VIDEO: Watch A.J. Shively Sing 'Why Should I Die in Springtime' from PARADISE SQUARE
Paradise Square will open April 3, 2022 at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
By: Nicole Rosky Mar. 01, 2022
Click Here to Play the Video!
Paradise Square is on its way to Broadway! Under the direction of two-time Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman, the production begins previews on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, prior to opening night on Sunday, April 3, 2022 at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street).
New York City. 1863. The Civil War raged on. An extraordinary thing occurred amid the dangerous streets and crumbling tenement houses of the Five Points, the notorious 19th-century Lower Manhattan slum. For many years, Irish immigrants escaping the devastation of the Great Famine settled alongside free-born Black Americans and those who escaped slavery, arriving by means of the Underground Railroad. The Irish, relegated at that time to the lowest rung of America's social status, received a sympathetic welcome from their Black neighbors (who enjoyed only slightly better treatment in the burgeoning industrial-era city). The two communities co-existed, intermarried, raised families, and shared their cultures in this unlikeliest of neighborhoods.
BroadwayWorld is very excited to bring you an exclusive sneak peek of the cast in action below. Watch as A.J. Shively performs "Why Should I Die in Springtime", written by Jason Howland, Nathan Tysen, and Masi Asare.
Why Should I Die in Springtime," features star A.J. Shively (Bright Star, La Cage aux Folles) as Owen Duignan and Kevin Dennis as 'Lucky' Mike Quinlan, with Kennedy Caughell, Colin Cunliffe, Josh Davis, Sam Edgerly, Sean Jenness, Ben Michael, Eilis Quinn, Erica Spyres, Lael Van Keuren and Kristen Beth Williams.
In "Why Should I Die in Springtime," Irish immigrant Owen Duignan (Shively), newly arrived in New York City's Five Points, leads the denizens of Paradise Square Saloon in protest of the nation's first Federal Draft. The legislation, designed by President Abraham Lincoln to bolster the Union Army in the still-raging Civil War, carried a fatal flaw pitted against the poor, which would enable a citizen to pay $300 (a year's wages) to exempt themselves from serving. The inequity would trigger the deadly NY Draft Riots.
