Though theaters in NYC are open and vigilant about maintaining COVID-19 protocol, many companies continue to present online programming to ensure safety and to extend their outreach to audiences everywhere. This week includes three offerings in different genres and formats, from poetry and dance to a rock album by Broadway stars.
Gingold Theatrical Group, Irish Poetry Slam 2022 – Raise a glass with Off-Broadway’s GTG on Thursday, March 17, from 6-7:30 pm, for a virtual come-as-you-are open-mic shindig celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and works by Irish and Irish-American writers. Ordinarily, the company – inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s artistry and activism to create theater and theater-related programs that promote the humanitarian ideals central to Shaw’s work – would be holding its annual Golden Shamrock Gala, but since the pandemic, things have gone digital.
So viewers around the world are now invited to join an all-star line-up on Zoom, including Tyne Daly, Midori Francis, Julie Halston, Daniel Jenkins, Lauren Molina, Kerry O’Malley, Christine Pedi, Thom Sesma, and more, in sharing a poem, an excerpt, a monologue, a limerick, a saying, a song, or a toast by Shaw, Yeats, Wilde, Joyce, Friel, Beckett, Keane, O’Brien, Johnston, Edgeworth, Heanèy, Lady Gregory, Goldsmith, Moore, or another Irish favorite. Each participant should prepare a piece no longer than three minutes. If you just want to watch, that’s fine, too.
The Irish Poetry Slam is free, but you must register by March 15. In the hours before the event begins, registrants will receive a confirmation and a link. Because there is a cap to the number of guests who can join via Zoom, it will also be livestreamed on the GTG Facebook page.
Rockers On Broadway: Live (Volume 1) – For nearly three decades, the PATH Fund, Inc. (Performing Artists That Help) – a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting arts education and working with aspiring writers to develop new works of music and theater – has presented a live annual concert to help fund its ongoing initiatives. This year, in lieu of the usual event, PATH has released an album of the best performances from Rockers On Broadway concerts that were recorded live over the past 28 years. Now available on all streaming and download channels worldwide, the curated retrospective contains powerhouse vocals by some of the industry’s biggest names, performing a dozen chart-topping hit songs.
The roster of artists includes Tony Award winners Michael Cerveris, LaChanze, Christian Hoff, and Alice Ripley, Tony nominees Alex Brightman and Constantine Maroulis, Oscar and Grammy Award winner Paul Williams, and Grammy nominee Micky Dolenz (of The Monkees), along with Emma Hunton, Donald Webber Jr., Morgan James, Michael Lanning, and Donnie Kehr, and rising star Isabelle Gottfried, with back-up vocals by Michelle Kinney, Crystal Mosser, Sean Jenness, Ta’Rea Campbell, Sam Behr, Nick Preziosi, Amelia Cormack, Brook Wood, Max Sangerman, and Christine Ripley.
The track list features “Under Pressure,” “I’m A Believer,” “What About Us,” “December 1963 (Oh What A Night),” “Dream A Little Dream,” “The Show Must Go On,” “Space Captain,” “No Rain,” “Purple Rain,” “Thugz Mansion/A Change Is Gonna Come,” “The Rainbow Connection,” and “Hallelujah.” In addition to the digital version, a very limited vinyl edition of the album will be available for a donation of $500 in early May.
Battery Dance, City of Dreams – Saturday, March 12, marked the premiere of a short dance film by choreographer Robin Cantrell (a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a member of Battery Dance from 2008-2020), which showcases the diversity of the company and its home base in NYC, and pays tribute to the city and all that it inspires.
Featuring Battery Dance company members, original music by Alexis Gideon, and vocals by Bethany Mitchell and Mira Cook, the innovative piece takes viewers on a journey between realism and heightened reality. It follows a female protagonist throughout such familiar locations as Chinatown, Wagner Park, and the site of the World Trade Center to Times Square, Washington Square, and more, as she gets swept up in things she never anticipated – and that’s where the magic happens.
The first portion of the film is inspired by Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, and the musical Hair, the second by Fred Astaire, and the third part explores experimental camera use, with the sequence choreographed in retrograde (or backwards) and shot in one take, so that while it appears to be unfolding normally, viewers are never certain if they are watching reality or a fantasy. The film is now available to view for free on YouTube through Monday, March 28, 2022; donations to support Battery Dance are welcome.
You can watch the trailer below:
