GRACE NOTES will return Tuesday, September 8
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Holiday Highlights:
Thursday, September 3
* Theatre for One: Here We Are microplays, by Lydia R. Diamond, Jaclyn Backhaus, Regina Taylor, and more, which brings together one performer and one audience member, streamed every 15 minutes beginning at 6 PM ET here.
* Skylight Theatre‘s Flapping and Flying FREE Zoom reading, by Michelle Kholos, directed by Jenny Sullivan, starring Joe Spano and JoBeth Williams, livestreams at 3 PM PT.
* Belting for Biden FREE benefit concert, hosted by Ben Cameron, featuring Judy Kuhn, Hailey Kilgore, Laura Bell Bundy, Saycon Sengbloh, Krystal Joy Brown, Angela Birchett, Nikki Renée Daniels, Ashley Loren, Ryann Redmond, Sharone Sayegh, Betsy Struxness, Marisha Wallace, and Shaina Taub, streams at 9 PM ET here.
Friday, September 4
* Dinner With Friends FREE benefit reading, by David Margulies, directed by Alison Tanney, featuring Ben Davis, Ali Ewoldt, Kenita Miller, and more, streams at 7 PM ET here.
* Eleanor filmed version, by Mark St. Germain, starring Harriet Harris, streamed at 7:30 PM ET at MA’s Barrington Stage (also available Sept. 5)
Saturday, September 5
* Glendale’s Alex Theatre presents a “95th Birthday Telethon,” featuring Musical Theatre Guild’s members performing “Heart & Music” (from A New Brain), a virtual tour of the Alex Theatre with Jason Graace, and so much more, from 9 AM – 9 PM PT.
Sunday, September 6
* Nick Cordero FREE memorial tribute, featuring castmates from A Bronx Tale, Bullets Over Broadway, The Toxic Avenger, Rock of Ages, and Waitress, streams at 7 PM ET on Broadway On Demand
* The Seth Concert Series, with special guest Karen Olivo, streams at 8 PM ET here (and 3 PM tomorrow).
Monday, September 7
* Rubicon Theatre‘s Music of the Knights: Celebrating the Songs of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney drive-in concert, directed by James O’Neil, featuring Ted McNeeley, Teri Bibb, David Burnham, Davis Gaines, Chris Lash, Tami Tappan Damiano, and Ty Taylor, opens at the Ventura County Fairgrounds parking lot.
* Jim Caruso’s Cast Party variety show, with special guests TBA, streamed at 8 PM ET here.
* The Seth Concert Series, with special guest Karen Olivo, streams at 3 PM ET here.
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Reviews for Sleepless: A Musical Romance at London’s Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre:
New York Times (Matt Wolf): … like it or not — and Sleepless is fairly anodyne — the show on view through Sept. 27 exists on a scale that seemed unimaginable even a month or two ago. And for that at least, three cheers…. The determination of all involved makes it especially disappointing that the director Morgan Young’s production isn’t more exciting, however likable its leads are… too much of the score has a samey, easy-listening quality, with one song blurring into the next.
Evening Standard (Nick Curtis): It’s stodgy, but this musical adaptation…feels like a sweet treat in showbiz-starved times. Jay McGuiness and Kimberley Walsh don’t have the ineffable chemistry of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan… Morgan Young’s well drilled production features subtle distancing. After a while, you don’t really notice it, because the story has separation in its DNA…. The book, by Michael Burdette, simplifies and coarsens the story, over-emphasizing the old Hollywood references and the theme of destiny. The music, by Robert Scott, is flute-heavy and generic. Brendan Cull’s lyrics are full of gawky rhymes…
The Guardian (Arifa Akbar): … Dear Sleepless, I can’t believe it has been almost 30 years since you stole our hearts in your original incarnation as a film…. It’s frustrating because you seemed so right on paper – a love story that took us back to a safer time… but I just didn’t feel a charge this time around and I hope it won’t hurt your feelings too much to say that my heart didn’t miss any beats… your mood seems sedate and your pace is decidedly sleepy at times…. Yes, you have a lovely live jazz orchestra but the songs by Robert Scott and Brendon Cull are bland and the jazz sounds like cruise liner entertainment at times… But it all feels like they – you – are going through the motions, not driven by passion and yearning.
