BENEFITS

SAVING GRACE Highline Ballroom presents “Teddy Thompson & Friends Christmas Show: A Benefit Concert for SaveDarfur.org.” A British singer and songwriter, Mr. Thompson performs with accompanying musical guests, including Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Ben Lee, Sonya Kitchell, and Neal Casal, among others. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power gives a brief talk on foreign policy and Africa. All proceeds from the event benefit SaveDarfur. org. Wednesday, 8 p.m., Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., between Ninth and Tenth avenues, 212-414-5994, $35.

DANCE

A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA The Doug Elkins Dance Company dances “Fraulein Maria,” a suite of pieces inspired by the popular Rodgers and Hammerstein film score for “The Sound of Music” (1956). The show is presented as part of the “dancemOpolitan Holiday Series” at Joe’s Pub. “Fraulein Maria” is revamped for the season, and given a downtown edge. Featured dancers include Jen Nugent, Arthur Aviles, Archie Burnett, and Nicole Wolcott. Friday, 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m., Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., between East 4th Street and Astor Place, 212-967-7555, $20–$25, $12 for children under 16 (matinee only).

DRAWINGS

DOODLES AND IDEAS “Dynamic Impulse: The Drawings of Stuart Davis” is a 60-work retrospective that traces the career of an artist widely considered to be a forefather of the Pop art movement of the 1960s and ’70s. Davis is best known for his paintings, but his drawings provided raw material for developing new ideas. These drawings led him away from his early influences, including van Gogh and Picasso, toward Modernism. Selections from the exhibit include “Untitled (Black and White Variation on ‘Pochade’)” (c. 1956–58), above left, and Study for “Smith’s Cove,” c. 1941, above right. Through Sunday, January 12, Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Hollis Taggart Galleries, 958 Madison Ave., between 75th and 76th streets, 212-628-4000, free.

FILM

SOUL SISTERS The Film Forum hosts a screening of Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986), which follows two years in the lives of a trio of siblings. The three sisters are Lee (Barbara Hershey), a drifting Alcoholics Anonymous member who is married to a misanthropic painter; Holly, a failed actress, writer, and caterer, played by Dianne Wiest, and Hannah, the beautiful, famous actress, who seems to have the perfect life, played by Mia Farrow. The balance is shattered when Hannah’s husband, played by Michael Caine, falls in love with Lee. Tonight through Monday, December 24, 1:25, 3:30, 5:35, 7:40, and 9:45 p.m., and an additional midnight screening on Friday and Saturday, Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-727-8112, $10.50 general, $5.50 seniors weekdays before 5 p.m., $5.50 children

HOLIDAY

HANDEL FOR THE HOLIDAYS The resident choir of Trinity Church and the REBEL Baroque Orchestra perform George Frederic Handel’s “Messiah.” The stirring composition had its New York premiere at the church in 1770. Conductor Owen Burdick leads the orchestra. Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m., Trinity Church, 89 Broadway at Wall Street, 212-602-0800, $30–$50.

COCKTAILS WITH ISAAC “A Holiday Celebration with Isaac Mizrahi” features the fashion designer and television personality, who shares a campy compilation of holiday stories and cheerful anecdotes. Premium seating includes cocktails and a holiday menu. Mr. Mizrahi is joined by a few surprise special guests. The Brooklyn native opened his successful eponymous clothing label in 1987. By 2003, he was on to his second act, hosting a talk show on the Style network, and producing women’s sportswear, accessories, and a home collection for the Target stores. Friday, 9 p.m., Blender Theater at Gramercy, 127 E. 23rd St. at Lexington Avenue, 212-777-6800, $349 table seating, 24

MIXED MEDIA

HAPPY FACES David Mach’s artistic output has been characterized by his responses to consumerism: Large-scale installations often include a range of objects, from tires and matchsticks to newspapers. Of late, Mr. Mach has taken to creating collages using postcards. One such work features a nude figure composed of postcards depicting Thomas Harris’s fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.
Through Saturday, January 12, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Forum Gallery, 745 Fifth Ave., between 57th and 58th streets, 212-355-4545, free.

