Celebrating The Holiday Season in New York (c) By Polly Guerin

I’ll take Manhattan where Home Sweet Home is in its final week; the Holiday train shows up in the Bronx and the yuletide Christmas tree debuts at the MET, Picasso’s guitar sculptures at MOMA. Here’s the Scoop!!!

HOME SWEET HOME

The Scandinavian American Theater Company’s riveting drama may be about a dinner for a Danish comrade recently returned from Iraq, but if truth be told, the play makes Danish sound like an American tragedy. A pleasant evening turns into a fatal encounter when the three characters, Kim and his girlfriend Iben welcome Carsten, recently returned from service in Iraq to their new home for dinner only to reveal the traumatic experience of war in riveting consequences against a film backup that effectively augments Carsten’s anguish. At 9th Space, PS122, corner of 1st and 9th St: Mon./Tue. +Fri. at 7:30 pm, Sat. Nov. 27 at 4:30+7:30 pm, Sunday Nov. 28 at 4:30 pm. Purchase tickets online at: www.9thspace.org or call 212.352.3101.
HOLIDAY TRAIN SHOW

Winds its way through The New York Botanical Garden through Jan.9th. Wrapped in the glow of twinkling lights, model trains pave their way through an enchanted world featuring replicas of more than 140 New York landmarks, including this year’s new addition: JFK Airport’s complete with planes. Catch “The Little Train That Could” puppet show beginning Nov. 30th, and warm up indoors and decorate gingersnaps at Gingerbread Adventure. Bronx River Parkway at Fordham road. Metro North Harlem line to NYBG. For tickets: http://www.nybg.org/hts/#yourvisit.
CHRISTMAS TREE AND NEAPOLITAN BAROQUE CRECHE

A long-standing yuletide tradition in New York the Christmas tree at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Medieval Sculpture Hall is on view from November 23, 2010 through January 6, 2011. The brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce reflects the spirit of the holiday season with a collection of 18th-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs that hover among its boughs with groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base. Christmas music accompanies the daily lighting ceremonies: Tues./Wed./Thurs/Sun at 4:30 pm; and Fri+Sat. at 4:30, 5:30+6:30 pm. www.metmusuem.org.
PICASSO: GUITARS 1912-1914

Focuses on Pablo Picasso’s cardboard and sheet-metal Guitar sculptures bringing together 70 closely connected collages, constructions, drawings, mixed-media paintings, and photographs assembled from over 30 public and private collections worldwide. The exhibition takes as its point of departure Picasso’s first Guitar construction, a sculpture made in 1912. The artist’s silent instrument resembled no sculpture that had ever been seen before as its creation coincided with Picasso’s embrace of a wide range of what were then unconventional materials. February 13-June 6, 2011. At The Museum of Modern Art, MOMA, 11 W. 53rd St. www.moma.org.
Ta Ta Darlings!!! The Christmas tree at the MET is a “must” on my holiday list. Hope to see you there at one of the lighting ceremonies. Fan mail always welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. Polly’s Blogs can be accessed at www.pollytalk.com, simply click on the blog link of your choice in the right hand column.