7 Things to do in NYC this weekend, July 5-7
This holiday weekend’s events of note include a free sunset screening of what is considered Spike Lee’s greatest work, a silent disco party under the stars, and a dancehall blowout — headlined by Shaggy — on Coney Island.
There’s also family-friendly Improv, a subversive (and interactive) theater work that flips the Hollywood Western on its head, and a must-see exhibition about the Harlem Renaissance at The Met.
Film
35th Anniversary Screening of ‘Do The Right Thing’
Lena Horne Bandshell — 141 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn (Prospect Heights)
Sat., July 6. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Spike Lee’s seminal 1989 drama “Do The Right Thing” will be celebrated with a special sunset screening, one of the highlights of the 2024 BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival.
The film, which many felt was snubbed for a Best Picture Academy Award nomination, starred Lee, Danny Aiello, Giancarlo Esposito, Jon Turturro, Samuel L. Jackson, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and served as a breakout role for “Soul Train” dancer-turned-actress Rosie Perez.
With a potent soundtrack powered by Public Enemy, the racially-charged masterpiece deftly explored inner city living during one sweltering summer day on a Bedford-Stuyvesant block.
Free.
Family
The Original Improv 4 Kids
Broadway Comedy Club — 318 W. 53rd St., Manhattan (Midtown)
Sat., July 6 at 2:45 p.m.
The brainchild of comedic actor Walt Frasier, New York Improv Theater opens up its doors for family fun by giving youngsters a chance to try their hand at the interactive style of comedy — in a professional setting. Featuring a series of original characters, stories, skits, songs and dances, Improv 4 Kids takes its cues based on audience suggestions and participation, Suitable for ages 5 and up.
Tickets start at $25.
Art
The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism
The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 999, 1000 Fifth Ave., Manhattan (Upper East Side)
Through July 28. Various times.
It’s still some time to catch The Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition of 160 works exploring how Black artists portrayed everyday life in northern American cities during the 1920s–40s. The 154-year-old institution noted that “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” is the first survey of the subject of The Great Migration in New York City since 1987.
“The exhibition underscores the essential role of the Harlem Renaissance and its radically new modes of portraying the modern Black subject as central to the development of transatlantic modern art,” Curator-at-Large Denise Murrell said.
Artists including Charles Alston, Meta Warrick Fuller, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley, Jr., and James Van Der Zee are highlighted in galleries devoted to genre scenes and portraiture with paintings, sculpture, film projections and photography.
Tickets are $30 with discounts available for seniors and students.
Outdoors
Big Umbrella Day: A Full Campus Takeover
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts — 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan (Upper West Side)
Sat., July 6 at 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Once again, Lincoln Center will host a full day of free programming designed with and for neurodiverse audiences. Since 2018, the Big Umbrella Festival has consisted of multi-sensory, interactive and engaging artistic experiences spanning the entire campus through performances, installations and workshops tailored to welcome people with autism and other developmental disabilities.
Visual art stations, interactive gardening activities, and accessible creative dance workshops will be ongoing before the festival concludes with “Silent Disco on the Dance Floor” curated and deejayed by disability rights advocate Kevin Gotkin.
Free
Music
Federation Sound 25th Anniversary
Coney Island Amphitheater — 3052 W. 21st St., Brooklyn (Coney Island)
Sun., July 7 at 5 p.m.
A reggae, roots and dancehall throwdown will take place on the beach this weekend when Federation Sound celebrates its 25th anniversary with a who’s who of stars from the “Caribbean massive” music genre. Two-time Grammy winner Shaggy is among the lineup coming out for the New York-based DJ collective. Sister Nancy (of “Bam Bam” fame) is also on the bill, alongside Tifa, Mr. Lexx, Iotosh, “Everyone Falls in Love” hitmakers Tanto Metro & Devonte and Red Fox & Screechy Dan (makers of the 1991 sound system culture classic “Pose Off”).
Free
Theater
‘Dark Noon’
St. Ann’s Warehouse — 45 Water St., Brooklyn (Dumbo)
Through July 7. Various times.
There’s just a few more days left to catch the New York premiere of “Dark Noon,” which describes itself as “an African Western about European Migration.” Using the Hollywood Western format to reimagine American history, the subversive work features a cast of South African actors who mostly wear whiteface and ratty blond wigs as they portray European settlers.
Danish director Tue Biering teamed up with South African creative Nhlanhla Mahlangu to craft the breakout hit of 2023’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which gives voice to the victims of colonialism. And the action is interactive: audience members are called upon to sit in a church scene, participate in a group square-dancing scene and mock slave auction.
Tickets start at $65.
Relax
QC NY SPA
112 Andes Road, Governors Island
Daily. 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Those staying in New York City over the holiday weekend can find refuge with just a five-minute ferry ride from lower Manhattan to Governors Island for a spa experience that fully embraces the Italian art of “dolce far niente” — the sweetness of doing nothing.
Located in a refurbished army barrack building and boasting panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline, the relatively new venue has become favored for its 5-hour day pass ($150) that includes access to multiple sauna rooms, Vichy showers, foot baths, steam baths, outdoor spa pools — and spa treatments too, of course. This summer, QC New York added new sensory saunas, waterfalls, a salt room, a lavender room, an ice room, a relaxation room with waterbeds and a 142-seat bistro.
Prices start at $130.
If you have an upcoming weekend event you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming roundup, please email: [email protected] with the details. Consideration does not guarantee inclusion.