This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, July 31
* Musical Theatre West‘s Keep the Lights On benefit concert, featuring Brittany Anderson, Dedrick Bonner, Terron Brooks, David Burnham, Mel Collins, David Engel, Eden Espinosa, Richard Gatta, Sam Harris, Rebecca Johnson, Jeffrey Landman, Anna Mintzer, Ryan O’Connell, Larry Raben, and Krystle Simmons. streamed at 7 PM PT.
* The Kindess of Strangers FREE event, honoring Tennessee Williams, hosted by Bryan Batt, featuring Betty Buckley, Michael Cerveris, Patricia Clarkson, Wendell Pierce, Kathleen Turner, Brenda Currin, Alison Fraser, John Goodman, Rodney Hicks, Corey Johnson, Ti Martin, and Harry Shearer, streams at 8 PM ET/ 7 PM CT here.
* Dorset Theatre Festival‘s Grace, an evening of short pieces and works-in-process written in response to the word “grace,” by Heidi Armbruster, Mary Bacon, Carolyn Baeumler, Purva Bedi, Maggie Diaz Bofill, Donna Eis, Laura Gómez, Elizabeth M. Kelly, Katie Kreisler, Sharahn LaRue, Mariana Newhard, and Nandita Shenoy, streams at 7 PM ET.
Saturday, August 1
* Broadway Bares Zoom benefit, in support of BC/EFA, featuring Nick Adams, Charles Busch, Lea DeLaria, J. Harrison Ghee, Nathan Lee Graham, Debbie Shapiro Gravitte, Jane Krakowski, Nathan Lane, Beth Leavel, Judith Light, Andrew Lippa, Lesli Margherita, Angie Schworer, Marc Shaiman, Miriam Shor, Christopher Sieber, and Wesley Taylor, streams at 9:30 PM ET here.
* Stick Fly FREE reading, by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Dell Howlett, featuring Jelani Alladin (Kent), Daniel J. Watts (Flip), Rachelle Stewart (Taylor), Caroline Innerbichler (Kimber), Keith Randolph Smith (Dr. LeVay), and Renika Williams (Cheryl), streamed at 2 PM ET here (and available for 24 hours).
* Three Kings, virtual world premiere by Stephen Beresford, directed by Matthew Warchus, featuring Andrew Scott, concludes streaming at London’s Old Vic.
Sunday, August 2
None.
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Video: “Stars in the House,” a “One Day At A Time” original cast reunion, with Norman Lear, Patricia Fass Palmer (producer), Valerie Bertinelli, Mackenzie Phillips, Michael Lembeck, and Glenn Scarpelli. (1:23:29)
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San Francisco’s A,C.T. has announced its 2020-22 season:
* In Love and Warcraft (Sept. 4-12, 2020), by Madhuri Shkar, a digital presentation
* A Christmas Carol: On Air (Dec. 4-31, 2020), a digital presentation
* Trouble in Mind (Jan. – Feb. 2021), by Alice Childress, a digital presentation
* Arms and the Man (Feb. – Mar. 2021), a digital presentation
* The Matchmaker (Mar. – Apr. 2021), a digital presentation
* The Headlands (May 2021), by Christopher Chen, directed by Pam MacKinnon
* Freestyle Love Supreme (July 29 – Aug. 22, 2021)
* Soul Train (begins Sept. 24, 2021), world premiere by Dominique Morisseau, Questlove, Camille A. Brown & Kamilah Forbes
* A Winter’s Tale (Feb. 10 – Mar. 6, 2022), directed by Pam MacKinnon
* The Lehman Trilogy (Apr. 20 – May 22, 2022) by Stefano Massi, directed by Sam Mendes
…and more…
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Video: Jelani Alladin and Christiani Pitts perform “The Lady is a Tramp”
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Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series, “Ratched” will premiere Sept. 18.
Sarah Paulson, Cynthia Nixon, Sophie Okonedo, and Judy Davis, with Jon Jon Briones, Finn Wittrock, Charlie Carver, Alice Englert, Amanda Plummer, Corey Stoll, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
The prequel to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” reveals the origin story of the infamous Nurse Ratched, who arrives in Northern California in 1947 to find work at a psychiatric hospital engaged in new and unsettling experiments.
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Casting has been announced for Week 1 of Hollywood’s Blank Theatre 28th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, which will be presented as digital shorts Aug. 8-15:
* The First Year I Missed, by Zoe Boray & Lea Mihok, directed by Ryan Bergmann, featuring Nikki Hahn, Donis Leonard Jr., Austin Mincks, Susan Louise O’Connor, Emily Robinson, and Ben Stillwell. A group of students build new connections through the ghostly influence of one of their own. With the help of an unlikely medium, saying goodbye might be easier than they think.
