Free outdoor offerings from Lincoln Center, Monty Python and Alvin Ailey…Madame makes you blush…a double dose of Carol Channing…and On A Clear Day gets a makeover courtesy of Michael Mayer.

Hello, Dolly!
Blake
 

Friday, July 23
GO (FREE)? The great Carol Channing will make a public appearance in support of the release of her latest album entitled “For Heaven’s Sake,” a collection of the Tony winner’s favorite gospel songs including “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” (6pm, Barnes and Noble Lincoln Triangle at 66th Street and Broadway, info)

Saturday, July 24
GO (FREE)? The company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will take over Central Park’s SummerStage with a free show featuring two classic Ailey works and a piece by Ronald K. Brown—with music by Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis—that pays tribute to Judith Jamison, current artistic director of the famed dance troupe. (Central Park Main Stage at Rumsey Playfield, enter at 69th St. and 5th Ave., July 23 and 24, 8pm, info)

Sunday, July 25
GO?The kids from American Idiot take a break from the stage at the St. James Theatre and head downtown for a concert to benefit Broadway Impact, a group that mobilizes the theatre community and others to support equal rights for the LGBT community. (9:30pm, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $25-$100, info/tickets)

Monday, July 26
GO? Town Hall’s Summer Broadway Festival continues with All Singin’ All Dancin’, a show featuring some of Broadway’s up-and-coming choreographers and performers. This Broadway revue is said to be inspired by the work of legendary performers/choreographers like Fred and Adele Astaire, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins and Bill Robinson. (8pm, Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St., btwn 6th and 7th Aves., $40-$50, info/tickets)

GO (FREE)? The movie that helped introduce the hilarious troupe Monty Python to the world (and later, Broadway), “Monty Python and The Holy Grail,” enjoys a free, outdoor screening as part of the HBO Bryant Park Film Festival. One, two, five! (Begins at sunset btwn. 8-9pm, Bryant Park, btwn. 40th and 42nd Sts. & 5th and 6th Aves., info)

Tuesday, July 27
GO? Before there was Avenue Q’s Lucy the Slut, there was the original raunchy puppet, Madame. Madame, along with the late puppeteer Wayland Flowers, gained fame in the ’60s for their antics on TV shows like the “Andy Williams Show” and “Rowan & Martin.” Lady M returns to NYC to crack wise in her new show It’s Madame with an E, featuring Rick Skye at her side. (Through August 19, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., $33-$50 with food/drink min., info/tickets)

GO? MAC-winning performer Richard Skipper pays homage to the great Carol Channing in his show Carol Channing in Concert…Starring Richard Skipper. The ellipsis is necessary, as the real Dolly doesn’t actually come on stage to say hello, but Skipper does a pretty good job as a stand-in. Both Skipper and the real Channing will appear together at Barnes & Noble earlier in the week (see Friday’s listing). (8pm, St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 W. 46th St., $37-$60, info/tickets)

GO? Tony winner Michael Cerveris joins the lineup of NYC Loves Nashville, a benefit concert featuring New York- and Nashville-based artists like Stuedabakerbrown, Lauren Cantrell and Caleb Hawley. Proceeds will benefit The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and their flood recovery fund, which helps families affected by the severe floods that ravaged the region this past May. (8pm, Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., $20, info)

Wednesday, July 28
GO (FREE)?The 40th anniversary of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival kicks off with a performance of No Snakes in This Grass, the 1968 Civil Rights-era play from James Magnuson. Snakes is set in the Garden of Eden with a white Adam and a black Eve. Also opening the Festival will be a performance by post-classical string quartet ETHEL. The Festival will continue through August 15, and will feature a variety of free arts events for the whole family, including performances by Melvin Van Peebles and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. (Events take place throughout the Lincoln Center complex, as well as in Damrosch Park, Click here for a full schedule of events)

Thursday, July 29
GO? Brian d’Arcy James (fresh from his run in Broadway’s Next to Normal) heads up north to join Tony winner Anika Noni Rose for a concert reading of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever at the Vassar College/New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theatre. The Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane musical gets a fresh spin courtesy of Tony-winning director Michael Mayer. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to make it up to Poughkeepsie to see the concert workshop—Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theater recently announced it will stage the show in January 2011. (Through August 1, Vassar’s Martel Theater, Poughkeepsie, NY, info/tickets )