Flash Mob creates ArtsEmerson awareness

Julie Andrews’s voice blasts out of hidden speakers in the food court of Boston’s City Place, “high on a hill was a lonely goatherd, lay-od-lay-od-lay-he-hoo….” Business people, tourists, and students on their lunch breaks are surprised by the music, and then even more startled as, one at a time, people start to dance…

More than 60 Emerson College students, including incoming performing arts majors who arrived on campus just a week ago, created the flash mob in the busy food court of Boston’s City Place.

The flash mob and subsequent video aims to raise awareness about the fast approaching inaugural season of ArtsEmerson, which opens on September 23 with Fraulein Maria, a comic deconstruction of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music.

“This is like coming home for me. Rob Orchard [Executive Director of ArtsEmerson] and I have a long working history together, and I’m jazzed to be the opening performance at the Paramount Mainstage.”

–Fraulein Maria choreographer Doug Elkins

Set to Gwen Stefani’s 2006 mash-up, “Wind it Up,” which includes sampling from The Sound of Music song “The Lonely Goatherd,” Fraulein Maria choreographer Doug Elkins worked with the Emerson students to create the flash mob.

“This is like coming home for me,” Elkins said. “Rob Orchard [Executive Director of ArtsEmerson] and I have a long working history together, and I’m jazzed to be the opening performance at the Paramount Mainstage.”

Emerson’s Associate Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations Douglas Smith has an office on the second floor of City Place and got a bird’s-eye-view of the performance.

“I loved seeing Emerson students bring theater into a public space,” said Smith. “What a great introduction to Emerson for the Performing Arts students and what a treat for the lunch crowd in the food court. I saw a lot of people just itching to start dancing.”

Established by Emerson College in 2010, ArtsEmerson brings professional performing arts experiences to Boston, making them available to the public and enabling the College’s students and faculty to work side-by-side with distinguished artists from around the world. Theatre spaces programmed by ArtsEmerson include the Paramount Mainstage, Cutler Majestic Theatre, the Paramount Black Box, and Bright Family Screening room.

For tickets to Fraulein Maria or any upcoming ArtsEmerson event, visit www.artsemerson.org.