Alex Badanes and Ethan Maccoby are taking their love of Broadway to a whole new level.
The duo have created something uniquely amazing with their new traveling event, Broadway Rave — a touring DJ party that will hit the dance floor at Fillmore Philadelphia this weekend.
Broadway Rave is exactly what it sounds like – a wild dance party based on playing hits from Broadway musicals with its audience of theater lovers dressed up like their favorite characters.
“I am not an actor, a writer or any kind of performer, even though I was in every musical ever staged at the middle school that I attended, as well as high school” says Badanes. “Unfortunately, I was always typecast as ‘the guard’ no matter what the play was, yet remained a huge fan of musical theater. I grew up around theater and always attended plays of all kinds.”
Now the successful, organizational team of Badanes and Maccoby created Burwood Media—named for the Burwood Park suburb of London where they met—and went on to launch branded, themed, touring DJ parties such as Best Night Ever, a modern Latin hip hop/reggaeton-themed Gasolina and Gimme Gimme Disco.
“The Broadway community, however – performers and fans – is an equally dynamic group, just like the emo punk kids, and we knew that we wanted to do a party just for them,” states Badanes. “There’s never been a party for the Broadway loving community before.”
Considering that Broadway and Off-Broadway songs and scores is not something that musical lovers get to opportunity to hear outside the confines of a theater, a dance night built around these tracks is boldly unique.
“It is a pretty unique crowd, one often confined to friend groups and such where everyone has a common bond– their love for these shows and this music and for being theatrical.”
As the affection for Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals cuts deep, the atmosphere that Broadway Rave supplies is dedicated to a theatricality, safe space for outrageous song and dance. To go with playing new and classic hits, Badanes promises that Broadway Rave will feature young musical stage greats such as Matt Bennett singing along to the hits, and is encouraging crowds to dress up like their favorite theater musical characters.
“I like my Hamilton outfit a lot, but you never know,” says Badanes, “I might try on some Cats gear soon.”
Broadway Rave takes place at The Fillmore Philadelphia on Jan. 14, and is a 21+ event. For information and tickets, visit thefillmorephilly.com
