SONG OF PRAISE
Museum tribute to FDNY virus heroes
As he recovered from coronavirus in April, Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell serenaded health care workers from the window of his Manhattan apartment, thanking the city’s newest heroes for their devotion to New York.
The Tony award-winning singer and actor gave a repeat performance Thursday, this time from the window of the New York City Fire Museum in lower Manhattan, which unveiled plans for a new exhibit to honor doctors, nurses and hospital staff on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.
Mitchell performed “The Impossible Dream” from the show “Man of La Mancha,” for which he received a Tony nomination.
“Oftentimes when I was singing out the window there would be a fire truck parked out there or EMS workers that were parked there and they would be out and they would look up and I would literally sing right to them,” Stokes said after the ceremony unveiling the “Unmasking Our Heroes” exhibit.
“The hard thing about this disease is nobody knows anything about it. We have more questions than we have answers, and when we get answers, we end up having more questions about those answers.”
Museum officials said the exhibit is the first of its kind in the nation, and will be a tribute to the courageous front line workers whose heroic efforts saved countless lives at the height of the pandemic across the five boroughs.
The museum will soon share details about how the public can incorporate their personal messages or poignant artifacts into the exhibit.
“We’re all experiencing history in the making with the COVID pandemic,” said Gary Urbanowicz, the museum’s executive director. “It’s our mission and responsibility to start documenting the role of the FDNY and its first responders in such a historic event.”
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said firefighters and EMS workers are still in the battle, even as New York City flattens the curve.
“If it comes back like it did this spring, the department will be ready,” Nigro said.