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Reviews for David Hare’s Beat the Devil at London’s Bridge Theatre:
Evening Standard (Nick Curtis): This angry sickbed shout of a play is a testament to the resilience of London Theatre. David Hare, 73, wrote it after falling desperately ill with Covid-19 just before lockdown, and watching aghast the government’s failure to grapple with the disease… Ralph Fiennes…perfectly captures Hare’s acid, exasperated tones… It’s a raw, urgent piece of work… The piece has such immediacy, and Fienees such understated charisma, that any fear of Covid-fatigue is overcome.
Independent (Ava Wong Davies): …such a disappointingly slight piece of work…. Nicholas Hytner’s direction…seeks to keep the text front and centre, without any unnecessary flourishes. The problem, however, is that the text…is decidedly half-baked, despite aspiring towards the type of biting polemic for which Hare is famous… It seems sometimes like writer David Hare is attempting to explain the situation to someone who has completely missed the pandemic – rather than engage with an audience who are living through it too…
Variety (David Benedict): David Hare’s monologue about his own battle with coronavirus finds more power in his poignant personal tale than it does in the righteous political fury he feels in its aftermath… Although he includes a few contrasts with and sideswipes at Trump’s mismanagement of the virus, Hare is understandably focused upon the British handling of the pandemic and, chiefly, the dangerous degree of lying done by the government, and its refusal to deal with the truth before or during the crisis.
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Video: “Stars in the House,” with a Broadway Curtains cast reunion, featuring guest host Jason Danieley, along with David Hyde Pierce, Debra Monk, and Karen Ziemba. (1:34:54)
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L.A. Theatre Works has offered additional audio plays:
* A Fair Country, by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Jace Alexander, featuring Judith Ivey, David Dukes, Maddie Corman, Kurt Deutsch, George Gaynes, Chuma Hunter-Gault, Matt McGrath, and Kurtwood Smith. (available now). 
A well-meaning American diplomat in South Africa tries to pacify his ferociously combative wife and anti-apartheid activist son by being reassigned to The Hague.
* A View from the Bridge, by Arthur Miller, starring Ed O’Neill, Harry Hamlin, Mary McDonell, and Amy Pietz. (available Sept. 5). Longshoreman Eddie Carbone’s devotion to his niece Catherine turns to obsession when she falls in love with one of his wife’s undocumented cousins.
* Breaking the Code, adapted by Hugh Whitemore, featuring Simon Templeman, Sheelagh Cullen, W. Morgan Sheppard, and André Sogliuzzo. (starts Sept. 12). Alan Turing cracked the Enigma code during WWII, but after the war his country was more interested in his sexual orientation than his genius.
* An Immaculate Misconception, by Carl Dierassi, directed by Jenny Sullivan, featuring Philip Casnoff, Kevin Kilner, Kendall Schmidt, and JoBeth Williams. Dr. Melanie Laidlaw is developing the first use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Her collaborator, Dr. Felix Frankenthale, has his own ideas. (starts Sept. 18)
* Double header — The Gin Game, by D.L. Coburn, featuring Katherine Helmond and Harris Yulin…….. and The Value of Names, by Jeffrey Sweet, featuring Hector elizondo, Garry Marshall, and Sally Murphy. (starts Sept. 19). (The Value of Names) The story of two former friends torn asunder by the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. Benny Silverman was blacklisted after being branded a communist sympathizer. The namer of names was his apparent friend, Leo Greshen.
* Camping with Henry and Tom, by Mark St. Germain, featuring Alan Alda and Charles Durning. (starts Sept. 26). President Harding wants to be with his mistress. Henry Ford wants to be President. Thomas Edison wonders how the three of them ended up in the woods.
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Video: Hello, Dolly! celebrity Broadway auditions. Hysterical!
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The Last Five Years will run Oct. 1-31 at the Southwark Playhouse, directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, choreographer Sam Spencer-Lane, and music direction by George Dyer.
