New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [106]
The 2,200-seat main stage is perfectly suited for its role as a showplace for dance and special theatrical events. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (www.alvinailey.org) and Paul Taylor Dance Company (www.ptdc.org) present their primary New York seasons here.
City Center’s annual Fall for Dance festival is a must; all tickets are $10, the performances sell out very quickly. Another seasonal highlight—usually throughout January—is the lively productions of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (212/769–1000 | www.nygasp.org), which feature such G&S favorites as The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, plus rarities like Sullivan’s last completed work, The Rose of Persia.
The popular Encores! musicals-in-concert series is staged here, as are—on the smaller City Center Stages I and II—a number of productions and programs of the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Pearl Theatre Company.
Radio City Music Hall (1260 6th Ave., between W. 50th and W. 51st Sts., Midtown West | 10020 | 212/247–4777 | www.radiocity.com | Subway: B, D, F to 47th–50th/Rockefeller Center) is the famed home of the scissor-kicking Rockettes and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, but this stunning Art Deco showplace also packs its some 6,000 seats for spectacles like Cirque du Soleil, musical events, and the occasional film, set, perhaps, to a live orchestra.
Readings and Lectures
The nonprofit Municipal Art Society (MAS) (111 W. 57th St., between 6th and 7th Aves., Midtown West | 10019 | 212/935–3960, 212/453–0050 Tour Hotline | www.mas.org | Subway: F to 57th St.; D, E to 7th Ave./53rd St.) is a committed advocate for smart urban planning and the architectural treasures that define this metropolis.
Count on their walking tours—on weekends mostly, plus a downtown series that sets out at midday on Tuesday—to offer a fresh perspective and feature the rarely seen, from Dawn Powell’s Greenwich Village to a rolling tour of Grand Central Station to a visit to Little Syria in Manhattan’s lower west side. Their resource library has the corner on NYC arcana.
The New York Public Library (Celeste Bartos Forum,W. 42nd St. at 5th Ave., Midtown West | 10018 | 212/930–0855, or 888/718-4253 | www.nypl.org/ | Subway: B, D, F, M to 42nd St.) presents LIVE from the NYPL, a rich program of lectures and reading events at the famous main library and its branches elsewhere in the city.
Theater
The onetime Selwyn—the venerable home to the works of Coward, Kaufman, and Porter in their heyday—is now known as the American Airlines Theatre (227 W. 42nd St., between 7th and 8th Aves., Midtown West | 10036 | 212/719–1300 tickets | www.roundabouttheatre.org | Subway: 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, S to 42nd St./Times Sq.; A, C, E to 42nd St./Port Authority). After incarnations as a burlesque hall and pornographic movie house, this splendidly restored 1918 Venetian-style playhouse is now home to the not-for-profit Roundabout Theatre Company, which is acclaimed for its revivals of classic musicals and plays, such as a Doug Hughes–directed production of A Man for All Seasons.
The Barrymore Theatre (243 W. 47th St., between Broadway and 8th Ave., Midtown West | 10036 | 212/239–6200 tickets | www.shubertorganization.com | Subway: 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, S to 42nd St./Times Sq.; C, E to 50th St.) was that rare Broadway house that stayed legit throughout the Depression and still honors its original namesake, Ethel Barrymore. The 1928 Elizabethan wonder greets theatergoers with two stone archways. Shows within have included David Rabe’s original Hurly Burly in 1984 and the innovative revival of Sondheim’s Company in 2006.
In 1997 Disney refurbished the elaborate 1903 Art Nouveau New Amsterdam Theater