Photo FeaturesGo Inside the Curtain Up Broadway Festival Kick-Off Celebration in Times Square
See photos of the opening presentation of the three-day festival, celebrating the beginning of the 2023–24 Broadway season.
By
Talaura Harms
September 09, 2023
The 2023 Curtain Up Broadway Festival kicked off in Times Square on September 8. The three-day event celebrates all things Broadway with sing-alongs, performances from your favorite Broadway stars, and more. Playbill, The Broadway League, and the Times Square Alliance have brought the outdoor experience back for a third year, presented by Prudential Financial with additional support from the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Music Performance Trust Fund, The Film Fund, Open Jar Studios, and Hotel Edison. The festivities continue through September 10.
Jelani Remy, who currently plays Goldie Wilson and Marvin Berry in Broadway's Back to the Future: The Musical, opened the afternoon presentation crooning "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "There's No Business Like Show Business."
Following the opening number, hosts Arielle Jacobs and Melody Butiu from the Broadway company of Here Lies Love greeted the Times Square audience. Speakers included Ellen Greenwald from The Broadway League, Tom Harris of Times Square Alliance, Alex Birsh of Playbill, Richard Parkinson of Prudential, and Pat Swinney-Kaufman from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.
Married Broadway couple Colin Donnell, currently on stage in The Shark Is Broken, and Patti Murin next entertained the audience with "Love Is an Open Door" from Frozen, in which Murin spent two years on Broadway as Anna.
The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success.