Discover New York - Monthly Newsletter

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Thank you for all of your comments about the monthly newsletter. We are delighted that you are enjoying it. Please do visit our website for program details with pricing. You will find the prices for transfers, tours, helicopter rides, all listed there.

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I didn't know you did that!

Weekends in NYC are great whether you drive in from the Tri-State or fly from Europe! Exclusive New York is filled with great ideas. Bring your best friend or your children and grandchildren to New York City explore a variety of wonderful opportunities.

Contact Discover New York at +1-212-370-1319 X1500 or e-mail sales@dnykg.com to create a custom itinerary that meets your interests and budget.

Shopping Programs and exploring a NYC neighborhood with great boutiques, or scheduling a make-over with one of our stylists from What Not To Wear or enjoy a private shopping experience in one of NYC’s top department stores with VIP attention and services - all shopping programs can be tailored to meet the client’s shopping desires, budget and life style!
Theater Programs that allow you to sit in the best seats in the house for concerts and theater and take you backstage with a cast member to see the wigs, props and costumes to see how many people it really takes to run the show. Or let us create a private behind the scenes experience with a cast member from a Broadway production in a rehearsal studio to learn one of the songs or dances from the show!
Art Programs that include tickets to your favorite museum, explore the hot galleries with our art expert to meet the owners and learn why they are representing the artist, to visiting artists in his/her studio to learn the personal process of art.
Culinary Opportunities from reservations at the hot restaurants, visits in the kitchens, to hands on cooking classes.

These quick getaways are great girl’s weekends for friends or mothers and daughters. Call Discover New York to custom design a program that meets your desires and budget at +1-212-370-1319 or e-mail sales@dnykg.com. Click here for NYC summer shopping packages.

Great ideas to get you thinking about fun and interesting ways to spend your honeymoon or renew your vows and celebrate in NYC. Call Discover New York to custom design a program that meets your desires and budget at +1-212-370-1319 or e-mail sales@dnykg.com. Click here for packages.

For more ideas about what you can do in NY, click here.

Local Knowledge

The Calendar of Events shows daily activities month by month. Before booking your air, check the calendar. You might find something of interest and want to come a day earlier or stay a day later to enjoy it.

Theater & Entertainment

Theater will show what is currently playing or about to open with details about the show.

Kitt’s Picks will show you personal preferences about the show so that you can make the best match.

Shows In Preview:

10 Things to Do Before I Die, McGinn Cazale Theatre, Performances from May 12, 2009
Coraline, Lucille Lortel Theatre, Performances from May 7, 2009
Groundswell, Acorn Theatre, Performances from May 4, 2009
Make Me, Atlantic Theater Company/Stage 2, Performances from May 20, 2009
Things of Dry Hours, New York Theatre Workshop, Performances from May 22, 2009
Our House, Playwrights Horizons/ Mainstage Theater, Performances from May 15, 2009

Shows Opening:

10 Things to Do Before I Die, McGinn Cazale Theatre, Opening May 28, 2009, Closing Jun 14, 2009
Everyday Rapture, Second Stage Theatre, Opening May 3, 2009, Closing May 31, 2009
For Lovers Only (Love Songs...Nothing But Love Songs), New World Stages Stage 5, Opening May 11, 2009, Closing Dec 31, 2009
Make Me, Atlantic Theater Company/Stage 2, Opening May 31, 2009, Closing June 14, 2009
Offices, Atlantic Theater Company/ Linda Gross Theater, Opening May 7, 2009, Closing June 7, 2009

Shows Closing:

Chasing Manet, Primary Stages, 59E59 Theater A, Closed May 2, 2009
Distracted, Laura Pels Theatre, Closing May 17, 2009
Everyday Rapture, Second Stage Theatre, Closing May 31, 2009
Ruined, Manhattan Theatre Club - Stage I, Closing May 17, 2009
The Singing Forest, Public Theater/Martinson Hall, Closing May 17, 2009
Why Torture Is Wrong, And the People Who Love Them, Public Theater/Newman Theater, Closing May 10, 2009
33 Variations, Eugene O'Neill Theatre, Closing May 24, 2009
Impressionism, Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Closing May 10, 2009

For those of you that love the theater, this is time of year to honor the people that make Broadway a special event night after night. Discover New York can provide the best seats in the house to these shows by calling us at 212-370-1319 or e-mail us at sales@dnykg.com.

The 2009 Tony Nominations are dominated by Billy Elliot, The Musical which grabbed 15 nods. Next to Normal had the second-highest number of nominations, at 11, followed by Hair and Shrek with eight each and Mary Stuart and The Norman Conquests with seven nominations apiece.

Highlights list of 2009 Tony Nominations, by category, as follows.

