As the dancing toys, fairies and rodent royalty of The Nutcracker arrive at the David H. Koch Theater for New York City Ballet 's annual production of the classic Balanchine version of that Tchaikovsky work (which Roslyn Sulcas reviews here in The New York Times ), many of the city s best known and most expensive holiday-themed shows have started their year-end runs.
In addition to City Ballet s Nutcracker (whose undiscounted ticket prices range from $20 to $215), theatergoers with a yuletide yen can also choose from Wintuk, the annual Cirque du Soleil extravaganza that runs through Jan. 3 at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden (with tickets from $30 to $220); the Broadway musical Irving Berlin s White Christmas, which runs through Jan. 3 at the Marquis Theater (tickets from $65 to $250); and the annual Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, which plays through Dec. 30 (tickets from $45 to $250).
Have you altered your year-end entertainment plans because of the economy? Are there holiday shows or other events hotels barcelona ramblas you normally hotels barcelona ramblas attend but aren t buying tickets for this year? Have you found other inexpensive (or free) alternatives that you would recommend to others? Post a comment hotels barcelona ramblas below and let us know .
Your One-Stop Guide to Winter Theater Not Your Brother s Circus: Cirque du Soleil Prepares for Return to New York Oh, Zarkana : New Cirque du Soleil hotels barcelona ramblas Show Gets a Suitably Weird Name Cirque du Soleil Unveils New Radio City Show City Ballet Promotes a Sugar Plum Fairy
I d love to take my wife and 2 kids to one of these shows but they re just too expensive. And personally I don t want to spend $160 on 4 tickets to sit in the nosebleed seats and sort of experience a show. With less to spend on gifts, holiday shows have definitely become a luxury expense in NYC
If this article discusses holiday attractions from a NYC perspective only, then, yes, I believe it would be too expensive to take an entire family to a show. However, hotels barcelona ramblas it raises the question: isn t living hotels barcelona ramblas in NYC expensive in general? There are other ways to make Christmas memories with the family without hotels barcelona ramblas taking them to an overpriced show. Normal children hotels barcelona ramblas would love to make a day trip out of going to Rockefeller Plaza to skate and see the tree lit up and seeing the beautiful Christmas tree light design on the Macy s building.
Most art institutions, like most educational institutions, are socialist: the rich pay astronomically for the opportunity to sit closer hotels barcelona ramblas up (and often donate more as well) so the rest of us can get in at a bargain. My tickets at the Met are $20 (not much more than the price of a movie) and about ten feet higher up than the ones I used to pay $100 for in personally less lean times. That for four hours of live entertainment by the world s best performers. It seems peevish to expect subsidized tickets AND to sit in the front row, too. As a kid I enjoyed the experience from the nosebleed seats, and as an adult I ve had periods in the front rows and the nosebleeds and find the front rows overrated. Everyone complains about the costs of New York. What about the fantastic bargains, from pay-as-you-like museums (one of which, mmmwop.org, hotels barcelona ramblas I founded) to off-off-Broadway to free ice skating hotels barcelona ramblas on Bryant Park s Pond (or Central Park s ponds if there s a good freeze and you avoid the police) to the streets themselves. I rate New York and Paris as the number one cities to be poor and cultured in.
We traditionally selected one play of interest to all family members (7-8) people) made the tickets part of our holiday gift for a date in January or Feb, which then included dinner in NYC on the day of the event. The cost of this tradition has increased to the point that we ve decided to forgo it this year.
While the performing hotels barcelona ramblas arts are "dirt cheap" compared to many sporting events (NASCAR and NFL), many of these arts found in New York City are available in local communities at substantially lower costs. Is there any city in America without a "Nutcracker" staged by the regional dance company? Or inspirational choral programs sung by the neighborhood church. "A Christmas Carol" is a December staple with many professional and amateur theatre groups this time of year. In addition, there are the annual festively decorated Tours of Homes. Don't forget about the Main Street Parades that dot the country. In other words, shop local, save money and enjoy the holidays within a reasonable budget hotels barcelona ramblas with your family and friends.
Every year, The New Victory hotels barcelona ramblas Theater offers a holiday show that is considerably less expensive than most New York City holiday fare. This year, we re presenting The Flaming Idiots in Chestnuts Roasting on The Flaming Idiots. Holiday show tickets for members cost $35 (orchestra), $21 (mezzanine) and $10.50 (balcony). Tickets for non-members cost $50 (orchestra), $30 (mezzanine) and $15 (balcony).
