The MIRACLE

Picture this: Caracas 1971. A group of toddlers rehearse Jingle Bells for the holiday show, when a black-clad nun approaches one of the kids, and whispers in his ear: “Honey, don’t sing, just move your lips, but DON’T SING.” That kid was Alberto Ferreras, that nun is probably burning in hell, and that anecdote is the starting point of The Miracle—a part memoir, part musical, part improv (with a splash of celebrity gossip), Off Off Broadway immersive experience—that will run from February 8 to the 25, to benefit Theater for the New City and it’s Arts in Education Program. “When you are told at a young age that you can’t sing, you don’t question it. You shut up for the rest of your life, no matter how unqualified was the idiot who told you that. I waited 30 years to get permission to sing, and that’s what The Miracle is all about,” says Ferreras, creator of this show about the transformative power of music. Alberto Ferreras is known for art projects that give a voice to the voiceless (“Habla” for HBO, “Somos” for the National Museum of the American Latino, and the award-winning comedy “Hamlet in Harlem” for TNC). In this interactive show he is joined by Music Director Rachel Kaufman, a seasoned multi instrumentalist who’s played in over 300 musicals and cabaret shows world-wide, and in every piano bar (past and present) in NYC. “The Miracle explores immersion from a different angle: it’s not about having a couple of video projections on the wall. The Miracle can not be replicated by a film, or a TV show”—explains producer Myrna E. Duarte (“Mussolini Behind the Counter”, “Hamlet in Harlem”). “You have to be physically present for The Miracle, and you will have to make choices, and you will have to live with those choices. It’s the kind of transformative show that you’d only find at Theater for The New City. That’s why we want to make it a benefit for this institution that has given a voice to so many artists.” For the last 53 years Theater for the New City has hosted playwrights and actors such as Suzan-Lori Parks, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Charles Busch, Vin Diesel, Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri, and the late Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman—but most important—, it has offered stages and resources to thousands of emerging playwrights, directors, actors, and small theater companies. Executive Director Crystal Field has staged thousands of plays in New York City, and that’s a miracle in itself. “The Miracle” is created and performed by Alberto Ferreras, produced by Myrna E Duarte, music directed by Rachel Kaufman, set design by Jason Sturm, lights by Alex Bartenieff and Franklyn Rodriguez, and it will feature performances by a bunch of unsuspecting guests.