Feature: Jay Armstrong Johnson's I PUT A SPELL ON YOU Is More Than A Night Of Halloween Fun

Even as a kid, Jay Armstrong Johnson loved Halloween. Growing up in Texas, he found himself discovering his love for its spookiness and pageantry while also discovering his identity as a young gay man. In 1993 the soon-to-be cult classic Hocus Pocus cast a spell on Johnson and quickly became his favorite movie of all time. When he had the chance to put a spooky twist on his “Live at Feinstein's/54 Below” album release party in 2016, this was the moment. 

What started as a Halloween-themed party seven years ago has erupted into an annual, sold-out philanthropic concert — with a side of witchy-ness, of course. Jay Armstrong Johnson’s I Put a Spell on You is returning to Sony Hall this year on October 23, benefiting the Ali Forney Center, an organization dedicated to protecting LGBTQ+ youth from homelessness. 

The Ali Forney Center’s work is more important than ever — LGBTQ+ youth are more than two times as likely to experience homelessness as heterosexual youth, according to a national survey in “Missed opportunities: LGBTQ youth homelessness in America” from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Now with the migrant crisis in NYC, LGBTQ+ youth are “particularly vulnerable” among the 84 million people “forcibly displaced” worldwide in 2022. 

“The Ali Forney Center's mission is so… in alignment with who I am as a queer artist and just kind of recognizing my own privilege in that sphere,” Johnson said. 

While he didn’t have to go through the trauma of losing family and friends when he came out, Johnson is thinking of those who are not as lucky. “To know that there are organizations like the Ali Forney Center that are there to create community and give  these queer kids a safe space, love, a healthy meal, a pillow to rest their head, is… It's just wildly important to me.”

Theater gave Johnson a community. “Until I found theater, my life was pretty, well, not so good,” he said. “So what theater did for me as a human was give me my best friends in the world. It gave me safe spaces to be myself.”

“I've always known that I wanted to have some sort of social impact with every piece of art that I take on,” Johnson continued. Growing up he relied on scholarships and a community who supported him through his dance, acting and voice lessons. “It's been kind of built into my chemical makeup of this idea of raising money. In order for the student staff at our theater company to get their paychecks, we had to go in and write grant letters asking people to donate money to the organization so our student staff could get paid.”

After being inspired by Broadway Cares’ work, he partnered with them for I Put a Spell on You’s virtual events in 2020 and 2021, and again for the live concert in 2022, where they raised over half a million dollars for the organization. 

“What’s incredible is people in the Broadway community and beyond are always so willing to jump in and help when it comes to events like this,” he said. With over 100 artists working on this year’s concert, the Ali Forney Center is helping Johnson ensure artists receive a small stipend for their time, especially after the pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA strike put many performers and theater production artists out of work. 

“It feels like I’ve given myself a masters degree in nonprofit producing the last few years,” Johnson said, “and I’m just super grateful for all of the artists that have come on board to help me pull this wild vision off.”

This year’s concert is I Put a Spell on You: The Witches Era, which Johnson said is a “love letter” to the women of the world keeping our economy afloat and making the biggest moves in the entertainment world — the Taylor Swifts, Beyonces, Greta Gerwigs. Without giving too many spoilers, he said he’s most excited about the out-of-left-field portion of the show highlighting the reports of extraterrestrial life being found on earth. So, audiences should be ready for a lot of fun surprises. 

The show will be filmed and streamed on Broadway On Demand over Halloween weekend - so even if you’re not in New York City, you can still experience the star-studded event from home. 

Donations to Johnson’s work with the Ali Forney Center can be made HERE. 

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU: THE WITCHES ERA will play Sony Hall on October 23 at 8:00 P.M. Information and tickets are available HERE. 

Visit the Jay Armstrong Johnson website HERE.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

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