Lenox — Where Arts and Activism Meet (WAM) will perform “Me and the Sky: A Cabaret of Empowering Broadway Hits” at Shakespeare & Company from Wednesday, November 1 to Saturday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m.
According to a press release issued by WAM, the event features songs from musicals including “Rent,” “Come From Away,” “Shucked,” and “Waitress,” and all revolve around songs based on women’s empowerment. Performers will include Jess Diaz Griffin, Shannon Lamb, and Wendy Welch.
“I’ve been in musical theater for many years, but this performance is a little bit different,” Welch told The Berkshire Edge. “This is all about women, and it feels very empowering to sing these songs. These songs are all written from a woman’s point of view. It’s a short cabaret, but I hope that the audience will understand the message of women’s empowerment and the way musical theater has changed through the years for women.”
Welch said that, for traditional musical theater, songs were written from a male perspective. “And, traditionally, songs for women were written as if they were downtrodden,” Welch said. “They were singing about being abused or not having any power or any place in society to be able to express themselves and live an authentic life. I feel like, over the years, as women’s voices have started to be heard, a woman’s place in society has changed, and it is still continuing to change. I feel like musical theater really reflects that very well. It’s taken many years, but I feel like we’re being heard.”
Welch said that she has performed in WAM productions several times. “This production fits perfectly into WAM’s mission,” Welch said. “I don’t mean to use the word ‘empowerment’ too much because it becomes a cliché if you use it too much. But to me, that’s what it is. WAM is supportive of women, and not just causes and movements, but individual women as well. I’ve been a professional actor for almost 40 years, and this is the first time I’ve gone into a rehearsal and all these provisions were waiting for us. I’ve never experienced that before. It’s really special walking into these WAM organized performances.”
Tickets for the performances are $25 to $100. For more information about the performances and WAM, visit its website.
