Let it Shine!

My girlfriend’s apartment has a gorgeous view of the Empire State building, so when day turns to night and the top of the building is illuminated, she often says, “I wonder why the color we’re seeing was chosen for today?” She asked that again the other night, when the upper floors of the building were bathed in red, white, and blue. I had no answer, but the next day, I did — after I landed at www.esbnyc.com, the official Empire State building site. There, the colors for the upcoming three weeks were listed, as well as the reasons why.

The website explained that the red, white, and blue were chosen to honor “Pow Wow, the country’s largest travel trade show.” As Finch sings in How to Succeed…, “Well, really, what’s the harm?” But then I took a look at the web page where all the colors were listed for various occasions and events. Did you know that gold is shone on the building’s top during the week that the Oscars are awarded? Well then, I reasoned, there had to be a similar silver-tinged honor for the Tonys. But a detailed search showed, to my sorrow and fury, that there was not.

Now, why should our state be celebrating a California event while the premier New York entertainment ceremony gets nothing at all? Granted, a search showed that the Empire State did celebrate “The 100th Anniversary of the American Musical” — with yellow lights, by the way. To paraphrase Princess Barbara in The Apple Tree, “Why yellow?” If that color was chosen to honor the stirring march “Yellow Drum” from The Grass Harp, then I’d say “okay,” but I suspect that it wasn’t.

So I’ve got a chip on my shoulder the size of the Empire State, as Elliot Garfield sings in The Goodbye Girl. Which brings up another good point: Look how many times musicals have mentioned the building at 350 Fifth Avenue. Hildy lets Chip know in On the Town that the ESB has eclipsed the Woolworth Tower as the city’s tallest building. In Annie, Daddy Warbucks certainly wouldn’t consider singing about “N.Y.C.” without taking the building into consideration. Shelley believes the Empire State Building is something about which the Bat Boy should learn in “I’ll Show You a Thing or Two.” And of all the places where Kate Monster could meet Princeton on this large island, where does the lady choose? As they say about Ruprecht in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, “You guessed it.”

In return for all these valuable plugs, can’t the ESB shine some silver on its upper levels on Tony night? Frankly, I think that’s the least it can do for an industry that pumps so many dollars into the city. I’ll bet that many people who come to Manhattan to see a Broadway show also visit the Empire State building, and vice versa; they’re not mutually exclusive. So let’s get that silver shining on the upper floors of the building on June 5. Let’s have lights that remind people of The Light in the Piazza or maybe some gold for On Golden Pond, both Tony nominated shows.

And really, why stop there? Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan if the Empire State Building were lit to mark the opening dates of some Broadway shows and other notable dates in theater history? Let’s see red illuminating the building on February 5 (Redhead) and May 11 (Flora, the Red Menace). Let’s get some green on March 8 (Greenwillow), September 28 (Greenwich Village, USA), and December 2 (Adolph Green’s birthday). I want to see pink on March 5 (The Girl in Pink Tights), blue on April 26 (It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues), and gold on February 4 (Golden Rainbow), March 11 (The Golden Apple), October 11 (Goldilocks), and October 20 (Golden Boy). I mean, if they can honor Pow-Wow, How Now, Dow Jones should be honored on December 7. Where the Empire State Building is concerned, will each event here kindly step to the rear and let dear Broadway lead the way?

********************

[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@theatermania.com]