozily into a bucolic but still proggy space not far from Stereolab’s jams. —C.J. TV 24. Watch Robin Hood Always in: Taking from the rich to give to the poor. MGM+, November 2. To be clear, no version of the ethical thief is hotter or more charming than Disney’s animated fox. But people sure do keep trying! This adaptation sticks to the basic story: Outlaw and rogue Robin Hood (Jack Patten) is a champion of the people; he falls in love with the brave Marian (Lauren McQueen), who joins him in his quest. Here’s a little twist, though: This time, Robin goes by Rob. —R.H.
