The Arts Council of Moore County's ARTour to New York City, Aug. 21-24, features tickets to two Broadway shows and Bargemusic.

Arthur Laurents' revival of "Gypsy," starring Patti LuPone, is bound to entertain theatergoers. Set during the vaudeville era, "Gypsy" is about a relentless stage mother, Rose, traveling the country with her daughters, June and Louise, and their manager, Herbie. After June deserts the act, Rose turns her attention to the shy Louise. When the act is booked into a burlesque house by mistake, Louise is forced into the spotlight and Gypsy Rose Lee is born.

Tony Award-winners Harvey Fierstein, Faith Prince, and Tom Wopat lead the dream cast of "A Catered Affair." This is a heartwarming and funny new musical about a 1950s Bronx mother's efforts to give her only daughter the elaborate wedding she never had -- and the bride never asked for. Written by Fierstein and acclaimed songwriter, John Bucchino, and directed by Tony-winner, John Doyle, "A Catered Affair" is the wedding of the year and the musical of the season.

Traditionalists might prefer the option of seeing "South Pacific" instead of "A Catered Affair." This is the first time the show has been seen on Broadway since its premiere in 1949.

Critics are calling Bargemusic "the perfect chamber-music hall." It is unlike any other place in the world as the audience walks across a gangplank of a renovated coffee barge, moored just under the Brooklyn Bridge, to enjoy world class chamber music in a wood-paneled room with excellent acoustics and thrilling views of lower Manhattan. ARTour participants will enjoy a pre-concert dinner at Five Front, located in one of Brooklyn's oldest nonresidential buildings.

The cost of the ARTour to New York is $1,550 per person, double occupancy, and $1,950 per person, single occupancy. The price includes airport transfers in North Carolina and New York City; round-trip air transportation on Continental Airlines; three nights at the Warwick Hotel, conveniently located in Mid-town and only a short walk to Fifth Avenue shopping, Radio City Music Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Broadway theater district, Central Park, and many other attractions; three breakfasts; porterage for one bag; tickets to two Broadway shows with transfer back to the hotel afterwards; and a classical concert preceded by dinner.

For more information about the New York City ARTour, call the Arts Council ARTour Director, Katherine MacRae, at (910) 692-4356.