Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 28 February 2020
Kids shine as Broadway’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ goes big

By MARK KENNEDY nicknamed “The World’s
Associated Press Most Famous Arena,”
NEW YORK (AP) — The cast which is home to the New
of “To Kill a Mockingbird” York Knicks and Rangers.
ditched its somber Broad- The last line of the play is
way home Wednesday for “All rise” and the students
the cavernous Madison did exactly that, giving it
Square Garden, performing a standing ovation and a
the play for 18,000 school hearty thank you.
kids in an electric one-time- “I loved the book in middle
only performance that one school when I read it and
actor called “primal.” seeing it live and seeing the
It marks the first time a characters come to life, it’s
Broadway play has been so much more real,” said
performed at the venue Alissa DiCristo, 17. “It makes

This photo provided by Ashton Woods shows a residential family room with natural wood beams
as part of the ceiling in the Ashton Woods GlenPark community in Raleigh, N.C
Associated Press
you feel so much more.” bird” by Harper Lee won erful scene. “It was magi-
The play’s usual Broad- a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and cal. It felt like what theater
way home is the 1,435-seat has been widely praised as used to like be thousands
Shubert Theatre, where it’s a sensitive portrait of racial of years ago,” said actor
routinely sold out. But thou- tension in 1930s Alabama. Taylor Trensch, who played
sands of middle and high At its core is Finch, a lawyer Dill Harris. “It’s something I’ll
school students from all five called upon to defend a remember forever.” Mayor
boroughs got to see it for black man falsely accused Bill de Blasio and city first
free, courtesy of the Scott of raping a white woman. lady Chirlane McCray in-
Rudin-led production and Oscar-winning screenwriter troduced the show, urging
James L. Dolan, executive Aaron Sorkin adapted Lee’s the students to think about
chairman and CEO of The play and it crackles with the themes of the play and
Madison Square Garden current issues: institutional urging them to embrace
Company. The tickets were racism, a flawed criminal the arts. “You are part of
distributed by the city’s ed- justice system, police mis- history today,” McCray
ucation department. Free conduct, sexual assault said. Director Spike Lee, a
popcorn and bottles of and standing against evil. die-hard Knicks fan, said:
water were also offered on Ripples of anger coursed “Don’t let anyone tell you
the way out. through the crowd when you can’t be artists. Follow
The audience this time sur- racial epithets were used. your dreams.”
rounded the stage and, “I feel like it targeted a lot While Sorkin’s script wasn’t
in the moments before of prominent issues in to- altered, the staging had to
the play, started using the day’s society and it really adapt to the hulking space.
flashlight feature on their did speak to me,” said Am- Eight cameras captured
phones to make patterns bria Creary, 17. “Definitely the action and beamed it
and signals, turning the there were parts where you onto four massive screens
Garden into a tapestry of had to react because it so everyone could see small
lights, like a forest ignited hurt so bad to even imag- details. The stage arrived in
with fireflies. As the play ine it happening today.” about 100 pieces and took
progressed, the students The entire current Broad- four hours in install, includ-
clapped, booed, cheered way cast performed the ing the jury box, which re-
and gasped, even erupting show, led by Ed Harris as mains empty throughout,
in the same pitched excite- Finch. They practiced for a signal that the audience
ment as a buzzer-beating the Garden show in a also is complicit in the trial.
3-point basket when the warehouse in Long Island On Wednesday, director
stately Atticus Finch wres- City, preparing to work on Bartlett Sher paced along
tled with the evil Bob Ewell. their new space, a stage one side of the stage dur-
At other times, the Garden measuring 90 feet in length ing the performance, help-
was completely silent as it by 40 feet in width. ing actors with their sound
felt like 18,000 young peo- Despite the size, the ac- equipment and cheering
ple held their breaths, par- tors kept the experience them on. Trensch thought
ticularly during courtroom intimate, rolling pieces of back to his own youth and
scenes. “We did say how equipment onstage and didn’t initially know if the
we feel and each and ev- helping put away props. three-hour play would cap-
eryone was respectful, too, Some, when not onstage, ture the attention of the
when they needed to,” sat in chairs or a bench wait- children. He needn’t have
said 17-year-old Eric Meza, ing their cues. At one point, worried. “It was almost pri-
who had his first experience Nick Robinson, who played mal,” he said. “There was
with a Broadway show. “It Jem, gave Lisa Gay Hamil- like an electrical charge in
was just an amazing expe- ton, who played Calpurnia, the air that you don’t get
rience.” “To Kill a Mocking- a gentle hug after a pow- at the Shubert Theatre.”q