My Kind of New York - Grand Times With Your Grandkids

Five bows without a doubt . With lively music such as Matchmaker and Miracle of Miracles, this is one of the best musicals I've ever seen. Of course Topol stole the show, but everyone else was amazing. Watch as Tevye's (Topol) daughters all find the right husband, and see what obstacles they face on their way. This amazing show for all ages grabbed my attention from the first song.

With nods to vaudeville, burlesque and The Big Top, this rollicking Family Circus troupe from Switzerland is staged by Papa Dimitri, one time colleague by the fabled mime Marcel Marceau. Son David is a high wire artist, daughter Masha is a talented choreographer and slack wire specialist and daughter Nina is a multi-talented musician and devotee of Latin American folk music. It’s a clan of astonishing virtuosity and dexterity who exude helpings of warmth, good humor and zaniness that should appeal to your most demanding young grandkids. Ages 4 +. Two hours

This celebrated troupe, headlines Flamenco dance star Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca and her proud bailadores perform from a repertory inspired by UN refugees who have risen above adversity. Noche Flamenca’s program will feature Camino, a world premiere inspired by the poems and stories written by United Nations refugees who defy adversity. How many of you out there recall the artistry and imperiousness of flamenco greats Carmen Amaya and José Greco? If so, or no, you and your grandkids should thoroughly enjoy the terpsichorean majesty of flamenco. Ages 8+. 70 minutes.

April 4 – Frances England; Singer/songwriter with a charming folk and Indie sound. Ages 5+

April 11 – The Deedle Deedle Dees; A Brooklyn-based rock band with whimsical songs about the likes of John Brown, Nellie Bly and Aaron Burr and special material that includes Obedience School and Vegetarian Tyrannosaurus Rex. Ages 8+

Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848-1894), Oarsman in a Top Hat, 1877-1878 Oil on canvas. Private collection

Gustave Caillebotte:
Impressionist Paintings
from Paris to the Sea

Brooklyn Myseum

200 Eastern Parkway,

Brooklyn.

(718) 638-5000

Through July 5, 2009.

The first major showing of the work of the French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) presented in New York in more than three decades features the artist's Parisian cityscapes proximate to his painted scenes of outdoor life on the coast of Normandy and in the rural villages of Yerres and Petit Gennevilliers, where he and his family maintained estates. The exhibition explores how these paintings express Caillebotte's passion for subjects in which water plays a central role as an enigmatic element reflecting its surroundings; as an atmospheric ingredient and as a scene for sporting activities.. The Brooklyn Museum was a venue for the landmark exhibition that introduced the artist to the American public. Born into a family of wealth and privilege, Caillebotte was trained as a lawyer and engineer. Following his military service during the Franco-Prussian War, he studied painting at the studio of the academic artist Léon Bonnat.

Spectacled Bear Native to South America, they are named for their pale facial markings, resembling glasses. These altricial placentals—mammals whose young are born immature—weigh two to three hundred pounds as adults but less than one pound at birth. They are skilled tree-climbers, and their remarkable ability to delay embryo implantation allows them to give birth to their young when food is most abundant. © AMNH/R. Mickens

Tasmanian Wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus) Thought to be extinct nearly 65 years ago, it was neither a species of wolf nor a dog, but the largest carnivorous marsupial in recent times. Its habitat, which once stretched throughout mainland Australia, was reduced to the island of Tasmania by the 19th century. Humans believed that this nocturnal “tiger,” so-called for its stripes, preyed upon domestic sheep and poultry (in fact, it preferred birds, rodents, and possums, and other small marsupial mammals) and therefore hunted it extensively, leading to its extinction. © AMNH/J. Beckett

Extreme Mammals explores the surprising and often bizarre world of extinct and living mammals. Featuring spectacular fossils from the Museum’s collections, the exhibition will examine the ancestry and evolution of numerous species, ranging from huge to tiny and speedy to sloth-like, and showcase animals with oversized claws, fangs, snouts, and horns. It also explores how some lineages died out while others diversified to form groups of well-known mammals living today. Planned highlights of the exhibition include fascinating specimens—from the egg-laying platypus to the recently extinct Tasmanian wolf—and fleshed-out models of extinct mammals like Ambulocetus, a “walking whale.” Visitors will encounter an entire skeleton of the giant, six-horned Uintatherium, with its dagger-like teeth; a life-size model of Indricotherium, the largest land mammal that ever lived; one of the oldest fossilized bats ever found; and a diorama featuring the hippo-like Coryphodon, the ancient tapir Thuliadanta, and the tree-climbing carnivore Vulpavus in the once warm and humid swamps and forests of Ellesmere Island, located in the Arctic, about 50 million years ago. The exhibition will also include dynamic media displays, animated computer interactives, hands-on activities, touchable fossils, casts, taxidermied specimens, and live animals that highlight mammals’ distinctive qualities and illuminate the shared ancestry that unites these diverse creatures.

Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary
Museum Of Arts and Design
2 Columbus Circle
212-299-7777
Extended through April 29th
This is a must for you and your grandchildren. I have been remiss in no as yet taking mine, but I can assure you, I will. The centerpiece of this exquisite new museum’s inaugural exhibition program is MAD’s special exhibition Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, featuring 51 contemporary artists from 17 countries who hav e painstakingly transformed discarded, commonplace, or valueless objects into compelling works of art. They include new commissions and site-specific installations, created from gun triggers, spools of thread, tires, combs, hypodermic needles, dog tags, nickels, old eyeglasses, and telephone books, among other manufactured and mass-produced objects. Highlighting the creative processes that repurpose these objects, the exhibition explores the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary and stimulates debate on function, value, identity and social commentary. Among the works I admired other than those pictured and captioned are: