Party Like It’s 1962 @ TWA Hotel
It seems entirely counterintuitive to get excited to go to the airport during the holidays, but the newly reopened (and goddamn sexy) TWA Flight Center might change your mind. Their throwback NYE, Party Like It’s 1962, honors the year the center was originally opened and promises a five-hour open bar, dinner stations, live of-the-era music, ice-skating performances on the tarmac, and spins around their Retro Rink. Not to mention the fully unique view of jets taking off and landing outside the windows of this mid-century marvel.
Tuesday, December 31st, 8 p.m. // TWA Hotel, One Idlewild Dr., JFK Airport // Tickets: $185 and up
New Year's Eve Concert for Peace @ Cathedral of St. John the Divine
One of the signature events of the famed Morningside Heights Cathedral of St. John the Divine is their New Year's Eve Concert for Peace. The annual show, performed by the Cathedral Choir and Orchestra, was started by Leonard Bernstein in 1984 and has been dazzling revelers ever since. This year it will be hosted by Harry Smith, led by the cathedral’s Director of Music Kent Tritle, and feature special guests Paul Winter, Judy Collins, Jamet Pittman, Jason Robert Brown, and David Briggs. (Tip: Check out the facade while you're there.)
Tuesday, December 31st, 7:30 p.m. // Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan // Tickets: $100
Jump-start your wild night with introspective comedy
Pregame with Gethard and Friends @ Littlefield
For an early NYE option—whether it’s to whet your appetite before a bigger soirée or if you just want to get yourself back home before the throngs hit the streets—laugh it up at Pregame with Gethard and Friends. Chris Gethard, known for his highly personal sets about depression and suicide, will be joined by a range of funny folks, including Martin Urbano, Meg Stalter, Brittany Carney, and more. There are $30 “party packages” available that include tix to the show as well as food and drinks at Littlefield’s sister venue, Parklife.
Tuesday, December 31st, 6:30 p.m. // Littlefield, 635 Sackett St., Brooklyn // Tickets: $12
New Year's Eve Celebration and Sit @ Brooklyn Zen
If you’re looking for a calm evening far from the crowds, check out Brooklyn Zen’s 13th-annual New Year's Eve Celebration and Sit. The evening begins with a temple cleaning, then moves into a group dinner of noodle soup. Starting at 10:30, there will be three traditional Chinese zazen meditation sessions; the final period will go just past midnight, at which time the center will ring 108 bells in the quiet hall as the city erupts in cheers. There are only 65 tickets available at three price points; guests are asked to choose the tier that represents their personal financial means.
Tuesday, December 31st, 8 p.m. // Brooklyn Zen, 505 Carroll St., Brooklyn // Tickets: $10–$30
Take your New Year's all around the globe at the McKittrick World's Fair
The McKittrick World's Fair @ McKittrick Hotel
Take a spin all around the globe at The McKittrick World's Fair. The soirée will see every floor of the Sleep No More locale made over, transformed to evoke global metropolises and exotic curiosities. Expect glittering displays, a bevy of live performances and musicians, ethereal installations, surprise guests, and an all-night open bar. Some ticket tiers include a three-course meal, additional live performances, and more. Costumes are required, and the suggested color scheme is “luxe shades of midnight blue, gold, silver, or black.”
Tuesday, December 31st, 6 p.m. // McKittrick Hotel, 530 West 27th St., Manhattan // Tickets: $275 and up
Sasha Velour’s Nightgowns New Year’s Eve @ National Sawdust
There are two seatings for this fierce and fabulous new year’s drag cabaret: the early show and the late. Gender-fluid drag queen Sasha Velour hosts both (VIP ticket-holders get a meet & greet plus a photo with the star before the show), and the “truly queer night of theater” includes a plethora of performers representing all (and no) genders. To name a few: Nyx Nocturne, Divina Gran Sparkle, Untitled Queen, Miss Malice, Vigor Mortis, and Patti Spliff.
Tuesday, December 31st, 6 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. // National Sawdust, 80 North 6th St., Brooklyn // Tickets: $40–$150
Welcome 2020 with a fireworks display
New Year's Eve Fireworks @ Grand Army Plaza
To ring in 2020 in a reliably delightful (and free!) way, you can’t go wrong with the Prospect Park Alliance’s annual New Year's Eve Fireworks. Now in its 40th year, the family-friendly evening includes live entertainment, music from (the not-very-inviting sounding) DJ Headache, tens of thousands of bundled Brooklynites and friends, and of course, a spectacular fireworks display at the stroke of midnight. Festivities are rain or shine.
Tuesday, December 31st, 10:30 p.m. // Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn // Free
New Year's Day Poetry Marathon @ The Poetry Project
Start your year with a vast variety of verse at the 46th-annual New Year's Day Poetry Marathon. A proud tradition in the city for nearly half a century, the event is also the year’s biggest fundraiser for the Poetry Project, founded in 1966, which traces its heritage to the many coffeehouse reading series that took place throughout the Lower East Side in the 1950s and 1960s. Billed as “an untamed gathering of the heart’s secret, wild nobility,” the 10-hour marathon features more than 150 poets, performers, and artists from all over the city.
Wednesday, January 1st. 2 p.m. // The Poetry Project, 131 E. 10th St., Manhattan // Tickets: $20
Dig into digital puppetry (and a lot more) at the Exponential Festival
Exponential Festival @ Various venues
See the bleeding edge of theater at the Exponential Festival, a month-long extravaganza focused on emerging artists and experimental performance. Some highlights: Good and Noble Beings, an adaptation of Deleuze and Guattari’s poststructuralist text A Thousand Plateaus mashed up with memoir and radical reimaginings; Devotion Devotion, opulent loops and choreography made from deconstructed memories and cinematic debris; Assemble, an app-based, choose-your-own-adventure guerilla performance; Fear in the Western World, a high-tech digital puppet show combining horror movie tropes with Greek mythology; and Protagony, mixing high school debate with drag to create “oratory theatricality” with a different cast each night. Whew.
Opens Friday, January 3rd // Various venues // Various prices
Javanka 2020 @ Feinstein's/54 Below
Ease your way into 2020 with a little political levity courtesy of the satirical cabaret Javanka 2020, starring Sarah Naughton and Jake Weinstein as the first daughter and son-in-law. "Told through their favorite medium of musical comedy, Jared and Ivanka are on the campaign trail to spread the gospel of Trump and rally the troops for the 2020 re-election." They’ll be joined by special guest Maddy Apple, who’s currently in Broadway’s Hello, Dolly!
Saturday, January 4th, 9 p.m. // Feinstein’s/54 Below, 254 West 54th St., Manhattan // Tickets: $25–$65
