Three moms and 3 teen daughters are traveling to NYC in early August. We are thinking of staying at the Gorham. Is is a comfortable,clean hotel in a safe district?
We also are considering tickets for Aida and/or Beauty and the Beast. Should we buy those through Ticketmaster before we go?
Do you have any other suggestions for theater, restaurants, shopping? Thanks!

The Gorham is a smaller hotel that has received favorable comments on this and other message boards. It is on W. 55th St. just off 7th Avenue. You couldn't be in a safer area. All of the following are located within a 1/2 miles radius: theater district, Times Square, Central Park, 5th Avenue shopping, Rockefeller Center, Museum of MOdern Art, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Bloomingdale's and Tkts theater discount booth to name a few. Macy's is just one mile south. Check www.playbill.com for tickets for Aida and Beauty before going to Ticketmaster. Also, Beauty tickets may be available at the TKTS boot for a same day performance.

You probably should get tickets in advance for AIDA, as it is popular and is sold out or close to that status. Beauty and the Beast, however, is a possibility at the TKTS booth or at a discount on the Playbill website(mid-week performances). You can probably wait to get full prices tickets for the latter until you get here.
How old are the teenagers? If they are old enough to enjoy Aida, they might be too old for Beauty and the Beast! And, conversely, if their young enough for Beauty and the Beast, they might not enjoy Aida!

Beauty and the Beast is pretty much the movie played on the stage. Unless you're all big Disney fans or in love with the film, I'd stick with Aida and, as an alternative or additional choice, Kiss Me Kate, which funny and a lot of fun for kids and adults alike, and is full of familiar Cole Porter classics.

For shopping, I have a few recommendations to please teen girls in particular. They will love the very hip and very affordable clothes at H&M, which has two locations, 5th Ave at 50th St and 34th St near 6th Ave (right near Macy's). You will all have fun strolling around Greenwich Village and Soho, checking out the trendy boutiques, cafes, etc. and people watching. They will also love shopping (for more hip and very affordable clothes) at the Canal Jean Co. on Broadway just below Canal, and for cosmetics, hair accessories. and costume jewelry at Ricky's on Broadway between Houston and Prince. If you don't have a Sephora store where you live, you'll all get a kick out of this perfume and maekup emporium where everything, including high-end brands and brands not sold elsewhere in the US, is out there for you to try with no sales pressure. There's one on 5th Ave near Rockefeller Center, one across from Macy's on 34th St, and several more around town. The stretch of Broadway in the Village between 14th St and Houston has lots of clothing, shoe, etc stores catering to a young clientele (close proximity to NYU). Canal St in Chinatown is the place to go if they want $10 knockoffs of designer sunglasses and Kate Spade purses (just be sure they understand they're buying fake, counterfeit goods off the street, not the real thing, and skip the videos, CDs, etc., which are aften faulty or blank).

For eating, depending where you are, to good options for a large group for lunch are the dining concourses (on the lower levels) at Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Terminal (the latter is worth a look regardless, as it's been beautifully restored). Both are essentially food courts, but instead of having fast food and mall-type chains, each has a variety of outposts of well-regarded local restaurants, bakeries, etc. GCT, especially, has a wide variety of ethnic foods and other choices. If you end up in Chinatown, have a dim sum lunch at a place like Nice Restaurant or Triple Eigt Palace, or lunch or dinner at New York Noodletown. In addition to the oft-mentioned pre-theater chices, there are many good, reasonable ethnic and Italian restaurants on 9th Ave in the 50s. Try Grand Sichuan International for Chinee or Afghan Kebab house for gilled kebabs with rice nd salads.

Thanks for all of your advice.
The girls are all 14 and say they'd love to shop, see the sights, go to TRL, eat at interesting places. I read a synopsis of "A Thousand Clowns". Would that be a good production to take them to?

Maybe I'm a sentimental fool, but I have to put in a plug for Beauty and the Beast! I enjoyed it tremendously as an adult. It translates to stage much better than Lion King, IMO, in spite of the fact that the Lion King staging is far more creative.

That said, at fourteen these girls may be right in the age bracket that wouldn't like it, preferring something more sophisticated. But maybe YOU should sneak off and see it! Or, as was suggested, try getting less expensive tickets for this show, but pay up for something more current.

I have wonderful memories of my first Broadway show (Fiddler on the Roof), at approximately the same age. What fun you'll all have.

I would think they would enjoy a musical more--listed in no particular order: Kiss Me Kate, The Music Man, Phantom of the Opera, 42nd Street, Annie Get Your Gun, Aida. I think they're probably to old for Beauty and the Beast.

Though it has been a couple of years since I saw it, I think that The Lion King is by far the best I have seen on Broadway. Beauty and the Beast is a fine show, but is by no means the theatrical experience that Lion King is.And I personally think teenagers would love it. I haven't seen Aida.