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The Paradise Square of the title is a saloon and a brothel. It is owned by a Black woman named Nelly O’Brien and her Irish husband Willie. It is located in the Five Points district of Manhattan, where Black people and immigrant Irish coexist and mingle seamlessly during the Civil War riots.
Spend a few hours in "a little bit of Eden" at Paradise Square, a new original musical on Broadway in the 2022 season. With a cast of 40 to perform rousing ensemble songs and vibrant dance numbers choreographed by dance legend Bill T. Jones, Paradise Square is a return to the mega-musicals of the 1990s and the early 2000s, sharing themes and styles with shows like Ragtime that have come before it.
The visceral intensity of all the performances in this new musical — set in the titular bar in the Five Points neighborhood of Manhattan during the New York draft riots of 1863 — surely is indicative not just of the long, hard slog to beat back COVID-19 and wrestle an original musical to Broadway.
In a new musical starring Joaquina Kalukango, the love between Black and Irish New Yorkers in a Manhattan bar is threatened by Civil War riots.
A new musical finds much to admire in the oldest profession