13. Listen to Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus 18. Hear Falling Out of Time 19. Watch Girls5eva
TV 12. Watch Ozark
Bye, bye, Byrdes. Netflix, April 29.
The Netflix series about Missouri money launderers Marty and Wendy Byrde (Jason Bateman and Laura Linney) comes to a close with the seven final episodes of the series. Obviously, we would not dare spoil anything, but we can say this about where the season picks up from where it left off in January: Ruth (Julia Garner) is still not in a good place. j.c.
PODCASTS
A uniquely American religion. iHeartMedia’s Cool Zone Media.
Fresh off Aack Cast and Lolita Podcast, Jamie Loftus’s latest audio documentary series takes her to an American spiritualism camp in Cassadaga, Florida, dedicated to communing with the dead. Expect an examination of grief and religion with a side of gonzo. nicholas quah
MOVIES 14. See Vortex
A documentary-style drama. In theaters and IFC Center, April 29.
Gaspar Noé doesn’t like the term provocateur, but he is one regardless. In Vortex, he uses splitscreen storytelling to watch the physical and mental disintegration of an elderly couple (played by Dario Argento and Françoise Lebrun) in their Paris apartment. It sounds brutal, and it is—but it’s also impossibly tender, one of the director’s saddest and clearly most personal films. b.e.
BOOKS 15. Read Little Rabbit
An erotic tête-à-tête. Bloomsbury Publishing, May 3.
A queer woman writer begins a not-quite-illicit relationship with a much older man, who is a choreographer; they approach their sexual encounters as seriously as they do their art. This erotically charged novel just earned Alyssa Songsiridej a National Book Award “5 Under 35.” e.a.
POP MUSIC 16. See Freddie Gibbs
Your favorite rap producer. The Space Rabbit Tour at Irving Plaza, May 11.
Indiana rhymer Freddie Gibbs makes words bend to his will, nailing impossibly tricky flows while he speaks to a rough-and-tumble upbringing. He’s on a bill with Zack Fox and Northeast rapperproducers redveil and MIKE. c.j.
TV 17. Watch The Offer
Guns and cannolis. Paramount+, April 28.
This ten-episode series about the behind-thescenes drama of The Godfather production stars Miles Teller as Oscar-winning producer Albert S. Ruddy, Dan Fogler as Francis Ford Coppola, and Patrick Gallo as The Godfather author Mario Puzo, whose pulpy novel Coppola transformed into a thoughtful, regretful story of the intersection between the American Dream and generational guilt. r.h.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Osvaldo Golijov’s new work. Zankel Hall, May 6.
Nobody does polycultural melancholy like composer Osvaldo Golijov. His bewitchingly tragic song cycle, based on the novel by David Grossman and composed for the Silkroad Ensemble, finally makes it to the New York stage after a two-year pandemic-induced postponement and preceded by a studio recording. j.d.
TV
What are you waiting five? Peacock, May 5.
The funniest show on TV, about a middle-aged girl band, is back for season two. Will Renée Elise Goldsberry’s Wickie continue to act like a diva while taking advantage of every opportunity to hit incredibly high notes? God, we hope so. j.c.
DANCE 20. See In C
Do I hear a … BAM, April 28 to 30.
The Bang on a Can All-Stars play Terry Riley’s minimalist 1964 composition, an “open-ended” work that consists of 53 melodic phrases, which allows its performers to improvise, repeat, or prolong the phrases. Sasha Waltz’s response to this unpredictable score has been to spread out her choreographic project among her dancers, building 53 movement phrases. The resulting structured improvisation is spring-bright and trancelike, with sudden moments of synchrony that arrive almost of their own volition. h.s.
MOVIES 21. See This Much I Know to Be True
A companion to One More Time With Feeling. In theaters May 11.
Joined by some key collaborators, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis sit in a cavernous, abandoned Bristol factory and perform, with occasional detours into conversations about friendship, grief, and the creative act, as filmmaker Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) guides the cameras (and sometimes the subjects). The result is one of the most haunting music docs you’ll ever see. b.e.
TV 22. Watch Candy
Not so sweet. Hulu, May 9.
Two series this year, Hulu’s Candy and HBO Max’s Love & Death, tackle the 1980 murder of Betty Gore by close friend Candy Montgomery. First up is Candy, with the inimitable Melanie Lynskey as Betty and Jessica Biel as Candy. r.h.
BOOKS 23. Read City on Fire
The anti-Godfather. William Morrow.
Joining Don Winslow’s epic output of crime thrillers (The Force, The Cartel, The Border …) is the first of a trilogy, a take on The Aeneid set in late’80s New England, about reluctant hero Danny Ryan, who leads his once-powerful Irish-mob family into battle with greedy rivals and, he hopes, out of a bad business entirely. carl rosen
OPERA 24. See Serse
A popular performance. Carnegie Hall, May 8.
The Handel opera boom of some years back gave us singers trained in the filigree and power of his vocal writing and ensembles attuned to the showbiz vibrancy of his style. Conductor Harry Bicket and the English Concert bring their finesse to a concert performance of the opera also known as Xerxes. j.d.
TV 25. Watch Under the Banner of Heaven
More true crime. Hulu, April 28.
An adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s immensely popular nonfiction book, the Hulu series stars Andrew Garfield as the lead detective in a 1980s murder case in a fundamentalist Mormon family. Will fulfill all your True Detective urges; will make you wonder exactly how Garfield makes his eyes look quite that hangdog sincere. k.v.a.