twi-ny: archive of past events

YANK! TICKET GIVEAWAY

Stu and Mitch sing but don’t ask and don’t tell in new military musical

YANK! A WWWII LOVE STORY
The Theatre at Saint Peter’s
619 Lexington Ave. at 54th St.
February 16 – March 21, $67.50
212-935-5820
www.yankthemusical.com

Named Best Musical by audiences at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival, YANK! had a sold-out extended run in San Diego and now comes to the York Theatre in Midtown for five weeks. A throwback to old-fashioned Broadway musicals, YANK! tells the fictional love story between draftee Stu and Private Mitch, inspired by actual events experienced by gay and straight military men and women. Directed by Igor Goldin, written by lyricist David Zellnik and composer Joe Zellnik, and choreographed by Jeffry Denman (who also appears as Artie), YANK! stars Nancy Anderson, Ivan Hernandez, and Bobby Steggert.

GIVEAWAY: Tickets are $67.50, but twi-ny has five pairs to give away for select nights. To be eligible to win a pair, all you have to do is name which New York Yankees superstar gave up three baseball seasons while in his prime to fight for his country during WWII. Send your name, daytime phone number, and the correct answer to contest@twi-ny.com by Wednesday, February 10, at 3:00 pm. Five winners will be chosen at random. All entrants must be at least twenty-one years of age.

20 AT 20: OFF-BROADWAY TICKET GIVEAWAY

Multiple locations
January 25 – Feburary 7, $20
www.20at20.com

Running concurrently with Restaurant Week, the annual 20 at 20 off-Broadway discount promotion is back, offering theater lovers the opportunity to get $20 tickets only 20 minutes before curtain. Nearly two dozen shows are participating in the program, including Sam Shepard’s AGES OF THE MOON, starring Stephen Rea and Seán McGinley; Delia and Nora Ephron’s LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE, with a rotating cast of women that currently features Katie Finneran, Michele Lee, Debra Monk, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Casey Wilson; John Douglas Thompson in Eugene O’Neill’s THE EMPEROR JONES; Jim Brochu as Zero Mostel in ZERO HOUR; Nina Arianda and Wes Bentley in David Ives’s VENUS IN FUR; and Layon Gray’s BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE, in addition to FUERZA BRUTA, NAKED BOYS SINGING, SMUDGE, THE FANTASTICKS, CIRCUMCISE ME, and others. (Please note that some shows are closing January 31.) Lines could form early, so don’t necessarily expect to show up at 7:40 and get tickets, which are one per person and might be cash only at some theaters.

THE EMERGENCY HAITI BENEFIT SHOW!

Janeane Garofalo will be participating in Haiti comedy benefit at Lolita Bar

TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
Lolita Bar
266 Broome St. at Allen St.
Monday, January 25, $10-$100, 8:00
212-966-7223
www.lolitabar.net
www.kidliam.blogspot.com
Liam McEneaney and Jessica Flores’s weekly comedy showcase at Lolita Bar on Monday nights is turned into a Haiti benefit and auction on January 25, featuring an all-star lineup raising funds for Doctors Without Borders. Among the comedians who will be performing are the great and powerful Lewis Black, the cynically lovable Janeane Garofalo, Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac, Flight of the Conchord’s groupie Kristen Schaal, Todd Barry, and McEneaney himself. Live music will be provided by Tracy Bonham and house band a Brief View of the Hudson; the evening will be hosted by Victor Varnado. Admission is a mere $10 at the door, but if you want a better chance of getting in, there are VIP packages available for $25, $50, and $100 as well. Among the raffle prizes will be tickets to late-night television shows, autographed books and scripts, comedy festival tickets, and more.

WINTER 2010 RESTAURANT WEEK

restaurantweek

January 25 – February 7
Lunch: $24.07; dinner: $35
www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek

Begun in 1992, Restaurant Week has become a New York City institution, as eateries across the five boroughs offer special prix-fixe menus, including some of the hottest, most expensive places, giving everyone the opportunity to sample their wares. Winter Restaurant Week runs January 25 – February 7 and features more than 260 city dining establishments offering three-course lunches for $24.07 and dinners for $35. Among the many participating restaurants are the ‘21’ Club, Aquavit, Asiate, Aureole, B. Smith, Estiatorio Milos, Gotham Bar & Grill, I Trulli, Le Cirque, Megu, Nice Matin, Nobu, the Palm, Petrossian, the River Café, Rosa Mexicano, Shun Lee Palace, Tabla, TAO, and the Water Club. The above Web site includes many of the special menus so you’ll know exactly what you’re in for before making that coveted reservation.

