Songs from the Broadway musical Titanic and the Off-Broadway dance revue Tap Dogs will be featured July 4 as part of the New York City fireworks display, hosted by Macy's Department Stores.
The pyrotechnics show over the East River will light up the Manhattan sky with 15,000 aerial shells and special effects. The event will be televised nationally on the WB Network. Included in the televised portion of the event will be the two songs, which were taped recently at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
The opening features the six-member cast of the Australian revue, Tap Dogs and its two drummers.
Later in the program will be Jennifer Piech, who plays Kate Number One, and 15 members of Titanic's ensemble, performing "Lady's Maid," a song from the show in which the prospective immigrants sing of their hopes and dreams in coming to America. The number was taped Sunday, June 22, when the cast, dressers, and stage managers were bused downtown and ferried to Ellis Island, where European immigrants to America were processed in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Taping began at 9 PM at the base of the Statue of Liberty with the Manhattan skyline in the background under ideal weather conditions of a clear sky and a full moon making for a spectacular scene, according to Susanne Tighe, a spokesperson for the musical. The Tap Dogs cast taped their segment a week earlier from Erie Basin in Brooklyn aboard one of the fireworks barges which carries a huge Macy's logo.
Macy's 4th of July Fireworks can be seen live from Manhattan's FDR Drive, which will be closed starting at 7:30 PM to traffic from 14th to 42nd Streets. In Brooklyn and Queens, the fireworks display can be seen from any place with a view of the East River from Manhattan's 22nd to 42nd Streets.
To see the two musical numbers from the shows, you must either watch on TV or tape the coverage on the WB Network, nationally syndicated on the Tribune Entertainment Network. In New York, WPIX-TV (Channel 11) will televise the event in its entirety at 9 PM.
Be sure and bring your radio for the special musical broadcast which will accompany the firecast on stereo 105.1 Radio ("The Buzz"). The numbers by the Titanic and Tap Dogs casts can be heard on the simulcast.
For more information on Macy's fireworks, check their website www.macys.com.
-- By Ellis Nassour
