Today’s Highlights:
* Black Women on Broadway‘s “Black Women in Theatre Appreciation Day” FREE all-day virtual conference, moderated by Danielle Brooks, begins at 12 PM ET.
* Our Leading Ladies concert, featuring Danielle Bowen, Ali Ewoldt, Stephanie Gibson, and Elena Shaddow, streamed for FREE at 8:15 PM CT at the Muny (also July 2).
* “This Is Us” FREE online discussion, with Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Chris Sullivan, at 2 PM ET here.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Mr. Kander, Meet Mr. Ebb, by Jim Bernhard
1. In 1963, to test their compatibility to work together, composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb wrote this ballad that became a major pop hit…“It Must Be Him”… “My Coloring Book”… “Something Stupid”… “A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody”
2. Flora, the Red Menace, Kander and Ebb’s first Broadway show, was a box office flop, but it won a Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical for… Barbra Streisand… Carol Channing… Gwen Verdon…. Liza Minnelli
3. Before Kander and Ebb were brought in by director Harold Prince to write the Cabaret score, a book and score for the show, then titled Goodbye to Berlin, had already been written by…Noël Coward… Kurt Weill… Rodgers and Hammerstein… Sandy Wilson.
4. Kander and Ebb are strongly associated with two major Broadway stars—Liza Minnelli and….Chita Rivera… Barbara Cook… Patti LuPone… Kristin Chenoweth
5. Kander and Ebb’s Zorba, which opened on Broadway in 1968, was revived in 1983 with a cast headed by movie star…Melina Mercouri… Kirk Douglas… Anthony Quinn …Clint Eastwood
6. Shortly after the opening of Kander and Ebb’s Chicago, Gwen Verdon was temporarily replaced, owing to illness, by…Renée Zellweger… Barbra Streisand… Bette Midler… Liza Minnelli
7. Kander and Ebb’s 70 Girls 70, based on Peter Coke’s play Breath of Spring, was about a group of larcenous senior citizens who steal furs in order to get the money to buy…a 1932 Rolls-Royce… a lifetime supply of Metamucil… a wide-screen TV… their retirement hotel.
8. Woman of the Year is a Kander and Ebb musical that starred Lauren Bacall, based on a film of the same title. Who starred in the film?…Ethel Merman… Katharine Hepburn… Judy Garland… Lauren Bacall
9. This 1991 revue featuring songs by Kander and Ebb was called…The Kander and Ebb Songbook… All That Jazz… And the World Goes ‘Round… Life Is a Cabaret
10. Steel Pier is a Kander and Ebb musical about the 1930s craze for…marathon dancing… flagpole-sitting… goldfish-swallowing… martini-drinking
Scroll down for the answers…
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Video: “Stars in the House” — “Free to Be…You and Me,” with guest host Marlo Thomas, and featuring Rosie O’Donnell, Marlee Matlin, Sara Bareilles, Harry Belafonte, Drew Barrymore, Audra McDonald, Benj Pasek, and Debra Messing. (1:18:15)
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Video: “Stars in the House” — reading of John Cariani’s Almost Maine, featuring Becca Bastos, Courtnee Carter, Cheech Manohar, Colton Ryan, and Tevae Shoels. (2:18:50)
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Off-Broadway’s York Theatre Company has announced the schedule of online activities and live chats & panel discussions on Facebook, moderated by James Morgan & Charles Wright:
June 29 (7:10 PM ET): “Live Panel: Show (and Tell): Yank!,” with David Zellnik, Joseph Zellnik, Igor Goldin, Bobby Steggert, Nancy Anderson, Ivan Hernandez, Zak Edwards, David Perlman, Tally Sessions, and more. 
here.
July 6 (7:10 PM ET): “Live Panel: Show (and Tell): Big: The Musical,” with Richard Maltby, Jr, David Shire, and cast members. here.
