Weren’t able to attend the Curtain Up! festival, held in Times Square September 17–19? No problem! Playbill has you covered with some of the sights you would have experienced live in Times Square with a virtual tour of the installations comprising the event. Take a little “walk” through the festival below.
Curtain Up! is produced by Playbill, in partnership with The Broadway League, the Times Square Alliance, and presented by title sponsor Prudential; sponsored in part by Lexus, Netflix, and United Airlines; with additional support from Audible.
The Mainstage on Duffy Square From the kick-off concert, hosted by Norm Lewis and Michael Urie with performances from Brian Stokes Mitchell and Jessica Vosk, to the finale concert, hosted by Jelani Aladdin and featuring performances and appearances from over 23 of this season’s Broadway shows, the Mainstage was where it was at! These boards also hosted the ¡Viva! Broadway When We See Ourselves concert, the Black to Broadway – It’s “Play” Time! panel, the Jimmy Awards Reunion Concert!, and the “Dear White People” Discussion panel presented by Netflix.
The Playbill Piano Bar Playbill’s Sing for Hope piano got plenty of play with sing-alongs with Broadway composers Joe Iconis and Rob Rokicki, performances by Tony nominee Joshua Henry, Lauren Molina, and A.J. Holmes, and more.
Give Your Regards to Broadway Wall Fans were encouraged to give their regards to Broadway via social media with #bwayregards. Messages were shared on the Give Your Regards to Broadway Wall, presented by Netflix’s Dear White People.
Light the Way for Broadway This interactive installation sponsored by Prudential allowed guests to see their own names in lights on the video poster panels of a mock theatre entrance.
Marc J. Franklin
The Audible Bus Curtain Up! sponsor Audible Theater arrived in style with the Audible bus.
Bus by Audible Rebecca J. Michelson
Road Back to Broadway Talk about arriving in style! Event sponsor Lexus had front row parking at the Playbill Piano Bar when they pulled into the Plaza with a Lexus NX 450h+ and a Lexus LS 500h.
Lexus’ Road Back to BroadwayMarc J. Franklin
Lexus’ Road Back to BroadwayMarc J. Franklin
And finally, one last look…our view of you, in the audience at the finale concert on the mainstage.
All good things must come to an end—but not quite yet. Audiences from all over can watch the grand finale of the Curtain Up! from home. The concert will be broadcast live from Times Square September 19 at 11 AM ET via Playbill.com/CurtainUp. The event is also free to attend in-person.
Throughout the weekend, nearly two dozen events took place across two stages in the Crossroads of the World. Highlights included a Jimmy Awards reunion concert, a ¡Viva Broadway! celebration, and a spotlight on the seven new works by Black playwrights arriving on the Main Stem this fall. All of the weekend’s mainstage events are also streamable at Playbill.com/CurtainUp.
Curtain Up! is produced by Playbill, in partnership with The Broadway League, the Times Square Alliance, and presented by title sponsor Prudential; sponsored in part by Lexus, Netflix, and United Airlines; with additional support from Audible. Live music provided by Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF). Additional support is provided by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
Organizers also created a specially customized Playbill that is the guide to all-things Curtain Up!—check it out below.
It’s Broadway Week on The Tonight Show Throughout the week, the show celebratedBroadway’s return during each episode. To close out the exciting week, Lindsay Pearce and Ginna Claire Mason of Wicked stopped by to perform a medley of Popular and The Wizard and I.
Bow down, the queens have arrived. After shuttering just hours before its opening night due to the coronavirus pandemic, Six resumed performances at Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theatre September 17. The new official opening is scheduled for October 3.
Six tells the stories of the wives of Henry VIII as they reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse. Presented like a concert, Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow’s score draws inspiration from contemporary musical artists who have dominated the pop charts. In the time since its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017, the musical has become an international hit. The musical had begun performances in New York February 13, 2020, following a multi-city regional circuit.
Check Out Photos Inside the Broadway Return of Six
Returning to their roles are Adrianna Hicks as Catherine of Aragon, Andrea Macasaet as Anne Boleyn, Abby Mueller as Jane Seymour, Brittney Mack as Anna of Cleves, Samantha Pauly as Katherine Howard, and Anna Uzele as Catherine Parr. Serving as swings are Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert, Courtney Mack, and Mallory Maedke, as well as new addition Keirsten Hodgens.
A limited number of $30 tickets to each performance are available via a digital lottery; click here for more information.
Six, co-written by Moss and Marlow and co-directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage, is produced on Broadway by Kenny Wax, Wendy and Andy Barnes, George Stiles, and Kevin McCollum. The staging features a set by Emma Bailey, costumes by Gabrielle Slade, lighting by Tim Deiling, and sound design by Paul Gatehouse. Casting is by Peter Van Dam of Tara Rubin Casting.
The Link Theatre Company in collaboration with the Delta Symphony Orchestra will present a concert version of the acclaimed Broadway musical, Ragtime, written by the award-winning composerlyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and Tony Award-winning playwright, Terrence McNally.
Jaap van Zweden, who has led the New York Philharmonic as music director since 2018, will step down from the podium at the end of the 2023–2024 season. The announcement of his resignation arrives the same week as the cultural organization launches its 2021–2022 season, which will take up various venues throughout the city as its usual home (Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall) undergoes renovations.
“It is not out of frustration, it’s not out of anger, it’s not out of a difficult situation,” van Zweden told The New York Times. “It’s just out of freedom.” The conductor spent a majority of his time during the pandemic in his native Netherlands with family, which contributed to the shift in his personal and professional outlook.
The Philharmonic season begins September 17 with a program titled From Silence to Celebration, featuring works by Anna Clyne, George Walker, Beethoven, and more. Van Zweden will conduct.
Van Zweden also serves as music director with Hong Kong Philharmonic; he has said he will also step down from that position when his contract expires in 2024.
Interview with Tom MacRae the writer of EVERYBODYS TALKING ABOUT JAMIE for stage and screen which premieres on Friday, September 17th on Amazon Prime Video. Writer Tom MacRae talks about what it was like to cr
