Joe Ortiz's musical memoir, Escaping Queens, takes place in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge. This funny, edgy, ultimately hopeful story, centers around an Italian/Puerto Rican family trying to escape the chaos and poverty of New York housing-project life. Mama rules the home with a nurturing wooden spoon but cannot control her charismatic, gambling husband. Sooner or later something has to give—and it does. The production’s original music draws on the same richness of traditions that the family itself does: Latin beats, Sicilian ballads, do-wop numbers on the street corner and radio hits reminiscent of 1950s era New York.