“It’s a miracle in the water,” said actress Candice Bergen, looking out over a grove of trees Thursday afternoon while sheltering from the sun under a canopy.
It was the opening night of the summer show season at Little Island, the three-year-old floating park built on a rebuilt pier on the Hudson River.
Despite afternoon storms, about 700 actors, designers and media moguls appeared under a handful of marquees near the island’s amphitheater, including Andy Cohen, the Bravo host and executive producer; Annie Leibovitz, the photographer; Fran Lebowitz, the writer; Natasha Lyonne, the actress; Bryan Lourd, CEO of talent agency CAA; and Jason Blum, the film producer.
As waiters carried spears of watermelon and cartons of water on silver trays, attendees arrived at the clearing via twin walkways on the north and south sides of the island.
“It reminds me of paradise,” said Blum, whose film and television production company, Blumhouse, is known for films such as “M3gan” and “Get Out.” He was wearing a lilac dress shirt and navy blue pants; the dress code, according to the invitation, was “casually fabulous.”
The crowd was on hand for the lively world premiere of a hybrid dance and music piece, “How Long Blues,” which was conceived, choreographed and directed by Twyla Tharp. It is the choreographer’s first new full-length work in a decade and performances will run through June 23.
Ms. Tharp said the piece’s expressiveness and abrupt changes in setting and tone matched the changing weather conditions in the park’s 687-seat outdoor amphitheater.
“In that setting a boundary is crossed between life and art,” Tharp, 82, said of the piece, an epic narrative on the theme of resilience inspired by American jazz and the writing of Albert Camus, set to music and original arrangements. by T Bone Burnett and David Mansfield.
Fortunately, that June night was more warm than stormy. Little Island, billionaire media mogul Barry Diller’s 2.4-acre, $260 million dream project that was seven years in the making and delayed by legal challenges before finally opening in 2021, does not come equipped with a plan of course rain.
However, it has many other advantages: 35-foot shade trees; a secret garden; dozens of viewing platforms where visitors can watch performances in the amphitheater at no charge (seats are $25), a prime spot to enjoy a riverside sunset over Hoboken.
Diller, who along with his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, largely financed the park’s construction, has committed to spending more than $100 million over the next two decades on programming. The venue has more than 100 dance, music, theater and opera performances scheduled for the next four months, many of them world premieres.
Thursday night, however, was all about diving into the New York-only lineup. As the sun slowly sank behind the gentle waves, a group of 26 dancers, singers and musicians that included Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris, along with Tharp regulars like John Selya and Reed Tankersley, held a lazy pantomime in the middle. of energetic dancers.
Ms. Lebowitz, dressed in her standard jacket and jeans, grabbed a black umbrella and bopped her head to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” during the performance. Cohen, who was seated next to Jane S. Buffett, Jimmy Buffett’s widow, tapped his foot.
About 30 minutes into the performance, the wind picked up and raindrops caused people to reach for their jackets. Mr. Cohen looked warily at the sky, but the rain never rose more than a drizzle.
After the hour-long display, attendees attended an after-party on the lawn while ushers handed out blue ponchos. They gathered under canopies illuminated by red, blue and yellow lights, although the rain soon subsided and the weather returned to a gentle breeze.
People sat on blankets on the grass, among lanterns, drinking wine and eating bananas and almonds. Mrs. Lebowitz hugged Mr. Diller and Mrs. von Furstenberg.
“Thank you, Barry, for a wonderful evening,” she said.
Mr. Diller congratulated Ms. Tharp.
“It was a little scary with the speed of the wind and the density of the rain,” he said, “but we made it.”
Cohen spoke with von Furstenberg’s son, Prince Alexander von Furstenberg, who had flown in from Los Angeles for the occasion, as well as the premiere of the new documentary about his mother, “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge.” at the Tribeca Film Festival the night before.
“You have to respect it,” von Furstenberg said of the ambition to build Little Island. “They had a dream and they made it come true. And it’s not cheap.”