THEATRE IN New York

The tour starts at 6.00pm Monday 14 April, at the WestHouse Hotel, New York.

The tour ends after breakfast on Thursday 24 April, at the WestHouse Hotel, New York.

Flights from Australia arrive in New York in the late afternoon. In the early evening, we gather for drinks in the hotel bar followed by dinner in a local restaurant. If you have arrived early, we suggest you take one of the many harbour cruises available in Manhattan and can particularly recommend the AIA tour. Academy Travel can arrange bookings. (D)

We begin our day with a walking tour in New York’s Downtown area, where the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was founded in the 17th century. We walk down some of New York’s oldest streets, working our way up into the Financial District as we visit sites such as the elegant Beaux-Arts style Customs House, Wall Street, Trinity Church, New York City Hall and the Woolworth Building. Our welcome lunch will be at Trinity Place, set inside an old Wall Street bank vault. Afterwards, we visit the moving 9/11 Memorial and the Santiago Calatrava-designed St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Oculus. After a light supper which is served in our hotel each evening, we kick off our performance program tonight with a smash-hit musical or play on Broadway, selected from the best of the 2024/2025 season. Overnight New York (B, L, LS)

Performance I
Venue: A Broadway Theatre
Program: To be announced

Titan of the American Musical, Stephen Sondheim was the theatre’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th-century and the driving force behind some of Broadway’s most beloved and celebrated shows, including A Little Night Music and West Side Story. Bestowed the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre and inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, his work spans over five decades. We first begin with a lecture in our hotel on the legacy of Sondheim’s greatest musicals, whose scores raised and reset the artistic standard on the American stage. After free time for lunch, we then make our way to Broadway in the hopes to catch a matinee show of a Sondheim classic. (B, LS)

Performance II
Venue: A Broadway Theatre
Program: To be announced

The legendary Carnegie Hall is synonymous with New York’s performing arts, long providing superb acoustics and a tradition of outstanding concerts. Built by its namesake industrialist founder in 1891 and saved by violinist Isaac Stern from the wrecking ball in the 60s, the list of celebrated performers who have graced its stages is almost endless – from Tchaikovsky to Mahler, The Beatles to Sinatra. We begin our day with a private tour, uncovering more than 130 years of stories in this iconic music hall. We then continue to the High Line – a beautiful urban park situated on a former elevated rail line through the now-chic Chelsea and Meatpacking districts.
After a stroll above the hustle and bustle of the city, we enjoy some free time in Chelsea Market, followed by a visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Founded in 1930 by American socialite Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the museum moved in 2015 to its new home, a building designed by well-known architect Renzo Piano. Tonight sees us return to Carnegie Hall for a performance in its historic auditorium. (B, LS)

Performance III
Venue: Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall
Program: To be advised

An emblem of Art Deco-era Manhattan and a Midtown magnet, Rockefeller Center features quintessential New York sites like
the ice-skating rink with its famous golden Prometheus Sculpture, the Channel Gardens and 30 Rock. This morning we enjoy a behind- the-scenes-tour of Radio City Music Hall within Rockefeller Center, home of the high-kicking Rockettes. The world’s largest auditorium when built, this opulent Music Hall has hosted concerts, sports and television specials since 1932. We then ascend the Top of the Rock with its three observation decks and spectacular, unobstructed 360° views of the city. The evening sees us head to the Lincoln Center for a true New York experience – dinner at the famous Grand Tier Restaurant inside the Metropolitan Opera House, followed by Mozart’s comic masterpiece, Le Nozze di Figaro. Conductor Joana Mallwitz will make her Met debut leading acclaimed bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as the clever valet Figaro, opposite soprano Olga Kulchynska as his betrothed, the wily maid Susanna. (B, D)

Performance IV
Venue: Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
Program: Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro

Since its beginning in the early 1900s when theatres began populating Times Square, the dazzling electric signage of Broadway has become a symbol for New York itself. Today is spent in this theatrical mecca, with our first stop being the newly opened Museum of Broadway. This four-floor interactive experience in Times Square takes us behind the curtain, detailing the city’s history of theatre from its birth to the present day with hundreds of props and rare costumes on show, including objects like Patti LuPone’s Evita wig, a Jets jacket from West Side Story and a pair of tap shoes from the recent revival of The Music Man with Australian showman Hugh Jackman. After our visit, there is time to explore the glitzy billboards, unique characters and iconic landmarks of Times Square. Tonight we enjoy our third play on Broadway. (B, LS)

Performance V
Venue: A Broadway Theatre
Program: To be announced

In New York, particularly the Harlem neighbourhood, Gospel music has remained close to its roots. For early risers, we enjoy the opportunity to participate in a Gospel church service in Harlem, as joyous music carries the powerful message of praise, sacrifice and hope, before taking in some of the other northern Manhattan sights. This afternoon we return to Broadway for a matinee musical and tonight, the musical scores continue as we enjoy a performance of jazz music in one of New York’s premier venues. (B, LS)

Performance VI
Venue: A Broadway Theatre
Program: To be announced

Performance VII
Venue: To be announced
Program: To be announced

Historically one of New York’s most vibrant cultural areas, the Lower East Side became the city’s first integrated neighbourhood after World War II when an influx of African Americans and Puerto Ricans joined the already existing Jewish population, many of whom had immigrated from Eastern Europe. This rich history of immigration and cultural interchange has defined much of New York’s unique history and peoples, and a visit to the Tenement Museum will give us a sense of the 19th and 20th-century experience in this area. For nearly three decades, the museum has explored issues of housing and belonging through tours of the meticulously recreated apartments in its five-story building on the Lower East Side. Afterwards, we sample some delicious multi-ethnic fare of the neighbourhood on a Greenwich Village food tour. Returning to the hotel, the evening is at leisure. (B, LS)

Set in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, New York’s famous Museum of Modern Art re-opened in 2019 after a significant expansion of its space and a total rethink of its mission. This morning we take a private tour of MoMA before the doors open to the public, as a museum lecturer guides us through the museum’s greatest works, with the likes of Picasso, Gauguin and van Gogh set to delight. After the tour, you are free to explore MoMA at your leisure. Lunch is in the Museum’s excellent restaurant The Modern. This Michelin two-star restaurant overlooks MoMA’s sculpture courtyard and is certain to be a culinary highlight of the tour. The afternoon is free to explore the museum further or visit some of the other interesting sites nearby. In the evening we return to Broadway for a musical or play selected from the 2024/2025 season. (B, L, LS)

Performance VIII
Venue: A Broadway Theatre
Program: To be announced

The morning is yours to enjoy. You might like to do some shopping on 5th Avenue or in the boutiques of SoHo, or explore one of the city’s many museums. You could even visit an iconic New York site like Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building or the New York Public Library. We meet again in the afternoon for our final performance, a matinee play selected from the 2023/24 season. Following the performance, we enjoy our farewell dinner at Sardi’s, the famous Theatre District restaurant. Sardi’s has been the toast of Broadway for over a century and is a fitting way to send off our stay. (B, D)

Performance IX
Venue: A Broadway Theatre
Program: To be announced

Central Park’s landscaping has been described as New York’s largest work of art, and on our last morning you may like to join your tour leader for a stroll through some of the carefully sculpted vistas the park provides, including the Belvedere and the Bethesda Terrace, discussing the history and creation of this unique urban space. The tour concludes after hotel checkout. (B)