The Golden Age

Objective: To produce a gala fundraiser for The New York Pops

Venue: Carnegie Hall

Total Performers Onstage: 173

Total Students Provided Music Performance/Enrichment Opportunities: 923

Total Audience Members Reached: 2,804

Notable Achievements: Facilitated Queen Latifah’s performance debut at Carnegie Hall

The New York Pops salutes entertainment icons through an annual gala concert series at Carnegie Hall. I proposed that the May 2015 gala should honor siblings Kathleen Marshall and Rob Marshall. Ms. Marshall earned three Tony Awards for choreographing Broadway revivals of the musicals Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game, and Anything Goes. Mr. Marshall was nominated for an Academy Award for directing the movie musical Chicago, and went on to helm film adaptations of the musicals Nine and Into the Woods. I secured their gala participation in July 2014, and for the next nine months I partnered with the Marshalls to produce a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience.

I selected the entire concert cast and negotiated agreements on each performer’s behalf, including Academy Award nominees Queen Latifah and Ken Watanabe; world-renowned operatic soprano Renée Fleming; film star Victor Garber; and Tony Award winners Alan Cumming, Sutton Foster, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Bebe Neuwirth. Since the Marshalls are widely associated with dance, I also reached out to Emmy Award-winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse to stage a sequence for Rachel York from Victor/Victoria (one of the Broadway productions on which Kathleen and Rob collaborated).

In addition to raising funds for The New York Pops’ arts education programs, the gala also served as a showcase for The New York Pops’ music students. 20 New York City middle school instrumentalists were selected to play alongside the adult musicians of the orchestra. 60 musical theatre students from across the country assembled under our partner organization Camp Broadway. 4 students from The New York Pops’ choir and band programs at the Ronald McDonald House New York teamed up with Tony Award nominee Rob McClure. And all 837 seats in the top tier of Carnegie Hall were filled through The New York Pops’ Kids in the Balcony program, which distributes complimentary tickets to children across all five boroughs.

When I asked Mr. Marshall to reflect on his gala experience in a 2020 PSA for The New York Pops, he called it “one of the most magical evenings of my entire life…It’s one of those evenings you dream of, and it actually came true.”

Photo Credit for concert images of Queen Latifah, Ken Watanabe, Renée Fleming, Rob McClure/Ronald McDonald House students, Bebe Neuwirth, Alan Cumming, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rachel York, and Victor Garber: Richard Termine