Molly Lynch and Oli Higginson
The musical will be re-staged with socially distant measures, including the use of plexiglass between performers and audiences and a reduced seating capacity.
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ME’s Ogunquit Playhouse has announced its Broadway Gives Back to the Playhouse benefit, to take place Thurs. Sept. 24 at 7 PM ET.
Hal Linden
F. Michael Haynie, Sydney Morton Reed Campbell, Michele Ragusa, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Lindsay Roberts, Matthew Marks, William Selby, Amanda LaVergne, Joey Sorge, and more.
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Video: “The Theatre Will Survive,” music video by Michael Colby & Ned Paul Ginsburg, featuring Ben Vereen, Len Cariou, Christine Andreas, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Christina Bianco, Chuck Cooper, Robert Cuccioli, Marc De la Cruz, George Dvorsky, Anita Gillette, Jason Graae, Ann Harada, Leah Hocking, Richard Jay-Alexander, Judy Kaye, Jeff Keller, Eddie Korbich, Michael McCormick, N’Kenge, Barry Pearl, Gabriella Pizzolo, Stephanie Pope, Faith Prince, Courtney Reed, T. Oliver Reid, Steve Rosen, Jennifer Sanchez, Analiese Scarpaci, Tony Sheldon, Ryan Silverman, and Paulo Szot.
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FALL 
Off-Broadway’s Primary Stages has announced its online Fall Season:
Reading Series:
* Legends of Texas (Sept. 21 at 7 PM ET), by Nilsa Reyna. 
(free) here.
* Derecho (Sept. 24 at 7 PM ET), by Noelle Viñas. (free) here.
* A Tribute Artist (Sept. 30 – Oct. 4), written by & starring Charles Busch, directed by Carl Andress. An out-of-work female impersonator who, when his elderly landlady dies in her sleep, takes on her identity in order to hang on to her valuable Greenwich Village townhouse. 
here
* The Night Watcher (Fall – dates & link TBA) written & performed by Charlayne Woodard. Told with penetrating grace and candor, Woodard weaves together stories of the ordinary and extraordinary ways she has mentored the children in her life.
* Soil Beneath: An Empirical Decay (Nov. 11-15), by Chesney Snow. A visceral, timely, and nuanced exploration of race, class, and American political culture told through the mediums of poetry, storytelling, dance, and music. here
Virtual Gala (Oct. 21), honoring the dedicated NYC public school teachers who are keeping theatre alive at their schools, as well as honoring Adam Gwon. Hosted by Judy Gold. (ticket link TBA)
Benefit Reading: A Christmas Carol (date TBA), adapted & directed by Theresa Rebeck, with casting TBA.
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Video: Teaser for “The Glorias,” about the life of Gloria Steinem, featuring Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Janelle Monáe, Lorraine Toussaint, Better Midler, Monica Sanchez, and Kimberly Guerrero, which will premiere Sept. 30 on Prime Video.
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“Robin’s Wish” is now available on iTunes, Prime Video, Google Play, and Vudu.
The new film, directed by Tyler Norwood, attempts to course-correct by shedding light on Robin Williams’ struggle with a devastating neurological disease known as Lewy body dementia. Williams never knew his own diagnosis, which came months after his death in the final autopsy. By then, it was hard to re-write the narrative many had in their heads already. But, as William’s wife, Susan Schniieder Williams, reveals in the documentary, the comedian was hardly recognizable as himself by the time he took his own life. It was one of the worst cases medical professionals had seen.
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A virtual production of Austin Winsberg, Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner’s First Date will stream Oct. 22-24 at Crazy Coqs, directed by Dean Johnson, with music direction by Josh Winstone.
Samantha Barks (Casey) and Simon Lipkin (Aaron), with Nicholas McLean (Man #2), Rufus Kampa (Young Aaron), and Danielle Steers (Woman #1).
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Video: Trailer for “The Boys in the Band,” to be released Sept. 30 on Netflix. starring Jim Parsons Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesus, Brian Hutchinson, Tuc Watkins, and Michael Benjamin Washington.