Today’s Highlights:
New York Theatre Workshop‘s NYTW 2021 Annual Gala, celebrating 25 Years of Rent: Measured in Love, directed by Andy Señor Jr, featuring Gilles Chiasson, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Rodney Hicks, Idina Menzel, Aido Nakasone, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Byron Utley, Kristen Lee Kelly, Jesse L. Martin, and Fredi Walker-Browne, Jordan Fisher, Josh Grisetti, Brennin Hunt, Amber Iman, Amy Spanger, Taylor Trensch, Mike Wartella, Arcelus, Annaleigh Ashford, Martha Banta, Adam Chanler-Berat, Brandon Victor Dixon, Sebastian Arcelus, Josh Grisetti, Jeremy O. Harris, Neil Patrick Harris, Victoria Leacock Hoffman, Joe Iconis, Christopher Jackson, Telly Leung, Eva Noblezada, Dael Orlandersmith, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Jai Rodriguez, Ali Stroker, Ephraim Sykes and many more, streams at 8 PM ET (and available through Mar. 6).
Passing Through discussion, with writers Brett Ryback, Eric Ulloa, Igor Goldin and Marcos Santana, streams for FREE at 7 PM ET here.
**********************
The Shubert Organization will renovate and expand Broadway’s Cort Theatre (built in 1912), refurbishing the original structure and adding a new 35-foot-wide expansion on the building’s west side. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2022.
The plans, which were approved by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2017, include a new, modern structure designed by Kostow Greenwood Architects that will feature a grand staircase, elevator, additional accessible bathrooms, concession areas, lounge, dressing rooms, and rehearsal space.
**********************
Video: Jim Caruso’s Cast Party variety show, with special guests Jeremy Stolle, Tymisha Harris, Mike Wartella, and Brandon Bain. (1:20:24)
**********************
“The Jesse Walker Show” presents a cast & creative reunion of The Bridges of Madison County on Mon. Mar. 15 at 8 PM ET here, in support of The Actors Fund.
Kelli O’Hara, Steven Pasquale, Hunter Foster, Caitlin Kinnunen, Derek Klena, Jason Robert Brown, Marsha Norman, and Bartlett Sher.
**********************
The Rockwell Group and TAIT (a global leader in design & construction of solutions for live events) have joined forces to create OpenStage NYC, a new initiative that utilizes portable staging, to help arts organizations move to outdoor performances this Spring. 
here.
TAIT is using equipment from its vast, reconfigurable staging inventory to create unique, quick-deploying staging systems. The package also includes a partial overhead truss, stage lighting, and audio equipment.
Rockwell Group’s theater architects have also created design footprints to accommodate the staging for outdoor production facilities and allow for 50-person audiences socially distanced. It is expected that the performance stages will utilize streets, plazas, and other public spaces identified as part of the Open Culture program as well as other public performances in New York City.
LAPC will use the space behind the theaters for programming and plans to work with other Queens-based artists and organizations to tour the borough of Queens and provide live entertainment to people who have not had an opportunity to see live theatre, dance, or music for a very long time, or for the first time.
Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance’s programming will take place on its property in the Bronx and will kick off with Boogie Down Dance Series performances in mid-April through May, followe by the Out Like That Festival in June. Additional programmiing through October 2021 is TBA.
**********************
“In The Heights” (released June 18), directed by Jon M. Chu, featuring Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Stephanie Beatriz, Gregory Diaz IV, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Olga Merediz, Dascha Polanco, and Jimmy Smits.
“Cinderella” (released July 16), directed by Kay Cannon, featuring Billy Porter, Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan, Nicholas Galitzine, Minnie Driver, John Mulaney, James Corden, Romesh Ranganathn, Fra Free, and Maddie Baillio.
“Dear Evan Hansen” (released Sept. 24), directed by Stephen Chbosky, featuring Ben Platt, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Amandla Stenberg, Kaitlyn Dever, Danny Pino, Colton Ryan, Nik Dodani, DeMarius R. Copes, Gerald Caeser, and Isaac Powell.
“West Side Story” (released Dec. 10), directed by Steven Spielberg, featuring Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose, Rita Moreno, Mike Faist, Brian d’Arcy James, David Alvarez, Ezra Menas, Ben Cook, and Maddie Ziegler.
“Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” (release date TBA ), directed by Jonathan Butterell, featuring Max Harwood, Richard E. Grant, Sarah Lancashire, and Sharon Horgan.
