Cirque du Soleil open house Feb. 10 at Beacon Theatre
Cirque du Soleil will open its doors for a free open house Feb. 10 at the Beacon Theatre as the company prepares to open its new “Banana Shpeel” show.
The open house — scheduled from from 4:30 to 7 p.m. — promises a “sneak peek at the creative process, meet and greet opportunities with artists, and tastings from surrounding restaurants and bakeries.”
The event is free, a Cirque spokesperson told NewYorkology.
The Beacon Theatre is located at 2124 Broadway between 74th and 75th streets.
“Banana Shpeel” will play at the Beacon from Feb. 25 through May 30.
'Avenue Q' and more Off-Broadway go 2-for-1 Feb. 8-28
The sale on Off-Broadway has been extended.
Currently, theater tickets for Off-Broadway can be purchased for $20 through the 20at20 program, which sells all remaining tickets for $20 starting 20 minutes before curtain. There are 25 shows to choose from, such as critical favorites “The Emperor Jones” and “Zero Hour.”
While the “On the House” program is less of a bargain, it does let you buy your tickets in advance rather than taking your last-minute chances at the box office. The 25 shows taking part in the two-for-one offer include “Avenue Q,” “Venus in Fur,” “Ages of the Moon,” “The Fantasticks,” “Mr. & Mrs. Fitch,” “Stomp” and “The Gazillion Bubble Show.”
Regular-priced tickets for the shows are generally in the $50 to $75 range. To get the two-for-one deal, see the NYC & Co. website for the promotional codes, which are often, though not always HOUSE.
Correction as of Feb. 8: When first published, the links to the 20at20 and On The House programs were transposed. They have been swapped.
New York Transit Museum Annex closes for renovations
The New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex and Store at Grand Central Terminal today closed its doors to begin a renovation that will preserve the exhibition space and allow for bettter display of its unique subway, bus and train-memorablia.
When it reopens sometime in March, admission to the gallery will remain free, Roxanne Robertson, director of Special Projects for the New York Transit Museum, told NewYorkology.
Renovations will include new fixtures and lighting. The Transit Museum has been unable to provide a cost estimate for the project, as requested by NewYorkology.
When the annex reopens, it will debut a new exhibition: “Where New York Began: Archeology And The South Ferry Terminal.”
The main New York Transit Museum is located in Brooklyn Heights, where regular adult admisison is $5.
The online Transit Museum Store will also remain open during the annex’s renovations.
Picture credit: Holiday Train Show at the Transit Museum Annex. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Free admisison at NY Historical Society for Feb. 13 - 21
The New-York Historical Society will waive its $12 admission for a full week in February to celebrate Presidents’ Day, the museum announced Tuesday.
The free admission will run from from Saturday, Feb. 13, through Sunday, Feb. 21, thanks to a grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
On Presidents’ Day, Monday Feb. 15, the museum will open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to host special events inlcuding Civil War re-enactment troops.
Current exhibitions ot the museum include “Lincoln and New York,” “FDR’s Brain Trust and the Beginning of the New Deal,” “John Brown: The Abolitionist and His Legacy,” and “New York Painting Begins: Eighteenth-Century Portraits.”
The New-York Historical Society is located at 170 Central Park West, just across the street from the American Museum of Natural History.
Picture source: Mathew Brady; Abraham Lincoln, 1860; Carte de visite. Courtesy of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. From the N-YHS “Lincoln and New York” exhibition.
Statue of Liberty crown six-month visitor total: 32,609
In the first six months since the Statue of Liberty’s crown was reopened to the public with new strict security, 32,609 people bought tickets to climb the 354 steps to the top in 2009, according to Statue Cruises, the only ferry company authorized to take visitors to the island.
Closed since Sept. 11, 2001, the crown reopend July 4, 2009 with new procedures that allow only 30 people per hour to climb up the narrow double-helix staircase, which was criticized as a firetrap even before the 2001 terror attacks.
For the full 12 months of 2009, Liberty and Ellis islands racked up a total visitation number of 3,829,710, Statue Cruises spokesperson Tegan Firth told NewYorkology by e-mail today.
Severe weather interruped service on three days. It was snow on March 2 and Dec. 20; extreme heat closed the crown Aug. 17.
Of all the tickets sold, a mere 10 percent were online, Firth said. The bulk, 78 percent were walk-ups while 12 percent were sold through the call center.
Time-specific crown tickets must be purchased in advance. In the summer, they sold out months in advance but currently January tickets are still there for the taking.
The $12 Statue Cruises ticket covers the ferry ride to both Ellis and Liberty islands. Both are operated by the National Park Service and have no admission fee per se, except there is a $3 charge for crown access (which can only be purchased as part of the ferry ticket package.)
