Broadway royalty and overall Hollywood fixture Neil Patrick Harris will take on many different roles on when joining the cast of Peter Pan Goes Wrong at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre for a limited time later this month.
Starting Tuesday, April 11 through Sunday, April 30, Harris will play Francis, a member of the Cornley Drama Society that portrays the show’s narrator and a bunch of other parts on the show. Note that the actor will not appear on stage during the April 21 show and the April 22 matinee performance.
“I’m a massive fan of Team Mischief and physical comedy in general, so I jumped (fell?) at the chance to join their genius on stage,” said the 49-year-old actor about his guest starring in an official statement. “That said, the role of the Narrator mostly sits in a chair and reads a book, so apparently no rehearsals are required. I guess that’s fine… what could possibly go wrong?”
Harris is just the first of a number of special guest stars that the Broadway production has promised will appear every so often during the run of the show. No word yet on who, or when, is part of that roster just yet—but it’s safe to say that their very first pick is a solid one.
In addition to his Emmy Award winning work on Glee, Harris took on the role of Hedwig in the Broadway rendition of Hedwig and The Angry Inch, a part that earned him a Tony Award in 2014.
We’re sure Harris will only add spirit to an already lively show.
Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center is thrilled to announce Shirley C. Taylor as our new executive director. She brings over 35 years of experience in arts education and youth development in New York City, most recently as Senior Director of Education at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Taylor will succeed Madaha Kinsey-Lamb who founded Mind-Builders in…
Harlem Bespoke: One of grand local African-American churches went up for sale at 147-149 West 123rd Street for $6.25 $5.95 million in October 2019 and a contract is now out as of May 13th, 2022 and there is finally a new update on the sale. We received information from the broker that everything closed for $4.3M and the buyer was another religious organization.
The Greater Metropolitan Baptist Church which is a 9,418-square-foot neo-Gothic church in the Mount Morris Park neighborhood is actually protected as an official New York City Landmark since 1994. This means any new developer that comes in can not demolish the site but would have to make some sort of adaptive reuse effort either as a combined residential development or maybe even some sort of event space. Everything out front would have to eventually be restored accordingly and maybe the stained glass will come back one day. More details can be found on the broker site: LINK
Harlem Bespoke: Cherry Blossoms in Central Park are at peak bloom now but uptown’s own hidden Sakura Park by Riverside Drive and 122nd Street has traditionally been a bit slower in pace. We dropped by again on Tuesday this week and snapped the above photos which show the blossoms at a point 3 range from a scale of 1-5 in peak bloom. The rest of a the week is going to be pretty cloudy but the cherry blossom at the local Japanese Park should be in their prime by Thursday or Friday. On a side note, please do not let your dogs exercise unleashed at this park since the ground is being torn up in the middle at this point in the season. Fences have now been placed up along the main park of the park but there is a little walkway to the gazebo at the center on the north end. Check out more on the history of West Harlem’s most hidden cherry blossom park in our past post: LINK
Describing the venue as “an incredible place” that is “nurturing a new generation of Black playwrights, performers,” President Joe Biden awarded Bed-Stuy’s Billie Holiday Theatre with the National Medal of Arts in a ceremony late last month. The accolade is the nation’s highest honor awarded to artists and organizations by the U.S. government for outstanding contributions to the excellence and growth of the arts.
With the national medal as a catalyst, there’s even more to come from the theater in its next chapter, the organization’s leader Blondel A. Pinnock says.
The Billie Holiday Theatre was founded 50 years ago in 1972 at the height of the Black Arts movement by Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, of which Pinnock now leads as president and CEO. In the past five decades, it’s promoted the voices of Black artists including Samuel L. Jackson, Debbie Allen, Tichina Arnold and Phyllis Yvonne Stickney. Rooted in racial justice, the theatre produces, presents and commissions works in theater, dance, music, visual arts and film, along with offering educational programming for all ages.
Photograph: By Francis Dzikowski | The Billie stage.
“The Billie Holiday Theatre was created as a vehicle for the voice of the community. It was a place where the creatives who lived in Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights certain parts of Black Brooklyn could come and they could hone their craft, they could create plays, they could learn and practice their acting skills,” Pinnock tells Time Out. “The Billie Holiday stage itself became the catalyst and the breeding ground for the Black arts culture.”
An artistic jewel for the nation, channeling its namesake’s exploration of freedom and identity.
During the ceremony at the White House, President Biden awarded the medal—golden with a regal purple ribbon—during a star-studded event. While Pinnock received the award on behalf of the organization, she credits the theater’s past leaders including Marjorie Moon, Franklin Thomas and Indira Etwaroo for their work in helping The Billie ascend to this point.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Billie Holiday Theatre | Samuel Jackson in Inacent Black at The Billie
Fellow NYC organizations Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and the Apollo Theater have received the award in past years. Fellow awardees this year include Mindy Kaling, Bruce Springsteen, Gladys Knight, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Antonio Martorell-Cardona, Vera Wang and The International Association of Blacks in Dance. Here’s the full list of awardees.
“It’s wonderful to have an organization based in Brooklyn, based Bed-Stuy that can stand toe to toe with these other nationally recognized art institutions,” Pinnock says.
Recently, the Billie Holiday Theatre staged Moments of Black Genius in the American Theater, hosted journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones for a Women’s History Month event and brought actress Sheryl Lee Ralph to the stage for a speech. Looking ahead, The Billie will collaborate with 651 Arts to showcase musical performances in May and stage a production of Fabulation next year in collaboration with playwright Lynn Nottage.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Billie Holiday Theatre
The Billie will be a pivotal center of renovations to the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation’s Bed-Stuy campus over the next several years. The campus will be taken to grade level, eliminating steps to help with accessibility. Plus, leaders are talking about adding a genealogy center, black box theaters, studios for podcast creation and a training program for those interested in theater set design professions. They want to spotlight the theater, dance, studios and art galleries, bringing these internal spaces more external. The renovated campus is designed as a global hub dedicated to closing Brooklyn’s racial wealth gap, including increasing Black workers’ access to jobs in creative industries.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Billie Holiday Theatre | The Black Lives Matter street mural, which The Billie was a part of developing.
“Our goal in listening to the community is that they want to see arts and culture be the center of this,” Pinnock explains. “They want to see that when you walk on Fulton, you see, ‘that’s the arts and culture building, that’s where The Billie is, that’s where all the dance studios are, that’s where our theater program is, that’s where the art gallery is.'”
Of course, they’ll also find a place to proudly display their new national medal.
“We have to figure out a way to let this community know about this greatness that exists right here in the heart of Brooklyn,” Pinnock says. “This type of genius exists right here; you don’t have to go to Manhattan, you don’t have go to other places. We have this right here that passes through our buildings and through our neighborhoods every single day.”
The award presentation in Washington, D.C. echoed that sentiment describing the theater as “an artistic jewel for the nation, channeling its namesake’s exploration of freedom and identity.”
Harlem Bespoke: Google has cancelled the previous email subscription format this year so we have switched tofollow.it for the newsletter. All current subscribers will be getting an updated feed confirmation link via email this week but if you want to switch right away to follow.it then just type in your email address below and press the subscribe button.
Growing greenhouses at schools can be an enriching experience for students, teachers, and the community. Greenhouse gardening provides hands-on educational opportunities and positively impacts mental and physical well-being. From teaching about growing edible foods to experimenting with different varieties of flowers, greenspaces can foster a greater appreciation for nature while providing access to fresh produce. …
