By Tracy Zwick
Let’s Weekend!
December 20 to 22, 2024
“Elf” in Concert at the NY Philharmonic, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2:00 p.m., tickets start around $100.
Our family loves this 2003 Will Ferrell holiday comedy and I’d be so happy to see it with a live performance of John Debney’s score at the NY Philharmonic this weekend. The gist of the plot is that Buddy, the protagonist played by Ferrell, was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler and raised among Santa’s elves. But he doesn’t fit in. So he travels to New York as an adult, in his full elf get-up, looking for his real father. Hijinks ensue.
Big Band Holidays at Jazz at Lincoln Center: Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m., tickets start around $162.
Now in its 12th season, Big Band Holidays once again brings critically acclaimed musicians and vocalists to Jazz at Lincoln Center to interpret a handful of holiday favorites. There’ll be a free children’s craft workshop one hour before each of the 2:00 p.m. matinees. The matinee on Sunday will be a “Relaxed Performance” open to all and designed for people with autism, sensory and communication disorders or learning disabilities. Music direction from trombonist Chris Crenshaw and special guests will be Ekep Nkwelle and Robbie Lee.
Holiday Baking and Donating Cookies
Thanks to the outpouring of baking and giving this Thanksgiving, the Goddard Riverside Community Center provided meals to almost 2,000 people on Thanksgiving that included 15,000 homemade, donated cookies for dessert! It’s the biggest response they’ve ever had to their annual call for cookies. If you missed the opportunity to give back at Thanksgiving, or did it and want to share more warmth from your oven and your heart, you can bake and contribute cookies for Goddard’s Community Christmas Dinner. Make a pledge using this link, and plan to drop off your cookies at St. Paul and St. Andrew Methodist Church at 263 West 86th Street this Sunday, December 22, between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m.
Holiday Nostalgia Subway Ride: Every Sunday in December; costs one Metrocard swipe or OMNY tap.
The New York Transit Museum’s annual tradition has returned, and if you’re interested in transit history and willing to go to the east side or downtown, you can ride on one of the museum’s 1930s R 1/9 train cars. They’ll operate between 96th Street and 2nd Avenue on the Q line, and 2nd Avenue and Houston on the uptown F. These vintage Independent Subway System (IND) cars feature rattan seats, paddle ceiling fans, incandescent light bulbs, roll signs, and period advertisements. They entered service on the 8th Avenue Line (today’s A/C/E) in 1932 and ran until 1977. Catch the vintage train between 10:00 a.m. and 5 p.m. this Sunday (or next Sunday).
