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David Driver’s “There’s a Riot Going On!” trailer

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What people are saying! 

“David Driver is a genius of song interpretation with his rich crooning and emotional voice. His collaborations over the years with dozens of notables in the NYC music scene and adventurous multi-instrumentalists have set him up to triumph with THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON! David has gathered around him a huge warm group of downtown musical stars, including ones who were there at Stonewall, to tell the incredible story of that moment through song. I cannot wait to see this fully fleshed out version!”

-Kim Whitener, Creative Producer and Founder, KiWi Productions

“David Driver is one of New York’s secret treasures, whose powerful and sensitive interpretations of music from musical theater (Rent, People Are Wrong, The Good Swimmer) and rock/pop (The Music of Scott Walker, Philips & Driver, The Losers Lounge) have made his name a mark of quality wherever it appears. There’s a Riot Going On excavates pop music and LGBTQ+ history with an understanding that bars can be community centers, jukeboxes can be libraries, and a well-curated playlist can help shape societal transformation.”

-Bill Bragin, Executive Artistic Director, NYUAD Arts Center

“Beautifully staged (…), this piece tells the story of the Stonewall riots through the loving performance of the music that was on the jukebox the night the fateful event began”

– Greg Triggs, Narrowsburg News (2024)
full article (PDF)

[There’s a Riot Going On!] tells the unknown, unexpected, and uplifting story of how The Stonewall Uprising came to be, and how it impacted contemporary LGBTQ+ culture.

– Tim Bruno, Radio Catskill
full article

An ecstatic musical performance shot through with true-life narrations, historical films, and images of the time, THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON!: The Real Music & True Story Of Stonewall tells the story of why and how the Stonewall uprising brought about seismic change in our national and global culture. With every day we see more evidence of our current political regime’s intention to erase and demoralize queer culture and its LGBTQ+ citizens. Like the events it honors, THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON!, is a clear and powerful rebuke to this.

Built around the fantastic late-60s songs that were actually on the bar’s jukebox at Stonewall in June of 1969, the show shines a light on the lives of the real people who changed the world for the better. It was their determination, passion, and action, along with a surprising set of fortuitous events, that created the potent recipe for queer empowerment that we’ve come to know as “Stonewall.”

THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON! includes songs originated by Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, Judy Garland, The Flirtations, Petula Clark, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Lesley Gore, Harry Nilsson, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, and The Beatles, among others. Performers have included Michael Musto, Stew, Everett Bradley, Machine Dazzle, David Driver, Maggie Moore, Nicki Richards, Tigger!, and Lenny Zenith.

DAVID DRIVER has long been a fixture on the downtown NYC music scene, as both a performer and producer. He’s created interdisciplinary music/theater work for Symphony Space NYC, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, North American Cultural Laboratory, and Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, as well as short-form music/video content for clients such as SundanceTV, Animal Planet, Tribeca Film Institute, Discovery Communications, and Planet Green. Along with his colleague Dana Lyn, he created the short film “A Room Without A Floor,” based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel The Unconsoled, which debuted on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Live from the Balcony” online series.

Driver has worked with Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Debbie Harry, Stew and Heidi, Betty, They Might Be Giants, Richard Butler, and Roy Nathanson & The Jazz Passengers, among others. He was in the original Broadway cast of the musical “RENT,” and originated the role of Xanthus in the Off-Broadway cult rock opera “People Are Wrong!.” In 2018, Driver starred in the world premiere of Heidi Rodewald’s and Donna DiNovelli’s “The Good Swimmer” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival.

In 2012, under the aegis of the U.S. State Department, Driver toured Iraq, Turkey, and Jordan, performing for both civilians and troops and conducting immersive workshops on American musical idioms. His recorded work includes Driver Quartet’s “Night Time,” Phillips & Driver’s “Togetherness,” Meow’s “Goalie For The Other Team,” Roy Nathanson’s “Fire at Keaton’s Bar & Grill,” and They Might Be Giants’ “Three Might Be Duende” with Michael Cerveris.

David Driver, creator & director
Ain Gordon, dramaturg
Mikey Sylvester, movement
Conor Mulligan, lighting design
Garvis, video design

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