A brand-new musical bringing Broadway legends back together, New York, New York is a glittering love letter to the greatest city in the world. It is 1946, the war is over, and a resurgent New York is beginning to rebuild. As steel beams swing overhead, a collection of artists has dreams as big and diverse as the city itself. But do these singers, dancers, musicians and makers have what it takes to survive this place, let alone to succeed? If they can make it here, they can make it anywhere. New York, New York is a spectacular show for a singular city.
Beowulf Boritt’s spectacular sets, enhanced by a first-rate design team, add up to a three-dimensional travelogue of New York City, from Times Square, Central Park and Grand Central Terminal to the neighborhood stoop and fire escapes full of kibitzers. Director Susan Stroman choreographs one energetic dance after another, most memorably along a steel beam in mid-air. But, even when the cast isn’t literally dancing, she suggests the bustle, hustle and swirl of New York humanity with little wordless vignettes and in other clever ways, working in tandem with the breathtaking scenery: There is a mob rubout, a street painter who outrages his subject with a portrait that looks more Basquiat than da Vinci, and in the scene in Central Park, doormen who have just been clearing the snow from their walkways, lift their shovels together to form the railing along the park’s Bow Bridge, upon which a couple smooches.
“New York, New York” could have used a clarifying tryout. Then again, some in its audience won’t worry so much about its thematic muddles: Beowulf Borritt’s set, as lit by Ken Billington, shows you sunsets peeking through the city’s vintage skyscrapers, bathing Manhattan’s avenues in warmth and hope. There is a lovely dance number involving rain in the city that showcases all that Stroman does so well. And there is a jazzy finale that puts Uzele up close to the audience as the jazzy music heats up the St. James. Many visitors will buy a show that gives them so much of what they think of as part of a New York visit. In those final moments, you think to yourself that all this show really needed was a greatly enhanced sense that New Yorkers actually do fall in love with each other because they are otherwise lonely. Just like everywhere else.
General Rush
Price: $30
Where: St. James box office
When: Tickets are available every day when the box office opens on a first-come, first-served basis.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Determined at the discretion of the box office. Subject to daily availability.
Digital Lottery:
Price: $30, plus a $5 service charge per ticket
Where: https://www.luckyseat.com/shows/newyorknewyork-newyork-2023Mar
When: Digital lotteries are accepted until 10:30 AM ET the day prior to the performance. Winners will be notified at approximately 11 AM ET the day prior to the performance via email and SMS.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Tickets are subject to availability.
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