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Off and Running

Agenda: A “Jew Wave” hits Lincoln Center, 3 Cohens play the Village Vanguard, Yiddishkeit in San Francisco, dance in Tel Aviv, and more

by
Stephanie Butnick
November 04, 2011

Agenda is Tablet Magazine’s weekly listing of upcoming cultural events.

East: It’s like they can read our minds! The Film Society of Lincoln Center presents “Jew Wave,” a fairly thorough collection of “Jewish” films–Annie Hall, Funny Girl, Goodbye, Columbus among them (Through Nov. 13, $13). The Other Israel Film Festival begins Thursday with a series of searing films and two opportunities to see David and Kamal, the story of an unlikely friendship between two 9-year-old boys in Jerusalem, before the festival ends next Thursday (Nov. 12, 4 p.m., free; Nov. 13, 3 p.m., $12). As part of New York’s documentary film festival, DOC NYC, Michael Feinstein joins director Sarah McCarthy Tuesday for a screening of her film, The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical, which chronicles a heartwrenching performance of the famed musical by children in the slums of Mumbai (Nov. 8, 6 p.m., $16).

Lebensraum, Israel Horovitz’s play about a modern-day German official who decides to invite 6 million Jews to move to Germany, continues its off-Broadway run at the Abingdon Theater, promising an absurdly thought-provoking performance (through Nov. 20, Tues-Sun 7:30 p.m., Sun 3 p.m., $25). At the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park, John Turturro performs a reading of Primo Levi’s scientific essay, “The Mark of the Chemist,” with The New Yorker’s Joan Acocella, Monday (Nov. 7, 7 p.m., $20). Sarah Silverman joins Judy Gold on stage Wednesday after Gold’s self-consciously titled off-Broadway comedy show, The Judy Show (Nov. 9, 8 p.m., $65). Israeli sibling musical troupe 3 Cohens performs this weekend at the Village Vanguard, with two jazz shows a night through Sunday (Nov. 4 through Nov. 6, 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., $25).

Ronald S. Lauder’s collection of German, Austrian, and French art from the third century to the 21st is on view at his Neue Galerie (through Apr. 2, 2012, $20). Willem de Kooning is the topic of the day at de Kooning Now, a day-long conference Friday at MoMA about the artist’s work (Nov. 11, 10 a.m., online tickets sold out). Germany Is Your America, an exhibit curated by England-based writer Michael Bracewell, seeks to be exactly what it sounds like, and its run has been extended at the Broadway 1602 gallery through Dec. 15 (Tues-Sat., 11am to 6 p.m., free). The Soviet Jewry movement gets the curatorial treatment with Let My People Go!, an exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (through Mar. 2012, $12 admission).

This year’s Jane Jacobs Forum features a discussion on “Women as Public Intellectuals: The Legacies of Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson, and Betty Friedan,” moderated by Robin Pogrebin on Tuesday (Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m., free with RSVP). Israeli poet Admiel Kosman discusses his poems with his English-language translator, Lisa Katz, Wednesday (Nov. 9, 7 p.m., $10), while Annie Leibovitz heads to the Union Square Barnes & Noble to discuss Pilgrimage, her new photography book (Nov. 9, 7 p.m., free). The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation hosts Much Ado About Noshing, a fundraiser featuring Calvin Trillin talking food and neighborhood with the Russ & Daughters family over smoked salmon and, hopefully, bagels (Nov. 7, 6 p.m., $250). Runners take off Sunday morning for the New York City Marathon, and in that communal athletic spirit, Run for Your Life, filmmaker Judd Ehrlich’s documentary about marathon pioneer Fred Lebow, airs several times over the weekend (Nov. 5, 1 p.m.; Nov. 6, 7:30 a.m., 12 a.m., on New York’s Channel 13).

Polish artist Waldemar Tatarczuk, the founder of the Performance Art Center in Lublin, Poland, gives a lecture Wednesday at Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts, where he is a visiting artist (Nov. 9, 12:15 p.m., free). In Washington, the Washington Ballet wraps up four days of performances of The Great Gatsby at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on Sunday; catch one of the five shows before then (through Nov. 6, from $20). Former Chicago Sun Times architecture critic Lee Bey exhibits his photographs of the Windy City, offering a unique look at changing times and evolving neighborhoods (through Jan 9, 2012, free). In Philadelphia, the Cirque du Soleil brings its latest mind-bending physical creation, Quidam, for six shows through Sunday (Nov. 10-13, from $36).

West: Paul Buhle discusses Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land, the illustrated book he co-edited with Harvey Pekar, Sunday at San Francisco’s Jewish Community Library (Nov. 6, 1:30 p.m., free). On Wednesday, Josh Kun talks music, specifically Jewish and African-American music from the 1930s to the ’60s, at the JCC East Bay as part of the 27th Jewish Music Festival (Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., from $12). New Yorker writer Ian Frazier discusses his latest book, Travels in Siberia, with Jonathan Bass at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater (Nov. 8, 8 p.m., from $17). Senna, the high-speed story of the life and tragic early death of Brazilian motor racing champion Ayrton Senna, screens Thursday to Sunday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m.; Nov 11-12, 5:30 and 8 p.m.; Nov. 13, 2 p.m., $8).

Abroad: Dancers take the stage in Tel Aviv during the Curtain Up Dance Festival, which runs through next Saturday (through Nov. 12, various locations, $16). On Sunday, the Jerusalem Theater screens the must-see film Sarah’s Key (Nov. 6, 6:30, $10) and later features the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra performing “Jewish Music at Its Best”(Nov. 6, 8 p.m., call for tickets).

Stephanie Butnick is deputy editor of Tablet Magazine and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.