* Dust Bunnies, by Caroline Chown, directed by Angela Oh, featuring Sean Durrie and Madylin Sweeten. A sweet bedside bunny and the surly dust from under the bed clash over who gets to care for the little girl they both love — one gets to stay and the other must say goodbye forever.
* Mima, by Remi Mark, directed by Jesus Reyes, featuring Izabella Alvarez, Isabella Gomez, and Anamari Mesa. Three sisters come together to mourn the loss of their grandmother, each in her own way, and discover parts of their culture and themselves in one small box of memories.
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Chris Butler has been announced as the new Artistic Director of Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre.
On Broadway, Butler played Noah in 110 in the Shade starring Audra McDonald. In addition to numerous regional credits, Chris has also appeared in nearly 50 films and television series.
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Broadway on Demand is calling on performers, writers, composers, designers, technicians, and industry professionals from Broadway to every theater across the U.S., to pitch your ideas. Click here for more information and to submit.
Suggestions:
Masterclasses
Documentaries
Original Narratives
Concerts
Sketch Material
Submit your pitches for either long-form or episodic content, but they must be conducive to the streaming market.
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Participants have been announced for the final (5th) edition of The Homebound Project, an online theatre project benefiting children affected by Covid-19, which will stream Aug. 5-9 here.
Melis Aker, Lloyd Suh, Lena Dunham, Oscar Peña, Sylvia Khoury, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Stephen Karam, Lindsey Ferrentino, Craig Lucas, Basil Kreimendahl, Catya McMullen, and Korde Arrington Tuttle.
Scott Ellis, Tatiana Pandiani, Colette Robert, Maggie Burrows, Jaki Bradley, Pam MacKinnon, Samantha Soule, and Jenna Worsham.
Laurie Metcalf, Kelli O’Hara, Amanda Seyfried, Brian Cox, Austin Pendleton, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Joslyn DeFreece, Ryan J. Haddad, Daniel K. Isaac, Andy Lucien, Cesar J. Rosado, and Johnny Sibilly.
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Pittsburgh CLO has rescheduled its Summer 2021 season:
* Puffs (May 13 – Aug. 1)
* Jersey Boys (June 1-6)
* Kinky Boots (June 15-20)
* A Chorus Line (June 22-27)
* The Drowsy Chaperone (July 6-11)
* Sister Act (July 20-15)
* Godspell (Aug. 3-8)
* Dixie’s Tupperware Party (Sept. 8 – Oct. 17)
* Untitled (Oct. 28 – Dec. 5)
* A Musical Christmas Carol (Dec. 10-21)
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“The Theatre Channel” will launch in Sept. (date TBA), to stream on London’s Theatre Channel, directed by Bill Deamer, with music supervision by Michael England.
Carrie Hope Fletcher, Jenna Russell, Matt Henry, Tarinn Callender, Lucie Jones, and Oliver Ormson.
The show is set in a café bar, or restaurant, re-imagined for the performance series, following all social distancing procedures while filming. Each 30-minute episode will feature a different artist lineup, with a mix of popular music and theatre songs.
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Songs from an Unmade Bed, re-conceived by BD Wong & Richard Schnorr, and in support of BD/EFA, will offer a collection of music videos, reflecting life during Covid-19, on Mon. Aug. 10 at 8 PM ET here.
Initially produced by NY Theatre Workshop, the piece explores the musings and romantic life of a gay man living in NYC. The song cycle was created by Mark Campbell, Debra Barsha, Mark Bennett, Peter Foley, Jenny Giering, Peter Golub, Jake Heggie, Stephen Hoffman, Lance Horne, Gihieh Lee, Steven Lutvak, Steve Marzullo, Brendan Milburn, Chris Miller, Greg Pliska, Duncan Sheik, Kim D. Sherman, Jeffrey Stock, and Joseph Thalken.
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MA’s Barrington Stage Company‘s production of David Cale’s Harry Clarke, starring Mark H. Dold, will now play outdoors (across the street from the theatre) from Aug. 5-16.
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Disney+ is developing a movie adaptation Broadway’s Once On This Island, with a script by Jocelyn Bioh.
Timeline, casting and additional information TBA.
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Cameron Mackintosh has announced that the London & UK touring productions of Phantom of the Opera will close permanently, with hopes of bringing the musical back to London in the future.
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Nambi E. Kelley is writing a new play, Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou, a play with music about the late poet and civil rights activist.
The world premiere will take place in Spring 2021 at North Carolina Black Repertory Company.
Casting and additional information TBA.
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“Scandalous!,” a film about Sammy Davis Jr.’s relationship with Kim Novak, will be directed by Janet Mock.
The film will star Jeremy Pope, with additional casting and timeline TBA.