This Weekend’s Highlights:
Friday, September 11
* “Stars in the House,” a Mamma Mia original Broadway cast reunion, with Judy Kaye, Karen Mason, Louise Pitre and Tina Maddigan, streams at 8 PM ET here.
Saturday, September 12
* “Coastal Elites,” starring Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever, Dan Levy, Sarah Paulson, and Issa Rae, premieres on HBO Max.
Sunday, September 13
* MCC Theater‘s Miscast Gala20, featuring Hairspray original Broadway cast members Laura Bell Bundy, Kerry Butler, Harvey Fierstein, Jenn Gambatese, Jackie Hoffman, Kamilah Marshall, Matthew Morrison, Corey Reynolds, Judine Somerville, Shayna Steele, and Marissa Jaret Winokur, as well as performances by Norbert Leo Butz, Robert Fairchild, Beanie Feldstein, Heather Headley, Joshua Henry, Ingrid Michaelson, Rob McClure, Leslie Odom Jr, Isaac Powell, Lauren Ridloff, Nicolette Robinson, Phillipa Soo, and Adrienne Warren, streams for FREE at 8 PM ET (Pre-show at 7:45 PM).
* “The Princess Bride” original cast reunion benefit reading, featuring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Carol Kane, director Rob Reiner, and surprise special guests, streams at 7 PM ET here. This reading will only be available at this date & time.
* London’s Lockdown Theatre‘s Private Lives Zoom benefit reading, directed by Jonathan Church, featuring Emma Thompson (Amanda), Robert Lindsay (Elyot), Sanjeev Bhaskar (Victor), and Emilia Clarke (Sybil), streams at 7 PM GMT/3 PM ET.
* The Seth Concert Series, with special guest Jeremy Jordan, streams at 8 PM ET (and at 3 PM ET on Monday) here.
* Hershey Felder as George Gershwin Alone — Live from Florence streams at 5 PM PT at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre (and available through Sept. 20).
* Krtizterland’s 10th Anniversary Concert, with music direction by Richard Allen, special guest Petula Clark, and featuring Daniel Thomas Bellusci, Jason Graae, Peyton Kirkner, Beth Malone, Pamela Myers, Kerry O’Malley, Hartley Powers, Sami Staitman, Adrienne Stiefel, Robert Yacko, and Miss Mackenzie Wrap, streamed for FREE at 5 PT (8 PM ET) here.
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Video: “Stars in the House,” with a “Night at the Museum” reunion, featuring Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, and Steve Coogan. (1:41:50)
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The Hudson Valley Dance Festival presents its first ever virtual event on Sat. Oct. 10 at 7 PM ET here, in support of Dancers Responding to AIDS. The stream will be available for 4 days.
Included:
* An original dance film by Stephen Petronio
* An outdoor solo filmed at Kaatsbaan Summer Festival in Tivoli, choreographed by Caleb Teicher, featuring Catherine Hurlin
* A performance from Ricky Ubeda, choreographed by Billy Griffin
* …and much more TBA.
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Article: Kevin Spacey is being sued by two men who alleged that Spacey committed sexual battery against them when they were 14 years old in the 2980s.
One of the plaintiffs is Anthony Rapp, who came forward in 2017. Rapp claimed: “He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me. He was trying to seduce me. I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.” The second plaintiff is identified as C.D, who alleges that spacey invited him to his apartment when he was 14, and that he performed sexual acts on Spacey.
The suit claims that both men have suffered psychological damage because of Spacey’s abuse.
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Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep has announced its 2020 Fall season:
* Belfast Blues (Sept. 22-27), offers a recording of Geraldine Hughes’ solo show.
* Give Me Your Hand (Oct. 13-18), directed by Jamie Beamish, offering poems by Paul Durcan, featuring Dermot Crowley and Dearbhla Molloy, who take you on a virtual stroll through London’s National Gallery.
* A Touch of the Poet (Oct. 27 – Nov. 1), by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly, featuring the cast of Irish Rep’s planned, but postponed, 2020 production.
* On Beckett / In Screen (Nov. 17-22. Adapted from the 2018 solo show, Bill Irwin explores a performers’ relationship to Beckett in the time of COVID.
* Gregory Harrington: A Concert from the Irish Rep Stage (Sept. 17)
* A Beggar Upon Horseback / A Beggar on Foot (Nov. 9-10), by Frederick Douglass.
* Plaguey Hill: A New Work (Dec. 1), by Paul Muldoon.
* A Child’s Christmas in Wales in Concert (dates TBA), by Dylan Thomas, adapted & directed by Charlotte Moore, with music direction by John Bell.
