Levon Helm, Mad Geoffrey Rush, Supermodel Icons: N.Y. Weekend
Levon Helm, renowned member of The Band, plays the Wellmont Theatre on Friday night.
With a career spanning five decades, Helm is a master of stage presence and musicianship and has picked up multiple Grammys for his solo albums, including one just this past year.
Helm will be joined by youthful aspirant Hayes Carll, a Texan singer-songwriter whose songs spookily recall the broken honesty of Townes Van Zandt.
Wellmont Theatre, 5 Seymour St., Montclair, New Jersey. Information: +1-973-783-9500; http://www.wellmonttheatre.com.
Saturday
There are plenty of Madonnas in shiny gilt frames at Francesco Vezzoli’s new show at Gagosian, but they are actually portraits of contemporary objects of worship -- supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer.
All shed the artist’s signature embroidered tears from heavily made-up eyes.
Christ is here, too, on a 13-foot-tall light box, and he has Vezzoli’s face. Not for nothing is the show called “Sacrilegio.”
Take an icon to venerate at home for $250,000.
Through March 12 at Gagosian Gallery, 522 W. 21st St. Information: +1-212-741-1717; http://www.gagosian.com.
Walk south to Del Posto for a drink at the classy bar, a place where people don’t have to gesture and yell to be heard.
85 Tenth Ave. Information: +1-212-497-8090.
A recently discovered portrait of William Shakespeare, shown in the U.S. for the first time, suggests the bard was a natty dresser with nice eyes. Look at that lace collar.
This picture and one of Shakespeare’s patron Henry Wriothesley gathered dust for centuries in an Irish country house.
Scholars are arguing about whether it’s an authentic portrait, but then some of them are still fighting about whether Shakespeare actually wrote the plays.
At the Morgan Library, 29 E. 36th St. Information: +1-212- 685-0008; http://www.themorgan.org.
Consider a leisurely brunch at Ai Fiori, chef Michael White’s paean to Italian and French Riviera cuisine.
Try the wild king salmon pave, or Cornish hen with lemon- thyme jus. Save room for the dark chocolate tart with grapefruit, anise and hazelnut gelato.
Ai Fiori is at 400 Fifth Ave. Information: +1-212-613-8660.
Saturday Night
Listen to Chris Chalk as he quietly reads a letter to his sister, written long ago from prison. In Nathan Louis Jackson’s unnerving drama, “When I Come to Die,” the gifted young actor plays Damon Robinson, a cop killer who mysteriously cheats death by surviving his execution by injection.
Chalk’s musical, rich voice lifts the play from the bleakness of its death row setting.
In all, Damon has six shoeboxes of letters, every one returned unopened by his family. He handles each one as if it were a leaf from the Book of Kells.
Lincoln Center Theater’s development arm, LCT3, presents this new work through Feb. 26 at the Duke on 42nd St. Theater, 229 W. 42nd St. Information: +1-212-239-6200; http://www.telecharge.com.
Sunday
Check out “Found in Translation” at the Guggenheim Museum. Eleven young international artists, ranging from Patty Chang to Omer Fast and Steve McQueen, are represented by video, film and new media.
The time-based works explore the new meanings that can arise when switching from one language to another or changing context. Class, sexuality and race are obviously issues that make trouble.
Part of the Deutsche Bank Series, the show runs through May 1 at the Guggenheim, 1071 Fifth Ave. Information: +1-212-423- 3500; http://www.guggenheim.org.
Sunday Afternoon
Even as he’s onscreen as George VI’s brash therapist in “The King’s Speech,” Geoffrey Rush is onstage in Brooklyn, falling spectacularly apart.
The Australian actor is playing Poprischin, a bitter, minor-league bureaucrat who is losing his mind, finally coming to believe he’s the king of Spain.
Adapted from Gogol’s short story, “The Diary of a Madman,” the work displays in grimly comic detail the soul- destroying aspects of isolation and menial work.
Runs through March 12 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn. Information: +1-718-636-4100; http://www.bam.org.
(With assistance from Katya Kazakina, Jeremy Gerard and Lili Rosboch. Zinta Lundborg is an editor for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Zinta Lundborg at zlundborg@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
Levon Helm
Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Levon Helm at the Ryman auditorium in Nashville. Helm plays the Wellmont Theatre on Friday night.
Levon Helm at the Ryman auditorium in Nashville. Helm plays the Wellmont Theatre on Friday night. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
Geoffrey Rush
Heidrun Lohr/BAM via Bloomberg
Geoffrey Rush in "The Diary of a Madman."
Geoffrey Rush in "The Diary of a Madman." Photographer: Heidrun Lohr/BAM via Bloomberg
Geoffrey Rush
Heidrun Lohr/BAM via Bloomberg
Geoffrey Rush in "The Diary of a Madman" at BAM in New York. Rush said he won’t reprise his role as speech therapist in the stage version of "The King's Speech."
Geoffrey Rush in "The Diary of a Madman" at BAM in New York. Rush said he won’t reprise his role as speech therapist in the stage version of "The King's Speech." Photographer: Heidrun Lohr/BAM via Bloomberg
"Portrait of William Shakespeare"
Graham Haber/The Morgan Library & Museum via Bloomberg
"Portrait of William Shakespeare," by an unknown artist, the work is part of "The Changing Face of William Shakespeare" at the Morgan Library & Museum, through May 1.
"Portrait of William Shakespeare," by an unknown artist, the work is part of "The Changing Face of William Shakespeare" at the Morgan Library & Museum, through May 1. Photographer: Graham Haber/The Morgan Library & Museum via Bloomberg
"When I Come to Die"
Erin Baiano/Philip Rinaldi Publicity via Bloomberg
Chris Chalk, left, and Neal Huff in "When I Come to Die" in New York. The play, directed by Thomas Kail, is at The Duke on 42nd St.
Chris Chalk, left, and Neal Huff in "When I Come to Die" in New York. The play, directed by Thomas Kail, is at The Duke on 42nd St. Photographer: Erin Baiano/Philip Rinaldi Publicity via Bloomberg
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