What’s Going On In NYC This Week

DESTINATION UNKNOWN

Timed to the annual commemoration of Kristallnacht, the 1938 “Night of Broken Glass” that prefigured the Holocaust, Cinema Village screens Clare Ferguson’s 2017 documentary “Destination Unknown” for one night only. The film, which the Financial Times hailed as “powerful, moving, unremitting,” unfolds the tales of 12 Holocaust survivors. With no narration and no expert interviews, the film relies on the survivors’ own words as they trace their journeys from the outbreak of war through the misery of the ghettos and the unimaginable horrors of the death camps. It goes on to paint a unique and intimate portrait of the survivors’ post-war lives, revealing a resilience of spirit alongside scars that never heal. — Friday, Nov. 10, Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th St., (212) 924-3363, cinemavillage.com.

THE PEOPLE VS. EVE

Yeah, that Eve. She may be the mother of us all, but hers was the mother of all sins. It’s time for Adam’s Garden-mate to stand trial for her crimes against humanity. Rabbi and HUC Professor Tamara Cohn Eskenazi will present the case; former New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte leads the prosecution; Alan Dershowitz serves as defense attorney.

Putting Eve on trial, at Streicker Center.

Presiding over the trial will be U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, who will instruct you, the jury, on what you may and may not consider before you vote guilty or not on female-kind’s most primal crime. — Sunday, Nov. 19, 10:30 a.m., Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, One E. 65th St., (212) 507-9580, emanuelskirballnyc.org.

AICF’S 78TH ANNIVERSARY

Since 1939, the America Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) has played a leading role in helping develop and fund many of Israel’s largest cultural institutions, as well as fostering a thriving Israeli-American art scene here. To mark its anniversary, the AICF showcases some of its top Israeli-American grantees. On tap: choreographer Igal Perry’s Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, cellist Zvi Plesser, pianist Miri Yampolsky, jazz pianist Alon Yavnai’s big band and 13-year-old violinist Yanir Eldorot. A multidisciplinary experience follows, featuring video artist Ofri Cnaani, visual artists Eli Barak and Deborah Wasserman, guitarist Yotam Silberstein, Nadine Bommer’s dance company and more. — Sunday, Nov. 19, 3 p.m., Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, 10 Columbus Circle, (212) 258-9800, aicf.org. Tickets $50 and up.

Theater

PRAGUE, 1912

In October 1911, Polish actor Yitzchak (Jak) Lowy and his Yiddish theater troupe toured Prague, where they developed a complicated and impactful relationship with an emerging local author named Franz Kafka. Loosely based on the characters of Jak Lowy and his leading lady, Mme. Trassik, late playwright Lu Hauser’s last comedy (he died in 2011) describes how the vagabond troupe ends up first attracting and then ensnaring a sympathetic local writer named Gregor Samsa.  — Through Nov. 25, Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, (212) 254-1109, theaterforthenewcity.net.

THE BAND’S VISIT

In the hit Israeli film, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra travels to Israel from Egypt for a concert, ending up in the wrong place and bonding with local Israelis in the process. David Yazbek’s musical of the same name and based on the film won the 2017 Obie for Best Musical. Now on Broadway after a sold-out Off-Broadway run. —Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St., telecharge.com, thebandsvisitmusical.com.

LILI MARLENE

“Lili Marlene” was the title of a World War II-era German song that became popular with both the Axis and the Allies. Set in pre-WWII Berlin, this similarly titled Off-Broadway musical (with book and music by Michael Antin) centers on the fictional character of Rosie Pen (Amy Londyn), a Jewish cabaret singer whose rendition of the song makes it famous. With Nazism on the rise, Rosie’s unlikely love affair with a young German count named Willi (Clint Hromsco) drives them both to seek ways out of the country. — Tuesdays through Dec. 19, 7 p.m., St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 W. 46th St., (212) 239-6200, Telecharge.com.

Music

BERNSTEIN CENTENNIAL FESTIVAL

The New York Philharmonic celebrates the centennial of its iconic maestro, Leonard Bernstein, with a three-week festival devoted entirely to his symphonic works. Highlights include conductors Alan Gilbert and Bernstein protégé Leonard Slatkin leading Bernstein’s complete symphonies, with Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons featured as the speaker in the powerful “Kaddish” symphony. —  Through Nov. 14, David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5656, nyphil.org.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN AT 100

And yet more Lenny… As part of the Bernstein centennial celebrations, Grammy Award-nominated composer and arranger Richard DeRosa leads the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a performance of a wide array of Bernstein classics, such as “West Side Story,” “On the Town” and a selection of unexpected gems. The band will also provide insightful background about the composer and the musical selections. — Saturday, Nov. 11, 8 p.m., Jazz at Lincoln Center – Rose Theatre, 10 Columbus Circle, (212) 258-9800, jazz.org.

THE NEW YORK ANDALUS ENSEMBLE CHAMBER TRIO

Led by polymath Dr. Samuel Torjman Thomas — a multi-instrumentalist composer, bandleader and singer, as well as a professor of ethnomusicology and Jewish studies — the New York Andalus Ensemble explores the music of North Africa and Spain in Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish. Part of the JCC Manhattan’s Shabbat Shabbang programing. — Friday, Nov. 10, 7-9:30 p.m., JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave., (646) 505-4444, jccmanhattan.org. 

ISRAELI JAZZ SPOTLIGHT

Curated by Israeli-American jazz composer and bassist Or Bareket, Cornelia’s monthly gig features vocalist Gaya Feldheim Schorr, who mixes jazz, Israeli folk and indie rock, and a quartet led by composer and tenor sax player Lior Milliger. — Sunday, Nov. 12, 8 p.m., Feldheim; 9:30 p.m. Milliger, Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia St., (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com. $20, drinks included.

