Thanksgiving Fun
Celebrate the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade by watching it along its route from the Upper West Side to Herald Square. Or stay at home and catch it on NBC or Peacock starting at 8:30 a.m.
Remember that time on “Friends” when Rachel made a dessert with beef and peas — and Joey liked it? That’s just one of the clips of Turkey Day-themed episodes shown and discussed in “Iconic Thanksgiving Moments on Television,” a conversation led by the curator Allison Kraft at the Paley Center for Media in Midtown (Nov. 20).
Theater
On Nov. 16, a revival of the musical “The Fantasticks” — this time with a gay twist — opens on Broadway at the Hayes Theater.
Song and Dance
The actor John C. Reilly brings his vaudeville-meets-American Songbook show “Mister Romantic” to Town Hall in Midtown (Nov. 20).
Comedy
More than 200 comedians, including Marc Maron and Ilana Glazer, will perform in over 100 shows across the five boroughs as part of the New York Comedy Festival (Nov. 6-15). On Nov. 6 and 7, Dave Chappelle kicks off the event with two shows at Madison Square Garden.
Film Festivals
My idea of an autumn staycation is a movie marathon. Doc NYC has over 200 documentaries, including new films about the Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe and the singer and actress Darlene Love, screening at theaters across the city (Nov. 11-29). Mix Fest takes a deep dive into queer experimental cinema at Dixon Place on the Lower East Side and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Fort Greene (Nov. 19-21).
Classical
Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s opera-subverting opera “Einstein on the Beach” turns 50 this year. The Brooklyn Academy of Music commemorates the anniversary with a concert staging from Nov. 19 to 21.
Jazz
Juilliard Jazz celebrates Miles Davis’s groundbreaking 1957 album, “Birth of the Cool,” with a concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem (Nov. 17).
Kids
Hundreds of handcrafted Chinese lanterns illuminate the Winter Lantern Festival, a family-friendly immersive experience. It’s at Queens County Farm in the Glen Oaks neighborhood (Nov. 19-Jan. 3) and at Snug Harbor on Staten Island (Nov. 19-Jan. 10).
Visit a planet populated by sentient fruit in “Planet of the Grapes,” Peter Michael Marino’s satirical homage to Victorian toy theater and “Planet of the Apes.” Suitable for children ages 8 and up, the show is at Under St. Marks on the Lower East Side (Nov. 27-28).
Shop
No, it’s not too early to watch Christmas movies. And it’s not too early to get a head start on buying presents. Do so on Museum Store Sunday (Nov. 29), when shoppers are encouraged to buy from 36 New York City cultural institutions, including the Frick Collection and the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog.
You too, Hanukkah fans: On Nov. 15, the New York Jewish Book Festival hosts a Hanukkah bazaar in addition to its signings and discussions. It’s at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City.
Magic
I went mental trying to figure out how the mentalist Vinny DePonto knew what song was in an audience member’s head during his Off Broadway show “Mindplay.” Your jaw will drop too when DePonto brings the production to the Masonic in Beacon, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley (Nov. 6-7).
Pop Music
This month’s concerts by generation: Baby boomers, Three Dog Night is at the St. George Theater on Staten Island (Nov. 21). Gen X, Afghan Whigs play Warsaw in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (Nov. 10). Millennials, Ginuwine is at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx (Nov. 7). Gen Z, John Summit takes over the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Nov. 28-29).
Strange Sounds
Sonic nerds should indulge in a pass to Durations, a festival of boundary-pushing music and sounds in almost every imaginable form (Nov. 9-15). Performances and discussions take place at Pioneer Works, Public Records and Roulette in Brooklyn and the Whitney Museum in Manhattan.
Art
One of Grandmaster Flash’s turntables and guitars from the Ramones are some of the artifacts in “You Should Be Dancing: New York, 1976 and Beyond,” a new exhibition about punk, hip-hop and other genres that define New York City. It continues through April 4 at the New York Historical on the Upper West Side.
Dance
Get a taste of Puerto Rican dance traditions when the ensemble Danza Fiesta performs at the South Bronx Folk Festival at Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture in the Mott Haven neighborhood (Nov. 14). Admission is free, but an R.S.V.P. is required.
Lecture
Believe it or not: Alex O’Connor, the young British philosopher and religious skeptic with over 2 million YouTube subscribers, will lead a discussion and Q&A at Town Hall in Midtown on Nov. 27.
Last Call
A lovely exhibition of sharp-edged abstractions from Esphyr Slobodkina, the author-illustrator of the best-selling 1940 children’s picture book “Caps for Sale,” is at Rosenberg & Co. on the Upper East Side through Nov. 14.
The musical “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)” closes on Nov. 29 at Broadway’s Longacre Theater. Laura Collins-Hughes called it “effervescent” in her review for The Times.
The post 24 Things to Do in N.Y.C. in November appeared first on New York Times.
