Stonewall Documentary Concert to Make Joe's Pub Debut in June

The multi-media documentary concert about the Stonewall riots, now titled There’s A Riot Going On!: The Real Music & True Story Of Stonewall (Targo!), will make its debut at Joe's Pub on June 4th and 11th. Tickets for both performances are available now here. 

Like the uprisings that inspired it, the timely and ever-evolving concert, last performed in 2024 as The Stonewall Jukebox, harnesses the urgency of a tipping point in history. Through high-energy performances of selections found on the original jukeboxes of the Stonewall Inn interwoven with narration drawn from period documentation, TARGO! illuminates a pivotal moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, while unveiling a story that’s more nuanced than most have come to understand.

Sourced from mainstream and underground media, gay-bar guides, court decisions and political flyers, as well as first-person accounts, the texts of TARGO! reframe selections like Shirley Bassey’s “This Is My Life,” The Flirtations’ “Nothing but a Heartache,” Sly & the Family Stone’s “Stand!,” and popular favorites by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Harry Nilsson.

This latest iteration expands the show’s perspectives by interpolating excerpts of audio interviews from the archives of Eric Marcus’ book and podcast Making Gay History. Now, the actual voices of LGBTQ+ pioneers, including Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Frank Kameny, have a say in THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON!, too.

Led by Music Director Ann Klein (Grease, Almost Famous, Kinky Boots) several cast members from 2024 return for this limited engagement at Joe’s Pub, including David Driver, Michael Musto, queer burlesque legend Tigger!, Machine Dazzle, and drag chanteuse Castrata, whose performance of the Petula Clark classic “I Know A Place” can be heard here. Joining the production are Eric Redd, stepping in for Everett Bradley on June 11, acclaimed singer and songwriter Nicki Richards, Catskills’ drag king Cowboy Lou, and more. Watch the trailer below.