Fordham Plaza will take center stage Friday as stars from Broadway’s “Wicked,” “Kinky Boots” and “Moulin Rouge” will perform for Bronxites at 1 p.m., as the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) brings the Broadway in the Boros series back to the Boogie Down Bronx after a two-year hiatus.
MOME Commissioner Anne Del Castillo said that Broadway in the Boros is an opportunity for NYC’s outerboroughs residents to get a free taste of the city’s acclaimed theater scene, where oftentimes tickets can either be too pricey or inaccessible for residents outside of Manhattan.
“Around spring of this year, we were trying to figure out if this was the right time to bring Broadway in the Boros back, and the Broadway community was ready, which is a testament to bringing shows to communities,” Del Castillo told the Bronx Times. “As New Yorkers we tend to live in our neighborhoods and tend to lose sight of what’s happening outside of our ecosystems and (Broadway in the Boros) is a reminder of what makes New York City so magical.”
A reimaging of the Wizard of Oz story, “Wicked,” which premiered in 2003, is one of Broadway’s staple shows. “Kinky Boots” is about a young aspiring young business owner who is forced to give up his dreams of living the London city life in order to save his late father’s family business in Northern England.
“Moulin Rouge” is a musical romantic drama about the show’s star Satine, who’s torn between the man she loves and the wealthy Duke she’s been promised in an effort to keep the Parisian cabaret afloat.
After making its full return last fall after an 18-month shutdown, Broadway is going through a major transition and upheaval as it looks to regain its pre-pandemic footing. With long-running shows like “Phantom of the Opera” bidding farewell to Times Square, 19 new shows are slated to open this upcoming October-November season.
More than 500 people have attended previous Broadway in the Boros events in Brooklyn and Queens, according to Del Castillo. Each show is free to the public, and shows are also family-friendly and feature wheelchair and American Sign Language accommodations.
And more than providing entertainment value, Del Castillo says that access to live Broadway performances may also inspire a young Bronxite to dream of a career on NYC’s center stage.
“This might be the first time someone is seeing a Broadway play. Maybe they had opinions about it before … and maybe one of our audience members who hadn’t contemplated a career in theater before, sees themselves on that stage ten to fifteen years later,” she said.
In 2022, New York City is projected to welcome 48.4 million domestic visitors and 8 million international visitors, marking about 85% of the tourism levels it had in 2019, a record year for the city and a good note for Broadway as it anchors its own recovery.
Tourists accounted for 65% of all Broadway admissions in the 2018-19 season, with 46% traveling domestically from outside New York City and its suburban area, and 19% from other countries, according to the most recent demographics report from the Broadway League.
Broadway in the Boros programming concludes on Oct. 14 at Staten Island’s Open Street Program with performances from “Chicago,” “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and “Kinky Boots.”
Reach Robbie Sequeira at rsequeira@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4599. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
