The astronaut on the First Night 2011 button suggests exploration as revelers head into the next decade.
Whatever kind of adventure you seek, First Night offers a profusion of performances and films from local and national talent that turn Boston into a cultural showcase.
For the first time in its 35 years, First Night adds Symphony Hall and the new Paramount Theatre to its venues.
“There are some high-profile acts to take advantage of the new spaces,” said publicist Joyce Linehan. “When you book something at Symphony Hall, it has to be good.”
Detroit soul singer Bettye LaVette will sing selections from her acclaimed album “Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook” in Symphony Hall. The Paramount will host a multimedia performance by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips inspired by Andy Warhol. A third highlight is jazz guitarist Lionel Loueke and his trio, who will play at Berklee Performance Center.
Up to one-third of the seats for those three performances were purchased in advance when First Night inaugurated a reserved seating program for $35. General admission to First Night is $18, and entry is first-come, first-served to about 200 indoor events.
“The reserved seating is a way to bring in people who might stay away from First Night,” said executive director Geri Guardino.
It’s also a way to raise money in an economically challenging time, when the budget of $1.15 million is down from $1.3 million several years ago.
The vast majority of revelers will pay nothing for the celebration they enjoy outdoors. They can watch the colorful “Blast Off” Grand Procession march down Boylston Street from the Prudential to the Public Garden, and they can admire exquisite ice sculptures in Copley Square and on the Boston Common. The bands in the Parkman Bandstand on the Common and the DJ show next to the Boston Public Library create a groove for dancing, and the midnight fireworks cap light up the new year as they explode over Boston Harbor.
If you’re one of the roughly 35,000 to 40,000 people who purchase admission buttons, you’ll need to choose among your favorite performances.
Your celebration can range from contemplative to energetic. You can hear classical, organ and acoustic music in historic churches. In the Hynes Convention Center, the Steam Crunk Lounge features a theatrical musical variety show which combines elements of the circus and Gothic.
If dance is your passion, watch the contemporary dancers of Monkeyhouse or the dancers of Boston Bhangra, which fuses traditional Indian folk dance with pop music, set to the rhythm of a large drum.
You can spend hours sitting in the dark, watching films from the Bollywood Film Festival, the Roxbury Film Festival, the Japanese Anime Festival, and the Rock on Film Festival, new this year.
The headline acts are a mix of established and avant garde talent.
“Bettye LaVette is a real legend and Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips are very original,” First Night executive director Geri Guardino said.
In “13 Most Beautiful … Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests,” the duo sings about people in the film projected on a screen behind them, shot by Warhol between 1964 and 1966.
The Lionel Loueke Trio has a national appeal and will be broadcast live in Boston on WGBH radio 89.7 and on stations across the country as part of NPR’s annual New Year’s Eve “Toast of the Nation.”
Local talent also abounds at First Night. Plymouth singer Jen D’Angora performs covers and originals in the style of Motown and Stax with her group Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents.
Commonwealth Shakespeare and New England Conservatory team up for “A Shakespearean Cabaret.” There’s also a Broadway Cabaret, opera spoof by Opera Boston, and slams for poetry and storytelling.
Three Boston bands pay tribute to rock music legends at the Cover-Up at Cityplace. The Rationales perform as The Band; Brendan Boogie & The Best Intentions as Roy Orbison; and This Blue Heaven as Fleetwood Mac.
Outdoors, The Kominas Band, a Boston-based band of Pakistani-Americans, mixes punk rock and bhangra to create a dance beat and lyrics that skewer Islamic fundamentalism and Bush-era politics.
Indie rock group David Wax Museum fuses Latin rhythms, accordion and more to create its distinctive sound.
If you want to laugh, the comedy line-up is headed by Improv Boston and Comedy with Tony V and Brad Mastrangelo at the Hynes Convention Center.
You can start the festivities at 10 a.m. for the film festivals and at 1 p.m. for the Family Festival, which offers non-stop entertainment by stunt teams, magicians, puppeteers, musicians and actors in the Hynes Convention Center. Highlights are singer Ellis Paul and a bicycle-powered shadow puppet theater by Neil Horsky.
Along with an orca, frogs and Pharoah’s Egypt, the ice sculptures feature an ambitious representation of the painting “The Passage of the Delaware,” which depicts Gen. George Washington’s surprise attack on Christmas Night, 1776.
“You can walk all over the place or stay in one place and have a fantastic evening,” Guardino said.
