The Times Square Alliance and Playbill have joined forces to present the Broadway Grand Gallery exhibition, a Times Square art installation featuring 21 10-foot Playbill covers from 21 currently running shows. For a better look at the gallery, visit Playbill.com/Grand-Gallery.
The 11 AM April 7 unveiling event at the Broadway Plaza between 47th and 48th Streets kicks off the installation with special performances from Broadway favorites Jessica Vosk and Alex Newell, along with remarks from Donnie Kehr, Times Square Alliance President Tom Harris, Playbill Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Alex Birsh, and Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin. The entire event will be filmed for streaming on Playbill.com.
Vosk and Newell will be accompanied by Kevin Kuhn on guitar and Brandon James Gwinn playing the Playbill Sing for Hope piano, itself emblazoned with hundreds of real Playbill covers.
Represented in the installation, which comprises 11 monoliths with two covers on each, are Playbill covers from Aladdin, The Book of Mormon, Come From Away, Company, Dear Evan Hansen, Funny Girl, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, The Little Prince, Little Shop of Horrors, MJ The Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Mr. Saturday Night, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Phantom of the Opera, The Play That Goes Wrong, Plaza Suite, Six: The Musical, and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Each cover includes information about the show, a QR code leading to the production's Broadway Grand Gallery hub, and a QR code for buying tickets. Maps show theatre fans where they can find their favorite show's cover. The giant Playbill covers will remain on display through June 15.
Following the kick-off event, performers from the represented shows will be on hand for photo ops, including Six star Adrianna Hicks; Mrs. Doubtfire's Rob McClure, Jenn Gambatese, Analise Scarpaci, Titus Landegger, Tyler Wladis, Austin Elle Fisher, and Ava Gail Prince; Jersey Boys' CJ Pawlikowski, Tristen Buettel, John Gardner, Joey LaVarco, Michelle Rombola, Dianna Barger, Alex Dorf, Austin Owen, and Kit Treece; cast members from Off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors; The Little Prince's Lionel Zalachas and Laurisse Sulty; Come From Away's Sharon Wheatley; and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical's Nkeki Obi-Melekwe.
