Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be limited theatre news for the foreseeable future. I will continue to search for anything meaningful and/or fun to report. Stay safe and healthy.
In addition, with national protests in full swing, and many events being postponed or cancelled, I don’t know when more theatre news will be available, so newsletters may be even shorter for awhile…
Today’s Highlights:
* Altar Boyz benefit reunion concert, with Gary Adler (composer), Michael Patrick Walker (lyricist), Kevin Del Aguila (book), Marc Kessler (co-conceiver), Robyn Goodman (producer), Stafford Arima (director), Christopher Gattelli (choreographer), and Lynn Shankel (music director & co-orchestrator), and original cast members Scott Porter, Tyler Maynard, Andy Karl, Ryan Duncan, and David Josefsberg, livestreamed at 8 PM ET here.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Tony Surprises, by Jim Bernhard
1. Tennessee Williams’ only Tony Award for Best Play was for…A Streetcar Named Desire… The Glass Menagerie… Cat on a Hot Tin Roof… The Rose Tattoo
2. Who was an unusual competitor for Richard Rodgers as composer of the Best Musical in the 1960 Tony Awards?…his college music professor… his longtime friend Irving Berlin… his daughter… the doorman of his apartment building
3. Tommy Tune and Harvey Fierstein are among three people who have each received Tony Awards in four different categories. Who is the third?… Mike Nichols… Trey Parker… Noël Coward… Lily Tomlin
4. Two musicals have been nominated for an impressive 12 Tony Awards each—and won none. One is The Scottsboro Boys and the other is…Billy Elliot… A Little Night Music… Mean Girls… Pippin
5. Soul singer-songwriter John Legend is among the elite group of 15 people who are “EGOTs”—winners of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards. Legend’s Tony was for…Best Score of SpongeBob SquarePants…. co-producer ofJitney… leading actor in Hamlet… director of Jersey Boys
6. Only two plays by Edward Albee have won the Tony for Best Play. They areWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 1962 and… The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?…. Seascape… A Delicate Balance… Three Tall Women
7. The only tie for the Tony Award for Best Musical was between Fiorello! and…Gypsy… The Sound of Music… Once Upon a Mattress… The Music Man
8. Only one actor has ever been nominated for Best Actor in a role in a new production that he did not originate on opening night. He is… Jason Robards Jr …George C. Scott… John Lithgow… Larry Kert
9. The only twins who have ever both won Tony Awards are…. Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen… Pier Angeli and Marisa Pavan… Anthony and Peter Shaffer… Julius and Philip Epstein
10. Only one musical has ever swept all four Tony acting awards, winning for Best Leading Actor and Actress and Best Featured Actor and Actress. It is… Guys and Dolls… My Fair Lady… Annie Get Your Gun… South Pacific
Scroll down for the answers…
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Toronto’s 2020 Dora Award nominations have been announced.
Click here for the complete list of nominations.
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Video: “Stars in the House,” spotlighting the Philadelphia Theatre Company, with Paige Price, Kathleen Turner, Tamara Anderson, Jen Childs, Scott Greer, Amanda Morton, Georgiana Summers, and Brian Anthony Wilson. (57:21)
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Video: “Stars in the House,” featuring Andréa Burns, Michael McElroy, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Telly Leung, and Norm Lewis. (1:03:35)
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Off-Broadway’s Sheen Center presents Poetry in America – Live’s Finishing the Hat on Fri. June 12 at 3 PM ET.
Melissa Errico, Adam Gopnick, and music director Tedd Firth.
Panelists will celebrate the work of Sondheim through performances of his songs and discussion of the lyrics of this particular song.
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Video: Miscast Rewind with Caissie Levy.
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Video: Scott Siegel’s Great American Songbook Series Concert, Volume 4, featuring Ali Ewoldt, Kerry Butler, Elizabeth Stanley, Sam Gravitte & Jason Graae, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Danny Gardner, Beth Malone, Leslie Margherita, Jill Paice, Tom Wopat, Lisa Brescia & Craig Carnelia, and Lisa Howard. (49:14) Quite wonderful.
