Known for its fascinating art nouveau details and for being the oldest Broadway theater (1903), the New Amsterdam was the venue for the famous Ziegfeld Follies, but fell on hard times in the 1930s and closed. For a time it was a movie theater; finally the city bought it. It's now home to Aladdin, the hit musical of the beloved Disney movie.
If your kids are into theater, watch their eyes pop as they pass through the art deco entrance, into the art nouveau interior of carved and painted plaster, stone, wood, murals and tiles – all of which evoke theater-going in the early 20th century.But
But if you hear moans and groans, don't assume it's the audience: rumor has it that the hallowed hall is haunted by the mischievous ghost of Olive Thomas, a young Ziegfeld Follies chorus dancer who took her own life in 1920 after learning of her husband's infidelities.
