Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, and executive producer Sonja Warfield bring wit, candor, and a little old-fashioned intrigue to a sold-out evening at The Paley Center for Media.

Cynthia Nixon

New York society has always been a spectator sport, and few television series understand its delicious combination of ambition, money, manners, and manipulation quite like HBO’s The Gilded Age. At this year’s PaleyFest NY, The Paley Center for Media rolled out the red carpet for an evening devoted to the Emmy-nominated drama, offering a glimpse behind the silk curtains as the series prepares for its fourth season.

Sonja Warfield

The sold-out gathering at the Bennack Theater brought together Carrie Coon, whose formidable Bertha Russell has never met a social obstacle she couldn’t attempt to conquer; Cynthia Nixon, whose Ada Forte has emerged as one of the show’s most quietly compelling characters; and writer and executive producer Sonja Warfield, one of the creative minds responsible for keeping the machinations of Manhattan’s nineteenth-century elite so irresistible.

Jessica Shaw

Entertainment journalist Jessica Shaw moderated the conversation, which opened with a screening of the newly released trailer for the upcoming season. If there is one thing The Gilded Age has taught its audience, it is that beneath every beautifully arranged dinner table lies the possibility of social warfare.

Cynthia Nixon, Sonja Warfield, Carrie Coon

The evening also marked a new chapter for PaleyFest NY, with the introduction of the PaleyFest Award, recognizing excellence in media, television, and entertainment. Presented to participating shows, the honor adds another distinction to a festival that has become an anticipated gathering place for television’s leading creative talents. Citi helped make the evening possible.

Carrie Coon

For Coon, Bertha Russell remains a fascinating study in contradictions. Here is a woman whose ambition is practically architectural, who has spent three seasons attempting to construct an empire of social influence as formidable as her husband’s financial one. Yet Coon finds some of her greatest satisfaction in the moments when Bertha’s armor slips.

Carrie Coon

“I love Bertha’s vulnerability,” she explained. “She can be so brave and so ambitious, so when she gets to soften, I really love those moments.”

Carrie Coon

It is precisely that vulnerability that keeps Bertha from becoming merely a magnificently dressed social climber. Beneath the elaborate gowns, extravagant entertainments, and relentless determination is a mother who wants something better for her daughter, even when her methods of securing that future become questionable. Coon spoke about Bertha’s hopes for her daughter and her desire to see her enjoy opportunities that previous generations of women were denied.

Sonja Warfield, Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, Sonja Warfield, Carrie Coon

Nixon, meanwhile, explored Ada’s equally compelling evolution. Once overshadowed by her commanding sister Agnes, Ada has gradually revealed an emotional life that extends well beyond the polite confines of the Van Rhijn household.

Sonja Warfield, Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, Sonja Warfield, Carrie Coon

Nixon described Ada as someone “so hungry for youth, for a young person to help, a young person to nurture…a young person to live vicariously through.”

Cynthia Nixon, Sonja Warfield,, Sonja Warfield, Carrie Coon,

That longing for connection gives Ada a distinctly different kind of power from Bertha’s. Where Bertha attempts to bend society to her will, Ada seeks meaning through the people she loves. Both women, in their own ways, are negotiating how much control they can exercise over their lives in a world determined to define them.

Sonja Warfield

One of the evening’s most appealing revelations concerned Nixon’s extraordinary history with Christine Baranski, who plays the deliciously imperious Agnes van Rhijn. Their relationship stretches back more than four decades, providing a foundation that no amount of rehearsal could manufacture.

Sonja Warfield

“We are very lucky that we have our prior relationship. That we’ve known each other for 40 plus years… we don’t have to fake the intimacy,” Nixon observed.

That familiarity is evident onscreen. The sisters’ exchanges, whether affectionate, exasperated, or sharpened to a fine point, possess the effortless rhythm of two women who know exactly how to get under each other’s skin.

Behind the scenes, Warfield offered insight into the formidable task of keeping so many intertwined lives moving forward. With the third season leaving numerous storylines unresolved, the writers were hardly facing a shortage of material.

“There were so many threads that we left open in Season 3, so we knew we had a lot of supply,” she said.

