The most attended single performance of a play ever in world theater.

Madison Square Garden as you've never seen it before.

Sure, the photo is poor but that's because it is a shot of a New York Times two-page newspaper fold-out (creases and all) of one spectacular happening. Look carefully and you will see, from left to right, top to bottom, 18,000 New York City public middle and high school students from five boroughs. (Tickets were offered to all on a first-come-first-served basis.)

"And why?", you may ask. To see a special afternoon performance of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning 1960 book, To Kill A Mockingbird, made into a long running Broadway play by Aaron Sorkin. (That was Wednesday, Feb. 26th, before any Coronavirus lock-down.)

"Watching 'To Kill A Mockingbird' with 18,000 teenagers was one of the most profound theater experiences of my career, " said The Washington Post critic Peter Marks. "This was the first time that the storied sports and entertainment arena had been transformed into a playhouse, for a one-performance-only run of a play."

The production played out on a specially made 90x40 foot stage backed by 105 stagehands and technicians, 18,000 boxes of popcorn and Madison Square Garden itself, made available free by James L. Dolan and The Garden's in-house operations.

To let Peter Marks tell it because I wasn't there: "The kids, black and brown and white faces, in caps and hijabs and school sweats, sat in attentive delegations on all levels of the Garden through the nearly three hours of the play, which stars Ed Harris as Atticus Finch. Many of the students have been reading the novel, so when Harris entered to thunderous applause, you wondered for a moment if they were clapping for the actor of for the towering lawyer from fiction, called on to defend a black man in 1934 Alabama falsely accused of raping a white woman.

"And, wow--the deafening roar near the end when Atticus got Bob Ewell around the neck, poised to pummel him, a cacophonous response at a volume I have never heard in a theater. Their reactions pointed to one uncontestable truth: the kids were listening.

" They were exhorted to strike this reflective posture by Brooklyn-born director Spike Lee took to the stage just before the show (along with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife and Bartlett Sher director of the play). 'Please listen to the words,' Lee said, as he also offered encouragement to anyone in the crowd considering a life in the arts. 

Mayor de Blasio used the moment to remind the students of their collective political power...
'The only way to change your world is if you decide it is your world to change.'"

The question was then asked of us, "Why not strive to make such showcases annual events in cities across the country? This wasn't just a harnessing of potential young people power, it was a demonstration of theater power."

And being blessed with a wonderful abundance of grand children myself, I have seen and savored the energy and talent they and their other actors and all behind the stage have given to a multitude of plays and performances. I marvel at the positive affect singing, dancing, acting and backstage supporting does for so many young people. And for them to do it so well is a gratifying experience and joy to behold, both on and off stage.

So many thanks go out to those who provide the structure, style. skill and dedication to make this happen for so many young people. Hey! We are building our tomorrow and if you squint just a little, you see it is a good place. Keep on keeping on please.


Blogger note: I have always taken to heart that the world really belongs to the young to mold, change and evolve to become the better world destined to be theirs. We older and presumed wiser had our turn, but sometimes it seems, just don't know when to get out of the way.