ACCORDIONIST URI SHARLIN

Playing global music with a New York edge, Israeli-born accordionist Uri Sharlin — a “wonderfully free flowing accordionist” (All About Jazz) — deftly weaves jazz, Balkan beats, Arabic modes and Brazilian harmonies into an explosively danceable mix. Sharlin joins forces with Max ZT — the “Jimi Hendrix of Hammered Dulcimer” (NPR), in an exploration of African and Indian influences. Prepare for a wild multicultural ride. — Sunday, Nov. 12, 5 p.m., Barbès, Brooklyn, 376 Ninth St., (347) 422-0248, barbesbrooklyn.com. $10.

MATT DARRIAU AND XALAM TRIO

The composer and reed player for the Klezmatics and the Paradox Trio has had a wide influence on both the Balkan and Yiddish music revivals. Featuring Darriau, Middle Eastern oud player Brandon Terzic (Nubatones) and drummer Matt Kilmer (Simone Shaheen, Louis C.K., Reggie Watts), the Xalam Trio plays a rhythmic blend of South African, blues, klezmer, jazz and Balkan sounds. — Wednesday, Nov. 15, 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. concert, City Winery, 155 Varick St., (212) 608-0555, citywinery.com. $10.

Dance

HOFESH SCHECTER AT BAM

The Israeli-born, London-based choreographer (who did the dance numbers in the recent “Fiddler” on Broadway) creates works in a propulsive, edgy vein, often set to high-octane electronica. His “Grand Finale,” hailed by The Observer as “the ultimate dance macabre,” describes a society on the brink of cataclysm. Featuring a driving score composed by Schecter himself and performed by a live string quartet. — Friday-Sunday, Nov. 9-11, 7:30 p.m., BAM, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, bam.org.

Film

1945

On a sweltering August day in 1945, Hungarian villagers prepare for the wedding of the town clerk’s son. Meanwhile, two Orthodox Jews arrive at the village train station with mysterious boxes labeled “fragrances.” The town clerk fears the men may be heirs of the village’s deported Jews and expects them to demand that their illegally acquired property, lost during the war, be returned. Variety called the film “a fresh, intelligent cinematic approach to a difficult topic that takes on a transitional time in Hungarian history with subtlety and nuance.” — Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., filmforum.org.

THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES

Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” is a funny examination of a dysfunctional Jewish family that, as Baumbach noted in the press conference, “has replaced religion with art as a subject of worship.” Aging sculptor Harold (Dustin Hoffman), an all-but-forgotten minor talent, dominates and manipulates his children by several marriages — Danny (Adam Sandler), Matthew (Ben Stiller) and Jean (Elizabeth Marvel), each of whom feels he or she lets him down by not pursuing a life in the arts. — Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway, (212) 757-0359, lincolnplazacinema.com.

Talk

SALMAN RUSHDIE: THE GOLDEN HOUSE

The acclaimed British-Indian novelist and essayist speaks about his new novel, “The Golden House.” Set against the backdrop of the Obama years, this modern American epic revolves around an enigmatic billionaire from foreign shores whose mystique is as irresistible to his readers as to his fictional neighbors. Rushdie will be in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks. — Tuesday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, One E. 65th St., (212) 507-9580, emanuelskirballnyc.org.

RACE IN NAZI GERMANY AND AMERICA

Nazism triumphed in Germany during the age of Jim Crow in the American South. What were the links between the two nightmarish regimes? James Whitman, professor at Yale and author of “Hitler’s American Model,” examines the influence of American race laws on the notorious Nazi Nuremberg Laws. Mitchel Duneier, professor at Princeton and author of “Ghetto,” recovers a forgotten history: The Nazi’s Warsaw Ghetto provided the model for American understandings of their own race ghettos. A book signing will follow. — Friday, Nov. 10, 12 p.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., 92y.org.

Exhibitions

MODIGLIANI UNMASKED

This Jewish Museum exhibit features early drawings by famous Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, who died in 1920. The drawings, which were acquired directly from the artist by Dr. Paul Alexandre — his close friend and first patron — illuminate how Modigliani’s heritage as an Italian Sephardic Jew is pivotal to understanding his artistic output. Many of these works are being shown for the first time in the U.S. — Through Feb. 4, 2018, The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave., (212) 423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org.

JERUSALEM

Jointly conceived by artist Colin Davidson and the Oliver Sears Gallery, “Jerusalem” is comprised of 12 large-scale portraits of individuals — Jews, Muslims, Christians, a politician, a Benedictine monk, a doctor — who live or work in the ancient, mystical, troubled city of Jerusalem. —  On display through Nov. 14 (open to the public on select dates), 92nd Street Y’s Weill Art Gallery, 1395 Lexington Ave., 92y.org.

REDISCOVERY, RESTORATION AND RENEWAL

Ten years ago, the restoration of the Eldridge Street Synagogue was completed. After a 20-year, $20 million effort, the building was brought back from the verge of collapse to stand once again as a Jewish landmark. In celebration of this milestone, the Museum at Eldridge Street presents 45 large-scale photographs, dating from the 1970s to the present, of the synagogue in different stages of its transformation. —Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge Street, eldridgestreet.org. Through March 1, 2018.

OPERATION FINALE

Playing out more like a spy novel than a museum show, this multimedia exhibit features recently declassified materials charting the tracking, capture, extradition and trial of Adolf Eichmann. — Through Dec. 22, Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, (646) 437-4202, mjhnyc.org.

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