Searching for art and culture activities in New York City to help kick off the holiday season? Following is our short list of things to do in New York for Thanksgiving and continuing through the weekend. Expect to find music, a special Thanksgiving dinner celebration, Alice's Restaurant come to life and more.
1. Thanksgiving Dinner and Jazz Concert with Wycliffe Gordon & Friends
Jazz vocalist/trombonist/trumpeter Wycliffe Gordon performs a special extended double set for Thanksgiving at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola on Thursday, November 26, at 7 p.m. The meal features a four-course menu with entrée wine pairing. The music features Wycliffe Gordon with pianist Ehud Asherie, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Alvin Atkinson, Jr. In addition to the special Thanksgiving set, Wycliffe Gordon & Friends performs its annual holiday season concert series at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola on November 24, 25, 27 and 28 with sets at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets for Thanksgiving with Wycliffe Gordon & Friends are $145; regular show tickets cost $40-$45. Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola is on the fifth floor of Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, located at 10 Columbus Circle, New York NY 10019. www.jazz.org/dizzys.
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Musician, composer, conductor and arranger Wycliffe Gordon. Courtesy Lincoln Center.
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2. Talk and Screening of It's a Wonderful Life
The New-York Historical Society presents a screening of the 1946 classic holiday favorite It's a Wonderful Life on Friday, November 27 at 7 p.m. in the Historical Society’s Robert H. Smith Auditorium. The film stars Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and is directed by Frank Capra. The screening begins with Opening Remarks by Mary Owen, Donna Reed's daughter and board member of the Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts, and Ted Widmer, a historian, author, librarian of the John Carter Brown Library and former speechwriter for the Clinton White House. The event is part of the society's Justice in Film series and the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Classic Film Series.
Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 6 p.m. The screening is included with museum admission, which falls on the New York Historical’s Pay-as-you-wish Friday Nights. The New York Historical Society is located at 170 Central Park West, New York NY 10024. www.nyhistory.org.
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By National Telefilm Associates (Screenshot of the film).
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3. Arlo Guthrie: Alice's Restaurant 50th Anniversary Performance at Carnegie Hall
For the first time in a decade, folk singer and songwriter Arlo Guthrie performs the entire 1967 album Alice’s Restaurant for a 50th celebration of the conception of the work at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, November 28 at 8 p.m. The concert includes "Alice's Restaurant Massacree," a musical monologue based on Guthrie’s true experiences on Thanksgiving 1965. Guthrie is backed by his band featuring Abe Guthrie, Terry A La Berry Hall, Bobby Sweet and Darren Todd. The concert is presented by Rising Son Records.
Tickets are $15 to $75. Carnegie Hall is located at 881 Seventh Avenue, New York NY 10019. www.carnegiehall.org.
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Folk singer and songwriter Arlo Guthrie.
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4. Concert of Selected Concertos, Sonatas and Suites by JS Bach
The Salon/Sanctuary Concert Series presents a program of masterpieces by Johann Sebastian Bach—including the Suite for Solo Cello in G major, the Sonata for Violin and Obbligato Harpsichord in A major, and the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor—on Saturday, November 28 at 8 p.m. at Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium. Performing are violinist Monica Huggett, harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire, cellist James Waldo and the Salon/Sanctuary Chamber Orchestra. The Salon/Sanctuary series brings chamber music performances to intimate salon spaces, aiming to acquaint audiences with the historical context of the repertoire. Wine and cheese reception follows.
Remaining tickets are $35-$125. Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium is located at 417 East 61 Street, New York NY 10065. www.salonsanctuary.org.
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Harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire. Photo by Erin Baiano.
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Violinist Monica Huggett.
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5. Holiday Train Show Exhibition A Capella Concert
Presented in conjunction with the New York Botanical Garden's annual Holiday Train Show Exhibition are a capella performances of favorite holiday carols on Saturday, November 28 and Sunday, November 29. The concerts take place at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on both days in the garden's Leon Levy Visitor Center. While there, be sure to check out the holiday train exhibition which covers an additional 3,000 square feet of space. Expect to find G-scale model trains running along miniature versions of New York City architectural landmarks created by artist Paul Busse and his team. Can't make it this weekend? Additional a capella concerts will be held in conjunction with the exhibition which is on view through January 18, 2016.
The concerts are free with an All-Garden Pass that costs $25 for adults, $22 for students and seniors, $10 for children 2-12 years, and free for under 2 years old. The New York Botanical Garden is located at 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx NY 10458. www.nybg.org.
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A blue trolley passes by NYC landmark buildings. Holiday Train Show ® Photo by Ben Hider
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