Sing Harlem Sing!
Throughout the 20th century, Harlem has served as the home and key inspiration to generations of artists expressing themselves in theater, fiction, and music. Sing Harlem Sing! a new musical written by Vy Higginsen and directed by Ken Wydro celebrates this great American neighborhood with it’s diverse people and culture and tells the story of Higginsen as the first black female radio disc jockey.
Vy Higginsen has gained a reputation and won many awards for her contributions to African-American audiences and for elevating the black experience through the arts. After a decade behind the microphone at major New York radio stations (WBLS-FM, WWRL-AM, WRKS-FM). Vy published and edited Unique NY, a lifestyles magazine designed for African-Americans and others who want to know where to go and what to do in and around the New York City Metropolitan area.
In 1983, Vy co-wrote, produced and directed the classic Gospel musical, Mama, I Want To Sing. This show ran for eight years and 2,200 performances at Off-Broadway’s Heckscher Theater in East Harlem. The show has toured both nationally and internationally as well as playing a sit down engagement in London’s West End. A film based on the play starring R&B star Ciara and Lynn Whitfield is due out in movie theaters in the coming months.
In March 1988, Vy co-produced Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson on Broadway making her the first black woman the produce a drama on Broadway.
With all of these experiences, Vy created Sing Harlem Sing! to give back to the community that nutured her and her career. The show is running at the Demsey Theater, which was converted from a school and in actuality, the very school that Ms. Higginsen went to when she was younger.
