"There will not be a wait list or a standby line." That sentence is on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine's Halloween Extravaganza page, right under the news that both performances are sold out. If you don't have a ticket for Friday or Saturday, it's tempting to write off the season. But the parts that make the Cathedral's night work are a silent film, a live organist and a procession of ghouls. Most of those turn up again within the neighborhood between now and the end of November. The later versions cost less than the Cathedral's tickets, and two of them are free.
What the Cathedral Changed This Year
The Halloween Extravaganza is a long-running tradition, but 2026 is different in three ways. It runs two nights instead of one, it shows a different film, and it has a new organist. In 2025 there was a single performance on Friday, October 24. Tim Brumfield played the organ for The Phantom of the Opera.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Performances | Friday, October 24 | Friday, October 23 and Saturday, October 24 |
| Time | 7pm to 9pm | 7pm to 9pm |
| Film | The Phantom of the Opera | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
| Organist | Tim Brumfield | David Briggs, Artist in Residence |
| Procession | Mettawee River Theater Company | Mettawee River Theater Company |
This year's film is the 1920s silent Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Cathedral says this is the first time David Briggs has played the live score for the event. At the end, the Ghosts and Goblins from the Mettawee River Theater Company process through the audience and out into the night. When the Cathedral announced its fall season in July, it also introduced tiered tickets at $50 and $75, as City Life Org's reprint of the announcement shows. Even with a second night added, both performances sold out.
The 2025 column of the table points to the next stop, on Riverside Drive.
Last Year's Phantom Plays Riverside Church on Tuesday
On Tuesday, October 27, from 7pm to 8:30pm, The Riverside Church shows Rupert Julian's 1925 The Phantom of the Opera in its nave. John Stafford plays a live organ score. The church calls the evening The Phantom Returns: A Silent Film Organ Spectacular. General admission is $35, and students and seniors pay $25. The event is also listed as available online.
So the format of the Cathedral's 2025 Halloween program, a silent horror classic with a live organist, plays again this year a few days after the Cathedral's own nights, at a lower top price than the Cathedral's 2026 tiers. You get a different organ, a different organist and a different nave. It's still a 1920s silent picture scored live on a church instrument the week of Halloween.
Riverside Church is busy the rest of that week too. Its Sunday Afternoon Carillon Recitals run from 1:30pm to 2pm on October 25 and November 1. The church notes they can be heard outdoors from Sakura Park, so a bench is enough. On Sunday, November 1, after that day's carillon, the church presents Light Eternal: Duruflé's Requiem for All Saints' Day from 3pm to 4:30pm. It's free, and tickets aren't required.
The Costumes Move to the North Lawn on Friday the 30th
The Cathedral's evening ends with the ghouls heading out the door. In Morningside Park, the costumed part of Halloween gets an afternoon of its own. Haunted Heights: Halloween at Morningside Park runs Friday, October 30, from 3pm to 6pm on the North Lawn. That's the picnic oval inside the park at 120th Street and Morningside Avenue. Admission is free.
NYC Parks, Friends of Morningside Park, the Columbia University Space Initiative and Columbia's Zuckerman Institute host it together. The listing promises music, arts and crafts, and lava lamps you build yourself. It also includes a chance to handle human and animal brains. Costumes are encouraged. It's the one event on this list built around children, and it costs nothing.
Across Broadway, Miller Theatre Fills the Same Weeks
The Cathedral's Halloween nights overlap with one of Columbia's own stages. Miller Theatre, at 2960 Broadway at 116th Street, has four programs between the Cathedral's opening night and the first week of November:
- UnRavelled by Jake Broder, Friday, October 23 at 7:30pm and Saturday, October 24 at 1pm, with tickets from $20. The Saturday matinee ends well before the Cathedral's 7pm start.
- Suzanne Farrin: Macabéa, Thursday, October 29 at 7:30pm, from $20.
- Solo Dialogues: Bach Inventions and Sinfonias, Thursday, November 5 at 7:30pm, from $30.
- Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock and Tyshawn Sorey, Saturday, November 7 at 7:30pm, from $30.
The Thursday shows fall on Columbia Greenmarket days. GrowNYC lists the market year-round on Thursdays and Sundays, 8am to 4pm, on Broadway between 114th and 116th Streets. That's the same stretch of Broadway as the theater.
The Organist You Missed Plays Free on November 29
Everything above leads to this. David Briggs, the Artist in Residence whose first Halloween Extravaganza score is behind a sold-out door this weekend, plays a free recital at the Cathedral a month later.
The Cathedral's post-Evensong recitals follow 4pm Evensong on select Sundays. They start at 5pm, last 45 minutes and are free to the public. The fall series has a gap from late September until mid-November, then picks up again with three dates:
| Sunday | Organist |
|---|---|
| November 15, 2026 | Jon Runion, Organ Scholar, St. John the Divine |
| November 22, 2026 | Brandon Zhou |
| November 29, 2026 | David Briggs, Artist in Residence, St. John the Divine |
Put the prices side by side. The Cathedral's Halloween tiers were $50 and $75. Riverside's Phantom is $35, or $25 for students and seniors. The Morningside Park afternoon and the November 29 recital are free. Briggs is the organist at the Cathedral for both. The November recital has no film and no ghouls, and no ticket is needed.
The Rest of the Cathedral's Fall Calendar
The Cathedral keeps a full schedule between the Halloween nights and its December recitals:
- One Single Act book launch. Dean Winnie Varghese celebrates her new book on Monday, November 9, from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. It's free with RSVP. The Cathedral's July announcement gave the date as Friday, November 6, but the current event page lists November 9 and marks the details "to be confirmed," so check again before you go.
- Genshin in Concert. The Sixth Station Trio returns on Friday, November 13, at 7:30pm to play music from the game Genshin Impact. The July announcement listed tickets at $35 and $50.
- Tours. Highlights Tours from 1pm to 2pm and Vertical Tours from 2pm to 3pm appear on the calendar for Monday, November 16.
- UNSEEN. Nisha Bansil's installation of more than 50,000 cast glass ginkgo leaves is on view through "Fall 2026" and is included with regular admission.
- The 28th Annual Crafts at the Cathedral. The juried crafts fair runs Friday, December 4, through Sunday, December 6. A weekend pass is $22. Single-day passes are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students.
Regular sightseeing hours are Monday through Saturday from 9:30am to 5pm and Sunday from noon to 5pm. People who come in to pray or meditate are welcomed without charge.
For the tradition that sold out, the dates to save are Tuesday, October 27, at Riverside Church; Friday, October 30, on the North Lawn; and Sunday, November 29, at 5pm at the Cathedral.
If you want to understand a neighborhood the way it runs week to week, before or after a move, the advisors at Howard Hanna NYC are glad to share what we know about Morningside Heights, from its stages and naves to its streets. Schedule a Call.
