Returning on September 30, ARTS by George!, an evening that showcases the remarkable talents of Mason students amid an array of spectacular food and beverages, culminates with a special performance by Broadway superstar Renée Elise Goldsberry in Concert. Best known for her Tony and GRAMMY Award-winning performance as Angelica Schuyler in the original cast of Broadway’s blockbuster musical Hamiliton, Goldsberry is anything but a stranger to New York City. This August, she returns to New York with a leading role in a new musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Starring as Prospero, a role typically played by a man, Goldsberry joins The Public Theater’s 61st season of “Free Shakespeare in the Park” for a limited run August 27-September 3 in Central Park.
Photo credit: BroadwayWorld.com.
This performance is not the first Shakespearean role for Goldsberry; she portrayed Silvia in the 2005 Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona, co-starring 2022/2023 Hylton Performing Arts Center headliner Norm Lewis, as well as acclaimed actors Rosario Dawson and Oscar Isaac, who had recently graduated from Juilliard at the time. The New York Times review dubbed Goldsberry "a sparkplug of musical wit and vitality.” TheaterMania praised her performance as “sensual and strong voiced — Goldsberry could literally blow the roof off the Delacorte if it had one. In addition to her four onstage suitors, she’ll probably have thousands more offstage thanks to this showcase.” In 2011, Goldsberry also returned to Shakespeare with a performance in an Off-Broadway production of Love Labour’s Lost, with The New York Times lauding her “commandingly serene” performance.
Watch the video below to learn more about Goldsberry’s theatrical journey in NYC and beyond.
ARTS by George! raises support for student scholarships in visual arts, dance, music, theater, game design, film, arts management, as well as for the Mason Community Arts Academy, Green Machine Ensembles, and the Great Performance at Mason season at the Center for the Arts. Since its creation in 2006, ARTS by George! has raised more than $2 million for the arts at Mason. For more information about ARTS by George!, visit the website.