Highlights for the first weekend of 2025 include an emotionally-charged “queer story” starring McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger, a documentary chronicling Congressman Kinzinger’s fallout with the GOP and Grammy winner Chrisette Michele on the comeback trail.
Plus, there’s kid-friendly Mozart at the Met and gender-bending ballet at The Joyce.
Theater
Russ Rowland
Uly Schlesinger (left) and McKinley Belcher III in ‘A Guide for the Homesick’ at DR2 Theatre. (Russ Rowland)
“A Guide for the Homesick”
DR2 Theatre — 103 East, 15th St., Manhattan (Union Square)
Through Feb. 2. Various times.
Fresh off a starring role in Netflix’s “Eric,” McKinley Belcher III returns to the stage with another meaty role. The Drama Desk Award winner, who was last seen in Broadway’s historic revival of “Death of a Salesman,” joins Uly Schlesinger in this intense LGBTQ+ story with shocking twists.
Directed by Shira Milikowsky and written by Ken Urban, “A Guide for the Homesick” follows two Americans sharing secrets and trying to overcome isolation in an Amsterdam hotel room on a cold, stormy night.
Over the course of 80 minutes, both actors expertly portray four different roles in the emotionally-charged two-hander, which essentially centers on relationships between men that become intimate, fraught, and ultimately end in despair.
Belcher originates his role from the 2017 world premiere production that Colman Domingo directed in Boston. The Atlanta native is happy to revisit Urban’s gripping work.
“I’m excited to be a queer man in a queer story written by a queer person, and I hope people come out and take the ride with us,” he said.
Tickets start at $49.
Film
Joshua Salzman
‘The Last Republican’, directed by Steve Pink. (Joshua Salzman)
“The Last Republican”
Film Forum — 209 West Houston St., Manhattan (Greenwich Village)
Various times.
“Hot Tub Time Machine” director Steve Pink chronicles six-term Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, who risked it all trying to hold Donald Trump accountable for the Jan. 6 insurrection.
In the 90-minute film, the former Air Force pilot and Tea Party darling comes to terms with becoming a pariah in the Republican party after invoking the 25th amendment and voting for impeachment. He ended up being censured, along with Liz Cheney, and subsequently banished from Republican politics.
“I’m not ashamed of the fact that I am a conservative Republican,” he says in a scene — as his then-pregnant wife looks on. “I haven’t been the one that’s changed. The Republican party has changed.”
Pink, who considers himself a “far-left progressive,” formed an unlikely bond with the Ronald Reagan-loving lawmaker with behind-the-during Kinzinger’s final year in Congress.
Tickets are $17.
Music
Courtesy City Winery
Grammy-winning R&B vocalist Chrisette Michele performs at City Winery on Jan. 3. (Courtesy City Winery)
Chrisette Michele
City Winery NYC — 25 11th Ave., Manhattan (Pier 57)
Fri. Jan. 3, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Chrisette Michele, the Grammy-winning R&B vocalist infamously “canceled” for performing for Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, kicks off the new year with two shows this weekend on the venue’s mainstage.
Known for hit songs like “Blame It On Me,” “Epiphany” and “Be OK” (with will.i.am), the Long Island native is on the comeback trail with a multi-city tour on the heels of of her recently-released inspirational track, “Home.”
Tickets start at $50.
Dance
Steven Pisano
Matias Dominguez (left) and Andrea Fabbri in Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at the Joyce Theater. (Steven Pisano)
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
The Joyce Theater — 175 Eighth Ave., Manhattan (Chelsea)
Through Jan. 5. Various times.
Long before RuPaul lionized drag queens in mainstream culture, this gender-bending, all-male ballet troupe was representing in the dance world — one fouetté (and false eyelash) at a time.
The Trocks, as they are affectionately known, are closing out their 50th anniversary celebration by wrapping up a three-week holiday engagement with the old and the new.
Among this year’s repertoire, the company has programmed the premiere of Durante Verzola’s Balanchine-inspired “Symphony,” alongside company favorite “Giselle Act II” (about vampires) and its signature: “Swan Lake Act II: Le Lac des Cygnes.”
Tickets range from $12-$82 (including fees)
Opera
Richard Termine
Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute -Holiday Presentation’ at the Metropolitan Opera. (Richard Termine)
“The Magic Flute”
Metropolitan Opera House – 30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan (Upper West Side)
Through Jan 4. Various times.
There’s still time to catch the Met’s holiday season presentation of the abridged, English-language version of Mozart’s fairy tale. Tenor Duke Kim and soprano Aigul Khismatullina made their Met debuts in the family-friendly production.
Emmy and Tony Award winner Julie Taymor — most famous for her groundbreaking adaptation of Disney’s “The Lion King” in 1997 — helms the show, which was translated by poet J.D. McClatchy and is conducted alternately by Nimrod David Pfeffer and J. David Jackson.
Tickets start at $35 (plus fees).
Family
HERO
Winter Wonder: The Northern Lights Express at Rockefeller Center. (HERO)
“Winter Wonder: The Northern Lights Express”
HERO — 610 Fifth Ave., Manhattan (Midtown)
Through Jan. 19. Various times.
Visitors to a new immersive experience underneath Rockefeller Center can get a real feel of a wintery wonderland despite the lack of snow outside.
The sprawling 13,000-square-foot events and arts venue has been transformed to an imaginary train ride through giant, snowy displays. There’s even a “Bounce Room,” where the little ones can play atop giant candy mushrooms. For the weekly Snowflake Saturday and Sunday Party, kids of all ages can indulge in complimentary face painting, storytime, and other activities between 11 a.m and 1 p.m.
Tickets start at $32.34.
Art/Free
Getty
The 60th anniversary of the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair (above) is marked with the exhibit ‘A Billion Dollar Dream’ at the Queens Museum. (Getty)
“A Billion Dollar Dream: The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair on its 60th Anniversary”
Queens Museum — Flushing Meadows Corona Park, New York City Building, Queens
Through March 9. Various times.
The arts institution mined its collection of New York World’s Fair ephemera and put it all out on display to celebrate the expo’s diamond jubilee.
Described as a “snapshot” of the historical event, the exhibit re-examines how ideas of progress, nationhood and representation were used to market the unsanctioned fair that subsequently attracted over 50 million visitors.
A treasure trove of archival photographs, documents, postcards, posters, uniforms, and other materials featured throughout.
Tickets are pay what you wish.
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