The best arts & culture in NYC: Critics' picks

Find the best theater, art, dance, classical, books and museum events in New York City this week.

"Abstract Generation: Now in Print"

  • Price band: 2/4
  • Critics choice

Contemporary takes on abstraction in print provide the focus for this exhibition, featuring contributions by Cory Arcangel, Tauba Auerbach, Philippe Decrauzat, Liam Gillick, Wade Guyton, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, R. H. Quaytman and Haegue Yang.

  1. Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) 11 W 53rd St, between Fifth and Sixth Aves, 10019
  2. Sat May 25 - Mon Jun 24
More info

"Activist New York"

  • Critics choice

Long before Occupy Wall Street, New Yorkers were hitting picket lines to ask for civil rights, sexual equality and other freedoms. See artifacts and photographs that tell the stories of Gothamites protesting as far back as the 17th century. The show also inaugurates the museum's new Puffin

  1. Museum of the City of New York 1220 Fifth Ave, between 103rd and 104th Sts
  2. Sat May 25 - Tue Dec 31
More info

"African Innovations"

  • Price band: 1/4
  • Critics choice

This long-term installation draws on the museum's impressive collection of African art, which spans 2,500 years and the entire continent. Approximately 200 works, arranged chronologically, will show the progression of ancient art to contemporary works in themes such as protection and beauty.

  1. Brooklyn Museum 200 Eastern Pkwy, at Washington Ave
  2. Sat May 25 - Sun Dec 29
More info

American Ballet Theatre 2013 Spring Season

  • Price band: 3/4
  • Critics choice

ABT returns to the Metropolitan Opera House with the premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's Shostakovich trilogy, as well as the company debut of Frederick Ashton's A Month in the Country and a new production of Le Corsaire. Dancers include Roberto Bolle, Irina Dvorovenko—in her final season with the

  1. Metropolitan Opera House (at Lincoln Center) Lincoln Center Plaza, at 65th St
  2. Sat May 25 - Sat Jul 6
More info

Annie

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 4/4
  • Critics choice

[Note: Now through July 14, the role of Miss Hannigan is being played by Glee's Jane Lynch.] Anyone who has ever been a child can find something to love in Annie. Just try to throw shade at the sunny optimism of the young heroine’s irrepressible “Tomorrow”; it shines brightly anyhow. Knock the

  1. 1564 Broadway, at 47th St
  2. $59-$152, premium $199-$252
  3. Sat May 25 - Tue Dec 31
Buy tickets

Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites

  • Price band: 2/4
  • Critics choice

This exhibit explores our 4.5-billion-year-old solar system through interactive displays and specimens, including the 34-ton Ahnighito meteorite, discovered by Admiral Peary during an 1894 arctic expedition.

  1. American Museum of Natural History Central Park West, at 79th St, 10024
  2. Sat May 25 - Tue Dec 31
More info

The Assembled Parties

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 3/4
  • Critics choice

Theater review by Adam Feldman. Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (Broadway). By Richard Greenberg. Dir. Lynne Meadow. With Jessica Hecht, Judith Light, Jeremy Shamos. 2hrs 30mins. One intermission. Richard Greenberg’s elegantly moving The Assembled Parties is somewhere between a slice of life and a slice

  1. 261 W 47th St, between Broadway and Eighth Ave
  2. $67–$120
  3. Sat May 25 - Sun Jul 7
Buy tickets

Avenue Q

  • Rated as: 4/5
  • Price band: 3/4
  • Critics choice

After many years, the sassy and clever puppet musical doesn’t show its age. Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx’s deft Sesame Street–esque novelty tunes about porn and racism still earn their laughs. Avenue Q remains a sly and winning piece of metamusical tomfoolery.—David Cote

  1. 340 W 50th St, between Eighth and Ninth Aves
  2. $69.50–$89.50, premium $126.50
  3. Sat May 25 - Mon Dec 30
Buy tickets
See more critics' picks
Share your thoughts
  1. * mandatory fields