And when the conversation turned to which characters come most naturally to her, Warfield singled out Agnes, whose aristocratic certainty and impeccable sense of social hierarchy apparently feel rather familiar.

“She is essentially my mother… I kind of grew up in that boujee world,” Warfield revealed.

It was a wonderfully revealing observation. The show’s humor works because its characters take their social rituals with deadly seriousness, while the audience is permitted to appreciate just how absurd those rituals can be.

Shaw captured that peculiar pleasure with a confession that surely resonated throughout the theater.

“I always love thinking about this show because I always start thinking about things I never thought I’d care about, like tassels.”

Indeed, The Gilded Age has accomplished the seemingly impossible: making the placement of a dinner guest, the acceptance of an invitation, or the details of a drawing room feel like matters of international diplomacy.

But its enduring appeal goes well beyond the spectacular costumes and lavish interiors. At its heart, the series is about power: who possesses it, who inherits it, who marries into it, and who is determined to seize it regardless of what society thinks.

For all its nineteenth-century elegance, those questions remain remarkably contemporary. The fortunes may be different, the rules of engagement more discreet, and the gowns considerably more elaborate, but the battle for influence is one New Yorkers still recognize.

As The Gilded Age looks toward its fourth season, the PaleyFest NY conversation offered an entertaining reminder of why audiences remain so invested in the fortunes of the Russells, the Van Rhijns, and their ever-expanding circle of allies and adversaries.

After all, in New York society, the only thing more entertaining than watching someone climb the social ladder is discovering who intends to pull it out from under them.

All photo’s Courtesy of The Paley Museum

NYC Christmas Markets Shine With Prince Mario-Max – exclusive on T2C where to go for Christmas in NYC

H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe celebrates New York’s holiday season with a refined guide to the Christmas markets, festive landmarks, and elegant city traditions that make Manhattan glow.

All we want is Christmas markets, says H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, and in New York City, that wish arrives with a certain polish. It arrives in the form of glass kiosks, handcrafted ornaments, warm pastries, music drifting through public plazas, and the steady movement of visitors who come to Manhattan not only to shop, but to feel the season gather around them.

For Prince Mario-Max, the appeal of New York at Christmas is immediate. The city understands spectacle, but it also understands detail. A good holiday market is built on both. It needs the grand setting, the architecture, the lights, and the sense of arrival. It also needs the smaller pleasures, the carefully wrapped gift, the artisan candle, the winter scarf, the cup of hot chocolate held between gloved hands.

That is why New York’s Christmas market season has become one of the city’s most beloved cultural rituals. It is shopping, certainly, but it is also theater, hospitality, design, food, memory, and discovery. Visitors do not simply pass through these markets. They enter into a seasonal version of the city where local makers, international artisans, culinary talent, and landmark locations all share the same festive stage.

The best of New York is often found in places where people gather naturally. Bryant Park, Union Square, Grand Central Terminal, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue, and Central Park all take on heightened meaning in the holiday months. They become routes of celebration, each one distinct, each one offering a different version of Christmas in the city.

For the 2026 holiday season, New York City Tourism + Conventions has already framed the period as a major citywide celebration, with approximately 8.1 million travelers expected to visit the five boroughs during the holidays. The season includes the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 26, the Rockefeller Center holiday experience in December, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular from November 4 through January 4, and a broad calendar of winter culture across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island.

The essential Christmas market conversation begins at Bryant Park. The Bank of America Winter Village has become one of the defining images of the season, located between the towers of Midtown and the green geometry of one of Manhattan’s most elegant public spaces. Its Holiday Shops by Urbanspace are described as a European-inspired open-air market, with artisans from New York City and around the world housed in custom-designed jewel box kiosks. For 2026, Bryant Park lists the opening of the Holiday Shops on Wednesday, October 28, at noon.

Bryant Park works because it feels complete. A guest can browse gifts, pause for food, watch skaters move across the rink, and remain in one setting that is festive without feeling closed off from the city. The surrounding architecture gives the market its metropolitan frame. The kiosks bring the scale down to the human level. That balance is why visitors return year after year.

