SUMMER FUN ’19
Dead center
Hard to swallow: The sword-swallowers, fire-eaters,
and contortionists from Bindlestiff’s Family
Cirkus will recreate a 19th century performance
during “A Night at Niblo’s Garden,” at Green-
Wood Cemetery on July 12–13. Maike Schulz
TBy Bill Roundy his graveyard might be the most
lively spot in Brooklyn!
Green-Wood Cemetery will be
filled with music, movies, and merriment
this summer. The dozens of tours and special
events taking place among the graves
are a new evolution of a tradition stretching
back to the 1860s, when up to 500,000
visitors came to the boneyard each year for
picnics, carriage rides, and to admire the
elaborate mausoleums, said the man behind
the modern events.
“We’re already an outdoor museum,”
said Harry Weil, Green-Wood’s director
of public programs. “What we’re doing in
these programs is a way to engage people in
different aspects of Green-Wood.”
The events focus on three pillars: artwork,
the cemetery’s history, or the natural
world included in its 478 acres, said Weil,
and new events are added each year. One of
the newest events will happen this weekend:
the “Burgers, Bourbon, and Beethoven”
festival on May 25. The tasting and music
event takes the “Angel’s Share” concert
program from an underground tomb into
the great outdoors.
“Our catacombs are limited in space,
and that limits our audience size,” said
Weil. “This is the best way for providing
our music to a larger group.”
Here are a few upcoming highlights:
Unless otherwise noted, all events start
at Green-Wood Cemetery’s Gothic Arch
500 25th St. at Fifth Avenue in Greenwood
Heights, (718) 210–3080, www.green-wood.
com.
Walking dead
The cemetery’s Twilight and Moonlight
Tours, which take visitors tromping across
38 COURIER LIFE, MAY 24-30, 2019
the landscape with a flashlight in hand
(BYOF) seem to sell out every time, so
plan your nocturnal visits in advance! The
tour of notable graves ends with a stop at
the underground Catacombs, which are
normally off-limits, if you really want to
explore the darkness.
“Who doesn’t want to be in the cemetery
at night?” said Weil. “It’s the best place to
watch twilight in New York City — you get
to have this intimate experience.”
Twilight Tours on May 24, 31, June 15, 21;
July 5–6, 19–20, 26–27, at 7:30 p.m. $25.
Moonlight Tours on June 14 at 8:30 p.m.
and Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. $25.
Anatomically correct!
The Morbid Anatomy Museum has
found an ideal — though temporary —
home inside Green-Wood Cemetery’s Fort
Hamilton Gatehouse. The recently renovated
structure, located on the opposite
side of the graveyard from the usual
entrance at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street,
now holds an exhibit titled “Heaven, Hell,
and Purgatory: Visions of the Afterlife in
the Catholic Tradition.”
The show, open on weekends through
June 30, showcases art and artifacts that
portray the three resting places where
souls are traditionally thought to travel
after death.
Upstairs, the Gatehouse holds the
Museum’s usual collection of books and
strange artifacts.
The exhibit will go out with a bang at the
Morbid Anatomy Summer Garden Party on
June 27, where you can mingle with the
show’s artists and curators, hear some
music, and sample refreshments while you
check out the show one last time.
Morbid Anatomy Library Museum at the
Fort Hamilton Gatehouse (Fort Hamilton
Parkway at Micieli Place in Windsor
Terrace). Open through June 30; Sat–Sun,
noon–5 p.m. Free. Summer Garden Party on
June 27 at 7 p.m. $15.
Spirited performances
Now in its second year, the Cemetery’s
“Angel’s Share” concert series brings
classical music into one of Brooklyn’s
most exclusive underground spaces —
the Catacombs. Each evening starts with
whiskey samples from a local distillery
(the series in named for the portion of
whiskey that evaporates in the barrel), followed
by a candle-lit walk through winding
paths to the performance space.
The series launches this weekend with
the “Burgers, Bourbon, and Beethoven
Festival” on May 25. This kick-off event
will vary the formula a bit — visitors can
sample four different sliders, a variety of
whiskeys, and then enjoy an outdoor show,
as the String Orchestra of Brooklyn performs
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony just
inside Green-Wood’s Gothic Arch. Tickets
are $80 and the event starts at 7 p.m.
June 4, 5, 7, and 8: “Dido and Aeneas.”
Henry Purcell’s tragic opera about a queen
abandoned by her lover, with excerpts from
Christopher Marlowe’s play on the same
subject. $80. 7 pm.
June 24, 25, and 26: “Epilogues and
Epitaphs.” Augusta McKay Lodge and
her ensemble Voyage Sonique perform
Baroque chamber works and arias. $85.
7:30 p.m.
Sept. 24, 25, and 26: “Poetic and
Religious Harmonies.” A pair of pianists
perform all ten movements in Franz Liszt’s
song cycle. $85. 6 p.m.
Oct. 8–10: “Stabat Mater.” The String
Orchestra of Brooklyn performs Pergolesi’s
musical adaptation of a medieval poem
about the suffering of Jesus’s mother Mary,
while film projections play on the walls of
the Catacombs. $85. 6 p.m.
Funereal films
The Rooftop Film series kicked off its
summer season in Green-Wood Cemetery
on May 17, and has a brace of non-fiction
films lined up for the rest of the summer.
The movies are projected onto a giant,
inflatable screen set up in the road just a
short walk from the front gates. Most viewers
settle into folding chairs, though a few
spread blankets among the graves on either
side of the road.
Each night, the gates open at 7:45 p.m.,
a local band starts playing at 8:30 p.m.,
and the film starts at 9 p.m. It is usually
followed by a dance party outside the
Green-Wood Chapel, complete with free
drinks from sponsors Corona and Ketel
One Vodka. Tickets are $16.
Rooftop organizers are still finalizing
dates for the season, but here is what we
have so far:
Friday, June 14: “New York Non-
Fiction.” A collection of short documentaries
shot in the Big Apple, focusing on cab
drivers, delivery men, an Olympic fencer,
and more New York characters.
Saturday, June 22: “Strange
Negotiations.” A documentary about musician
David Bazan, who left the successful
band Pedro the Lion to tour solo.
Followed by a discussion and performance
by Bazan.
Friday, July 19: “The Pine Barrens.”
A portrait of New Jersey’s inhospitable
swampland, presented with a live score
from the Ruins of Friendship Orchestra.
Garden variety
The magical event “A Night at Niblo’s
Garden” returns! This is actually a twonight
spectacle of 19th-century entertainment
from Williamsburg’s Bindlestiff
Family Cirkus, including fire eaters, musicians,
contortionists, and more, performing
around (and sometimes floating on)
the Crescent Water lake.
The night is named for nightlife empresario
William Niblo, owner of Niblo’s
Garden theater, who purchased a mausolem
for himself at Green-Wood and held
picnics and performances in front of it.
“A Night at Niblo’s Garden” at Green-
Wood Cemetery, July 12–13 at 7 p.m. $40
($75 VIP).
Green-Wood Cemetery has all the action
Into darkness: The “Angel’s Share” music series will
bring classical music and opera to the catacombs
beneath Green-Wood Cemetery. Kevin Condon
/www.green-wood
/www.green-wood