Today’s Highlights:
* Ken Davenport’s “The Producer’s Perspectives LIVE!” FREE podcast, with special guest playwright Matthew Lopez, streams at 8 PM ET here.
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Article: Dr. Anthony Fauci shares his outlook on theatres eventually opening.
While optimistic about an eventual return, he indicated it could be more than a year away. “I think it’s going to be a combination of a vaccine that has been around for almost a year and good public health measures,” he said. The rollout of a vaccine—which would take place only after multiple levels of testing and approval.
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Video: “Stars in the House.” with guest host Brenda Braxton, and guests Norwegian Cruise Line performers Darryl Jovan Williams and Steven Scarpetti along with Senior Director of Entertainment Robert Dean Hertenstein. (53:20)
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Jennifer Holliday celebrates her 60th birthday on Mon. Oct. 19 at 8 PM ET here.
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Video: Musical Theatre Guild members sings “Heart & Music” from A New Brain
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The Last Five Years will now run Oct. 1 – Nov. 13 (opening Oct. 5) at the Southwark Playhouse, directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, with choreography by Sam Spencer-Lane, and music direction by George Dyer.
Oli Higginson (Jamie) and Molly Lynch (Cathy).
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A new dance playlist with the original 18-minute short film “SC7NARIO” will be streamed on National Dance Day, Sat. Sept. 19 on BroadwayHD (link TBA), choreographed by Banji Aborisade and directed by Aborisade & Moogie Brooks.
Amber Ardolino, Ryan Breslin, Max Clayton, Karla Garcia, Francesca Granell, Tyler Hanes, Terk Lewis, Virgil ‘Lil O’ Gadson, and Alex Wong, with Blair Beasley, JJ Butler, Lauren Butler, Damian Chambers, Reanna Comstock, Adam Coy, Alexa De Barr, Joseph Fierberg, Lexi Garcia, David Guzman, Jordan Fife Hunt, Erin Kei, Major King, Katie Laduca, John Manolis, Mateo Melendez, Hamilton Moore, Nicolette Pappas, Whitney Renee, Madeline Rodrigue, Hilary Smith, Katherine Stanas, Ryan Steele, Ryan VanDenBoom, Richard Westfahl, and Gabriella Whiting.
A writer sits alone in a cafe as he cultivates a new story. As he paints a picture of the day’s happenings, the patrons around him serve as his muses. While the stories initially bend and twist to his will, his control of the world begins to slip through his fingers, leading him to question: Am I the storyteller or the story?
Video: Trailer
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DC’s Folger Theatre has announced its new online content initiative, Encores, which will run on Fridays, Sept. 18 – Dec. 25. The series will highlight past performances from the Folger stage.
The series will be emailed each Friday, and can also be found here.
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Video: If you missed MCC Theater’s Miscast20, it is still available. (2:05:03)
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LA’s Echo Theater Company is offering 2 free virtual events:
* Bold Faced Secret (Sept. 25 at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET), a story-telling series.
* Transmission in Advance of the Second Great Dying (Sept. 28 at at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET), by Jessica Huang. an epic tale of grief and global warming through the intersecting lives of Earth’s human and non-human inhabitants in 2045
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C.P. Taylor’s GOOD, which was expected to open this October, will now run Apr. 21 – July 17, 2021 (opening Apr. 27) at the Harold Pinter Theatre, directed by Dominic Cooke.
David Tennant (Halder), Fenella Woolgar (Helen) and Elliot Levey (Maurice).
John Halder is a good man. But John Halder must adapt to survive. How is it possible to be a good person when things are falling apart?
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Video: Carrie Hope Fletcher sings “Far Too Late” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella.
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Video: “Jim Caruso’s Cast Party,” with special guests John McDaniel, N’Kenge, Joshua Colley, Rena Strober, Christopher Sieber, and Marissa Rosen. (1:37:58)
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Syracuse Stage has announced its revised and re-envisioned 2020-21 season, to run Oct. 2020 – June 2021. Currently, any decisions concerning reopening the theater for live, in person performance are contingent on guidelines and protocols not yet established by professional unions and state and local officials.
All dates TBA
* Talley’s Folly (Nov.), directed by Robert Hupp, starring Kate Hamill and Jason O’Connell. On July 4, 1944, Matt Friedman, a 40+ accountant and in love for the first time in his life, drives 200 miles to the heart of Missouri Christian farm country to propose to Sally Talley, ten years younger and seemingly not interested. Having been met at the door by Sally’s shotgun toting brother—Jews not welcome here—Matt takes refuge in a Victorian folly of a boathouse on the nearby river, where Sally finds him. Cue moonlight and music (waltz, please), willows and woods.
* Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Dec.), directed by Robert Hupp. A sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mary takes her turn at center stage and possibly even love as a Christmas celebration at Pemberley brings together beloved characters in a droll and delicious new holiday story.
* Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Jan./Feb. 2021), by Anna Deveare Smith, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. Smith’s artistic response to the brutal beating of Rodney King and the unrest that unfolded in South Central following the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in his assault. Using more than 300 interviews, Smith wove a mosaic of four dozen characters into a stunning and insightful work of documentary theater.
* Yoga Play (Mar.), by Dipika Guha, directed by Melissa Crespo. Joan has a big problem. Recently named CEO of athletic-wear giant Jojomon—think high end brand that’s part 60s one-hit wonder and part citrus fruit—she even more recently learned that a BBC investigative team is about to expose her Bangladeshi manufacturer of lavender scented yoga pants as an exploiter of child labor. Only one solution will do—find a reclusive and revered yogi to serve as a spokesman and restore the company’s all-important claim to authenticity.
* Our Town (Apr./May), directed by Robert Hupp
* salt/city/blues (June), world premiere by Kyle Bass, directed by Tazewell Thompson. How does a fractured family heal when unresolved emotions of the past color the present? How can a city reshape itself if it means tearing open old, still-tender wounds? And where in a diverse but segregated city can communities find common ground, mutual dignity, and a true sense of home? These questions collide into Yolonda Mourning, an independent consultant on a vast project to take down a span of highway that has long divided Salt City. When she leaves her husband and teenage son and moves to the heart of trendy downtown, a diverse cast of characters forces Yolonda to confront Salt City’s complicated history around race, class and urban renewal, and to reckon with her role as architect of the broken bridges in her own family.
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Six will resume performances on Nov. 14 at the Lyric Theatre, playing 9 performances each week, and will close Jan. 31, 2021. The musical offer reduced seating capacity.
Over the holidays, the UK touring cast will take over for a six-week run as of Nov. 17. The original company will then return to the show in Mar. 2021 at the Arts Theatre, subject to the lifting of social distancing.
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Video: Trailer for the film adaptation of Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, with Mark Gatiss, Rufus Sewell, Imogen Poots, and Olivia Williams.
The film will be released Dec. 18 in New York and Los Angeles, and Dec. 25 in wide release.
The drama follows an 80-year-old man as he struggles with Alzheimer’s disease to remember his reality and which memories are real.