(Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th St, Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY 11215) (see website for details) Celebrate Brooklyn! is one of New York City's longest-running, free, summer outdoor performing arts festivals. They present a wonderfully eclectic mix of emerging, cutting-edge and world-renowned artists, as well as an amazing outdoor cinema series, for over 200,000 people each summer at the Prospect Park Bandshell. It’s a cherished summer institution that has earned a reputation for excellence that attracts artists and audiences from across the borough, the city and the world! (FREE) Event Website

(Theater 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks, between 1st and 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003) (Varies) The unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli. And now, at last, this delicate symphony of suspense has been turned on its ear and retold in the only way it can be-- as a musical. ($38) Event Website

(Lincoln Center, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023) (Varies) Lincoln Center Festival’s innovative programming continually earns the attention and praise of national and international critics and audiences. Film screenings, talks, panel discussions plus Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company and Cleveland Orchestra Complete the Trio of Leading Performing Ensembles (Varies) Event Website

(See website for details & locations) (See website for details) A season jam-packed with dynamic, free programs – from re-imaginations of beloved cultural icons to cross-cultural collaborations that blur the lines of genre and geography. (FREE) Event Website

(Manhattan Theatre Club, 311 West 43rd St. 8th Floor, Studio One, New York, NY 10017) (Varies) Terrence McNally’s play about Maria Callas takes us to one of her famous master classes, where, late in her own career, she dares the next generation to make the same sacrifices and rise to the same heights that made her the most celebrated, the most reviled and the most controversial singer of her time. Starring Tyne Daly ($57+) Event Website

(Riverside Park, Pier 1 @ 70th Street, New York, NY 10024) (7pm) Every Saturday grab your blankets, picnic baskets, and candles! The Riverside Clay Tennis Association is once again hosting its series of sunset concerts on the tennis lawn overlooking the Hudson River at 97th Street. (FREE) Event Website

(New York Botanical Garden, 200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10458) (10am - 6pm, Tu - Su) Travel to southern Spain in just an afternoon. This unprecedented exhibition explores the collaboration of sublime nature and dramatic design that created an earthly paradise. The New York Times says Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra invokes "the mythic imagery of the place and its hold on the imagination." ($20) Event Website

(Leslie/Lohman Gallery, 26 Wooster St, New York, NY 10013) (noon-6pm) This show spans twelve centuries and three continents of LGBTQ culture and history, as interpreted by over thirty artists, archivists, and academics. Exhibit topics include the life of musician Billy Strayhorn, mapping wimmin's separatist land, the 19th century demonization of a transgender African-American person named Peter Sewally, the White Night Riots, and the Mattachine Society. Pop-Up Soho will host a number of events, including an opening reception, movie screenings, a music recital, and two original plays. Pop-Up Soho is presented with the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation and the Center for Lesbian And Gay Studies at CUNY, with fiscal sponsorship by MIX NYC. (FREE) (212-431-2609) [email protected] Event Website

(Lincoln Center, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023) (See website for details) Mostly Mozart Festival is home to period-instrument ensembles, dance presentations, new-music groups, composers- and artists-in-residence, visiting orchestras and ensembles, opera productions, late-night concerts, films, and lectures and artist discussions. Its presentations and concerts span five venues and five centuries of repertoire, from the distant edge of the Baroque to the cutting edge of our own time. Event Website

(See website for details) (Varies see website for details) New York’s largest free performing arts festival, brings over 100 performances to eighteen parks throughout the five boroughs. With performances ranging from American pop, Latin and world music to dance, spoken word and theater, SummerStage fills a vital niche in New York City’s summer arts festival landscape. Event Website

(Fossil, 111 Spring St, New York, NY 10012) (Varies) Excited to see a bevy of vintage items selected by the staff, as well as leather goods and accessories that are synonymous with the label. Fossil also goes retro and promises to transport us to another time with '70s style; an obvious reoccurring trend this Fashion Week that will wear us well into next winter. Event Website

(59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th St, New York, NY 10022) (Varies) Tony Award®-nominated playwright Charles Busch’s latest comedy, Olive and the Bitter Herbs is a comedy about connecting to the people in our lives—those with us and those who have passed on. ($45+) Event Website

(Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036) (Varies) scar® and Emmy Award® winner Robin Williams makes his Broadway debut in the New York premiere. he lives of two American Marines and an Iraqi translator are forever changed by an encounter with a quick-witted tiger who haunts the streets of war-torn Baghdad attempting to find meaning, forgiveness and redemption amidst the city’s ruins. Rajiv Joseph's groundbreaking new American play explores both the power and the perils of human nature. ($60+) Event Website

