Theater Fans Celebrate the Tony Awards

Last night, the 67th Tony Awards, Broadway's highest honors, took place at Radio City Music Hall and included appearances by nominee Tom Hanks and other stars including Scarlett Johansson, Sigourney Weaver, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Kendrick, Zachary Quinto, Sally Field, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jon Cryer. Theater fans celebrated Broadway's most spectacular night in the heart of Times Square to view a live simulcast of the program on two large screens in Duffy Square at West 46th Street and Broadway. The awards ceremony was hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris. Other theater fans gathered in front of the Radio City Music Hall to take a glimpse of their favorite theater performers on the red carpet. 

World's Largest Lego Model: Star Wars' X-Wing Fighter In Times Square

Last week, LEGO unveiled a full-scale Star Wars' X-wing fighter in Times Square. At 44 feet long, with a 43-foot wingspan, the massive model plane is the largest LEGO structure in history. It contains 5.3 million LEGO bricks built around a steel frame and weighing nearly 46,000 pounds. It’s 42 times larger than the X-wing LEGO set sold in toy stores, but like its miniature counterpart, this version can be easily disassembled. The structure took 17,000 hours and 32 LEGO builders working around the clock in the Czech Republic. As part of a display that also included life-sized LEGO models of Darth Vader, Yoda, and R2D2, it was on view for several dayas to promote an array of "Star Wars" productions, including the animated TV miniseries “The Yoda Chronicles” on Cartoon Network, the animated series “Rebels,” and the J.J. Abrams film set to hit theaters in 2015. Following its Times Square stint, the X-wing will land permanently at LEGOLAND California.

Inside Out New York City: Artist JR Decorates Duffy Square Ground With Black-And-White Portraits

The French street artist known as JR launched a new project called "Inside Out New York City." JR installed a photo booth truck in Times Square where anyone can create poster-sized self-portraits that people can keep or paste on the ground in Duffy Square. In this latest installation in Times Square, the first set of black-and-white portraits were taken ahead of time in the roaming photo booth truck in neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy. The aim of this project is to show an inclusive image of New York City. The project runs through May 10.

New Tang Dynasty (NTD) International Chinese Culinary Competition

Last night, the New Tang Dynasty (NTD) International Chinese Culinary Competition was held at Duffy Square. For the "Celebrity Chef Lightning Wok Challenge"  and "Forbidden City Feast Charity", celebrity chefs cooked Nuevo Latino, Italian, etc. in a wok to help raise funds for the Fallen Heroes of 9/11. The live competition offered 32 reserved VIP seats for visitors who tasted the actual contestants' culinary creations in the heart of Times Square, which was turned into the kitchen arena of Chang’an, the capital of China’s Tang Dynasty. Last night's event is part of the two-day international competition featuring top chefs from around the world competing in one of five traditional Chinese cuisines of Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Huayang and North Eastern cuisine.

Broadway Unites For Encore Rendition Of "New York, New York" For 9/11 Day Of Service And Remembrance

Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bebe Neuwirth, Hunter Parrish (Godspell), Brad Oscar

Ben Vereen, Joel Grey

Tony Sheldon, Nick Adams (Priscilla Queen of the Desert)

Nick Adams (Priscilla), Ana Maria Perez de Tagle (Godspell), Joaquina Kalukango (Godspell), Telly Leung (Godspell), Mig Ayesa (Rock of Ages), Andrew Rannells (Book of Mormon)

Reeve Carney (Spiderman Turn Off The Dark)

Kara DioGuardi, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bebe Neuwirth, Hunter Parrish (Godspell), Brad Oscar

NYPD Officer Daniel Rodriguez

Earlier today, the Broadway League presented a special 9/11 Tribute in Duffy Square. The Broadway community, including cast members of currently running Broadway shows united for an encore performance of the iconic song, "New York, New York." Ten years ago, Broadway performers helped inspire New Yorkers to return to normalcy with a landmark outdoor sing-a-long to "New York, New York." The song was composed by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb. This time, Broadway came together in support of 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, engendered by 9/11 Day's "I Will" campaign (911day.org) which seeks to encourage millions of people to perform good deeds, support charitable causes, and volunteer in tribute to the 9/11 victims and survivors, and all those that rose in service in response to the attacks. In addition to cast members from Broadway shows, the other performers who led the show included: Joel Grey, Bebe Neuwirth, Ben Vereen, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kara DioGuardi, Reeve Carney, Tony Sheldon, Brad Oscar, Nick Adams & more. The song followed NYPD Officer Daniel Rodriguez's rendition of "God Bless America." Broadway theater productions play an essential part in tourism, one of New York City's most vital industries.

Labor Day Weekend In Times Square

Labor Day was first observed on August 26, 1878, and became a federal holiday in 1894. Since then, Labor Day weekend has come to be regarded as a weekend of rest, picnics, and vacationing. Being the last weekend of the  summer, Times Square was teeming with tourists this Labor Day weekend just like other destinations in the city. Labor Day is widely perceived as the last day of the year when it's fashionable for women to wear white (and for a few men, not to wear any shirt). 

Pop-Up Forest In Times Square Concrete Jungle

Aveeno set up a pop-up forest in Duffy Square yesterday, creating an educational, green oasis at the crossroads of the world. Hundreds of trees and beautiful flowering plants were set up to raise awareness about the benefits of trees and consumer responsibility to the environment. Visitors to the forest  received seed cards to plant their own trees and samples of the latest Aveeno Active Naturals products. The company is donating the forest to the City of New York Restoration Project’s Million Trees initiative, which will plant and care for one million new trees throughout New York City’s five boroughs by 2017.

Good Riddance Day - Shredding Bad Memories of 2010 in Duffy Square

Out with the old, in with the new. Today is "Good Riddance Day" in Duffy Square where participants were invited to write down bad memories of 2010. The papers bearing what people want to say good riddance to, as well as old credit card statements,  bad report cards, photos of hated people, etc. were then shredded in a mobile shredding unit parked in Duffy Square.