Cabaret & Concert NewsTituss Burgess, Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, Andrew Lippa, More to Judge Songs for Our City Finale ConcertTony winner Alice Ripley, Tony nominee Ethan Slater, and more will perform this week to earn a spot in front of the judges.
By
Dan Meyer
June 15, 2020
Tituss Burgess
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Stage and screen favorite Tituss Burgess, Six creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, Tony-nominated composer Andrew Lippa, and Time Out New York Theater Critic Adam Feldman will judge the June 21 finale concert of the Times Square Alliance’s songwriting challenge, Songs for Our City.
The series features 26 Broadway performers and composers sharing new original songs, vying for a spot in the finale, including Tony winner Alice Ripley, Tony nominee Ethan Slater, musical theatre composers Rob Rokicki and Drew Gasparini, and Broadway alums Lauren Elder, Jennifer Sánchez, and Marcus Paul James.
Songs for Our City kicks off June 15, featuring nightly concerts beginning at 7:05PM ET, immediately following the collective applause for essential workers in NYC. The performances will live stream on the Alliance's website here.
Audiences will vote to send one participant from each of the initial six concerts into the finale, and for their favorite finalist to receive the Audience Choice Award in the final concert. The judges will select the overall winner. Finalists receive a cash prize with stipends distributed to all participating songwriters in order to directly support artists and foster creative energy during this time.
“One thing we consistently turn to in times of great adversity is music,” said Burgess. “I’m eager to hear what has been brewing in the souls of these composers and I can’t wait for the world at large to be introduced to a new wave of creatives that will share unique lyrical and sonic perspectives.”
Check out the full schedule and list of performers below:
June 15: Jaime Cepero, Donnie Kehr, Rob Rokicki, Jennifer Sánchez, and Mike Wartella
June 16: John Arthur Greene, John Krause, Janet Krupin, and Heath Saunders
June 17: F Michael Haynie, Anthony Norman, Alice Ripley, and Starbird & the Phoenix
June 18th: Lauren Elder, Max Sangerman, Dru Serkes, and Ethan Slater
June 19th: Marcus Paul James, Molly and the Memphis Thunder, Alexander Sage Oyen, and Tim Young
June 20th: Leslie Becker, Drew Gasparini, Will Taylor, Will Van Dyke & Jeff Talbott, and Joel Waggoner
June 21: Finale
Songs for Our City was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting artists and engaging audiences. In light of the recent protests and activist calls for equality in the theatre industry, funds raised will support both Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Each concert will also include a highlight on how audiences can take action to combat racial injustice by listening, growing, volunteering, and supporting.
All artists participating in the songwriting challenge are previous performers from the Broadway Buskers concert series, which showcases Broadway performers’ original music through summer concerts in the Times Square pedestrian plazas as part of the Alliance’s annual free public programming. The Songs for Our City series will be hosted by Broadway Buskers host and curator Ben Cameron.
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10 Years Later: Times Square Pedestrian Plazas in 2019
10 Years Later: Times Square Pedestrian Plazas in 2019
16 PHOTOS
This old photo of Times Square shows just how little space existed for pedestrians. “We were thinking, ‘How can we make this a destination?’” says Ellen Goldstein, Times Square Alliance Vice President of Policy Planning and Research. “What we had in those days was two giant avenues with cars coming down and very little space for people.”
Times Square in 2019—with noticeably more room for pedestrians to look around, take pictures, and experience the views.
The transformation began with the now-famous red stairs over the TKTS booth. The design was selected because it provided a platform for tourists to see Times Square from a new vantage point. It’s a way to “take in the second best show on Broadway,” said Times Square Alliance Vice President Tom Harris.
The next challenge was creating more space for people throughout the square's five blocks. What started as an experiment over Memorial Day weekend in 2009 would change the history of Times Square forever. With the help of the New York City Department of Transportation, the Alliance closed down Broadway from 47th to 42nd streets, opening up a swath of concrete for people to roam.
Marc J. Franklin
Those early days had a bit of a DIY feel. At first, Harris thought his boss was joking when he said “go buy 500 beach chairs,” but Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins was serious. The VP made several calls to friends in Brooklyn with connections to hardware stores and finally managed to deliver on the request. “They called a supplier in upstate New York that delivered a tractor trailer full of beach chair, and then everyone made fun of us,” said Harris.
No one’s laughing now—those chairs highlighted an important part of the Times Square experience. Art installations like the ones shown here help everyone look up at the famous video screens and billboards. “We don't need a lot going on down here,” said Goldstein of the lack of green space and abundance of chairs.
Looking up from chairs around Times Square, visitors will see famous sights like the window-studded electronic billboard on the outside of the Nasdaq building.
In the ’70s, Times Square was notorious for its seedy stores, muggings, and traffic congestion. Now, the area is one of the safest in all of New York City. “We wanted it to feel urban and refer to the past in an authentic way. That’s how we came up with the idea for the grey pavers with the little metal reflective pucks in them, evocative of the gritty past,” said Goldstein. The concrete motif is a part of the basic design of the plaza, found throughout.
The plazas, designed by Snøhetta, offer places to sit and experience local art while soaking in the billboards, video screens, posters, and people walking by.
Each block is a little different, too. Moving south from Duffy Square, which hosts the red stairs and TKTS booth, designs and purpose shift. “Not only should each block be a little bit different, but within each block you should be able to have smaller, more intimate spaces where you could have different things going on,” said Goldstein.
This seating nook with an American motif is just one example of the many intimate spaces Goldstein refers to.
At 43rd Street is the Broadway Buskers stage, which Programming Manager Sophie Aung came up with during a job interview. The popular event (held every Tuesday in summertime) came about because the Alliance “wanted to create regular programming on the plaza to activate all the amazing pedestrian space,” says Aung.
Stage favorites like Ethan Slater (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Alice Ripley (Next to Normal) are just two of the many who have offered free concerts in the middle of Times Square. Aung has also created a weekly coloring event to help locals and tourists alike relax in the busy setting.
Harris says that the Alliance partners with Urban Space to curate the market stalls offering food. “They’re all local New York–based vendors to give newcomers a chance to experience what locals can eat on a regular basis.”
Stores like New York City stalwart The Strand now have outposts in Times Square thanks to the pedestrianized space with other businesses on the plaza, like Broadway Up Close Walking Tours.
While the Alliance doesn’t have a say in what goes into the buildings lining the plaza, the non-profit does provide data to help real estate investors make decisions. “We let the market decide,” said Goldstein. “Our goal is to facilitate to encourage people to want to do business here, and what we can provide to make that possible.”
As the Alliance aims to deliver the beating heart of Broadway even deeper into the 21st century, perhaps no greater example is the people counting system on the sign infrastructure. “There are no pictures,” explains Goldstein. “We don't record anything, it's like a laser line.” The data is useful because it helps advocate for more public space.
To make sure the numbers weren’t off, they even employed people to use a handheld ticker. The results were the same, and so the system stayed.
Proceeds from the event support Self Help Africa's work to alleviate hunger, poverty, social inequality, and the impact of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.
Blackhurst is offering several concerts at the NYC venue in the coming months, including tributes to Ethel Merman, Jerry Herman, Hoagy Carmichael, and more.
Proceeds from the event support Self Help Africa's work to alleviate hunger, poverty, social inequality, and the impact of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.
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