News From The Queens Tourism Council
It looks like 2013 is going to be a banner year in Queens.
To get things started the proper way, the borough will play host to documentaries, classical film remakes, international cinema and a 2012 movie retrospective this week. Add the Three Kings, live jazz, candlelight tours, comedy, plays, performance art and mulch to complement the moving images.
Here’s the rundown.
– Thursday (today) Jan. 3 plus, The Last Reef, 11 a.m. This 3D documentary explores tropical reefs and informs on the increasing acidity of the earth’s oceans. After launch, it will screen Tuesday through Sunday until June 30. $6 adults/$5 children, students & seniors. New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111th St., Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, 1-718-699- 0005, www.nysci.org.
– Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 3-5 plus, There There, 8 p.m. A wildly unpredictable theatrical roller coaster about being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong things. Christopher Walken, on tour in Russia with a solo show, mysteriously falls off a ladder and is unable to perform. Karen, who apparently proofread the script once, is asked to fill in. On until Jan. 15. $20. Chocolate Factory, 5-49 49th Ave., Long Island City, 1-718-482-7069, www.chocolatefactorytheater.org.
– Friday and Saturday, Jan. 4-5, TruTV World’s Dumbest, 8 p.m.p & 10:30 p.m. Mike Trainor is a cast member and writer for TruTV’s World’s Dumbest. This comedian performs with Kevin McCaffrey, who writes for The Late Show with David Letterman. $20. Laughing Devil Comedy Club, 47-38 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City, 1-347-913- 3845, www.laughingdevil.com.
– Friday, Jan. 4 through Sunday, Jan. 13, First Look Film Series, 7:30 p.m. This annual showcase presents groundbreaking international cinema. Many of this year’s films take the form of journeys-geographical, emotional and artistic-with 26 works from a dozen countries. Except opening night, tickets are included with admission, $12 adults/$9 students and senior citizens. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, 1-718-777-6888, www.movingimage.us.
– Saturday, Jan. 5, Three Kings, 2 p.m. A traditional Latin American celebration with the re-enactment of the Three Kings’ visit to Baby Jesus. Mariachis, holiday songs, light refreshments, raffles and presents. Free. NYC Parks & Recreation Arrow Community Center, 35-30 35th St., Astoria. 1-718-261-7664.
– Saturday, Jan. 5, Jazz Piano, 5 p.m. Award-winning pianist Helen Sung won the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Her music is funky, intelligent and utterly unique. Free, but donations welcome. St. Albans Congregational Church, 172-17 Linden Blvd., 1-718-657-8282.
– Saturday, Jan. 5 plus, Black Wall Street, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. In the 1920s, Oklahoma’s Greenwood was home to African-Americans, Indians and Jews who respected and did business with each other. Some residents settled on oil-rich land and became incredibly wealthy-so wealthy that the town soon became known as “Black Wall Street,” which is also this play’s title. $20/$10 for students and seniors. York College Performing Arts Center, 94-45 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica, 1-718- 262-2000, www.york.cuny.edu.
– Sunday, Jan. 6, Candlelight Tours, 5 to 8 p.m. Check out the oldest Dutch Colonial stone house in NYC by candlelight, and enjoy holiday decorations, mulled cider and cookies. $3 adults/$1 children. Vander Ende-Onderdonk House, 1820 Flushing Ave., Ridgewood, 1-718-456-1776, www.onderdonkhouse.org.
– Sunday, Jan. 6, Blue’s Clues Live, 2 p.m. A live show with Blue and Steve, who lead the audience on a clue-based search to the most spectacular place of all. $15. Queensborough Performing Arts Center, 222-05 56th Ave., Oakland Gardens, 1-718-631-6311, www.qcc.cuny.edu/qpac.
– Sunday, Jan. 6, Easy Rider Remake with its Director, 5 p.m. Revitalized by his recent switch to digital filmmaking, director James Benning remakes Dennis Hopper’s 1969 classic Easy Rider by taking a road trip through the film’s locations. The result engages the viewer’s memory of the film in surprising and provocative ways, questioning the mythology of the American landscape and the 1960s counterculture. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, 1-718-777-6830, www.movingimage.us.
– Tuesday, Jan. 8 plus, Best Flicks of 2012, 7 p.m. This seven-film series opens with The Deep Blue Sea, the portrayal of a woman who abandons her passionless marriage to a wealthy barrister to enter a torrid affair with a troubled former Royal Air Force pilot. Other films in the series include The Turin Horse, Neighboring Sounds, This Is Not a Film, Moonrise Kingdom, Cosmopolis and In Another Country. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria, 1-718-777-6830, www.movingimage.us.
– Wednesday, Jan. 9 plus, MulchFest 2013, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring holiday trees to be recycled into mulch that will nourish greenery across NYC. More than 24,000 trees were recycled last year. Free. Roy Wilkins Park, Merrick and Foch boulevards, Jamaica. More sites at future times.
* * *
The “It’s In Queens” column is produced by the Queens Tourism Council with the hope that readers will enjoy the borough’s attractions.
