What To Do in New York City in Summer 2014

5/25/2014 What to Do in New York City in Summer 2014 - NYTimes.
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What to Do in New York City in Summer 2014
By JULIE BESONEN MAY 22, 2014
Winter was no picnic, but the amnesia that summer provides is just
around the corner. The seasons lodestar, Macys Fourth of July fireworks
show, is moving back to the East River, guided by the wishes of the
Brooklynite mayor, Bill de Blasio. To witness another spectacle, find the
camping gear and clear your calendar to ensure a ticket to King Lear,
starring John Lithgow and Annette Bening, the Public Theaters free
Shakespeare in the Park production. No matter the temperature, New York
is the place to be. Heres a summer guide to make the most of it.
FESTIVALS AND PARADES
One of the first festivals of the season explores the beauty of particle
physics, cosmology and mathematics, showcased at the World Science
Festival. Speakers including the superstar physicist Brian Greene, Joyce
Carol Oates and Alan Alda will fan out to city auditoriums and inspire new
ways of thinking (May 28-June 1, worldsciencefestival.com). Then lighten
up with City Parks Foundations SummerStage, a free, citywide
jamboree of music, theater, dance and comedy commanding stages and
band shells in 14 parks (June 3-Aug. 24). Highlights include the tap-
dancer Jason Samuel Smith (Prospect Park, Brooklyn, June 20), the
Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series (in all five boroughs, June 23
and 25, and July 1, 3, 8 and 10) and Ballet Hispanico (St. Marys Park, in
the South Bronx, July 11, summerstage.donyc.com). Celebrate
Brooklyn is another freewheeling mix tape of performance, all at the
Prospect Park Bandshell. Concerts by Janelle Mone (June 4) and St.
5/25/2014 What to Do in New York City in Summer 2014 - NYTimes.com
Vincent (Aug. 9) bracket the boldly expressionistic Shen Wei Dance (July
17) and the pioneering Dance Theater of Harlem, back after a nine-year
hiatus (July 31). The festivals benefit concerts are not free, but arent the
National (June 17-19) and Neutral Milk Hotel (July 26) worth paying for?
(June 4-Aug. 9, bricartsmedia.org). The notoriously raucous National
Puerto Rican Day Parade has been reined in this year, the new
mandate being that every float must have a cultural theme and that profits
will go to scholarships, not a beauty pageant (Fifth Avenue between 44th
and 79th Streets, June 8, nprdpinc.org). Go to Coney Island for the
Mermaid Parade (June 21), the nations largest, kookiest art parade,
and find your way back for old-school burlesque and vaudeville at
Sideshows by the Seashore (1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, Thursdays and
Fridays through August, coneyisland.com). Pride Week commences with
a family night when The Wizard of Oz will be screened at Hudson River
Parks Pier 46, and concludes with a parade and dance party, this year
headlined by Demi Lovato (June 24-29, nycpride.org). In the depths of
August, the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Flushing Meadows-
Corona Park in Queens is an invigorating sporting event featuring a fleet of
120 dragon-boat teams racing for prizes. Booths selling Chinese food, folk
art and crafts, and traditional music and dance from China, Mexico and
Peru, make it a vivid, multicultural urban excursion (Aug. 9-10, hkdbf-
ny.org).
MUSIC
A big tent of classical, rock, jazz and groundbreaking new music
unfolds over the summer. The Northside Festival is a forum for
discovery, Brooklyns answer to South by Southwest. Roughly 400 mostly
hungry, mostly local bands will step into the spotlight at a variety of
venues. Innovative speakers like Jon Steinberg of BuzzFeed and Amanda
Hesser of Food 52 will provide brain food, and local Kelso beer aged in
Jameson whiskey barrels will slake thirsts (McCarren Park and
Williamsburg, June 12-19, single show tickets start at $10,
northsidefestival.com). Lower Manhattans River to River Festival
picks up where Northside leaves off, with global music concerts at South
Street Seaport and the Bang on a Can Marathon at Brookfield Place
Winter Garden (June 22), an annual lollapalooza that always offers
something new. This years guests include the expressive voice project
Roomful of Teeth, Meredith Monk and Theo Beckmann (June 19-29, free,
rivertorivernyc.com). Experimental sounds also constitute Warm Up
2014, the Saturday outdoor series at MoMA PS1 (Long Island City, June
28-Sept. 6, included in $10 museum admission, momaps1.org). One of the
loveliest outdoor concert sites is in Madison Square Park, where Mad. Sq.
Music: Oval Lawn Series will be kicked off this year by the New Jersey
troubadour Nicole Atkins (June 18-Aug. 6, free, madisonsquarepark.org).
At the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, five nighttime dates are
sponsored by the long-running Naumburg Orchestral Concerts.
