Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Live in Concert 2026 in Abu Dhabi

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Live in Concert brings Kevin McCallister’s Christmas in Manhattan to Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday 19 December 2026, with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra playing John Williams’ score live while the 1992 film runs on the big screen. It is the evening show of a busy Saturday of film concerts on Yas Island, and the only one in the run that is not an animated Disney musical.

Kevin is back, and this time he is in New York

Directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes, Home Alone 2 picks up a year after the original. In the scramble to the airport for the family’s Christmas trip to Florida, Kevin follows the wrong man and boards a flight to New York. Armed with his dad’s credit card, he checks into the Plaza Hotel, outwits Tim Curry’s suspicious concierge, befriends Brenda Fricker’s Pigeon Lady in Central Park and discovers that Harry and Marv, the bandits played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, have escaped from prison and are in town too. Their target is a toy shop’s Christmas charity takings, and Kevin has a townhouse full of traps ready for them.

Macaulay Culkin returns as Kevin, with Catherine O’Hara and John Heard as his parents. Parts of the film were shot at the Plaza Hotel and Rockefeller Center, which gives it the snowy New York look that has made it a fixture of Christmas viewing. It was the third-highest-grossing film of 1992, and it is now available on Disney+.

The John Williams score

John Williams, the composer behind Star Wars, Jaws, E.T. and the first Harry Potter films, returned to score the sequel. His music is the reason this film works so well as a concert. It is a big, playful, traditional orchestral score full of sleigh bells, celesta and choral warmth, and it moves quickly between slapstick and real sentiment, which keeps an orchestra busy from the opening credits to the final scene.

Themes to listen for

• Somewhere in My Memory, the gentle carol-like theme carried over from the first film, which returns at the emotional moments
• Christmas Star, a new theme written for the sequel with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, tied to the Pigeon Lady’s story
• The scurrying, cartoon-style cues that underscore the bandits walking straight into Kevin’s traps

Watching the musicians hit every slip, crash and bang in sync with the film is half the fun. The conductor follows the picture closely so that each cue lands on the exact frame.

The orchestra

The Armenian State Symphony Orchestra was founded in 2006 as the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia by conductor Sergey Smbatyan, who remains artistic director. It plays more than 50 concerts a year at home and abroad, records for labels including Sony and Deutsche Grammophon, and has a reputation for reaching new audiences beyond the usual concert-hall crowd. In Abu Dhabi that December it also plays Disney’s Encanto and Frozen on the same stage.

How the evening runs

Doors open at 6pm and the film starts at 7pm, with access to seats from 30 minutes before. The evening is scheduled to end at about 9:20pm. The film is shown in English with Arabic subtitles.

• Families: there is no age restriction. Children under 2 can sit on a parent’s or guardian’s lap without a ticket, and anyone under 16 must be with an adult aged 21 or over.
• Arriving late: latecomers are seated at a suitable break at management’s discretion, and there is a lockout of up to 10 minutes at the start of each act.
• What to bring: bags no larger than 30 x 30 x 15 cm, with no cloakroom on site. Strollers go in the stroller parks outside.
• At the arena: contactless payment only, no professional cameras, no flags and no re-admission.

Accessible seating is available for guests with disabilities or other access needs, bought as accessible tickets. Etihad Arena is on Yas Island: drive from central Abu Dhabi on Sheikh Zayed Road and follow the signs, or take a taxi. The nearest bus stop, Al Matar Al Qadeem, is around 800 metres away.

Who it suits

This is the pick of the weekend for older children, teenagers and adults who grew up with the McCallisters on television every December. The slapstick still lands with younger viewers, but the 7pm start and a running time of over two hours suit school-age children better than toddlers. It also makes a good night out for film music fans who want to hear a classic John Williams score played properly. Pair it with Disney’s Frozen at 2pm the same day if you want a full Yas Island day of film and music.

For more festive plans, see our concerts and kids events guides, things to do in Abu Dhabi and things to do in December.