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LA’s LGBT Center presents “This MisMatch Game” to stream on Zoom on Sept. 26 & 27 at 8 PM PT, hosted by Dennis “Gene Rayburn” Hensley. with gift card prizes for winning contestants chosen from the audience via lottery.
:
Sept. 26: Jackie Beat (Bea Arthur), Julie Brown (Melania Trump), Danny Casillas (Reba Areba), Maile Flanagan (Danny Bonaduce), Chris Pudlo (Peewee Herman), and March Samuel (Morgan Freeman).
Sept. 27: Danté (Jack Nicholson), Danielle Gaither (Wendy Williams), Nadya Ginsburg (Cher), Rebekah Kochan (Pamela Anderson), Tom Lenk (Zooey Deschanel or Tilda Swinton), and Felix Pire (Ricardo Montalbán).
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NAMT has announced its 2020 Festival of New Musicals. The works will be streamed on Broadway on Demand Nov. 19–20. Casting TBA.
The festival presents eight musicals before an audience to connect producers with writers to help shows continue on a path to development. This year’s presentations are overseen by NAMT New Works Director Ciera Iveson and Festival General Manager Dailey-Monda Management.
* Co-Founders, by Beau Lewis, Adesha Adefela, Ryan Nicole, Jodie Ellis, Brian Watters & Budo. 
The story of two unlikely partners chasing impossible entrepreneurial dreams. Esata, a black woman from Oakland, and Conway, a small town college dropout, take on the most competitive startup accelerator in Silicon Valley—where the privileged make a killing while the people across the bridge grind to survive.
* Cowboy Bob, by Molly Beach Murphy, Jeanna Phillipsm& Annie Tippe, directed by Tippe, with music direction & additional music by Alex Thrailkill. You wouldn’t look twice at Peggy Jo. She was a good daughter, always tipped well at restaurants, but disguised as “Cowboy Bob” in a fake beard and a ten-gallon hat, she was the slickest bank robber Texas has ever known.
* The Consoling Mechanism, by Josh Franklin, with music direction by Meg Zervoulis. Can our deepening commitment to technology also strengthen the bonds of human connection? In a world increasingly intertwined with artificial intelligence and virtual reality, the musical pulls back the curtain on a family struggling to recover from unexpected loss.
* Eastbound, by Cheeyang Ng & Khiyon Hursey, directed by Desdemona Chiang, with music direction by Nate Hopkins. A new bilingual musical about the unexpected meeting of two brothers from opposite sides of the world, their quests for survival, and the power of choice. The musical is told through the soundscape of a contemporary score amalgamated with traditional Chinese folk music and Mandopop.
* Hart Island, by Michelle Elliott & Danny Haengil Larsen, with music direction by Jason Yarcho. The tale of an immigrant woman fighting for her child and the unexpected compassion of a disillusioned inmate who is the only person who can help her.
* Lizard Boy, by Justin Huertas, directed by Brandon Ivie. Trevor feels like a freak—which is not helped by the green lizard skin he grew after a bizarre childhood accident. When one fateful night sets him on a journey of mythic proportions, Trevor must decide if he’ll become the hero of his own story.
* Obeah Opera, by Nicole Brooks. Steeped in Black music and sung entirely a cappella by a female cast, the musical reveals the story of the legendary Salem witch trials from the perspective of Caribbean slave women.
* On This Side of the World, by Paulo K Tiról, directed by Noam Shapiro, with music direction by Steven Cuevas. Six performers give voice to Filipino immigrants navigating old lives and new beginnings, as a one-way ticket sends them on a journey 8,000 miles from home.
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Ben Brantley, who has worked at the New York Times since 1993 and has served as its chief theatre critic since 1996, will leave his position at the Times effective Oct. 15.
“This pandemic pause in the great, energizing party that is the theater seemed to me like a good moment to slip out the door,” Brantley said in a statement. “But when the theater returns, I hope to be there—as a writer, an audience member and, above all, the stark raving fan I have been since I was a child.”
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Hollywood’s Blank Theatre will accept script submissions from Sept. 28 – Oct. 20 for the Spring lineup of its 2020-21 series.
Click here for additional information and to submit.
The series is a new play development program which embodies The Blank’s commitment to developing new work by both established and emerging writers. Submissions by women, playwrights of color, and other under-represented voices are strongly encouraged. Rehearsals and Monday evening readings will take place virtually until it is once again safe to gather at The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre.
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“The Andrews Sisters in Hollywood” is now available on a 2-disc CD here. (scroll way down for the track list).