Today’s Highlights:
* Virtual Reception for The Biden Victory Fund benefit event, hosted by Alanis Morisette & the cast of Jagged Little Pill, streams at 8 PM ET here.
* “Life on the Stage: Conversation and Film” presenting a benefit discussion of 2008’s “Frost/Nixon,” with Ron Howard and Dori Berinstein, streams for FREE at 7:30 PM ET here.
* It Can’t Happen Here, a new radio play, Tony Taccone & Bennett S. Cohen’s adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ novel of the same name, directed by Lisa Peterson, featuring David Strathairn, Elijah Alexander, Danforth Comins, Scott Coopwood, William Thomas Hodgson, Anna Ishida, David Kelly, Sharon Lockwood, Eddie Lopez, Alex Lydon, Tom Nelis, Greta Oglesby, Charles Shaw Robinson, Gerardo Rodriguez, Carolina Sanchez, and Mark Kenneth Smaltz, streams for FREE at 8 PM ET at Berkley Rep.
* Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations conversation,, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, and featuring Otis Williams, Dominique Morisseau, Nik Walker, James Harkness, Jawan M. Jackson, Matt Manuel, Jelani Remy, and Saint Aubyn, streams for FREE at 7 PM ET here.
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Video: “Stars in the House,” offers “Love & Southern D!scomfort,” with guest host Brenda Braxton, featuring Bobby Daye, Tamara Tunie, Monica L. Patton, and Ramona Keller. (56:05)
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A Christmas Carol, adapted by Jack Thorne, will return to Broadway in 2021 (dates TBA) at theatre TBA, directed by Matthew Warchus.
The production will also tour, with stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and more.
A full-scale production will be livestreamed from London this Fall (dates, and additional information TBA).
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Holly Stars’ Death Drop will run Dec. 3 – Jan. 17 (open Dec. 10) at the Garrick Theatre.
(all drag): Monét X Change, Courtney Act, LoUis CYfer, Anna Phylactic, and Vinegar Strokes.
Set in 1991 on the fictional Tuck Island, Death Drop follows for the guests of a dinner party as their sordid pasts are revealed—and a murder mystery is solved.
To maintain health and safety, capacity at the Garrick has been reduced to comply with COVID-19 guidelines for social distancing. In addition to hand sanitation, face coverings, and track and trace, other measures will include contactless tickets, temperature testing, and the deep clean and sanitation of the theatre.
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Video: ” Jim Caruso’s Cast Party,” with special guests Marc Shaiman, Margo Seibert, Jan Klose, Ava Lacknar, and Karine Nuvo. (1:33:12)
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Several NYC theatres with the ability to greatly modify and limit their seating plans in accordance with social distancing rules are taking steps to do so. A new coalition, consisting of The Park Avenue Armory, St. Ann’s Warehouse, BRIC, Harlem Stage, National Black Theater, and the Perelman Center, are hoping that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo will soon consider allowing masked performances to resume.
The Shed’s Alex Poots said: “We need to start breathing life back into this carcass that is our industry.”
“New York Forward has been working collaboratively with all segments of the performing arts industry and are on a path to see performing arts return to New York,” said co-chair of the advisory board, Steven M. Cohen. “Of course, this is not an all or nothing proposition, so it’s likely that certain segments, such as flexible spaces, will be likely to find their spaces again in use sooner than some other traditional theaters, provided the health situation permits.”
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The U.K. Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has named the 1,385 arts organizations across the country benefiting from the first round of grants in the Culture Recovery Fund. The initial distribution of £257 million comprises grants ranging from £50,000 to £1 million.
Among the 300+ theatres listed among the recipients are the Young Vic (£961,455), Soho Theatre Company (£898,322), Theatre Royal Bath (£955,192), and Donmar Warehouse (£262,241).
Click here for the complete list of grantees.
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“Michael J. Fox: No Time Like the Future — An Optimist Considers Mortality” will take place Tues. Nov. 17 at 7 PM ET here.
