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\u201cIt\u2019s a miracle on the water,\u201d the actress Candice Bergen said, gazing at a grove of trees on Thursday evening as she took shelter from the sun beneath a canopy.<\/p>\n
It was the opening night of the summer performance season at Little Island<\/a>, the three-year-old floating park built on a reconstructed pier in the Hudson River.<\/p>\n Despite thunderstorms earlier in the afternoon, around 700 actors, designers and media moguls turned up under a smattering of canopies near the island\u2019s amphitheater, among them Andy Cohen, the Bravo host and executive producer; Annie Leibovitz, the photographer; Fran Lebowitz, the writer; Natasha Lyonne, the actress; Bryan Lourd, the chief executive of the talent agency CAA; and Jason Blum, the film producer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As waiters ferried watermelon spears and cartons of boxed water on silver platters, attendees trickled into the glade over twin gangways on the north and south sides of the island.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt reminds me of paradise,\u201d said Mr. Blum, whose film and television production company, Blumhouse, is known for movies like \u201cM3gan\u201d and \u201cGet Out.\u201d He wore a lilac dress shirt and navy trousers \u2014 the dress code, per the invitation, was \u201ccasually fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd was there for the buzzy world premiere of a dance-and-musical hybrid piece, \u201cHow Long Blues,\u201d that was conceived, choreographed and directed by Twyla Tharp<\/a>. It is the first full-length new work in a decade from the choreographer, and performances run through June 23.<\/p>\n Ms. Tharp said that the piece\u2019s expressiveness and abrupt shifts in situation and tone matched the fluid weather conditions at the park\u2019s 687-seat outdoor amphitheater.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou step over a boundary between life and art on that stage,\u201d Ms. Tharp, 82, said of the piece, an epic narrative on the theme of resilience inspired by American jazz and the writing of Albert Camus, with original music and arrangements by T Bone Burnett<\/a> and David Mansfield.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Fortunately, this June night was more balmy than tempestuous. Little Island, the billionaire media mogul Barry Diller\u2019s $260 million, 2.4-acre dream project<\/a> that gestated for seven years, and which was delayed by legal challenges before finally opening in 2021, does not come equipped with a clear rain plan.<\/p>\n It has plenty of other perks, though: shady, 35-foot trees; a secret garden; dozens of overlooks where visitors can watch performances in the amphitheater at no cost (seats are $25), a prime vantage point for a riverside sunset over Hoboken.<\/p>\n