SING IN THE RAIN ROOM

Skip through a rain storm without getting wet at the MoMA’s “Rain Room,” which opened this past Sunday. Leave the umbrellas and raincoats home because the water stops falling in areas where people are detected. While meteorologists can’t quite control the weather yet, this interactive exhibit explores the ways science, technology, and ingenuity can help stabilize the environment. However, in order for the technology to work best, the MoMA discourages wearing super-thin stilettos, reflective gear, or rain slickers, and like all computerized systems, there is always the potential for a rogue raindrop.

Rain Room at the MoMA

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PHOENIX RISES

At this stage in the day, getting tickets to the sold-out Phoenix show at the Apollo tonight might be as elusive as trying to figure out one of the Sphinx’s riddles. Back from a four-year hiatus after hitting the pop-chart jackpot with “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix,” released in May 2009, this Gallic foursome is going for broke with “Bankrupt!” released late last month. Now there is some good news for diehard Phoenix fans: They’ll be back in the fall for a show at the Barclays Center with The Vaccines on October 2. (Take this as a message that’s not so cryptic: Get your tickets now.)

Phoenix at the Barclays Center

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MONDAY TO-DOS 

Channel Gatsby glam with a Gotham-style mani. 

Catch the last day of the Frieze Art Fair.

Check out the inaugural citywide NYCxDesign event. 

See “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s” at the Angelika.

Try and score an invite to Omar’s.

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

This Mother’s Day don’t just go local—go native: Fill your weekend with flowers and garden parties at the city’s botanical gardens. Treat mom to a relaxed pureDKNY beach floral print tank, or some chic retro-inspired DKNY shades, and then head up to the New York Botanical Gardens for the newly designed Native Plant Garden. Take a bird walk, see a home gardening demo, and even try a watercolor painting class. Subway out to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for its “Locally Sourced: Rare Plants, Rare Places” garden and world-famous cherry blossoms. Happy Mother’s Day!

pureDKNY Beach Floral Print

GREAT GATSBY

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited film of the year, “The Great Gatsby” opens today after a major push-back on its release date—and the expectations are great. The trailer teases a whirling shambolic of the Roaring Twenties directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Leonard DiCaprio as the millionaire Jay Gatsby, and Tobey Maguire as the Midwesterner Nick Carraway. See the movie before its opening night at Cannes on May 15—and then toast good living at the Empire Room with a Gatsby-themed cocktail program featuring the New York Daisy, Gatsby’s Bootleg Punch, and more. 

The Great Gatsby in Theaters

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FRIEZE ART FAIR

Kicking off today, the second edition of Frieze New York brings this international contemporary art fair to Randall’s Island. Running through Monday, the custom structure designed by SO–IL architects takes a pop-up to the next level overlooking the East River. See some 180 exhibiting galleries canvassing the globe from Argentina to New Zealand, as well as The Sculpture Park featuring new work like Paul McCarthy ’s 80-foot inflatable “Balloon Dog”and Fiona Connor’s “Style Guide Spa.”Check out daily talks and local food vendors, like Roberta’s, The Fat Radish, Blue Bottle Coffee, and more.

Frieze New York

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WALKING THE LINE

Hailing from Nashville, the Features are a band that walks a line: “I feel like we walk this fine line,”says singer/guitarist Matt Pelham. “We’re not weird enough for a certain crowd and we’re a little bit too out there for the other crowd. We fall in the middle somewhere between mainstream and hipster, which puts us in this weird place, but we’re all pretty happy to be here.” Follow these Kings of Leon protégés into a “Wilderness”of big beats, howling rock, and swinging psych-pop tonight at the Santos Party House. Expect things to get a little weird—in a good way.

The Features at Santos Party House in NYC

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DIY VERSUS MADE TO MEASURE

After a VIP gala, followed by two days of members-only viewings, the Costume Institute’s “Punk: Chaos to Couture”is finally open to the hoi polloi. The exhibit compares the punk-rock ethos of “do-it-yourself” with the couture concept of “made-to-measure,”through seven galleries organized around materials, technique, and embellishments. Says the museum, “Themes will include New York and London, which will tell punk’s origin story as a tale of two cities, followed by Clothes for Heroes and four manifestations of the D.I.Y. aesthetic—Hardware, Bricolage, Graffiti and Agitprop, and Destroy.”

Punk: Chaos to Couture at the MET

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NAILING THE LOOK

On Monday night, the red carpet at the annual Met Gala became a creative runway for high couture spiked with a punk-rock attitude—quite literally. Racked.com was on-hand for the pre-party primping, prepping, and safety-pinning, covering the action tweet by tweet. Irreverence was the feel, from faux-hawks to studded statements, and DKNY PR Girl Aliza Licht earned cred for tweeting the first punk-rock nail art pic, “Taking punk to the next level. #DonnaKaranAtelier mani & #Irit jewels.”“Shameless”star Emmy Rossum was rocking a Donna Karan dress—and a killer set of nails.

The Met Gala liveblog reviews & more

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KLUB KAZINO

You’ll be torn between whether to brush up on your Tolstoy—or brush off your dancing shoes at Klub Kazino, a.k.a. the immersive set of the electro-pop musical “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.” Now open in the Meatpacking District, the 6,000-square-foot space presents a looking-glass-like portal into a Russian supper club circa 1812—albeit with an up-to-date soundtrack. Do the time-warp again and get a taste of what to expect at EW’s PopWatch blog with three exclusive tracks written and composed by Dave Malloy, including “Letters,” “Charming,” and “Sonya Alone.”

Listen to music from “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812”

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