They Came to the Castle: Immigrants, a Tenor and Lola Montez at Theater for the New City

A historical play set in the mid-19th century in a now landmarked building in Battery Park--the entry point to the United States prior the facility on Ellis Island. Newly-arrived travelers share their hopes and dreams, seeking love and success in a new land. An Irishman fleeing the potato famine; an Italian man who escaped from forced child labor in the sulfur mines of Sicily; the sole survivor of a pogrom (organized violence against Jews) in a Russian village; a woman who always felt different and ran from an arranged marriage; a freeborn African American woman who works for the NYC Commission on Immigration. Castle Garden was briefly a prominent entertainment center. In a re-imagining of a nights entertainment, the Italian tenor Lorenzo Salvi performs and the infamous dancer Lola Montez recreates her notorious Spider Dance. (photo credit: Joe Bly)