Today’s Highlights:
Becca, a benefit concert honoring Rebecca Luker, written by Sarah Rebell & Schonbert, hosted by Frank DeLella, featuring Laura Benanti, Sierra Boggess, Michael Cerveris, Kristin Chenoweth, Victoria Clark, Santino Fontana, Judy Kuhn, Howard McGillin, Norm Lewis, Tam Mutu, Kelli O’Hara, and Sally Wilfert, streams at 7:30 PM ET here.
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NY Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that capacity restrictions will be lifted starting May 19. This will apply to retail stores, museums, theaters, food services, gyms, amusement parks, salons, etc.
Patrons will still be required to practice 6-foot social distancing, unless the venue requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test result upon entry.
It is still expected that Broadway shows will start to return in the fall.
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Twelfth Night (2011 production) will stream May 6-8 at the Stratford Festival, directed by Des MacAnuff.
Brian Dennehy (Sir Toby Belch), Andrea Runge (Viola), Mike Shara (Orsinio), Sara Topham (Olivia), Ben Carlson (Feste), Stephen Ouimette (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Tom Rooney (Malvolio), Juan Chioran (Fabian), and more.
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Video: Jim Caruso’s Cast Party variety show, with special guests Anjali Bhimani, Rick Barrio Dill, Sue Matsuki, John Malino, and Alyssa May Gold. (1:23:58)
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Hollywood’s Blank Theatre has announced the winners of its 2021 Young Playwrights Festival.
The virtual presentations will be streamed, offering three plays each week, beginning in July (dates TBA). Mentors, directors, and casting are TBA.
Winners: Elizabeth Shannon (age 17), Simon Hamrick (age 16), Alethea Shirilan-Howlett (age 18), Kea Kamiya (age 18), Alyssa Ho (age 17), Miya Matsumune (age 17), Abigail Milne (age 16), Libby Eick (age 16), Isabel Tongson (age 16), Lourdes Castillo (age 19), Zachary Garfinkle (age 17), Zander Pryor (age 18), and Anya Jimenez (age 17)..
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CA’s Berkely Rep has announced its OVATION: Imagine gala, which will stream Sat. June 5 at 6:30 PM PT.
Tom Hanks, The Avett Brothers, John Gallagher, Jr. Raúl Esparza, Amber Iman, and Kuhoo Verma.
The event will include a sneak peek of the world premiere production of Goddess.
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NBC has ordered a pilot for the spinoff of “Night Court,” starring John Larroquette and Melisa Rauch.
Timeline, additional casting, and further information TBA.
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Lincoln Center Theater‘s 2016 production of Marco Ramirez’s The Royale continues streaming through May 16 at Broadway On Demand, directed by Rachel Chavkin.
McKinley Belcher III, Khris Davis, Montego Glover, John Lavelle, and Clarke Peters.
The play is about the life of the outsider in America as much as it is about charismatic African-American boxer Jay “The Sport” Jackson.
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The Callaway Sisters: Side by Side will stream Sun. May 23 at 7 PM ET here.
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Anna D. Shapiro, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Director, will step down from her position in August, before the theatre re-opens in November for in-person performances.
Shapiro will remain in Chicago as an ensemble member at the company, in addition to other projects, like directing the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada musical and the Broadway re-opening of The Minutes.
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The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has announced its 2021 Summer season. As it has for the past 34 years, the season will take place both virtually and in-person in the theatre’s signature open-air tent outdoors, following all CDC guidelines.
The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (June 24 – July 30, filmed production, by James Ijames, directed by Taylor Reynolds, featuring Tyler Fountleroy, Cyndii Johnson, Ralph Adriel Johnson, Claudia Logan, Britney Simpson, Brandon St. Clair, and Nance Williamson. The production will also be filmed and available virtually. In his will, George Washing included an order to free his enslaved people upon his wife’s death. Christmas Eve, 1800: George Washington is dead. Martha is battling a wicked fever, and those who have been held in bondage at Mount Vernon wait for the end to come, and the promised hour of liberation. As the night goes on, Martha moves through a fever dream of dizzying theatricality, exploring the hideous and enduring ramifications of America’s original sin.
The Tempest (Aug. 5 – Sept. 4), directed by Ryan Quinn, featuring Caturah Brown, Kayla Coleman, Jonathan Contreras, Zack Fine, Tyler Fountleroy, Trevor Latez Hayes, Ralph Adriel Johnson, Claudia Logan, Sean McNall, Jason O’Connell, Howard Overshown, Kurt Rhoads, India Shea, Britney Simpson, and Nance Williamson.