Featured this year are the Knights, a collaborative chamber orchestra from
Brooklyn (June 24 and July 22), and Christina and Michelle Naughton,
pianists making their debut (Aug. 5, free, naumburgconcerts.org). Dan
Zanes and Peter Yarrow are among the singers filling the Damrosch Park
Bandshell for a Pete and Toshi Seeger memorial concert organized
by Lincoln Center Out of Doors (July 20). Other highlights include
Roberta Flack (July 26) and Rosanne Cash (Aug. 9), as well as nights of
poetry and dance (July 20-Aug. 10, free, lcoutofdoors.org). The classical
music heard during Mostly Mozart, of course, is not all Mozart. The
monthlong extravaganza begins with the premiere of John Luther Adamss
Inuit-influenced Sila: The Breath of the World and makes room for a
premiere work by the Mark Morris Dance Group (July 25-Aug. 23).
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
For the first time since public access began in 2004, Governors
Island will be open seven days a week, with 30 newly landscaped acres of
park equipped with 50 red hammocks, two natural ball fields and site-
specific art by Mark Handforth and Susan Philipsz. Bring your own bike or
take advantage of Free Bike Mornings, borrowing one for an hour between
10 a.m. and noon on weekdays (May 24-Sept. 28, $2 round-trip ferry for
adults, free for children under 12, govisland.com). Biking works up an
appetite, hence A Bikeable Feast, combining a 90-minute ride through
the vistas of Greenpoint and Williamsburg with a four-course meal with
wine at North Brooklyn Farm near the base of the Williamsburg Bridge
(alternating Saturdays May 31-Aug. 9, $140, getupandride.com). Those
who feel that the ride itself is the destination can show up for Brooklyn
Critical Mass, a slightly less militant iteration of its Manhattan cousin,
wheeling into its 10th year. The second Friday of every month, bicyclists
gather at Grand Army Plaza near Prospect Park at 7 p.m. and dominate
the streets to show what pollution-free transportation looks like (June 13,
July 11, Aug. 8, free, times-up.org). To work all your muscle groups, theres
no greater outdoor gym than the Central Park Circuit in the East
Meadow, a first-come-first-served class that meets several evenings over
the summer. Top trainers devise workouts around the parks hills, dales
and rocks (through August, free, centralparknyc.org). Catch-and-
release fishing at the parks Harlem Meer is a more meditative pastime.
Fishing poles can be borrowed and bait is free at the Charles A. Dana
Center on the meers north shore at 109th Street (Tuesday-Sunday,
centralparknyc.org). Farther north, in the Bronx, birders gather at Van
Cortlandt Park Nature Center on Saturday mornings. Members of
the Audubon Society lead walks and help identify a wide range of species
(through August, free, nycaudubon.org). A new waterside activity for
landlubbers arrives when the Grand Banks schooner Sherman
Zwicker, built in 1942, drops anchor at Pier 25, Hudson River Park at
North Moore Street. Visits are free, though there is a charge for onboard
oysters and drinks from the Brooklyn tastemaker Mark Firth, co-founder
of Marlow & Sons (June 15-Oct. 31, grandbanks.org). Fans of pro sports
have a full plate of baseball teams, World Cup soccer matches and United
States Open Tennis champions to cheer for, but you can root for the little
guys, too, like the Brooklyn Cyclones (brooklyncyclones.com) in Coney
Island and the Staten Island Yankees (milb.com) in St. George. Or
rustle up your own game at Brooklyn Bridge Parks newly opened Pier
2, with five acres of basketball, handball and bocce courts (150 Furman
Street, brooklynbridgepark.org). Spectators inclined toward a different
kind of intensity can indulge in a Gotham Girls Roller Derby match.
The league, now in its 10th year, will have its biggest face-off of the
summer with the Manhattan Mayhem against the Queens of Pain (John
Jay College of Criminal Justice Gymnasium, 524 West 59th Street, June 7,
$19.99, gothamgirlsrollerderby.com).
FILM
Short attention spans (and those who appreciate brevity) are richly
rewarded at the New York International Short Film Festival,
which is rolling out more than 60 shorts at the Landmark Sunshine
Cinema (143 East Houston Street, May 27-29, nyshortsfest.com). On its
heels is the New York City International Film Festival, promoting
underground films from 27 countries (various Manhattan screening
rooms, May 29-June 5, nyciff.com). Air-conditioned movie theaters are
indispensable in the New York summer, but at night its often cool enough
to recline on a blanket and lose yourself in a big outdoor screen. The HBO
Bryant Park Summer Film Festival opens with Saturday Night
Fever and concludes with The Shining (June 16-Aug. 18, free,
bryantpark.org). The citywide Rooftop Films series screens 45
independent films, like Joe Swanbergs Happy Christmas, with Anna
Kendrick and Lena Dunham (through Aug. 14, rooftopfilms.com). Film
festivals are mushrooming in all kinds of unlikely pockets, like the
Brazilian Film Festival of NY in TriBeCa (54 Varick Street, June 1-7,
brazilianfilmfestival.com) or Bronx World Film Cycle in Manhattan
(239 West 14th Street, June 1, bronxworldfilm.org) or the Lower East
Side Film Festival (several downtown Manhattan cinemas, June 12-22,
lesfilmfestival.com). The American Black Film Festival relocates to
Chelsea this year from Miami and will debut Spike Lees Kickstarter-
financed Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (June 19-22, abff.com). Starting in
July, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy has a delightful lineup
of animal-themed outdoor screenings to be shown against the
cinematic backdrop of Lower Manhattan. Vendors like Lukes Lobster and
No. 7 Subs provide concessions for Sharknado and The Fantastic Mr.
