In NYC public schools, it’s not like when I was a kid, in the fifth grade, when we did The King and I and I had drum lessons. The arts programs have been gutted. Music, theatre, musicals, dance, that’s what saved me emotionally. I fell in love with Broadway, as my mother did before me. The energy in the theater is vibrant and alive, magical and real. It is life altering. It’s what got me to believe in something bigger than the life that I was living and it let me know hope..jpg)
So, RBKids started with one school in the theater district, right in the heart of Broadway. To me there’s something very poetic about the fact that all these kids walked past these theaters every day and never, ever had a chance to go inside. It’s like living in Hawaii and never having access to the beach.
In our first semester, 750 kids saw their first Broadway show. When we took the kids to see Aida, they were all very well behaved, and we walked in, and there were 200 empty seats… and the kids looked at me and said “Where do we sit?” I said right there. And a little girl looked up, and I’ll never forget it, and said, “In the velvet?” Every 10 year old deserves to be in the velvet at least once.
There is magic in midtown Manhattan: the marquee lights, the red velvet seats, and the ping on a violin tuning up.
After a semester of teaching these fifth graders, when the families came to see the kids perform, it was pretty overwhelming. So many of the parents were crying. They’d never seen their kids perform. You know with no arts program, that doesn’t happen. It’s the thing I’m most proud of in my career, honestly. To give to another child – what my mother gave to me.
Take a look at the programs now and our growth since 2003. I’m sure you’ll fall in love, as I did, with these kids. The hills are alive with the sound of music.