hot town, summer in the city

Summer doesn’t officially begin for a few more weeks, but I thought I’d do a quick posting on some of the classic New York summer activities – all of which are free and mostly on week nights! There's just something very New York about these kinds of things, and I try to take advantage as much as possible. So, without this sounding like a two-bit article from Time Out New York, here goes...

The Bryant Park Summer Film Festival – Classic films are screened on the Bryant Park lawn each Monday evening throughout the summer. Grab a blanket, a bottle of wine and some snacks. Films begin at dusk (typically about 8:30), but the lawn opens at 5:00 for picnicking. The schedule is as follows -

Monday, June 19 – The Birds

Monday, June 26 – To Have and Have Not

Monday, July 3 – M*A*S*H

Monday, July 10 – Bullitt

Monday, July 17 – The Band Wagon

Monday, July 24 – High Noon

Monday, July 31 – A Shot in the Dark

Monday, August 7 – The Manchurian Candidate

Monday, August 14 – Charade

Monday, August 21 – Rocky

Shakespeare in the Park – Each summer The Public Theater partners with numerous sponsors to put up these classic productions at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. They get some pretty big names for these shows, so the tickets, though free are highly coveted (and limited to 2 per person). You can pick up tickets the day of the show at either the Delacorte Theater (starting @ 1:00) or at the Public Theater (between 1:00 and 3:00). Call (212) 260-2400 if you have any questions.

Wednesday, June 14 through Sunday, July 9 – Macbeth (featuring Liev Schreiber)

Tuesday, August 8 through Sunday, September 3 – Mother Courage and Her Children (featuring Meryl Streep)

New York Philharmonic in the Park – This is the 42^nd year of these free concerts in the park. Throughout the summer, concerts are held in parks throughout the various boroughs. I don't do borough, so I will only be mentioning the ones in Central Park. No tickets are required for these concerts which are performed at 8:00 on the Great Lawn in Central Park. So grab some blankets and a bottle of wine - and stay for the fireworks after the concert!

Wednesday, July 12 – Tcaikovsky, Coronation March and Violin Concerto… Dvorák, Symphony No. 8

Tuesday, July 18 – John Adams, The Chairman Dances… Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 1… Beethoven, Symphony No. 5

Metropolitan Opera in the Park – This is similar to the Philharmonic concerts. Each year the Metropolitan Opera offers free performances of two different operas. For 2006 they will be performing two Giuseppe Verdi operas - La Triviata and Rigoletto. Performances start at 8:00 on the Great Lawn. As a general rule, if you’re interested in following the story line, it’s best to arrive two hours early in order to get seats close to the stage.

Tuesday, August 22 – La Traviata

Wednesday, August 23 - Rigoletto

Broadway Under the Stars – Again, this is similar to the Philharmonic concerts. Usually this free night of Broadway performances is staged in Bryant Park, but this year it is being moved to the Great Lawn of Central Park. They typically have some of the current Broadway headliners and a full orchestra. This is also taped, and this year it will be televised on CBS at 7:00 on Saturday, July 15.

Monday, June 26 at 8:00 – Broadway Under the Stars