Sarah Toce
The 5th Avenue Theatre announced this week that its 2020/21 Season will occur as an exciting and dynamic collection of reimagined digital content called The Essential 5th Digital Collection. Created as an opportunity for musical theater lovers in the Pacific Northwest to engage with and experience their favorite art form during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Essential 5th will feature a mix of exclusive original content created by The 5th and livestream concerts by some of Broadway’s brightest stars.
The Essential 5th season of virtual content begins at the end of October, with the exception of the first performance in the Hershey Felder Presents series. Hershey Felder as George Gershwin Alone – Live From Florence will be available for renewed subscribers to stream live on Saturday, September 13. Subscribers that have already renewed into the 2020/21 Season will automatically be rolled into a digital package and new digital subscriptions will be available for purchase in early October at www.5thavenue.org.
“The close connection between our audience and our art has always led to musical experiences at their richest,” said The 5th’s Producing Artistic Director Bill Berry. The uncertainties caused by COVID-19 have made it clear that we cannot produce the season we announced earlier this year. But we knew that in this year of all years, we could not leave our subscribers without the power and magic of musical theater to see them through. We have plans to light up their lives (and screens!) with the magic of musical theater all season long. We can’t wait to start this new digital journey with our biggest fans.”
“We know The 5th Avenue Theatre has an essential role to play in so many people’s lives—just as our audiences have an essential role to play in ours,” said Bernie Griffin, The 5th’s Managing Director. “We know that the arts sector across the country is struggling to plan for the future. But we are grateful to all of our subscribers and patrons for going on this journey with us, for standing by us and supporting us so that we can build a bridge that will carry us out of this moment and into the future with confidence and security.”
The Essential 5th will be available in three package options: The Essential 5th Fundamentals, The Essential 5th Plus, and The Essential 5th Premium, with each subsequent package expanding the breadth of content to which the subscribers have access. In addition to livestream concerts, The Essential 5th’s exclusive content will feature a treasure trove of musical theater fun that audiences can enjoy depending on their subscription package.
The Essential 5th Fundamentals package has a little bit of everything from The 5th: moving performances from 5th Avenue Theatre favorites, a taste of Broadway’s brightest, and our executive team, Bernie Griffin and Bill Berry, tying it all together with love, passion, and a sense of humor in the series Catching Up With… The cornerstone of this package are two video livestream concert series: Broadway Partner Concerts, which will feature some of Broadway’s brightest stars performing live, and Hershey Felder Presents, a video livestream in partnership with the internationally acclaimed writer, musician, and performer Hershey Felder.
The Essential 5th Plus package includes everything in the Fundamentals package as well as access to full-length video concerts featuring Seattle’s favorite performers and 5th Avenue Theatre-crafted radio-play-style musicals delivered as podcasts. The podcasts, called Musical Radio Plays, will be a vivid audio experience designed to transport audiences worlds away from the everyday; the 5th Avenue Theatre concert series will place unbelievable Seattle stars in the spotlight with two livestream concerts that will make hearts soar and spread the joy of live theater.
The Essential 5th Premium package includes all content in the Fundamentals and Plus packages and explores the ins and outs of making Broadway-caliber musical theater—audiences will go “under the hood” of beloved musical theater songs with The 5th’s Resident Music Supervisor Matt Perri in the hilarious and fascinating new podcast Inside the Song and watch backstage tales and adventures led by The 5th’s Technical Director Erik Holden and Costume and Wardrobe Director Shannin Strom-Henry. Premium subscribers will also enjoy virtual performances by Seattle stars and a three month complimentary subscription to Broadway HD.
