Today’s Highlights:
Julius Caesar radio play adaptation, featuring Patrick Page (Julius Caesar), Jordan Barbour (Brutus), Keith Hamilton Cobb (Cassius), Jamie Ballard (Mark Antony), James Howard (Metellus Cimber), Sky Lakota-Lynch (Lucius), Ashlie Atkinson (Portia), Jonathan Forbes (Casca), and Aria Shahghasemi (Octavius Caesar), with David Hargreaves (Soothsayer), Mark Torres (Flavius), Thia Stephan (Calphurnia), Francis Mateo (Gaius Trebonius), and Mark Jnathan (Quiles), begins streaming here.
The Belle’s Stratagem FREE benefit reading, by Hannah Cowley, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, featuring Cecil Baldwin, Jasmine Batchelor, Mark Bedard, Neal Bledsoe, Lilli Cooper, Peter Jay Fernandez, Santino Fontana, Tony Jenkins, Lauren Karaman, Aaron Krohn, Luis Quintero, Heather Alicia Simms, and Chauncy Thomas, livestreams at 7:30 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater.
In Case You Hadn’t Heard: A Conversation Between America’s Past And Its Promise presentation, adapted & directed by Reggie D. White, featuring Darryl Gene Daughtry Jr, Crystal Dickinson, Jason Veasey, and Clarissa Vickerie, streams at 8 PM ET at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
Beggar’s Holiday (discussion of York Theatre’s 1999 Musicals in Mufti presentation), featuring Ken Gash (director), Erik Haagensen (consultant), and Joe McConnell (casting director), with special guest Mercedes Ellington, and cast members Jerry Dixon, Joe Langworth, Amy Jo Phillips, Ken Prymus, Tami Swartz, and more, streams for FREE at 7 PM ET here.
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, concludes FREE streaming at NY Theatre Workshop.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: It’s Up to You…or Maybe Me by Jim Berrnhard
Fill in the missing pronouns — I, Me, My, Mine, You, Your, Yours, She, Her, Hers, He, Him, His, or They — in these titles of plays and musicals:
1. ____ and ___ Girl (musical by Noel Gay, Douglas Furber, and L. Arthur Rose)
2. ____ Loves ____ (musical by Joe Masteroff, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick)
3. ____ and Juliet (musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein)
4. ____ Mother, ____ Father, and ____ (play by Lillian Hellman)
5. ____ Knew What ____ Wanted (play by Sidney Howard)
6. Take ____, ____ ____! (play by Henry and Phoebe Ephron)
7. If ____ Were ____ (play by Sholem Aleichem)
8. If ___ Ever Leave ____… ____ Going With ____ (play by Renée Taylor and Joseph Bologna)
9. Right ____ Are, If ____ Think ____ Are (play by Pirandello)
10. ____Touched ___ (play by Tennessee Williams and Donald Windham)
Scroll down for the answers…
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The world premiere of Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s audio play Shadow/land, will premiere Apr. 13 at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater, as well as on all podcast platforms, directed by Candis C. Jones.
Te’Era Coleman (9-1-1 Caller), Lizan Mitchell (Magalee), Lance E. Nichols (9-1-1 Dispatcher and Caller), Lori Elizabeth Parquet (9-1-1 Dispatcher and Caller), Sunni Patterson (Griot), and Michelle Wilson (Ruth).
The first installment of a 10-ply cycle, which examines the ongoing effects of Hurricane Katrina and urban renewal in New Orleans. Ruth, who coaxes her mother to sell the family business, Shadowland, New Orleans’ first air-conditioned dancehall and hotel for Black people, just as Hurricane Katrina begins its strike on the city.
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Anne Kittredge’s Virtual Shorts will stream Fri. Feb. 26 at 5 PM ET here, with music direction by Christopher Denny.
Steve Ross
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RIP: Actress Martha Stewart has died at the age of 98.
Stewart was know on Broadway for playing Miss Adelaide in the original production of Guys and Dolls in the 1950s, a role which she recreated in the West End. She also appeared on Broadway in Park Avenue in 1946.
Martha was best known, however, for her work in film, making her debut in “Doll Face” (1945). She was featured in “Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946), as well as “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” (1947, and “Daisy Kenyon” (1947). Other film roles include “A Lonely Place,” (1950), “Convicted,” and “Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick” (1952).
On television, Stewart was the co-host of “Those Two” (1952-53), and “The Red Skelton Show” (1954). Nearly a decade later, Martha appeared in “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” and in her final acting role before retiring in “Surf Party (1964).
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Video: Jeremy Jordan and Jessica Lowndes perform the new song “Alive.”
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Off-Broadway’ Mint Theater Company will offer its FREE streaming production of Hazel Ellis’ Women Without Men Feb. 22 – Mar. 21, directed by Jenn Thompson.
