by Sandi Durell
A capacity crowd of 18,000 New York City public school students made history at Madison Square Garden on February 26, 2020 along side the Broadway cast of To Kill a Mockingbird. Aaron Sorkin’s new play, directed by Bartlett Sher, and based on Harper Lee’s classic novel. It became the first-ever Broadway play to perform at The World’s Most Famous Arena, with the extraordinary support of James L. Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company, this unprecedented, single-performance event was entirely free to students of New York City Department of Education public middle and high schools from all five boroughs.
The performance was introduced by Mayor Bill de Blasio; First Lady of New York City, Chirlaine McCray; with filmmaker (and eternal New York Nicks fan) Spike Lee as Emcee; and punctuated by school choirs from New York City schools. It marked the largest attendance at a single performance of a play ever in the world of theater!
This special performance of To Kill a Mockingbird featured the entire Broadway cast, led by four-time Academy Award nominee and two-time Golden Globe Award winner Ed Harris as Atticus Finch.
Theater Pizzazz had the opportunity to interview one of LaGuardia High School’s theater teachers and witness this one time event that will forever remain vital as the most successful American play in Broadway’s theater history.
To Kill a Mockingbird is produced on Broadway by Scott Rudin and Barry Diller. In a statement, Mr. Rudin said, “It was an absolutely incredible afternoon. Huge credit goes to the remarkable efforts and valiant spirit of the entire cast, who acquitted themselves brilliantly. Giant thanks from Barry Diller and myself to Jim Dolan and everybody at Madison Square Garden; they were unbelievable partners. It was one of the great days of the lives of everybody who participated in it.” And Mr. Harris added, “I’m extremely proud of the 18,000 kids who listened and took part in the play.”
Filming: Magda Katz