By Jeff Mays
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — It's gonna be a "Hard Knock Life" on 125th Street next week — and not the Jay-Z version.
Broadway is coming uptown to the Apollo Theater as the legendary venue hosts its first-ever Broadway-themed Amateur Night on March 16.
Amateurs looking to win the $10,000 grand prize are going to have to impress the notoriously finicky audience by performing songs taken from Broadway shows.
"A lot of our legends have gone on to do Broadway and this is a way to reaffirm those roots," said Amateur Night producer, Marion
J. Caffey.
Stephanie Mills, Leslie Uggams and Diahann Carroll are just a few of the Apollo legends to have made it downtown to the Broadway stage.
The Apollo is looking for the next person to add to that list.
Co-hosting the show will be Broadway stars, Tsidii Le Loka of The Lion King and Chaz Shepherd of Dreamgirls.
Some of the songs to be sung in the March 16 show have had an airing out on the Apollo stage, such as "And I Am Telling You" from Dreamgirls. Others, such as "The Winner Takes It All" from Mama Mia may not be as familiar.
Amateur Night, first created in 1934, has been changing it up recently with different themed Amateur Nights, including "Brooklyn Night", "Teacher's Night" and a "Gospel Night."
