Michael Grief's New York (8.14.14)

So, this play is based on a status that Jennifer Ashley Tepper wrote, that I found to be really, really inspiring and the basis for this play. Check it.

"I sometimes joke that if I had never been his assistant, then I would have written a thesis called "Michael Greif's New York". In Michael Greif's New York, there are black actors on stage and Asian actors and Indian actors and white actors and Hispanic actors and mixed race actors. There are actors with different body types. There are older actors and younger actors in the ensemble. The ensemble has characters who happen to be gay, or happen to be straight, or happen to be bisexual. Actors of different races play opposite each other, gay actors play straight characters, straight actors play gay characters, Hispanic actors understudy Asian actors, Asian actors understudy white actors, white actors understudy black actors...

You might not think any of these things are a big deal. And I get that. Because they shouldn't be a big deal. But they are--- because even in 2014, this is NOT what the world is like in a lot of Broadway shows. Or off-Broadway. Or tours. This is often not what you see when you look on stage. Even at shows about our modern era. Even at shows about New York. But Michael Greif's New York IS New York. The story represented on stage is New York AND the way the production is constructed represents the way New York works.

Telly Leung once told me that when he saw RENT, he finally realized he could actually be a Broadway actor. He looked up from the front row and finally saw people on stage who looked like him. And he finally saw a show full of actors that looked like the people on his subway ride every day.

Since March, hundreds of teenagers have gotten to look up at the stage at IF/ THEN and feel the same way. Like there's a place for them on Broadway, OR in their specific community, no matter what race/ sexuality/ body type/ anything they are, because that's what's they are seeing on stage.

Thank you Michael, and all of your collaborators. Michael Greif's New York is a New York I'm proud to live in, and Broadway is better because of you."

With that in mind...

#14: MICHAEL GRIEF'S NEW YORK

(Center stage there is a large scrim center that reads: "RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL ROCKETTES". The scrim may be totally shittily put together, akin to the one at the beginning of Pippin that reads: "Pippin: His Life and Times". If you don't get that reference that's fine. Surrounding the stage are a bunch of seats for audience members. When the lights go up, the audience pours in and takes their seats. The audience members are mostly tourists, old people, people with families with young children, or close-minded producers. We hear the chime of the show beginning to start:)

ANNOUNCER: Hello and welcome to the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular featuring the Radio City Rockettes. At this time we ask that you please turn off your cell phones, and refrain from texting during the performance as it is a distraction to fellow audience members. We would also like to remind you that the use of audio or video recording or flash photographs is strictly prohibited. Thank you, and enjoy the show.

(Applause. The scrim is taking down to reveal the Radio City ROCKETTES in low cut Santa costumes and hats. They are not like the Rockettes in the decades past. They are of all different races, sexual orientations and body types. Not one person should look like the other. Some of them are short, some are enormously tall. Some are in wheelchairs or have arm braces, some are super athletic and able bodied. Whatever. You get the point. The song "Twelve Days of Christmas" begins to play as they all dance. As the Patrons rise in protest, they speak over the music as the Rockettes keep performing)

STUPIFIED PATRON: Wait a second! Those aren't the Rockettes!

CHILD PATRON: Mommy, what's wrong with these Rockettes?

HORRIFIED ELDERLY PATRON: I don't remember the New York City Rockettes looking like this! 

DISGRUNTLED PATRON: I did not shell out my hard earned cash to see a bunch of bottom of the barrel Rockettes! Radio City Management is sure gonna hear about this!

(They all start booing the Rockettes, yelling and hissing and throwing things. Utter chaos ensues. They hurl tomatoes, trash--anything--at the Rockettes. Eventually they all leave except for one OPEN MINDED PATRON)

OPEN MINDED PATRON: I'll still watch.

(Open Minded Patron sits center, and the Rockettes still perform their hearts out for an audience of one. Blackout)