Today’s Highlights:
* NY Rep’s May Day FREE zoom reading, by Melissa Li & Kit Yan, directed by Markus Potter, featuring Ruthie Ann Miles, Marc delaCruz, Hennesy, and Catherine Ricafort, at 6 PM ET. 
: gm@newyorkrep.org
* Skylight Theatre’s It’s All About Nuts FREE reading, by Michelle Kholos Brooks, directed by Jenny Sullivan, featuring Joe Spano and JoBeth Williams, livestreams at 3 PM PT on Facebook.
**********************
GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Theater cannot include only people. What acts on stage is matter.” ~ Gaetano Pesche
**********************
Joe DePietro & David Bryan’s Diana will premiere on Netflix in early 2021 (release date TBA), and also open on Broadway on May 25, 2021 at the Longacre Theatre, directed by Christopher Ashley, with choreography by Kelly Devine, and music supervision by Ian Eisendrath.
Diana will be filmed without an audience on the stage of the Longacre Theater, and has worked closely with AEA on all protocols.
(original Broadway casting): Jeanna de Waal (Diana), Roe Hartrampf (Prince Charles), Erin Davie (Camilla Parker Bowles), and Judy Kaye (Queen Elizabeth), with Zach Adkins, Tessa Alves, Ashley Andrews, Austen Danielle Bohmer, Holly Ann Butler, Stephen Carrasco, Bruce Dow, Richard Gatta, Lauren E.J. Hamilton, Emma Hearn, Shaye B. Hopkins, Andre Jordan, Gareth Keegan, Nathan Lucrezio, Tomǡs Matos, Chris Medlin, Laura Stracko, and Bethany Ann Tesarck.
**********************
Video: “Stars in the House,” with The Three Chers (Stephanie J. Block, Teal Wicks, and Micaela Diamond). (1:14:04)
**********************
Sarah Cooper, everyone’s favorite Trump lip-sync genius, will now have her very own Netflix comedy special, “Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine,” which will premiere this Fall (date TBA), directed by Natasha Lyonne, and featuring an array of guest stars.
Described as being “short interviews, sketches,” and vignettes, the special will feature Cooper and guests on the topics of politics, race, gender, class, and other light subjects.
**********************
The final episode of The Muny 2020 Summer Variety Hour Live will take place Mon. Aug. 17 at 8:15 PM CT here.
* Scenes from the Muny vaults include A Chorus Line, Cinderella, Guys and Dolls, Gypsy, Meet Me in St. Louis, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and The Muny Centenial Gala: An Evening with the Stars.
* Erin Dilly and Stephen R. Buntrock perform “You and I” from Meet Me In St. Louis
* Maggie Kuntz sings “The Trolley Song” from Meet Me In St. Louis
* “Broadway Melody,” a Broadway-style filmed-at-the-Muny dance piece from Singin’ in the Rain, conceived & choreographed by Richard Riaz Yoder.
* “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray, directed & choreographed by Jack Sippel, performed by 19 Muny alums, with vocals by Nasia Thomas.
…and much more…
**********************
LA’s Fountain Theatre will reunite the original director and cast for a reading of Ifa Bayeza’s The Ballad of Emmett Till on Fri. Aug. 28 at 4 PM PT.7 PM ET, with returning original director Shirley Jo Finney.
(from the theatre’s 2010 production): Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adrenrele Ojo, and Karen Malina White.
In August, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi when he was accused of whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who was a cashier at a grocery store. Four days later, Bryant’s husband Roy and his half-brother J.W. Milam kidnapped Till, beat him and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury acquitted them. Till’s murder and open casket funeral galvanized the emerging Civil Rights movement. Bryant recanted her story in 2017, admitting that the court testimony she gave more than 6 decades prior was false and stating “Nothing that boy did could every justify what happened to him.
**********************
Video: The Great American Songbook Concert Series!, Volume 8, with Jenn Colella, Kelly Sheehan & Bryan Hunt, Tom Wopat, Anne Bragg, Brian Charles Rooney, Mia Gerachis, Aaron Lazar, Meaghan Sands, Douglas Ladnier, and Jillian Louis. (54:09)
**********************
Musical Theatre West announced upcoming Keep the Lights On benefit concerts, all at at 7 PM PT:
Aug. 14: with Richard Bermudez and Daebreon Poiema
Aug. 28: with David Engel, Larry Raben, and Bets Malone
Sept. 11: The Great American (Virtual Songbook Singalong: Celebrate American, Songs of Hope and Inspiration.
