PERFORMANCE
TUESDAY & THURSDAY - SUNDAY, JULY 3 & 5 - 8 (continuing through SEPTEMBER 2)
8:30 PM TUESDAY & THURSDAY - SATURDAY
4:00 PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Basil Twist:  Symphonie Fantastique
HERE
145 6th Avenue (entrance on Dominick Street), Hudson Square, Manhattan

$35-$100
http://here.org/shows/detail/1934/

Not to put too fine a point to it, this piece -- premiered at this venue 20 years ago -- is one of the best things I've ever seen.  A miracle of puppetry creates perfectly calibrated first-part-of-Fantasia-style visual effects to Berlioz's unhinged visionary masterpiece.  It's just so apt, so unexpected -- and so much fun -- you can't believe it.  If you haven't seen it, you MUST.  If you've already seen it, you'll want to see it again.  Piano reduction of the score played live by the redoubtable Christoper O'Reilly.  While I usually prefer live musical accompaniments on general principle, I actually liked it better when they used to do this piece to an orchestral recording:  so much of the appeal of this weird musical masterpiece stems from Berlioz's tangy, unique, unprecedented orchestration.  But don't let that keep you away!  This is GREAT!!!!!!

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:   Chef Floyd Cardoz is kind of a Big Deal.  He ran the Indian fusion restaurant Tabla for many years; then, after some other ventures, he opened a straighter Indian restaurant, Paowalla, in Soho.  But that place never took off:  something about the vibe seemed off.  Cardoz has now reconfigured it to be livelier, more colorful -- more fun:  The Bombay Bread Bar.  Should be just right after this show.