http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/arts/in-nyc-this-weekend-here-are-2-art-shows-2-operas-and-5-plays.html 2016-09-05 10:01:53 In NYC This Weekend? Here Are 2 Art Shows, 2 Operas and 5 Plays Catch these summer season highlights before they close. === Catch these summer season highlights before they close. Earlier this year, on a visit to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, I was astonished to encounter a sculpture by the Brooklyn-born, Jamaica-raised artist Michael Richards. Titled “ For me, the piece blew everything else out of the gallery and encapsulated what I knew of the artist’s work since I’d first seen it at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1996. The references to black heroism, institutionalized racism and violence recur in his art and make his career completely pertinent to the American present. That career closed on Sept. 11, 2001: Richards died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, where he had stayed overnight in a studio provided by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. My immediate thought in Raleigh was that a retrospective was in order, and now the council has organized one. “Michael Richards: Winged,” Summer may be winding down, but the The attitude is refreshingly D.I.Y. There are no white-cube galleries: Instead, the works, by more than 100 artists, are displayed in and around the spaces of this former military installation. For the first time, there are installations inside Most of the artists here are not represented by galleries, and the works range from solemn and polished to haphazard and improvised. But this show is rich: There is almost too much to see, with artists from across the country and a handful from overseas. This is a selling fair, but the intimidation factor is nonexistent. Should you be interested, a text message will summon a sales assistant; in many cases the artists themselves will be on hand. It’s a rare chance to see such a large cross section of contemporary work for the cost of a It’s a budding tradition. Over the past few years, crowds have gathered on the Lincoln Center plaza near the end of each summer for a festival of reruns from the Metropolitan Opera’s This year’s No-Longer-Live in HD program, as I’ve coined it, comes to a close this weekend with two intriguing offerings. (I would skip “The Merry Widow” on Saturday: When it was new a couple of seasons ago, even the energetic musical-theater star Kelli O’Hara couldn’t single-handedly levitate a leaden production.) ‘Turandot’ “Les Pêcheurs de Perles” But the singers were the real glory here: Diana Damrau, radiating her customary warmth and tenderness; Mariusz Kwiecien, forceful in his confrontation with her; and especially Matthew Polenzani. While this American tenor has long been a Met stalwart, with an elegant way with long Mozartian phrases, he sometimes came across as a little anonymous onstage. Lately, however, he’s gotten new vibrancy, and in “Pearl Fishers” he was passionate yet focused, ardently blending with Mr. Kwiecien in their soaring duet, “Au fond du temple saint.” ZACHARY WOOLFE AN ACT OF GOD THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME FUN HOME AN AMERICAN IN PARIS SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS