Culture Calendar: 18 Things to Do in July 2017

Through July 7

As it celebrates its 165^th anniversary, London’s V&A Museum also opens a major addition, its largest architectural intervention in 100 years. The Exhibition Road Quarter, designed by British architect Amanda Levete and her firm AL_A, includes a new entrance to the museum, a versatile new open exhibition space, and the world’s first all-porcelain public courtyard. A week-long festival, “Reveal,” inaugurates the quarter, with highlights including an immersive installation by Simon Heljdens, a theatrical song cycle by artist and musician Anat Ben-David, a site specific dance work responding to Yoko Ono’s Dance Pieces, catwalk fashions shows featuring British designer Molly Goddard, and much more. vam.ac.uk.

July 8

The spirit of jazz pioneer Louis Armstrong lives on in the borough he called home for more than two decades, as this summer festival enters its fourth year. Pianist, bandleader, and fellow New Orleanian Jon Batiste (best known as Stephen Colbert’s music man) curates this year’s lineup, headlining with his group Stay Human and inviting a starry cohort of guests including The Dap-Kings and Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks along for a day of diverse jazz offerings. Flushing Meadows Corona Park; armstrongswonderfulworld.com.

July 8 - September 1

In 1970—after he’d already directed Easy Rider and starred alongside James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause—the iconoclastic Renaissance man Dennis Hopper mounted his first photography show, including more than 400 of his own snaps, at the Fort Worth Art Center Museum. The collection, shot over the previous decade, included pictures of Hopper’s many high-profile friends from across the cultural spectrum (e.g. Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Paul Newman). The newly unearthed photos will be shown in a new context at L.A.’s Kohn Gallery. Kohn Gallery, 1227 N. Highland Ave.; kohngallery.com.

Through July 9

The inventive Serenbe Playhouse, outside Atlanta, continues to breathe new life into the classics by transposing them into immersive outdoor settings. In this summer’s production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, audiences will watch the Scottish Play unfold against the backdrop of a waterfall and lush forest, intended to stand in for Birnam Wood, and bring the story’s supernatural influences to the fore.  11213 Serenbe Ln., Chattahoochee Hills; serenbeplayhouse.com.

Through July 9

Between the 1950s and 70s, collectors John and Dominique de Menil amassed roughly 25 works by the Dogon people of West Africa, from the region that’s now Mali. Their masks, sculptures, and architecture captivated Europeans and Americans in the early 20^th century and became a key part of early Western histories of Africa. The de Menil’s Dogon collection will here be complemented by contemporary Malian works by Amahigueré Dolo and Alaye Kene Atô, photographs by Walker Evans and Mario Carrieri. 1533 Sul Ross St.; menil.org.

Through July 16

Two years ago, Nick Payne’s Constellations touched down on Broadway and became one of the year’s most acclaimed plays, a thrilling two-hander about Roland (a beekeeper) and Marianne (a quantum physicist), and the seemingly infinite ways in which they could fall in and out of love. Despite their rarefied professions, Roland and Marianne register as supremely relatable, and though the show’s just over an hour in length, it packs a visceral emotional punch. Downton Abbey’s Allan Leech and Once Upon a Time star Ginnifer Goodwin take on the roles in the play’s Los Angeles premiere. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave.; geffenplayhouse.org.

July 11 - August 20

It’s a superpower plenty of us have dreamed of: the ability to click through your life as if with a remote control, to know in advance how everything will turn out. But what if that kind of remote actually existed—and what if, despite all this foreknowledge, you couldn’t do anything to change the outcome? The provocative playwright Bruce Norris—who won a Pulitzer, a Tony, and an Olivier for Clybourne Park—places protagonist Bee in that exact situation in his new existential comedy, A Parallelogram. With beloved Broadway regular Celia Keenan-Bolger in the lead role, and Norris’s trademark mix of dry wit and pathos, expect an evening of both prickly humor and poignancy. Tony Kiser Theater, 305 W. 43^rd St.; 2st.com.

July 11 - 16

Fifty years ago, saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman had already established himself as one of the foremost innovators in jazz, and he continued to experiment in the decades following. In 1997, in collaboration with Coleman and his son Denardo, a jazz drummer, Lincoln Center Festival presented a multipart series in tribute to Coleman’s work—an idea the festival revisits with Denardo Coleman this summer. The event schedule includes a screening of David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch with Coleman’s score performed live; a one-night-only reunion of Coleman’s Prime Time band; Ensemble Signal playing Coleman’s chamber music; and more.  Alice Tully Hall and Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Lincoln Center; lincolncenterfestival.org.

July 13 - October  7

In her last Broadway outing, the star-studded revival of Cabaret, Sienna Miller brought her mix of cool-girl swagger, prickly sex appeal, and brittle fragility to the iconic role of Sally Bowles.  All of those qualities happen to transfer well to her next big stage role, the restless, passionate Maggie the Cat in Benedict Andrews’ new West End production of Tennessee Williams’ still-steamy Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for the Young Vic. Jack O’Connell—the young British actor who was the best part of Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken—co-stars as Brick. Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Ave.; youngvic.org.

July 14 - 23

For the 12^th summer in a row, California’s Napa Valley transforms into a cultural destination to rival Lincoln Center.  Alongside events showcasing the region’s best chefs and wineries, this year’s Festival Napa Valley boasts performances by opera stars Danielle de Niese and Lucas Meachem; a poetry reading by Bill Murray accompanied by cellist Jan Vogler; violinist Joshua Bell playing an evening of Cuban music with the Havana Chamber Music; pianist Andre Watts headlining a concert including music from Bernstein’s On the Town; contemporary and classical works danced by San Francisco Ballet; and several appearances by the Festival Orchestra NAPA, comprised of musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, and more sterling ensembles. festivalnapavalley.org.