July 13 (7:10 PM ET): “Live Panel: Show (and Tell): Storyville,” with Mildred Kayden, Ed Bullins, Bill Castellino, and cast members D.C. Anderson, Karen Burthwright, Kyle Carter, Carl Wallnau, and Zakiya Young. here.
July 20 ((7:10 PM ET): “Live Panel: Show (and Tell): Enter Laughing: The Musical,” with Joseph Stein, Stan Daniels, and Stuart Ross. here.
July 27 ((7:10 PM ET): “Live Panel: Show (and Tell): Lost in the Stars,” with special guests TBA. here.
Aug. 4 (7:10 PM): “Live Panel: Show (and Tell): Carmelina,” with director Michael Leeds, and cast members Andréa Burns, Timothy Smith, Joey Sorge, and more TBA. here.
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Podcast: April in Paris, by Eugene Pack, featuring Michael Urie, Sherri Shepherd, Tate Donovan, Lainie Kazan, Dayle Feyfel, and Caspar Phillipson (18:39)
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Video: Into the Woods (1987) TV commercial
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Video: “CBS Sunday Morning” checks in with regional theatres as they prepare to re-open.
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Roundabout Theatre Company has announced its theatrical programming will resume in Spring 2021:
BROADWAY
* Trouble in Mind (Winter), by Alice Childress, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, at the American Airlines Theatre
* Caroline, or Change (Spring), starring Sharon D. Clarke, at Studio 54
* 1776 (Spring), directed by Diane Paulus, at theAmerican Airlines Theatre,
* Birthday Candles (Fall), by Noah Haidle, starring Debra Messing
OFF-BROADWAY
* …what the end will be (dates TBA), by Margot Bordelon, at the Laura Pels Theatre
* Exception to the Rule (begins Apr. 30), by Dave Harris, directed by Miranda Haymon
* English (dates TBA), by Sanaz Toossi
* The Year to Come (dates TBA), by Lindsey Ferrentino
* The Wanderers (dates TBA), by Anna Ziegler
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RIP: Elly Stone has died at the age of 93 from complications from endometrial cancer.
Best known as one of the stars of Jacque Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (1968), which was c0-written by her husband, Eric Blau, she performed in the show for 2 years, and later starred in the Broadway production, as well as the 1975 film version. In 2006, she also provided an Off-Broadway revival of the revue, which included previously unseen English-language translations by Eric Blau of Brel’s music
Stone’s other stage credits include O, Marry Me! Off-Broadway in 1961, the Broadway production of I Can Get It For You Wholesale in 1962, and The Cockeyed Tiger Off-Broadway in 1977.
In addition, Elly had success as a cabaret and concert headliner, including a 1980 concert at Carnegie Hall.
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Video: “Soundtrack of Our Lives” celebrates the film & TV community. (54:31)
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LA TheatreWorks has released Black Voices audio plays:
* A Huey P. Newton Story, by Roger Guenveur Smith. 
An exploration of the life of the controversial Black Panther leader through a series of improvisations based on his own words and writings.
* Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, by Lonne Elder III. A Harlem family dreams of a better life, but pursues it in tragic ways.
* Fabulation, by Lynne Nottage. A successful African-American publicist (Charlayne Woodard) stumbles down the social ladder after her husband steals her hard-earned fortune.
* The Mountaintop, by Katori Hall. A re-imagining of events as they might have taken place at the Lorraine Motel on the night before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
* The Nightwatcher, written by & starring Charlayne Woodard. The story of a woman who chooses not to have children — only to be pulled into the real-life struggles of kids of all ages, races and backgrounds.
* Stick Fly, by Lydia Diamond. An upper-class African American family wrestles with parental expectations, sibling rivalry, and issues of class and race during a vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.
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Video: James Corden and the Muppets perform “With a Little Help from my Friends”
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Video: She Loves Me 1993 press reel, with Judy Kuhn, Boyd Gaines, Sally Mayes, and Howard McGillin. (23:17)
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Off-Broadway’s New Group will present its Reunion Reading Series, featuring original casts of plays from the company’s first 25 years. Each reading will be broadcast live. 
here.