Prince Mario-Max points naturally toward Bryant Park as a first stop because it gives travelers the classic New York holiday feeling in one walkable destination. There is movement, color, and choice. There are gifts with a handmade quality, sweets to carry away, and the pleasure of discovering small businesses in a setting that feels grand but accessible.

From Bryant Park, the holiday route can continue east to Grand Central Terminal, where the atmosphere changes completely. The Grand Central Holiday Fair is indoors, sheltered within Vanderbilt Hall, and the architecture does much of the work before a single purchase is made. For 2026, the fair is scheduled from November 9 through December 24, with weekday hours listed from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday hours from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Christmas Eve hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A Season of Markets, Makers, and Manhattan Elegance

Grand Central is the market for those who love refinement. The station’s Beaux-Arts setting gives the fair a formal, almost ceremonial quality. Beneath the chandeliers and vaulted interior, the shopping experience becomes intimate and composed. Handcrafted jewelry, pottery, artwork, and design objects belong naturally in a hall built for arrival.

The Grand Central Holiday Fair is especially useful for visitors who want a sophisticated market experience without depending on the weather. It is easy to pair with a Midtown itinerary, from the New York Public Library and Bryant Park to the shops of Madison Avenue and the windows of Fifth Avenue. It is a reminder that New York’s holiday season can be festive without losing its elegance.

Union Square offers a different energy. It is downtown, lively, democratic, and closely connected to the city’s maker culture. The Union Square Holiday Market has long been associated with independent vendors, food stalls, handmade goods, and the kind of browsing that rewards patience. While official 2026 operator details may continue to be updated closer to the season, current holiday market guides list Union Square as expected from November 12 through December 24, with the market known for its large vendor selection.

This is the market for the guest who wants abundance. Union Square encourages wandering. One path leads to ceramics, another to jewelry, another to small-batch sweets, prints, leather goods, knitwear, or New York-themed gifts. It also sits in a neighborhood where the city’s everyday life continues all around it, with bookstores, restaurants, cafés, and the Union Square Greenmarket adding to the rhythm.

Prince Mario-Max’s enthusiasm for Christmas markets fits especially well here because Union Square captures the social joy of the season. It is not only about what is bought. It is about what is noticed. A conversation with a vendor, a gift chosen because it feels personal, a small indulgence shared before dinner downtown, these are the moments that make a market memorable.

Columbus Circle brings the holiday market experience to the edge of Central Park. It has traditionally offered one of the most picturesque market settings in Manhattan, positioned where Midtown opens into the park and the city begins to soften into trees, paths, and winter walks. Current 2026 listings indicate that Columbus Circle’s final dates had not yet been formally announced at the time of recent market updates, though the market is expected to return.

The appeal of Columbus Circle is the surrounding itinerary. A visitor can begin with a walk through Central Park, continue to the market for gifts and food, then move toward Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, or the shops along Central Park South. It is a market that suits an elegant afternoon, especially for travelers who want the holiday season without rushing.

Rockefeller Center is not a Christmas market in the same traditional sense, yet no refined guide to holiday New York would be complete without it. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, The Rink, nearby boutiques, and seasonal dining create a holiday district that anchors the imagination of visitors from around the world. NYC Tourism lists Holidays at Rockefeller Center among the city’s signature December experiences, alongside skating, shopping, seasonal treats, and views from Top of the Rock.

For Prince Mario-Max, Rockefeller Center belongs in the same conversation because it represents the ceremonial heart of Christmas in Manhattan. It is where visitors go for the photograph, the tradition, the tree, and the unmistakable sense that the city has dressed for the occasion. It is best enjoyed with time, patience, and a willingness to move slowly through the surrounding blocks.

Fifth Avenue adds another layer to the experience. Beginning November 20, 2026, Fifth Avenue is expected to transform with festive décor, interactive photo moments, a 30-foot snowflake, iconic window displays, Saks’ light show, and holiday shopping, with the annual Open Streets celebration returning on December 13.

This is where New York’s luxury culture meets public celebration. The windows are part of the city’s seasonal language. The avenue becomes a promenade, with families, travelers, fashion lovers, and holiday traditionalists all moving together under the same lights. It is polished, crowded, and unmistakably New York.

