\n<\/p>\n
At the Frick, where Barkley Hendricks\u2019s shimmering \u201970s portraits are hanging, posthumously, in the museum\u2019s first solo show by a Black artist, I kept thinking about that Langston Hughes poem<\/a>: What does <\/em>happen to a dream deferred? Hendricks didn\u2019t live to see his subjects, with their plentiful Afros and bell-bottom cool, leaping, communing, strolling across the walls of an institution he frequented<\/a>. But after quietly railing at the omission, I realized the exhibition is actually about Hendricks taking his rightful place \u2014 a kind of insistence that a dream, rather than fossilizing, can go on forever. REBECCA THOMAS<\/p>\n Theater<\/p>\n Given the heaviness of the current news cycle, I was grateful for the respite of Samuel Baum\u2019s confection of a play, \u201cThe Engagement Party<\/a>\u201c at the Geffen Playhouse. With sharp writing, a first-rate cast and elegant scenery, who says theater isn\u2019t alive and well in Los Angeles? ROBIN POGREBIN<\/p>\n Rap Albums<\/p>\n It\u2019s dangerous for an artist to invite Andr\u00e9 3000 for a feature, such are his prodigious talent and penchant for outshining anyone on a track. Killer Mike<\/a> stays with Andr\u00e9 3000 on \u201cScientists & Engineers\u201d and, dare I say, even delivers the better verse, a standout on his well-balanced album, \u201cMichael.\u201d JONATHAN ABRAMS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Contemporary Art<\/p>\n Before a trip to Scandinavia, I heard from several people that the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, north of Copenhagen, was their favorite museum in the world. After five hours on the grounds, I understood why. Beyond a robust children\u2019s area and the meditative sculpture gardens, I was transfixed by an exhibition on the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson<\/a>, who uses repetition to examine human emotions, motives and desires. JASON M. BAILEY<\/p>\n Hip-Hop Reunions<\/p>\n De La Soul\u2019s pioneering rap peers, including KRS-One, Chuck D, DJ Red Alert, Q-Tip, Common and Queen Latifah, all showed up at Webster Hall in March to buoy the remaining members of the group, Maseo and Posdnuos, as they celebrated the long-awaited streaming release of their catalog, just weeks after the death of Trugoy the Dove<\/a>. Part catalog retrospective, part homegoing celebration, the night was a warm act of community crystallized, for me, in a single gesture: Late in the night, as Posdnuos rapped onstage, a grinning Busta Rhymes clasped him from behind in a hug<\/a> I haven\u2019t forgotten since. ELENA BERGERON<\/p>\n TV<\/p>\n \u201cFellow Travelers\u201d bounces between the perils of McCarthy era Washington and the advent of AIDS in the 1980s, examining the country through the lens of the relationship between a finely chiseled, roguish diplomat and the na\u00efve, morally tortured younger man who loves him over three decades. Created by Ron Nyswaner and based on a novel by Thomas Mallon (the book makes a perfect companion piece to the show), it is a political thriller\/sizzling romance\/slice of history worth waiting up for to catch each new episode as it drops. HELEN T. VERONGOS<\/p>\n Folk Albums<\/p>\n Julie Byrne<\/a>\u2019s third album is earthy and otherworldly at once; a mournful, healing dispatch from somewhere between heaven and the dew-glazed grass around a freshly dug grave. \u201cI want to be whole enough to risk again,\u201d she sings, as synthesizer tones and harp strings melt behind her. GABE COHN<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n No one can say \u201cBarbie\u201d was overlooked in 2023, but was it really among the best? Absolutely. It featured a sharp script, even sharper performances, at least three great songs as well as a brilliantly directed showstopping dance sequence<\/a>. And in a dumpster fire of a year, it brought joy back to the multiplex. STEPHANIE GOODMAN<\/p>\n Theater<\/p>\n David Adjmi\u2019s play, set almost entirely in a Northern California recording studio in 1976, follows a Fleetwood Mac-inspired band as they lay down tracks for a new album. Sexy, savage and sneakily heartbreaking, it explores the intricacies of communal creation and the sacrifices that art demands and invites. ALEXIS SOLOSKI<\/p>\n Streaming K-Drama<\/p>\n This South Korean Netflix drama follows Hwang Do-hee (Kim Hee-ae), a former fixer for a corrupt family conglomerate in Seoul who decides to put her might behind the mayoral campaign of a frazzled human-rights lawyer, Oh Kyung-sook (Moon So-ri). Netflix has been investing in K-dramas<\/a> for a reason. \u201cQueenmaker\u201d presents some delicious commentary on class and entitlement at a time of increasingly visible economic inequality<\/a> in Korea and in the United States. KATHLEEN MASSARA<\/p>\n Nonfiction<\/p>\n I finished W. David Marx\u2019s book \u201cStatus and Culture<\/a>\u201d early in the year, and afterward its point of view about taste and trend cycles felt like it applied to \u2014 well, just about everything. If you\u2019re interested in why people (including you!) like the things they like, and why culture in the internet age feels stuck in place<\/a>, read this. DAVID RENARD<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Animated Film<\/p>\n We\u2019re lucky to be alive in a time when Hayao Miyazaki is still making hand-drawn animated films<\/a>. With \u201cThe Boy and the Heron<\/a>,\u201d we have the privilege of following him into another dream world, and there are scenes and sequences so achingly gorgeous they brought me up short. BARBARA CHAI<\/p>\n Experimental Theater<\/p>\n At this year\u2019s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I saw, at 1:30 in the morning, a clown called Julia Masli try to solve her audience\u2019s problems<\/a> \u2014 everything from feeling too hot to being a hypochondriac. It was madcap, but by the show\u2019s euphoric finish, involving a heartbroken audience member being forced to crowd surf to boost their mood, I\u2019d started thinking Masli was better than any therapist and most other comedians. ALEX MARSHALL<\/p>\n Seconds after the Opera Ends<\/p>\n I still remember the silence during the final moments of the Metropolitan Opera\u2019s production of \u201cDead Man Walking.