My last-minute guide to New Year’s Eve in New York City, when 2024 turns into 2025, features information on:
Times Square.
Dining Out,
Theater: Plays as parties, Broadway show schedule, family shows, movies.
parties.
concerts.
cabaret.
cruises.
fireworks*.
quiet or healthy alternatives.
TV .
New Year’s Eve in New York means the dropping of the ball in Times Square, the fireworks* in Prospect Park, the annual concert at St. John the Divine, the midnight run in Central Park, the annual Time’s Up Bike Ride — all of these FREE, and almost all of them events you can decide to attend at the last minute…and by yourself.
It also can mean obscenely expensive shows and extremely loud parties, an annual arena concert featuring Phish and new cabaret acts, a cruise in the harbor, or a dinner for two in your favorite eatery — not all of which are sold out weeks in advance.
It needs be said that there is plenty to do on New Year’s Eve without leaving home. (See What’s on TV below) I’m taken with this article from Country Living, 40 Fun New Year’s Eve Traditions to Try for Good Luck in 2025 which are largely bizarre, and mostly require you stay at home. But we’re talking New York City living, so I understand the pressure is on. A good approach to minimize frustration is to adjust the timeframe for this particular holiday as not just the night that the ball drops, but the days before and after it (especially when New Year’s Day falls on a Wednesday, as it does this year.) With that in mind, here are some ideas for those New Yorkers (and New York visitors) who haven’t made any plans yet.
TIMES SQUARE
If you decide to stand in person at the Crossroads of the World on December 31st, the Times Square Alliance explains the ins and outs of the event. You’ll be joining a celebration that began in 1907, when people stood in (the recently named) Times Square to watch the lowering of a ball made of iron and wood, weighing 700 pounds, and covered with 100 light bulbs. Now the ball is a geodesic dome weighing 11,875 pounds, covered with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles and 32,256 LEDs (light emitting diodes) , which a computer lowers 70 feet in 60 seconds.
If you’re reading this before Saturday December 28 you might consider going to Times Square that day to attend “Good Riddance Day” from noon to 1 p.m., in which participants shed bad memories of 2024 (an old bill, an ex-love note, a bad report card, a Playbill of a show you’d rather forget, a campaign poster?) in a ceremonial shredding on the Broadway Plaza between 45th & 46th Streets
On Tuesday — New Year’s Eve — revelers will start arriving at Times Square in the afternoon. By approximately 3:00 PM., the Bowtie of Times Square (42nd to 47th Sts. between Broadway & 7th Ave.) is fully closed to traffic. The crowd, which in the past has reached in the millions, could go as far uptown as Central Park, 17 blocks away.
Another way of saying this: If you want to be within naked-eyesight of the Times Square ball, arrive in the afternoon, and be prepared to stand immobile until the ball drops at midnight. Wear warm clothing, and huddle with friends and loved ones for warmth – or make new friends.
Times Square offers an outdoor evening of entertainment, beginning at 6 p.m. with the lighting and raising of the Times Square ball and culminating six hours later in confetti, the “2025” sign in lights, lots of hugging and wishing for a Happy New Year
Should you go? I’ve spent three New Year’s Eves in Times Square, which is probably two more than necessary, but found each memorable. One tip: Look at the weather report. The average temperature on New Year’s Eve in Times Square has been just above freezing, 33 degrees; too cold. As of this writing, the forecast for this New Year’s Eve suggests a warmer temperature BUT the possibility of a storm, with rain possibly arriving before the ball drops.
DINING OUT ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
Open Table lists more than 300 restaurants “open for New Year’s Eve in New York City.” But what restaurant would stay closed on the most lucrative night of the year for them? The food blog Eater recommends two dozen restaurants to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and TimeOut a different 15. Most of them offer a choice of seatings – either earlier in the evening, so that you can make it in time elsewhere for the stroke of midnight, or party-hat-equipped seatings that lead up to midnight, where you can often turn on a TV so that you can watch the ball drop in Times Square. Open Table provides all sorts of filters — you can look, say, for a table for 2 at a “charming” French restaurant at 7 pm in your specific neighborhood.
Have a favorite neighborhood eatery that’s not listed on Open Table or among those recommended? Search to see if they have a website or simply visit the place NOW, and ask them whether they will take reservations.
THEATER
Sleep No More is closing January 5 after fourteen years — and is all sold out until then.
XIV Company gussies up its “Nutcracker Rouge,” for the New Year’s Eve performance of this “baroque, burlesque” not-for-children take on Nutcracker Suite at its theater in Bushwick, where “opulence dances with decadence.”
Broadway Performance Times for New Year’s Week
New Year’s Eve is not the best day for Broadway, but the days before and after it are. Only one Broadway show has a performances on New Year’s Eve (“Aladdin,” a matinee) but 15 do on New Year’s Day. And there are extra performances throughout the rest of the week.
