Come check out Mama Foundation’s latest production, Alive! It will inspire you!
Read in Japanese
Yes, We are “ALIVE!”
The Mama Foundation for the Arts presents ALIVE!, an original musical featuring a full company of performers who are age 55 and over.
“Real people, telling real stories!” Conceived and written by Vy Higginsen and her husband Ken Wydro (the creators of Mama, I Want To Sing), and directed by Mr. Wydro, ALIVE! is currently performing in repertory on Saturday afternoons at The Dempsey Theater in Harlem (127 W. 127 St.).
The cast of ALIVE! is comprised of everyday, “ordinary” citizens from all walks of life; people with amazing talent, who never realized their desire to perform live. Each cast member now has the opportunity to take center stage, proving that it’s never too late to live a dream.
One of the highlights of the show is when Theo Harris confessed that he was associated with people like pimps, drug-dealers and gangsters and became a drug addict. He ended up serving 40 years in prison and met a woman there and married. The song Theo performed was “Unchained Melody” the theme song for 1955’s film titled “Unchained,” a story of a convict in a medium-security prison who is torn between his need to finish his sentence and get back to his wife and family, and his desire to escape the confines of prison.
♪♪Oh my love my darling/I’ve hungered for your touch…….I’ll be coming home wait for me……..♪ At the end of his song he reunited with his wife in real life, Phyllis Harris and hugged each other……..Alive!
ALIVE! features a unique blend of gospel, jazz, R&B and pop music – songs that served as a soundtrack for this generation. Through the music and through authentic stories and testimonies, the ALIVE! cast tell how it used to be, and how life could be going forward . . . at any age. They are ALIVE! . . . and kickin.’
The cast of ALIVE! features Num H.S. Amun’Tehu, Deborah Bingham, Donna Love Brown, Matthew Brown, Matthew Burke, Robin Campos, Robin Crudup, Gladys DeJesus Mitchell, Darlene Eklou, Phyllis Harris, Theo Harris, GloRia Jones, Susie Jones, Sahron Patrick, Roberta Ross, Ricardo Vega, Renee Walker, Pamela White, and Hugh Wright.
ALIVE! has music direction by Greg Kelly and musical staging/choreography by Elijah Ahmad Lewis.
ALIVE! is performed at The Dempsey Theater in repertory along with other Mama Foundation for the Arts shows: WE ARE! A World Premiere musical created by Ms. Higginsen and Mr. Wydro.
THE MAMA FOUNDATION – Fall 2013 Schedule:
Saturday Oct. 12th WE ARE! @ 2:00pm; ALIVE! @ 5:00pm
Saturday Oct. 19th ALIVE! @ 2:00pm; WE ARE! @ 5:00pm
Saturday Oct. 26th MAMA @ 2:00pm; WE ARE! @ 5:00pm
Saturday, Nov. 2nd ALIVE! @ 5:00 pm
Saturday Nov. 9th MAMA @ 2:00pm; ALIVE! @ 5:00pm
Saturday Nov. 16th SING, HARLEM, SING @ 2:00pm; ALIVE! @ 5:00pm
Saturday Nov. 23rd MAMA @ 2:00pm WE ARE! @ 5:00pm
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