THEATER: The salty, electric dynamo that is Elaine Stritch shows no sign of waning – about to turn 83-years-young, the show biz legend has kicked off 2008 with a reprise of her Tony-winning cabaret show. Backed by a six-piece band and performed in two acts for a dining audience at the newly restored Café Carlyle, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, co-written with the New Yorker’s John Lahr, is a hilarious, old-fashioned ride through star-studded post-war Broadway,......

Charles Mee is renowned for his distinctive approach to playwriting, which synthesizes disparate pre-existing texts into startlingly new theatrical creations bursting with music, dance, video and other inspired surprises. The superb Signature Theatre is now in the midst of their season devoted to his plays; the first production, Iphigenia 2.0, was a devastating depiction of America’s Iraq catastrophe as seen through the prism of classic Greek tragedy. The current show, Queens Boulevard, is a funny,......

In Charles Mee’s Queens Boulevard (the musical) the titular traffic artery is no longer the “boulevard of blood” notorious for hit-and-run collisions. In fact, there isn’t a drop of blood in Mee’s colorful fairytale, which takes as inspiration the centuries old dance-drama style of Hindu theater called kathakali, among other things. In Mee’s eyes, Queens Boulevard is the symbolic common thread connecting New York’s myriad ethnicities and cultures, with Queens as the proverbial melting pot......

MUSIC: Ever wonder what former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp has been up to? Well, he's back fronting his other old band, The Rentals. With a long list of former members, amongst them Maya Rudolph and Petra Haden, the group is now six-strong, and playing Nokia Theater tonight in support of their new EP, The Last Little Life. 8pm // Nokia Theatre [1515 Broadway] // $22.50 Over at Sound Fix Camera Obscura will be serving a......

MOVIE: Get a little more in depth on the whole border crossing controversy with Woodstock in the City's screening of Crossing Arizona at +Art%2C+Dance%2C+Music+and+Film888The+Arts+%2D+Events888Makor+%2D +Film888Makor+Film+August888&productid=T%2DMM5FA06">Makor. There's a Q&A with the filmmakers Joseph Mathew and Dan DeVivo and a reception following the screening hosted by Indiepix.net. Roger Ebert said after the film screened at Sundance, “On the last day or two (of Sundance) you hurry between screenings, trying to catch films everybody tells you not to......

Appropriately in this sticky heat, it’s kind of a slow week for theater, at least openings-wise. So for a change of pace, instead of a show roundup, here are a few recent theater-world tidbits that struck Gothamist as interesting. The Times reported last week that the Signature Theatre is going to offer $15 tickets to its next season (its fifteenth). Every seat. This is thrilling news, and everyone should flock there to see three plays......

Looking for a play for your weekend's entertainment? In previews now at the Signature Theatre Company is THE OLDEST PROFESSION by Paula Vogel. We love the description of this plot: "As Ronald Reagan enters the White House, five aging practitioners of the oldest profession are faced with a diminishing clientele, increased competition for their niche market, and aching joints. With wit, compassion and humor, they struggle to find and learn new tricks as they fight......