For four days in October, New York becomes a perfectly reasonable place to share a sidewalk with a Jedi, a wizard, three superheroes, an anime warrior and somebody carrying a dragon.

In other words, New York Comic Con is back.

As NYCC celebrates its 20th anniversary October 8–11, the Javits Center may be command central, but the fandom is spilling well beyond Eleventh Avenue. In Times Square, House of Spells is turning its first U.S. location into something of a Comic Con clubhouse, with four days of trivia, cosplay, parties, dragons and enough fantasy worlds to make reality seem terribly overrated.

The sprawling W. 42nd Street destination, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, opened earlier this summer after House of Spells established itself in the United Kingdom. Founded by Khaja Hussain and Rafeeque Olikkathodi, it is part store, part immersive playground and part shrine to the gloriously obsessed, bringing more than 60 fandoms under one roof. Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Stranger Things and Fantastic Beasts are all represented, alongside fantasy, gaming and anime worlds, officially licensed merchandise, collectibles, cinematic environments and enough photo opportunities to keep a phone busy for hours.

During Comic Con, however, House of Spells is turning up the volume.

Four Days of Comic Con at House of Spells

Thursday, October 8 — Fandom Trivia Night, 7–10 p.m.

Marvel, comics, fantasy, television, movies and science fiction collide as fans finally get to put all that gloriously specific knowledge to practical use. First place takes home gift cards, a T-shirt, a trophy and, far more importantly in fandom circles, bragging rights. Suddenly all those hours spent memorizing fictional universes look like excellent life choices.

Tickets for Fandom Trivia Night

Friday, October 9 — Cosplay Mixer & Contest, 8–11 p.m.

Friday night belongs to the cosplayers. Guests are encouraged to arrive as characters from their favorite fandoms and let Comic Con’s alter egos take over Times Square. The grand prize is a ticket to the 2027 New York Comic Con—which means someone can theoretically win next year’s Comic Con simply by dressing exceptionally well for this year’s Comic Con. We approve.

Tickets for the Cosplay Contest & Mixer

Saturday, October 10 — Comic Con Crossroads of the World Afterparty, 8 p.m.–1 a.m.

By Saturday night, even superheroes need a drink. House of Spells joins forces with Times Square neighbor Dallas BBQ for the Saturday-night Comic Con afterparty, complete with a DJ, food and drinks and plenty of opportunity to dissect the day’s panels, costumes, collectibles and adventures with people who will actually understand what you’re talking about. Each ticket includes two drinks.

Tickets for the House of Spells Saturday Night Afterparty

Sunday, October 11 — Adopt a Dragon Day & Family Day, noon–2 p.m.

Sunday gets adorable. In keeping with NYCC’s family-friendly final day, the youngest fantasy fans can adopt their own magical companion and undergo immersive dragon training, complete with accessories and lessons in caring for their newest family member. Frankly, considering the price of veterinary care in New York, a dragon may be the more practical pet.

Tickets for Adopt a Dragon at House of Spells

The fandom doesn’t disappear when Comic Con packs up and leaves town. House of Spells has also introduced free Marvel Monday meetups, giving New Yorkers and visitors a place to gather around shared obsessions from the X-Men to the Avengers. In a city where fandom now stretches across generations, it makes sense that Comic Con culture should have somewhere to live after the convention badges come off.

“New York Comic Con is an incredible adventure that brings the fandom world to life, but at House of Spells we facilitate a Comic Con community every single day with the multi-verse on the doorsteps of Times Square,” said Jaime Vidal, President of USA Operations at House of Spells Times Square. “We invite the world of Comic Con to experience the comic community we are cultivating right here with more than 60 fandom fantasy worlds ready to be conquered.”

And Times Square may be exactly where all of this belongs. This is, after all, a neighborhood where costumed characters already roam the streets, enormous creatures appear on digital billboards and nobody particularly notices if Spider-Man walks past them before lunch.

House of Spells is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. until midnight at W. 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, giving fans considerably more than four days a year to disappear into another universe.

House of Spells

During Comic Con week, however, choosing just one universe seems unnecessarily restrictive.

Bring the cape. Bring the wand. Bring the lightsaber. Just please don’t bring an actual dragon on the subway.

There are certain lines that become so famous they almost swallow the work that created them. “You can’t handle the truth!” is one of them. Jack Nicholson’s explosive delivery as Colonel Nathan Jessep in the 1992 film A Few Good Men became part of the cultural vocabulary, quoted and parodied so often that it is easy to forget something rather important: before Hollywood got hold of it, A Few Good Men was a play.