In addition, the Restaurant Week truck will be making its way around the city selling soup from many of the participating eateries; this week, on Broadway between 50th & 51st Sts. from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, the truck will be dishing out, among other delicacies, warming bowls ($6) of New England clam chowder from City Crab on January 26, beef barley from Ben Benson’s on January 27, butternut squash leek soup with cranberry beans and sage croutons from Nice Matin on January 28, and Jean-Claude’s lobster bisque from Chez Josephine on January 29. The truck moves to Fifth Ave. between 18th & 19th Sts. February 1-3 and then to Greenwich St. between Warren and Murray February 4-5.

WINTER COCKTAIL PARTY

barpleiades

Bar Pleiades
Surrey Hotel
20 East 76th St. between Madison & Fifth Aves.
Wednesday, January 20
VIP tickets: $150, 6:00
General admission: $100, 7:00
212-687-1290
www.danielnyc/cafebouludny.html
www.citymeals.org/barpleiades

Continuing his long relationship with Citymeals-onWheels, chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud celebrates therecent opening of his Bar Pleiades in the Surrey Hotel with a winter cocktail party featuring hors d’oeuvres by Cafe Boulud’s Gavin Kaysen, Pulino’s Nate Appleman, Aldea’s George Mendes, and Animal’s Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook, with cocktails by Cameron Bogue. The VIP reception starts at 6:00, with general admission at 7:00. All proceeds go to Citymeals-on-Wheels, which has been preparing and delivering meals to the homebound elderly since 1981. Designed by Lauren Rottet inspired by Coco Chanel and Art Deco, Bar Pleiades features seasonal cocktails that follow Boulud’s la tradition (vieux carre, sloe gin fizz), la saison (cornucopia, daiquiri de poire), le potager (capsicum cooler, la terre), and le voyage (Beijing mule, Fujian cocktail), consisting such ingredients as saffron roasted Asian pear vodka, beet gin, espelette candied pecan bourbon, VSOP cognac, yuzu, Chinese 5 spice grilled lemon, and rhubarb bitters.

GRAND CENTRAL HOLIDAY TRAIN SHOW

Annual train show has zoomed back into Grand Central Terminal (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex
Grand Central Terminal
Shuttle Passage next to the Station Masters’ Office
Through January 15
Monday through Friday, 8:00 am — 8:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
Admission: free
212-878-0106
www.mta.info
www.grandcentralterminal.com
holiday train slideshow

The Transit Museum’s eighth annual holiday train show in Grand Central is, as always, a sheer delight. Created by Lionel and TW Design, the display features such city monuments as the Empire State Building (complete with King Kong), Philip Johnson’s AT&T/Sony building, and Grand Central itself, surrounded by a gaggle of little shops. The streets around the buildings and the lighted Christmas tree are filled with shoppers, cabs, policemen, buses, and commuters, all preparing for the holiday season. There’s also some cool track work going on, as well as a special dockside delivery. At the back of the display, Santa and his reindeer fly over a snow-covered mountain as the North Pole Central roars on. Finally, along the walls, the museum has reached into its permanent collection, pulling out such gems as the 1928 Pocahontas, the 1938 Broadway Limited, the 1954 Emperor Chief, the 1975 Hiawatha, the 1927 American Legion Limited, the 1929 Lone Scout and the 175th anniversary M7 commuter train set. Part of the fun of the Holiday Train Show is that it turns everyone, no matter what age, into a little kid again, their eyes wide with joy. And while in Grand Central, be sure to see the laser show on the main concourse ceiling, depicting skiing trains, the Statue of Liberty, whirling snowmen, constellations coming to life, and plenty of ski jumpers and boarders.

THE NO PANTS! SUBWAY RIDE

Multiple locations
Sunday, January 10, free, 3:00
www.improveverywhere.com

Improv Everywhere, a group that enjoys creating chaos in public places, will be holding its ninth annual No Pants! Subway Ride on January 10, as thousands of straphangers remove their slacks, dungarees, corduroys, and leggings — and reveal whether they wear boxers, briefs, or panties (no thongs or possibly offensive undergarments allowed!). Despite the premise, this is a serious flash-mob event — there are very specific rules, including no laughing and no picture taking (there will be plenty of “official” photographers and videographers assigned to capture the antics on film), and each individual has to pretend they don’t know the others in their car as they depant themselves. If you’d like to participate, there are five meeting points: Hoyt Playground in Queens, Prospect Park and Bushwick Park in Brooklyn, the Great Hill in Central Park and Foley Square in Manhattan, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The popularity of this event is, well, taking off, as subway riders will be taking it off in nearly fifty cities around the world, from Brisbane and Buenos Aires to Boston and Buffalo, from San Diego and San Francisco to Stockholm and Sidney. Bottoms up!