Today’s Highlights:
* Sleepless Musical Romance, by Michael Burdette, Robert Scott & Brendan Cu, directed by Morgan Young, featuring Kimberly Walsh (Annie), Jay McGuiness (Sam), Daniel Casey (Walter), Harriet Thorpe (Eleanor), Tania Mathurin (Becky), and Cory English (Rob), Charlie Bull, Colin Burnicle, Christie-Lee Crosson, Laura Darton, Leanne Garretty, Matt Holland, Ross McLaren, Gary Murphy, Dominique Planter, Annie Wensak, Benjamin Wong, and Theo Collis, Mikey Colville, Jobe Hart & Jack Reynolds (sharing the role of Sam’s son, Jonah), begins previews at London’s Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre.
* The Letters of Noël Coward virtual reading, directed by Bob Balaban, featuring Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason, streams at 9 PM ET at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre.
* Lin Manuel Miranda and the original Schuyler sisters (Renee Elise Goldsberry, Jasmine Cephas, and Phillipa Soo) celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, in conversation with Soledad O’Brien, at 8:30 PM ET on Zoom.
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Video: “Stars in the House,” with guest host Andrea Burns, and special guests Peter Flynn, Sutton Foster, and Ted Griffin. (1:02:56)
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Eligible shows for the 2020 Tony Awards:
Best Musical:
Moulin Rouge!
The Lightning Thief
Tina, The Tina Turner Musical
Jagged Little Pill
Best Play:
Sea Wall/A Life
The Height of the Storm
The Great Society
Slave Play
Linda Vista
The Sound Inside
The Inheritance
A Christmas Carol
My Name is Lucy Barton
Grand Horizons
Revival of a Musical:
No musical revivals opened within the eligibility window
Revival of a Play:
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Betrayal
The Rose Tattoo
A Soldier’s Play
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BroadwayHD has partnered with the Broadway Booking Office NYC to offer limited-time, discounted subscriptions to the streaming service for patrons of Broadway touring venues, as well as regional and local theatres. Participating theatres will be able to give their subscribers a three-month membership at a savings of up to 50%.
Subscriptions grant access to hundreds of musicals and plays captured live on Broadway, in the West End, and theatres across the world. The initiative through BBO is part of BroadwayHD’s goal to help shuttered theatres create additional revenue during the coronavirus pandemic.
Musicals: Falsettos, Kinky Boots, Cats, Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera, Pippin, The King and I, 42nd Street, and many more.
Plays: Indecent, Red, modern Shakespeare adaptations, dance pieces, operas, and many more.
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Hilarious Jellicle Cats parodies:
Video: from Ken Loach
Video: ” Adopting a Jellicle Cat”
Video: “Deers”
Video: “Memory – The Corona Version”
Video: “Mammaries”
Video: “Memory (of Gronk)”
Video: “Cats Horror Parody Trailer”
Video: “Memory – A Spoof,” by Pam Peterson Fabulous!
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LA Writers Center presents a reading of Jon Bastian’s Strange Fruit Part 1 on Sat. Aug. 29 and Strange Fruit Part 2 Sat. Sept. 26, both at 11 AM PT, directed by Martin Bedoian & Che’Rae Adams.
Sarah Scott Davis (Billie Holiday), Matthew Fox, Frankie Chuter, Matthew Hancock, Donna Simone Johnson, Jonathan P. Sims, William Salyers, Maria Nicolacakis, Abe Meeropol, Shawn Macaulay, Susan Rome, David Wilcox, Joe Rumi, and Mark McClain Wilson, with Bart Tangredi, Michael T. Kachingwe, John Schumacher, Jasmine D’Angelo, Courtney Sheets, and Paul Mischeshin.
A non-chronological and kaleidoscopic interweaving of multiple interconnected stories including the tale of Billie Holiday and her signature song; the Jewish Communist school teacher from the Bronx who wrote it; the Red Scare witch-hunt victims whose children he saved; the lynching victims and the young black writer who were inspired by it, and the young gay man whose death shocked a nation and led to attempts at tolerance in the twenty-first century. Crossing lines of gender, race, religion, and sexuality, the play strives to remind us that, ultimately, our commonality is in being human. The price of equality is constant vigilance and mutual protection.
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Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater has announced additional performers for Miscast20, to take place Sun. Sept. 13 at 8 PM ET, with music supervision by Will Van Dyke.
Previously announced: Jocelyn Bioh, Raúl Esparza, Beanie Feldstein, Heather Headley, Joshua Henry, Judith Light, Rob McClure, Nicolette Robinson, Phillipa Soo, and Adrienne Warren.
Newly announced: Norbert Leo Butz, Robert Fairchild, Ingrid Michaelson, Leslie Odom Jr, Isaac Powell, Lauren Ridloff, Kenneth Cole, Julianna Margulies, Piper Perabo, and Thomas Sadoski, with still more TBA.
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Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has announced its 2020-21 season, both in person and virtual:
* Romantics Anonymous (Sept. 22-26, 2020) livestream, by Emma Rice, Christopher Diamond & Michael Kooman, directed by Rice. An unusual and tender love story in which the obstacles to happiness are not the usual external barriers, but those sneaky little ones we know all tot intimately: the ones within.
* Peter Pan — A Musical Adventure (Holiday 2020), by George Stiles & Anthony Drew, a 75-minute performance, directed & choreographed by Amber Mak.
* Blue (Jan. 2021), created by Jeanine Tesori & Tazewell Thompson, The play brings audiences into the emotional epicenter as a Black police officer and his wife are faced with the killing of their son at the hands of the police—realizing their deepest fears in the devastating reality.
* I, Cinna (the poet) (Winter 2021), by Tim Crouch, directed by Tyrone Phillips. In Julius Caesar, the humble poet Cinna hardly says a word before being mistaken for someone else and torn to pieces by an angry mob. Searching for the subject of a new poem, Cinna invites the audience to write along live in an exploration of words and actions, protest, and power.
* I, Banquo (Winter 2021), by Tim Crouch, directed by Marti Lyons. The play reexamines Shakespeare’s Macbeth through the eyes of the title character’s murdered best friend.
* It Came From Outer Space (Winter 2021), world premiere by Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair, directed by Laura Braza. The musical spins Ray Bradbury’s flying saucer tale with a clever musical score and creative physical humor—examining society’s fear of outsiders and embracing the wonder of what lies just beyond the stars.
* Measure for Measure (Spring 2021), directed by Henry Godinez,
* Twelfth Night (Spring 2021), directed by Barbara Gaines,
* As You Like It (Spring/Summer 2021), directed by Daryl Cloran,
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Video: Rachel Bay Jones performs “I Miss the Mountains”
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Michael Riedel‘s new book, “Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway” will be released Nov. 10 here. The book is a sequel to “Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway.”
A sweeping history of Broadway in the 1990s, from The Lion King to Rent and The Producers.
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Video: Liz Callaway performs “You’ve Got a Friend”
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David Byrne’s “American Utopia,“ directed by Spike Lee, will be released Oct. 17 on HBO and HBO Max.
Byrne is joined by an ensemble of 11 musicians, singers, and dancers from around the world, inviting audiences into a joyous dreamworld where human connection, self-evolution, and social justice are paramount.
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Video: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party, with special guests Kathy Najimy, Darius Freeman, Ariana Salavas, Marcus Monroe, and Ruby Rakos. (1:44:20)