Tag: broadway

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Art Culture Music

Sing for Hope Unveils 500th Piano

By Michael Izquierdo

Whether you’re eager to play the piano or digital piano in front of a live audience or looking to admire originally-designed artwork, the Sing for Hope Pianos project returns to the streets of New York City for its eighth consecutive year.

From June 4th to the 23rd, Sing for Hope will display 50 artist-designed pianos in parks and other public spaces across the five boroughs for any passerby to walk up and play a tune. The piano designs are vibrant, striking expressions of the creativity found within the city, featuring designs like the New York City skyline, an underwater theme, and pride-colored stripes. The non-profit organization founded in 2006 by opera singers Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora celebrates as they unveil their 500th Sing for Hope Piano this year.

Sing for Hope was built upon the foundation of being a resource for New York artists to use their art to give back to the community, and they continue to abide by their roots. This year’s masterpieces were created by a wide range of artists, including the Broadway casts of Mean Girls, Dear Evan Hansen, and Jersey Boys; along with prominent visual artists around the world, including artist/designer Alpana “Tejaswini,” Florida-based educator Bridget Wendt, Staten Island-based family of artists Rob, Peggy and Megan Padovano, and many others.

  • Photos by Addison Franz

The Sing for Hope Pianos project is made possible in partnerships with New York City Parks and Recreation, New York City Department of Education, the Office of the Mayor, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, with additional support from Fosun International. This year, the pianos will be distributed in high-traffic locations included Virginia Park and Van Cortlandt House Museum, Brooklyn Bridge Park: Pier 6, Coney Island Boardwalk, Tompkins Square Park, Central Park, Unisphere Flushing Meadows, Midland Beach, and many more.

Once the Sing for Hope Pianos project is over, the pianos will find permanent homes in NYC public schools starting this fall. This initiative will extend the outreach of educational programs to over 100,000 NYC students and community member annually.

Earlier today, Downtown Magazine had the opportunity to attend the official unveiling of the 2019 Sing for Hope Pianos event at Fosun Plaza on 28 Liberty in NYC.

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Culture Entertainment Events Featured

Brookfield Place and Playbill Team Up for Trivia Tuesday

On February 26th from 6–8 PM, Trivia Tuesdays at Brookfield Place will be taken over by Playbill for a Broadway focused round of competition. Each round winning team will receive a goodie bag filled with Broadway-themed items.

Photo by Marc J. Franklin

The previous iteration featured Broadway star Laura Osnes along with hosts Ruthie Fierberg and Talaura Harms. Winning teams ended up with prizes including theater memorabilia.

Photo by Marc J. Franklin

The event will take place at Hudson Eats and is free and open to the public.

Photo by Marc J. Franklin

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Culture Entertainment Featured Theater

Randy Writes a Novel: Review

Who would have ever thought that one of Theatre Row’s hottest plays would feature solely a purple puppet and a spotlight? Randy Writes a Novel is currently finishing up its last few weeks in NYC, and I had the privilege of attending this past Sunday. This play was certainly not what I expected it to be, and although this type of show is not my usual cup of tea, I did enjoy this show. The show features Randy, a Muppet, Avenue Q like a puppet, sitting at a desk with his novel titled Walk to Skye, which he’s currently working on. Throughout the 75 minute show, he intends to read his novel to the audience, but he always gets distracted right before he starts to read it.

Perhaps the most unique feature of this show is that while it is comedic, it is filled with deeper meanings and messages. In discussing his novel in the works, Randy raises questions like: is art still art if it’s not witnessed or appreciated? And, why are we so satisfied at the end of novels, but so disappointed when we find out that a story we were just told was made up? Randy also discusses our legacies, and the impact we have during our “blip of time” here on Earth. It’s also quite educational (I, unexpectedly, left the show loads of new knowledge regarding the lives of Ernest Hemingway and Harper Lee).  This show makes you laugh but makes you think, too.

The atmosphere was casual and intimate. Randy encourages the audience to hoot and holler, take photos, and relax (something you might find harder to do in a formal Broadway setting!). My one criticism would be that Randy engages with the audience members and asks them questions about their lives; perhaps some people would feel quite uncomfortable or unprepared to participate. Overall, though, Randy did a great job at making the audience feel at home.

