The Festival Brings Theater Fans and Stage Stars Together as the 3-Day ‘Coachella for Broadway’ Gathering Comes to Life

Around 2,000 people gathered in the Hudson Valley for the first-of-its-kind celebration, where powerhouse performances, intimate campfire gatherings and even musical dance parties unfolded along the Hudson River

NEED TO KNOW

• The Festival kicked off in Kingston, N.Y. on Friday, Aug. 14, the inaugural three-day Broadway festival drawing around 2,000 fans from 48 states for performances and activities
• Attendees praised the event’s smooth logistics, scenic Hudson River setting, and diverse lineup of Broadway stars and shows
• Performers like Alex Newell and Christopher Jackson delivered standout moments, with more stars set to perform all weekend

Bringing Broadway to the great outdoors was an ambitious idea. Turns out, it was also a pretty good one.

The Festival — the new three-day event billed as the first-of-its-kind gathering built entirely around musical theater — kicked off Friday, Aug. 14 at Hutton Brickyards Riverfront Hotel + Venue in Kingston, N.Y., bringing some 2,000 fans from across 48 states together for a day packed with concerts, comedy, sing-alongs, dance parties and more. And for an inaugural event attempting something that has never quite been done before, the biggest surprise may have been just how smoothly it all went.

Set along the Hudson River, the sprawling Hutton Brickyards proved an idyllic home for the festival, with plenty of room for attendees to spread out across the location’s three stages. Sweeping river views and mountain landscapes provided a beautiful backdrop to the performances, while an array of local food vendors and artisans gave fans plenty to explore between sets.

Even the less glamorous parts of festival-going — logistical obstacles like lodging, transportation, parking, and yes, bathrooms — appeared to go off without a hitch. Despite the crowd, lines remained manageable, facilities were plentiful and clean, and there was an abundance of water and shaded areas to offer an escape from the summer sun.

That was no small feat for founders Joshua Saltman and David Schwartz, who told PEOPLE ahead of the weekend that they had spent as much time thinking about the logistics of the experience as what would happen onstage.

“The reality is we’re not just putting on concerts; we’re building a temporary city for a weekend,” Saltman said. “Every part of the guest journey matters. You can put on the greatest artistic event in the world, but if someone waits 30 minutes for a bathroom, that’s what they’re going to remember.”

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On Friday, at least, they passed their own test.

“It was excellent,” attendee Karen Behar tells PEOPLE when looking back on the event on Saturday. “I was surprised, really, because the first time, there’s usually some error or mistake somewhere. But everything seemed to go off without a hitch. I mean, it all went very, very smoothly.”

She went on to praise the setting as well as the other guests, who like her, had gone into the weekend not knowing what to expect.

“I’d never been to [to Hutton Brickyards] before, but it really is beautiful,” the native New Yorker says. “Everything was easy to navigate, and you never felt like there wasn’t something to do. And everyone has been so friendly too. Broadway really brings together nice good people.”

The day began with a dance party hosted by Broadway Rave on the New 42 Stage, which quickly established itself as home to some of Friday’s most eclectic programming.

SiriusXM On Broadway host Seth Rudetsky followed, guiding performers including Noah Weisberg, Amber Ardolino and Mitch Wood through “Broadway Inspirations,” a celebration of the songs that either first sparked their theatrical ambitions, embody the dream roles they’re still chasing or are simply the classics they never tire of singing.

Later, comedian and podcast host Gianmarco Soresi brought a version of his hilarious Theater Adult to the stage, mixing audience Q&As and games with the kind of impromptu performances only a crowd full of Broadway obsessives could inspire.

Across the grounds, the Campfire Stage offered a decidedly more intimate vibe. Fans sprawled on blankets across the lawn for stripped-down sets from performers including Matt Rodin and Boop! The Musical breakout Jasmine Amy Rogers, with the surrounding landscape making the performances feel worlds away from a traditional Broadway theater.

In the center of it all was the Broadway Direct Stage, an open-air yet covered space with ample seating that is serving as the destination for The Festival’s marquee performances.

Big Brother breakout and Newsies alum Tommy Bracco helped kick things off by hosting a show centered around theater stars tackling favorites from the Disney songbook (starting with Bracco’s heartfelt take on “Out There” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Highlights also included Solea Pfeiffer‘s soaring voice on “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas and “Reflection” from Mulan — two performances strong enough to leave fans wondering why neither film has made it to Broadway yet.

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Married couple Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada were up next. The couple, whose relationship blossomed after they originated the roles of Orpheus and Eurydice together in Hadestown and who have since shared the stage in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and The Great Gatsby, brought their electric talent to a more intimate musical set.

“They were beyond, beyond good,” said Gail Zibot, a New York native who is now living in New Jersey. “They had such great chemistry. And of course, they’re married, but that doesn’t mean there actually is chemistry there! But I absolutely loved them.”

