It’s an original musical comedy about a heroic subway crew’s response to a flood.
Theater for the New City’s award-winning Street Theater Company will present Life on the Third Rail, or A Subway Delay to the Future in Jackson Heights on Sunday, Aug. 27, at 2 pm.
Staged with trap doors, giant puppets, smoke machines, masks, and original choreography, the 75-minute play questions the city’s future through a saga involving a train operator and subway conductor. The MTA’s underground tunnels and stations are inundated, but the duo is safe above ground in a car that needs repairs. Will they make it to the train yards?
Attendance is free. The production is on an outdoor stage with a huge (9′ x 12′) running screen or “cranky” providing continuous moving scenery behind the actors.
The company features 22 actors, 10 crew members, two stage managers, three assistant directors, and five musicians led by the composer at the keyboard. The music varies in style from Bossa Nova to Hip Hop to Musical Comedy to Classical Cantata.
On Aug. 27, Life on the Third Rail goes on at Travers Park, which lies in the vicinity of 77th Street and 34th Avenue, as part of a five-borough tour that started on Aug. 5 and ends on Sept. 17.
Here’s the rest of the schedule. (Sorry, no other Queens shows.)
Sept. 9 at 2 pm, Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, Sixth Avenue and 44th Street.
Sept. 10 at 2 pm, Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park, Myrtle Avenue between N. Portland Avenue and St. Edwards Street.
Sept 16 at 2 pm, Staten Island’s Tappen Park, Canal, Bay and Water streets.
Sept. 17 at 2 pm, Manhattan’s Tompkins Square Park, E. 7th Street and Avenue A.
Michael David Gordon plays the train operator, while Cheryl Gadsdon is the conductor, and Yesenia Ortiz is the subway tracker. The book, lyrics, and direction are by Theater for the New City Artistic Director Crystal Field. Joseph Vernon Banks composed and arranged the musical score.
