Greetings! As we head into the holiday season, we wish you and your families safe travels and urge you to take time to take a bite out of the Big Apple. Make plans now. You know where we are, so plan ahead.
Theater
The Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards (known as the “VIV”), the pre-eminent recognition for African-Americans in theater, will be held Monday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. at Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, located at 257 Broadway at 95th Street. Visit audelco.net.
Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre kicks off its 44th season with Ed Bullins’ classic “In the Wine Time,” playing now through Nov. 24, Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. at the Castillo Theatre, located at 543 W. 42nd St. Call 212-941-5800 or visit newfederaltheatre.com.
“After Midnight,” a new musical celebrating the glamour and exuberance of Harlem’s Golden Age and featuring the timeless songs of Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Harold Arlen, woven around the prose of Langston Hughes. The production stars Grammy Award winner Fantasia (“The Color Purple”) in her highly anticipated return to the stage and Emmy Award nominee Dulé Hill (“The West Wing”). The music is by select Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars, handpicked by multi-Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis. It’s now playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St. (between Broadway and Eighth Avenue). For more information, call 817-502-2929 or visit aftermidnightbroadway.com.
“Motown: The Musical,” with book by Berry Gordy Jr. and featuring 2013 Tony nominee Valisia LeKae as Diana Ross, Tony nominee Charl Brown as Smokey Robinson and Brandon Dixon as Berry Gordy, is now playing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 205 W. 46th St. (between Eighth Avenue and Broadway). For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com or motownthemusical.com.
“Kinky Boots,” featuring 2013 Tony Award winner Billy Porter, is now playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 W. 45th St. For more information, call 866-276-4887 or visit www.broadway.com/shows/kinky-boots.
In “A Time to Kill,” Rupert Holmes revisits John Grisham’s 1989 legal story on race and justice focusing on an African-American defendant (John Douglas Thompson) threatened with capital punishment for the murder of white rapists. He is defended by a white lawyer (Sebastian Arcelus). It’s playing now through Dec. 31 at the John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues. For tickets and information, call 212-239-6200 or visit atimetokillonbroadway.com.
“Platanos, Collard Greens & Callaloo”—that’s right, “callaloo!” This hilarious remix of the successful franchise brings the West Indian brethren in. It’s now playing at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave. (enter on 25th Street, between Lexington and Third avenues). Call TheaterMania at 212-352-3101, theatermania.com or visit plantanosandcollardgreens.com.
“Lady Day: The Billie Holiday Musical,” featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater and written and directed by Stephen Stahl, is now playing at the Little Shubert Theatre, 422 W. 42nd St. between Ninth and 10th avenues. For tickets, call 212-239-6200 or visit Telecharge.com or ladydaythemusical.com.
Music
Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill, founder of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, will give a benefit concert for the Stop Mass Incarceration Network on Friday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. at the National Black Theatre, located at 2031 Fifth Ave. Premium supporter and general admission tickets are available online. This is an all-ages show. Visit arturoofarrill.bpt.me.
Foxwoods presents Charlie Wilson & Stephanie Mills at the MGM Grand Theater on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. For more information, visit atlanticcity.com.
Favola and special guest spoken word/hip-hop artist Messiah will perform on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. at the Afrikan Poetry Theatre, located at 176-03 Jamaica Ave., Jamaica, Queens. For tickets, reservations and information, call 718-523-3312.
Family
The Big Apple Circus welcomes you to its all-new show “Luminosity!” now through Jan. 12 at Lincoln Center! Catch the high spirits and pulse-racing thrills of the world’s greatest circus artists! Visit bigapplecircus.org.
The Apollo’s new holiday season includes the annual “Amateur Night Holiday Special” with guest host Bow Wow (rapper, actor and co-host of BET’s “106 & Park”); “Ellington at Christmas,” celebrating the legacy of Apollo legend Duke Ellington and featuring Savion Glover, actor Keith David and jazz vocalist Lizz Wright; Amateur Night finals, with $10,000 prize winners; our seventh annual Kwanzaa celebration: “Regeneration Night,” hosted by yours truly; “Coca-Cola Winter Wonderland”; and Ballet Hispanico, which will premiere a new work based on Día de los Muertos. Visit apollotheater.org.
Comedy
Funnyman Rickey Smiley will take the stage on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. at Newark Symphony Hall. For tickets, call 973-643-8014 or visit Ticketmaster.com.
Community
“CEMOTAP’s Media Target for 2014” is the topic for CEMOTAP’s Saturday, Nov. 23 community meeting at 2 p.m. The selection will target offensive media as well as media that focuses on and affirms the wholeness of Black life. The community will have an opportunity to express how and why selections are made. Decisions will be based on factual information. CEMOTAP is located at 135-05 Rockaway Blvd. in South Ozone Park, N.Y. For more information, call 718-322-8454.
The International African Arts Festival and New York Chapter of the National Association of Kawaida Organization present the Brothers Who Cook – Brothers Who Burn fundraiser on Sunday, Nov. 24 from 3-6 p.m. at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza, located at 1368 Fulton St. in Brooklyn, in the first multipurpose room. There will be entertainment by Brooklyn’s own Nu Millennium Soul a capella group, and guest speakers will speak on critical community issues. You can find vendor information at info@iaafestival.org or call 718-638-6700.
Hear Imhotep Gary Byrd on 107.5 WBLS-FM daily with “Imhotep’s On-Air Guide to Black Events” and “Express Yourself,” Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., and on WLIB-AM with “The GBE Mind Flight,” Sunday evenings from 9 p.m. to midnight.
The full show can be heard on HD radio at WBLS-HD2. IGB is also heard on WBAI-FM 99.5 with Radio GBE: The “Global Black Experience” and “Global Beat Experience,” Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. We are archived online with both shows at www.wbai.org.
To contact us for bookings or to reach us about your event, email igbexp@gmail.com, find Imhotep Gary Byrd on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @GBELIFE or call 212-592-3279.