Best Play
Dividing the Estate
God of Carnage
Reasons to Be Pretty
33 Variations

Best Musical
Billy Elliot, The Musical
Next to Normal
Rock of Ages
Shrek, The Musical

Best Book of a Musical
Billy Elliot, The Musical
Next to Normal
Shrek The Musical
[Title of Show]

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Billy Elliot, The Musical, Music: Elton John, Lyrics: Lee Hall
Next to Normal, Music: Tom Kitt, Lyrics: Brian Yorkey
9 to 5: The Musical, Music & Lyrics: Dolly Parton
Shrek The Musical, Music: Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire

Best Revival of a Play
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Mary Stuart
The Norman Conquests
Waiting for Godot

Best Revival of a Musical:
Guys and Dolls
Hair
Pal Joey
West Side Story

Best Special Theatrical Event
Liza’s at The Palace
Slava’s Snowshow
Soul of Shaolin
You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Jeff Daniels, God of Carnage
Raúl Esparza, Speed-the-Plow
James Gandolfini, God of Carnage
Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King
Thomas Sadoski, Reasons to Be Pretty

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Hope Davis, God of Carnage
Jane Fonda, 33 Variations
Marcia Gay Harden, God of Carnage
Janet McTeer, Mary Stuart
Harriet Walter, Mary Stuart

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish – Billy Elliott, The Musical
Gavin Creel, Hair
Brian d’Arcy James, Shrek The Musical
Constantine Maroulis, Rock of Ages
J. Robert Spencer, Next to Normal

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Stockard Channing, Pal Joey
Sutton Foster, Shrek The Musical
Allison Janney, 9 to 5: The Musical
Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
Josefina Scaglione, West Side Story

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
John Glover, Waiting for Godot
Zach Grenier, 33 Variations
Stephen Mangan, The Norman Conquests
Paul Ritter, The Norman Conquests
Roger Robinson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Hallie Foote, Dividing the Estate
Jessica Hynes, The Norman Conquests
Marin Ireland, Reasons to Be Pretty
Angela Lansbury, Blithe Spirit
Amanda Root, The Norman Conquests

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
David Bologna, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Gregory Jbara, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Marc Kudisch, 9 to 5: The Musical
Christopher Sieber, Shrek The Musical
Will Swenson, Hair

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Jennifer Damiano, Next to Normal
Haydn Gwynne, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Karen Olivo, West Side Story
Martha Plimpton, Pal Joey
Carole Shelley, Billy Elliot, The Musical

Best Direction of a Play
Phyllida Lloyd, Mary Stuart
Bartlett Sher, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Matthew Warchus, God of Carnage
Matthew Warchus, The Norman Conquests

Best Direction of a Musical
Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Michael Greif, Next to Normal
Kristin Hanggi, Rock of Ages
Diane Paulus, Hair

Best Choreography
Karole Armitage, Hair
Andy Blankenbuehler, 9 to 5: The Musical
Peter Darling, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Randy Skinner, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Jerry Herman

Isabelle Stevenson Award
Phyllis Newman

Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre
Shirley Herz

For Kitt's opinions about what is currently playing on Broadway, click here.

Kitt's Footnotes

The Loews Coronado in San Diego was the site for a conference that I attended in April. The property is fairly isolated and if you need to take a taxi it is $17 each way to get an $8 taco in downtown Coronado. With traffic, allow about 20 minutes to downtown San Diego.

No matter how nice the staff is, there are simply not enough of them in any department from housekeeping to cooks in the restaurant’s kitchen.

Sharing information and networking “the best of the best” provides an insider’s knowledge using personal experiences to keep you up to date. Instead of booking the same trip every year, keep your favorite aspects and add one or two new things. Our Twitter account will provide updates so that you can follow along with my personal experiences. If you find something in your travels that you feel our readers will find interesting, please sent them to me so we all learn and share together! The beauty of this new instant communication provides opinions in real time rather than someone’s last experience six months ago since so much about travel experiences change so quickly with chefs moving from restaurants and new venues opening and closing all the time.

Check us out on Twitter: twitter.com/nyspecialist

For those of you thinking about your visit to New York over the Thanksgiving Day Holiday, please note that the parade route has changed. According to the information on Wikipedia.org:

A new route has been established for the 2009 parade. From 77th Street and Central Park West, the route goes south along Central Park to Columbus Circle, then goes east along Central Park South. The parade then makes a right turn at 7th Avenue and goes south to Times Square. At 42nd Street the parade turns left and goes east, then at 6th Avenue turns right again. Heading south on 6th Avenue, the parade turns right at 34th Street (Herald Square) and proceeds west to the terminating point at 7th Avenue where the floats are taken down.

The 2009 route change eliminates Broadway completely, where the parade has traveled down for decades. The City of New York has said that the new route will provide more space for the parade, and more viewing space for spectators. Another reason for implementing the route change is the city's plan to turn Broadway into a pedestrian-only zone at Times Square.

It is not advised to view the parade from Columbus Circle, as due to higher winds in this flat area, balloon teams race through it.

We hope all the Mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day this weekend and we hope you are having a wonderful spring. We hope to hear your feedback and help you will any inquires and questions you may have about traveling to New York.

Discover New York is a destination management company that provides personalized services from touch- down to take-off for guests and locals to allow them to discover the best that New York has to offer. Your Discover New York experience includes your very own Destination Specialist to create and manage your stay in New York City and is available 24/7 while you are here. Visit our website to make sure that you are taking advantage of the options that could make your visit extraordinary.