Today’s Highlights:
The Forbidden City audio play, by Bill Gunn, directed by Seret Scott, featuring James T. Alfred, Spencer Scott Barros, Derrick Baskin, Kyle Beltran, Ato Blankson-Wood, Jason Bowen, Alfie Fuller, John Benjamin Hickey, Roscoe Orman, Brenda Pressley, and Ray Anthony Thomas, begins FREE streaming at Lincoln Center Theatre.
The Waves in Quarantine: A Theatrical Experiment in 6 Movements, adapted by Raúl Esparza, Lisa Peterson, David Buckman, & Adam Gwon, featuring Raúl Esparza, Alice Ripley, Carmen Cusack, Nikki Renée Daniels, Darius de Haas, and Manu Narayan, begins FREE streaming at Berkely Rep.
The Baltimore Waltz virtual production, by Paula Vogel, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, featuring Mary-Louise Parker (Anna), Eric McCormack (Carl), and Brandon Burton (Third Man), begins streaming at 8 PM ET here (and available through May 3).
“The Destruction of Jane,” a 7-part miniseries (an unauthorized parody of “The King of the Jungle”), by Paul Pecorino, directed by Drue Pennella, featuring Paul Pecorino (Jane), Rob Eco (Tarzan), Mario Cantone, and Randy Rainbow, begins FREE streaming here.
Share the Floor, Christopher Gattelli & Phil LaDuca’s new dance and social movement series, hosted by Vashty Mompoint, begins FREE streaming on Broadway on Demand.
David Burnham benefit concert begins streaming at Musical Theatre West.
2021 Virtual Gala Benefit, featuring Lewis Black, Chris Bohjalian, Felicia Boswell, David Bryan, Jackie Burns, Karen Burthright, Bobby Conte Thornton, Andre De Shields, Joe DiPietro, Ann Dowd, Rachel Dratch, Steve Guttenberg, Jeremy Jordan, Laiona Michelle, Nancy Opel, Maulik Pancholy, David Hyde Pierce, Renee Taylor, Mary Testa, Marlo Thomas, and a special surprise guest, streams at 7:30 PM ET at NJ’s George Street Playhouse.
Brutal Imagination audio play, by Cornelius Eady, directed by Stevie Walker Webb, featuring Joe Morton and Sally Murphy, released on Audible.
Neat, written & performed by Charlayne Woodard, concludes FREE streaming at Manhattan Theatre Club.
Caesar: A Surround Sound Experiment, adapted & directed by Joseph Discher, featuring Jacqueline Antaramian, Joel de la Fuente, January LaVoy, Sean Hudock, Mark H. Dold, Joseph Discher, Maurice Jones, Anthony Michael Martinez, Ryan McCarthy, Shane Taylor, Patrick Toon, Scott Wentworth, and Derek Wilson, concludes audio streaming at 8 PM ET here.
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Video: Stars in the House, with a Carousel cast reunion, featuring special guests Jessie Mueller, Joshua Henry, Renee Fleming, Lindsay Mendez, and director Jack O’Brien. (1:00:26)
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David Friedman’s “Help Is On The Way” will be released Sat. May 1.
Order the paperback here. 
Download the Kindle here.
Each chapter title is a line from the song, with stories, parables, and advice on the subject. Its main theme is no matter what is going on in our lives, help, healing, and infinite possibilities are always available to us.
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The Phantom of the Opera will resume in-person performances on July 27 at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Lucy St. Louis (Christine Daaé), Rhys Whitfield (Raoul), Killian Donnelly (The Phantom), Saori Oda (Carlotta Giudicelli), Matt Harrop (Monsieur Firmin), Adam Linstead (Monsieur Firmin), Adam Linstead (Monsieur André, Greg Castiglioni (Ubaldo Piangi), Francesca Ellis (Madame Giry), Ellie Young (Meg Giry), and Holly-Anne Hull (Christine, at some performances), with Leeroy Boone, Corina Clark, Edward Court, Lily De-La-Haye, Hywel Dowsell, Jemal Felix, Erin Flaherty, James Gant, Eilish Harmon-Beglan, Yukina Hasebe, Olivia Holland-Rose, Grace Hume, James Hume, Donald Craig Mannuel, Jonathan Milton, Janet Mooney, Tim Morgan, Beatrice Penny-Toure, Michael Robert-Lowe, Nikki Skinner, Tim Southgate, Ashley Stillburn, Manon Taris, Anouk Van Laake, Skye Weiss, Simon Whitaker, and Karen Wilkinson.
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The Great Gatsby, a new musical stage adaptation of the novel, is in development by Martyna Majok, Florence Welch (of Florence + the Machine) & Thomas Bartlett. The musical will be directed by Rebecca Frecknall,
A pre-Broadway engagement will be announced soon. Casting and creative team are TBA.
