Today’s Highlights:
* Project Sing Out benefit concert, featuring Chita Rivera, Don Cheadle, Vanessa Williams, Audra McDonald, LaChanze, Ruthie Ann Miles, Brandon Victor Dixon, Ramin Karimloo, Ali Stroker, Will Swenson, Javier Muñoz, Jordon Fisher, Jenna Ushkowitz, Peppermint, Jamie Brewer, Celia Rose Gooding, Adam Jacobs, Ana Villafañe, Rodney Hicks, Jon Rua, Telly Leung, Quentin Earl Darrington, Jelani Alladin, Joshua Castille, Antonio Cipriano, Ilda Mason, Hailey Kilgore, and many more, at 7 PM ET here.
* Red Bull Theater‘s FREE benefit, Short New Play Festival: Private Lives, offering 8 new 10-minute plays written by Ben Beckley, Avery Deutsch, Leah Maddrie, Jessica Moss, Matthew Park, and Mallory Jane Weiss, directed by Mêlisa Annis, Vivienne Benesch, and Em Weinstein, and featuring Ali Ahn, Frankie J. Alvarez, Kathleen Chalfant, Lilli Cooper, Edmund Donovan, William Jackson Harper, Louisa Jacobson, Peter Francis James, and Charlayne Woodard, streamed at 7:30 PM ET.
* Transport Group‘s Broadbend, Arkansas, by Ellen Fitzhugh, Harrison David Rivers & Ted Shen, directed by Jack Cummings III, featuring Justin Cunningham and Danyel Fulton, streams for FREE at 7 PM ET (and available through Aug.16).
* The Muny 2020 Summer Variety Hour Live concert, featuring scenes from many past productions… Jen Cody & Hunter Foster singing “The Doctor is In” from You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown… Paint Your Wagon 2019 cast… Lara Teeter dances to “Take Me Away”… Ken Page performs “Memory” from Cats… and “Munywood Squares” game show, hosted by Gordon Greenberg with E. Faye Butler, J. Harrison Ghee, Ann Harada, Raymond J. Lee, Vicki Lewis, Steve Rosen, Jeffrey Schecter, John Scherer, and Christopher Sieber… and much more, at 8:15 PM CT here.
* Norm Lewis & Seth Rudetsky online concert, at 3 PM ET here.
* Rubicon Theatre‘s 2AM at the Sands: Samonsky Sings Sinatra concert, featuring Andrew Samonsky, opens at Ventura’s Fair Grounds.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Two For the Price of One by Jim Bernhard
Match these performers who worked as a pair with the correct partners and the show with they are associated:
| 1. Michael Flanders | A. Wesley Addy | i. Love Letters |
| 2. Dudley Moore | B. David Shiner | ii. Interplay: An Evening of Theatre-in-Concert |
| 3. Mike Nichols | C. Chic Johnson | iii. …The Two and Only |
| 4. Bob Elliott | D. Donald Swann | iv. …The Refrigerator Tour |
| 5. Penn Jillette | E. Elaine May | v. At the Drop of a Hat |
| 6. Jaston Williams | F. Colleen Dewhurst | vi. An Evening With…. |
| 7. Celeste Holm | G. Peter Cook | vii. Good Evening |
| 8. Ole Olsen | H. Ray Goulding | viii. Fool Moon |
| 9. Jason Robards | I. Joe Sears | ix. Greater Tuna |
| 10. Bill Irwin | J. Teller | x. Hellzapoppin |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Video: “Stars in the House” — ALL Rizzos! ALL night…(or at least an hour), with Rosie O’Donnell, Joely Fisher, Lucy Lawless, Megan Mullally, and Maureen McCormick. (1:10:00)
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“R&H Movie Night” returns Fri. July 24 at 8 PM ET here with a live viewing party of “Cinderella,” starring Julie Andrews.
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The U.K.’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Oliver Dowden announced July 17 that the country would enter Stage 4 of it’s “road map” to reopening beginning Aug. 1. The new phase permits indoor performances (with social distancing guidelines in place) at theatres, music halls, and more.
However, this does not mean that productions are necessarily prepared to immediately resume and remain financially feasible.
The announcement from Dowden follows the implementation of pilot programs the government is facilitating with various arts organizations. Separately, Andrew Lloyd Webber is conducting his own safety tests, modeled after practices at a South Korean production of The Phantom of the Opera that weathered the pandemic, at the London Palladium.
Currently, all West End shows are closed through at least Aug. 2, though many have already stated that that date is too soon to ensure the necessary public safety measures are met. Cameron Mackintosh, for instance, intends to keep his shows (including Hamilton, Les Misérables, and The Phantom of the Opera) dark through the rest of the year, underscoring the financial strain of both the shutdown and the logistics of playing to a limited audience.
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Video: Frontline healthcare worker Erika Chen performs “Amazing Grace” at Lincoln Center.
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Patti Murin and Colin Donnell welcomed their first baby, Cecily Philips, on July 14.
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Video: Socially distanced “The Princess Bride,” featuring Jon Hamm (Westley), Jack Black (Westly), Diego Luna (Inigo Montoya), Kaitlyn Dever (Westley), Finn Wolfhard (Inigo Montoya), King Bach (Vizzini), Dave Bautista (Fezzik), David Spade (Westley), Tom Lennon (Prince Humperdink), Oliver Lennon (Rugen), and Patton Olswalt (Vizzini).(14:30).
