Good afternoon, this is W42ST Lifestyle Editor Sarah Beling with “Make Way For The Weekend” — your curated guide to the best of New York events in one convenient newsletter!
As someone who’s been pining for an invite to New York Fashion Week for the better part of 20 years, I had to laugh when I finally received one my absolute sartorial rock bottom. And while I did have a slight Carrie Bradshaw-style meltdown about not being able to dress as “my most amazing self” (weeks at this workplace without an SATC reference: 0), I somehow managed to scrape through my closet for an outfit and shuffle myself downtown to the Léman Ballroom for the Malan Breton show. Guys, it was everything I dreamed it would be! People air-kissing in line to get in! Faux fur and sunglasses inside! Gorgeous designs! It’s probably not chic to fangirl but I am cringe and I am free — thanks for letting me check an item off of my New York bucket list, Malan!
Have a wonderful weekend <3
…when you can only think as far ahead as Monday!
🎤 in the heights
Did you LOVE Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights? Did you feel that the quotation marks were doing the real heavy lifting in “Wuthering Heights”? Are you somewhere in between? Why not discuss Fennell’s film and all of the others that have come before it at Wuthering Heights Through the Ages: A Live Recording of The New Yorker’s Critics at Large with my parasocial friends Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry and Alexandra Schwartz at 92NY tonight?
🎭 they say the neon lights are bright off broadway
You know what I always say — see the hottest shows Off-Broadway now and brag to your heart’s content when they become The Next Big Thing. One budget-friendly secret to doing this is going to NYC Off-Broadway Week now through March 12 where you can see everything from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Mexodus’s encore run (I gotta see it this time!!!) to the wildly campy looking Bigfoot! A New Musical!
🎭 not an upper
If I see something kind of cheesy I often remark, “Well, it ain’t Coriolanus” but it turns out that Theater for a New Audience is putting on The Tragedy of Coriolanus — the story of “a celebrated war hero and uncompromising aristocrat who refuses to hide his contempt for the newly empowered plebeian citizens”— now through March 1, so I COULD go and say “It IS Coriolanus”. Bonus, Dorota from Gossip Girl is in it (the range!!).
🎭 the one where
Someday they’ll come up with a medical term for all of us who choose to escape our current reality by exclusively rewatching 90s television but until they do, you can join your fellows at Brooklyn Arthaus for Roomies LIVE!, an immersive tribute to “the funniest sitcom to never come out of the 90s” about three down-on-their-luck roomies trying to make it in Cincinnati February 20!
🍿 the wayback machine
“In both cinema and the world at large, there was before 2001 and there was after 2001” — the Museum of the City of New York explores the early-aughts’ cinematic significance in its series 2001: The Year, Not the Movie now through April 11 which has (as previously mentioned) everything from several celebrations of The Sopranos (with the likes of David Chase, Edie Falco, Stevie Van Zandt and more in person!!) and screenings of 2001-must-sees like Spirited Away, Mulholland Drive, The Royal Tenenbaums, AI Artificial Intelligence and more!
🎭 i remember mama
“What happens when two sisters sit down to tell stories about the same family — and discover they remember things completely differently?” In We Were Such a Happy Family: Adventures in Fact, Fiction and the Nebulous Nature of Memory playing February 2 at Caveat, Kelli Dunham and Beth Dunham Toner, both writers, explore their shared and unshared family histories and “invite the audience into the conversation to reflect on their own family stories: the ones everyone agrees on, the ones no one talks about and the ones that feel true even when the facts are fuzzy.”
🎶 turn up the dial
1980s indie rock fans, weigh in — do you believe that “While the more erudite REM went on to top 40 super-stardom, Paul Westerberg and the down and dirty Replacements wrote some of the most iconic indie rock songs — and produced some of the most legendary rock n roll spectacles” (now there’s a TAKE!). Make your vote count at Joe McGinty & The Loser’s Lounge: Battle of the Bands now through February 21 at Joe’s Pub!
