Today’s Highlights:
* Gloria benefit reading, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, in support of The Dramatists Guild Foundation, directed by Evan Cabnet, featuring Kle Beltran, Catherine Combs, Michael Crane, Jennifer Kim, Jeanine Serralles, and Ryann Spahn, streams at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre (and available through Jan. 24).
* Stars in the House, a Game Night, with special guests Andrea Martin, Alice Ripley, Joely Fisher, Paul Castree, and Stephen Spadaro, streams at 8 PM ET here.
* Blue Ridge reading, by Abby Rosebrock, directed by Taibi Magar, featuring Marin Ireland, Kyle Beltran, Peter Mark Kendall, Nicole Lewis, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Chris Stack, concludes streaming at 7 PM ET here.
**********************
Video: “Jim Caruso’s Cast Party” variety show, with special guests Capathia Jenkins, Claybourne Elder, Susan Werner, Jessica Fishenfeld & Scott Joiner, and Toni Tennille. (1:48:25)
**********************
Jessica Vosk & Seth Rudetsky in concert will stream Sun. Jan. 24 at 8 PM ET here.
**********************
“The Dream Unrealized: the James Baldwin Project” is now available for streaming through Jan. 21 here.
A theatrical video project utilizing the text of Baldwin’s arguments and the experiences of young African Americans in today’s society to underline the fact that there has not been enough meaningful change. Sharing their powerful words and their own original stories are Judine Somerville, Alex Hairston, DeAundre Woods, Jenny Laroche, and Tayler Harris.
**********************
Lincoln Center Theater will host a cast reunion of The Light in the Piazza on Thurs. Jan. 28 at 7 PM ET, moderated by Ira Weitzman.
Victoria Clark, Kelli O’Hara, Matthew Morrison, and Bartlett Sher.
**********************
Video: Co-stars remember Rebecca Luker (limited log-in options on Spectrum).
**********************
New York Theatre Barn will livestream excerpts from Joe Iconis’ Love in Hate Nation on Wed. Jan. 20 at 7 PM ET.
Kelly McIntyre and Amina Faye, with Jasmine Forsberg, Lauren Marcus, Tatiana Whechsler, Sydney Farley, Amina Faye, Lena Skeele, and Emerson Mae Smith.
Set in a 1960s Juvie Hall, the musicals tells the story of young people caught between eras of a changing America. Sixteen-year-old Susannah Son is carted off to the National Reformatory for Girls to get her head put on straight. There she meets the aggressively incorrigible Sheila Nail, and a relationship forms which leads to an all-out “revolution in the institution,” as they attempt to break out of the boxes society has created around them.
**********************
A special “Queens of the Kingdom” edition of “E-Ticket to Broadway,” as part of the Broadway Podcast Network’s Special Live events, will livestream Thurs. Jan. 21 at 8 PM ET here, hosted by David Alpert.
Cast members from Broadway’s Six — Adrianna Hicks, Abby Mueller, Brittney Mack, and Samantha Pauly, with host David Alpert.
**********************
The Australian tour of Come From Away had its first performance last night in Australia since the shut down due to COVID, at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre.
The production is the first to re-take the stage worldwide.
**********************
“Backstage Babble: Trivia Night,” hosted by Charles Kirsch, will stream Sat. Jan. 23 at 7 PM ET here.
Lee Roy Reams, Jim Morgan, Peter Filichia, Josh Ellis, and Michael Lavine
Martin Milnes, Rob W. Schneider, Aaron Coleman, and George Dansker
Test your knowledge along with the four on-screen answerers. All you have to do is write down your answers at home and check for yourself!
**********************
A reading of Scott Barry’s Hard on Love will stream Mon. Jan. 25 at 6 PM PT at Hollywood’s Blank Theatre (and available through Jan. 31), directed by Jonathan Stuart Cerullo.
Rob Nagle and Jesse Hayea.
Born and raised in the geographic center of the U.S., Prairie View, Kansas, Steve now lives in NY. Scott lives in LA. Their stories mirror each other, often word for word, with variances for their sexualities and environments, as they desperately try to find love and heal themselves after experiencing the sudden inability to achieve an erection.
**********************
Video: “You’ve Got a Friend” performed by the worldwide cast of Beautiful (in quarantine). Wonderful.
**********************
Article: “How Theater Stepped Up to Meet the Trump Era,” by NY Times theatre critic Laura Collins-Hughes.
**********************
Video: Michael Arden and Andy Mientus perform “I’d Rather Be Sailing” from A New Brain.
**********************
John Lloyd Young’s Vegas Valentine will livestream Fri. Feb. 12 at 6 PM PT at Las Vegas’ Space, with music direction by Tommy Faragher.
After the concert, viewers are invited to a post-show virtual Valentine’s date, where over a bottle of wine, Young will have one-on-one conversations with callers chosen from questions they’ve submitted in advance, capped off with a grand-finale performance of a brand-new cover of one of the most beloved classic love songs of all time.
**********************
Video: Jessie Mueller, Joshua Henry, and Ted Chapin discuss working with Jack O’Brien on Carousel. (1:07:53)
**********************
Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, directed by Matthew Warchus, will stream 3 times daily Jan. 20-22 at London’s Old Vic.
Michael Sheen, Indira Varma, and David Threlfall.
Francis Hardy travels the to the most remote corners of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland attempting to heal those who wish to be healed. His wife Grace and manager Teddy complete this nomadic triptych, each with their own telling of the loss, love, and struggle of life on the road with a seemingly predestined Faith Healer.
**********************
Some of Kelli O’Hara‘s fabulous moments on stage:
Video: “If I Loved You” (Carousel)
Video: Recording Encore’s Brigadoon, with Patrick Wilson
Video: “All I Care About” from MisCast (2018)
Video: From The Light in the Piazza (2005)
Video: “Getting to Know You” (The King and I)
Video: Clips from The Pajama Game at the 2006 Tony Awards
Video: At the 2008 Tony Awards
Video: From The Bridges of Madison County (Broadway 2014)
**********************
“Broadway Murder Mysteries: Play The Part Or Be A Detective” will livestream Fri. Jan. 22 at 8 PM ET here.
Or you can remain “off-screen” while watching the comedy at play and help solve the crime.
It’s opening night of Murder in the First on Broadway, and nerves are high. The cast and crew are all a-buzz backstage with the excitement of the lights, the sounds — and the dead body of big-shot Broadway Producer. There lies Jack Bialystock, shot in the back, centerstage, before the curtain could rise. Was the murderer a cast member, like Anita Part, who’s making her Broadway debut tonight, or seasoned performer Sienna Stealer? Was it the sleazy casting director Colin Back, or a member of the audience like Megan Phan who somehow wandered backstage? There’s only one way to find out: play the game Bullets on Broadway! But hold onto your overpriced wine — the murderer may be YOU!
**********************
Video: MasterVoices’ “Myths and Hymns” — Chapter 1: Flight digital film (available through June 30), conceived & directed by Ted Sperling. (28:06)
Kelli O’Hara, Joshua Henry, Norm Lewis, Mykal Kilgore, Anderson & Roe, Julia Bullock, Renée Fleming, Jose Llana, Capathia Jenkins, Elizabeth Stanley, and Take 6.