Lourds Lane Musical 'SuperYou' Moves From The Theater To A Dutchess County Drive-In
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- While many restaurants and businesses are reopening, it will take longer for stage productions to resume, and waiting for months wasn't good enough for the creators of an off-Broadway-bound show.
They found a different, safe way to get their new rock musical in front of live audiences.
Lourdes Lane says Lincoln Center is usually her happy place, but now, it's lifeless.
"It's heartbreak. I'm in the theater," she told CBS2's Dave Carlin.
Lane's rock musical "SuperYou" was supposed to be playing at the Daryl Roth Theater right now, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that isn't possible as theaters remain closed.
The Jamaica, New York, native's life has been music and theater since she was a kid. She created and spent years workshopping her musical and getting it just right for a May premiere.
"We were supposed to open and then bam, the pandemic happened," she said.
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Lane and the cast made a socially distant video of the show's anthem "Stronger Now" and says she and her team made a decision.
"This music needs to get out right now," she said.
Lane, along with the rest of the SuperYou creative team, retooled the musical to bring it to the Four Brothers drive-in located in Amenia up Dutchess County, a two-hour drive north of Manhattan.
The drive-in's manager, John Stefanopoulos, was originally surprised that Lane would want to bring the musical to his business. But, it didn't take him long to say yes and begin planning how it would work.
"We'll have the cars park smallest in the front, largest towards the back," Stefanopoulos said.
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SuperYou will be a two-night event, Saturday and Sunday, with the performers taking to the beds of pickup trucks instead of the stage.
"So we have this team of 40-plus Broadway veterans that are working their butts off," Lane said.
"It's such a wonderful thing," Stefanopoulos said.
Amenia is a town of about 4,000 residents with just one traffic light. Now, it will see some of the best performers on Broadway come to town to put on a show about disruption, innovation and finding a superhero in yourself.
"That's what this time is for. It's about unleashing your inner creativity," said Lane.
SuperYou offers tickets at a cost of $17 for adults and $15 for children.