July 16 (7 PM ET): The True, by Sharr White, directed by Scott Elliott, featuring Edie Falco, Austin Cauldwell, Glenn Fitzgerald, Michael McKean, John Pankow, Peter Scolari, and Tracy Shayne. Dorothea “PollyNoonan,” is the blunt, profane, decades-long defender of Albany’s Democratic Party machin.
July 20 (7 PM ET): The Spoils, by Jesse Eisenberg, featuring Michael Zegen, Erin Darke, Kunal Nayyar, and Annapurna Sriram. When Ben discovers his grade school crush is marrying a straight-laced banker, he sets out to destroy their relationship and win her back.
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Video: “The Room Where it Happens,” from the film version of Hamilton (premiering July 3 on Disney+), with Leslie Odom, Jr. and cast.
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Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre Drive-In Hits concert series will premiere Mon. July 6 at 8 PM PT (gates open at 6 PM) at Ventura’s Fair Grounds, featuring Christian Hoff, Travis Cloer, and friends from Jersey Boys and Million Dollar Quartet.
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Video: Randy Rainbow lip syncs “Patti LuPone’s Autobiography” segment — “Patti gets stuck on the Concorde”
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Video: Randy Graff performs “You Can Always Count on Me,” from City of Angels, on “Donahue” (1990)
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NY Theatre Workshop has announced its artistic and operational plans for the 2020-21 season:
These plans have been developed in accordance with NYTW’s Core Values, with a particular emphasis on making NYTW an actively anti-racist organization and community, and a continuing commitment to empowering their artistic community to imagine and create work in the broadest possible sense.
While the timeline for resuming in-person performances in New York City remains uncertain, NYTW has re-committed to its extraordinary community of artists to create and develop new work and to share that work with audiences in both existing formats and in ways yet to be imagined.
A group of Artistic Instigators will imagine work in our present moment that creates community within the given circumstances of social distancing, celebrates the liveness that is inherent in a theatrical experience, and examines the relationship between theatre, distance, and technology. Artists are supported with $2,500 grants, with additional funds designated to bring their projects to life.
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Video: “Wig in a Box,” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with John Cameron Mitchell, Neil Patrick Harris, Darren Criss, Andrew Rannells, and more.
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Video: Dorothy Collins performs “Losing My Mind”
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Mr. Kander, Meet Mr. Ebb
1. Kander and Ebb wrote “My Coloring Book,” as a mock ballad for a play that was already running on Broadway, Take Her, She‘s Mine.It was first sung on the Perry Como Show, then recorded, by Sandy Stewart, and became an instant hit. It was quickly covered by many other singers, included Barbra Streisand, Kitty Kallen, Brenda Lee, and Joni James.
2. Liza Minnelli won the 1965 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Flora, the Red Menace (although the show’s co-author Robert Russell had written the book with Barbra Streisand in mind for the lead).
3. Sandy Wilson, who had achieved huge success with The Boy Friend, a pastiche of the 1920s on the Riviera, tried to do the same for 1920s Berlin, but Harold Prince, who had acquired the rights to John van Druten’s play I Am A Camera, on which Cabaret was based, didn’t think Wilson’s work captured the spirit of that time and place.
4. Chita Rivera, who starred in Chicago, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Visit, has long been associated with Kander and Ebb, who also created special material for Rivera’s concerts and TV shows.
5. Anthony Quinn starred in the 1983 revival of Zorba.
6. Liza Minnelli replaced Gwen Verdon in Chicago.
7. They steal furs to get money to buy the New Sussex Arms, their retirement hotel, which is on the block for sale to developers, in 70 Girls 70
8. Katharine Hepburn was the star of the movie “Woman of the Year,” on which the musical was based.
9. And the World Goes ‘Round is the revue based on Kander and Ebbs’ works.
10. Steel Pier is about marathon dancing.