The Very Best in Holiday Preview

Ring Out, Wild Bells!, 2011 Holiday Spectacular, 20th Annual Holiday Train Show, The Colonial Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, The Yorkville Nutcracker, 85th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Join the Stonewall Chorale as they celebrate their 35th season with Ring Out, Wild Bells! at the Church of the Holy Apostles Dec 3. The Chorale is the nation’s first gay and lesbian chorus performing classic choral works and an eclectic array of music from all periods. This year’s holiday concert includes traditional and contemporary holiday music, with works by Whitacre, Dove, Paulus and Rachmaninoff.

Don’t miss the New York Gay Men’s Choir 2011 Holiday Spectacular at Town Hall Dec 18. Join the NYCGMC family for this uplifting concert of holiday singing in jazz and gospel styles. Their traditional and fun-filled holiday show will combine original titles and swinging interpretations of the classics performed with high-spirited unity, peace and love. Whatever your spiritual and cultural traditions are, this program of holiday harmony promises to be embracing, rejuvenating and entertaining.

Head out to the New York Botanical Garden for the 20th Annual Holiday Train Show, running Nov 19-Jan 16, 2012. This holiday favorite transports visitors to an enchanted New York surrounded by the glow of twinkling lights in America’s premier glass house, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. More than a dozen large-scale model railway trains traverse nearly a quarter-mile of track across rustic bridges, overhead trestles, tunnels, and waterfalls that cascade into flowing creeks. Natural materials such as bark, twigs, stems, fruits, seeds and pine cones are used to create more than 140 scaled buildings, including the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Radio City Music Hall and the original Yankee Stadium.

And what would the holidays be without a Nutcracker? The Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2011-12 Target Family Fun series with its annual presentation of Dance Theatre in Westchester’s The Colonial Nutcracker Dec 11. Created for families with young children, The Colonial Nutcracker sets Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet in wintry colonial Yorktown during the Revolutionary War. The production features a red-coated mouse army, an enchanted prince and narration that will enhance viewers’ understanding and enjoyment of this timeless story.

Tune in to PBS on Dec 14 for the Live from Lincoln Center premiere of New York City Ballet’s beloved holiday favorite, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. Set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious score, the production features New York City Ballet’s dancers and the New York City Ballet Orchestra, as well as 50 children from the School of American Ballet.

Dances Patrelle presents The Yorkville Nutcracker playing at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College from Dec 8-11. Francis Patrelle’s unique rendition of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic is set in 1895 and takes the audience on an action-packed tour of Olde New York’s most beloved landmarks, including a holiday party at Gracie Mansion, dancing at the Crystal Palace in the New York Botanical Garden and skating in Central Park.

The 85th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will step off Nov 24 with its signature giant helium balloons, floats, marching bands  and of course Santa.  World-renowned filmmaker and artist, Tim Burton brings his unique vision to the lineup of the Parade this year with the introduction of B., a stitched together balloon boy, to the skies above New York City.


What Do You Think?