“Tick, Tick…Boom” (release date TBA), directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, featuring Andrew Garfield, Joshua Henry, Vanessa Hudgens, Robin de Jesus, Bradley Whitford, Judity Light, and Alexandra Shipp.
“Cyrano” (release date TBA), directed by Joe Wright, featuring Peter Dinklage, Kelvin Harrison, Jr, Haley Bennett, Brian Tyree Henry, and Ben Mendelsohn.
“The Little Mermaid” (release date TBA), directed by Rob Marshall, featuring Halle Bailey, Jacob Tremblay, Daveed Diggs, Jonah Hauer-King, Awkwafina, Nomma Dumezweni, Melissa McCarthy, and Javier Bardem.
“Matilda” (release date TBA), directed by Matthew Warchus, featuring Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, and Lashana Lynch.
“Merrily We Roll Along” (release date TBA), directed by Richard Linklater, featuring Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, and Blake Jenner.
“Sunset Boulevard” (release date TBA), directed by Rob Ashford, featuring Glenn Close.
“Little Shop of Horrors” (release date & director TBA), featuring Billy Porter, with rumors of Taron Egerton, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Evans.
“13: The Musical” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Tamra Davis.
“Porgy and Bess” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Dee Rees.
“Follies” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Dominic Cooke.
“Gypsy” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino.
“Bare: A Pop Opera” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Kristin Hanggi.
“Miss Saigon” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Danny Boyle.
“Oliver” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Cameron Mackintosh.
“Lysistrata Jones” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Andy Fickman.
“South Pacific” (release date and cast TBA), directed by Michael Mayer.
………and many more, with no announced release date, director, or cast:
“The King and I”
“Wicked”
“Spamalot”
“The Color Purple”
“Once On This Island”
“Spring Awakening”
“Mean Girls”
“Guys and Dolls”
“Jekyll & Hyde”
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
“Be More Chill”
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”
“Beautiful: The Carol King Musical”
“Pippin”
“Memphis”
**********************
Streaming events in March:
AMAZON:
“For Colored Girls,” directed by Tyler Perry, featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, Loretta Devine, Kerry Washington, Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton, Jurnee Smollett, Kimberly Elise, and Macy Gray.
The Full Monty, featuring Patrick Wilson.
“American Psycho,” by Duncan Sheik & Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.
Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carterm and Laura Michelle Kelly.
HBO MAX
“Driving Miss Daisy,” starring Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones, and Boyd Gaines.
“Tina” (Mar. 27), a documentary which covers the life and career of Tina Turner with her former husband Ike.
HULU
“Pretty Women,” starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
“The Social Network,” starring Andrew Garfield.
“Staged,” the complete Season 2 (released Mar. 6), starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen.
“Genius: Aretha,” (premieres Mar. 22), starring Cynthia Erivo, with Courtney B. Vance, and Rebecca Naomi Jones.
NETFLIX
“A Week Away” (premieres Mar. 26), a new musical series, which follows a teenager who gets sent to a Christian summer camp thanks to a run-in with the law.
**********************
& 
Goodspeed Musicals presents a discussion about Passing Through, to livestream Mar. 15 – Apr. 4, hosted by Donna Lynn Hilton & David Byrd.
Writers Brett Ryback & Eric Ulloa, director by Igor Goldin, and choreographer Marcos Santana.
Learn about the show’s development, its Goodspeed production, and find out what’s happened since closing night. Plus a live Q&A,
**********************
New Normal Rep presents Jack Canfora’s Jericho Mar. 4 – Apr. 4, directed by Marsha Mason.
Jill Eikenberry, C.K. Allen, Eleanor Handley, Jason O’Connell, Michael Satow, and Carol Todd.
Several years after tragedy impacted their lives, a family comes togethers once again for Thanksgiving dinner. While family members struggle to come to terms with residual anger, grief, and guilt, the play explores how people cope with personal and collective catastrophe. Displaying surprising humor and biting wit, this Jericho, Lon Island clan exposes their desperate strategies for resolution and redemptin.
**********************
Richard Wesley’s The Past is the Past filmed production, directed by Oz Scott, will now stream for FREE through Mar. 4 at Off-Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club.
Jovan Adepo and Ron Cephas Jones.
The scene is a pool hall, where a man in his mid-40s shoots a solitary game until a college student he has never met challenges him to play. As their game goes on, it becomes clear that the men recognize each other and have a deep connection. While the truth emerges, so does the fact that the past must remain just that.