(59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th St, New York, NY 10022) (Various) his collection of new American shorts includes new works by Christopher Durang, Tina Howe, Neill LaBute and Will Scheffer, the latter of whom's work The Green Book, follows a gay couple who returns home from Queens to "comfort the destructive power of familiar love". ($18) Event Website

(Radio City Music Hall, 1260 6th Ave, New York, NY 10020) (Varies) This epic spectacle takes audiences into a fantastical and suspenseful world where highly-acrobatic feats are heightened by original live music and interactive multimedia elements. Zarkana transforms the grandest stage in the world into a world of unreality as only Cirque du Soleil could imagine. ($60+) Event Website

(St. James Theatre, 246 W 44th st, New York, NY 10036) (See website for details) 10 weeks only! HAIR tells the story of a group of friends choosing to speak up and sing out in celebration of love, life and freedom. The first great rock musical, it has some of the most rousing and soulful songs ever written for the stage, including "Let the Sun Shine In," "Easy to be Hard," "Good Morning Starshine," "Aquarius" and the infectious title song, "Hair." ($47+) Event Website

(Riverside Park, Pier 1 @ 70th Street, New York, NY 10024) (see website for details) Whether you want to learn to dance or pull up a blanket to see a movie (FREE) Event Website

(10th Ave @ 30th St) The High Line Rink will be one of the only open-air roller-skating venues in Manhattan, with regularly scheduled theme nights and other fun public activities for New Yorkers and visitors of all ages. ($12) Event Website

(Sideshows by the Seashore Theater & Coney Island Museum, 3006 West 12th St & 1208 Surf Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11224) (Varies) Every Thursday & Friday during the Summer season, The Great Fredini & Bambi The Mermaid present the popular Burlesque on the Beach program- A revival of the most glorious and notorious of the "girlie revues" in Coney Island history. The sumptuous decor, fabulous bubble machine and swell girls make burlesque one of Coney's hottest attractions! Every week brings all new shows with outrageous acts. Event Website

(Midtown Theater, 163 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10024) (Various) Cary Hoffman turns his celebrated PBS special into a very true, hilarious, and poignant one-man musical play about his love and idolization for his hero Frank Sinatra. Hoffman authentically sings just like his hero, as he weaves over 20 classic Sinatra songs, creating a musical score about his lifelong obsession. ($55-$75) [email protected]

(SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, New York, NY 10013) (Varies) Baba Brinkman uses hip-hop as a vehicle to communicate the facts of evolution while illuminating the origins and complexities of hip-hop culture with Darwin as the inspiration. A provocative, hilarious, intelligent and scientifically accurate. Brinkman performs his clever reworkings of popular rap singles as well as his own originals to illustrate Natural Selection, Sexual Selection, Evolutionary Psychology and much more. ($39+) Event Website

(Sofia's Downstairs Theatre, 221 West 46 St, New York, NY 10036) (Varies) the story of Miss Abigail, the most sought-after relationship expert to the stars (think Dr. Ruth meets Emily Post), and her sexy side-kick Paco, as they travel the world teaching Miss Abigail’s outrageously funny “how-tos” on dating, mating and marriage! ($69+) Event Website

(Union Square Theatre, 100 East 17th St., New York, NY 10003) (Varies) Traces is poetic and explosive, humorous and thoughtful. Combining traditional acrobatic forms with street elements such as skateboarding and basketball, mixed in with some theatre and contemporary dance, it surprises, awes and delights at every turn. ($87) Event Website

(Pier 40, Pier 96 and 72nd St @ Hudson River) (See website for details) This volunteer organization, the Downtown Boathouse offers free river kayaking to the general public. Instructors provide the equipment and tutorials, so all you have to do is show up in a swimsuit or shorts and strap on a life vest. (FREE - $35) Event Website

(The McKittrick Hotel, 530 West 27th St., New York, NY 10011) (See website for details) London's award-winning PUNCHDRUNK and the legendary space is reinvented with SLEEP NO MORE, presenting Shakespeare’s classic Scottish tragedy through the lens of suspenseful film noir. Audiences move freely through a transporting world at their own pace, choosing their own path through the story, immersed in the most unique theatrical experience in the history of New York. ($95) Event Website

