Article By Joy Chiang Ling
Photo credit Xue Liang
On July 10th 2014, radio station 106.7 Lite FM hosted “Broadway in Bryant Park”, which was sponsored by Taiwan Tourism Bureau and Visit Sarasota County.
Present at the event was a large stage, where Broadway performers performed scenes from their respective plays in front of a large audience. Hosting the show were Delilah, radio show host of 106.7 Lite FM, and Barrett Foa, an actor at the Off-Broadway Hit Buyer & Cellar.
The event began by introducing its sponsors. Taiwan ambassador Mr. Paul Wen-liang Chang, Director General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, opened by extolling his country’s great sights, culture and food. He enthusiastically claimed that Taiwan was “the capital of Asia” before introducing the first act of the event: a Taiwanese aboriginal dance performed by four men and four women.
Garbed in red and gold dresses and feathered hats, the dancers moved to music influenced by aboriginal Taiwanese songs. They performed several dances before the Broadway performers were ready to take the stage. This week’s event featured performances from STOMP (Jason Mills, Alan Asuncion, Manny Osoria, Marivaldo Dos Santos, Dustin Elsea, Chafic Saad, Penny Wendtlandt, and Kris Lee), ROCKY (Andy Karl,Margo Seibert, Terence Archie, Wallace Smith, David Macdonald, Sasha Hutchings, Vasthy Mompoint and Kristin Piro), WICKED (Chrstine Dwyer, Jenni Barber and Justin Guarini), and IF/THEN (LaChanze, Jenn Colella, James Snyder, Tamika Lawrence, and Jackie Burns).
Bryant Park was packed with people anticipating these free performances. Also included at the event were free bubble tea and pineapple cakes, provided by Taiwan Tourism Bureau in New York. They gave away their goods at the booth behind the stage, where their adorable mascot, Oh-Bear, helped promote travel to Taiwan, and took pictures with adoring onlookers.
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