I will say, though, that the humor of this show might not be for everyone. The show does contain vulgar language and the comedy is quite dark at times. If you’re looking for a light-hearted, innocent comedy, this show isn’t for you. If you like comedies which are on the darker side, with an essence of seriousness and deeper meaning, I would highly recommend this show to you.

Randy Writes a Novel is unique and entertaining; you won’t want to miss it. Go see it while you still can, Downtowners, and let us know what you thought!

 

Tickets available for purchase here: https://www.telecharge.com/Off-Broadway/Randy-Writes-a-Novel/Ticket

 

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Entertainment Featured

Kinky Boots Is Still A Step Above The Broadway Competition!

These “Boots’ are made for soaring!

More than four years after “Kinky Boots” first set foot on Broadway, the Cyndi Lauper-fueled musical continues to kick ass.

The now familiar tale of a dying shoe factory in working class England that gets a new bounce in its step from a clever drag queen steps in to turn it into a booming footwear for female impersonators business, is still a step ahead of any other current musical on The Great White Way!

Billy Porter soars as Lola, the kind-hearted and spirited drag dive in Kinky Boots!

 

Lauper’s soaring songs combined with a first-rate cast and Harvey Fierstein’s clever, if well-heeled storytelling makes for a rollicking rock ‘n’ roll review that is both pretty to look at and music to the ears!

The unlikely collaboration between the two leads — a charismatic Stark Sands as the straight-laced lad tasked with saving his freshly dead dad’s business — and the explosive Billy Porter as the drag queen with a heart of gold — fuels a fabulous chemistry that the rest of cast feed off.

Opposites attract as Stark Sands and Billy Porter stand tall as the leads in Kinky Boots

Sands’ Charlie Price is soon whisked away with the audience by Porter’s lyrical lessons about business — and life — delivered in stunning gowns and platform heels that allow her to stand tall and deliver Lauper’s supersonic score.

The songs range from infectious pop showstoppers like the searing “Sex Is In The Heel” to the rousing finale, “Raise You Up/Just Be,” which closes the show with the powerful desire to walk further with these infectious characters.

The rollicking score is just one gem in this jewel box of a modern show — along with dazzling staging, lighting and performances — that takes traditional musical theater a step further than you may have ever experienced!

As Broadway entertainment goes, “Kinky Boots” is still a helluva kick!

See Kinky Boots at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street near Eighth Avenue.

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Culture Theater

“Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812”

At the end of every Broadway show, performers take one final bow, showing their gratitude to the audience and the musicians.

These talented artists perform every night, and it’s their job to do so. So they must know how good they are, right? Their humility baffles me. But somehow, every night they still manage humble composures and shine bashful grins at the end of the show. It’s as if they don’t do this every night, as if they don’t thereafter completely delight audiences to no end. In those final curtain calls, it’s like they’ve just performed the show for the first time, and the audience feels like they’re the only ones to ever experience the magic.

The cast of  “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” knows a little something about that magic. 

I’ve always wondered what it feels like to take those bows every night, looking out into the madly applauding audience. I wondered, “How do they still manage humility, even though they’ve done this hundreds of times, for thousands of people, and they obviously know how great they are?”

At a recent performance of “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” I was given a taste of what this experience feels like – because I was sitting on stage. When the cast took their last bows, I, along with the other 75 or so folks perched upstage, gazed out into the hundreds more in the orchestra and mezzanine.

There’s no real stage in the Imperial Theatre while it plays host to “The Great Comet.” Rather, performers run about the whole entire theatre. They perform where we sat, which is where the stage would normally be. But they also perform in the aisles, atop tables, in the mezzanine and in a tiny orchestra pit which houses the conductor, a piano, and a drum kit. The rest of the musicians are scattered throughout the theater. Some musicians are also dancers and actors, so they move around with their instruments throughout the show.

Mobile musicians included those with guitars, violins, clarinets and, most uniquely, accordions. Occasionally, one of these performers would be playing directly next to our table, flashing grins or dancing.

