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Keep an eye out: Sunset Park 8-year-old Isabelle
Romero, left, rehearses for her role as one of the
Three Fates, in the Public Theater’s production of
“Hercules,” opening in Central Park’s Delacorte
Theater on Aug. 31. Joan Marcus
Show of strength
‘Hercules’ musical makes stars of amateur Brooklyn actors
COURIER LIFE, AUG. 30-SEPT. 5, 2019 33
By Kevin Duggan They can go the distance!
A phalanx of non-professional
actors from two Brooklyn community
groups will make up a Greek
chorus for a new mythical musical on
the distant isle of Manhattan. The theatrical
adaptation of the 1997 Disney
film “Hercules,” playing at Central Park’s
Delacorte Theater from Aug. 31 to Sept.
8, will feature 61 Brooklynites making
their Off-Broadway debuts.
The Public Theater, known for its
popular “Shakespeare in the Park” series,
recruited more than 200 amateur actors
from across the five boroughs to play
minor parts in the all-singing, all-dancing
tale of a Greek demi-god going from zero
to hero. Among those new thespians are
a Sunset Park dad and his two daughters,
who were all recently bitten by the acting
bug.
“If you would have told me that I would
be in ‘Hercules,’ I wouldn’t have believed
you,” said Marvin Romero. “This is really
the first theater that we’ve done. We’ve
never done anything like this, and to be a
part of it is amazing.”
The show follows the plot of the animated
Disney film, and features six songs
from its Oscar-nominated score by composer
Alan Menken and lyricist David
Zippel, who wrote several additional songs
for the performance. Romero found himself
transported back to his childhood
by hearing the original music, which he
would sing with his daughters on the way
home from rehearsals.
“We go home every day singing it. It’s
stuck in our heads, we’re in the train singing,”
he said. “I felt like a kid again.”
Romero and his two daughters, Isabelle,
8, and Mayiah, 5, took up acting classes
at the Sunset Park social services organization
Center for Family Life at the
beginning of this year. Public Works held
auditions at the 39th Street Center, and
Romero and his two kids secured parts at
the beginning of June. Isabelle will portray
one of the Three Fates, while her dad and
sister will play townspeople of Agora.
The organization also sourced thespians
from a weekly acting workshop at
the Brownsville Recreation Center. One
participant at the Brownsville site, who
studied to be an actor but ended up in a
different field, says that getting a part in
the show has rekindled her love for the art
form after more than a decade away from
the stage.
“For me this is like a second chance,
I’m getting a second chance for real,” said
Kariyma Jo Ann Nelson, who was cast as
a townsperson of Thebes.
The Bay Ridge resident moved to New
York City 36 years ago to work as an actor,
but could not make a living in the field.
“Hercules” has given her another chance
to be on stage again, she said.
“To be able to come back to theater
again — I miss it,” she said. “I need this,
and I wanted to just get back involved.”
“Hercules” at Delacorte Theater in
Central Park enter at Central Park
West and 81st Street in Manhattan, (212)
539–8500, www.publictheater.org. Aug.
31–Sept. 2 and Sept. 5–8 at 8 p.m. Free
tickets distributed by an in-person lottery
at the Delacorte, each day from
5–7 p.m.
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