Fox (July 10-Aug. 28, brooklynbridgepark.org). The Central Park
Conservancys outdoor movie offerings are leaner, but its New York-
themed series includes the weeper The Way We Were on the same slate
as Rear Window (Aug. 18-22, free, centralpark.com).
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
A D.I.Y. wind is in the air. League of Kitchens is a start-up cooking
school, a collection of enthusiastic immigrants interpreting their
homespun cuisines and culture from their own kitchens. Intimate
workshops include Bengali Cooking With Afsari, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
(May 31), and Afghan Cooking With Nawida, in Rego Park, Queens (June
8). Classes convene on weekends and cost $100 to $195
(leagueofkitchens.com). Good knife skills are essential for the efficient
cook; for self-improvement without loss of digits, the Brooklyn Kitchen
offers hands-on instruction on safe chopping methods several times a
month for $65. To master pizza-making, register for a class taught by
Peter Litschi and Anthony Falco, chefs at Robertas in Bushwick, Brooklyn,
who teach several sessions over the summer for $85 (thebrooklynkitchen).
For a crash course in cheese, enroll in an intensive, three-day weekend at
Murrays Cheese Boot Camp. The intricacies of milk chemistry and
affinage, the history, geography, aging and pairing of cheeses are part of
the $695 package (murrayscheese.com). Composting is not just a growing
movement its becoming the law. The Lower East Side Ecology
Center, celebrating its 20th year, will offer troubleshooting tips at two
seminars at Pier 46, Hudson River Park at Charles Street (July 16, Aug. 3,
$5, lesecologycenter.org). Learn how to design and make your own
strappy sandals in an eight-hour class taught by the French shoemaker
Olivier Rabbath at his studio in Brooklyn (180 Hoyt Street, $300,
howtomakebootsfromyourgarage.com). To combine art and science, sign
up for Introduction to Holography in a subterranean Midtown lab
and create your own single-beam reflection hologram ($195,
holographer.com). Adults determined to polish their personal brands may
find their Henry Higgins at the Etiquette School of New York. At the
very least, its valuable to master cocktail party dos and donts (200 East
64th Street, Manhattan, June 26, $575, etiquette-ny.com). Or dabble in a
photography or figure drawing class offered by Greenpointers, a meet-up
organization in Brooklyn. Their Drink-and-Draw Tuesdays welcome
artists of all levels to sketch models like drag queens and rockers ($5,
greenpointers.com).
THEATER
This is really the summer to brush up your Shakespeare. Before the
endless lines begin for the Public Theaters free Shakespeare in the
Park production of King Lear, starring John Lithgow, observe
Simon Russell Beale as directed by Sam Mendes. A filmed live
performance from Londons National Theater will be broadcast in high
definition at BAM Rose Cinema (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, May
31, bam.org). Expect in-your-face carnage at the Park Avenue Armory,
where Kenneth Branagh is leading an immersive, fast-paced production
of Macbeth. Mr. Branagh and Rob Ashford direct, with Alex Kingston
as Lady Macbeth (May 31-June 22, armorypark.org). A welcome breather
from tragedy arrives as Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater play the wickedly
witty Beatrice and Benedick in the Public Theaters initial summer
offering, Much Ado About Nothing (June 3-July 6). Then comes the
test of the theater-lovers true grit. King Lear hasnt been staged in
Central Park since 1973 with James Earl Jones. Annette Bening as Goneril
ups the ante (July 22-Aug. 17, publictheater.org). The New York
Musical Theater Festival, at various West 42nd Street theaters,
traffics in more recent history with new works like Madame Infamy,
tracing the parallel paths of Marie Antoinette and Sally Hemings, and
Clinton the Musical (Bill, although Hillarys character is also on stage),
nominated for best new musical at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
(July 7-27, nymf.org). August is all about FringeNYC when 1,000 or so
original pieces trample downtown Manhattan (Aug. 8-24,
fringefestivals.us).
After all that, you should be pretty much played out, as should
summer.
A version of this article appears in print on May 25, 2014, on page MB6 of the New York edition
with the headline: Hot Fun, Summertime.
2014 The New York Times Company

What To Do in New York City in Summer 2014

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