Downtown Nashville restaurant Sea Salt has joined up with some local partners to create an immersive Broadway experience for some very deserving individuals from Robertson County. We’re not talking about a honky tonking on Lower Broadway kind of experience; this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience live theatre from the stage of a Broadway musical production.
The new national tour of the 2018 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Musical, Once on This Island, kicked off here in Nashville for a short run from October 15-20. Sea Salt, Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC,) AllianceBernstein, Enterprise Solutions, Jani-King, and Premiere Transportation came together to offer survivors from Robertson County YMCA’s After Breast Cancer Program to be immersed in some of the play’s performances throughout the week along with a brunch at Sea Salt on October 19 to celebrate their journey and triumph.
Once on This Island opened in 2018 at The Circle in the Square Theatre, unique as the only Broadway theater built “in the round” in which the audience sits around the stage. To retain that experience for the tour in theaters with a more traditional proscenium set, the touring production’s stage was built with dozens of on-stage seats in and around the set. To fill those seats and to offer a unique experience, the performing troupe reached out to members of the survivors’ group to be the lucky patrons sitting on stage in and among the performers.
The group came together on Saturday for a gala brunch at Sea Salt, and restaurant co-owner Keith Zust was delighted to host them all. “Graduating with a degree in Fine Arts, I have always believed that the arts can bring beauty, truth, and goodness to this world we live in,” said Zust. “Partnering with TPAC gives Sea Salt the ability to celebrate and continue to honor the arts alongside one of the nation’s best arts center. It’s exciting to be part of something like the arts that has stood the test of time and allows people to get lost in the story, music and theatre.”
Kudos to Sea Salt and all their partners for offering this magical experience to a brave group of ladies.
