(Photo: Anna Silman)
So, Happy Ending is set to reopen under new ownership. But for literary types, the place just won’t be the same without the Happy Ending Reading Series that Amanda Stern hosted there starting in 2003.
Truth is, the reading and music series — which required participants such as Maggie Estep, Jon Benjamin, and Tom Lombardi to take one public risk — moved to Joe’s Pub in 2009, but we’ll always associate it with its namesake venue. But whatever: after going on hiatus in 2012, the series relaunched last month in the West 31st Street offices of Salon, so it’s clearly bigger than one venue.
The next installment is themed “Therapy,” and will feature Lena Dunham, who shared her long history with the craft in her tell-all (and in a New Yorker excerpt). If you missed her at Barnes & Noble Union Square, you’ll pay dearly: tickets are $35. But that includes drinks and snacks — and if you replace your weekly shrink visit with a live on-stage session with clinical psychologist Amy Ross, you’ll definitely be saving money. Also present will be Andrew Solomon, whose latest book explores parents, children and the search for identity — or so the subtitle tells us. And there will also be a “very special” music guest (possibly Lena’s boyfriend Jack Antonoff? Who knows!)
The event isn’t till Dec. 10, but we’re giving you the heads up because 60 more tickets will go on sale Nov. 1. Get on it.