Michael will share personal stories and observations about illness and health, aging, the strength of family and friends, and how our perceptions about time affect the way we approach mortality. With his trademark sense of humor, his book provides a vehicle for reflection about our lives, our loves, our losses and is a moving account of resilience, hope, fear and mortality, and how these things resonate in our lives.
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Video: Maureen Brennan sings “Glitter and Be Gray” (2015)
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Join Mayor Garcetti and Arts for LA on Fri. Oct. 16 at 10 AM PT for the Annual State of the Arts Summit 2020.
A convening of arts + culture leaders from across the SoCal region. This conference-style virtual event will feature a great line-up of speakers, performances, Mindfulness Moments, and more.
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Divas For Democracy: United We Slay has announced a streaming Drag and Broadway diva extravaganza to promote voter participation and increase voter awareness of key issues concerning the LGBTQIA+ community and the 2020 election, will take place Sun. Oct. 18 at 8 PM ET here, hosted by Keltie Knight and Nina West. All proceeds benefit Drag Out The Vote’s get-out-the-vote efforts in 2020 and beyond.
Allison Janney, Andrew Rannells, Annaleigh Ashford, Stephanie J. Block, Lea Salonga, Nikki M. James, Beth Leavel, Shoshana Bean, Eden Espinosa, Jenn Collela, Chilina Kennedy, Keala Settle, Tamika Lawrence, L Morgan Lee, Our Lady J, and Chita Rivera.
Drag Divas: Jinkx Monsoon, Jujubee, Valentina, Peppermint, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Shuga Cain, Honey Davenport, Brita Filter, Marti Gould Cummings, and Pixie Aventura.
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Video: Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom Jr. perform “Where is the Love.”
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Tina Fey’s “Girls5eva” will air on Peacock. Production timeline and premiere date are TBA.
Ashley Park (Ashley), Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, and Busy Philipps, with more TBA.
Ashley is the glue that held the short-lived Girls5eva together in the late ’90s. She had the most experience going in, having been part of 7 failed girl groups previously.
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Les Misérables — The Staged Concert will run Dec. 5 – Jan. 7, 2021 at the Sondheim Theatre, directed by Laurence Connor & James Powell, with
Michael Ball (Javert), Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean), Carrie Hope Fletcher (Fantine), and Matt Lucas (Thénardier), with John Owen-Jones as Jean Valjean at certain performances, and more TBA.
With a reduced seating capacity of 750, safety measures and social distancing will be in place throughout the building.
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“Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye,” a new 10-episode series, featuring Mary Kate Wiles, Steve Zaragoza, Darren Criss, Sean Astin, Carlos Valdes, and Titus Makin, premieres here today.
When an alluring corporate corruption story falls unexpectedly into their laps, twin podcasting-team Artemis and Paul Schue-Horyn are given the chance to prove themselves as top hosts at the American Podcasting Network. But opportunity soon leads to tragedy as the eccentric and divided locals they are interviewing in the small California mining town of Connor Creek start dropping like flies. With the threads of their investigation quickly becoming tangled and rumors of a bloodthirsty werewolf on the loose, the Shue-Horyn twins need to decide who to trust and the price they’re willing to pay for a juicy story.
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A filmed version of [title of show] will run Nov. 10-12 here, which was filmed at the London Coliseum, directed by Josh Seymour, with music direction by Ben Ferguson.
Marc Elliot (Jeff), Tyrone Huntley (Hunter), Lucie Jones (Heidi), and Jenna Russell (Susan).
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Video: A celebration of Ben Vereen’s 74th birthday, featuring Titus Burgess, George Faison, Brandon Victor Dixon, and over 90 Black men of the theatre and Broadway community.
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Cast members from Broadway’s Hamilton will perform as part of a Biden fundraiser on Fri. Oct. 16 at 9 PM ET here, followed by a Q&A with Thomas Kail.
The entire original Hamilton cast: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry, Daveed Digges, Jonathan Groff, Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, Okieriete Onadown, and Javiar Muñoz.