May 2013 events calendar for New York City

The car-free oasis in Upper New York Bay typically opens to the public each summer over Memorial Day weekend.

Hurricane Sandy threatened to put the kibosh on idyllic summer days of crashing waves, sun-drenched picnics and walks in the surf. Thankfully, the parks department has been hard at work rebuilding the devastated and debris-littered oceanfront areas. With the exception of Fort Tilden in storm-battered Breezy Point, all of the city’s public beaches will reopen on Memorial Day. Work on your tan at family-friendly standby Coney Island Beach (Surf Ave between Ocean Pkwy and W 37th St, Brooklyn), foodie and Ramones favorite Rockaway Beach (Boardwalk between Beach 9th and 149th Sts, Queens) or Orchard Beach, a mile-long stretch that’s been dubbed “The Riviera of New York” (Park Dr at Orchard Beach Rd, Bronx). Suck it, Sandy. Visit nycgovparks.org for details. Beaches are open for swimming May 25–Sept 2.

This four-day affair combines scientific innovation with cutting-edge arts and culture. Past special guests have ranged from super genius Stephen Hawking to downtown darling Maggie Gyllenhaal, and discussions have covered everything from string theory to the cultural importance of beer. This year’s events remain under wraps, but expect Saturday-night stargazing in Brooklyn Bridge Park and a display of new inventions at the festival’s “Innovation Square.” Visit website for schedule (212-352-3101, worldsciencefestival.com). $10–$40.

Broadway chorus boys strut their stuff in a Miss America–style competition that will include talent and bathing-suit segments (which in some cases may be redundant).

Though Rihanna typically doesn't get tossed up on the Lady Gaga tier of all-encompassing superstardom, she may have a claim to be there, as she's consistently dominated the radio with songs like "Umbrella," "Don't Stop the Music," "Disturbia" and "SOS." And it's surely a sign of her burgeoning megastar status that, like Gaga, Rihanna is selling tickets now for a 2013 event at Brooklyn's Barclay's Center.

It’s comeback time for Paramore, currently gearing up to release its first LP sans founding members Josh and Zac Farro. Superfans might be bummed, but for the rest of us, the heart and soul of this Tennessee emo-pop powerhouse will always be the mammoth-lunged Hayley Williams, who’s stayed firmly put in her starring role. If appropriately titled lead single “Now” is any indication, a record of arena-sized anthems is on the way.

It’s not such a surprise that director Tim Burton is a fan of Brandon Flowers’s Vegas crew the Killers, since both artists share a penchant for drama and darkness—check out the Burton-directed video for the band’s latest single, “Here with Me,” for evidence. At these two arena dates, the group toasts Battle Born, its grandiose, back-to-form 2012 album.

Building on the momentum of last year’s electronica-drenched WIXIW, this popular, provocative California art-punk trio returns for a glitzy exclusive at the Met’s Temple of Dendur, and a more conventional romp at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple.

The gorgeous Royal Ballet of Cambodia presents The Legend of Apsara Mera, which is choreographed by Her Royal Highness Princess Norodom Buppha Devi, in collaboration woth Proeung Chhieng and Soth Somaly.

Expect to see studded jackets, safety-pin accessories and a lot of black at this exhibit, which examines the origins of punk fashion and how that look was co-opted by high-end designers. In addition to photos of icons like the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, the show will feature pieces by designers like Vivienne Westwood, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen and Anna Sui.

This bill features two of the best playwrights working today, both New Yorkers. Guirgis nails the impassioned yearning of the city’s desperate, repentant sinners (in their own vernacular), in plays that include prison drama Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train and Broadway's The Motherfucker in the Hat. Nottage channels the struggle and pain of black women, be they a turn-of-the-20th-century seamstress (Intimate Apparel) or a Mother Courage–like business owner in the Congo (Ruined). Don’t be surprised if some of their actor friends show up to help out.

Last year’s debut of the London superfair’s New York edition was a splashy affair that stole much of the Armory Show’s thunder. It’s setting up on Randall’s Island again in a twisting, winding tent along the waterfront and making use of the sylvan location with commissioned outdoor projects. This year’s fair includes a tribute to the legendary artist-run restaurant, Food, which in early-’70s Soho provided sustenance to the neighborhood’s loft-dwelling creative class–back when the term actually referred to making art. $42, students $26, with catalog $75. Visit friezenewyork.com for more information.

One of the godfathers of L.A. art (or at least the branch that treats pop culture as one big wallow in sexual abjection), McCarthy has certainly made his contribution, with sculptures of cute Santa figures wielding butt-plugs and depictions of the Seven Dwarves with flacid penises for noses. But more than that, his work sends up America’s glorification of masculinity. With two galleries at his his disposal, expect something big and disturbing.

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 company—Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Cory Stearns, Ivan Vasiliev, Natalia Osipova and the newest principal, Hee Seo.

Poets, playwrights, puppeteers and other performers in and around the Lower East Side will partake in this annual gathering centered at the Theater for the New City.

More than eight decades ago, New York artists Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning propped up a few of their paintings in Washington Square Park and called it a show. A lot has changed since then: Now, more than 100 artists and artisans—including painters, sculptors, jewelers and glassblowers—exhibit their wares at the Washington Square Park Outdoor Art Exhibit.