It’s a big city, with plenty to do, see, hear and watch. Here’s a sampling of cultural highlights this weekend and over the week ahead.
A Changing Lineup of Sugarplums
There’s a reason George Balanchine, City Ballet’s legendary founder, gets title billing in this version of the holiday tradition: It very much bears his unique blend of sophistication and joy. Of the many productions of this tale in town, “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” now through Dec. 31, is most likely to satisfy adults with its visual splendor and breathtaking dance. The children, of course, will cheer the lively characters, colorful costumes and that gargantuan magical tree. This week, 10 stellar ballerinas trade off in the showcase role of the Sugarplum, from elegant, established principles like Sterling Hyltin (Dec. 23 evening) and Sara Mearns (Dec. 26 evening) to exciting new soloists like Unity Phelan (Dec. 22 evening, Dec. 27 matinee) and Emilie Gerrity (Dec. 26 matinee). BRIAN SCHAEFER
See what’s happening around the city’s dance scene. A Band’s Last Stand (in a Sense)
Since the early 2000s, the Bad Plus has been one of the easiest entities in jazz to have an opinion about. The acoustic trio is fond of inside-out pop covers and original compositions that range from jagged angularity to jocose lyricism. With Ethan Iverson on piano, Reid Anderson on bass and Dave King on drums, the group has stayed tightly bound: It has never played a gig with a substitute musician. But this run at the Vanguard, from Dec. 26-31, is the original Bad Plus’s last stand: In January, Mr. Iverson will leave, and Orrin Evans will take over on piano. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO
Find more jazz shows for the coming week. Emotions in Different Shades
Some artists you enormously admire. Others you admire and enormously love. For many people, Arshile Gorky is a loved one. And much of what makes him cherishable is distilled in this exhibition of more than 30 late paintings and drawings on loan from museums and private collections, installed on three gallery floors through Dec. 23. The show spans some of the happiest and saddest days of Gorky’s short life and feels as manic and tender as a Schubert song cycle. HOLLAND COTTER
See a selection of mini-reviews of current exhibitions. Stories of Love and Death, Told Onstage in Song
This song cycle meditation on passion and mortality, created by Abigail and Shaun Bengson, and directed by Anne Kauffman, meets its own end when it closes on Dec. 31. Ben Brantley wrote that this autobiographical story, performed by the Bengsons, is “ cabaret as cri de coeur, and it is advisable to watch it with a handkerchief at the ready.” ALEXIS SOLOSKI
Our guide to plays and musicals coming to New York stages, and a few last-chance picks of shows that are about to close. Sounds of the Downtown Scene
Rare works will be presented here on Dec. 27 from Mr. Zorn, that steadfast presence in what used to be called the downtown scene, with all hewing to the format of a notated piano part with improvised bass and percussion. Vicky Chow is the pianist, Shanir Blumenkranz is on bass and Tyshawn Sorey, whose latest album has caused such a stir this year, is on percussion. DAVID ALLEN
See a list of mini-reviews for more current productions. Buy a Ticket, Bring a Hankie
The Film Society’s extraordinary collection of tear-jerkers from around the globe continues though Jan. 7 with filmmakers as chilly as Rainer Werner Fassbinder (“Ali: Fear Eats the Soul,” screening Friday and Thursday) and as playful as Guy Maddin (“Careful,” on Friday and Thursday). One of the masterpieces showing is Mikio Naruse’s “Floating Clouds” (Saturday and Jan. 2), set in postwar Japan and centered on a woman (Hideko Takamine) who insists on loving a married man (Masayuki Mori) unmoved by her tenderness.
BEN KENIGSBERG
Want more? See a guide to film series and screenings in New York. Listen Up and Laugh
Widely recognized for his unmistakable voice, Mr. Gottfried has had a storied career that started when he began doing stand-up in New York at the age of 15. In November, a documentary about the comedy veteran was released, but on Dec. 22 and 23 the audience of Carolines will get to see — and hear — him in the flesh. KASIA PILAT
See who else is making New Yorkers laugh this week. A Tradition Both Annual and Acoustic
Each year around the last week of December, fans of Ms. Williams’s warm, witty folk-rock music flock to this Gowanus, Brooklyn, venue for what has become an annual concert tradition. The singer-songwriter’s largely acoustic “Christians, Pagans & Other Hipsters” shows (this year’s is on Dec. 28 at 8 p.m.), named after a holiday-themed song from 1996, typically cover the high points of her 25-year career (attendees often get a chance to sing along to “Iowa”), but the set lists are only half of the appeal. The other half is Ms. Williams’s signature brand of charmingly casual storytelling between songs, making each year’s show feel like an opportunity to catch up with an old friend. SIMON VOZICK-LEVINSON
More pop and rock concerts. Warm and Fuzzy Creatures (and Feelings) for Christmas
Jim Henson’s gifts to the world can be enjoyed year round, but he intended some especially for this season, and this Queens museum, home to “The Jim Henson Exhibition,” has packaged several in this monthlong series. On Saturday at 1 p.m., “ Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas ” (1977), a TV adaptation of Russell Hoban’s children’s book, gathers furry Henson creatures for a story with echoes of O. Henry — and lots of hootenanny tunes. Emmet Otter enters a talent contest whose cash prize would enable him to buy presents for his mother. Ma Otter, however, has done the same, and neither knows of the other’s plans. Marilyn Sokol, who lent Ma her voice, will introduce the screening, and Craig Shemin will show excerpts from “Behind the Scenes in Frogtown Hollow,” his documentary about the movie’s making. In “ Christmas Eve on Sesame Street ” (1978), to be shown on Sunday at 1 p.m. with other “Sesame Street” holiday clips, Big Bird tries to prove to Oscar that a plump Santa’s sliding down a chimney is no more impossible than a grouch’s residing in a garbage can.
LAUREL GRAEBER
Find more events for children and families. Leaps and Bounds, Then Questions and Answers
Children can take their first steps as dancegoers by following the leaps and bounds of the members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in these programs, which are followed by question-and-answer sessions with the performers.