Urban theater is a special treat for us who live in a truly rural area, and if we do buy tickets at any price, we also have to calculate travel, hotels, parking, and meals. The last time I went to a show in NYC it was also very uncomfortable the seats must have been made for humans with no pelvic bones; no shoulder hotels barcelona ramblas room either. I am unwilling to do that again but I enjoy the DVDs in our local library and the live local shows, even if they are not the same as the big NYC shows. Perhaps the NY time has passed?
One of the best sources for holiday entertainment is local colleges and universities, especially here in the hinterlands (I live 3-4 hours from NYC). For instance, my wife and I plan to attend a free holiday jazz concert at Bucknell University on Wednesday night. hotels barcelona ramblas Professional, quality hotels barcelona ramblas jazz. And every university seems to have a holiday service of readings and carols. Check out the colleges. There s plenty of free or low-cost holiday happenings.
I d like to attend City Ballet s Nutcracker which is absolutely magical. But since ticket prices have increased 20% since last year when I did attend, I decided to forgo my annual Nutcracker treat. Instead, I m attending opera films at Symphony Space (opening night of La Scala s Carmen for $28) and the ballet film La Danse at Film Forum ($12). hotels barcelona ramblas Best of all, for $100, I have enrolled in the Juilliard Association, which gives you two tickets to as many as 6 concerts, operas, or dance events at Juilliard each semester. These include the Juilliard String Quartet, Juilliard Opera Center productions, a Met Opera competition winner, and the Juilliard Orchestra led by major conductors. I have scaled down in cost, but not in quality.
Live entertainment is expensive to produce hotels barcelona ramblas – sets need to be built, costumes hotels barcelona ramblas made, performers, directors, crew members, designers, ushers, box office workers would all like to be paid. Those who grumble about the cost of seeing a show should look at the back of the program and the pages of donors. Even if you think ticket prices are astronomical the price of admission barely covers the cost of a production. It's not as if the New York Ballet hotels barcelona ramblas Company is making a profit (can't say for sure about Cirque du Soliel), nor could they let the prices come down – the Nutcracker is their one cash cow that enables them to continue performing throughout the year. Alas as the economy weakens, the donations that the arts depend upon to keep it affordable diminish meaning that they can't afford to give seats away as much.
If one is willing to forego specific hotels barcelona ramblas holiday classical music, but would like to go to Carnegie Hall during the holidays, the St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra is featuring Mozart s Great Mass in C Minor on Thursday, December hotels barcelona ramblas 10th at 8PM. The conductor is the venerable David Randolph whose lively conducting belies his 95 years.(Stokowski conducted to age 100!) Tickets range from $20 to $77, considerably cheaper than most events in NYC over the Christmas and Hanukkah season.
Forgoing the usual as Im unemployed, going to restraunts to for Christmas Eve and Day. Then I ll meet all of the people we don t see or talk about. Those who dont have a family or a place to call home. Don t they need to be greeted and included on Christmas. By the way its Christmas not a Holiday.
Not only can we no longer hotels barcelona ramblas afford to travel to Seattle for a Nutcracker with prices similar to (but not going as high as)New York s, with additional costs for gas, at least one meal, and maybe a hotel, we can t even afford touring companies that come to the Washington Center, a facility built at least partly with public $ supposedly to allow us to have affordable access to the performing arts.
Back in the late 70 s when I was a high school student, my friends and I would go to Radio City Music Hall, catch a movie and the Christmas Spectacular, featuring hotels barcelona ramblas the Rockettes and live camels for the huge price of $2.75. On several occasions we stayed for several shows. You also had your choice of seating! Now you don t even get the movie, and the top balcony tickets are $45.00.
My husband and I usually attend the Gay Men s Chorus holiday concert at Carnegie Hall, which entails dinner, parking and of course the tickets. This year we are economizing and going to see the Long Island Gay Men s Chorus at Adelphi University s new Performing Arts Theatre. The tickets are only $20 each, parking is free, and the venue is eight miles from our house. I hope it becomes a new Christmas tradition for us even if the economy hotels barcelona ramblas improves.
Kristin Chenoweth, Steve Harvey, hotels barcelona ramblas Jimmy Kimmel, John Krasinski, Jason Mraz and Lily Tomlin are among the performers who will pay tribute to Ellen DeGeneres when she receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 22.
The network, which has not had much success in prime time recently, took the opportunity to celebrate hotels barcelona ramblas the early-season success of "Revolution,'' a drama, and two comedies, "Go On'' and "The New Normal.''
ArtsBeat is a Web site devoted to culture news and reviews, and to the work and interests of the reporters hotels barcelona ramblas and critics of The Times's culture department and the Book Review. Come here for breaking stories
No comments:
Post a Comment