The show’s ensemble singing was top notch, and very moving. Photo by Mary Walton
By Charles Layton 2012. Editor, Blogfinger.net
The crowd at the Jersey Shore Arts Center on Saturday gave a warmly emotional reception to “Labor of Love,” JoAnn Robertozzi’s theatrical tribute to the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Quite a few people were wiping away tears during the musical finale, sung by actors playing some of the victims who, caught on the roof of the flaming building in lower Manhattan, were forced to jump to their deaths.
When one of the characters said, “I saw bodies flying from the building, like angels,” it was impossible not to be reminded of some of the most graphic photos of 9/11.
The bare-bones staging was helped a lot by photo images of the 1911 tragedy, projected on a screen. And even though the Arts Center’s acoustics are problematic, the singing was thrilling.
In the Q&A that followed the performance, the author, Robertozzi, told the audience she hoped to further develop “Labor of Love” into a fully staged play, to be entered in New York’s Fringe Festival. We wish her all good luck with that.
Because so many of the fire’s victims were Italian immigrant girls, a couple of the play’s songs were Italian standards from the period. Here is one of those songs, sung by Mario Lanza:
The cast and crew wishes to thank you all at Blogfinger for giving us a wonderful review! We hope to take this to the next level! Again, thanks for coming to the show and for this wonderful blog!