The beauty of New York’s Christmas markets is that they can be experienced as a sequence. Start at Bryant Park for the full winter village effect. Continue to Grand Central for indoor artistry and architectural grandeur. Move downtown to Union Square for independent makers and a broader sense of local creativity. Save Columbus Circle for a Central Park afternoon, and reserve Rockefeller Center and Fifth Avenue for the iconic evening walk.

The most successful holiday visit is not built around speed. It is built around pacing. New York rewards the traveler who leaves room between destinations. A market is best enjoyed when there is time to compare ornaments, taste something warm, speak with a maker, and pause long enough to let the setting register.

Food is central to the pleasure. The modern Christmas market is as much a culinary outing as a shopping trip. Sweet and savory choices have become part of the ritual, from pastries and chocolate to warm drinks, savory snacks, and international comfort foods. The best markets understand that visitors want gifts to carry home and flavors to enjoy immediately.

For luxury travelers, the markets also work beautifully alongside hotel traditions. The Plaza, The Carlyle, and Lotte New York Palace are among the city’s notable holiday addresses, with NYC Tourism highlighting seasonal suites, dining, spa experiences, courtyard trees, letters to Santa, and winter hospitality during the November to January period.

This hotel layer matters because Christmas in New York is often about returning somewhere beautiful after the public celebration. A day in the markets can end with tea, dinner, music, or a quiet lobby dressed for the season. The city’s great hotels understand the holidays as an art of welcome.

There is also a cultural dimension beyond shopping. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, running November 4 through January 4 for the 2026 season, remains one of Midtown’s signature holiday performances, with more than 230 performances planned and a new Rockettes number included for the season.

Pairing a matinee or evening show with a Christmas market is one of the simplest ways to create a complete New York holiday day. Bryant Park before Radio City, Rockefeller Center after the performance, or Grand Central before dinner gives structure to the outing without making it feel overly planned.

The city also extends the season well beyond Midtown. The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show is listed from November 14 through January 10 in The Bronx, with miniature landmarks crafted from natural materials and model trains winding through city scenes. The Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights runs from November 21 through January 3, with illuminated wildlife lanterns, light shows, entertainment, seasonal treats, and family activities.

These destinations show that New York’s Christmas spirit is not confined to one avenue or one tree. It moves outward into neighborhoods, parks, museums, gardens, and public spaces. The markets may be the heart of the request, but the broader city provides the setting.

For visitors with only one day, the most polished itinerary begins at Grand Central, continues to Bryant Park, moves along Fifth Avenue, pauses at Rockefeller Center, and finishes near Central Park or Columbus Circle. This route is efficient, elegant, and rich with landmarks. It gives the visitor architecture, market shopping, windows, skating, lights, and the central icons of Manhattan’s holiday season.

For visitors with more time, Union Square should be given its own afternoon. It is best experienced without hurry, followed by dinner downtown or a walk through nearby neighborhoods. Its charm lies in variety and texture, and it rewards those who enjoy the search as much as the purchase.

Prince Mario-Max’s phrase, all we want is Christmas markets, captures something simple and true. In a season crowded with obligations, the market offers a clear pleasure. It invites people to walk, browse, taste, choose, and enjoy. It restores the act of gift giving to something personal.

New York amplifies that pleasure because every market sits within a larger story. Bryant Park has the skyline. Grand Central has the architecture. Union Square has the maker spirit. Columbus Circle has Central Park. Rockefeller Center has the tree. Fifth Avenue has the windows. Together, they create a holiday route that feels both festive and distinctly urban.

The best of New York at Christmas is not found in a single stop. It is found in the movement between them, in the way one destination leads gracefully to the next. A visitor can begin with an ornament and end with a performance, begin with a pastry and end beneath the Rockefeller Center tree, begin with a handmade gift and end in a hotel lobby glowing with seasonal warmth.

That is the enduring luxury of the New York holiday season. It is generous, public, beautifully staged, and full of choice. It welcomes the first-time visitor and the lifelong New Yorker with equal confidence. It turns shopping into ceremony and the city into a sequence of memorable rooms, plazas, halls, avenues, and parks.

