Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be limited theatre news for the foreseeable future. I will continue to search for anything meaningful and/or fun to report. Stay safe and healthy.
Today’s Highlights:
* “Company – Original Cast Album” documentary, with commentary by Elaine Stritch and Hal Prince, released on YouTube. (52:36)
* “A Salute to Bandstand,” a livestream of the Broadway production, hosted by Corey Cott, at 7:30 PM ET on BroadwayOnDemand for $6.99 (for non-members).
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz: A River Runs Through It by Jim Bernhard
1. In Show Boat, the paddle-wheeler “Cotton Blossom” plies the waters of what river?…Missouri…Mississippi…
2. In Antony and Cleopatra, when Enobarbus describes Cleopatra’s barge, in what river is it?…Congo…Cydnus…Nile…Ganges
3. Along what river does the musical Rio Rita take place?…Bravo…Brazos…Grande…
4. In The King and I, the ballet “Small House of Uncle Thomas” depicts the scene from Uncle Tom’s Cabin in which Eliza flees Simon Legree, crossing what river on the ice?…Mississippi…
5. And A Nightingale Sang…is set in the Northern English city of Newcastle, on what river?…Tees…Tyne…
6. In A Man for All Seasons, several scenes take place on or around what river?…Avon…Thames…Seine…Exe
7. The river referred to in the musical title Big River is…Amazon…Volga…Yangtze…
8. The Great Waltz features a Strauss piece honoring what river?…Danube…Rhine…Rhône…
9. Sunday in the Park With George opens on the island of La Grande Jatte, which is in what river?…Loire…Somme…Seine…
10. What musical set in the Civil War is named for a river and its valley in Virginia?…Rappahannock….
Scroll down for the answers…
**********************
: Find streamed theater events online here. Thanks, Duane Poole!
**********************
Video: “Stars in the House,” a Cry Baby (2008) reunion, with James Snyder, Elizabeth Stanley, Christopher J. Hanke, Alli Mauzey, Harriet Harris, and Chester Gregory II. (1:03:10)
**********************
Video: “Stars in the House,” featuring the men of “Desperate Housewives” — James Denton, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Kevin Rahm, and Tuc Watkins. (1:06:10)
**********************
Video: “Stars in the House” — An Evening with Chita Rivera. (1:02:35)
**********************
VA’s Signature Theatre has rescheduled its production of Mamma Mia! to now run June 24 – July 3, 2021, directed by Eric Schaeffer.
Casting, creative team, and additional information TBA.
**********************
An Actors Fund reading of The Glass Menagerie will take place Fri. May 29 at 6 PM ET, directed by Alison Tanney.
Emily Skinner (Amanda), Erika Henningsen (Laura), Tim Realbuto (Tom), and Nick Rehberger (Gentleman Caller).
**********************
Video: “Into the House” (“Into the Woods” parody). Fabulous!
*********************
San Francisco Ballet offers its SF Ballet @ Home through June June 26, all at 2:30 PM PT:
May 29: Snowblind (2017), adapted by Cathy Marston. A heart-rending love triangle between Ethan Frome; his hypochondriac wife, Zeena; and Mattie, kin to Zeena.
June 5: Directors Choice selection (2020): Tomasson’s Soirées Musicales and Concerto Grosso.
June 12: Björk Ballet (2019)
June 19: TBA
June 26: SF Ballet 2020 Opening Night Gala, Spellbound (2020)
**********************
Video: Audra McDonald in Broadway’s Marie Chrstine (1999)
**********************
Video: Last night’s PBS 2020 National Memorial Day Concert, featuring Christopher Jackson, Cynthia Erivo, Kelli O’Hara, Renée Fleming, General Colin L. Powell, Trace Adkins, CeCe Winans, and Mary McCormack, with performances from previous concerts by Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne, and Esai Morales. (1:25:54)
**********************
Playwrights Katori Hall and Martyna Majok are developing their plays for television.
July 12: “P-Valley,” a series based on Katori Hall’s P*ssy Valley, with all female directors Karena Evans, Kimberly Peirce, Millicent Shelton, Tamra Davis, Geeta V. Patel, Tasha Smith, Sydney Freeland, and Barbara Brown, and featuring Brandee Evans, Nicco Annan, Shannon Thornton, Elarica Johnson, Skyler Joy, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Parker Sawyers, Harriet D. Foy, Tyler Lepley, and Dan J. Johnson.
