Holidays for Adults December
Holidays for Adults December: Take a break from the kids for your own holiday celebration with these 18 holiday what to do’s!
December
Hot Ticket Alert! Bar Car Nights, New York Botanical Garden’s Train Show: Fri-Sat, 12/1-2, 8-9, 22-23, 29-30 & Sat, 1/6 & 13: 7-10:30pm: Exclusively for adults 21 plus! Check out this after dark viewing of the world’s coolest train show on a half-mile of track, with 12 super-sized train sets and a landscape of 140 scaled replicas of iconic New York City buildings made of bark, twigs, fruit, seeds and pine cones. Including, the original Penn Station and Yankee Stadium, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Then grab a drink from the bar(s), relax around the new Visitor Center Fire Pit while dueling pianos play fave tunes in Pine Tree Café and illuminated Snow Globe Dancers – do whatever? We’re in! (2900 Southern Blvd. Bronx; www.nybg.org)
USA Today’s Top Holiday Tour: Holiday Mansion Tours at Lyndhurst: Fri, 11/24 – Sun, 12/30: Described as one of the “Ten Best Historic Holiday Tours” by USA Today, Lyndhurst’s “A Very Duchess Holiday” is an over-the-top display of holiday ornaments paying homage to Anna Gould, the Duchess of Talleyrand, the last owner of Lyndhurst. The display features rarely seen children’s toys, holiday dishes, silver, jewels, and clothes that belonged to the Duchess. (635 S. Broadway, Tarrytown; www.lyndhurst.org)
Linda Eder Holiday Show, Ridgefield Playhouse – Fri, 12/8: 8pm: North Salem resident and Drama Desk Award-nominee for her starring role in Jekyll & Hyde, Linda Eder has released 15 albums and performed her repertoire of Broadway, American Standards, Pop, Country & Jazz at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall. Here she performs her holiday show. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)
Stamford Symphony presents Handel’s Messiah – Sat, 12/9: 8pm: Ted Sperling conducts the Stamford Symphony takes on Part I & and the Hallelujah Chorus from Part II of Handel’s classic oratorio at The Basilica of St. John The Evangelist in Stamford. “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight and the rough places plain.” (Basilica of St. John The Evangelist, 279 Atlantic St., Stamford; www.palacestamford.org)
Cyndi Lauper & Friends: Home for the Holidays, Beacon Theatre – Sat, 12/9: 8pm: For the past five years this concert has played to sold out audiences. This year’s lineup includesJackson Browne, Dr. John, Paulina Rubio, Sandra Bernhardt, Ani DiFranco, comedians Judy Gold and Bridgett Everett, Peaches, Ballets with a Twist, Vivian Green, Ricky Shroeder, Arianna and the Rose, Wrabel, host Carson Kressley and more. (Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway, NYC; www.beacontheatre.com)
Vienna Boys Choir, Tarrytown Music Hall – Sat, 12/9: 8pm: Founded by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1498, the Vienna Boys’ Choir is the longest running holiday act in the world – by half a millennium. Their program of classical and popular holiday music offers an eclectic repertoire from Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” to Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” and “Oh Happy Day” by the Edwin Hawkins Singers. And “Jingle Bells” – of course. (Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main St., Tarrytown; www.tarrytownmusichall.org)
Mr. Dickens Tells A Christmas Carol, Lyndhurst Mansion: Sun, 12/10 – Sat, 12/30: check dates & times: In this hour-long theatrical performance appropriate for all ages, actor Michael Muldoon recreates the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim from Charles Dickens’s scripts. The performance travels through the mansion meeting the story’s spirits and characters in different rooms along the way – a cool way to see this fabulous castle. (635 S. Broadway, Tarrytown; www.lyndhurst.org)
Christmas with The Celts, Ridgefield Playhouse – Sun, 12/10: 7:30pm: This popular PBS “pledge show” features real falling snow and a mix of traditional Irish and American pop music, ancient Irish and Scottish carols and their own rock versions of “Run, Run, Rudolph”, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Jingle Bells”. They are accompanied by traditional Irish instruments such as the bhodran, uilleann pipes, fiddles, Irish whistles and Irish step dancers. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)
Handel’s Messiah, New York Philharmonic, Tues- Sat, 12/12-16: Conductor Andre Manze and the Westminster Symphonic Choir take on Part I and Part II of the most famous and beloved chorale works of all time. (David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC: www.newyorkphilharmonic.com)
Local! The Brandenburg Concertos, Bedford Chamber Concerts: Wed, 12/13: 8pm: Wynton Marsalis called Dr. Anthony Newman “the high priest of Bach.” His Bedford Chamber Concerts made our Bucket List. Seeing him do the Brandenburgs locally is a Bucket List event on steroids. Newman has performed this Bach holiday staple with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 12 times at Alice Tully Hall. (St, Matthews Church, 382 Cantitoe St., Bedford; www.bedfordchamberconcerts.org)
