After months of musical silence caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Popejoy Hall announced its newest event “Christopher Jackson: Live from the West Side,” a livestreamed concert that will run on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 6 p.m.
Jackson is an actor and singer with credits on and off Broadway, widely known for playing George Washington in “Hamilton” and Benny in “In The Heights.” He’s also known for starring in the Netflix original “When They See Us.”
During this concert, Jackson will perform original songs and Broadway showtunes live from New York City. He will also answer questions from audience members who tune in.
“We were looking for something that we could provide to our community who haven’t been able to attend Popejoy,” Tom Tkach, the director of Popejoy Hall, said. “We came across the Chris Jackson project and thought this would be a wonderful thing to bring New Mexico.”
Tickets are available online for $40 per household, and the Zoom link to tune in to the show will be sent out to ticket holders on Friday, Aug. 14. Ticket holders will have access to the livestream for up to 72 hours afterward.
95% of Popejoy’s revenue comes from ticket sales, according to Tkach, making this pandemic especially difficult for the organization. All proceeds from this livestream will go directly to Popejoy.
Popejoy has been holding all sales for 2020-21 subscription tickets, in case refunds are necessary in the event of show cancellations.
“We have donors who are supporting us, and we found this virtual concert that will also help support Popejoy’s operations so we can open again when it’s safe,” Tkach said when asked what is currently bringing in revenue for the concert hall.
Popejoy started “Step Up for Popejoy” in July, a donation campaign designed to help ease the financial strain currently gripping the concert hall. A majority of current revenue for Popejoy is coming through donations like these, especially since many of its events have been rescheduled or canceled due to COVID-19.
“Back in 1966 when the hall opened — and before it was even named for the president at the time, Tom Popejoy — he said that this hall would serve as a handshake with the community. Here, quite literally, handshakes can be deadly,” marketing manager Terry Davis said in an interview with the Daily Lobo in March, at the very start of the pandemic.
Hannah John is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @yesitshannahj
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
