Dede’s Green Scene: Broadway Celebrates Earth Day Concert!

This Earth Day, why not celebrate with a kickline and some jazz hands?! The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) and Times Square Alliance will be returning to Times Square this Earth Day with their third annual “Broadway Celebrates Earth Day Concert” on Saturday April 20th. The BGA concert event will feature live performances from Broadway’s biggest and brightest including, Tony winner Ruthie Ann Miles (Sweeney Todd), Tony Award nominee Anika Larsen (Almost Famous), Michael Maliakel (Aladdin), Jelani Remy (Back to the Future), Alexandra Socha (Wicked), and Nik Walker (Spamalot). The event will be hosted by Ben Cameron (Broadway Sessions).

The live performances will take place from 11am to 3pm on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets. Joining the star-studded lineup will be student performer/activists, ages 6 to 36, from across the region’s public-school arts programs, cultural groups, and programs for neuro-diverse talent, including Cassie Okenka Voice Studio, Epic Players, Marymount Manhattan College, NYU Steinhardt, Perkiomen Valley High School, R.Evolución Latina, and Wolf Performing Arts Center.

In addition to the performers, the event will also feature interviews with environmental leaders such as Julie Tighe, Director of New York League of Conservation Voters and Chantal Bilodeau from Arts and Climate Initiatives, and more. 

The event showcases the Broadway community’s commitment to raise awareness about the climate while taking 1-2 steps towards a more sustainable future. The concert, presented with iHeartRadio Broadway, also serves as one of the key events for the NYC Department of Transportation’s “Car-Free Earth Day,'' which will be celebrated throughout the five boroughs that day.

The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council, both sharing the goal of normalizing sustainability practices on Broadway and beyond. The BGA has successfully implemented significant sustainability reform at the forefront of the industry since its inception.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask  Molly Braverman, the director of Broadway Green Alliance, about the event. 

This is the third year the Broadway Green Alliance is hosting an Earth Day concert. Can you tell us a little bit about the event and what you’re excited about this year?

At the Broadway Green Alliance (BGA), we know that the climate crisis can feel overwhelming. We are now living with the consequences of a climate changed world - with even greater threats ahead. 

The impacts of the climate crisis are already affecting us all - though not equally - and that includes the theatre industry itself. Shows have been canceled across the country due to extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, air quality, and other extreme weather events. The BGA’s mission to educate, motivate, and inspire the entire theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices has never been more urgent.  

But the beauty of this moment is that there is hope: there are solutions available to us right now. As theatre makers and global citizens, there are so many ways for us to reduce our own environmental impact and advocate for systemic change. As us theatre nerds often like to hum, it’s about “doing the next right thing” and starting somewhere. 

We hope that this event helps empower each person watching to do something greener that day. And then build upon that progress by doing something greener next week. And then again next month, and next year. 

This concert will fill Times Square and permeate through screens to build community and courage to take action together?

For more information about the Broadway Celebrates Earth Day Concert, visit here! Admission is free; no tickets are required.

EcoPlum has been proud to partner with the BGA since 2008 on projects involving Sustainable Swag® for Broadway events.