H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe’s celebration of the city’s Christmas markets arrives at exactly the right note. It is cheerful, cultured, and focused on what makes the season feel alive. In New York, the market is never just a market. It is a meeting place, a cultural showcase, a winter walk, and a polished expression of holiday joy.

For 2026, the season is already taking shape with major dates, beloved traditions, and landmark experiences. The smartest approach is to begin early, plan the essential markets, leave space for discovery, and let the city provide the rest. New York knows how to celebrate Christmas, and its markets remain among the most inviting ways to enter the season.

In 2008, Eda and I booked a themed cruise, “Sail with Cabaret Performers,” hosted by Donald F. Smith, founder of the Mabel Mercer Foundation. Since photography had long been a hobby of mine, I brought my camera along to capture the sights along the way, including Barcelona’s magnificent architecture. I also found myself taking plenty of candid shots of the performers as they relaxed and mingled during our days at sea.

When I showed the photographs to Donald, he said, “These are so great, you should come to the Cabaret Convention and do this backstage.”

Backstage! The very word had always held a special fascination for me. So, without hesitation, I happily traded my seat in the audience for a place behind the scenes. What began as a suggestion on a cruise in 2008 became a passion that has continued ever since, where Eda & I got to see many favorites and be introduced to new and exciting singers.

For me, it has always been to witness and capture “how the magic happens.” Backstage, rehearsals, sound checks, invited dress rehearsals, active hallways…all of it! Those are the real excitement for me. It probably began when my first piano teacher, Dave Roberts, who was a staff musician at CBS and NBC, invited this 13-year-old student to tag along and watch some TV musical show rehearsals in the ‘50s.

At 16, I landed a summer job at ABC delivering “teletype” messages to the executives. The job had its perks. It also gave me opportunities to sneak into rehearsals and watch the creation unfold.  The ‘60s found me one night at the Copacabana, backstage, with my musical hero Buddy Greco. During the summers and college vacations, I worked as a pianist in the Borscht Belt, located in the Catskills, where my living quarter was a small room tucked away backstage. Touring entertainers often asked to use my modest space as a place to change before their performances. After all, these hotels had nothing resembling the dressing rooms we associate with show business today.

For the young me, the excitement was dizzying. I found myself chatting with some of the biggest stars of the day as they dressed and prepared to take the stage. Those backstage encounters were unforgettable— Billy Eckstine once even borrowed my tie and Jackie Mason would ask me what jokes the comic who appeared the previous night had told!

Today, and many cameras later, I’m delighted, and proud, to share with you a glimpse of the magic unfolding behind the scenes at this year’s 37th New York Cabaret Convention.

MARILYN MAYE

MARILYN MAYE & TEDD FIRTH

TOVAH FELDSHUH

TOVAH FELDSHUH

MARILYN MAYE & CLINT HOLMES

MARILYN MAYE & CLINT HOLMES

PHILIP OFFICER

SIDNEY MYER

JEFF HARNAR

BARBARA BRUSSELL

AMANDA McBROOM

MOIPEI

AVERY SOMMERS

KAREN AKERS & STACY SULLIVAN

RITT HINN & JOHN WEBER

EDA SOROKOFF & KT SULLIVAN

JEFF HARNAR & ANDREA MARCOVICCI

ANDREA MARCOVICCI & JEFF HARNAR

TOVAH FELDSHUH

TOVAH FELDSHUH

PHILIP OFFICER

MARILYN MAYE

MARILYN MAYE

MARILYN MAYE & JASON MARTIN

STEPHEN SOROKOFF, TOVAH FELDSHUH, MARILYN MAYE, CHARLES BUSCH

TOVAH FELDSHUH, MARILYN MAYE, CHARLES BUSCH

STAGE RIGHT

AMANDA McBROOM & CLINT HOLMES

CHARLES BUSCH, MARILYN MAYE, TOVAH FELDSHUH

STEPHEN SOROKOFF & DONALD F. SMITH, CABARET CONVENTION 2008

STEPHEN SOROKOFF & BUDDY GRECO, BACKSTAGE COPACABANA 60’S