Now Aaron Sorkin’s breakthrough work is returning to the stage, and at a recent press meet and greet, the company of Lincoln Center Theater’s new Broadway production gathered ahead of its first preview Thursday, October 8, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

The revival brings together an intriguing combination of generations.

Bradley Whitford

Bradley Whitford

Bradley Whitford

Bradley Whitford

Bradley Whitford takes on Colonel Jessep, the role forever associated on film with Nicholson

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth stars as Lt. Daniel Kaffee

Krysta Rodriguez

Krysta Rodriguez

Krysta Rodriguez

Krysta Rodriguez

Krysta Rodriguez plays Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway.

Michael Arden

Michael Arden

They were joined by members of the company, Sorkin, director Michael Arden

Lear deBessonet

Lear deBessonet

and artistic director Lear deBessonet as the production offered its first real glimpse of what this A Few Good Men intends to be.

Aaron Sorkin, Michael Arden

Aaron Sorkin, Michael Arden

Arden seems considerably less interested in recreating an icon than in rediscovering a play.

Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin

That is precisely what makes this revival potentially fascinating. A Few Good Men premiered in 1989, when Sorkin was still in his twenties, before The West Wing, The Social Network, Steve Jobs and the unmistakable verbal rhythms that would eventually make “Sorkinesque” almost an adjective of its own. Sorkin has returned to the script himself for this production, revising and polishing the work and acknowledging that he considers himself a better writer today than the young man who originally wrote it.

Cast and Crew

Cast and Crew

There is something wonderfully audacious about that. Most writers would probably like to sneak back into their early work in the middle of the night with a red pencil. Sorkin actually gets to do it.

Bradley Whitford

Yet the essential conflict remains potent: a military courtroom, the death of a young Marine, questions of obedience and responsibility, and the dangerous territory between following an order and being morally accountable for carrying it out. The play asks who gets to define duty, where authority ends and individual conscience begins, and what happens when institutions protect themselves by demanding unquestioning loyalty from the people inside them.

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth

Tom Blyth

Those questions haven’t exactly grown quaint.

Krysta Rodriguez

Krysta Rodriguez

Krysta Rodriguez

Krysta Rodriguez

Arden, whose work as a director has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to approach familiar material without embalming it, is looking for new truths inside Sorkin’s text rather than treating the original production—or the enormously successful film—as sacred territory. That becomes particularly important with Whitford’s Jessep. Trying to reproduce Nicholson would be theatrical suicide. The far more interesting possibility is discovering another man entirely inside those words.

Bradley Whitford

Michael Arden, Bradley Whitford

Aaron Sorkin, Michael Arden, Bradley Whitford

Michael Arden, Bradley Whitford, Krysta Rodriguez

Whitford also arrives with his own long history inside Sorkin’s universe, most famously as Josh Lyman on The West Wing. There is an irresistible bit of theatrical symmetry in watching an actor so associated with delivering Sorkin’s language now inhabit one of the writer’s most formidable characters.

Aaron Sorkin

The company also promises to lean into something that sometimes gets lost beneath the courtroom fireworks: Sorkin can be extremely funny. His dialogue moves quickly because his characters think quickly, and humor frequently becomes both weapon and defense. Allowing that wit to breathe may help separate the stage production from the darker cinematic weight that has hung over the story for more than three decades.

Cast

At the meet and greet, what emerged was not a company attempting to compete with a beloved movie but one intent on reminding audiences that A Few Good Men was built for a room where actors and audience breathe together. A courtroom confrontation has a very different electricity when there is no camera deciding where we look.

Lear deBessonet, Aaron Sorkin, Bradley Whitford, Michael Arden, Krysta Rodriguez, Tom Blyth

Then there is that line. Everyone knows it is coming. That may be Whitford’s greatest challenge. How do you say five words that millions of people already hear in somebody else’s voice? The answer may lie in the philosophy behind the entire production: don’t try to erase what came before. Find the truth underneath it.

A Few Good Men begins previews Thursday, October 8, at Lincoln Center Theater’s Vivian Beaumont Theater and officially opens October 29.

More than thirty-five years after Sorkin first put these men and women in a courtroom, America already knows the line.

Now Michael Arden and his company get to ask whether we ever really understood the question.

There are evenings when New York’s cabaret scene delivers more than a fabulous performance, and last night at 54 Below, The New York Pops Underground proved that great music can do considerably more than entertain. With Grammy and Tony-nominated powerhouse Deborah Cox commanding the spotlight, an intimate evening of music, dinner and philanthropy became a celebration of the next generation of performers.

Deborah Cox

Deborah Cox

Cox, whose extraordinary career has taken her from recording studios to Broadway stages in Aida, The Wiz and Titanique, brought her formidable vocal talents to the annual fundraiser, offering the kind of star power that makes a room feel considerably more glamorous. With music direction and arrangements by Geoffrey Ko, the evening combined the intimacy of cabaret with the excitement of hearing one of the industry’s most distinctive voices up close.

