This week: Familiar holiday fare, thoughts about the past and a fun way to invest in the city’s future.

Upper West Side

Joan Didion’s Blue Nights at Thalia Book Club
In conversation with her nephew, Griffin Dunne, Didion discusses her new memoir about her daughter, and her own fears and thoughts about growing old, confiding and confronting her fears, frailties, and sorrows about her life.
Wednesday, November 30, 7:30 p.m.
Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway
Tickets: $15-$25

The Nutcracker
A classic holiday tale of dolls come to life and the journey that follows, The Nutcracker is a classic, nostalgic performance for all ages. The dancers of Valentina Kozlova’s Dance Conservatory bring the story to life—as does an unconventional Drosselmeyer.
Saturday, December 3, 5 p.m.
Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway
Tickets: $20-$30

Cyndi Lauper & Friends: Home for the Holidays
Lauper’s True Colors Fund is hosting this star-studded benefit concert to help raise awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth homelessness. The concert will feature performances by Cyndi herself, plus Norah Jones, Lou Reed, Rosie O’Donnell, Carson Kressley, Alan Cumming, Cassandra Wilson, Jon Secada, Clay Aiken and more.
Sunday, December 4, 8PM
Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway
Tickets: $35-$500

SoHo

Love Goes to Buildings On Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever
In the mid-1970s, New York City was a laboratory where all the major styles of modern music were reinvented. Join rock critics Will Hermes and Robert Christgau, DJ Kool Herc, and performers Laurie Anderson, Lenny Kaye and Larry Harlow in a panel discussion on the ’70s music scene in New York City.
Wednesday, November 30, 7 p.m.
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street
Tickets: $Free