This beautiful musical casts a dim light on the Triangle Shirtwaist disaster of 1911

Just blocks from the site of the former Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where 146 workers burned alive in 1911, a new musical conjures their memory. Presented as part of Theater:Village 2014, Solitary Light is the creation of Axis Company Artistic Director Randy Sharp and former Blondie guitarist Paul Carbonara. An epic lullaby from New York’s industrial past, it will astound you with its uncommon beauty, if it doesn’t lull you to sleep first. The show begins in total darkness, with only a few isolated flashes of light illuminating the cast members as they begin to sing. David Zeffren’s lighting keeps the remainder of the proceedings dim, with faces occasionally emerging from the shadows. When the actors step into the light, Karl Ruckdeschel’s stunningly authentic period costumes come into full view. It’s like discovering lost photographs in a trunk in an antique store. You don’t know the subjects, but there is something incredibly compelling about their expressions. A ghostly echo on the amplified voices reinforces the show’s haunted tone.