Friday’s programming culminated with The Big Show, a full-scale evening concert that gathered the festival crowd in front of the Broadway Direct Stage and gave some of Broadway’s boldest voices a chance to bring down the house with the songs most closely associated with their careers.

Cara Rose DiPietro, Tess Soltau and original Rent star Adam Pascal opened the show with an energetic, self-referential number about the weekend set to Stephen Sondheim’s “A Weekend in the Country,” backed by more than a dozen Broadway dancers.

Among the solo numbers that followed came two of the weekend’s many reunions.

More than 20 years after starring together in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning In the Heights, Christopher Jackson and Mandy Gonzalez revisited Benny and Nina with “When You’re Home.”

Jackson later offered a preview of his upcoming return to Hamilton, where he will once again play George Washington, the role he originated on Broadway. He was joined by Javier Muñoz, Miranda’s longtime alternate who eventually succeeded him in the title role, for the show’s emotional “One Last Time.”

Gonzalez, who popped up on other stages throughout Friday, saved one of her best numbers for the evening. She belted “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” the Sunset Boulevard showstopper she performed weekly as Nicole Scherzinger‘s alternate in director Jamie Lloyd’s Tony-winning revival, and tore through a medley of Gloria Estefan hits from On Your Feet! with the ensemble of dancers keeping the energy high.

But when it came to sheer vocal fireworks, Alex Newell was hard to top.

The Tony winner delivered four powerhouse performances over the course of the show: “Mama Will Provide” from Once on This Island, “When You’re Good to Mama” from Chicago, “One Night Only” from Dreamgirls and “Independently Owned,” the Shucked showstopper that helped make Newell a Tony-winning star.

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After a New York-inspired finale brought The Big Show to a close, the festival kept going. Attendees could head back to the Campfire Stage for more intimate performances, catch a reunion of the beloved Broadway improv show Don’t Quit Your Night Job or dance late into the evening at another Broadway Rave.

“There really was so much to see and do,” Ella Reid tells PEOPLE. “We came all the way up here from Florida because we only can only get to Broadway every few years, and this offered us the chance to see such a diverse mix of talent all in one place.”

That choose-your-own-adventure quality was precisely what Saltman and Schwartz had hoped to create.

“We’re trying to create an experience of discovery,” Schwartz told PEOPLE before the festival. “You’ll get all of the Broadway songs you expect to hear, but then you’ll stumble across completely unexpected moments — artists singing songs you’ve never heard them perform, surprise duets or collaborations.”

And there is still plenty left to discover.

The Festival continues Saturday and Sunday with performances from Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Adrienne Warren, Norbert Leo Butz, Lena Hall and dozens more.

One of the weekend’s most anticipated events will arrive Saturday, when nearly the entire original Broadway company of Rent reunites to celebrate the groundbreaking musical’s 30th anniversary. Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Taye Diggs, Fredi Walker-Browne, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and more original cast members are expected to take part.

For Saltman and Schwartz, the hope has always been that this weekend would be the beginning of something bigger.

“We’re building this with the Broadway community, not just for them,” Saltman previously told PEOPLE. “If this becomes an annual tradition, it’s going to be because the fans helped shape it.”

After day one and the response so far, it’s not difficult to imagine that happening. And the enthusiasm was shared by the performers, many of whom told PEOPLE they jumped at the chance to be part of an event that brought the theater community together in an entirely new way.

“I grew up on musicals with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney where it would be like, ‘We have this barn, let’s put on this show!’ ” Gonzalez tells PEOPLE. “And that’s really what it felt like when they approached me about it. It was childhood coming full force at me.”

Gonzalez’s excitement has only grown since arriving in Kingston. “This is why I do this. I love theater. It is my passion,” she says. “Being around theater people, it just feeds my soul. And it doesn’t matter if you’re on stage; it takes all of us for this to happen. And so I think that’s what drew me to this and what made me so thankful I said yes.”

Jackson was similarly drawn to the chance to gather with colleagues and fans somewhere decidedly different from their usual surroundings. “I love this community — both the people I work with and the fans,” he tells PEOPLE. “Usually when we’re all together, it’s in these dark buildings, so it’s great to be out here with these gorgeous views and to be able to collect in a place where everyone can really convene.”

For Butz, who performs later in the weekend, the lineup itself was enough to get him to say yes. He points to his long history with many of those involved, including director D.B. Bonds, who understudied him in The Last Five Years Off-Broadway, music director Dan Lipton, whom he met on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Pascal, whom Butz understudied in Rent.

“I thought, ‘This will seem like a really cool college reunion slash celebration of this form that we all love,’ ” Butz tells PEOPLE.

But the two-time Tony winner also sees The Festival as part of something larger. “Musical theater has to keep finding ways to stay relevant,” he says. “Every 10 or 15 years, the wheel turns again. So I couldn’t wait to be a part of that.”

If the response to The Festival’s first day is any indication, that wheel may already be turning.

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