Plenty of ‘new’ in New York City this year

Planning a trip to New York? Get ready for new attractions like Vessel, a climbable structure that could become Manhattan’s answer to the Eiffel Tower; events like WorldPride; and exhibits celebrating Leonard Cohen and Frida Kahlo.

Vessel opens this spring in Hudson Yards, a new Manhattan neighborhood near the High Line. The honeycomb-like building has 2,500 steps. Also opening at Hudson Yards: Mercado Little Spain, a food hall by chef Jose Andres, and The Shed, a cultural and performing arts center.

At JFK Airport, the TWA Hotel gives new life to Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center. The site will offer 512 rooms, restaurants, a rooftop deck and museum.

In June, the city hosts the U.S. debut of the WorldPride festival, along with the annual LGBT Pride march, June 30. June also marks 50 years since the Stonewall Riots, which sparked the gay rights movement. Related exhibits include the New-York Historical Society’s “Stonewall at 50” and Robert Mapplethorpe at the Guggenheim.

The Whitney Biennial runs May 17 to Sept. 22; the Jewish Museum opens a show about Leonard Cohen April 12; the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute looks at “camp” in fashion in May; and the Museum of Modern Art expands its gallery space by 30 percent. The Brooklyn Museum hosts the largest Frida Kahlo exhibit in the U.S. in 10 years, Feb. 8 to May 12.

For theater lovers, 2019 brings revivals of “Kiss Me, Kate” and “Oklahoma!”; a new Temptations jukebox musical; stage versions of “Beetlejuice,” “Moulin Rouge” and “Tootsie”; and new Broadway shows “Be More Chill,” and “Hillary and Clinton,” with Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow.

Beth J. Harpaz is a freelance writer.

RELATED-OXFORD This 2016 artist rendering shows the design for Vessel, a honeycomb-like structure with 154 flights of steps.