Highlights this weekend include The Shed‘s fantastical fairground of art and amusement, Timothée Chalamet‘s star turn as Bob Dylan, and Lion Babe bringing heat to Winter Jazz Fest 2025.
Plus, there’s family-friendly magic, provocative comedy and a female-focused roller skating party.
Art
“Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy”
The Shed — 545 West 30th St., Manhattan (Hudson Yards)
Through Feb. 23. Various times.
Lovers of Pop art lovers and amusement parks have the best of both worlds with The Shed’s reincarnation of the avant-garde carnival that opened in Hamburg, Germany in 1987.
Although it didn’t run longer than three months, the “world’s first art amusement park” —conceived by Austrian multimedia artist André Heller — featured vintage carnival rides and attractions done up by the most acclaimed artists of the day such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Salvador Dali, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and more.
A ferris wheel designed by Basquiat (with Miles Davis music) and a colorful carousel painted by Haring are the main attractions of the immersive, larger-than-life revival. And although attendees can’t take a ride on them, there’s interactive fun inside Dalídom (Dalí’s geodesic dome with a mirrored interior) and a glass labyrinth paneled with images from Lichtenstein’s 1985 Perfect/Imperfect series.
Tickets start at $25.The Shed also partnered with New York City-based non-profit organizations, including NYCHA, CUNY and ArtsConnection to provide thousands of free tickets through its Ticket Access Program (TAP).
Film
“A Complete Unknown“
BAM Rose Cinemas — 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn (Fort Greene)
Various showtimes.
Timothée Chalamet, who received an early thumbs up from Bob Dylan himself for “A Complete Unknown,” has another Oscar-caliber turn under his belt. And if this week’s SAG Awards nominations is any indicator, the “Call Me By Your Name” star’s work will be recognized at this year’s Academy Awards.
James Mangold, known for “Walk the Line,” “Wolverine” and the latest “Indiana Jones” movies, delivers with his chronicle of Dylan’s early years shaping his sound in New York City during the early 1960s.
Ed Norton portrays folk music trailblazer Pete Seeger who serves as Dylan’s early mentor after meeting him in Woody Guthrie’s hospital room, and “Top Gun: Maverick” breakout Monica Barbaro stars as Joan Baez. Both actors, along with Chalamet, actually sing (quite well) in the movie. And they all nail it. There’s also a great turn from Elle Fanning as Sylvia, a fictionalized version of the “Blowing in the Wind” singer’s first love, Suze Rotolo.
Tickets are $17.
Comedy
Jon Laster
Comedy Cellar — 117 MacDougal St., Manhattan (Greenwich Village)
Sun. Jan. 12, 5 p.m.
Renaissance man Jon Laster returns to the Village’s famed comedy club for a late afternoon, hourlong set centered on the theme that “anything is possible.”
The former college basketball star — turned comedian and tech entrepreneur — tells the Daily News that he will have funny takes on subjects like his battle with alcohol and cocaine addiction, his house burning down and his current life “building a company for Black-owned businesses in a landscape with DEI crashing down around us.”
$16.
Family
“Broadway Magic Hour”
Broadway Comedy Club — 318 West 53rd St., Manhattan (Hell’s Kitchen)
Sat. Jan. 11, 2 p.m.
There’s more magic happening on Broadway outside of big-budget theatrical productions like “Death Becomes Her,” “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” and “Aladdin.”
For a fraction of the price this weekend, people ages 5 and up can enjoy the “mind-boggling mysteries and hilarious comedy” served up by master magicians Jim Vines and Carl Mercurio.
The audience becomes the real star of the hour-long family-friendly theatrical experience featuring grand illusions, mind reading and magic.
Tickets are $25.
Music
Winter Jazz Festival 2025
Various venues
Through Jan. 12. Various showtimes.
The dynamic duo known as Lion Babe — partners in music and in love — are a part of Brice Rosenbloom‘s jam-packed lineup of more than 100 music acts from around the world assembled for this year’s sprawling event, which includes “marathon” events in Manhattan on Friday and in Brooklyn on Saturday.
For their after midnight set at Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right, fans can expect vocalist Jillian Hervey and DJ/producer Lucas Goodman to perform their 2012 breakthrough “Treat Me Like Fire,” alongside new tracks from their recently released album “House of Lion Babe” opus.
Elsewhere in Brooklyn, Salami Rose Joe Louis has a 8:45 show at Union Pool and Sun Ra Arkestra will play an 11 p.m. set at Brooklyn Bowl.
Among Friday night’s lineup: The Baylor Project will get the joint jumping at City Winery at 6:30, and Grammy Award-winning jazz great Christian McBride has a 9:30 performance at Mercury Lounge.
At Brooklyn’s Roulette on Sunday, Ravi Coltrane and his quartet will lead a line-up of guest improvisers for improvisatory interpretations on John Coltrane’s seminal 1964 masterpiece “A Love Supreme” starting at 8 p.m.
Tickets start at $30 for individual shows. Two-day marathon passes start at $155.
Theater
“My Mother’s Funeral: The Show”
SoHo Playhouse — 15 Vandam St., Manhattan (Soho)
Through Jan. 25. Various showtimes.
Kelly Jones‘ award-winning play centers on a struggling playwright who can’t afford to pay for her mother’s costly funeral. She reluctantly decides to pour her grief into her art after a director tasks her to create “something gritty, raw, working-class” … like her.
British actress Nicole Sawyerr is the star of the 70-minute satire, which opened the SoHo Playhouse “International Fringe Encore Theatre Series” this week. The backstory of how the strapped-for-cash writer turns her personal tragedy into artistic triumph is just as funny as it is moving.
Tickets start at $40.
Skate
“Ladies Night Edition of Vinyl Nights”
Xanadu Roller Arts — 262 Starr St., Brooklyn (Bushwick)
Fri. Jan. 10, 7 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Bushwick’s hottest roller skating destination teamed up with promoter and self-professed “Party Girl” Rebecca Lynn and DJs Misbehaviour, Quinnette and Jazzy Joyce for a night of disco, funk, soul and hip hop.
Jazzy Joyce, née Joyce Lynn Spencer, tells The Daily News that “roller skating is therapy.” The Bronx-born hip hop pioneer, who’s been spinning since gaining prominence with Sweet Tee’s “It’s My Beat” in the 1980s, said she is looking “forward to having a great time, all while exercising” at the female-focused event.
Tickets are $32.17.
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.