Today’s Highlights:
None.
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Reviews for Lungs at London’s Old Vic (in socially distant performances):
NY Times (Ben Brantley): …streaming in a beautifully acted (and socially distanced) live production from London’s Old Vic Theater… portrayed by Claire Foy and Matt Smith. As I watched them break and reassemble each other’s hearts with such seemingly spontaneous fervor, I thought what a relief it must be for them after all that bottled-up time together in Buckingham Palace… I am happy to report that Foy and Smith are equally adept at delivering such ambivalence, common to nearly all long and intimate relationships, at high volume and in equally high gear… Lungs also turns out to be a natural for the Zoom format and the restrictions of the pandemic age.
Guardian (Chris Wiegand): Matt Smith and Claire Foy have returned to London’s Old Vic for a handful of physically distanced performances of Lungs, resuming roles they played in 2019. This time, however, the auditorium is empty and the audience on Zoom… an appropriate choice in content as well as form… Warchus, an incisive director of film as well as theatre, presents the story in split screen. Smith and Foy occupy the same stage but rarely the same shot. It’s jarring at first but accentuates Macmillan’s interest in what is shared and what remains separate in coupledom… This is all exploratory use of a new medium, and a refreshing contrast to pedestrian archive streams of stage productions… Foy and Smith are superb…
Londonist (Franco Milazzo): This latest take on Duncan Macmillan’s two-hander is starkly sparse…a situation which only enhances the emotional chemistry between Matt Smith and Claire Foy. Throughout, the pair show an incredible intensity and intimacy… Almost a parody at times… Lungs certainly isn’t an easy watch, even over Zoom where there may be occasional temptations to hide behind a sofa or look anywhere but at the screen… many of the scenes feature epic levels of verbal brutality but, schmaltzy final scene aside, Foy and Smith elevate this play into something as beautiful as it is heart-rending.
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Broadway is officially closed through at least Jan. 3, 2021.
Once it is deemed safe to reopen, audiences can expect shows to return on a rolling basis, rather than on one specific date. Details concerning this scheduling and ticketing will be announced in the coming weeks.
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Video: Jason Robert Brown performs 2 cut songs from 13. (14:29)
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Kritzerland’s Influencers, in support of North Hollywood’s NoHo Theatres, will take place Sun. July 12 at 5 PM PT here, with music direction by Richard Allen.
Daniel Thomas Bellusci, Jason Graae, Norm Lewis, Kerry O’Malley, Hartley Powers, Emily Skinner, Sami Staitman, Adrienne Stiefel, and Robert Yacko.
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Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss’ SIX will return to UK stages this summer, becoming the first musical to do so since the pandemic shut down theatres around the world, directed by Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage. 
here (on sale starting July 3).
Lauren Drew (Catherine of Aragon), Maddison Bulleyment (Anne Boleyn), Lauren Byrne (Jane Seymour), Shekinah McFarlance (Anna of Cleves), Jodie Steel (Katherine Howard), and Athena Collins (Catherine Parr), with Jennifer Caldwell, Cassandra Lee, and Harriet Watson.
Of course, health precautions prohibit theatres from reopening and operating as they once did for now, so the show will play festival-style in open air sites, with audiences attending while being stationed in their own vehicles.
Audiences will drive their vehicles to designated spots, where they will be able to set up a socially distanced private area to watch. Big screens will also project the performance throughout the playing arena.
The musical will play multiple performances in 12 open spaces across the country, with each venue equipped to accommodate about 300 vehicles (limit seven people per vehicle).
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Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert (originally titled Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares), which was filmed in 2009 at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre, will stream on Fri. July 10 at 8 PM ET here, in support of BC/EFA, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, with music direction by Marvin Laird.
The evening will also feature a conversation between Peters and Michael Urie, celebrating Peter’s career, as well as Mary Tyler Moore.
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The Actors Fund has announced the Every Artist Insured campaign, to enhance their free and confidential health insurance counseling and enrollment support services.
Over the next 6 months, thousands of professionals in performing arts and entertainment, who remain without work because of COVID-19, will become ineligible for their union insurance. In order to maintain coverage without interruption, individuals and families will need education and assistance in selecting and securing affordable health insurance plans through the state health insurance exchanges starting immediately. To respond to this need, The Actors Fund will hire and train additional health insurance counselors, doubling the staff of their Artists Health Insurance Resource Center.
A lead gift of $1,000,000 in support from BC/EFA will launch the campaign will enable The Actors Fund to raise additional funds needed to create and fund the program over the next 12 months, and support the community in staying insured through the COVID-19 crisis.
Please consider donating here.
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Video: Complete musical — Encores!’ A New Brain (2015), with Jonathan Groff, Dan Fogler, Ana Gasteyer, Aaron Lazar, and Rema Webb. (1:37:46)
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Video: Hamilton fans have created parodies of Trump, Harry Potter, Covid, and more. Great fun!!
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Long Island’s Bay Street Theater presents its 29th Annual Summer Gala — A Starry Night, to be livestreamed Wed. July 22 at 8 PM ET, hosted by Richard Kind, directed by Bob Balaban, with music direction by Andy Einhorn Proceeds will benefit JBJ Soul Kitchen Foodbank.
The event will be a celebration of Broadway musicals of the 1970s, written by Scooter Pietsch, and will pay comedic homage to the celebrity telethon specials popular at the time.
Raul Esparza, Ben Vereen, Melissa Errico, Betty Buckley, André de Shields, Josh Young, Hunter Parrish, Trent Saunders, and Omar Lopez-Cepero, with Enhi Agwe, Kaden Amari Anderson, Kyle Barisich, Kelli Barrett, Jill Eikenberry, Dee Hoty, Josh Grisetti, Will Hantz, Jackie Hoffman, Beaghan LaFlam, Neil Mayer, Howard McGillin, Meaghan McInnes, Ethan Meta, Julia Motyka, Dakota Quackenbush, Lindsay Roberts, Steve Rosen, Anna Francesca Schiavoni, Erica Spyres, Bobby Conte Thornton, Rich Topol, Michael Tucker, Teal Wicks, and Cooki Winborn.
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Video: Pasadena Symphony’s POPScast, Ept. 2, with special guest Valerie Perri. (27:46)
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Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre presents Voices of America. an evening of songs and stories of conflict, crisis, hope, and healing, on Thurs. July 2 at 5:30 PM PT. 
here.
Noel Paul Stookey and Paul Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary), Brian Stokes Mitchell, Voices of Service, Lauren Patten, and many more.
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Video: James Corden & The Muppets: “With a Little Help From My Friends”
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The Virtual Fire Island Dance Festival, in support of Dancers Responding to AIDS, will livestream Fri. July 17 at 7 PM ET here. The festival will include three world premieres and three favorites from past festivals.
Ayodele Casel, Larry Kiegwin, Stephen Petronio, Al Blackstone, Kyle Abraham, and Garrett Smith.
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Video: “Raise You Up” from Kinky Boots, with Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford, Harvey Fierstein, Cyndi Lauper, Jerry Mitchell, Wayne Brady, Jake Shears, David Cook, and Kirstin Maldonado.
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Video: A musical tribute to Mel Brooks to celebrate his birthday, at the 2010 “Kennedy Center Honors”