Sept. 25: with Terron Brooks
**********************
Jonathan Pryce has been cast as Prince Philip in Seasons 4 & 5 of “The Crown” on Netflix. Season 4 will drop later this year (date TBA).
The cast also includes Imelda Staunton (Queen Elizabeth II), Lesley Manville (Princess Margaret).
**********************
Video: DC’s Signature Theatre’s The Signature Show: Episode 2, directed by Matthew Gardiner. (25:27)
Ross Baum * Angelica Chéri, Austin Colby, Andre Hinds, Ashleigh King, Donna Migliaccio, Nova Y. Payton, Nickolas Vaughan, Kara-Tameika Watkins, and Kanysha Williams.
**********************
Article: “Why You Can’t Just Stream the Lincoln Center Archive”
**********************
Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater will present Miscast20 on Sun. Sept. 13 at 8 PM ET, with music supervision by Will Van Dyke.
Jocelyn Bioh, Raúl Esparza, Beanie Feldstein, Heather Headley, Joshua Henry, Judith Light, Rob McClure, Nicolette Robinson, Phillipa Soo, Adrienne Warren, and more TBA.
Auction items available for online bidding this year include Robert LuPone’s “One” finale costume from the original production of A Chorus Line, coaching sessions with Co-artistic Directors Will Cantler and Bernie Telsey, a private culinary experience, and more.
View all auction items here. and to bid, as well as purchase a FREE raffle ticket here. 
Click here to donate to MCC Theater.
**********************
Beverly Hills’ The Wallis will present Hershey Felder as George Gershwin Alone on Sun. Sept. 13 at 5 PM PT, directed by Stefano de Carli & Hershey Felder.
**********************
North Hollywood Road Theatre has announced Week 3 of its Summer Playwrights Festival:
* CAM BABY (Aug. 13 at 6 PM PT), by Jessica Moss, directed by Michelle Bossy.
* The Machine (Aug. 14 at 6 PM PT), by Matthew Libby, directed by Michael Michetti.
* Visiting Hours (Aug. 15 at 2 PM PT), by Jami Brandli, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.
* Ringxiety (Aug. 15 at 6 PM PT), by Scooter Pietsch, directed by Andre Barron.
* Five One-Act Plays (Aug. 16 at 6 PM PT).
**********************
MA’s Barrington Stage Company will present a benefit reading of Rob Ulin’s Judgement Day, to stream Sat. Aug. 22 at 7:30 PM ET (and available through Aug. 25), directed by Matthew Penn. Proceeds will go to Barrington Stage and The Actors Fund.
Patti LuPone, Jason Alexander, Santino Fontana, and Michael McKean, with Loretta Devine, Josh Johnston, Bianca LaVerne Jones, Julian Emile Lerner, Justina Machado, Carol Mansell, Michael Mastro, and Elizabeth Stanley.
In this irreverent comedy, Sammy Camp, a deeply corrupt, morally bankrupt lawyer, has a near-death experience in which he encounters a terrifying angel, who threatens him with eternal damnation. In a desperate attempt to redeem himself, Sammy teams with a Catholic priest, who is having his own crisis of faith as he struggles against Church authority. Together Sammy and the priest debate the timeless questions of Western philosophy — “morality,” “faith,” and “Are people any damn good?”
**********************
An industry-only reading of Stan Zimmerman & James Berg’s Silver Foxes will take place Wed. Aug. 19 at 6 PM ET, directed by Michael Urie.
George Takei, Daniel Davis, Jim J. Bullock, and Daniele Gaither.
Inspired by “Gen Silent,” a 2010 documentary about LGBT+ seniors, the play concerns Benny and Chuck, two older gay men, who rescue their dear friend Cecil from a homophobic senior living facility and bring him to live with them in Palm Springs.
(industry only): joey@singoutlouiseproductions.com
**********************
Broadway for Social Justice will livestream Fri. Aug. 21 at 8 PM ET here. While free to watch, donations to the Broadway for Racial Justice Emergency Assistance Fund (launching Sept. 1) are encouraged. The event will spotlight up-and-coming artists within the theatre industry.
Haily Kilgore, Solea Pfeiffer, Shoshana Bean, Jessie Mueller, Sklar Astin, Kalen Allen, Brittany Campbell, Kayla Davion, Deon’te Goodman, Sapphire Hart, Morgan James, Andre Malcolm, Arianne Meneses, Joey Rosario, and Empty Royalty.