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While Broadway is on its way back, the Metropolitan Opera may not be, unless the Met’s management treats its workers fairly.
However, the Met still plans to open Sept. 27 with the premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut up in my Bones, the first opera by a Black composer to be performed at the Met. But workers who install the sets, stagehands, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (represented by the IATSE), are currently locked out by the Met with no end to the lockout in sight. Sets are scheduled to be delivered later this Spring.
In December, the Met locked out workers and has since remained closed. The opera company’s management has refused to negotiate fairly, insisting on a 30% take-it-or-leave-it wage cuts that would remain in effect long after audiences return to their seats.
In December, the Met locked out workers and has since remained closed. The opera company’s management has refused to negotiate fairly, insisting on 30%, take-it-or-leave-it wage cuts that would remain in effect long after audiences return to their seats. IATSE Local One President James J. Claffey Jr, explained that a lockout is different that a strike. “This situation is not a case of workers withholding their labor. “This is Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, and his board, locking the doors, refusing to come to the bargaining table and cruelly inflicting harm on our members already hurt by the pandemic. This is shameful behavior.” The working people who make up IATSE Local One will not agree to Gelb’s extortion-like, take-it-or-leave-it, non-negotiable demands.
Stay tuned…
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Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre has announced its 2021 gala, Three Decades Together, One Future for Us All, to stream Thurs. May 6 at 7 PM ET, directed by Lila Neugebauer.
Anna Deavere Smith with the inaugural Signature Outstanding Artist Award.
Katori Hall, Samuel D. Hunter, Dave Malloy, Dominique Morisseau, Joe Ngo, Lynn Nottage, Anna Deavere Smith, and more.
Dave Malloy and cast members from Signature’s production of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band – Abraham Kim, Jane Lui, Joe Ngo, Courtney Reed.
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Video: Sneak peek at Sutton Foster‘s Bring Me to Light at NY City Center.
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The cast album of Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell’s “Ride the Cyclone: World Premiere Cast Recording” will be released in digital & streaming formats on May 7. Click here to pre-order or pre-save.
Lillian Castillo, Chaz Duffy, Scott Redmond, Jacob Richmond, Emily Rohm, Tiffany Tatreau, Kholby Wardell, and Brooke Maxwell, with Sarah Carlé, Richard Moody, Diane Pancel, Anne Schaefer, Aaron Scoones, and Kholby Wardell.
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The Williamstown Theatre Festival‘s 2021 season has been announced, and includes live performances – outdoors, socially distanced, and with safety prioritized.
Outside on Main: Nine Solo Plays by Black Playwrights (July 6-25), curated by Robert O’Hara, featuring plays by Ngozi Anyanwu, France-Luce Benson, J. Nicole Brooks, Guadalis Del Carmen, Terry Guest, Ike Holter, Zora Howard, Nsangou Njikam, and Charley Evon Simpson, directed by Wardell Julius Clark, Candis C. Jones, and Awoye Timpo. Each performance consists of nine 30-minute world premieres.
Row (July 13 – Aug. 18), by Daniel Goldstein & Dawn Landes, directed by Tyne Rafaeli, featuring Grace McLean.
Alien/Nation (July 20 – Aug. 8), an immersive world premiere theatrical experience from Michael Arden and the company of The Forest of Arden, that takes audiences on a journey throughout Williamstown, revealing unexpected surprises around them and within them. Audience will choose to experience this completely unique site-specific performance by foot or by car, and plunge themselves into the center of stories inspired by real events that took place in Western Massachusetts in 1969.
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Video: To celebrate International Dance Day, eleven dancers each choreographed an addition to Don Alden’s new song, “We’re Gonna Come Back,” in their own preferred dance style. (4:31)
Karla Garcia, Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, Joomin Hwang, Gabe Hyman, Nicole Johnson, Dana Moore, Shoba Narayan, Tiler Peck, Caterina Rago, and Tony Yazbeck.
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The filmed Roundabout 2011 production of The Importance of Being Earnest will stream May 1-31 here, directed by Brian Bedford, and hosted by David Hyde Pierce.
Brian Bedford (Lady Bracknell), Dana Ivey (Miss Prism), Charlotte Parry (Cecily Cardew), Sara Topham (Gwendolyn), Paxton Whitehead (Reverend Chausible), Santino Fontana (Algernon Moncrief), David Furr (Jack Worthing), Tim MacDonald (Merriman), and Paul O’Brien (Lane).
Included: An intermission special feature with Alfred Molina and Michael Hackett, discussing Wilde, the writer and the man.