Deborah Cox

Deborah Cox

Of course, an evening featuring Deborah Cox hardly needs an additional attraction, but The New York Pops had something even more meaningful in store. Opening the festivities was the PopsEd Alumni Ensemble, a group of talented young musicians who have participated in the orchestra’s educational programs. Their appearance was more than a charming opening act. It was a living demonstration of exactly what the evening was designed to support.

Steven Reineke

The alumni represent the lasting impact of Kids on Stage, The New York Pops’ youth mentorship program, which introduces students from all five boroughs to the professional music-making process. Participants experience everything from intensive rehearsals to the extraordinary opportunity to perform alongside the orchestra on Carnegie Hall’s legendary stage. For a young musician, that is considerably more than an extracurricular activity. It is an invitation to imagine an entirely different future.

Quadair Dunn (Student Speaker)

Quadair Dunn (Student Speaker)

Guests gathered for a 6 p.m. reception before settling in for the 6:30 p.m. performance and dinner, complete with wine pairings. The combination of fine dining, cabaret and a worthy cause gave the evening the feel of an elegant New York supper club, with the added pleasure of knowing that the night’s indulgences were helping put instruments, instruction and opportunities into young hands.

The PopsEd Alumni Ensemble: Brian Worsdale, Director, Kids on Stage, with Sean M., Alto Sax, Nicolette S., Tenor Sax, Dean S., Baritone Sax, Corrado S., Trumpet, Leon M., Trumpet , Gabriel R., Trombone, Barnaby D., Piano , Stephen S., Bass , Sebastian D., Drums, Ellington C., Drums

The PopsEd Alumni Ensemble: Brian Worsdale, Director, Kids on Stage, with Sean M., Alto Sax, Nicolette S., Tenor Sax, Dean S., Baritone Sax, Corrado S., Trumpet, Leon M., Trumpet , Gabriel R., Trombone, Barnaby D., Piano , Stephen S., Bass , Sebastian D., Drums, Ellington C., Drums

Chaired by David Blakelock and Andrea Reiser, The New York Pops Underground benefits PopsEd, the orchestra’s extensive music education initiative. Since its founding in 1991, PopsEd has reached more than 100,000 New York City students, providing access to music education, artistic mentorship and performance experiences across communities and generations.

Robbie Gordy

Robbie Gordy

That figure deserves attention. In a city where arts education is too often treated as a luxury rather than an essential part of a child’s development, The New York Pops has spent more than three decades making a compelling argument for its importance. Music teaches discipline, collaboration, confidence and the ability to listen. More importantly, it gives young people a means of expression that can stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Kristina Leopold and Sara Gallo

The evening also offered a stylish prelude to The New York Pops’ 2026–27 season at Carnegie Hall, which promises an appealing mix of Broadway glamour, Hollywood nostalgia and contemporary musical talent. On October 23, Lena Hall joins the orchestra for 007: James Bond Forever, followed by One Night Only: An Evening with Denée Benton and Jordan Donica on November 20.

Deborah Cox

Deborah Cox

The holiday season arrives with Sleigh Bells Ring, featuring Derek Klena and Lindsay Mendez on December 18 and 19. The new year brings Introducing… Jimmie Harrod and Marisha Wallace on February 5, 2027, before the orchestra celebrates two cinematic giants with John Williams and Steven Spielberg: Movie Magic on March 5. All performances take place in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

Deborah Cox

Deborah Cox

But the real beauty of The New York Pops Underground lies in the connection between the established artist and the emerging one. Deborah Cox may have been the evening’s marquee attraction, but those young PopsEd alumni represented something just as exciting: the talent waiting for its own moment in the spotlight.

Deborah Cox

Deborah Cox

And in a city that has launched countless musical careers, helping the next generation find its voice is certainly worth raising a glass to.

Deborah Cox

After all, tonight’s opening act may very well be tomorrow’s headliner.

There are few places better suited to celebrating John Kander and Fred Ebb than Dizzy’s Jazz Club. On Sunday, October 4, New York was misty beyond those magnificent windows, the room was filled with Kander and Ebb melodies, and, making the evening even more special, John Kander himself was sitting at the table directly behind me listening to his music come alive.

John Kander

Hosted and curated by Deborah Grace Winer, Songbook Sundays: Life Is Kander and Ebb brought together three very different vocalists—Karen Ziemba, Matthew Scott and Vanisha Gould—with music director and pianist Jon Weber, Mark McLean on drums, Jay Leonhart on bass and Sam Chess on trombone. The talent was unquestionable, the musicianship superb and the surroundings quintessentially New York.

