Five Fabulous Things to Do in NYC before Curtain Time!

If you’re planning a November outing to the theater in New York, there’s plenty to do in the city this month before the curtain goes up! From celebrations of the holiday season to a theater-themed tour of art and a series of exhibitions on the artist who epitomized the Pop culture of New York in the 1960s, autumn is alive with indoor and outdoor activities for the whole family.

Winter Village at Bryant Park – Located in the very center of Midtown Manhattan, the popular seasonal attraction features an open-air market of holiday shops with artisanal food and drinks and unique gifts from New York and around the world, all housed in rows of glass-enclosed kiosks. The centerpiece of the village is a 17,000-square-foot ice skating rink (the only one in the city to offer free admission), with skates and helmets available for rent, and locks for sale (lockers are free), if you didn’t bring your own. On the second floor of the Skating Pavilion is The Overlook, an observation deck that provides a warm vantage point for the skating and a selection of free games and art supplies (no purchase is required to enter). And on the opposite side of The Rink is The Lodge, an indoor rinkside food hall with a range of eateries and bars, communal seating, and an outdoor beer garden. You can eat, drink, skate, and get all of your holiday shopping done in one central location, just a few blocks east of Times Square and the Theater District!

Winter Village at Bryant Park is open through January 2, 2019, for the shops, and through March 3, 2019, for The Rink and The Lodge, in Bryant Park – between 40th and 42nd Streets, Fifth and Sixth Avenues, NYC. Admission is free.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – 2018 marks the 92^nd anniversary of the annual holiday kick-off tradition of marching bands, giant balloons, colorful floats (this year featuring such well-known performers as Diana Ross, Barenaked Ladies, Sugarland, John Legend, and Martina McBride), and the season’s first appearance of Santa Claus. All make their way from 77^th Street and Central Park West, down Sixth Avenue, to their final stop in front of Macy’s at Herald Square (please note that there is no public access to the broadcast area and grandstands, from 38^th to 34^th Streets). So if you’re planning to spend the holiday in town, be sure to catch the parade live – the monumental scale and high level of excitement are even more spectacular than watching it on TV!

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade takes place on Thursday, November 22, 2018, 9 am-noon, with public viewing from Central Park West between 75^th and 59^th Streets and Sixth Avenue between West 59^th and West 38^th Streets, NYC. Attendance is free.

17th Annual Holiday Train Show – Stop into the New York Transit Museum’s Grand Central Gallery Annex, located inside the world’s most famous train station, just off the Main Concourse in the Shuttle Passage, for its free yearly display of model trains traveling along a 34-foot-long two-level track, set against a new backdrop for 2018, created by NYC-based artist Ebony Bolt. The “O” gauge layout features Lionel’s Metro-North, Polar Express, and vintage subway cars departing from a miniature replica of Grand Central Terminal, en route to the North Pole, to the delight of children and adults alike. While you’re in the historic station, you can also visit the Whispering Gallery (on the lower level in the Dining Concourse), where the ceramic tile arches create an acoustical phenomenon that allows you to be heard clearly by a friend in the opposite corner. And stop by the Holiday Fair in Vanderbilt Hall (through December 24), featuring unique products by 40 artists and vendors, to get a jump on your shopping.

17th Annual Holiday Train Show  runs November 15, 2018–February 24th, 2019, at the New York Transit Museum’s Grand Central Annex – 89 East 42^nd Street at Park Avenue, NYC. Admission is free.

Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again – Open to the public beginning on November 12, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, is the first major retrospective of the iconic Pop artist’s work in the US since 1989 (two years after his untimely death in 1987, at the age of 58). Organized by Donna De Salvo (the Whitney’s Senior Curator and Deputy Director for International Initiatives, who met Andy near the end of his life, in 1986), the show is also the largest monographic exhibition to be presented at the museum’s new downtown location, with more than 350 works that trace the trajectory of Warhol’s career on three different floors. The show is accompanied by an extensive illustrated catalogue that incorporates the latest research into everything Warhol, so if you’re a fan, or would like to know more about the legendary artist who captured the tenor and trends of New York for four decades, from the 1950s-80s, be sure not to miss this fabulous retrospective! Also on display this month in NYC are two themed exhibitions of Warhol’s work from the 1970s-80s: The Dia Art Foundation presents Andy Warhol, Shadows in a temporary installation space in Calvin Klein, Inc.’s headquarters, with the paintings hung edge-to-edge around the perimeter of the room, in conformity with Warhol’s original vision; and his Endangered Species series (on loan from Jackson, Wyoming’s National Museum of Wildlife Art) at The Ukrainian Museum, honoring the Warhola family’s Carpatho-Rusyn roots.

Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again is on exhibit through Sunday, March 31, 2019, at the Whitney Museum of American Art – 99 Gansevoort Street, NYC. For information, call (212) 570-3600, or purchase tickets online.

Andy Warhol, Shadows is on exhibit through Saturday, December 15, 2018, at Calvin Klein, Inc. – 205 West 39th Street, NYC. For more information, call (212) 293-5566; admission is free.

Andy Warhol: Endangered Species is on exhibit through Tuesday, February 19, 2019, at The Ukrainian Museum – 222 East 6^th Street, NYC. For information and admission prices, call (212) 228-0110, or go online.

Theater Treasures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art – Aficionados of both art and theater will love the 90-minute guided tour, organized by Show-Score and led by an expert in both disciplines, of theater-related works in the country’s largest art museum. Suitable for all ages, extensive walking through the galleries is required (the building is wheelchair accessible), while surveying masterpieces by Caravaggio, Renoir, Degas, Seurat, Sargent, Picasso, and more through a theatrical lens. Your ticket for the tour also gives you same-day admission to all three Met museums (The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters).

Theater Treasures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is offered regularly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art – 1000 Fifth Avenue, NYC. For dates and tickets, go online.