Paradise Square
 Event |
Paradise Square | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Date | 21 March 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opening Date | 3 April 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Date | 17 July 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates Estimated | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Professional | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Premiere | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Description | New York, 1863. As the Civil War rages on, free Black Americans and Irish immigrants live and love together in the unlikeliest of neighborhoods – the dangerous streets and crumbling tenement houses of Lower Manhattan’s notorious Five Points slum. The amalgamation between the communities took its most exuberant form with raucous dance contests on the floors of the neighborhood bars and dance halls. It is here in the Five Points where tap dancing was born. But this racial equilibrium would come to a sharp and brutal end when President Lincoln’s need to institute the first Federal Draft to support the Union Army would incite the deadly NY Draft Riots of July 1863.
Within this galvanizing story of racial harmony undone by a country at war with itself, we meet the denizens of a local saloon called Paradise Square. These characters include the indomitable Black woman who owns it; her Irish-Catholic sister-in-law and her Black minister husband; a conflicted newly arrived Irish immigrant; a fearless freedom seeker; an anti-abolitionist political boss; and a penniless songwriter trying to capture it all. They have conflicting notions of what it means to be an American while living through one of the most tumultuous eras in our country’s history. With visceral and nuanced staging and choreography that captures the pulsating energy when Black and Irish cultures meet and set to a contemporary score that reimagines early American song, Paradise Square depicts an overlooked true-life moment when hope and possibility shone bright. |
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| Description Source | Website | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Genre | Music Theatre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secondary Genre |
Musical
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| Subjects |
American
Civil rights History Race relations War |
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| Contributors |
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| Text Nationality | United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Production Nationality | United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Further Information | This was an American production, but there were a few Australians (or people with an Australian connection) involved. There was a short out-of-town season in Chicago before the show transferred to Broadway. The Broadway run ended with the news that multiple lawsuits had been filed against the show's producers regarding nonpayment of wages. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event Status | Completed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Data Source |
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| Data Set | AusStage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event Identifier | 162981 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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