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Ella Fitzgerald was discovered there. So was Sarah Vaughan, James Brown and the Jackson Five. Now the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem stands to be discovered itself by thousands of new visitors, with next Saturday's debut of the first open-ended show in its 88-year history.
The show is "Harlem Song," a multimedia theatrical revue directed by Tony winner George C. Wolfe that celebrates the cultural history of Harlem from the 1920s to the present. With song, dance, narration, vintage photographs and film, the $4 million production is intended to have a permanent berth at the Apollo; it will have five performances every weekend and two more on Mondays, one of them a free noon performance for schoolchildren. (The show will be on hiatus January through March.)
Beyond the hopes that come with any new theatrical venture, some special ones are riding on this one. If "Harlem Song" succeeds, it will not only give new life to the neo-classical landmark theater on 125th Street, but also add to the revitalization of the surrounding Harlem community.
"We're really the anchor attraction that I hope and expect will bring hundreds of thousands of new customers to 125th Street every year," said producer John Schreiber, one of the original group that helped spark "Harlem Song." The show, he said, would "speak directly to not only members of the African-American community, but also folks from all over the metropolitan area and international and domestic tourists."
"Harlem Song," Schreiber said, is aimed in part at "what I would call 'audiences of opportunity' - people who are not avid, regular theatergoers. There are a lot of people who never go to the theater."
With an energetic cast of 15, "Harlem Song" interweaves old songs (by the likes of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman and James Brown) and new music by co-composers Zane Mark and Daryl Waters, both earlier involved in "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk."
It includes such culturally resonant scenes as a late-night outing at one of Harlem's fabulous nightclubs during its heyday in the 1920s; a Depression-era "rent party" to raise enough cash to stave off eviction, and the celebrated 1938 heavyweight championship bout - to be shown in vintage film footage -...