The Statue Cruises boats made 6,267 New York departures in 2009, and 3,835 trips from New Jersey.
Here’s how it looked July 5, 2009:
Picture and video credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Abandoned subway stop, bus depot on transit tours list
The New York Transit Museum today publicly opened its list of tours for the winter of 2010, including visits to a bus depot and the city’s oldest subway station.
The unused Old City Hall Station — which can be glimpsed through the dark if you stay on the 6 train as it loops from the end of the downtown run to the start of the uptown route — is an architectural gem with arching Guastavino tiles, a skylight and chandeliers. The tour offers a view, and the history of the 1904 station, that you can’t get from the 6 train.
The full list of transit tours may disappoint as it’s already been picked over by museum members, who get first dibs by mail. Five tours already sold out, including the Westchester Yard maintenance shop tour, the Linden Shop subway tour and a Staten Island food tour.
Update: Tours filled up exceptionally fast. Only the East New York Bus Depot and Corona Maintenance Facility still have openings.
Membership — $40 at the friend level; $30 for seniors or students — is also required if you want to take the tour of the Old City Hall Station.
Transit tours with availability:
The Jewel in the Crown: Old City Hall Station - Jan. 16 at noon, 1, 2 and 3 p.m.
Buses in the Brooklyn Division: East New York Bus Depot - Feb. 13 at 11 a.m.
NewYorkology contributor Alexandra Farkas last year directed the New York premiere of John Fleming’s “The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley” at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center is back as NewYorkology’s theater critic after a hiatus to give birth to a beautiful baby girl.
When it comes to spectacles, Cirque du Soleil is the North American front runner by a long shot. Sure Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey has three rings and wild animals and motorcycles and on and on. But Cirque du Soleil, in its many shows, has always been more dazzling for its lack of distractions – clowns who are delightful without being obnoxious and human beings doing awe-inspiring, incredible things in a beautifully designed space. “Wintuk,” working on its third holiday season at Madison Square Garden’s Wamu Theater, is no exception, though it feels too clean and calculated for the children and families it’s clearly targeted at.
NYC museums, restaurants, zoos open New Year's Day
Although Jan. 1 is a holiday, many museums, restaurants, ice rinks, zoos clubs and other venues remain open on New Year’s Day in New York City. Here’s the list:
Not quite a blizzard, but NYC gets pre-winter snow day
It wasn’t the hoped-for “snowpocalypse” in New York City, but six to 12 inches fell throughout the five boroughs overnight.
“What seemed to happen is the storm went pretty much to the east, so the further east you were in New York City — Staten Island, parts of Brooklyn, Queens, the Rockaways — that’s where you got the larger snowfall,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a Sunday morning news conference.
Preliminary snow measurements were 10.9 inches in both Central Park and at JFK Airport; and 6.9 inches at LaGuardia, NY1 meteorologist John Davitt reported. Update: Although the snow has stopped, the totals are still being updated. As of noon: 14.2 inches at Kennedy Airport; 9.5 inches in the Bronx; 10.9 inches for Central Park; and 8.8 inches for Queens. Update as of 4 p.m.: 8.8 inches at LaGuardia; 10.9 inches at Central Park; and 14.2 at JFK.
There are 1,500 snow plows and 365 salt spreaders on the streets, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said during the news conference. All 6,000 miles of city steets should be plowed by the end of the day, the mayor said.
“Monday morning will be slushy and cold and slippery — be careful — but everything we think will be passable,” Bloomberg said.
It’s a snow day in some city parks — with free hot choclate and sleds from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. — at Riverside Park (near 103rd Street;) Prospect Park (near the Tennis House;) Crotona Park (near Fulton and 172nd Street;) Juniper Valley Park (near 78th and Juniper Valley North;) and Clove Lakes Park (near Martling.)
American Museum of Natural History 2010 sleepovers
The big blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History is due for more overnight guests.
More museum sleepover dates have been announced for the first half of 2010 and the age range has been slightly expanded. To spend the night in the museum, kids must be between the ages of 7 and 13, (previously it was 8- to 12-years old.) Adults may attend as chaperones.
The sleepover costs $129 per person and includes a “fossil fact-finding mission by flashlight,” entry to an IMAX film or space show, a view of the live-animal exhibition, and evening snack and light breakfast.
The museum sleepover dates for 2010:
Saturday, January 23
Friday, January 29 (Girl Scouts Night)
Saturday, February 6
Friday, February 26 (Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts Night)
Friday, March 19 (Girl Scouts Night)
Friday, March 26
Saturday, April 10
Friday, April 23 (Girl Scouts Night)
Saturday, May 8 (Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts Night)
Friday, May 21
Saturday, June 19
Friday, June 25
