The Festival is a new three-day event designed to bring the immersive, communal feel of major music festivals to Broadway fans. Its founders, Joshua Saltman and David Schwartz, believe there is an audience for a smaller-scale “Coachella for Broadway”, combining concerts and theatre-star appearances in a destination setting.

The inaugural Festival will take place from 14 to 16 August at Hutton Brickyards in Kingston, New York, roughly two hours from Broadway. The venue was selected for its riverside setting, capacity for 3,000 people and weather protection, while the programme includes headliners such as Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Alex Newell, Christopher Jackson, Eva Noblezada, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp. Saltman’s idea developed after attending Coachella and The Broadway Cruise, which showed him that a dedicated theatre community could support a more intimate event.