UWS Weekend: Great Things To Do in the Neighborhood

By Tracy Zwick

Let’s Weekend! 

December 6 to 8, 2024

“Into the Woods”: Concert Hall at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, 100 Amsterdam Avenue (West 65th Street); Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., and matinees Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., Tickets $17/student and $22/adult

Our family, which includes two LaG grads, does not miss LaGuardia High School’s Broadway-caliber All-School musical. The 2024 production, Stephen Sondheim’s classic “Into the Woods” will be performed four times this weekend. Known as an incubator for young artists in various fields (Timothée Chalamet, Ansel Elgort, Lola Tung, Nicki Minaj, and Jennifer Aniston are among notable alums), LaG holds competitive school-wide auditions for the musical in early fall and students work all semester on the production. The performers are supported by an equally impressive tech team made up of students from LaG’s technical theater studio, and perform on complex sets designed and lit by those same techies. Last year’s musical featured Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter, Suri. Tickets are a bargain at $17 for students and $22 for adults. You may see future stars of stage and screen, and you’ll be supporting some of the country’s most promising young artists and a premiere public arts-focused high school, all right on the UWS! 

Ice Skating & Holiday Market: Wollman Rink in Central Park (Tickets available for purchase here); Holiday Market at Columbus Circle and Central Park, opens Tuesday, December 3rd; Hours Monday – Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 

Skating at Wollman Rink is a classic winter experience in NYC and the rink is now open for the 2024 season. Skaters of all ages and skill levels can glide across the ice during public skating hours or take lessons. While you’re in the park, check out the UWS’s holiday market in Central Park at Columbus Circle. This holiday market draws locals as well as tourists with its European vibe and aisles of artisans and designers selling their wares, with small businesses featured. You’ll find special foods, jewelry, home goods and plenty of on-the-go eats, from bureks to tacos to fancy doughnuts and bratwurst. 

George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, New York City Ballet, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza (Columbus Avenue near 63rd Street); for dates and tickets use link

My college-aged daughter and I saw this NYC holiday standard last weekend. We’ve lost track of how many times we’ve seen Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” and we’ll never stop going. It’s magic. My favorite role is Coffee, with its castanet-focused Arabian dance in the “Land of Sweets” sequence; and we both go wide-eyed at the pas de deux, when Tchaikovsky’s music swells and the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier come together in Act II. Tickets aren’t cheap, but this, for us, is a winter tradition and a splurge worth indulging. 

Wicked: Movie times and locations here

This year’s buzziest holiday film arrived in theaters November 22nd, and I was not taken in by the hype. I assumed this flick was for kids, and went last weekend only because my daughter invited me and I’d see anything with her. Wow, was I surprised by how much I enjoyed this film! If you missed the Broadway-hit musical and the media onslaught that preceded this movie’s release, “Wicked” tells the previously untold tale of the witches from “The Wizard of Oz”, and it features Arianna Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West. This is family-friendly fun with unforgettable tunes, but it’s also a commentary on who we turn into monsters and heroes, and a contemporary political and social parable. It clocks in at almost 3 hours, but it flies by. If you like it as much as I did, you’ll be excited to learn that it’s just the first half of a two-part “Wicked” cycle of films by director Jon M. Chu. Part II is due in theaters around Thanksgiving next year. I can’t wait. 

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