Month: December 2024

Times Square at year’s end

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I didn’t grow up in New York City, and like so many others, when I was a child seeing the ball drop in Times Square on television was a normal part of my routine as one year passed into the next. I have now been fortunate enough to live in NYC for over 30 years now, for many of them just a few blocks from Times Square itself. Have I ever waited all day in Times Square to see the ball drop live on New Year’s Eve? No, I have not! But due to the pandemic I was able to get quite close to the ball as it dropped in 2020 without waiting, and there are many other events in Times Square at the end of each year that have now become a regular part of how I process the year past, and anticipate the year to come. Here’s my take on how you can be a part of the Times Square NYE celebration, with even a few ways to participate if you aren’t in the city.

My favorite year-end event in Times Square is the arrival of the numerals that will replace the previous year’s numbers. They sit on the ground in Times Square for just a few days, and you can take your photo with them. You can find out when they will be available each year on the official Times Square website, but they are generally there for four or five days, and around the middle of the month (for 2024, they were there December 18-22). You might have to wait a bit for your turn at a photo, but if you can be there earlier in the day the area is much less crowded.

I think this is a relatively recent event, and the first year I remember seeing it (2018, to see the 2019 numbers) they only had the last two digits there (see above). Now the full year is on display for these few days.

Another activity in Times Square that I really love is the New Year’s Eve Wishing Wall. For most of the month of December (for 2024, December 2-29) you can write wishes on little slips of tissue paper, and they are saved to throw among all the confetti (over one ton is dropped!) that is released at midnight on New Year’s Eve onto Times Square. I find this to be a wonderful way to crystallize my hopes as I enter a new year. This is fun to do in person, of course, but the Times Square Website also allows you to type in wishes from anywhere and they will also be part of the confetti (find it here).

Another fun event is Good Riddance Day (usually December 28, but you can check the Times Square Instagram each year to confirm). More or less in opposition to the cheerful Wishing Wall (haha), for this you write down things you want to leave behind in 2024 and not take with you to the new year. And they shred or even BURN THEM for you . . . good riddance!

No guarantees that they will do this every year, but in 2024 on December 19 you could swap out old crystals on the actual Times Square ball for new ones, and you could keep the old crystal as a keepsake. Lines were long, but hey, at least the Naked Cowboy was there for entertainment.

The big event of course is the actual ball drop on New Year’s Eve. The area around Times Square becomes entirely blocked off earlier in the day and everyone who enters this area (roughly 40th to 59th Streets, from Sixth to Eighth Avenues) goes through airport-style security. If you are interested in going, all your questions can be answered in the FAQ section of the official Times Square website, but I will answer the most important question here: no, there are no bathroom facilities. During the height of the covid pandemic in 2020, only a few blocks were cordoned off and there was no official viewing area. That year I was able to get just a few blocks away, and with no wait, and I saw the actual ball drop from a few blocks away on 50th and Broadway.

I enjoy going to Times Square the morning of New Year’s Day. It’s eerily quiet, and although the clean up is fast and efficient, you can still see remnants of the confetti drop the night before. I know it’s not cool to like Times Square, and there are certainly times I try to avoid it. But that little girl inside of me who looked longingly at the ball drop on television is still there, on some level, and I love that I have been able to find a way to make the reality of Times Square a part of my end-of-year routine.

Red Bucket Follies

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If you have attended a Broadway show in the spring or late fall, you may have experienced an appeal to donate to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA) after the performers have received applause during their bows. Shows still in previews don’t generally participate, but nearly all shows that have opened do. Often you can purchase Playbills or window cards signed by the entire cast in exchange for a donation to BCEFA, and sometimes there are special items auctioned off to the bidder donating the highest amount. I once watched Glenn Close auction off the false eyelashes she had worn during the last revival of Sunset Boulevard (not to be confused with the currently running Sunset Blvd!), along with a photo opportunity with her, for over $10,000. Daniel Radcliffe has a history of raising quite a lot for BCEFA auctioning things like the literal shirt off his back (in Equus) and a piece of paper he had typed on during the performance (in Merrily We Roll Along). But always during these times of year there are people waiting as you exit with red buckets to receive donations of any size (as I have heard many times, “no donation is too small . . . and no donation is too large!”). They now also have QR codes on the buckets to scan and donate through in these relatively cash-free times.

These fund-raising drives were started in 1987, as AIDS was ravaging the theatre community and so many brilliant artists needed assistance with medical costs and social services. Much of the money raised now goes to the Entertainment Community Fund to fund The Friedman Health Center for the Broadway community, the HIV/AIDS Initiative, and The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, but also expands to provide grants to AIDS and social service organizations all over the country. With these drives occurring roughly around the Easter season and just before Christmas, BCEFA has held revues since 1989 at the end of each round of fund raising to announce the shows that have raised the most money. In addition, shows that choose to can also perform a short musical skit in front of the Broadway community and a panel of celebrity judges in hopes of winning bragging rights by placing in the top three. The spring drive led to one show being called the Easter Bonnet Competition (and each musical skit ended with one performer wearing an elaborately themed hat) and the one in early December was called Gypsy of the Year until being renamed Red Bucket Follies in 2022. As of this year, Red Bucket Follies was the only show being put on (despite the drives still being twice a year), but perhaps Easter Bonnet will come back!

I have been going to these events for years now. The audience is largely made up of the Broadway community, but for a donation to BCEFA some additional tickets are available to the regular public. Generally there are two performances, one on a Monday at 4:30 (think of this as a dress rehearsal, and a way for the judges to decide which skits they plan to award so that there are no delays the next day) and the finale the next day at 2PM (earlier since most attending and performing have a show that night). At the Tuesday performance the fund raising and musical skit winners are announced, as well as the total raised by everyone during the drive.

One of the great things about going to these is being at an insider Broadway event where the more shows you have seen, the better you will enjoy the musical skits. For instance, I remember when the original cast of Hamilton retold the story of “Demon Barber Sweeney Todd” to the tune of “Alexander Hamilton.” When Phantom was about to close, cast members going back decades had a skit set in a nursing home for Broadway performers. You also see Broadway performers interact and introduce different skits (above see Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff from Merrily We Roll Along at the 2023 Red Bucket Follies). The BCEFA YouTube channel has videos from many of the performances over the years.

Often the musical skits are funny (I remember well the opening number honoring the covid testing teams at the first Follies following the covid shutdown – including dancing nasal swabs), but sometimes are quite touching.

The photos above show you the judges and which shows participated in the Red Bucket Follies in December of 2024.

The final total and the shows that had raised the most for the fall drive in 2024 were announced by Jim Parsons (Our Town), Cole Escola (Oh Mary!), Ruthie Ann Miles (McNeal) and Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Blvd).

The total for the fall drive in 2024 was over $5.3M! As someone who truly loves Broadway theatre, BCEFA is one of my favorite charitable organizations (every year I send their cards, which also represent a donation, to family and close friends). There are other shows during the year to raise money for BCEFA (for example, Broadway Bares, if you are feeling adventurous) and other ways to support BCEFA (they often have Broadway house seats for even sold-out shows available if you are willing to donate twice the face value of the ticket – better than giving the money to a scalper). If you happen to be at a Broadway show during the fund raising periods, please consider being generous. Every single person who participates in the BCEFA drive donates their time, both while collecting and for the Red Bucket Follies. Even the theatre space for Red Bucket Follies is donated by Disney Theatricals. And if you happen to be able to attend Red Bucket Follies next December, let me know – I’ll see you there!