LOST AND FOUND Howard Scott Gallery presents an exhibit featuring works by two artists, Philadelphia-based Ron Klein and Austin, Texas-based Lance Letscher. Both use composition techniques, including collage, in their art. “Found Objects + Collage,” the title of the exhibit, refers to the artists’ use of altered paper and random materials, including pods and beeswax, in the works on display. Through Saturday, January 12, Tuesday–Saturday, 10:30 a.m.–6 p.m., Howard Scott Gallery, seventh floor, 529 W. 20th St., between Tenth Avenue and the West Side Highway, 646-486-7004, free.

MUSIC
SINGING ON THE ROUND Conductor George Steel leads the Vox Vocal Ensemble and the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble as part of the annual holiday concert presented by the series Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Performers gather in the museum’s rotunda for the festivities. The program includes Michael Praetorius’s “Der Kanarienvogel” (from “Terpsichore”) and Benjamin Britten’s “Hymn to the Virgin.” Concertgoers are invited to sing along to traditional carols. Tonight, 6 p.m., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th Street, 212- 423-3500, free.

A FIASCO IN THE MAKING Rapper Lupe Fiasco performs songs from his latest release, “Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool,” as well as tracks from his critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated debut “Food&Liquor.” The Chicago native has been lauded for writing introspective lyrics that often draw provocative contrasts between the excess and hedonism of hip-hop culture and the reality of everyday life in the inner city. His razor-sharp political commentary is showcased to full effect on recent singles such as “Superstar” and “Dumb It Down.” Tomorrow, 7 p.m., the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Plaza at East 15th Street, 212-777-6800, $31.50–$35.

JAZZ AND SAMBA The Jazz Studies Program of New York University showcases its faculty and students during a series of performances at the Cachaça Jazz ‘n’ Samba Club. Featured faculty performers include a saxophonist with the Saturday Night Live Band, Lenny Pickett, and saxophonist George Garzone. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Cachaça Jazz ‘n’ Samba Club, 35 W. 8th St. at Sixth Avenue, 212-388-9099, $5.

‘CRAZY’ AFTER ALL THESE YEARS Vocalist Carolyn Sills and the Brooklyn-based alterna-country band, the Poor Man’s Roses, perform a tribute to country music legend Patsy Cline. Ms. Sills and her band perform such classics as “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces,” as well as a program of holiday favorites made famous by Cline. Ms. Sills (also of the blues-Americana band Boss Tweed) and The Poor Man’s Roses have attracted a following on the East Coast with nostalgic renditions of Cline’s catalog. Thursday, Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Ave. at 27th Street, 212-683-6500, free.

PAINTINGS

ONCE FORGOTTEN Helen Torr is perhaps best known as the wife of the American abstract painter Arthur Dove. But during her decades-long career, she was widely considered an important Modernist painter in her own right. Alexandre Gallery celebrates Torr’s career with an exhibit of “Selected Sketchbooks” to accompany an exhibit of works by Anne Harris. Through Saturday, December 29, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Alexandre Gallery, the Fuller Building, 13th floor, 41 E. 57th St. at Madison Avenue, 212-755-2828, free.

TALKS

THE BALM IN PSALMS The 92nd Street Y hosts “The Psalms: A Reading and Conversation” with author Robert Alter and an essayist and novelist Marilynne Robinson, right. Mr. Alter’s translation of “The Five Books of Moses” (W.W. Norton) won the PEN translation award in 2005. Ms. Robinson gives a recitation of a selection of psalms from this English translation of the Hebrew Bible. The evening’s program includes a musical interlude. Ms. Robinson is the author of the novels “Housekeeping” (Picador) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Gilead” (Picador). Tonight, 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street, 212-415-5500, $18 general, $10 for age 35 and under, free for Unterberg Poetry Center members.

THEATER

SEND IN THE CLOWNS A Chicago-based theater group that fuses improvisation and circus arts, 500 Clown, performs an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic “Frankenstein.” The performers play off members of the audience, drawing them into the action and allowing them to help shape it. Tomorrow and Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Performance Space 122, 150 First Ave. at East 9th Street, 212-352-3101, $20 general, $15 students and seniors, $10 members.

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