GRACE NOTES: Friday, February 19, 2021

 

This weekend’s Highlights:

Friday, February 19

  For Which It Stands benefit reading, by Lee Edward Colston II, directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones, featuring Ashley Ayanna, Mikayla Bartholomew, Stephanie Berry, Christopher Cassarino, Katherine George, Bria Samoné Henderson, Deanna Reed-Foster, Carolyn M. Smith, and Andrea Syglowski, begins FREE streaming at NY Theatre Workshop.

  Broadway Classics: Episode 5 benefit concert, paying homage to a bygone era of storytelling while demonstrating their relevance today, featuring Marisha Wallace, Bonnie Langford, Mazz Murray, Gary Wilmot, and Michael D. Xavier, streams here.

  Fortunate Sons staged concert reading, by Paul Williams, Eric R. Cohen & Marc Madnick, directed by Michael Unger, featuring Stephanie Staszak, Joey Chelius, Chad Larget, Joseph Nolan, Jamie Lynn Mercado, Frankie Zabilka, George Lorimer, Denzel Taylor, and Amanda Satchell, streams for FREE at 8 PM ET at Milwaukee’s Skylight Music Theatre (also tomorrow night).

  An Evening Conversation with Blair Underwood livestreams for FREE at 6 PM PT here.

Saturday, February 20

  Love Noël: The Songs and Letters of Noël Coward, FREE benefit concert, written & devised by Barry Day, directed by Charlotte Moore, featuring Steve Ross and KT Sullivan, streams here.

Sunday, February 21

  Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet begins streaming at LA’s Center Theatre Group. $10 tix here.

  Songs for a New World, by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Séimí Campbell, featuring Ramin Karimloo (Man 2), Rachel Tucker (Woman 2), Rachel John (Woman 1), and Cedric Neal (Man 1), begins streaming on-demand here.

 TRUSpeak… Hear Our Voices! fundraiser, featuring Brenda Braxton, Robert Cuccioli, Ann Harada, Cady Huffman, Jana Robbins, Lauren Molina, Crystal Kellogg, Regina Taylor, Jim Brochu, Maggie Baird, Dickie Hearts, Jill Paice, Tonya Pinkins, Dominique Sharpton, and Nick Cearley, with Tatiana Wechsler, Brendan Bradley, Andrea Lynn Green, Robert Baptiste, Gha’il Rhodes Benjamin, Adante Carter, Shariff Sinclaie, Tyrone Hall, Crystal Tigney, Jianzi Colon-Soto, Will Mader, and Taiya, streams at 8 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Theater Resources Unlimited.

  “Allen v. Farrow” docuseries released on HBO Max.

  “Broadway Profiles with Tamsen Fadal,” with special guests Peter Gallagher, Lena Hall, Shereen Pimentel, Cheyenne Jackson, and Nick Robinson, streams at 6 PM ET on NYC’s WPIX-TV.

  All On Her Own, by Terence Rattigan, directed by Alastair Knights, starring Janie Dee, concludes streaming here.

  Romeo and Juliet, directed & choreographed by Matthew Bourne, concludes streaming at LA’s Center Theatre Group. $10 tix here.

  The Manic Monologues, conceived & directed by Elena Araoz, featuring Ato Blankson-Wood, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Maddie Corman, Tessa Albertson, Anna Belknap, Mike Carlsen, Alexis Cruz, Mateo Ferro, Sam Morales, Bi Jean Ngo, Armando Riesco, Jon Norman Schneider, Heather Alicia Simms, C.J. Wilson, and Craig Bierko, concludes FREE streaming at NJ’s McCArter Theater Center.

  Dixie’s Happy Hour, starring Dixie Longate, concludes streaming at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center.

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  Video: Stars in the House presents a documentary, “Changing Minds from Bullets to Books,” with Andy Truschinski, Gail Prensky, Augie Haas, Jessie Mueller, Sean MacLaughlin, and Barbara Baekgaard.   (1:08:28)

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“Reimagining Tomorrow” will stream Mon. Feb. 22 at 6 PM CT at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.

Liesl Tommy and Willa J. Taylor.

A conversation with the artists, artisans, and educators who will move the American theater forward, inspired by lessons learned in 2020.

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  Video: “Who I Am, a celebration of African American Heritage,” featuring 7 actors who share their truth about the significance of Black History Month – Karen Bankhead, James A. Goins, Angel Guice, Andrew Lloyd Preston, Shalonda Reese, Levy Lee Simon, and Kevin Tomlinson.   (30:52)

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  The Last 5 Years, originally scheduled for Feb. 11-25, will now stream Mar. 15-28 here, directed & music directed by Jason Michael Webb.

Nasia Thomas and Nicholas Edwards.

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The winners of the 2021 Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre have been announced. The awards, hosted by Richard Maltby Jr. and Maury Yeston, will be presented in a virtual ceremony on Tues. Mar. 16 at 10 AM ET.

  Benjamin Scheuer – Most promising musical theatre lyrycist

  Melissa Li and Kit Yan – Most promising musical theatre co-librettists

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MCC Theater (Bob LuPone, Bernie Telsey, Will Cantler, Co-Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) announced today that after the overwhelming success of their first ever digital Miscast last year, they will again present their annual gala celebration online. Miscast21 will premiere on Sunday, May 16, 2021 on MCC’s YouTube Channel.          https://mcctheater.org/tix/miscast21/

The free broadcast will be captioned, and will feature brand new performances, special guests, and more. Additional details including timing, performers, and presenters will be announced at a later date.

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Andre De Shields‘ solo show, Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, will livestream Fri. Feb. 26 at 7 PM ET at Flushing Town Hall.

