GRAND TIMES WITH YOUR GRANDKIDS
By Lily Feinberg & Hal Drucker

Granddaughter Lily Feinberg (8)
reviews three musicals.
Photo: Hal Drucker

Brian d’Arcy James is Shrek in Shrek the Musical.
Photo: Joan Marcus

Shrek the Musical
Broadway Theater
1681 Broadway @ 53rd St.
(212) 239-6200

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The entire cast of 13, the Musical. Photo: Joan Marcus

13, the Musical
Bernard B. Jacobs Theater
242 W. 45 th St .
212-239-6200
Through January 4, 2009

13 is a funny, exciting musical that makes you want to stand up on your feet and sing out loud.  With amazing, catchy tunes and great teenage actors and actresses, I give this play 5 bows. Join Evan Goldman (Graham Phillips) as he moves from New York City to Indiana and experiences what growing up really means.  Watch how Evan sees the difference between a true friend and a mean person.  Evan Goldman is about to be 13 and Bar Mitzvahed when his parents get divorced and he moves from New York City to Indiana.  When he gets to Indiana, there's only one person who he thinks he can talk to -his neighbor Patrice (Allie Trimm) .  Patrice is a real friend, but Evan doesn't find that out for a long time because he wants to be friends with the cool kids so he can get them to go to his Bar Mitzvah, because if they come, everyone comes.  Watch how Evan finds his place and learns how it feels to really be at home.  I enjoyed the songs It Can't be True and Bad, Bad News, but all of Jason Robert Brown’s songs were catchy and amazing. I definitely recommend this musical to anyone who likes to be happy and have a little fun.  It is so outstanding, it even makes adults want to stand up and wish they were thirteen again.  My mother and I loved it so much we’re going to see it a second time with my brother and father. (Lily)

The entire cast of Disney’sHigh School Musical. Photo: Gerry Goodstein

Disney’s High School Musical
Paper Mill Playhouse
22 Brookside Drive
Millburn , NJ
973-376-4343
Last performance Dec. 7

Your kids and grandkids know the plot line: Troy, captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella, a shy transfer student discover they both love to sing. When they audition for the lead roles in East High’s musical, it causes an uproar. However, the two inspire other students to search deep and discover their own hidden talents.

They put a lot of work into this show. And they mean it. I recommend it to any one who enjoys seeing an amazing performance. It’s incredible what they’ve done to put a smile on anyone who sees this show’s face. Of course, I’ve seen the TV movie version and later on the DVD so many times I can assure you that it is so much better to see a live show than a movie. You can feel the energy the cast displays. The cast is outstanding. The music is great. You just want to stand up and dance around. I give this show five bows. When or if it comes back to the Paper Mill or other theater, I’ll certainly let you know. (Lily)

“ Jason” recreates his perilous journey on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece. Photo: Douglas McBride

Jason and the Argonauts
New Victory Theater
229 W. 42nd St.
646-223-3010
Jan. 23 – Feb 1

From Glasgow comes a pair of mischievous lads who gleefully recreate the epic tale of Jason’s perilous journey on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece. I caught a couple of minutes of their act via video and admired how they use action figures and their own physical ingenuity, barreling through dozens of characters at mach speed, jousting with sea monsters, harrowing harpies, a villainous uncle and ultimately the challenge of their lives. 65 minutes. Ages 8 +

Golly Gee Whiz!
TADA! Youth Theater
15 W. 28th St.
(212) 252-1619
Jan. 10 - Feb. 15
Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. & 4 p.m.

Paper Bag Bicycle Racers - (L-R) Esther Ammon, Ted Brackett, Nikki E. Walker, Kevin Richard Woodall. Photo by Carol Rosegg

Make a Little Room for Me
The Paper Bag Players
Symphony Space
2537 B’Way @ 95 th St.
Tel: 212-864-5400
Feb. 21 – 11 a.m. & 2 p.m.; Feb. 22 - 3 p.m.
The Jewish Museum
1109 5 th Ave. & 92 nd St.
212-423-3337
March 1, March 29 – 11:30 a.m. & 2 p.m.

