The Broadway Green Alliance and Times Square Alliance are offering a free, outdoor concert today, Broadway Celebrates Earth Day.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 16: Shaina Taub of “Suffs” performs onstage during The 77th Annual Tony Awards at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on June 16, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Taking place in Times Square’s Pedestrian Plaza, between 45th and 46th Streets, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and streamed by Stars in the House, this concert will feature live performances and appearances by Broadway headliners, young performers and environmental leaders.
It will be a marquee event for the New York City Department of Transportation’s city wide “Car-Free Earth Day” and highlight the theater community’s ongoing efforts to combat the climate crisis with actionable steps.
Joining the event, hosted by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson, will be Grammy Award nominee Merle Dandridge (Hadestown), Tony Award nominee Stark Sands (& Juliet), Lissa deGuzman (Wicked), Adrian Blake Enscoe (Swept Away), Jenn Gambatese (Mrs. Doubtfire), Tony Award nominee Anika Larsen (Almost Famous), Jaygee Macapugay (Suffs), Jennafer Newberry (Wicked), Tony Award nominee and Grammy Award winner Andrew Rannells (Book of Mormon), Kelsie Watts (SIX: The Musical), Rema Webb (Chicago) and Khaila Wilcoxon (Redwood).
In addition, Tony Award winner Shaina Taub (Suffs) will lead a grand finale featuring over 80 young performers from across the region, who will sing her anthem “Keep Marching,” from Suffs.
Today’s performance is designed to shine a spotlight “on the next generation of changemakers and calling in audiences to collective action and perseverance,” the two alliances said.
Kindergarten and 1st grade students from P.S. 212 in Hell’s Kitchen also will join actress and singer Jenn Gambatese on stage for a special performance of “Do Re Mi.”
In addition, over 75 students from the tri-state area—including students from Cassie Okenka Voice Studio, EPIC Players, K/1 Chorus at P.S. 212 led by Andrew Brubaker, NYU Steinhardt, Perkiomen Valley High School, R.Evolución Latina and Wolf Performing Arts Center—will perform, while representatives of Materials for the Arts, HeadCount and Final Strike Collaborative also will speak.
According to the Broadway Green Alliance, this organization “educates, motivates and inspires the entire theater community and its patrons to implement environmentally friendlier practices. The BGA was launched in 2008 as an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and is a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The BGA brings together all segments of the theater community, including producers, Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters in New York and around the country, college drama programs, theatrical unions and their members and related businesses.”
In addition, the Broadway Green Alliance works closely with the National Resources Defense Council to identify and disseminate better practices for theater professionals. It also reaches out to theater fans across the country, and, through alliances, internationally.
The Times Square Alliance improves and promotes Times Square, cultivating, it says, “the creativity, energy and edge that have made the area an icon of entertainment, culture and urban life for over a century. Founded in 1992, the Alliance keeps the neighborhood clean and safe, promotes local businesses, manages area improvements and produces major annual events with partners including New Year’s Eve, Solstice in Times Square and Taste of Times Square.”