A conversation that Douglass has with his audience, at the core of which is the ever-evolving response to Europe’s othering of all cultures in the African Diaspora.

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  Netflix has announced a new musical feature, “SULWE,” based on Lupita Nyong’o’s #1 New York Times bestselling book of the same title. A release date is TBA.

Sulwe has the skin color of midnight. She is darker than everyone she knows. All she wants is to be beautiful and bright. One night, Sulwe is visited by a shooting star sent by the Night, and embarks on a magical journey where she learns the eye-opening story of the sisters of Night and Day. This is a story about colorism, self-esteem, and learning that true beauty comes from within.

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  Video: Musical Theatre West presents The Great American Songbook: Valentine’s Day Edition, which continues through Feb. 28.  (1:02:58)

  Brittany Anderson, Devin Archer, Leo Ayala, Sandy Bainum, Chassey Bennnett, Richard Bermudez, Dedrick Bonner, Beau Brians, Audrey Cardwell, Mel Collins, Chelle Denton, Kelley Dorney, David Engel, Grason, Kingsberry, Elizabeth Ward Land, Jalon Matthews, Taylor Mettra, Mary Gordon Murray, Cathy Newman, Jeffrey Scott Parsons, Valerie Perri, Eric Peterson, Daebreon Poiema, Larry Raben, Caleb Shaw, Jaclyn Kelly Shaw, Alyssa Simmons, Nikki Elean Spies, and Natale Storrs.

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The Black Public Relations Society and the Black Theatre Network has created “Black Inspiration,” a virtual audience development initiative for the Broadway-bound production of Keenan Scott II’s Thoughts of a Colored Man, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. here.

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& Harvey Granat presents Frank Loesser, will stream Thurs. Mar. 4 at 12 PM ET at NYC’s 92Y.

Susan Loesser and Marissa Mulder.

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  Kansas City Actors Theatre presents a reading of Moliere’s The Pests. newly translated & adapted by Dr. Felicia Londré, on Sun. Mar. 7 at 5 PM CT, directed by John Rensenhouse.

Matt Schwader, Sam Cordes, Bri Woods, Vi Tran, Matt Williamson, RH Wilhoit, Meredith Wolfe, Ashley Pankow, Coleman Cranshaw, Robert Gibby Brand, Josh Gleeson, Chris Roady, Walter Coppage, Greg Butell, and Trevor French.

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Article: Judd Apatow and Jason Bateman discuss the art of directing (scroll down).

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Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater will present Miscast21 on May 16. Proceeds will support its Youth Company and in-school partnerships that serve New York City public high school students as well as MCC’s literary development work with emerging playwrights.

Performers and additional information TBA.

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Iin honor of Liza Minnelli’s 75th birthday, Love Letter to Liza: a 75th Birthday Tribute Celebration will stream Fri. Mar. 12 at 7 PM ET here.

Joel Grey, Lily Tomlin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chita Rivera, Joan Collins, Harry Connick Jr., Ben Vereen and the dancers from the Verdon-Fosse Legacy, Ute Lemper, Billy Stritch, Charles Busch, Kathie Lee Gifford, Lea Delaria, Jim Caruso, Jonathan Groff, Sandra Bernhard, Andrew Rannells, Nathan Lane, Mario Cantone, Tony Hale, Coco Peru, John Cameron Mitchell, Michele Lee, Andrea Martin, Seth Sikes, Meil Meron, and more.    

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&   A virtual screening of “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” will stream Thurs. Feb. 25 at 8 PM ET here, followed by a Q&A with star Andra Day and director Lee Daniels.   The screening is for industry professionals only.

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  Mark Schoenfeld & Barri McPherson’s Brooklyn – The Musical will stream Mar. 22 – Apr. 4 here, directed by by Dean Johnson, with music direction by Leo Munby.

Emma Kingston (Brooklyn), Marisha Wallace (Paradice), Newton Matthews (Street Singer), Sejal Keshwala (Faith), and Jamie Muscato (Taylor).

The musical follows five street performers as they present a play-within-a-play about a young Parisian singer named Brooklyn who comes to the United States to find the father she never knew – and becomes a musical superstar along the way.

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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater presents a FREE benefit conversation focused on Antony and Cleopatra, with an examination of the quarrel from the 3rd scene of the first act (“I am sick and sullen”), on Mon. Mar. 30 at 7:30 PM, hosted by Nathan Winkelstein.

Robert Cuccioli and Laila Robins, who will read the scene and discuss their approach to character development and romance on stage. They will also take questions on YouTube.

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A virtual production of  Michel Legrand, Jeremy Sams & Didier van Cauwelaert’s Amour (Broadway 2002) will stream Apr. 2-4 here, directed by Meg Fofonoff, with music direction by Sean Mayes.

Derrick Baskin (The Painter), Drew Gehling (Dusoleil), Kara Lindsay  Madeleine), Kevin Massey (Bertrand), Adam Pascal (Prosecutor/Charles), Christiani Pitts (Isabelle), Jennifer Sánchez (Claire), Thom Sesma (Boss/Policeman), Vishal Vaidya (Doctor Roquefort/Monsieur Le President/Policeman), and Rachel York (The Whore).

The musical is set in picturesque Montmartre, in the city of Paris. Dusoleil is a nerdy civil servant but also a dreamer who discovers that he can walk through walls, which allows him to give bread and jewels to the deserving bourgeoisie. As he gains confidence to win over the beautiful Isabelle from her unhappy marriage, Dusoleil’s magical approach to life makes the world better for his co-workers and othe Parisian locals.

 

 


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