Theatre does a body (and mind) good this WEEK AHEAD.
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
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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) (more…)
GO→ The New York Pops returns to Carnegie Hall on Friday with special guest Wayne Brady. The show is entitled Sammy and Sam and celebrates the music of Sammy Davis Jr. and Sam Cooke. (8pm, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, 881 7th Avenue, between 56th and 57th streets, 
Pythons do not make an appearance, but Eric Idle is co-director and the sketches are from the original 70’s television show. And if An Evening Without… doesn’t do the trick, head over to the Ziegfeld on October 15th for an evening with. Original troupe members will reunite for a special screening of the new documentary Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut). (An Evening Without Monty Python is at Town Hall through Saturday, 123 West 43rd Street, for tickets call 212- 307-4100).
GO→ Creators of The Laramie Project revisit the harrowing Matthew Shepard murder with an 80-minute epilogue entitled The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later. The show will be given its debut in dozens of theatres around the world simultaneously including Lincoln Center in an evening hosted by Glenn Close. The debut marks the 11th anniversary of the senseless hate-crime against the gay 21-year old Shepard. (Alice Tully Hall, 65th street between Broadway & Amsterdam, 