By far, not the ordinary Broadway experience, but wonderful never the less. Don’t miss out on this performance and go get yourself a ticket or two. You might just want to go again!

Photography by Chad Batka

Categories
Culture Theater

“Bandstand” Makes Musical Memories on Broadway

It sure is hot outside, so why not escape the heat for two hours and immerse yourself in some of Broadway’s best?

With firecracker choreography, bold voices, immaculate on-stage instrumentation and a stunning set, Broadway’s “Bandstand” is a spectacle, and it’s one of our favorite shows to see this summer.

Starring Broadway starlet Laura Osnes and stunner Corey Cott as Julia Trojan and Donny Novitski, respectively, “Bandstand” is a tribute not only to attainable Broadway perfection, but also to American troops and veterans. Tickets are available now online and at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre box office, located at 242 W. 45th St.

Private Donny Novitski, a singer, piano player and songwriter, has just returned home from battle in World War II. In the post-war era, everyone, veteran and civilian alike, is reeling from the war’s affects. Everyone just wants to figure out how to be the person they were before.

For Donny, that means making music. When NBC announces a competition to find the next great American song, Donny sees a glimmer of hope, and a distraction from dealing with his war traumas.

He puts together a band. But it’s no ordinary group of musicians: each is a veteran, and each has their own demons leftover from the war. The group grows in friendship and brotherhood, and welcomes widow Julia Trojan into the group as a singer. Julia is the widow of Donny’s best friend. She and Donny begin a friendship, but is there something more there?

All seven band members play an instrument live on stage. They must muddle through the tribulations of bandhood and find a way to make it to the NBC competition in New York City.

“Bandstand,” which features choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, 2016 Tony Award winner for “Hamilton: An American Musical,” won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Choreography. The show uses choreography in the most unique of ways, with dancers beautifully articulating what it feels like to come home after battle. As the characters on stage are dealing with their own ghosts and PTSD, the dancers display to the audience, through dramatic movements, how they are feeling.

Laura Osnes was previously seen on Broadway as Ella in the 2013 revival of  Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” whereas Corey Cott was last seen as Gaston opposite Vanessa Hudgens in “Gigi.”

We spoke with cast member Geoff Packard, who plays Wayne Wright in the show, about his role, the cast and the explosive dancing “Bandstand” is now famous for.

“Bandstand” just won the Tony for Best Choreography; what is it about the show’s choreography and movements that is so special and unique? How do you guys feel about winning this honor?

Geoff Packard: Any acknowledgement for our show, in any way, is icing on the cake. The chance to watch these amazing dancers perform Andy’s brilliant and moving choreography, in a way that tells these Men and Women’s story–the one’s who came back from combat and didn’t talk about it— that is the ultimate honor.

This show has meant a lot to a lot of veterans out there and their families. Why do you think the show touches veterans in such a way?

GP: I don’t pretend to know for sure, having never served in that capacity myself. I would hope that any veterans or active military who come and see “Bandstand” (as well everyone else who comes) leave with a greater respect for the sacrifice our military makes, especially combat veterans. Our hope is not to glorify war or pity the veterans who serve, but rather truthfully explore what happens when combat veterans re-acclaimate to society post war. My hope is that they feel honored by that.

Several cast members play instruments live on stage which is really cool! What do you think playing music live on stage brings to the overall production?

GP: I think live music is the best thing in the world. It is captivating for an audience. It’s also the hardest thing for us to master. For the guys in the band (Donny Nova Band), it has given us a brotherhood, a camaraderie, and the strength to pursue the deepest truths of these characters. I love these guys.

Even though you act in this show almost every night, do you have a favorite scene to perform?

GP: The scene before the end of Act 1. I don’t want to give anything away…but its a good one.

Are you and your character alike at all? How are you different?

GP: Wayne and I are alike in that we both have a wife and children (the writer’s of the show used the name Grady–which is my actual son’s name!!), and we are both loyal men. Other than that…we are pretty much opposites! I am the WORST at scheduling my days, and I love to eat things after they fall on the floor (within reason).

Photos courtesy of “Bandstand”