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All 10 Tony Award ties:
* Best Actress – Musical: Gwen Verdon and Thelma Ritter for New Girl in Town in 1957
* Best Actor – Musical: Leonard Stone (Redhead) and Russell Nype (Call Me Madam) in 1968
* Best Musical: The Sound of Music and Fiorello in 1960
* Best Actress – Musical: Anna Maria Alberghetti (Carnival!) and Dianhann Carroll (No Strings) in 1962
* Best Actress – Musical: Leslie Uggams (Hallelujah, Baby) and Patricia Routledge (Darling of the Day) in 1968
* Costume Design: Theoni V. Aldredge (Annie) and Santo Loquasto (The Cherry Orchard) in 1977
* Best Actress – Play: Constance Cummings (Wings) and Carole Shelley (The Elephant Man) in 1977
* Set Design: John Lee Beatty (Talley’s Folly ) and David Mitchell (Barnum) in 1980
* Original Score: Kander & Ebb (Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Pete Townsend (The Who’s Tommy) in 1993
* Orchestrations: Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) and Martin Koch (Billy Elliot) in 2009
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Video: Mel Brooks & Anne Bancroft, “Sweet Georgia Brown”
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Video: “I Wish It Would Rain,” from Broadway’s Ain’t Too Proud
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& 
CA’s 5-Star Theatricals presents the following:
June 11 (4-5 PM PT): Beauty and the Beast choreography & talk back, hosted Cheryl Baxterm with Beth Malone, Brad Ellis, Lindsay Heather Pearce, Barrett Foa, and more.
June 11 (5:15 – 6 PM PT): A Reunion of the Belles (Beauty and the Beast), with Anneliese van der Pol, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Kim Huber, and Yvette Lawrence.
June 18 (4-5 PM): “It’s a Marvelous Day,” with Barrett Foa.
June 18 (5:15-6 PM) The Marvelous Wonderettes 5-Star Theatrical cast reunion, with Roger Bean, Beth Malone, Misty Cotton, Bets Malone, Darcie Roberts, and Leslie Spencer.
All are open to the public on Zoom,
Meeting ID: 945 6169 9474
Password: 5StarZoom
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Video: The cast of “Schitt’s Creek” and Mariah Carey sing “Hero” in honor of all teachers.
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Video: Ann Hampton Callaway, “My Buddy/Old Friend”
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The 2020 Drama Desk Awards, celebrating Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre, will now air on Sat. June 13 at 7:30 PM ET here.
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The St. Louis Muny has announced that its entire 2020 season has been postponed to 2021.
However, the theatre will offer 5 FREE virtual installments of its Muny Magic at The Sheldon. Concerts, performers, dates and links TBA.
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Video: “CBS Sunday Morning,” with Bernadette Peters, Andre De Shields, Jennifer Ashley Tepper, and Seth Rudetsky & James Wesley, who talk about the Broadway shutdown, the Ghost Light, and how they’re coping.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Tony Surprises
1. Tennessee Williams’ only Tony Award for Best Play was for The Rose Tattoo in 1951.
2. Richard Rodgers and his daughter, Mary, competed for composer of Best Musical in the 1960 Tony Awards, he for The Sound of Music and she for Once Upon a Mattress. He won.
3. Trey Parker won Tony Awards in 2011 for The Book of Mormon for Best Book, Best Score, Best Direction, and Best Musical (as a producer).
4. Mean Girls was nominated for 12 awards in 2018 and, like The Scottsboro Boys in 2011, received nary a one.
5. John Legend’s Tony is as co-producer of August Wilson’s Jitney in 2017.
6. The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia won the Tony for Best Play in 2002.
7. Fiorello! and The Sound of Music tied for the Best Musical Tony Award in 1960.
8. Larry Kert was nominated for a Tony Award in 1971 for Best Actor in Company, in a role originated by Dean Jones, who was replaced by Kert shortly after opening. The Tony Award that year was won by Hal Linden for The Rothschilds.
9. Anthony and Peter Shaffer are the only twins to have each won Tony Awards, both in the Best Play category, Anthony for Sleuth and Peter for Equus and Amadeus.
10. South Pacific swept the acting awards in 1950, with Tonys received by Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, Myron McCormick, and Juanita Hall.