Until about 10 years ago, when they renovated the Stillwell Avenue stop in Coney Island they had a sign, "You are not in a bombing zone" a remnant of WWII.

I agree with progol on the Picasso exhibit...I loved it! And as she said, wonderful spacing. While it was a touch crowded, it never seemed crowded viewing the sculptures. Also the photo exhibit From to Buenos Aires: Grete Stern and Horacio Copola is excellent,

Not sure if the New Museum in the Bowery has already been mentioned. I saw a couple nice exhibits there over the last couple years. Alan was just there and while only partial floors were open as they prepared for a new exhibit, he thought it worthwhile.

Should DC strike your fancy, we'll be happy to host you 2. We'll be intown mid Dec onwards.

I'm so looking forward to Picasso at MOMA and the Kongo exhibit at the Met which looks interesting too.

http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-m...ons/2015/kongo

Yestravel - thanks for the suggestion of the New Museum in the Bowery, I had missed it entirely and/or confused it with the Neue Museum. The program looks interesting and I'm always looking to learn more about contemporary art.

http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions

We will certainly let you know if we're lured to DC by my brother-in-law, thanks so much for your kind offer.

If you are only arriving on the 24th you will miss this but others reading this thread will not...

https://www.facebook.com/CanstructionNY/

Hello welltraveledbrit - thank you for your suggestions for my London Xmas trip. I see that you are coming to my hometown and staying not too far from my neighborhood. I know you said you are not too fond of day trips but the below two are very doable:

http://m.diabeacon.org/sites/main/beacon
You can take the metro-north from Grand Central. Museum is is pretty setting and there's a Main St. with restaurants.

http://www.stormking.org
Beautiful outdoor sculpture park. It's open until the end of November before it closes for the winter. Not as easy to get to by public transportation but they have packages that leave from the city or you could rent a car for the day.

tyl, glad the London suggestions were useful and thanks for your ideas here. I can't believe it's less than a month until our NY trip.

Above I talked about how expensive I think the theatre is in NY and so I've been casting about for cheaper options.I did want to post one resource that I found which is joining the Theatre Development Fund (tdf) which gives you access to some shows at a cheaper price and you can buy the tickets online. This isn't useful if you're looking for seats to a hot Broadway musica (e.g. Hamilton)l or very specific dates, but if you have a broad interest in lots of different shows and are flexible about when you go and what you might see it looks like it could be productive, particularly for Off Off Broadway.

You have to fit into one of the categories for membership but all the details are here and it's a steal at $12 for a national membership.
https://www.tdf.org/nyc/25/National-Gift-Memberships
I'll let you know how it works out in the ongoing trip report.

I'm hoping between this membership, the online lotteries for tickets and same day tickets either at the box office or the South Street Seaport tdf, that we'll be able to satiate our desire for theatre in a more affordable way. If anyone else has any ideas or shows they can recommend I'd be very interested.

There are many designer/owner young women's clothes stores in the East Village. I think you should try some online as well.

Actually, TDF almost always offers cheap seats to the hottest shows if you are willing to go to an early preview. You just have to look for the right dates.

Lotteries can be useful or a waste of time. For those that don't require you to wait a long time (Book of Mormon, for example), the process can take 45 minutes or less, and that's not bad for the cheapest seats.

Same-Day box office seats are not typically discounted, but there are endless deals out there.

The real way to save is to book your theater tickets now with the available discount codes. Allegiance, for example, is $99 now and $119 after it opens if you buy tickets now during previews. Once the reviews come out it will go up to full price. I've heard a preview of some of the songs, and they sound good, and it's also something I've wanted to see for a long time.

If you don't want to plan ahead, the best time to go to TKTS in Times Square is usually about 5:30. There's always something available, and the lines are much shorter. But you are coming during the busiest time of the entire year, so you really do need to book ahead. The top shows are already sold out through Thanksgiving.

Thanks Doug - I appreciate your advice. Good to know the crowds are shorter if you head to TKTS on the later side.

I'm not a musical fan so there's no worry I will be standing with the crowds at Book of Mormon. Ideally I'm talking about the online lotteries where there's no line at all! I'm also going to check out the Today Tix app. It may be that all these resources are less useful for the kind of smaller shows we end up at but hopefully they may be useful for other Fodorites.