\u201d To be in such a huge space with so many people, in utter silence \u2014 thinking back, I was relieved no one\u2019s phone had rung. LAURA O\u2019NEILL<\/p>\n Horror-Comedy<\/p>\n I\u2019m a sucker for art that reflects my greatest fears \u2014 bonus points if doused in satire \u2014 maybe because it\u2019s evidence that my anxieties aren\u2019t mine alone or maybe because there\u2019s no better way to exorcise dread than to discuss it. Top of my list is the prospect of humanity being conquered by robots (hence my fixation on, say, the \u201cTerminator\u201d movies and \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey\u201d), and in 2023, artificial intelligence seemed to go from peripheral conversations about a future menace to an imminent threat that industry leaders warned may pose<\/a> a \u201crisk of extinction.\u201d Enter \u201cM3gan,\u201d about a TikTok-dancing, baby-sitting cyborg that managed to be both extraordinary camp and chilling cautionary tale about what could happen when we outsource human emotional care to humanoids who can\u2019t exactly care at all. MAYA SALAM<\/p>\n Broadway Revivals<\/p>\n Jason Robert Brown\u2019s \u201cThe Last Five Years\u201d is one of my favorite shows, so when I saw his musical \u201cParade\u201d was returning to Broadway, I knew I had to see it. I didn\u2019t know much about it going in, but I was eager to hear Brown\u2019s wonderfully rhythmic piano phrases live. What I didn\u2019t bank on was a gripping story from the past whose themes still resonate. Micaela Diamond\u2019s powerful singing of \u201cYou Don\u2019t Know This Man\u201d was unforgettable \u2014 the tragedy with which she imbued every note gave me chills. JENNIFER LEDBURY<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A.I.\u2019s depiction in culture this year was almost universally sinister: stealing jobs, spreading misinformation, antagonizing Ethan Hunt<\/a>. It seems like bad news for humanity, except in one very particular application \u2014 generating cover versions of songs sung by cartoon characters. The breakout star of this genre was Plankton from \u201cSpongeBob SquarePants.\u201d He crushes \u201cEven Flow<\/a>,\u201d he nails \u201cWake Me Up When September Ends<\/a>,\u201d but he really shines on \u201cBorn to Run<\/a>.\u201d You\u2019re laughing during the first verse, but by the time he tells Wendy he\u2019ll love her with all the madness in his soul, you really believe. DAVID MALITZ<\/p>\n Old-School Sci Fi<\/p>\n In August, I saw \u201c2001: A Space Odyssey,\u201d for just the second time, in 70-millimeter projection at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. Afterward, I texted a friend: \u201cIs it just the greatest movie ever made?\u201d MARC TRACY<\/p>\n Magic<\/p>\n My job as the theater reporter comes with an occupational hazard: Everyone I meet asks me what show they (or their mother-in-law, or their neighbor, or some random co-worker) should go see. And throughout this year, my answer has been Asi Wind, a smooth-talking Israeli American magician who has been holed up in a Greenwich Village church gymnasium, astonishing audiences with close-up card trickery and mind-blowing mind reading. His run at the Gym at Judson is to end in mid-January after 444 performances; catch it if you can. MICHAEL PAULSON<\/p>\n Podcasts<\/p>\n It is not an exaggeration to say that the \u201cDiary of a CEO\u201d podcast<\/a> has changed my life this year. The host Steven Bartlett poses engaging questions to some of the world\u2019s finest thought leaders, with answers that can truly transform the way you think and the way you take action; all for free, with invaluable results. MEKADO MURPHY<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Indie Albums<\/p>\n The boygenius album \u201cThe Record,\u201d the full-length debut of the indie supergroup, landed, for me, like a geyser in a parched landscape. Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus were all singular talents whom I\u2019d loved individually, but the way they rode their vocal harmonies through discord, on lyrics and guitar, lashed with humor and vulnerability \u2014 I couldn\u2019t get enough. \u201cI want to you to hear my story,\u201d they sing, \u201cand be a part of it.\u201d Ladies, you got it. MELENA RYZIK<\/p>\n One TV Episode<\/p>\n\u2018The Engagement Party\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Michael\u2019 by Killer Mike<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ragnar Kjartansson at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art<\/h2>\n
The DA.I.S.Y. Experience at Webster Hall<\/h2>\n
\u2018Fellow Travelers\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018The Greater Wings\u2019 by Julie Byrne<\/h2>\n
\u2018Stereophonic\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Queenmaker\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Status and Culture\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018The Boy and the Heron\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018ha ha ha ha ha ha ha\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Dead Man Walking\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018M3gan\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Parade\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u20182001: A Space Odyssey\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Asi Wind\u2019s Inner Circle\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018The Diary of a CEO\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018The Record\u2019 by boygenius<\/h2>\n
\u2018Long, Long Time\u2019 From \u2018The Last of Us\u2019<\/h2>\n