Amityville native turned Broadway star performs at Tilles Center to highlight the impact of representation on stage
Dennis Stowe joined four other Broadway stars Thursday night at the Tilles Center for a performance celebrating diversity on stage for Black History Month.
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An Amityville native, who plays an iconic Disney villain on Broadway, returned to Long Island for a special performance highlighting the importance of representation on stage.
Dennis Stowe joined four other Broadway stars Thursday night at the Tilles Center for a performance celebrating diversity on stage for Black History Month.
"I'm getting people from my family like, 'What are you doing? You're at the Tilles Center?! What's happening,” said Stowe.
But eight times a week, Stowe tries to take over the Kingdom of Agrabah as Jafar in the Broadway musical "Aladdin.
"As soon as they draw those eyebrows on, and I look in the mirror, I'm like, 'OK I'm ready,'" said Stowe.
Tilles Center executive and artistic director Tom Dunn said this show is part of the center’s yearlong efforts to have diverse performers on stage.
The cast of Thursday night’s show sang inspiring numbers from some classic Broadway shows.
"We'll see numbers tonight from the "Lion King," from "Les Misérables," from "Ain't Misbehavin’," said Dunn. "Representation matters. We need to see ourselves on stage. We need to see ourselves in film, in books."
Stowe, who has been in at least nine different shows on the Great White Way, says his role as an African American man on stage is one of the most important roles he embraces.
"I have been the only person of color in many shows on Broadway," he said.
The show Thursday night highlighted the impact representation can have on someone in the crowd, including LIU Post musical theater major Olivier Lubin.
"I can see myself in that role or in that position in a number of years,” he said. “It really makes the idea of the Broadway dream accessible and much more real."
Stowe says that’s the goal.
"It's giving them permission to dream about something,” he said. "And hopefully inspire anybody who is maybe looking to do this or just to be inspired in general."
