Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes Return with Audacious New Music

The first thing Julio Torres says in “Color Theories” is to deny that he’s made an “Off Broadway play.” (His ponytail, curling overhead like an anglerfish’s light, bobbles as he cringes.) Torres’s lightly chaotic comic monologue isn’t even truly a solo; he merrily bullies various helpers, including a robot living inside an “Alice in Wonderland” clock. Largely, though, it’s just him, delivering a not-so-absurdist lecture about his synesthetic schema: navy blue, for example, represents destructively illogical discipline, because it consists of blue (order) plus black (the unknown). (Some things that are navy blue? A Real Housewife insisting on politesse and, inevitably, the Electoral College.) The show, often hugely delightful but saggy toward the end, does need a bit more structure. Just a smidge of blue, I kept thinking, and the picture’s perfect.—Helen Shaw (Performance Space New York; through Oct. 5.)

Art

The Japanese B.D.S.M. term kinbaku-bi roughly translates to “the beauty of tight binding.” Tiona Nekkia McClodden’s exhibition “Pure Gaze”—which takes kinbaku-bi as its point of departure—finds an edge between elegance and force. In the abstract assemblages on view, painted leather hides are traversed by labyrinthine patterns of rope—some ensnaring bamboo sticks and dauntingly sharp metal hooks. The submissive body is absent; there are only raw networks of pressure and pleasure, woven together by the threads of discipline. It’s as if the paintings have been commanded into a brutal precision of form: the geometric angles of the rope, the tensed muscles of their fibres, the sleekness of the framing. But struggling underneath this, in the sensual fleshiness of the leather, is the thought of mercy—of the potential of undoing the bind—and as much tension as there is anticipation of release.—Zoë Hopkins (White Cube; through Oct. 18.)

Movies

When Francis Ford Coppola was preparing to shoot the 2024 grand-scale political fantasy “Megalopolis,” he invited the director Mike Figgis to make a documentary about the production. The resulting film, “Megadoc,” is an inspiring view of Coppola’s boldly original methods—and of the devil-may-care attitudes that undergird them. Figgis, doing his own cinematography, displays the vastness and complexity of the sets and Coppola’s wildly spontaneous approach to the film’s superspectacular techniques. Improv-heavy rehearsals create a sense of freedom, yet once the camera rolls Coppola expects the cast and crew to follow his lead, albeit into the unknown; conflicts prove inevitable. Figgis includes clips of decades-old table reads which reveal the movie’s long gestation; when “Megalopolis” finally premières, the sheer wonder of its existence is palpable.—Richard Brody (Opening Sept. 19.)

Dance

City Center’s Fall for Dance series of attractively priced mixed-bill samplers has consistently offered classics and clunkers, along with occasional surprises. Lately, there’s been an uptick in the recycling of previous City Center commissions. This year’s first program has two charming ones: “Dance Is a Mother,” which Jamar Roberts made for the intrepid New York City Ballet star Sara Mearns and some friends, including himself; and a tap solo for Dario Natarelli, by Natarelli and Michelle Dorrance. Scattered across other programs are such surefire wonders as the Russian ballerina Olga Smirnova, and the gliding virtuoso Lil Buck interpreting a gospel hymn with the bass-baritone Davoné Tines.—B.S. (City Center; Sept. 16-27.)

Pick Three

Rachel Syme on movies with a sense of style.

I watch films for many reasons, but if I am being honest, the siren call that brings me most often to the cinema is the chance to see beautiful clothes. Beauty! It never gets old. There are many well-known stylish films—“Phantom Thread,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Funny Face,” “Mahogany”—but I am here to recommend some less-heralded flicks in which the garb really shines.

Illustration by Lauren Tamaki

1. “The Witches of Eastwick” (1987): The costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers, who has overseen the wardrobes for dozens of films, from “Beetlejuice” to “American Graffiti,” really outdid herself with this story of three small-town Massachusetts women (Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon) who may or may not form a dangerous coven. This is pure eighties high glam, including lamé dresses, hot-pink spandex, and truly batty tennis outfits.

2. “Down with Love” (2003): I want to live inside the aesthetic of this film. The costume designer Daniel Orlandi put Renée Zellweger, who plays a strident nineteen-sixties romance expert, in some of the best mod-pastiche clothes I’ve seen. One particular ensemble, featuring a houndstooth swing coat with bright lemon-yellow lining, is so delectable I almost want to lick it.