For the better part of the half-century of The Paper Bag Players’ existence, my kids and their kids have delighted in the whimsy and charm of the proceedings, and the inventive ways the cast uses paper and cardboard for costumes and scenery. This musical fantasy revue about a bossy bathtub, a breathtaking bicycle race and an elegant paper lady is funny, colorful, and wildly imaginative with plenty of audience participation. 60 minutes. Ages 3 - 8.

FAMILY CONCERTS

Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. @ 92 nd St.
212-423-3337
Elizabeth Mitchell &
You Are My Flower.
Jan. 11 – 2 p.m. Sweet folk-rock music sung and played by Ms. Mitchell’s mellow band. Ages 3+
David Weinstone & The Music
For Aardvarks Band.
Jan. 25 – 11:30 a.m. & 2 p.m. Your grandkids will rock to the sounds of a hip group that performs songs about the joys of being a NYC kid. Ages 2-6

CIRCUS

International Clown Hall of Fame inductee Barry Lubin is Grandma
Photos: Bertrand Guay/Big Apple Circus

Paul Binder, founder and artistic director of the Big Apple Circus,
is Ringmaster for his 31st and final season.

		Regina Dobrovitskaya's breathtaking act on a swing while hanging from her ankles.
		The LaSalle Brothers' juggling act.
		Guimeng Teng, catching and balancing huge urns on his head.
		The "toy man,"  aka the Belgian mime (Olivier Taquin), who mimics a wind-up doll.
		Luciano Anastasini and His Pound Puppies, who ride out into the ring in a tiny locomotive.
		The Rodion Troupe, in which two men use a flexible beam to bounce a lithe woman who performs a triple somersault and lands on her feet, on the beam.
		The Najing Duo, in which An Nan dances in toe shoes on the head of her partner, Zhu Zhengzhen.
		The Flying Cortes, the amazing trapeze act.
		And of course, the periodic reappearance of Grandma (Barry Lubin)--by now a classic character in the history of the circus.

MUSEUMS

Tight Rope Artists from Calder's Circus 1926-31. Wire, cloth, graphite, leather, lead, paint, and string, dimensions variable.
Whitney Museum of American Art: Photo: Sheldan C. Collins

Tight Rope Artists' Horse. Drawing after 'Calder's Circus,’ 2008.
Color Markers: Lily Feinberg (8)

 
Wire caricature portraits of Jimmy Durante and tennis great Helen Wills.

Alexander Calder
The Paris Years
1926-1933
Through February 15, 2009

Happily for your grandkids and you, in addition to the Big Apple Circus and Cirque Mechanics, there is another circus of note in town worthy of your attention. Lent by Alexander Calder in 1970 to the Whitney, his Circus has evoked flashes of merriment to onlookers for lo these many years. The Whitney presently has the largest body of works by Calder in any museum and is the exclusive American venue for this landmark exhibition, which was co-organized with Paris’s Pompidou Center. When Alexander "Sandy" Calder (1898–1976), arrived in Paris in 1926, he aspired to be a painter. When he left in 1933, he had evolved into the artist we know today: a major force in 20th century sculpture. During those seven Parisian years, Calder's lithe animated drawn-lines transformed from two dimensions to three, from ink and paint to wire, as his radical innovations included wire caricature portraits, a bestiary of wire animals, his beloved and critically important miniature Circus (1926–31), abstract and figurative sculptures, his suspended "mobiles" and stationary stabiles.

[See James Feinberg’s Review of Calder in his Grandkid’s Eye View column.]

DANCE

‘Buked is one of Revelations’ most overpowering sequences.
Photo: Paul Kolnick

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Presents Revelry & Revelations
City Center
405 West 55 th Street
New York , NY 10019
581-1212
Last Performance Jan 4, 2009

Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham! When I hear that triumphant refrain, it can mean only one thing: I am blissfully in the bosom of my favorite of all dance creations, Revelations, from one of the world’s great dance companies. The company, founded byAlvin Ailey, who died much too young, continues to thrive under the nurturing leadership of the statuesque former Ailey dancer Judith Jamison. Taking my children and/or grandchildren each season in which the AADT visits City Center (this now being its 50 th year) and witnessing Revelations is as axiomatic as exhaling. This season, there were 24 opportunities to do so. In the two score and more times I’ve seen Revelations, the excitement and impact increases exponentially.