July 14 - 16

With the recent cancellation of both Art Hamptons and Art Southhampton, Long Island’s East End might have been left without a major art fair this summer, if not for the combined efforts of Half Gallery founder Bill Powers and rare-book dealer Harper Levine. Their brainchild, the Upstairs Art Fair, should feel more scrappy than blue chip: set in a barn that once housed an art school, it’s intended to have an inclusive vibe while presenting a formidable group of roughly a dozen galleries, including Lower East Side standbys Rachel Uffner and James Fuentes, the young gallery New Release, and Hamptons spots like Rental Gallery and Halsey McKay.  11 Indian Wells; upstairsartfair.com.

Through July 23

Most of the museums to have recently rummaged through Picasso’s seemingly bottomless oeuvre have displayed the artist’s works with the goal of explaining what, precisely, inspired their creation.  This major new exhibition at the Musee du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac takes a different approach, focusing on Picasso’s creative environment and juxtaposing his work with the primitive arts of Africa, Oceania, America and Asia. Divided into three sections—Metamorphoses, Archetypes, and Id—the show will trace Picasso’s links to non-Western arts and encourage a dialogue between his work and that of non-Western artists. 37 Quai Branly; quaibranly.fr.

July 23

For one night this month, Broadway fans may want to leave the Great White Way for the Hollywood Bowl, where the LA Philharmonic’s dynamic director, Gustavo Dudamel, will preside over the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and a host of Broadway stars in a concert paying tribute to the music of Stephen Sondheim. Sarna Lapine—niece of Sondheim’s close collaborator James Lapine, and director of the gorgeous recent Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park With George—directs the evening; the star-stacked cast singing Sondheim show tunes includes Matthew Morrison, Ruthie Ann Miles, Carmen Cusack, Jonathan Groff, Vanessa Williams and more.  2301 N. Highland Ave.; hollywoodbowl.com.

July 27 - 29

The reigning master storyteller of American modern dance, Bill T. Jones, heads a company of dancers uniquely suited to translating the very basic human emotion at the heart of his intellectual, ambitious work. The world premiere of his full Analogy trilogy at this summer’s American Dance Festival is one of the most highly anticipated new contemporary works of the year, exploring the idea of war (outside, and within) by delving into three very specific and fascinating stories: the first, based on an oral history Jones conducted with a 95-year old woman who fought in the French-Jewish resistance; the second, about a man battling addiction and excess in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s; and the third, inspired by W.G. Sebald’s historical novel The Emigrants.  Durham Performing Arts Center, 123 Vivian St.; americandancefestival.org.

July 27 - October 28

Shakespeare has become nearly as intrinsic a part of summer as pool parties and cookouts, but few festivals devoted to the Bard interpret his work through as wide a lens as does the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  One of the highlights at the OSF this month is Randy Reinholz’s Off the Rails, an adaptation of Measure for Measure set in in the boarding schools Native American children were forced to attend in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Reinholz, a member of the Choctaw nation, co-created the Native Voices at the Autry theater company in Los Angeles, dedicated to the works of Native playwrights. Expect this new play to combine humor with a sobering look at the less heroic legacy of the American West. Angus Bowmer Theatre, 15 S. Pioneer St.; osfashland.org.

July 29 - August 12

Recently named president of the Juilliard School, the former New York City Ballet dancer Damian Woetzel is one of the foremost arts impresarios today. Case in point: the Vail Dance Festival, which under his direction has become an especially scenic home-away-from-home for some of the international dance world’s brightest stars each summer. Highlights of this summer’s season include artist-in-residence (and MacArthur winner) Michelle Dorrance, a tap virtuoso; Pulitzer-winning composer-in-residence Caroline Shaw; a focus on Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein in anticipation of their joint centennial next year; appearances by L.A. Dance Project and Martha Graham Dance Company; and programs featuring ballet superstars like Misty Copeland, Isabella Boylston, Robert Fairchild, Tiler Peck, and many more.  Most will perform on the mainstage of the Gerald R. Ford Ampitheater, with the Colorado Rockies providing an especially evocative backdrop to the dance. vaildance.org.

Through September 24

The renowned artist Richard Serra is best known for his monumental sculptures, but those behemoths often have a humble origin: they begin as intimate drawings that show a sense of quiet and exactitude little known to even ardent admirers of Serra’s work.  As Francesco Stocchi, the curator of modern and contemporary art at Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, says, “what matters to [Serra] is not what a drawing ‘means’ but what emerges from the process of producing it”—as is evident in the breadth of output covered in this show of over 80 works, ranging from small- to large-scale drawings, all from the past couple of years of Serra’s practice and chosen in close collaboration with the artist himself. Museumpark 18; boijmans.nl.

Through January 1

Chinese artist-dissident Ai Weiwei’s latest installation is an ode to those who don’t just speak out against injustice in the world, but do something about it. Trace, at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, , features 176 portraits—each rendered in thousands of LEGO bricks—of people around the world who are activists, advocates of free speech, and prisoners of conscience.  The installation echoes Ai’s own 80-day incarceration in China, in 2011, for criticizing the government. National Mall at 7^th St. SW and Independence Ave.; hirshhorn.si.edu.