From The Fire @ Zoo Roxy

1911. In the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 146 immigrant girls die trying to escape a fire while others jump out the windows, some hand-in-hand, to their death.

From The Fire emerge many social reforms, worker-safety regulations, even galvanisation of the movement for women's suffrage and the New Deal. This innovative musical takes a look at the lives of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Girls and the kind of lives factory workers lead.

In this oratorio, award-winning composer Elizabeth Swados’ eerie music sets the backdrop for this inherently political tale of working-class rat-racery involving a little romance, antagonism, friendship and rivalry. There is also the use of some interesting audio-visual projections and the overall impression is rather haunting.

The words to songs sometimes verge too much on straight-forward narration forcibly crushed into musical form, but NY-based Triangle Productions have done well to deliver such an original and preternatural piece of theatre to our door, bringing some excellent voices and dance moves with them.