Local! The Gift of The Magi, Schoolhouse Theatre: Thurs, 12/14-Sun, 12/24: check dates & times: Adapted from the O. Henry Christmas love story, this new adaptation by Bram Lewis is set against a back drop of the immigrant streets of New York with all the wonder of the three wise men who gave us the first gifts of Christmas. There will be carols and cookies at intermission. Thurs-Sun: 12/15-18, 22-25:: 8pm, Sundays at 3pm. (Schoolhouse Theatre, 3 Owens Rd., Croton Falls: www.schoolhousetheater.org)
Rob Mathes Holiday Concert, Performing Arts Center: Fri-Sat, 12/15-16: 8pm: This annual celebration featuring Mathes and his all-star band and chorus, is a high-energy evening of rock, jazz, and blues – original tunes and holiday classics. Mathes has worked with virtually every big name including Bono, Bennett, Sting, and Springsteen. “This holiday production puts a new spin on Christmas classics” –The New York Times (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.artscenter.org)
Tenet, Caramoor – Sat, 12/16: 5 & 7:30pm: One of New York’s preeminent vocal ensembles, Tenet visits the intimate Rosen House Music Room for two shows of carols to celebrate the season. This vocal quintet joins with lute to perform carols old and new. (140 Girdle Ridge Rd., Katonah; www.caramoor.org)
The Brandenburg Concertos, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – Fri, 12/15: 7:30 pm, Sun, 12/17: 5pm & Tues, 12/19: 7:30pm: The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach are considered among the finest musical compositions of the Baroque era. The New York Times called The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s annual performances at Alice Tully Hall a “New York holiday staple.” This is when you can get your holiday Bach fix. (Alice Tully Hall, 1941 Broadway, NYC; www.lincolncenter.org)
Hot ticket alert! Winter Pops, Westchester Philharmonic with Laura Michelle Kelly, Performing Arts Center: Sun, 12/17: 3pm: This is our favorite event of the season! Ted Sperling conducts the Westchester Phil and Broadway star Laura Michelle Kelly in a program of Broadway, the Great American Songbook and holiday favorites. Laura created the stage role of Mary Poppins in London’s West End earning the Olivier Award for Best Actress. She went on to star in West End and Broadway productions of South Pacific, The King and I and Finding Neverland. Plus a special appearance from Kelly Hall-Tompkins performing her acclaimed solos from Fiddler on the Roof. We go every year! (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.westhcesterphil.org)
Local! Dr. Anthony Newman’s Holiday Concert, The Sanctuary Series, S. Salem Presbyterian Church: Sun, 12/17: 4pm: Time called keyboardist and composer Dr. Anthony Newman “the high priest of the harpsichord”. Here he performs a special holiday concert. (111 Spring St., S. Salem; www.thesanctuaryseries.org)
Rockapella Holiday, Ridgefield Playhouse – Sun, 12/17: 8pm: This critically acclaimed a capella group first achieved recognition on PBS’s Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? Since then, they’ve provided a funky soundtrack to several generations of vocal music fans with buckets of catchy original pop songs, and contemporary revisions of Motown, pop, and soul classics. Here the rockapella the holidays! (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)
Local Chevy Chase Alert! National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Historical Hall Bedford Village, Tuesday, 12/19: 7:30pm: Chevy Chase will guest and Bedford Playhouse founder John Farr will moderate a Q&A after this screening of the 1989 film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo as The Griswold’s. With Randy Quaid, Juliette Lewis and Brian Doyle-Murray. (608 Old Post Rd, Bedford; www.befordplayhouse.org)
The Nutcracker, Bolshoi Ballet in HD – Jacob Burns Wed, 12/20: 6:30pm & Thurs, 12/21: 12pm: , See a live performance of The Nutcracker by the Bolshoi Ballet onscreen in high definition. The Bolshoi’s version of The Nutcracker has a unique and beautiful sense of romance and philosophy, danced by the heroic Denis Rodkin as the courageous Prince and the magical Anna Nikulina as Marie. (Jacob Burns, 364 Manville Rd., Pleasantville; www.burnsfilmcenter.org)
Local! Candlelight Holiday tours, John Jay Homestead, Katonah: Wed – Fri, 12/20 – 22: Experience John Jay’s historic Bedford House as it takes on the glow of candlelight to celebrate the holiday season. These guided tours focus on holiday traditions and decorations of the 1820s. Tours are offered on the half hour from 5-7pm. (400 Jay St, (Rt. 22), Katonah; www.johnjayhomestead.org)
The Nutcracker, Bolshoi Ballet in HD – Ridgefield Playhouse: Sat, 12/23: 2pm: See a live performance of The Nutcracker by the Bolshoi Ballet onscreen in high definition. The Bolshoi’s version of The Nutcracker has a unique and beautiful sense of romance and philosophy, danced by the heroic Denis Rodkin as the courageous Prince and the magical Anna Nikulina as Marie. (Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)
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