The kaleidoscopic story of a little-strip-club-that-could and the big characters who come through its doors.
Date TBA: “Queens,” on HBO (link, casting and additional information TBA).
A drama about 2 generations of immigrant women that collide in their shared basement apartment in Queens, NY.
**********************
Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep has announced its digital Summer season:
A Performance on Screen includes:
* Yes, Reflections of Molly Bloom (June 16-20), adapted by Aedín Moloney
* The Weir (July 21-25), with Dan Butler, Sean Gormley, John Keating, Amanda Quaid, and Tim Ruddy.
* Love Noël: The Songs and Letters of Noël Coward (Aug. 18-22), with Steve Ross & KT Sullivan.
* The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, by Darren Murphy
* The Irish (Rep)… and How We Got That Way: A Celebration of Endurance and Perseverance Through Hard Times.
**********************
Video: “When I Grow Up,” performed by Broadway’s Matilda original cast.
**********************
Off-Broadway’s Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre will present its Pride Plays Festival 2020 June 1-30.
* Everything Beautiful Happens at Night, by Ted Malawer, directed by David Cromer
* Just Press Dave, by Rodney Hicks, directed by Michael Greif
* Good Time Charlie, by Ryan J. Haddad, directed by Danny Sharon
* Crooked Parts, by Azure D. Osborne-Lee, directed by Kirya Traber
* Roof, by Omar Hantash, directed by Kareem Fahmy
* Are You There Truman?, by Garrett David Kim, directed by Gaven Trinidad
* Marked Green At Birth, Marked Female at Birth, by Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, directed by Caitlin Ryan O’Connell.
* You Have to Promise, by Audrey Lang, directed by Jenna Worsham
* Modern Gentleman, by Preston Max Allen, directed by Blayze Teicher
* Will You…Hold My Hair Back, by Carmen LoBue, director TBA.
* For Leonora, or, Companions, by Haley St. James, director TBA.
**********************
NYC’s 92Y has offered a look back at highlights from their catalog:
Video: “Joan Rivers Confidential: A conversation with Whoopi Goldberg and Melissa Rivers.” (2017)
Video: Love, Loss, and What I Wore, with Lucy DeVito, Tracee Ellis Ross, Carol Kane, Natasha Lyonne, and Rosie O’Donnell. (2017)
**********************
“Mr. Belvedere Zoom Reunion” will take place Fri. May 29 at 5 PM PT, to talk about making the show, favorite episodes, on-set practical jokes, and answer your questions. Click here to register.
Rob Stone, Tracy Tofte Wells, Brice Beckham, Ilene Graff, and Bob Uecker.
**********************
“Play at Home,” a series of micro-commissioned short plays to be performed at home, has reached a new milestone — 100 plays/100 playwrights, with $50,000+ in commissions paid to playwrights.
All plays are FREE to download here.
Upload your play here.
Participating theatres to date:
Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf, The Public Theater, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Woolly Mammoth, Berkeley Rep, Encore! Theater Group, The Fornés Institute, Indiana Rep, The Kennedy Center, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New York Rep, Northlight Theatre, The Old Globe, Plan-B Theatre, The Playwrights Realm, Portland Center Stage, Relative Theatrics, The Sol Project, State Theatre New Jersey, Two River Theater, Yangzte Repertory Theatre, and 16th Street Theater.
**********************
Video: Yip Harburg sings “Over the Rainbow” (2010). Not to be missed.
**********************
Betty White bloopers:
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quiz answers – A River Runs Through It
1. “Cotton Blossom” plies the waters of the Mississippi River.
2. Cleopatra’s barge is described on the river Cydnus, in Turkey, where she was summoned to meet Marc Antony.
3. Rio Rita is set along the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexican border
4. Eliza crosses to freedom on the Ohio River.
5. And A Nightingale Sang is set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
6. A Man for All Seasons has several scenes on or around the Thames.
7. Big River, based on Huckleberry Finn, is set on the Mississippi.
8. “The Blue Danube” is featured in The Great Waltz.
9. La Gande Jatte is an island in the Seine.
10. Shenandoah is the musical set in Virginia in the Civil War.