These days 'hot show" seems to be defined by someone singing. I generally go to musicals only when other people drag me - Spring Awakening, Urinetown, American Idiot,I did love Passing Strange which was more like a deconstructed musical theatre.

<TDF almost always offers cheap seats to the hottest shows if you are willing to go to an early preview.> You just have to know what will be a hot show before the reviews, which can be difficult!

My crystal ball has let me down on at least one occasion. I bought discounted tickets before the previews and was really looking forward David Hare's Vertical Hour, directed by Sam Mendes. Not even the divine Bill Nighy could compensate for Julianne Moore's wooden stage performance. It was so bad it was painful. But I suppose it reminds us that how extraordinary those actors are, who can glide between stage and screen.

I know quite a number of smaller theaters turn their shows in November so we're hoping to get to the second shows of the season between then and Christmas. If anyone has some Off Broadway or Off Off Broadway recommendations I'd be happy to get them -, either for particular plays, companies or theatre, we're interested in small modern dance companies too.

Again thanks for your thoughts, any other non-musical theatre people out there?

I see a lot of plays, but that's not what most people are looking for.

Old Times with Clive Owen is doing well and has gotten good reviews. I see it in a few weeks.

The Humans is by a promising playwright who's done two of my favorite recent new plays, but it closes on December 27.

I doubt you can get tickets, but Fool For Love (through mid-December) got excellent reviews. I am, however, not a big Sam Shepard fan.

check out Columbia University and St John the Divine and eat pizza at V&Ts.

<that's not what most people are looking for.> so true.

Thanks very much for the suggestions they are much appreciated. The Humans looks interesting and I'd certainly like to make it to the Roundabout Theatre. I don't know the playwright so the heads up is very helpful.I'd be curious to hear what you think of Old Times when you see it in a few weeks?

I understand your take on Shepard, I don't have any desire to see more Mamet.

Plambers - thanks for your recommendation too!

I just saw Old Times.. the running time is about 66 minutes.. its a Harold Pinter play, and I must admit I really dislike Pinter.. I did not like it at all.. I am a roundabout subscriber so I saw it.

I would highly recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.. you can check for discount tickets at broadwaybox.com or theatermania.com

Thanks Maxima, that's good to know about Old Times. Wow, 66 minutes. I know Pinter does a number of one act/shorter plays but often when they're this short they often stage a double bill.

I agree The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a good recommendation, we went in August and enjoyed it very much. It belies the idea that novel adaptations don't make good theatre. They did such a good job of giving it a theatrical reading which works well in terms of putting you inside the narrator's head. Despite all the awards it was easy to get last minute tickets.

Just incase anyone is interested I've posted a planning piece on my blog. There are lots of links...

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...ing-plans.html

+1 for Curious incident

Just to add I picked up two guides I like the look of:

Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes which covers everything from the Highline to cemeteries and Concrete Plant Park in the Bronx.

10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan by the Municipal Arts Society which looks like a wonderful guide for anyone interested in architectural history.

We just saw the Art Brut (outsider art) exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum - wonderful! Some very impressive work in the collection.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/ar...ooking-in.html

Thanks Progol -We're big Dubuffet fans so I'm looking forward to this one, interested to hear you liked it.

wtb -
The American Folk Art Museum is a very small museum and pay-what-you wish, so I find it especially satisfying to have such an interesting idea for a show. And it doesn't require a huge time commitment to see it!

P.

Was wondering if I could add anything new or exciting. Yes I can!

No one has mentioned the Society of Illustrators. If you go, invite me to lunch. www.societyillustrators.org also, this year at Open House NY I volunteered at Welling Court www.adhocart.org amazing Queens neighborhood If you really want to enjoy the Picasso and upcoming Jackson Pollack exhibits either get a MOMA membership or go with a member at member hour. If your relatives aren't members, buy them a membership and use it liberally.

Speaking of memberships. www.theaterclub.org is well worth it for quirky stuff and some amazing last minute gems. I'll send you an invite if you let me know how to contact you.

If you go wandering around Upper Manhattan day or night, go seek The Birds!

https://www.audubon.org/news/the-audubon-mural-project

I intend to search for them en route to and from Miracle on 34th Street here if I haven't had a chance to do it before then. The annual reading of Twas the Night Before Xmas is that afternoon in the same neighborhood.

A Guide Named Sue