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“A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater,” by Eddie Shapiro, has been released in Hardcover and Kindle here.
Michael Cerveris, John Cullum, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Len Cariou, Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, Christian Borle, Michael Rupert, Terrence Mann, Howard McGillin, Marc Kudisch, Norm Lewis, Will Chase, Christopher Sieber, Norbert Leo Butz, Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, and Jonathan Groff.
Shapiro sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with 19 of Broadway’s most prolific and fascinating leading men. Full of detailed stories and reflections, the talks dig deep into each actor’s career: together, these chapter tell the story of what it means to be a leading man on Broadway over the past 60 years.
If you haven’t already, check out Shapiro’s interviews with Broadway leading ladies in “Nothing Like a Dame” here.
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Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Launderette (2019 production) will continue streaming at the Curve Theatre, directed by Nikolai Foster, until the theatre officially re-opens.
Omar Malik, Jonny Fines, Hareet Deol, Paddy Daly, Nicole Jebeli, Balvinder Sopal, Cathy Tyson, and Gordon Warnecke.
Set in London during the Thatcher years, the play tells the story of young British Pakistani, Omar, who transforms his Uncle’s run-down launderette into a thriving business. After being confronted by a fascist gang, Omar recognizes school friend Johnny and uses their history to diffuse the situation. As they renovate the launderette together, love blossoms between them.
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NY’s Forestburgh Playhouse has announced its Froestburgh Under The Stars concert series (most beginning at 7:30 PM ET). Tent seating and lawn seating will be available. Picnic baskets and refreshing cocktails are available for pre-order and an outdoor bar will be open during the events.
June 4: Morgan James
June 5: Alysha Umphress
June 11: Elizabeth Stanley
June 12: Karen Mason
June 18: The Skivvies (Lauren Molina & Nick Cearley) with Tamika Lawrence
June 19: Kyle Talor Parker
June 25: Kate Baldwin & Graham Rowat
July 2: Nicholas Rodriguez
July 3: Kathryn Allison
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Eleanor Burgess’ The Niceties will stream May 27 – June 13 at Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Kimberly Senior.
(original 2018 cast): Lisa Banes and Jordan Boatman.
An ambitious young Black college student and her esteemed White professor meet over Skype to discuss a paper the college junior is writing about the American Revolution. Unfortunately, they find it hard to agree about the facts of the past – or present. Discussions of grammar and Google turn to race and reputation, and soon they’re in the dangerous territory neither of them had foreseen – and facing stunning implications that can’t be undone.
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Miles Malleson’s Yours Unfaithfully (2017 production) continues streaming through May 16 at Off-Broadway’s Mint Theatre, directed Jonathan Bank.
Max von Essen, Mikaela Izquierdo, and Elisabeth Gray.
Stephen and Anne, blissfully happy for 8 years, are committed to living up to their ideals. When Stephen, a writer who isn’t writing, begins to sink into a funk of unproductive moodiness, Anne encourages him to seek out a fresh spark. Can their marriage survive uncompromising generosity, sacrifice, and love? More than the story of an unconventional couple, the play is about what happens when our ideals clash with our emotions.
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Two Sisters and a Piano, written & directed by Nilo Cruz, continues streaming through May 23 at New Normal Rep.
Florencia Lozano, Gary Perec, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Jimmy Smits.
Set in 1991, during the Pan American Games in Havana, and while the Russians are pulling out of Cuba, two sister, Maria Celia, a novelist, and Sofia, a pianist, are serving time under house arrest. Passion infiltrates politics when a Lieutenant assigned to their case becomes infatuated and Maria Celia, who literature he has been reading.
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Andrea Marcovicci: Spring Song will stream May 9-15 here, in celebration of Mother’s Day and in support of The Actors Fund, with music direction by Brad Ellis.
The concert will blend poetry by Sara Teasdale with songs by Frank Loesser and Johnny Mercer.
A live video chat after-party will follow the performance on Facebook.
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North Hollywood’s Road Theatre will stream its production of Steve Yockey’s Reykjavík May 14-30, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.
Stphen Tyler Howell, Alaska Jackson, Carlos Lacamara, Brian Ibsen, Danny Lee Gomez, and Jacqueline Misaye.
In the magical and mysterious city of Reykjavik, Iceland, where we are and when we are is often fluid.