Arts Calendar: Happenings for the Week of April 30

The Wall Street Journal’s Arts Calendar is a regular series of listings highlighting some of the most important and engaging cultural events each week, curated by the editors of the Arts in Review section.

Film

“Shining a Light: New French Documentaries”(French Institute Alliance Française, New York, May 2-30): Silence, moteur, action! A quintet of contemporary French documentaries are on the bill for this edition of FIAF’s Cinésalon series. Among them, the U.S. premiere of Simon Depardon and Marie Perennès’s story of women fighting against sexual violence, “Feminist Riposte”; Fanny Molins’s “Atlantic Bar,” in which a community grapples with the closure of its local watering hole; and “Returning to Reims (Fragments),” Jean-Gabriel Périot’s tale of the French working class, told through the stories of author Didier Eribon’s mother and grandmother.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (May 5): Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot and other familiar heroes return—along with director James Gunn —for the 32nd film (you read that right) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This one focuses on the backstory of Rocket, the weapons expert/bounty hunter/talking raccoon.

“What’s Love Got to Do With It?” (May 5): The latest from director Shelkhar Kapur —best known for his period piece “Elizabeth,” which starred Cate Blanchett as monarch Elizabeth I—is a romcom about a London-based filmmaker who documents her friend’s journey into an arranged marriage with a Pakistani woman.

TV

“Fatal Attraction”(Paramount+, April 30): Adrian Lyne and James Dearden’s classic psychosexual thriller gets a multipart adaptation with Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan taking on the roles originated by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close in the movie. The miniseries is the first of several Paramount films, including “The Italian Job,” “Flashdance” and “The Parallax View,” with episodic remakes in the works.

“A Small Light”(National Geographic, May 1): Miep Gies was a hero by any metric. An Austrian-born woman who moved to Leiden, Netherlands, as a child, she befriended, hid and cared for the Frank family when the threat of Nazi deportation—and worse—loomed. It is also largely thanks to her that we have Anne Frank’s diary, as she helped secrete it away from the persecutors. Now, an eight-part bioseries tells her story.

“White House Plumbers” (HBO, May 1): The aptly named White House Plumbers were a secretive unit quickly assembled after the publication of the Pentagon Papers to plug up leaks to the media and protect President Richard Nixon. Ironically, along the way they managed to turn a stream of annoyances into a tsunami of problems with a little adventure at the Watergate Hotel. This new satirical series tells their story with an impressive cast: Woody Harrelson plays E. Howard Hunt, Justin Theroux is G. Gordon Liddy and Domhnall Gleeson is John Dean.

“Bupkis” (Peacock, May 4): It could be easy to miss, with his “Saturday Night Live” stardom and the tabloid obsession with his revolving door of A-list romantic partners, but Pete Davidson has been on a bit of an autobiographical streak. He portrayed a stoner in a state of arrested development in the 2019 comedy “Big Time Adolescence” and then portrayed a stoner in a state of arrested development in the 2020 dramedy “The King of Staten Island,” which he also co-wrote. Now he’s releasing a series that features a heightened, more absurdist version of his life—with some extra action to boot—in which he stars alongside Edie Falco and Joe Pesci ; SNL paterfamilias Lorne Michaels executive produces.

“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (Netflix, May 4): Hitmaker Shonda Rhimes’s imprimatur as an executive producer of Chris Van Dusen’s adaptation of Julia Quinn’s “Bridgerton” novels all but instantly crowned that too-sexy period drama a cultural obsession. Now Ms. Rhimes is the creator and show-runner of this new six-episode royal spinoff, which follows Golda Rosheuvel’s

“Silo” (Apple TV+): Hugh Howey’s series of dystopian sci-fi novels gets the TV treatment in this new show created by Graham Yost (“Speed,” “Justified”) with several episodes directed by Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game,” “Passengers”). If you thought the debate about windowless bedrooms was bad, wait until you hear about the future, where humanity lives in a giant silo far underground. And if the accommodations don’t sound great, the draconian laws don’t make things any better.

Theater

“ Lionel Bart’s Oliver!”(New York City Center, May 3-14): While this adaptation of Charles Dickens’s “ Oliver Twist ” has been a fan favorite since its 1960 premiere, it hasn’t been seen in New York in almost four decades. Now the coming-of-age story of the lovable orphan returns to the city for a limited two-week run.

Music

Ed Sheeran, “Subtract”(May 5): The English pop superstar concludes his series of math-titled records (past albums include “Equals,” “Divide,” “Multiply” and “Plus”) with his latest LP, produced by the National’s frontman Aaron Dessner. An acoustic album, it explores Mr. Sheeran’s struggles with anxiety, grief and depression, and how he’s found his way out of emotionally dark places.

“The Pianists United: Rzewski in New York” (Merkin Hall, New York, May 6): The Kaufman Music Center presents a marathon one-day, three-concert tribute to the composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski, best known for his “The People United Will Never Be Defeated,” who died in 2021. The lineup includes Lisa Moore, Anthony de Mare, Conrad Tao, Ursula Oppens, Vicki Ray and

“21st Century Choreography I & II” (New York City Ballet, May 2-18): As part of its spring season, NYCB offers two programs of recently created dances. Highlights include Justin Peck’s “Partita,” to the Pulitzer-winning a cappella composition by Caroline Shaw ; Gianna Reisen’s “Play Time,” to a score by music star Solange Knowles ; and world premieres of works by Alysa Pires and Christopher Wheeldon.

Opera

“ Don Giovanni ” (The Metropolitan Opera, New York, May 5-June 2): The distinctive if divisive Ivo van Hove makes his debut at the Met with his new production of Mozart’s dramma giocoso, setting the action in what the company describes as “an abstract architectural landscape.” Nathalie Stutzmann conducts in her Met debut with Peter Mattei in the title role.

Exhibition

“Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” (The Met Fifth Ave, New York, May 5-July 16): The spring exhibition of the Met’s Costume Institute looks at the work of couture icon Karl Lagerfeld through some 150 pieces and sketches. Creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his own label, Lagerfeld—who died in 2019—never shied away from controversy and developed a sartorial vocabulary that drew from and twisted European history and culture.

“ Ellsworth Kelly at 100”(Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Md., May 4-March 2024): The master of Color Field painting would have turned 100 this May, and to mark the occasion Glenstone is mounting a major survey covering his seven-decade-long career. Viewers can especially look forward to seeing the massive floor painting “Yellow Curve” (1990), which hasn’t been shown for 30 years.

“Chosen Memories: Contemporary Latin American Art From the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift and Beyond” (Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 30-Sept. 9): Bringing together works from 40 Latin American artists who draw heavily from history, MoMA’s show offers visitors a chance to see selections from the gifts of trustee Patricia Phelps de Cisneros juxtaposed with other artworks from the collection.

Last Call

“Making Past Present: Cy Twombly”(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, closes May 7): The wall-size scribbles for which he’s best known don’t hint at Cy Twombly’s interest in ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultures. But the cosmopolitan Twombly (1928-2011)—American-born, he’d long used Rome as his primary home base—was constantly creating using these cultures as inspiration. Here, Twombly’s work is displayed alongside ancient art from MFA’s collection, as well as items from the artist’s own private trove of antiquities, exhibited here publicly for the first time.

—For additional Arts Calendar listings visit wsj.com. Write to [email protected].