Things to do in New York this Friday

PS1 is taking an important look at the life of people in prisons and those no longer behind bars through their art that deals with issues of state repression, erasure, and imprisonment, as well as the COVID-19 crisis in U.S. prisons. Installations include Rorschach-like portraits of black Americans who were killed in police-involved shootings, a mural made of 39 prison-issued sheets at 40 feet long and 15 feet tall and more. The exhibition is a powerful exploration of the social and cultural impact of mass incarceration.

"Not Another Second" is an exhibit that offers a candid glimpse into the lives of 12 LGBTQ elders through a series of compelling portraits that intersect personal experiences of living during a time when being themselves was a crime. Shot by noted German photographer Karsten Thormaehlen also celebrates their personal journeys on deciding to live openly, as well as finding love and companionship. Each moving portrait is accompanied by the number of years lost living in the closet and not as their true, authentic self. This exhibit is a collaboration between nonprofit SAGE, Watermark Retirement Communities and Brooklyn’s iconic new luxury senior community The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights. The portraits will be viewable via AR and through free public and socially distanced viewings of the Not Another Second exhibit at The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights will take place every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from January 19th through March 2021. A reservation must be made to view the Brooklyn exhibition of Not Another Second. To book and reserve your timed ticket, visit www.notanothersecond.com.

Infamous, a solo exhibition by renowned artist Andres Serrano on view at Fotografiska, is a visual exploration of the history of racism in the U.S. via 30 photographs of racist artifacts, including race-based and racist memorabilia. Serrano acquired KKK hoods, consumer products depicting caricatures of Black people, violent documentary photographs, and more, most of which were previously owned and purchased directly from the homes of Americans. Serrano hopes to confront the country’s racist history and have Americans consider racism's influence on culture and society today. The museum will support these conversations through programming, includingwith the National Coalition Against Censorship.

The New-York Historical Society has a new exhibit that coincides with the 80th anniversary of the United Service Organizations (USO) that shows off artifacts (a World War II-era aircraft fragment, mess kit, and other relics engraved to Hope), films, and rare photographs to illustrate how Bob Hope helped lift spirits with his USO and radio shows during a dark time in American history. There's also a companion exhibition, "The Gift of Laughter," that delves into Hope’s varied career after World War II as a USO entertainer, television star, and Academy Award host demonstrating the many hats worn by comedians. His legacy will be brought to life with many items, including costumes from the Emmy Award-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, as well as objects related to other comedians—real and imagined—influenced by Hope.

Six Queens-based female artists of colorr were selected to create site-specific art installations throughout the grounds of Queens Botanical Garden last year, and now, they're back with new work that were informed by the public art pieces from last year that existed on the grounds of the garden. Works included a brightly-colored mixed media rose garden, a work made of color transparencies that project shadows on the ground, a large cyanotype paper flower surrounded by smaller cyanotype ferns, and tags with information honoring the many women that have met violent endings at the hands of a loved one, sculptural rocks made of abstract paintings on Mylar and a large painting along the skylight railing, a fanciful "Rabbit's Storytelling Throne," made largely from recycled and salvaged materials, paying homage to QBG’s landfill history, and a portrait of feminist and advocate, Marielle Franco, who was murdered in 2018 while returning from a speech. 

"Hollywood Dogs" features drawings, portraits and posters of some of the biggest canine blockbusters like "Lassie" to "Old Yeller" and "All Dogs Go to Heaven." Inside the exhibit, you'll also see animated and cartoon dogs in old celluloid, pencil sketches, comic strips, old portrait photos of Rin Tin Tin and other headlining canines. The exhibit will be on through April 11 at 101 Park Avenue, but it'll also be put online at a later date so dog lovers can view it from home.

"Love Letters" is the winning sculpture of the 2021 Love in Times Square Design Competition. The artwork takes inspiration from the building facades of New York City, using plywood as a material of public engagement to mimic a scrolling storefront. The installation winds across Duffy Square in the heart of Times Square to create four integrated spaces—the soapbox, loveseat, chapel, and wishing well—in one folding surface, forming the shape of two interlocked hearts. It'll be up through March 10, and to celebrate its closing, dancer Marielis Garcia will share a special sunset dance performance entitled Encantó on March 5 and 6 at 5:45pm, incorporating "Love Letters" into her choreography set to original music in a costume inspired by the artwork.

Theater review by Adam Feldman  The world of Harry Potter has arrived on Broadway, Hogwarts and all, and it is a triumph of theatrical magic. Set two decades after the final chapters of J.K. Rowling’s world-shaking kid-lit heptalogy, the two-part epic Harry Potter and the Cursed Child combines grand storytelling with stagecraft on a scale heretofore unimagined. Richly elaborated by director John Tiffany, the show looks like a million bucks (or, in this case, a reported $68 million); the Lyric Theatre has been transfigured from top to bottom to immerse us in the narrative. It works: The experience is transporting. Jack Thorne’s play, based on a story he wrote with Rowling and Tiffany, extends the Potter narrative while remaining true to its core concerns. Love and friendship and kindness are its central values, but they don’t come easily: They are bound up in guilt, loneliness and fear. Harry (Jamie Parker) is weighted with trauma dating back to his childhood, which hinders his ability to communicate with his troubled middle son, Albus (Sam Clemmett); it doesn’t help that Albus’s only friend is the bookish outcast Scorpius Malfoy (the exceptional Anthony Boyle), son of Harry’s erstwhile enemy, Draco (Alex Price). Despite the best intentions of Harry’s solid wife, Ginny (Poppy Miller), and his friends Hermione (Noma Dumezweni) and Ron (Paul Thornley), things turn dark very fast. Set designer Christine Jones and lighting designer Neil Austin keep much of the stage shrouded in

Theater review by Adam Feldman Red alert! Red alert! If you’re the kind of person who frets that jukebox musicals are taking over Broadway, prepare to tilt at the windmill that is the gorgeous, gaudy, spectacularly overstuffed Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Directed with opulent showmanship by Alex Timbers, this adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 movie may be costume jewelry, but its shine is dazzling.  The place is the legendary Paris nightclub of the title, and the year is ostensibly 1899. Yet the songs—like Catherine Zuber’s eye-popping costumes—span some 150 years of styles. Moulin Rouge! begins with a generous slathering of “Lady Marmalade,” belted to the skies by four women in sexy black lingerie, long velvet gloves and feathered headdresses. Soon they yield the stage to the beautiful courtesan Satine (a sublimely troubled Karen Olivo), who makes her grand entrance descending from the ceiling on a swing, singing “Diamonds Are Forever.” She is the Moulin Rouge’s principal songbird, and Derek McLane’s sumptuous gold-and-red set looms around her like a gilded cage. After falling in with a bohemian crowd, Christian (the boyish Aaron Tveit), a budding songwriter from small-town Ohio, wanders into the Moulin Rouge like Orpheus in the demimonde, his cheeks as rosy with innocence as the showgirls’ are blushed with maquillage. As cruel fate would have it, he instantly falls in love with Satine, and she with him—but she has been promised, alas, to the wicked Duke of Monroth (Tam Mutu)

This musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz addresses surprisingly complex themes, such as standards of beauty, morality and, believe it or not, fighting fascism. Thanks to Winnie Holzman’s witty book and Stephen Schwartz’s pop-inflected score, Wicked soars. The current cast includes Jackie Burns as Elphaba and Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda.