Things to do on a Sunday in New York
Forget about work in the morning: you’ve got too much partying to do today, so here are the best things to do on a Sunday in New York. Whether you’re planning a day trip from NYC, looking for an awesome festival, or finally have the time to see some of the best museum exhibitions in NYC, we’ve got the rundown for your best Sunday Funday right here. And if you blew all your cash on Saturday, stick with our picks for the best free things to do in town.
RECOMMENDED: Full guide to things to do in NYC this weekend
Featured things to do this Sunday
Shady Ladies of the Met Museum
Discover the true stories behind the muses of some of the Met’s most fabulous artworks, including nude models in ancient Greece, Venetian poets and courtesans, and the true identity of John Singer Sargent’s Madame X.
Accomplice
Tom and Betsy Salamon’s unique adventure—part interactive theater, part scavenger hunt, part walking tour—draws participants into an amusing web of puzzles and intrigue. You can choose between the three-hour New York tour, which takes participants through various neighborhoods of lower Manhattan, or the two-hour Village tour, which travels through quirky Greenwich Village. Groups of as many as 11 are booked every half hour.
The Winter Show
History buffs can explore 60-plus installations at this vintage art and antiques fair, where you’ll find some luxurious and incredibly detailed housewares, furniture and artwork. The fair benefits the community-based organization East Side House Settlement, which works to bring quality education and resources to residents of the Bronx and Northern Manhattan.
Mark MacKillop: Body By Taco Bell
Singer, dancer, Instagram body flaunter and Broadway Bares fund-raising machine MacKillop performs pop and Broadway songs and shares tales of being cast in the wicked tides of showbiz and social media.
Vogue Knitting LIVE!
Take your hobby to the next level at this high-fashion, high-intensity convention for thread fanatics. Attend classes on stitches, color patterns and mosaic knitting; catch runway shows; and buy yarns from around the world at the marketplace.
Otter Box
Dig into this dope, dirty night of dancing at the Deep End every Sunday, at which you'll find a game queer crowd not ready to give up its weekend. Look out for rowdy go-go boys and unstoppable drag acts to keep the wild shenanigans going.
Donny McCaslin
For more than two decades, protean saxist and composer Donny McCaslin has relentlessly expanded his musical purview in a variety of ensemble settings: as a sideman, as the pilot of his own diverse groups and, more recently, as a collaborator on the late Bowie's final album, Blackstar. That investment in genres outside of jazz is visible on the tenorist’s recent work, including his latest, 2018's Blow. Here, McCaslin performs with bandmembers pianist Jason Lindner, drummer Mark Guiliana and bassist Tim Lefebvre. Read our interview with Donny McCaslin.
"Punk Lust: Raw Provocation, 1971–1985"
For over a decade, the hot cultural miasma of punk erupted right out of New York City. It was an era of explosive rock & roll, swirling gender boundaries, fierce women and game-changing fashion—rooted in the sex work industry, counter-culture and iconic performance venues of ’70s NYC. Explore how the movement was born out of—and forever changed—cultural understandings of gender and sex work at this new exhibition, curated by cultural critic Carlo McCormick, artist Lissa Rivera and "punk professor" Vivien Goldman. At areas like "Art and Film," "Deconstructing Gender," "Sex/Work," "Fetish and Fashion" and "Rebellion and Provocation," you can see rare costumes, photographs, flyers, letters and films from icons of the era like Johnny Thunder, Malcolm McLaren and Sable Starr. NYC has certainly changed since the heyday of Blondie and Suicide. But there's no touching the city's immortal legacy as the birthplace of cultural rebellion.
Things to do on any Sunday
Find the perfect brunch
New Yorkers may not be a religious bunch, but we’ve got our own time-honored Sunday morning ritual: brunch. Whether you’re dining with a group or rolling solo, here are the finest places to quell your a.m. hunger pangs (and/or hangover). Click through for our complete guide to the best brunch in NYC including pancakes, huevos rancheros, eggs Benedict, mimosas and other late-breakfast standards.
Line up for improve at ASSSSCAT 3000
NYC’s long-form improv royalty (including UCBT and SNL folk) play pickup-game style in this famous long-running show. There’s no telling who will make an appearance on a given night, but the likes of Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch have been known to pop in. If you want to check it out for free, line up outside the theater (early!) for the 9:30pm show; tickets are distributed at 8:15pm. Play-it-safers can buy advance tickets for the 7:30pm show for $10.
Tour the Brooklyn Brewery
Williamsburg’s craft-beer facility offers free, no-reservation general tours on Saturday and Sunday. Post-tour, join the crowds purchasing tokens for brewskis (one beer for $5, five for $20) to taste the standard and seasonal styles on tap. Sunday bonus: This is the only day that also includes Smorgasbrewery, in which five or six vendors from Smorgasburg dish out suds-complementing foodstuffs inside the brew house.
Bliss out to LPs at Classic Album Sundays
Erstwhile New Yorker Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy brings her long-running London affair back home to Gotham. The concept is simple: It’s a good old-fashioned listening party, with each installment focusing on a selection from rock and pop’s discography of canonical LPs, all played on Murphy’s high-end audiophile hi-fi. Murphy’s album selection comes from all over the genre map: the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. Click here to read our interview with Murphy. classicalbumsundays.com.
Take the ferry to Governors Island
A seven-minute ride on a free ferry from Manhattan or Brooklyn takes you to this seasonal island sanctuary, a scant 800 yards from lower Manhattan. Thanks to its strategic position in the middle of New York Harbor, Governors Island was a military outpost that was off-limits to the public for 200 years. It finally opened to summer visitors in 2006. Today, the island provides a peaceful setting for biking (bring a bike on the ferry, or rent from Bike and Roll once there), picnicking and general relaxation. The island often hosts events such as concert series, art exhibitions and club nights (see website for schedule).
Shop local at Artists & Fleas
A rotating selection of around 60 vendors, including local designers and artists, sets up shop in this Williamsburg warehouse every weekend. The browsable mix includes everything from original T-shirts and handmade jewelry to reconditioned vintage bags and clocks made out of old hardcover books. But Artists & Fleas is as much about the vibe as the goods: DJs spin, food purveyors offer refreshments, and sundry Billyburgers wander the rows of booths in all their quirky finery.
Indulge your inner child at Spoons, Toons and Booze
Does the eye-wateringly sweet taste of Frosted Flakes make you nostalgic for the cartoon-filled weekend mornings of your youth? If so, head to Spoons, Toons & Booze at Nitehawk Cinema, where Michael Austin, organizer of the ’80s Sing-Along, brings you a free all-you-can-eat sugary cereal buffet and a selection of 80-plus cartoons from the ’40s through the ’90s (DuckTales, Jem, ThunderCats, Captain Planet—you name it). You can spike your Cinnamon Toast Crunch with a shot of Baileys or Kahlúa for $5; there are some benefits to adulthood, after all.
Get down up high at Nouveau York
Nouveau York hosts Neil Aline and Jérôme Viger-Kohler keep the fun coming up in the Standard Hotel’s penthouse boîte, with Aline and top guests (DJ Harvey, Club Cheval and Dimitri from Paris have played in the past) hitting the decks for a session of house, disco and more. nouveauyork.com.
Hear live classical music at the Frick Collection
Few experiences in New York City can compare with taking in a lieder concert, piano recital or chamber-music performance in this stately old mansion-cum-art-museum’s elegant music room, where scores of prominent musicians have made their first local appearances. Show up early to check out the gallery, which is pay-what-you-wish from 11am to 1pm on Sundays.
Scream at Alley Pond Park Adventure Course
Thrill seekers should head to this series of obstacles designed for team-building and scaring the crap out of you. Live out your Indiana Jones fantasy by scaling a bouldering wall, whizzing down the zip line, balancing on a high wire and getting catapulted from the Human Swing Shot, a device that lifts you 45 feet in the air before sending you into free fall.
Popular things to do this Sunday
Breaking Surface
A man's relationship with his flighty artistic muse is the subject of this mystical dance-theater spectacle, which features aerialism, acrobatics and multiple evocations of water and air. Staged site-specifically at a secret Williamsburg location, the show is conceived and directed by 5th Wall Studio's Gwyneth Larsen and William Mulholland.
Michelle Drozdick: Message in a Bottle
Michelle Drozdick goes all the way crazy in love with a bottle of vodka in this dark comedy, which won fans at the PIT's Solocom Festival in 2018.
Zadig & Voltaire sample sale
Much like the clothes from this edgy brand, the discounts are usually fierce—we’re talking up to 80 percent off certain styles. In the past, we've nabbed handbags for $249 (were $498), T-shirts for $29.40 (formerly $98) and men's long-sleeved sweaters for $103.20 (instead of $258). During this sale, there are separate locations for men (104 Grand St, through Jan 20) and women (153 Mercer St, through Jan 27).
Gatz
Theater review by David Cote [Note: This is a review of the 2010 production of Gatz. The show returns in 2019 for an encore run at the Skirball Center, with its original cast.] “Since the introduction of printing, and the fatal development of the habit of reading amongst the middle and lower classes,” Oscar Wilde wrote in The Critic as Artist, “there has been a tendency in literature to appeal more and more to the eye, and less and less to the ear which…from the standpoint of pure art, it should seek to please.” An aesthete who elevated recitation over print, Wilde would have been quite flummoxed by Gatz, the jaw-dropping literary installation by Elevator Repair Service. This eight-hour-plus immersion—in which 13 actors read aloud every blessed word of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby—is thoroughly aural, even musical. And yet, the production acts upon the eye, through a meticulously layered physical score buzzing around Scott Shepherd, our intensely listenable narrator. Shepherd reads beautifully; we watch him read; we listen; we imagine that we read along with him; and so Fitzgerald’s images are burned into our brains by an indirect circuit of seeing and hearing on intermeshed levels. After eight hours of this, our narrative-absorbing faculties have been so recalibrated that we forget where ERS’s frame ends and Fitzgerald’s picture begins. Directors John Collins and Steve Bodow and their ensemble created the piece and presented a work-in-progress in January 2005 in
Shady Ladies of the Met Museum
Discover the true stories behind the muses of some of the Met’s most fabulous artworks, including nude models in ancient Greece, Venetian poets and courtesans, and the true identity of John Singer Sargent’s Madame X.
The Winter Show
History buffs can explore 60-plus installations at this vintage art and antiques fair, where you’ll find some luxurious and incredibly detailed housewares, furniture and artwork. The fair benefits the community-based organization East Side House Settlement, which works to bring quality education and resources to residents of the Bronx and Northern Manhattan.
L-E-V: Love Chapter 2
The Israeli troupe, the brainchild of longtime Batsheva Dance Company member Sharon Eyal and rave producer Gai Behar, returns to New York—the only North American destination on its 2019 world tour—with a full-length piece about love and disconnection, set to techno beats by DJ Ori Lichtik.
Mark MacKillop: Body By Taco Bell
Singer, dancer, Instagram body flaunter and Broadway Bares fund-raising machine MacKillop performs pop and Broadway songs and shares tales of being cast in the wicked tides of showbiz and social media.
ECHOensemble: One
Nine dancers and musicians share the stage in a piece directed by Brooklyn composer Jonah Udall for the nascent ECHOensemble.
Vogue Knitting LIVE!
Take your hobby to the next level at this high-fashion, high-intensity convention for thread fanatics. Attend classes on stitches, color patterns and mosaic knitting; catch runway shows; and buy yarns from around the world at the marketplace.
Free things to do this Sunday
Comedy at the Knitting Factory
Forget Game of Thrones, forget laundry night, forget your dayjob in the morning: Sunday nights now belong to Marie Faustin, Sydnee Washington and Aminah Imani. The trio of stand-up supremes give you looks, life and a top-tier comedy showcase every week—and there isn't even cover! Stay sharp and look fresh—you're about to witness the best night of comedy in New York.
Movies to see this Sunday
Vice
Utterly transformed via a small phalanx of makeup artists, Christian Bale anchors Adam McKay's biopic of Dick Cheney
On the Basis of Sex
Felicity Jones stars in this impressively brainy dramatization of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s rise to legal prominence
Cold War
Pawel Pawlikowski’s epic love story is an achingly romantic and melancholic joy
If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins follows up Moonlight with more evidence of his emotional gifts
Mary Poppins Returns
Emily Blunt is hypnotically charming in this big-hearted contact high
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Nutso yet often inspired, this animated Spidey reboot is worth shelving your Spider-fatigue for
Suspiria
Luca Guadagnino's creative and creepy spin on the horror classic finds moves of its own
Burning
Unfolding with grace and precision, Lee Chang-dong’s slowburn Korean mystery is beautifully executed
Shirkers
Sandi Tan reckons with the indie film she almost made as a teen—and the man who stole it
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
It's a powerhouse acting showcase for Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant
Concerts to see this Sunday
Mark MacKillop: Body By Taco Bell
Singer, dancer, Instagram body flaunter and Broadway Bares fund-raising machine MacKillop performs pop and Broadway songs and shares tales of being cast in the wicked tides of showbiz and social media.
Donny McCaslin
For more than two decades, protean saxist and composer Donny McCaslin has relentlessly expanded his musical purview in a variety of ensemble settings: as a sideman, as the pilot of his own diverse groups and, more recently, as a collaborator on the late Bowie's final album, Blackstar. That investment in genres outside of jazz is visible on the tenorist’s recent work, including his latest, 2018's Blow. Here, McCaslin performs with bandmembers pianist Jason Lindner, drummer Mark Guiliana and bassist Tim Lefebvre. Read our interview with Donny McCaslin.
Looking for the perfect Sunday brunch?
The best brunch in NYC
Consult our comprehensive guide to the best brunch NYC has to offer and enjoy the perfect late breakfast this weekend
