Step into five unique NYC experiences this weekend that blend performance, culture, and unforgettable spring energy across Brooklyn and Manhattan.
This week, we are trading quiet moments for unforgettable nights. The city is alive with rhythm, color, and movement, and nowhere is that more evident than in Brooklyn. Whether you are in the mood for sultry jazz in a velvet-draped lounge, a Dominican dinner party with natural wine, or a reimagined silent film set to live music, our latest BKLS List is designed to inspire your weekend. These five curated NYC experiences embrace performance, storytelling, and springtime energy in wildly alive and deeply personal ways.
This edition of The BKLS List is designed to awaken your weekend. Five curated ways to step into the city’s most compelling scenes—boldly local, culturally rich, and unmistakably New York.
Here is what to experience right now.
Table of Contents Show
An Art Deco Dreamworld in Bushwick
Where to go: The Red Pavilion, 1241 Flushing Avenue—Bushwick
If you’re looking for a night that defies categories, head to The Red Pavilion in Bushwick. This Asian neo-noir nightclub is a transportive space where 1920s Shanghai aesthetics meet Bushwick’s bold, creative spirit. The venue blends futurist art deco design with immersive performance, offering a multi-sensory experience that includes live music, burlesque, aerial acts, and handcrafted cocktails.
The weekend starts with Taboo Jazz on Friday, April 25, at 7 PM. Led by jazz trumpeter Gordon Au, the house band dives into a collection of risqué blues classics from the early 20th century. These are not your typical jazz standards—they’re rebellious anthems once censored for their lyrics about race, sexuality, and social taboos. It is a steamy, seductive show that revives forbidden melodies with grit and glamour.
Then on Saturday, April 26 at 8:30 PM, The Red Pavilion stages Lust Caution x Forbidden Dream, its signature late-night cabaret. This all-AAPI production blends burlesque, cirque, and ritual theater, featuring a rotating cast of NYC nightlife icons. Picture velvet drapes, ambient red lighting, and a cast of characters as dazzling as the performances themselves.
Why This Is One of the Season’s Most Theatrical NYC Experiences
This is not just a show—it is a layered journey into sound, spectacle, and sensuality.
Natural Wine, a Dominican Feast, and a Dance Floor That Feels Like Home
Where to go: BABA on Withers, 47 Withers Street—Williamsburg
Just off McCarren Park in Williamsburg, BABA on Withers is redefining what it means to go out in New York. It is a natural wine bar, sure, but it is also a dinner spot, a dance party, and a neighborhood hub where the energy never feels forced. Their weekend event series is all about ease, flavor, and connection—the kind of night that flows effortlessly from glass to plate to dance floor.
This Sunday, April 27, starting at 5:30 PM, BABA hosts the final installment of its Chef Takeover Series. Dominican-born Chef Lefthy is taking over the kitchen with a lineup of dishes inspired by his roots. Expect bold flavors, great wine, and music that makes you want to move. It is the season finale, and after this weekend, the series won’t return until August, so now is the time to savor it.
Walk-ins are welcome, and reservations are available via Resy.
Why This Is One of the Season’s Most Laid-Back NYC Experiences
Equal parts neighborhood dinner and joyful party, BABA is the kind of place that turns regular Sundays into something special.
Silent Film Reimagined with Live Music
Where to go: Brooklyn Art Haus, 20 Marcy Avenue—Williamsburg
A quiet revolution is unfolding at Brooklyn Art Haus. This weekend, their in-house series RESOUNDING SILENTS brings a rare gem to the screen: Salomé [1923], a visually striking silent film directed by Charles Bryant. Inspired by the Oscar Wilde play, this avant-garde take on the biblical tale blends early cinematic experimentation with dramatic costume and movement.
What sets this screening apart? A new original score composed and performed live by cellist-composers Josh Dent and Anthime Miller, whose work heightens every gesture and glance with emotional depth. It is part concert, part film, part immersive performance.
Catch it Friday, April 25 at 7:30 PM or Saturday, April 26 at 2:00 PM. Come early or stay late for cocktails and Mediterranean bites at The MOUTH, Brooklyn Art Haus’s adjacent restaurant and bar.
Why This Is One of the Season’s Most Transportive NYC Experiences
There is something magical about hearing live cello wrap around a century-old film—it pulls you in and slows down time.
Punk, Politics, and Cuban Youth Culture
Where to go: Brooklyn Art Haus, 20 Marcy Avenue—Williamsburg
Also on stage this weekend at Brooklyn Art Haus is frikiNation, a bilingual jukebox musical powered by punk rock and political fire. Based on real events, the show tells the story of Cuban youth in the 1990s who bent the rules of a rigid system to carve out their own identity, freedom, and future.
It is loud, raw, and unapologetically personal—an excellent pairing of performance and protest. With high-octane music and bold visual storytelling, frikiNation captures a moment in Cuban history that still echoes today.
Catch it Saturday, April 26 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, April 27 at 2:00 PM. The show is part of Carnegie Hall’s Nuestros Sonidos Festival.
Why This Is One of the Season’s Most Provocative NYC Experiences
It is not just a musical—it is a generational story of defiance, told through guitar riffs and cultural memory.
The BKLS Final Word
This week’s BKLS List is a celebration of everything that makes spring in New York so vibrant and full of possibility. These five unique NYC experiences are not just about where to go. They are about how to feel. Connected, inspired, and alive. Whether you find yourself beneath velvet lights in Bushwick or at a cabaret table with a glass of wine in hand, let this weekend be a reminder that the city is always ready to show you something new.
We will be back next week with more handpicked, high-experience recommendations across Brooklyn and Manhattan—because no two weekends in NYC should ever feel the same.