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RIP: Phyllis Somerville died July 16 at the age of 76.
Born in 1943, Phyllis lived in Iowa, and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a major in English. She appeared on stage regularly through college before eventually studying theatre at Wayne State University in Michigan.
She made her Broadway debut in 1975 in the musical Over Here!, and in 1978 played Miss Chasen in the Broadway revival of Kaufman and Hart’s Once in a Lifetime. She also stood by for Kathy Bates in the 1983 revival of ‘night, Mother (she then starred in the tour with Mercedes McCambridge).
Phyllis originated the role of Mrs. Henry DuBose, the Finches’ racist neighbor, in To Kill a Mockingbird, playing the role for about a year before her final bow November 3, 2019.
Off-Broadway and regionally, Ms. Somerville appeared in such works as Traveler in the Dark at American Repertory Theater, The Spitfire Grill at Playwrights Horizons, The Sum of Us at Cherry Lane Theatre, and Too Much, Too Much, Too Many with Roundabout Theatre Company. She was also a member of LAByrinth Theater Company.
On TV, Ms. Somerville is perhaps most remembered for her performance as neighbor Marlene on Showtime’s “The Big C,” as well as “Daredevil” on Netflix and WGN’s “The Outsiders.” Her film credits include “Arthur,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and “Poms.”
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Today’s fundraising concert for Senator Joe Kennedy III, which was to feature Sara Bareilles, Kelli O’Hara, Andrew Barth Feldman, Alli Mauzey, Dee Roscioli, Solea Pfeiffer, and more, has been postponed “until further notice.”
Following the announcement of the concert, participants received backlash from fans on Twitter for supporting Kennedy, causing many of the stars to drop out, including O’Hara, Pfeiffer, Feldman, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
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The Metropolitan’s Met Stars Live in Concert offers extraordinary solo and duo performances by top singers—streamed live online—from such locations as a former abbey in Bavaria, a Norwegian castle, an outdoor terrace on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, a church in Wales, and a historic mansion in Washington, D.C. The series marries the intimacy of the Met’s virtual At-Home Gala with the high production value of the company’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions.
Click here for the complete schedule of performances.
Tickets for each recital are $20, and the performances will remain available on demand for 12 days.
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Video: Karen Mason: Mason’s Makin’ Music (25:28)
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Watch 1,150 FREE movies online here, which include Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, etc.
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Complete casting has been announced for Frozen, to begin previews Apr.2, 2021 and open Apr. 14 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, directed by Michael Grandage, with choreography by Rob Ashford, and music supervision by Stephen Oremus.
Stephanie McKeon (Anna), Samantha Barks (Elsa), Obioma Ugoala (Kristoff), Craig Gallivan (Olaf), Oliver Ormson (Hans), Richard Frame (Weselton), and Mikayla Jade & Ashley Birchall (alternating as Sven), with Jeremy Batt, Cameron Burt, Lauren Chia, Laura Emmitt, Emily-Mae (Bulda), Danielle Fiamanya, Hannah Fairclough, Matt Gillett, Joe Griffiths-Brown, Emily Lane, Justin-Lee Jones, Jason Leigh Winter, Jacob Maynard, Leisha Mollyneaux,Gabriel Mokake (King Agnarr), Sarah O’Connor, Jemma Revell, Jacqui Sanchez (Queen Iduna), Jak Skelly (Oaken/Bishop), Jake Small, Isabel Snaas, Joshua St. Clair (Pabbie), Monica Swayne, and Anna Woodside.
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Christina Bianco: Lockdown Live, a benefit for TDF, will take place Thurs. July 23 at 3 PM ET here.
Michael West.
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“Working on a Song: The Lyrics of HADESTOWN” will be released in paperback and Kindle on Oct. 6 here.
In the book, Anaïs Mitchell takes readers inside her decades-long process of building the musical from the ground up — detailing her inspiration, breaking down the lyrics, and opening up the process of creation that gave birth to Hadestown, with a revealing look at how the songs from “the underground” evolved, and became the songs we sing again and again.
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Video: “Defying Gravity” from the July 13 Shoshana Bean and Friends: An Evening of Broadway concert, with Oregon’s Beaverton High School students.
Click here to watch the complete concert (51:55).
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GRACE NOTES Quiz Answers – Two For the Price of One
1-D-v. Michael Flanders and Donald Swann – Michael Flanders, Donald Swann, At the Drop of a Hat
2-G-vii. Dudley Moore and Peter Cook – Good Evening
3-E-vi. Mike Nichols and Elaine May – An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May
4-H-iii. Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding – Bob and Ray – The Two and Only
5-J-iv. Penn Jillette and Teller – Penn and Teller: The Refrigerator Tour
6-I-ix. Jaston Williams and Joe Sears – Greater Tuna
7-A-ii. Celeste Holm and Wesley Addy – Interplay: An Evening of Theatre-in-Concert
8-C-x. Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson – Hellzapoppin
9-F-i. Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst – Love Letters
10-B-viii. Bill Irwin and David Shiner – Fool Moon