The opening of the Perelman Performing Act Center culminates the reconstruction of Manhattan's ground zero

The opening of the Perelman Performing Act Center (PAC) culminates the rebuilding of Manhattan's ground zero, more than two decades after the Sept. 11 attacks took place. The center, which began construction in 2016 and cost about $500 million, will open its doors on Sept. 13 and will host several cultural performances.

The kick-off will be a paid musical special entitled "Cycle of Concerts to Welcome the World." The first of these specials, scheduled for Sept. 19, will be "NYC Tapestry: Home as Refugee," a concert featuring Laurie Anderson, Raven Chacon, Natalie Diaz and Angélique Kidjo, among other renowned artists.

The PAC, designed by Joshua Ramus, will not only include musical performances. The inaugural season will also include an evening with Brian Stokes Mitchell scheduled for Oct. 5 and a cabaret show that, directed by Anthony Roth Constanzo, will premiere on Dec. 20.

In addition, "Watch Night," a multidisciplinary show combining opera and poetry will be performed from Nov. 3 to 19, while the multimedia concert "Number Our Days," by Luna Pearl Woolf, will be the event hosted by the building from April 12 to 14. It will be followed by Huang Ruo's opera, "An American Soldier," which will land in New York from May 12-19.

'Cats,' the highlight of the opening of the Perelman Performing Act Center

Theater will also have a place in Lower Manhattan. The PAC will open its theatrical season with "Like They Do in The Movies," a show starring Laurence Fishburne that will run from March 10-31. It will be followed by the season's big bet, a new version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Cats," which will premiere in June 2024. The artist, who finished a few weeks ago with the performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" returns to the city after 14 months away from the stage.

This cultural event will be instrumental in inviting New Yorkers and the rest of the citizenry to visit the center. "We much want to give many different audiences many different reasons to come into our building," the center's artistic director, Bill Rauch, told The New York Times.

The Tribeca Film Festival will also have its own space at PAC although, Rauch reports, in his case it will be a "collaboration": "It’s a natural allyship for us, given our location — it made great sense. We’re very excited to have them in the building."