ART: In 2002 Hamburger Eyes xeroxed some pamphlets for what became the first of the crew's photography magazine. Since then "Hamburger Eyes has become an elegant yet underground periodical combining the documentary approach of National Geographic with the hit-‘em-hard sensibility of a late-night tagger." Tonight, in conjunction with the Spring 2008 release of their first book, The powerHouse Arena will display a selection of photographs (one of which is pictured) by the magazine's masterminds......

In Samuel Beckett’s 1961 play Happy Days, a decidedly upbeat woman named Winnie spends Act One striving valiantly to make the best of her sticky situation: she’s irrevocably buried up to her waist in a “low mound.” True, Winnie has her reticent companion Willie for company, but she cheerily defies the barren void by holding forth for a seemingly nonexistent gathering of spectators. And Act Two finds Winnie still determined to make a go of......

SKATE: Free skating at Bryant Park just got...more free! Now you can get free rental skates every Wednesday provided you are one of the first 100 people to get over to The Pond Exhibit Area. 6 to 7:30pm // Bryant Park // Free MOVIE: If you have 5+ hours to spare, catch the uncut version of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, which he called “the sum total of my life as a filmmaker.” The original......

The most exciting story in New York theater this year had nothing to do with the Broadway stagehands' strike, it was the vibrant growth of what used to be called “experimental theater”, a movement that can now really only loosely be defined by what it’s not: non-naturalistic and not made for TV, with an emphasis on bold physicality, collaboration and, sometimes, multimedia. This aesthetically diverse body of work is generally classified as Off-Off-Broadway (some dub......

TREE LIGHTING: Earlier this year, New Yorkers Fountains of Wayne transformed Demetri Martin into a lonely suit living in Brooklyn in this video. Tonight the band will be rockin' around the Stuy Town Christmas tree. A reader writes in:I just happened to see this flyer hanging up for the annual christmas tree lighting. And what the hell is this...7:30-8:00pm, FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE. Seems like it's top secret, but there are flyers everywhere.Random! But if you're......

Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks’s latest big-budget musical theater beast – rumored to cost over $16 million – has finally slouched toward Broadway to be born. It opened last night at the Hilton Theater; this morning the Times’s Ben Brantley shuffled out of the delivery room to tell us all about the freak of nature Brooks delivered. Proud ticket buyers who shelled out the record-setting $450 for “premier seats” are probably going to want to put......

- The Imett St. Guillen scholarship surpasses its 250k goal. - Lot's of Columbia coverage in the Times today: The dispute over Columbia's bid for Manhattanville examined. - There was a big fire in the Bronx this morning and eight people are in critical condition. - A year has passed since a plane crashed into Coney Island. - Ben Brantley takes on the sad state of the modern musical. - We suspect that when......

So since the whole country united around the television set on Sunday night to watch the awards and then every conceivable media outlet chewed over the results for the whole day Monday, Gothamist can skip right to previewing what’s coming up this week, yes? Oh…heh…we’re talking about the Tonys. Even with a 2% increase in viewership the audience was still only 6.6 million, so maybe there does need to be a little explanation, although there......

Gothamist's favorite unwitting chicken owner and the NY Times's former chief restaurant critic, William Grimes, has been book reviewer for the paper. Now, the triumvirate of reviewers will be Grimes, Janet Maslin (former chief film critic), and Chief Michiko Kakutani. We can just imagine the publishing houses combing through his old restaurant reviews and editors suggesting to writers they incorporate dining scenes, restaurants, and heady descriptions of preparing food. Grimes goes into Nicolai Ouroussoff's and......

Gothamist thought last week's reviews for the new Broadway show Dracula, The Musical were simply hilarious. A few of our favorite quotes: "This may be the first version of Dracula in which he's killed not so much by a stake to the heart as by an insipid ballad. " (Frank Scheck, New York Post) "Dracula, the Musical"... isn't simply bad ... it is bad and boring." (Ben Brantley, New York Times) "...an unconvincing melodrama laced......

With a rapturous review from the NY Times's Ben Brantley, the Lincoln Center Festival's Summer Festival: A Mirror of Osaka, might be what New Yorkers are running to this summer. The play runs through this Sunday, and if you can't go, perhaps a visit to Lincoln Center is in order, as they have recreated a shibaigoya, or a Kabuki theater, in Damrosch Park. The Newsday review notes that it has paper lanterns, a raised walkway,......

Gothamist went to see Avenue Q - aka "the puppet musical" - this past weekend. While the performers and creative team have roots on Sesame Street and the material is upbeat, the story and songs are gleefully subversive and honest. Songs include, "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist," "The Internet is For Porn," and "Schadenfreude." The cast is a mix of puppets and humans, but you still see the humans behind the puppets, as Avenue......

Possibly the coolest thing to do between now and July 27 is go to Deborah Warner's Angel Project, a performance installation in the Lincoln Center Festival. You show up at the Roosevelt Island tram and then you're sent on a scavenger hunt in the city. Ben Brantley doesn't want to give away any of the surprises but the Daily News' Howard Kissel does. Gothamist thinks Brantley was correct and that Kissel should have written "Spoilers!"......

It's July 4th, Independence Day. There are lots of activities in the city, but the highlight is Macy's Fireworks over the East River. This year's fireworks display is called "Lights of Freedom." According to information from Macy's, the display will have 50,000 shells, which means 1,600 shells per minute. And the Macy's Fireworks show uses 55 times more fireworks than the average US fireworks display. WNBC's July 4th coverage is extensive, including thorough tips for......

Broadway producers are complaining about theater critic Ben Brantley of the Times and his potential to make or break their shows. Ah, it's almost like the days of Frank Rich - the Butcher of Broadway...now Rich writes the Times Op-Eds. Anyway, Gothamist thinks that the right of the critic, to support what he/she can and make people aware of what's not good...movie critics do it all the time, bringing up other films in their reviews.......

S. Epatha Merkerson, Lieutenant Van Buren on Law & Order, stars in a new play at the Public Theater, "Fucking A." Ben Brantley of the Times feels it's well acted if uneven and another sign of playwright Suzan Lori Parks' talent. (Brantley's review is also amusing for how it tries to explain the full title: "The full title of '. . . A' cannot be printed here. Suffice it to say that 'A' is modified......