By Robert Levin
Special to amNewYork
Backstage at Radio City Music Hall (RJ Mickelson/AMNY)
Millions of people go to Radio City Music Hall to see shows, but not nearly as many get to traipse through the backstage corridors walked by some of the world’s most famous entertainers.
And it’d be tough to find a New Yorker who hasn’t gawked at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, but how many of them actually know the history of the church?
This holiday season, take a behind-the-scenes tour of one of the city’s institutions.
Here’s a look at some of what the tours offer:
Radio City Music Hall
1260 Sixth Ave. at 50th St., 212-247-4777
Times: Monday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost: general $17, seniors $14, children 12 and under $10
Radio City’s Stage Door Tour takes you high above Peter Clark’s renowned Great Stage into the famous Roxy Room and through the impressive Art Deco lobbies that make up the “Showplace of the Nation.”
Along the way, you’ll be treated to an informative tour, a funny video hosted by Billy Crystal and a visit from a Rockette.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
33 Liberty St., btwn William and Nassau sts., 212-720-6130
Times: Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Cost: FREE, requires reservation, which can be made by calling, filling out an online form at ny.frb.org or emailing frbnytours@ny.frb.org
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York holds almost $194 billion of gold, and the only way to see it in person is through an official tour.
The brief but informative excursion begins in the bank’s free exhibit area and then descends five stories below street level, through a 90-ton steel door and into the vault. There, the guide explains the process with which the gold is categorized. You will also learn about the impressive security system, which transforms the vault into an impenetrable fortress.
Metropolitan Opera House
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, btwn 63rd and 64th sts., 212-362-6000
Times: 3:30 p.m. while the Met is in season (days vary)
Cost: general $15, members $13, students $8 (reservations required)
You’d never guess it from the lavish exterior or the imposing, six-story auditorium, but the world’s premier opera house also functions as a living workshop. It holds several warehouses worth of tools, props and costumes, not to mention sets from productions past and present.
On the Met’s Backstage Tour, you are given a firsthand view of the enormous behind-the-scenes operation required to put on one of the opera house’s elaborate, expensive productions.
