It’s in Queens

#WeeklyColumn | It’s In Queens! March 15 to March 21

It’s a jam-packed week with multi-show Shakespeare, flamenco, children’s theater, and outsider art that ends with the launch of the always multi-show Queens World Film Festival, which will screen more than 200 movies this year. There’s also time for one-shot deals with Nat King Cole, Garifuna culture, opera with a British accent, dragonflies, and even the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

March 15, Unforgettable: The Magic of Nat King Cole, 8 pm. Singer-composer Sachal Vasandani and some top musicians lead a centennial celebration of Nat King Cole. $25. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd.

March 15, Flamenco with Danza España, March 31. A Latin music-and-dance adaptation of “The Bacchae” by Euripides. $42-$45. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 4 pm. Thalía Spanish Theatre, 41-17 Greenpoint Ave., Sunnyside.

March 15, The Tempest, March 31. The Secret Theatre offers a classic Shakespeare comedy in an 8,000-square-foot space with dance, projections, and moving scenes. All 11 shows are at 7:30 pm. $25 at the door. Plaxall Gallery, 5-25 46th Ave., LIC.

March 16, Koresh Dance Company, March 17. This troupe presents “Inner Sun,” which illuminates the stage with joy as dancers move from sweeping circles to strong stage formations using body percussion, gestures, and rhythms. Schedule: March 16 at 2 pm (audience talkback) and 8 pm; and March 17 at 3 pm (audio description). Queens Theatre, 14 United Nations Ave. S., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

March 16, The Garifuna Jazz Ensemble, 7 pm (dance) and 8 pm (concert). This group brings awareness of the endangered Garifuna culture which formed when West Africans intermarried with Carib-Arawaks on the island of St. Vincent & The Grenadines. Many settled on the north coast of Central America. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd.

March 16, Drawing Bridges to Wellness, March 25. Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center present the Department of Psychiatry’s third annual Creative Arts Therapy Exhibition “Drawing Bridges to Wellness.” Opening reception on March 16, 11 am to 4 pm. Queens Museum, NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

March 16, Beethoven Meets Stradivarius, 2 pm. Violin, cello, piano, and an all-Beethoven program featuring his beloved “Spring Sonata” and “Archduke Trio.” $20/$10 for students. The Church-in-the-Gardens, 50 Ascan Ave., Forest Hills.

March 16, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, 2 pm. Quintet of the Americas does jazz, blues, minimalism, Latin, Middle Eastern, and Pop, including music by Gershwin, Gunther Schuller, and Queens-resident James Cohn. Free. Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, 100-01 Northern Blvd., Corona.

March 16, Dorian Baroque: Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, 8 pm. The Astoria Symphony Orchestra presents the Astoria-based Dorian Baroque ensemble with soprano Joyce Yin, mezzo-soprano Hayden DeWitt, a string ensemble, and a harpsichord. The program includes a trio sonata by Archangelo Corelli and Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater,” which honors the sorrows of the Virgin Mary at the Crucifixion. $16. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 23-25 Newtown Ave., Astoria.

March 16, Creature from the Black Lagoon, 2 pm. A screening of the 1954 thriller introduced by Mallory O’Meara, author of “The Lady from the Black Lagoon.” Then, she signs and sells her book. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District.

March 16, New American Voices Reading Series, 8 pm. Playwright Mrinalini Kamath shares “Let There Be Love,” her new comedy on modern-day matchmaking. Free. Queens Theatre, 14 United Nations Ave. S., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

March 16, Noises Off with Samuel French Inc., March 31. The schedule for this play is March 16, 23, and 29 at 8 pm and March 17, 24, and 31 at 2:30 pm. $20. Maggie’s Little Theater, St. Margaret Parish Hall, 66-05 79th Pl., Middle Village.

March 17, The Rat Pack of Opera, 3 pm. The British trio Tenors Unlimited returns to the U.S. with an exciting program of classical and popular music called “From Venice to Vegas.” $35-$48. The OLBS Theater, 34-45 202nd St., Bayside.

March 17, Tales from the Shed, 1 pm & 3 pm. Lion Down and his puppet friends take the audience on an epic journey with stories, songs, and dancing. Queens Theatre, 14 United Nations Ave. S., Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

March 17, Huang Tiange Solo Piano, 2 pm. A 14-year-old prodigy plays masterpieces by Scarlatti, Gershwin, Chopin, Beethoven, and Prokofiev. $16. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd.

March 17, Fables, 3 pm. Rioult Dance NY and La Guardia Performing Arts Center present a production of the Queens Borough Community Dance Project. Local children perform “Crow and the Fox,” “Tortoise and the Hare,” and others with professional Rioult dancers. LPAC’s Mainstage Theatre, 31-10 Thomson Ave., Long Island City.

March 20, Damselflies and Dragonflies of Long Island, 8 pm. Steve Walter, a long-time naturalist who has studied hawk migration, butterfly distribution, and moth populations, offers a lecture with photographs of more than 80 species. Free. Alley Pond Environmental Center, 228-06 Northern Blvd., Douglaston.

March 21, Lady Got Chops: Women’s History Month Festival, 7:30 pm. A concert honoring Kim Clarke, who founded of the LADY GOT CHOPS women’s history month music and arts festival. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd.

March 21, Queens World Film Festival, March 31. This ninth annual extravaganza screens more than 200 movies from 31 nations. The lineup includes 16 world premieres, 79 films by women, 14 with LGBTQ themes, 15 by Asian filmmakers, and six by children at two locations in Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District: Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave.; and Zukor Theatre, 35th Street between 34th and 35th avenues.

Continued from the previous week

Island of the Hungry Ghosts, until March 17. Screenings of the exclusive NYC engagement of Gabrielle Brady’s debut that won Best Documentary at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Poh Lin Lee provides therapy to asylum seekers in a high-security detention center in the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District.

Spring Awakening, until March 24. This musical explores the journey through adolescence, examining morality and sexual politics while unapologetically plumbing the depths of the hormonal teenage psyche. $22/$25 at the door. The final run is March 20-24 at 8 pm with an additional 2 pm show on March 24. The Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., LIC.

In Practice: Other Objects, until March 25. This exhibition displays new pieces by 11 artists and artist teams that probe the slippages and interplay between objecthood and personhood. SculptureCenter, 44-19 Purves St., LIC.