The titles are linked to my reviews (and my reviews include a link to the shows’ websites)
Bold faced dates = added performance
Italic dates = different curtain time
| SHOW | Mon. December 30 | Tue. December 31 | Wed. January 1 | Thu. January 2 | Fri. January 3 | Sat. January 4 | Sun. January 5 |
| & Juliet | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | ||
| Aladdin | 7pm | 1pm | 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 1pm, 6:30pm | |
| All In: Comedy About Love | 7:30pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7:30pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | ||
| Back to the Future | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | |
| The Book of Mormon | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 2pm, | ||
| Cabaret | 2pm, 8pm | 7:30pm | 7:30pm | 7:30pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | |
| Chicago | 2pm, 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 8pm | 2:30pm, 8pm | ||
| Cult of Love | 7pm | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | ||
| Death Becomes Her | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | ||
| Elf | 7pm | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | CLOSED | |
| English | 8pm | 8pm | 3pm | ||||
| Eureka Day | 7pm | 7pm | 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 2pm, 7pm | |
| The Great Gatsby | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | ||
| Gypsy | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | |
| Hadestown | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | ||
| Hamilton | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | ||
| Harry Potter… | 7pm | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 2pm, | |
| Hell’s Kitchen | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | ||
| Left on Tenth | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm, 7pm | ||
| The Lion King | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 1pm, 6:30pm | ||
| Maybe Happy Ending | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7pm | 3pm | |
| MJ | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 1pm, 7pm | ||
| Moulin Rouge! | 7pm | 8pm | 1:30pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 1:30pm, 7:30pm | |
| h, Mary! | 5pm, 8:30pm | 5pm, 8:30pm | 7:30pm | 5pm, 8:30pm | 5pm | ||
| Our Town | 7pm | 7pm | 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 7:30pm | |
| The Outsiders | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | |
| Romeo + Juliet | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | |
| Six | 2pm, 7pm | 7pm | 8pm | 3pm, 8pm | 2pm, 7pm | ||
| Stereophonic | 1pm, 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 7pm | 1pm, 7pm | 2pm | ||
| Suffs | 7pm | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | |
| Sunset Blvd. | 2pm, 8pm | 7pm | 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 3pm | |
| Wicked | 2pm, 8pm | 7pm | 8pm | 2pm, 8pm | 2pm, 7pm | ||
| A Wonderful World | 7pm | 2pm, 7:30pm | 7pm | 2pm, 8pm | 2pm, 7:30pm |
.Shows that are closing soon
January 4: Elf
January 5: Back to the Future, Suffs
January 12: Stereophonic
January 19: Our Town
February 2: Cult of Love, Eureka Day, Left on Tenth
Of course, Broadway is just a slice of New York theater. Catch “Blue Man Group” Off-Broadway, where it’s been for three decades, before it closes in February.
Family Shows Not on Broadway
Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular has multiple performances each day this week, with two performances on New Year’s Eve, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m, and three on New Year’s Day.
Big Apple Circus has a performance on New Year’s Eve at noon and two on New Year’s Day, at noon and 4 pm.)
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at NYC Ballet has a New Year’s Eve performance at 2 p.m. (but it looks to be sold out)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has a New Year’s Eve perfromance at 2 p.m.
For more check out my Holiday Shows in NYC 2024
Movies
You could certainly see a movie — just not in any cinema in Times Square. Here are my reviews of 10 Movies in Cinemas Now, from most to least favorite
NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTIES
There’s a New York for almost any taste, so why would it be surprising that Eventbrite lists some 1,000 New Year’s Eve parties? .
You can dance at parties set up in Times Square venues. Most promote a great view of the ball dropping.
Here are ten parties in Queens. And, if you can’t decide on just one place to hang out, there’s always “Crawl Til The Ball Falls,” a pub crawl through ten bars in the East Village.
There are lots of articles about throwing your own New Year’s Eve party. bon appétit suggests 37 New Year’s Eve Party Ideas to Ring in 2025. What they actually mean is 37 things you can buy, such as string lights or caviar or party games (with links to online vendors) but it boils down to six steps, starting with Set the scene (eg “Hang a disco ball to transform your living room into the dance floor,”) This sounds like it requires more planning than a last-minute party would allow. Sometimes buying some cheese, wine, crackers and dip from the supermarket and texting some friends might be sufficient.
The most memorable advice for throwing a party came from Joan Crawford, who was quite a partier in her day. Her advice (see below) can be summed up as:
CONCERTS
St. John the Divine Concert for Peace
This annual event was founded in 1984 by Leonard Bernstein. The program this year , from 7 to 8:30 pm, will feature a special performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by the Cathedral Choirs and Orchestra, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the composition’s premiere.
