City Week: September 30 - October 7

a selective listing of recommended cultural and community events friday, october 1 forbidden passion-a highly theatrical adaptation of the classic weepie brief encounter (itself based on a noel coward short play), this production has prestige and theatrical magic written all over it. studio 54, 254 w. 54th st., 212-719-1300; times vary, $37-$127. saturday, october 2 the heist festival- film forum's caper-centric series features an exciting selection of diffuse features, from walter matthau as a parachuting bank robber in don siegel's charley varrick to the wrong trousers, nick park's best wallace and gromit short film. be sure to take advantage of film forum's two-for-one double feature ticket special to catch such inspired pairings as blue collar, paul schrader's directorial debut, and robert wise's odds against tomorrow, which stars ed begley, gloria grahame, robert ryan and shelley winters. also don't miss un flic, jean-pierre melville's masterfully tight-lipped final film and richard fleischer's demented armored car robbery. 209 w. houston st., 212-727-8110, www.filmforum.org. sunday, october 3 batsheva dance company-the extraordinary, instinctive dancers of this israeli company perform a mix of familiar and new material in this bare bones adaptation of ohad naharin's project 5, the newest being "b/olero," a hypnotic duet. alternating male and female casts perform during the run. the joyce theater, 175 8th ave., 212-691-9740; 2 p.m., tickets start at $10. monday, october 4 six degrees of marvin hamlisch-this won't be a cheap concert, but it's sure to be a fun night. hamlisch's quirky personality and his place as a social fixture and sometime companion of the beautiful at gilded events have obscured his actual accomplishments. yes, he wrote the james bond song "nobody does it better." he also composed the underrated score to a chorus line. most of the surviving stars of that show join up with robert klein, liz callaway, victor garber and lesley gore in a benefit for the actors fund. symphony space, 2537 broadway, 212-864-5400; 7:30 p.m., $50-$250. tuesday, october 5 derrick guild: after eden-after eden is a collection of fastidiously imagined botanical fictions. these impossible plant forms, meticulously realized, owe themselves to the artist's 22 months on ascension island. a british dependency in the mid-atlantic with only three indigenous plants, the island's lush rain forest has been an ongoing work of human ingenuity since the mid-18th century. what british botanists achieved in real life, guild mimics on canvas. these are the botanical equivalent of capriccios, fantastical species of flowering plants instead of invented architectural ruins. allan stone gallery, 113 e. 90th st., 212-987-4997; 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free. wednesday, october 6 drawings from ribera to goya-while we've seen plenty of goya, this is the first museum exhibition to be held in new york city devoted to the broad tradition of spanish draftsmanship, and includes works on loan from the met, the hispanic society of america and extraordinary sheets from the morgan library and museum, the princeton university art museum, the philadelphia museum of art and individual collectors. the frick, 1 e. 70th st., 212-288-0700; 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; $18. thursday, october 7 the last newspaper-curious why every newspaper is going gaga over this exhibit? well, it's built into the title, so we all feel we must give it some ink. the artwork in this exhibit will be from william pope.l, wolfgang tillmans and aleksandra mir. but most everyone seems excited about the working "newsroom" that produces a weekly printed paper. see? now you can appreciate all of our hard work by seeing the process of creating it. the new museum, 235 bowery street, 212-219-1222; 11 a.m.-9 p.m., $12.