Martha Graham at 100
The Martha Graham Dance Company returns to New York with GRAHAM100, a celebration of the company’s centennial. If you’ve never seen Graham’s signature works, including “Appalachian Spring” (1944) — with music by Aaron Copland, set design by Isamu Noguchi and costumes by Graham herself — now is your chance. The season runs from April 8 to 12 at New York City Center.
Get Filthy
The maverick filmmaker John Waters marks his 80th birthday this year by bringing his comedy show “Going to Extremes” to Adler Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on the Upper West Side (April 19). Among the topics to be discussed are “pro-punk conversion therapy” and “right-wing female-female impersonators.”
What a Pickle
If you’re a fan of New York City’s dill dealers, on April 11 Paul van Ravestein and Monique Mulder host an afternoon lecture and walking tour of the Lower East Side pegged to their book “The Pickled City,” an illustrated history of the city’s pickle scene. Hosted by the bookstore P & T Knitwear, the event includes a happy hour with samples from Grillo’s Pickles.
Pop Music
For every generation, a concert: Baby boomers, Barry Manilow is at UBS Arena on Long Island (April 13). Gen X, Thomas Dolby is at Racket in Chelsea (April 15). Millennials, Demi Lovato plays Madison Square Garden (April 24). Gen Z, LANY is at the Barclays Center (April 11).
Move It
Fans of the pop culture juggernaut “Heated Rivalry” are invited to wear their flashiest Rozanov and Hollander jerseys at the “Heated Rivalry” Dance Party at the Meadows in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on April 10.
On April 24, Honey Dijon, a D.J. and producer who has worked with Madonna, Beyoncé and many other pop royals, headlines the Knockdown Center in Maspeth, Queens.
Comedy
Black comedians are out in force this month. Tacarra Williams is at City Winery (April 3). The April Fools Comedy Jam, which includes Marlon Wayans and Bill Bellamy, is at the Barclays Center (April 4). Mo Gilligan is at the Gramercy Theater (April 11). And Aries Spears is at the St. George Theater on Staten Island (April 25).
Jazz
On a recent Sunday night around 11 p.m., me and about 30 other night owls gathered at Close Up, the Lower East Side jazz club, for what turned out to be a wowza set by the tenor saxophonist Ben Sherman. The Brooklyn-born Sherman is one of many young musicians who regularly jam at the club until 2 a.m. He’s there again on April 12 and for three sets on April 19, with Roman Goron on piano, Daniel Song on bass and Isaiah Bravo on drums.
Classical
The male vocal ensemble Chanticleer is in town for two concerts: April 21 at the Kaufman Music Center on the Upper West Side, with a new commission by the composer Trevor Weston, and the next night at Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, with music by the French composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut.
Art
At Poster House in Chelsea, a new exhibition, “Love & Fury” explores how activists and artists combined anger and eye-catching graphic design to bring awareness to New York City’s fight against AIDS. The show features public health fliers, advertisements, club handbills and other works, from artists such as Keith Haring and Milton Glaser. It’s on view through Sept. 6.
Good Eggs
Celebrate Easter with free egg hunts at city parks. On April 3, take the family to the Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center in East Harlem. On April 4, options include Bunny Wonderland at Hamilton Fish Park on the Lower East Side, and hunts at Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center in the Bronx and Herbert Von King Park in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Kids
On April 19, the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side hosts a performance of “Hey There, Howdy, Everybody!,” a whimsical musical from the Paper Bag Players, known for transforming everyday cardboard boxes and brown craft paper into fanciful sets and costumes. Young ones 3 and older are welcome; museum admission is included in the ticket price.
Film
From April 9 to 16, BAM Rose Cinemas in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, is home to a series that’s as Brooklyn as it gets: Hoyt-Schermerhorn: Stand Clear of the Closing Doors is dedicated to movies filmed in and around the nearby Downtown Brooklyn subway station, which turns 90 this month. Among the titles are the action thriller “The Warriors” (April 10 and 16) and the family-friendly musical “The Wiz,” (April 10 and 12), which stars Diana Ross and Michael Jackson and features a trippy scene filmed inside the station.
Armchair Comics
Laura Fabius and Catherine Woodard are the interior designers and comedians behind “Fun by Design,” a recurring furnishings game show that returns to Caveat on the Lower East Side on April 7. The show pits professional designers in a series of goofy challenges, including identifying TV show furniture and solving audience members’ décor conundrums.
Books
On April 30, Tom Perrotta (“The Leftovers”) discusses his new novel, “Ghost Town,” set in suburban New Jersey in the 1970s, with the author Teddy Wayne (“The Winner”) at the Center for Fiction in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Theater
Fans of the Netflix series “Criminal” might get a charge from the psychological thrills in “Scorched Earth,” an Irish crime-drama-meets-dance-theater piece written, directed and choreographed by Luke Murphy. It’s running from April 3 to 19 at St. Ann’s Warehouse on the Brooklyn waterfront.
Stars align in two new revivals opening on Broadway: “Death of a Salesman,” starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, at the Winter Garden (in previews; opens on April 9), and “Proof,” with Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle, at the Booth (in previews; opens on April 16).
Go Green
On April 11, the Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor gets a head start on April 22, otherwise known as Earth Day, with hands-on workshops and lectures at its afternoon Earth Day How-To Festival. It’s free with museum admission.
History Lessons
The Bronx County Historical Society is sponsoring two free lectures about the borough’s past, both at the Morris Park Library. “The Bronx at the Turn of the Century” (April 18) focuses on urbanization, and “The History of Westchester Square” (April 25) takes a deep dive into the first town in what is now the Bronx.
Last Call
Art closings this month include “The Mad MAD World of Jonathan Adler” at the Museum of Arts and Design (through April 19) and “Roy Lichtenstein: Painting With Scattered Brushstrokes” at Gagosian (through April 25).
On April 12, it’s curtains for David Hare’s “The Unknown,” a spooky solo show at Studio Seaview starring Sean Hayes as a man who may or may not be going crazy. Teatro Fest, a series spotlighting New York City Latino theater companies, continues at performance spaces across the city through April 30.
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