Tony winners Savion Glover and Nathan Lane entertained frontline workers from The Actors Fund and Broadway Cares during the special NY PopsUp event.
For its first performance since March 11, 2020, the theatre welcomed an audience of frontline heroes and volunteers from The Actors Fund and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS—two organizations that have continued to provide relief to the full spectrum of arts workers throughout the pandemic. The show, organized by the state’s NY PopsUp initiative, promised “two Broadway giants,” and it delivered.
Shortly after 1 PM, Savion Glover took the stage, receiving Broadway’s first post-shutdown entrance applause. The Tony-winning dancer-choreographer’s signature tapping evoked the hustle and bustle of a district that had been brought to a halt. His percussive footwork kept the beat as he began to sing out refrains of theatre staples, including A Chorus Line’s “I Hope I Get It” and “One,” Cats’ “Memory,” and “Fabulous Feet” from The Tap Dance Kid, which marked Glover’s Broadway debut.
Next on the double bill was fellow Tony winner Nathan Lane, performing a monologue written by Paul Rudnick for the occasion. Playing the type of theatre die-hard that would have fit right in with this particular audience, Lane started off with some musings on quarantine go-tos: Zoom theatre, online shopping, and sweatpants.
