BY Carolina Pichardo (@c_pichardo)
As a mother, I try to teach my daughter to reach for the stars, follow her dreams, dare herself to new experiences, and to cross to the other side of Broadway to attend the Pied Piper Children‘s Theater’s (PPCT) most recent performance, Suessical.
Based on the famous + favorite books of Dr. Seuss, this musical was written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, directed by founder, Reinaldo ‘Rey-Rey’ Martinez-Cubero, choreographed by Brooke Wilson, and musically arranged with the Music Theatre International.
Following the trail of friendly and gullible Horton, this performance leads the imagination to so many other parts of Dr. Seuss’ world, yet ties it all so perfectly together at the end with the Who’s and the egg. To say that this musical was great is an understatement, when possibly magical and magnificent is more like it. We were captivated from the beginning, following JoJo, the Cat in the Hat, Mayzie, and the rest of the forest crew.
But I’m not going to completely tell you how the performance went, because then you wouldn’t want to go, which is where me writing this post comes in.
Now, I don’t mean to sound like the Grinch or a little tricky like the Cat in the Hat, but when the performance was over and I looked around the audience with excitement, there were very few African American or Latinos around, particularly the Dominicans that make up 7% of New York City’s total population and biggest immigrant group. This isn’t an overextended effort to go out looking for something that’s not there, or denounce the great performance that this obviously was. On the contrary, it’s a simple attempt to shed light on a behavior that’s often “accepted” and continued.
Well—what exactly is going on here, Uptown?
Why are such few of these folks attending such rich, cultural community events like this one? Is it that it’s too hidden to find, could be too expensive for some (see below for admission details), or maybe it’s a lack of promotion? Since the programs ran out during the Saturday show that we attended, I find this last one very doubtful.
So what keeps some groups away from specific places in our community?
This is specifically the sort of questions and thinking that the Washington Heights and Inwood Radio Show wants to you to consider with our “Keep It Local” campaign, and the UC wants to highlight with it’s recent post, “Op–Led: Inwood, NAM’s, SWPL, Twitter and Bigotry.”
Meanwhile, I’ll push my daughter to continue crossing those “barriers” and encourage you to do the same, because there are a few more performances lined-up for PPCT that we just don’t want to miss.
PPCT/Delphi, Holy Trinity Church
20 Cumming Street
New York, NY 10034
Following Shows:
Friday, March 18
8:00 PM
Saturday, March 19
3:00 PM and 8:00 PM
Sunday, March 20
4:00 PM
Admission:
$10 adults; $8 children (under