Mary Bacon, Joyce Cohen, Shannon Harrington, Kate Middleton, Aedin Moloney, Alexa Shae Niziak, Kellie Overbey, Dee Pelletier, Beatrice Tulchin, Emily Walton, and Amelia White.
A workplace drama lace with biting humor, the play is set in the teacher’s lounge of a private girls boarding school in Ireland in the 1930’s. Jean Wake is an enthusiastic young teacher new to the school, where she soon find herself popular with the students and at odds with her quarrelsome colleagues — especially the antagonistic Miss Connor. When Miss Connor’s life work — a history of “beautiful acts” through the ages — is found torn to shreds, Jean is the most likely suspect. With the evidence mounting against her animosity in the air, will Jean fight for her career, or will she be beaten by the pettiness and jealousy that thrives in the school’s cloistered environment?
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Upon These Shoulders will stream Feb. 27 – Mar. 3 here, with proceeds going to Black Theatre Coalition Fellowship Initiative. The event is written by Jess Carson, directed by directed by T. Oliver Reid & Warren Adams, with music direction by Michael O. Mitchell.
Whoopi Goldberg, André De Shields, Wynton Marsalis, George Faison, Ahmad Simmons, Aisha Jackson, Anastacia McCleskey, Ari Groover, Bebe Winans, Brandon Victor Dixon, Brittney Johnson, Bryonha Parham, Camille A. Brown, Carly Hughes, Charles Randolph-Wright, Christina Sajous, Daniel J. Watts, DJ Duggz, Harry Lennix, Khaila Wilcoxon, Kimberly Marable, Lilli Cooper, Malcolm Armwood, Marisha Wallace, Lori Lightfoot (Mayor of Chicago), Muriel Bowser (Mayor of Washington, DC), Marlies Yearby, Merle Dandridge, Michael R. Jackson, Nathan Lee Graham, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Norm Lewis, Paul Tazewell, Phillip Boykin, Raja Feather Kelly, Savion Glover, Shereen Pimentel, Stephanie Umoh, Tamika Lawrence, Titus Burgess, Tracee Beazer Barrett, Tramaine Gray, and Valisia LeKae.
Using performances, interviews, and video messages from Broadway stars and arts workers, the event will spotlight the history of Black artists’ creativity, magnify the work of today’s Black artists, and shed a light on the future of American theatre along with those who are going to lead the way.
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Video: Ronn Carroll (Benjamin Franklin) & Peter A. Carey (John Adams), relive their favorite memories from Goodspeed’s 1776 (2007), and share some clips from the show. (43:41)
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LA’s Center Theatre Group presents The Gaze … No Homo, written by & starring Larry Powell, to stream Feb. 25 – Mar. 25. The production will be FREE for the first weekend (Feb. 25-28), and $20 thereafter for the remainder of the run.
Set in the prestigious Evergreen Theatre Festival tucked in a bucolic small town, which prides itself on developing the brightest and boldest new American voices, a young actor is cast in the virtual production of an emerging Black queer playwright. As the established director dreams of Broadway and tensions rise in heated Zoom-based rehearsals, The Gaze … No Homo examines the process of building culturally specific and queer works of color in historically white spaces.
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A conversation with Marilyn Michaels, hosted by James Gavin, will take place Tues. Mar. 2 at 8 PM ET on Zoom.
Meeting ID: 812 9382 0295
Passcode: 03021874MM
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Video: Clips & remembrances from Goodspeed’s City of Angels (2011). (30:43)
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Alexandra Silber and Alec Silver were married recently in Central Park.
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The Seth Concert Series has announced its upcoming concerts, all of which livestream at 3 & 8 PM ET here.
Feb. 28: Brian Stokes Mitchell
Mar. 7: Eva Noblezada
Mar. 14: Emily Skinner
Mar. 21: Jackie Hoffman
Mar. 28: Ashley Spencer, with special guest Kara Lindsay
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A film adaptation of “The Beast in the Jungle” is in development, directed by Susan Stroman (who directed a musical adaptation of the Henry James novella in 2018 at Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre. Timeline, casting, and additional information TBA.
Frank Langella, and more TBA.
The story focuses on loneliness, fate love, and death, and will be filmed with a great deal of dance.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: It’s Up to You…or Maybe Me
1. Me and My Girl (musical by Noel Gay, Douglas Furber & L. Arthur Rose)
2. She Loves Me (musical aby Joe Masteroff, Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick)
3. Me and Juliet (musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein)
4. My Mother, My Father, and Me (play by Lillian Hellman)
5. They Knew What They Wanted (play by Sidney Howard)
6. Take Her, She’s Mine! (play by Henry & Phoebe Ephron)
7. If I Were You (play by Sholem Aleichem)
8. If You Ever Leave Me…I’m Going With You (play by Renée Taylor & Joseph Bologna)
9. Right You Are, If You Think You Are (play by Pirandello)
10. You Touched Me (play by Tennessee Williams and Donald Windham)