The Fire Island Theater Festival’s rained-out benefit has a new date and a new room. Songs on the Sand: The Fire Island Songbook plays one night only at The Green Room 42’s Hudson Local space, in the Ink48 Hotel, on Monday, November 9, at 7pm.
According to Playbill, the concert was due to close the festival’s first edition on Fire Island on September 25, until the weather stopped it. The material is the island’s own. The evening honors Jerry Herman, who spent much of his life in Fire Island Pines and whose ballad Song on the Sand, from La Cage aux Folles, gives the night its title. Alongside his songs, Playbill reports, are new ones by a younger set of Fire Island writers: Billy Recce, Clarke Sondermann, and the team of Matte O’Brien and Matt Vinson.
Playbill reports that Seth Rudetsky and Ben Rimalower will host, with Jack Bartholet, Courtney Bassett, Jaime Lyn Beatty, Dean Cesarti, Michelle Dowdy, Amanda Ferguson, Julie James, Seth Sikes and Jae W.B among the singers. Also on the bill is Bob (Rose) Levine, a 93-year-old Cherry Grove performer who knew Herman.
The money goes to CHANGE Arts, the nonprofit behind the festival, which ran in Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines in September as a week of queer theater. Its next edition is planned for September 2027, and CHANGE Arts has the festival details.
Tickets are $27.95 plus fees from The Green Room 42. Hudson Local is at 11th Avenue and 48th Street, a different address from the club’s rooms at YOTEL.