(First Park, Houston @ 2nd Ave) (Varies) A mobile laboratory traveling to nine major cities worldwide over six years. Led by international, interdisciplinary teams of emerging talents in the areas of urbanism, architecture, art, design, science, technology, education, and sustainability, the Lab addresses issues of contemporary urban life through programs and public discourse. (FREE) Event Website

(DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15 St, New York, NY 10009) (Varies) Emmy-winning actress and comic Judy Gold returns to the New York stage in a brand-new show, building on the success of her show 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, funny-woman Judy Gold returns to the stage in this hilarious look at her life through the lens of the classic sitcoms of her youth. ($45) Event Website

(Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street, New York, NY 10036) (Varies) Openig bight. Starring the acclaimed international stage and film actor Daniel Radcliffe (Equus on Broadway, the Harry Potter film series) and five-time Emmy Award® winner John Larroquette (Night Court, The Practice) in their Broadway musical debuts, this Pulitzer and Tony Award®-winning “Best Musical” is the hilarious fable of executive dreams and office romance. ($52+) Event Website

(Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52nd St, New York, NY 10019) (Varies) A high-flying new musical comedy based on the hit DreamWorks film and the incredible true story that inspired it! eatures a Tony Award-winning "dream team," with a book by TERRENCE McNALLY (The Full Monty, Ragtime), an irresistible score by MARC SHAIMAN & SCOTT WITTMAN (Hairspray), choreography by JERRY MITCHELL (Hairspray, Legally Blonde) and direction by JACK O'BRIEN (Hairspray, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). ($65) Event Website

(Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway, New York, NY 10036) (Varies) FOLLIES comes to Broadway for an historic limited engagement, complete with its 28-piece orchestra and a cast of 41—led by such Broadway babies as two-time Tony® winner Bernadette Peters, four-time Tony® nominee Jan Maxwell, two-time Tony® nominee Danny Burstein, three-time Emmy nominee Ron Raines and Olivier Award winner Elaine Paige. Purchase Between August 7 – October 2 - $89 Orchestra/Front Mezz (reg. $135/$125) $65 Mid Mezz (reg. $95/$85) Order August 7 – October 2, Use code 2BUDDY ($45+) Event Website

(Foxwoods Theater, 214 West 43rd St, New York, NY 10019) (Varies) Previews November 14th Opens December 21st. Drawing from over 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, Spiderman - Turn Off The Dark, spins a new take on the mythic tale of Peter Parker, a teenager whose unremarkable life in Queen's is turned upside down - literally - when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to the ceiling. Event Website

(American Museum of Natural History, 175 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023) (Varies) A new exhibition this spring focusing on the monstrous size and impressive survival of these beings with hands-on computer activities and collections of sauropod specimens. The main attraction will be a life-size sauropod dinosaur that is about 60 feet in length. ($24) Event Website

(The High Line, Gansevoort St to 34th St, btwn 10 & 11th Aves, New York, NY 10011) Three sculptures resembling the skeletal framework behind advertising billboards. These blank forms emulate the abounding indicators of the economic recession, such as empty storefronts and "For Sale" signs. Beck's sculptures have the illusion of depth when viewed from the front, but as visitors move past them, the side views reveal that they are completely flat, cut from perspective drawings and built like theater props. (FREE) Event Website

Tuesdays at 7pm, 3rd St & Prospect Park West; Wednesdays at 6:45pm, 236 West 73rd St; Saturdays at 9:15am, 236 West 73rd St Event Website

(LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th St, New York, NY 10011) The world's oldest and largest not-profit agency dedicated to serving LGBT senior citizens. Activities include Daytime Discussion, Art Studio, 75+, Support Group, Scrabble & Bridge and Women's and Men's activities. Event Website

(Corio, 337 West Broadway, New York, NY 10003) (8:00pm) Last Call at the Starliner Lounge, a new and entirely original burlesque noir musical featuring live music, murder, mystery, camp and, last but never least, a bevy of twirling tassels- in the tradition of the five lesbian brothers. The once-underground, once-illegal show formally takes the top floor of Soho’s burlesque landmark. ($15) (212-966-3901) [email protected] Event Website

(Ripley Grier Studios, 939 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor, Buzzer 307, New York, NY 10019) (Tu 8pm; We 8:30pm) Greg Ryzio brings same sex ballroom dancing to Hells Kitchen. Learn classic Ballroom and spicy Latin dances with your partner or on your own. Classes are open to anyone looking to learn in a comfortable and friendly environment. Come join in on the fun! ($20) (917.692.8732) [email protected] Event Website