Karen Ziemba

Yet I left wanting more as I know this songbook inside and out.

Vanisha Gould, Karen Ziemba, Matthew Scott Vanisha Gould

Not more talent. There was plenty of that. What I wanted was more Kander and Ebb.

Karen Ziemba opened with “Where You Are,” immediately reminding us why she has had such a remarkable career. Ziemba doesn’t merely sing a lyric; she understands what is underneath it. That quality served her particularly well throughout the show, whether she was having wicked fun with “Don’t Tell Mama,” finding the aching simplicity of “My Coloring Book,” or delivering “How Lucky Can You Get.” Kander and Ebb frequently wrote characters who perform one emotion while another one is quietly breaking through, and Ziemba knows exactly how to live in that contradiction.

Matthew Scott has a terrific voice coupled with genuine acting chops, something especially evident in “Not Every Day of the Week” and “Love and Love Alone.” When he arrived at “Theme from New York, New York,” he wisely didn’t try to compete with the ghosts surrounding one of the most recognizable songs ever written about this city. Instead, he found his own way into it, allowing us to hear the song rather than an imitation of the singers who made it famous.

Then there was Vanisha Gould, who possesses a fabulous smoky, growling voice that sounds as though it was made for the 1930s. There is something wonderfully lived-in about her sound, a little dangerous around the edges, and it gave “Funny Honey” and “All That Jazz” an entirely different texture. “Maybe This Time” allowed her to move beyond the sass and into the vulnerability underneath, where Kander and Ebb so often do their best work.

The musicians were every bit as important to the performance.

Weber knows how to support a singer without disappearing beneath one, and McLean, Leonhart and Chess gave the music the swing and bite it requires. “Sing Happy” put the band front and center, while

Leonhart—whose career has included playing for an extraordinary roster of great performers—stepped into the spotlight to deliver his own “Razzle Dazzle.” It was an irresistible reminder that sometimes the musicians have a few tricks of their own.

Ziemba and Scott joined forces for “But the World Goes ‘Round,” another quintessential Kander and Ebb song about continuing when life has other plans. “Cabaret,” naturally, also made its appearance, bringing us back to the musical that remains inseparable from the Kander and Ebb name.

Which brings me to the one thing that bothered me about an otherwise beautifully performed performance.

Jon Webber and John Kander

Perhaps having John Kander sitting directly behind me made me even more aware of the sheer size of the catalogue being celebrated. Here was one of the architects of American musical theatre, listening to songs from a collaboration that stretched across decades, and I kept thinking about everything we weren’t hearing.

Vanisha Gould, Karen Ziemba, Matthew Scott

There were three selections from Chicago and three from Cabaret, along with two each from Flora the Red Menace and New York, New York. They are terrific songs, certainly, and nobody is going to object to hearing them sung this well. But Kander and Ebb wrote so much more.

John Kander, Matthew Scott

Where was The Happy Time, Zorba, 70, Girls, 70, The Act, Woman of the Year, The Rink, Steel Pier, Curtains, or The Scottsboro Boys? There is an astonishing amount of material in that catalogue, including songs that deserve to be rediscovered rather than allowed to sit quietly in the shadow of “All That Jazz” and “Cabaret.”

That is particularly what I look for from something called Songbook Sundays. A songbook series has the opportunity not merely to celebrate the songs everybody already knows, but to open the book a little wider. Give us something we have forgotten or haven’t heard in years. Give a younger audience a song they didn’t know existed. Let us hear the journey of the writers, not simply their greatest hits.

Kander and Ebb were never just Chicago and Cabaret. Their partnership was far richer and stranger than that. They could be cynical and sentimental, sophisticated and vulgar, politically savage and heartbreakingly romantic. Again and again they wrote about people performing confidence while quietly falling apart underneath it. Their characters keep dancing, keep singing, keep putting on the makeup and facing the world because, as one of their greatest songs reminds us, the world goes ’round.

Maybe that’s why I wanted more.

What Winer gave us was beautifully sung and beautifully played. Ziemba remains a masterful interpreter, Scott impressed with both voice and dramatic instinct, and Gould made me want to hear much more from that wonderfully smoky voice. Weber and his musicians gave us sophistication, warmth and swing.

Outside those windows was a mist-covered New York, while inside sat John Kander himself listening to his songs. Really, how much more New York can you get? Except, of course, for a few more Kander and Ebb songs.

I enjoyed Life Is Kander and Ebb immensely. My complaint is actually a compliment: with a songbook this extraordinary, I didn’t want the afternoon to end with so many pages still unopened.