- By Thena Gitlin
- Entertainment
Print 
At 7:30 PM EDT on Saturday July 25, the Hangar Theatre Company will present a new virtual production, Honk Your Horn: Celebrate! Musical! Theatre!, directed by Gerry McIntyre and Michael Barakiva with music direction by Daniel M. Lincoln.
Honk Your Horn: Celebrate! Musical! Theatre! is a streaming variety show highlighting the rich history of musical theatre on Broadway and at the Hangar Theatre. The show features an all-star group of diverse performers, all of whom have appeared in past Hangar productions. The title of the show is inspired by Benny's Dispatch/Honk Your Horn, a duet that will be performed by Austin Scott and girlfriend Alexa Capeda, who met during the Hangar's 2016 production of In The Heights. After playing Benny in In The Heights, Scott starred as the lead in Hamilton on Broadway and National Tour.
Joining Cepeda and Scott are Kris Coleman (Chicago, 2019), Darius Anthony Harper (Kinky Boots, 2019), Diana Huey (Xanadu, 2018), Terrie Lynne (Hangar Lab Company alumna, 2017), Aline Mayagoitia (Kinky Boots & Into the Woods, 2019), Gerianne Pérez (In The Heights, 2016), Desireé Rodriguez (Xanadu, 2018), Talia Thiesfield (Into the Woods, 2019), and Chris White (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 2017).
Co-directing the show are Gerry McIntyre, who directed Hangar's 2019 production of Kinky Boots, and the Hangar Theatre's Artistic Director Michael Barakiva. Barakiva said that this is the perfect opportunity to showcase diversity, racial justice, and Hangar Theatre's commitments to both.
"In light of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Hangar has chosen for this production to showcase BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People Of Color) artists from the recent Hangar musical theatre past," said Barakiva. "We are choosing to let these extraordinary artists use the event as a platform to share songs from the musical theatre canon that express what they're going through right now."
McIntyre, who previously directed Hangar's hit 2019 production, Kinky Boots, will lead a pre-show conversation at 7:15 PM EDT.
Many of the cast are excited to have this platform to express themselves as artists.
Darius Harper, who starred as Lola in Hangar's Kinky Boots in 2019, said, "I'm incredibly thankful to the Hangar and our team for allowing me to live in my truth and bare my heart, I believe now more than ever our souls need healing!"
Talia Thiesield, who played The Witch in Hangar's Into the Woods in 2019 said, "Music plays such a vital role in the preservation and retelling of our history, especially for BIPOC communities. I am thrilled to be part of this production and to be sharing our collective experience through musical theatre with such talented BIPOC performers."
The production and design team includes Music Director Daniel M. Lincoln, Costume Coordinator Megan Rutherford, Sound Designer Lance Perl, Video Producer Chrissy Guest, Equity Production Stage Manager Mackenzie Trowbridge, Assistant Stage Manager Kat Taylor, Production Manager Adam Zonder, Dramaturg Hollyann Bucci, Assistant Director Jacob Ettkin, and Stage Management Apprentice Lyndsey Connolly.
The Hangar thanks premier co-sponsors for this show, the Ithaca Voice and What's Hot, Partners in Flight CFCU Community Credit Union and Cayuga Radio Group, and Partner in the Arts Ithaca College.
This production is the fourth of five unique artistic virtual experiences the Hangar Theatre is presenting as its 2020 Mainstage season. Previous productions include The Skin Of Our Teeth, Uncommon Excerpts: The Wendy Chronicles, and Queens Girl in the World. The last remaining production is Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, adapted by Kate Hamill, on August 8.
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