54 Sings The Rink, an evening celebrating the 1984 musical The Rink, is presented at 54 Below July 22 at 7 PM.
Charles Kirsch, the 16-year-old host of the theatre podcast Backstage Babble, hosts and produces the concert, which features songs from the John Kander and Fred Ebb score as well as memories from original cast and creative team members. Michael Lavine is the musical director.
Those taking part in the evening include John Bolton (Dames at Sea), Tony Honoree Ben Davis (New York, New York), Tony nominee Scott Ellis (Doubt), Sara Gettelfinger (Water for Elephants), Ilene Graff (I Love My Wife), Tony nominee Mark Jacoby (Ragtime), Mel Johnson, Jr. (The Rink), Nikka Graff Lanzarone (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), Bianca Marroquín (Chicago), Karen Mason (Sunset Boulevard), Caroline O'Connor (Anastasia), Stephanie Pope (Pippin), Jenna Lea Rosen, Jenny Lee Stern (Forbidden Broadway), Tony nominee Mary Testa (Oklahoma!), and Tony winner Karen Ziemba (Contact), plus a male ensemble comprising Quinn Corcoran (Lucky Stiff), Danny Gardner (Flying Over Sunset), Bruce Landry (Anastasia), and Andrew Leggieri (Bandstand), with a video message from Tony winner Jason Alexander.
The concert also celebrates the memory of late theatre icon Chita
Rivera, who won her first Tony for creating the role of Anna in The Rink.
The Rink, which premiered on Broadway in 1984, has a
book by Tony winner Terrence McNally. A. J. Antoon directed the musical
with choreography by Graciela
Daniele. The original cast included Rivera, Liza Minnelli, Alexander, Ronn Carroll, Ellis, Kim Hauser, Scott Holmes, Frank
Mastrocola, and Johnson, Jr. The production was nominated for five
1984 Tony Awards, including Best Original Score.
In the musical, Anna, an
Italian housewife who runs a roller-skating rink on the Eastern
seaboard, is about to sell it to developers until her estranged daughter
Angel returns after a long absence, hoping to save the rink and patch
things up with her mother.
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