Phish at Madison Square Garden
Phish will perform at Madison Square Garden for its usual four-day New Year’s run, the last of which is on December 31st. The New Year’s Eve concert is likely sold out. BUT, you can see all four nights live online.
Gov’t Mule returns to Beacon Theater. (an American Southern rock jam band, formed in 1994 as a side project of the Allman Brothers Band.)
Other venues on December 31st, the English reggae band Steel Pulse at Brooklyn Bowl, Emmit Finn at Webster Hall, Billy Joel at UBS Arena on Long Island., D.J. Zhu at Terminal 5
CABARET
With the repeal in 2017 of the hated 91-year-old Cabaret Law, which banned dancing at all but a handful of licensed venues (fewer than 100), you could argue that life is a cabaret (or at least could be) at all 25,000 eating and drinking establishments in New York City. But “cabaret” has come to define specific genres of intimate entertainment at just a few, relatively small venues, such as those below.
Tip: Most cabarets offer two seatings on New Year’s Eve. The one earlier in the evening is far less expensive. Many of these performers return to these venues every New Year’s — a wonderful tradition that makes last-minute tickets chancy, but worth trying.
Sandra Bernhard: Shapes and Formsat Joe’s Pub
The last night of her annual six-night gig: “Shapes & Forms is going to turn your world upside down with stories of recent dinners out east to exotic adventures around the globe, interwoven with the songs you’ve come to expect from Sandy – Lana, Stevie, Cat, Lionel, Burt and a million surprise.”
A Very Natalie New Year, an annual event for decades, returns to the venue to which it relocated last year, Chelsea Table + Stage, this year only a single show at 7 p.m.
This year at 54 Below: Seth Sikes and Nicolas King at the early show, with Jenn Colella ringing in the new year with fellow Suffs’ cast members Ally Bonino and Monica Tulia Ramirez.
Marilyn Maye at Birdland, still wowing in her 90s, her four-night gig concluding with both a 7 p.m. and 11 pm show.on New Year’s Eve.
FIREWORKS*
Normally there are fireworks all over the city — in Times Square, in Central Park (south of 72nd Street), in front of Liberty Island, and in Prospect Park at Grand Army Plaza. HOWEVER, Prospect Park will not offer fireworks this year “in light of the unprecedented drought conditions and recent fire,” as its website explains; it hopes to replace its 44-year tradition with a lightshow, “pending FCC approvals and weather dependent.” Earlier this month, the city lifted the fireworks ban it had put into place after some rainfall reduced the risk of fires, and the fireworks will reportedly go ahead at the Times Square celebration. It’s unclear what will happen elsewhere. Some are talking about lightshows using drones.
A different kind of lightshow will take place along an illuminated trail at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.on New Year’s Eve, and, given that Hanukkah is still going on, there will be public menorah lightings in Central Park and at Hudson Yards.
HARBOR CRUISES
Big selling point of all these cruises — a close-up of the New Years Eve fireworks over the water; so, given the possible fireworks situation, a possible silver lining: Maybe it’ll be easier to book one of them this year.. Most include a buffet, open bar, and dancing with a dj. Drawbacks:
Circle Line offers a three-hour party cruise, leaving from Pier 83 (42nd Street) in Manhattan. Liberty Cruise, a three and a half hour cruise, leaves from Pier 36 (299 South St) Skyline Cruises offers a five-hour cruise leaving from The World’s Fair Marina in Flushing Queens
HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES
A MEDITATIVE ALTERNATIVE
The Kadampa Meditation Center in Chelsea, $60 for non-members, offers its 30th annual New Year’s Eve meditation and celebration for “Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike” with vegetarian hot d’oevres and no alcohol. Pre-registration is recommended. Members can attend online. Earlier in the evening, they will hold a meditation and celebration in Williamsburg.
WALKING, RUNNING AND BIKING
New York Road Runners’ Midnight Run in Central Park
Shorewalkers Happy New Years Day Hike — Starting at noon on the northern end of Manhattan, walk under three great bridges that span the Harlem River in High Bridge Park. If there’s heavy rain (and there might be) it will be canceled.
Time’s Up environmental action organization returns with its annual bike ride and afterparty
WHAT’S ON TV (and other home devices)
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest,” with performances by Carrie Underwood and Lenny Kravitz (8 p.m. on ABC); CNN’s New Year’s Eve show with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, featuring music by 50 Cent, Sting, Meghan Trainor. On PBS: Sara Bareilles: New Year’s Eve With the National Symphony Orchestra & Friends at 8 p.m., Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 80th anniversary at 9 p.m. followed by Elton John & Bernie Taupin: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at 11:30 p.m.