🎤 telling tales
What’s your New York story (mine began as a 13-year-old who, while visiting the city with my parents, pretended not to know them so that people would think that I, a very suburban teenager, lived here alone)?? If you’re ready to share, check out Prime Produce’s Hell’s Kitchen and Beyond — New York Chronicles writing workshop and open mic February 22!
👯 level up
Want to take your sauntering down 9th Ave to a new height? Grab your highest pair of (safe!!) dancing shoes and boogie over to Ailey Extension for their Intro to Heels Workshop February 20 where instructor Aaron Thomas will teach you “how to strut with confidence” on the dance floor!
…what’s happening before and just after I hit your inbox next!
🧧 year of the horse
Make your way to Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Lunar New Year Year of the Horse Gala February 26 for an evening of cocktails, performances from the company and the Ahn Trio with Tae Hong Park and Vijay Rajkumar as well as special appearances by Lori Tan Chinn (Awkwafina is Nora From Queens, Orange is the New Black, M’Butterfly) Perry Yung (Warrior, The Knick, 3 Body Problem…) and Jamie Guan (Monkey King, Flower Drum Song, M’Butterfy)!
🎭 through the hoop
Take the whole family to the New York City Children’s Theater’s The Hula Hoopin’ Queen February 28-March 1, which tells the story of 10-year-old Kameeka, “determined to become the Hula Hoopin’ Queen of 139th Street and finally beat her rival, Jamara Johnson. But when her mom reminds her it’s Miz Adeline’s birthday, Kameeka has to help get the party ready instead. As the day unfolds with cleaning, cooking and a few hilarious mishaps, Kameeka discovers that while it’s great to chase your dreams, sometimes the most important thing is showing love and care for those around you.” Sounds delightful!!
💃 flamenco central
Dance your way to City Center for the 25th Flamenco Festival February 26-March 8 and see a celebration of “Spain’s most passionate art form” with performances by Eva Yerbabuena, Manuel Liñán, El Farru and Juan Tomás de la Molía, Estévez / Paños y Compañía and Sara Baras, ranging from traditional to genre-bending — ¡Vamos!
…for when you need to secure those hot tickets before they sell out!!!
🎭 new work alert
“Tim and Jake are Deaf roommates sharing an apartment in the city — but not much else. They’re polar opposites, each with very different views on what it means to be Deaf in a hearing world. When it comes to taking out the trash, they spiral into a comic and insightful examination of their personal garbage and their perceptions of each other’s lives” in Trash, a new play almost entirely performed in American Sign Language March 7-28 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center!
🎭 it’s just a jump to the left
Halloween’s early this year — Roundabout’s much-anti-ci-ci-ci-pated Rocky Horror Show revival begins March 26 and, if Sam Pinkelton’s previous pursuits are any indication, it should be a wild and wonderfully weird time, especially for those of us who somewhat inappropriately performed the Time Warp for their fellow middle schoolers at an assembly.
🔥 Hot tip
Escape the city and enter your own personal Knives Out at Mohonk Mountain House’s Mystery Weekend Getaway February 27-March 1 where you can take part in Murder by the Book, “a mystery play in four acts produced by Murder Café, an original puzzle hunt by Greg Pliska, a tabletop escape room, live music, Sunday’s closing events and more!” And for those cosplayers among us, “costumes and props are encouraged but not required.”
🕵️ special end-of-the-newsletter song lyric reveal
This week’s subject line lyric comes from Madonna’s Vogue and is on the nose and rather obvious but I had to ya know?!
⚠️ Omg I forgot to tell you
The Myrtle Ave Restaurant Week is back February 20-March 1
Staying in and in need of a musical theater fix? You can stream the 2026 Kleban Prize performances here now!
Rufus Wainwright plays Lincoln Center February 21
There’s an all-ages family disco party with senior citizen dance group The Pacemakers February 20
This month’s The Moth StorySLAM on February 25 is about when people lose their cool
There is an active waitlist for 92NY’s screening of Frankenstein with Jacob Elordi appearing in-person February 25
That’s it for now! Call me beep me if you want to reach me! (sarah@w42st.com)
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