The City we here at New York City Vacation Packages (NYCVP) love is suffering once again – although unfortunately this time not alone – but rather with the rest of the world. Coronavirus has stolen what many of us have taken for granted and slowly shut it all down for the foreseeable future and that includes the City That Never Sleeps.
Going through numerous emails from our New York City partners however, we soon realized that although “stay at home” orders are in place – there is still quite a bit going on – and it quickly became apparent that once again the Big Apple has found a way to keep us entertained 24/7.
That being said – we decided to take some of that virtual content and share it with the Travel Advisor community. You can use it to brush up on your New York City knowledge, to share with clients who may have had to postpone their trip or simply for your own entertainment.
And so, we invite you to join us in getting everyone excited about re-discovering New York City once we have overcome COVID-19 (and nursed our country back to health) by reading and sharing what we have uncovered. Now sit back, relax and enjoy your virtual visit to New York City!
Broadway
Broadway has kept the lights burning brightly virtually since they were forced to go dark over a month ago. From Andrew Lloyd Weber streaming all of his musicals on YouTube via his The Show Must Go On! Series to daily Living Room Concerts by BroadwayWorld featuring Broadway performers from – you guessed it – their living rooms. But that’s not all – there’s also Stars in the House hosted by SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley which can be viewed on YouTube daily at 2:00pm and 8:00pm EST (in honor of typical Broadway show times) and supports The Actors Fund and it’s services. Bonus – you can also listen to it on Sirius XM daily at 9:00am EST should you miss it online. Finally, if you act fast you can get a free seven-day trial of BroadwayHD which can be streamed on any and all of your favorite devices. With on-demand digital streaming you can watch, sing along and heck – even dance – to all your favorite musicals for free – and without ads!
Opera
If opera is more your style New York City has not forgotten you! The Metropolitan Opera is live streaming encore performances from its Live in HD series for free during the pandemic. These productions are available on their website as well as through various other platforms. In addition – they also just announced a Starry “At Home” Concert to be broadcast on Saturday, April 25th as a part of their fundraising campaign to support the company. The concert – featuring over 40 artists performing from their homes – is set to start at 1:00pm EST and last approximately three hours. It will be available to live stream on their website until Sunday evening – and although they are not billing it as a fundraising telethon – any donations will protect the company’s future.
Ballet
Are you a ballet fan with children at home? The American Ballet Theater has you covered as well! Join them online for their new project – ABTKids Daily. Content is updated every Monday and is designed to give you a weeks’ worth of lessons to share with them with daily themes such as Meet a Dancer Monday and Teaching Artist Tuesday. Over at the New York City Ballet make sure you check out its new inspired virtual collaboration. It is a separate-but-together performance of a short excerpt from Justin Peck’s The Times Are Racing and is guaranteed to make you smile! You can find it on Facebook Watch. And speaking of the New York City Ballet – one of its principal dancers – Tiler Peck – has chosen Instagram as her platform to teach online ballet classes. You can find her there daily at 1:00pm EST.
Museums
One thing New York City has plenty of are museums. And thanks to a partnership with Google Arts and Culture they also have plenty of ways to visit those museums virtually. From the Guggenheim to The Cloisters at the Met – to the American Museum of Natural History to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) – they are all just a mouse click away. And that is just a handful of the more popular ones you can stroll through from the comfort of your couch (and ultimately decide which you would like to visit in person once we are able to travel again). Over at the New York Transit Museum there are online discussions throughout the week to take part in. Topics are hosted by different museum employees and range from sustainability to navigation and everything in between. (Note: You must register as limited spots are available for each discussion. Admission is free but there is an option to donate.) And for the little ones both the Children’s Museum of the Arts and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan are going virtual. The former with live classes and activities via Zoom and the latter with downloadable activity sheets for each day of the week.
With all of this and more the arts are guaranteed to keep us in a New York State of mind while we are social distancing!
About NYCVP
New York City Vacation Packages has been a trusted NYC travel information authority since 1983 and is the only major independent tour company in the United States devoted exclusively to NYC travel. NYCVP offers services to make sure your custom New York City vacation is safe and secure, and is a member in good standing of NYC & Company (New York City’s marketing and tourism organization), the National Tour Association, Better Business Bureau and the American Society of Travel Agents Tour Operator Program.