Kings Theatre, MoMA PS1, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and More Set for CUNY TV's ARTS IN THE CITY This Week

The February 2015 edition of CUNY TV's ARTS IN THE CITY, hosted by Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson from The Studio Museum in Harlem, begins Friday, Feb. 13 (2015) at 10am, 3pm and 8:30pm on CUNY TV*. The Studio Museum is featuring the new exhibitions Harlem Postcards, Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art, and solo shows by artists Kianja Strobert and Titus Kaphar.

Lisa Beth Kovetz tours Harlem's music and dining clubs, including Minton's, where she speaks with restaurateur Alexander Smalls; Paris Blues, with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and owner Sam Hargress; and Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster and Ginny's Supper Club, with Derek Fleming of the Samuelsson Group. Then Tinabeth Piña profiles a top midtown music and performance venue - the famous Birdland, where superstar Chita Rivera, bandleader Rob Middleton, Cast Party host Jim Caruso, and owner Gianni Valenti talk about the Club's history, talent and ambience.

Tony Guida visits the spectacular Kings Theatre in Flatbush, the just-opened $95 million renovation of a 1929 Loew's movie palace abandoned in 1977, that's now a stunning new concert hall. Guida talks with Bruce Friedman, who began a campaign to save the Kings in 1987; Ron Schweiger, Brooklyn borough historian; Matt Lambros, a photographer who began documenting the Kings interior when it was open to the elements; Arlene Jacobs, a New Yorker who remembers times in the theatre; and David Anderson, President & CEO of ACE Theatrical Group, a private development company retained for the renovation.

Carol Anne Riddell and Donna Hanover report on the history of Fiddler on the Roof, one of the most successful musicals of all time, with Barbara Isenberg, author of TRADITION! The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, The World's Most Beloved Musical, and Alisa Solomon, author of Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. And at MoMA PS1, Barry Mitchell participates in Art Amnesty, an unusual exhibit inviting failed and frustrated artists -- and owners of bad art -- to dispose of works by placing them in dumpsters or (temporarily) on the walls of the museum.

*ARTS IN THE CITY is repeated Sunday 2/15 at noon and returns Friday 2/27 at 10am, 3pm and 8:30pm and on Sunday 3/1 at noon on CUNY TV. On and after Feb. 13, the program may be viewed anytime on www.cuny.tv.

CUNY TV is broadcast over-the-air in the tri-state area on Ch. 25.3, and cablecast in THE FIVE boroughs of New York City on Ch. 75 (Time Warner and Optimum), Ch. 77 (RCN) and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS).

Pictured, left to right: Music clubs in Harlem; Kings Theatre marquee and restoration; Fiddler figurine with two show histories; Kianja Strobert paintings at Studio Museum; Chita Rivera performing at Birdland; Art Amnesty dumpsters at MoMA PS1. (Photos courtesy Arts in the City / CUNY TV).