Veteran Artists
Rebecca Storer started taking photographs during her four years in the Navy stationed in Virginia Beach. She wanted to “figure out the difference between the people who go through a traumatic event and end up surviving and thriving afterward, and the people who don’t do so well.”
That passion led her to take advantage of the GI Bill and enroll at the School of Visual Arts, where she met other veterans who were artists. Storer and the Veteran Coalition of Arts have now curated “Declassified: En Avant,” an exhibit featuring eight student artists. The pieces share common themes for veterans.
“Everyone has a really strong use of contrast,” says Storer, 30. “There’s a lot of thematic things that kind of tie everything together.” Monday (artists’ reception at 5:30 p.m.) through March 7 at Calumet Gallery, 22 W. 22nd St., 2nd floor; sva.edu/events.
— Tim Donnelly
Bloody Good
To the many reasons we love Emma Thompson — “Howards End,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “Saving Mr. Banks” — add another: She can sing! When the New York Philharmonic revives its concert version of Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” baritone Bryn Terfel takes on the brooding barber while Thompson plays Mrs. Lovett, the balmy baker who loves him — and helps make mincemeat of his victims. “I saw her when I was a kid in ‘Me and My Girl’ in London, so I knew she was musical,” director Lonny Price says. “I wanted her to do it so badly that when my agent said, ‘I think she’s gonna do it!’ I jumped up and down on Eighth Avenue!” Look, too, for Christian Borle (“Smash”) as Sweeney’s blackmailing rival, Pirelli. And yes, Price says, there will be blood: “Last time we used red handkerchiefs, but this time we’ll have more stuff.”
Wednesday through March 8 at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center; 212-875-5656, lincolncenter. org. Tickets, $75 and up.
— Barbara Hoffman
Two’s Company
It’s well known that Paul Simon didn’t get on well with his old partner Art Garfunkel, while former Police frontman Sting famously used to get into fistfights with his bandmates. So just imagine the dressing-room bitch-fests about their former buddies that must be happening during the current Sting and Paul Simon co-headline tour, which hits Madison Square Garden next week. Onstage, they’ll raid their respective back-catalogs. Simon, 72, will play his solo hits and revisit some Simon & Garfunkel classics. Sting, 62, has both his own career and that of the Police to call on, and the two will duet on several numbers. Expect the odd anecdote, too, but you get the feeling that backstage is where the real stories will be. If you know someone that can forge AAA passes, now’s the time to put in a call. Tuesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Seventh Avenue at 32nd Street; 212-465-6741, thegarden.com. Tickets start at $50.
— Hardeep Phull
Hothouse Flower
Beat the brrr with a trip to the 12th annual Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden, where the thermostat is set at a perfect 68 degrees inside its gigantic Victorian-style conservatory.
This year’s theme is “Key West Contemporary,” combining thousands of exotic blooms with the island’s vibrant architecture — think soaring pergolas and calming water fountains — to bring a Floridian charm and balmy ambience to your much-needed escape from the polar vortex.
“The orchids will be popping from all directions,” says Botanical Garden exec and horticulturist Karen Daubmann. “It’s been such a dreary winter, so this is a great excuse to sit down, relax and take in the spectacular colors and beautiful fragrances.”
Starting Saturday at 2900 Southern Blvd., The Bronx; 718-817-8700, nybg.org.
— Jane Ridley
Granger’s On a Train
Who else but Alfred Hitchcock could make a pregnant woman who gets murdered an unsympathetic character? The hero of his 1951 feature “Strangers on a Train’’ is her estranged husband (Farley Granger) — who’s carrying on with a senator’s daughter (Ruth Roman) while being blackmailed by a psychopath (Robert Walker) who actually did the killing. Hitchcock’s last black-andwhite masterpiece has some fantastic sequences — the murder at an amusement park, a suspenseful tennis game and a deadly chase on a merry-go-round. It’s showing Friday, at various times, at Film Forum, Houston and Varick streets. Info: filmforum.org.
— Lou Lumenick