Party like it’s 1865 at Niblo’s Pleasure Garden, with a Victorian circus, vaudeville show including fire eaters and contortionists, and a picnic, in Brooklyn.
It’s the annual old-fashioned extravaganza at Green-Wood Cemetery celebrating “permanent resident” William Niblo (1789–1878), the theatrical empresario whose Niblo’s Garden was the Radio City Music Hall of its day.
On Saturday, July 11th, Green-Wood’s park-like grounds will transform into a 19th-century pleasure garden and theater at the site of Niblo’s grand mausoleum, with entertainment curated by Bindlestiff Circus, a vaudeville and performing arts powerhouse. The outdoor performances, following an old-fashioned twilight picnic, will have the 19th-century flair of Niblo’s theater.
Guests are encouraged to bring blankets, picnic dinners and beverages as they step back in time with author, historian and Niblo expert Ben Feldman. After the show, Niblo’s mausoleum will be open for candlelit exploring.
WHEN: Saturday, July 11, 2015; 7PM to 10PM.
WHERE: Green-Wood – Meet inside the main gate (25th Street at 5th Avenue, Brooklyn)
COST: $37 ($32 for members of the Green-Wood Historic Fund and the Brooklyn Historical Society). To find out more information or to make online reservations, call 718-210-3080 or www.green-wood.com/toursevents. Reservations are recommended.
NOTE: You must be 21 or older, with ID, to consume alcohol.
The backstory: William Niblo himself visited his Green-Wood mausoleum regularly before he moved there permanently. Niblo’s Garden featured acrobats, vaudeville, dramas, musical concerts, and operas and was the premier destination of its time for entertainment in New York City. Niblo’s was the site of America’s first piece of musical theater. The fashionable theater-garden, located in Manhattan on Broadway between Prince and Crosby in what is now fashionable Soho, seated 3,200 persons. It was demolished in 1895.
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