By Karen Bloom
Long Island Philharmonic’s Enchanted Evening
Usher in the New Year at a musical celebration with Maestro David Wiley, music director and conductor, and the Long Island Philharmonic. The Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve concert has become a popular year-end tradition for the orchestra and its fans. This year’s celebration, “Broadway Goes Hollywood,” salutes the Broadway hits that made it to the movies.
The Philharmonic joins forces with four stars of musical theater for this trip down Broadway’s musical memory lane. The program is filled with songs from some of Broadway’s biggest musicals that have played on or were inspired by the silver screen, including The King and I, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Oklahoma!, and much more.
Three of the performers are making their Philharmonic debuts: Christiane Noll, who originated the role of Emma in the 1997 production of Jekyll & Hyde (which was also her Broadway debut); Debbie Gravitte, who won a Tony Award for her role in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway; and Sal Viviano, who appeared in the 1984 revival of The Three Musketeers, along with film and television work. Returning favorite, Charles Temkey, a rising star in the opera world, performed with the orchestra last season and will be featured again in March as one of the soloists in the Brahms Requiem.
To add to the New Year’s revelry, concert-goers can see the Philharmonic’s own New Year’s Eve ball drop at the close of the concert. Everyone will be invited to toast the New Year prior to the start of the concert and again at intermission with a glass of free champagne.
“Broadway Goes Hollywood” is presented at Tilles Center, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., ending at approximately 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $110, $85, $70, $55. For tickets and information, call (631) 293-2222 or www.liphilharmonic.org. The Tilles Center for the Performing Arts is located on the C.W. Post Campus, Rte. 25A, Brookville.
Theatre
Once again, theater lovers can partake of special New Year’s Eve “champagne” performances at the region’s theater companies.
Arena Players Repertory Theatre: “The Underpants,” a wild satire, is at the Main Stage Theatre, Dec, 31, at 9 p.m. The comedy is adapted from the classic German play about Louise and Theo Markes, a couple whose conservative existence is shattered when Louise’s bloomers fall down in public. Louise’s momentary display attracts two infatuated men, each of whom wants to rent the spare room in the Markes’ home. Oblivious of their amorous objectives, Theo splits the room between them, happy to collect rent from both the foppish poet and the whiny hypochondriac. Tickets are $50; with wine, champagne toast and dessert. See it at 296 Rte. 109, East Farmingdale. For reservations or further information, call (516) 293-0674 or www.arenaplayers.org.
BroadHollow Theatre Company: “Caught in the Net NYE” is presented at BroadHollow’s Studio Theatre, Dec. 31, at 9 p.m. Written by “England’s Neil Simon,” Caught in the Net NYE, a sequel to Run For Your Wife, concerns bigamist taxi driver John Smith, who keeps his two unsuspecting wives in different parts of London. His teenage children, a girl from one family and a boy from the other, have met on the internet and are anxious to meet in person since they have so much in common. The situation spirals out of control as John struggles to stop the inevitable. Tickets are $50; with wine and cheese, desserts, and a champagne toast. The Studio Theatre is located at 141 S. Wellwood Ave., Lindenhurst. To purchase tickets, call (631) 581-2700 or www.broadhollow.org.
Family Celebrations
Families can ring in the New Year at Garden City’s Museum Row.
The Cradle of Aviation Museum hosts Night “365”, an elaborate event with entertainment, a family-friendly buffet dinner, music, and big screen simulcast to New York City’s countdown in Times Square.
Teenagers will enjoy arcade games, the themed videogames Guitar Hero and Dance Explosion, live comedy and acrobatic performances, while children under 8 will find strolling magicians, hat making, games, and more to their liking. A rotating schedule of performances will appeal to revelers of all ages. Exhibit galleries at both the Cradle of Aviation Museum and the Nassau County Firefighters Museum will be open. In addition, Night 365 participants may also choose one of three IMAX show times for the screening of Light Before Christmas, a stop-motion animated film that fills the giant screen with detailed sets and characters inspired by the designs of renowned artist James C. Christensen with music that harkens back to beloved Christmas classics.
The fun begins at 7 p.m., on Dec. 31. Tickets are $35 per person ($30 for Cradle of Aviation Museum or Nassau County Firefighters Museum members). The all-inclusive price covers parking; admission, entertainment, and the all-night buffet. Purchase tickets at the Cradle of Aviation box office or at www.cradleofaviation.org.
Young families can end the year in style at Long Island Children’s Museum’s annual Countdown to 12! celebration. Starting at noon on Dec. 31, visitors will be treated to cultural activities that celebrate the different ways people around the world observe the New Year.
Guests can design party slippers to dance the night away, sample bunuelos – a traditional Mexican dessert – and make their own sunrise hats to wear the very first morning of 2009. Also discover how grapes symbolize prosperity and good luck in Spain and why trumpets and fireworks are important for Indonesian people to celebrate their New Year’s Eve.
The “Noon Year’s Eve” celebration ends at 4:45 p.m.; a schedule that allows parents to spend the day with their children and still have time to take part in traditional New Year’s parties once the kids are tucked into bed. Admission is $10 for adults and children over 1 year old; $9 seniors. Additional fees for theater and special programs may apply. For additional information, contact (516) 224-5800 or www.licm.org.
Cradle of Aviation Museum, the Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Long Island Children’s Museum are located at Museum Row, in Garden City.
