Today’s Highlights:
* Crumbs From the Table of Joy benefit reading, by Lynn Nottage, directed by Adrienne D. Williams, featuring Dria Brown, Lawrence Evans, Danielle Hopkins, Elijah Jones, Abigail Rose Solomon, and Nikki E. Walker, streams at 7 PM ET here.
* The Actors Fund’s “Viral Vignettes” comedy series, livestreams at 3 PM ET here.
* The Broadway Q&A Series, with choreographer Joshua Bergasse, livestreams at 12 PM ET here.
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The next unscripted edition of Broadway Whodunit: Escape From Camp Erie will take place Sun. Aug. 30 at 6:30 PM ET here, created by Andrew Barth Feldman.
Rob McClure, Lesli Margherita, Solea Pfeiffer, Celia Rose Gooding, Andrew Barth Feldman, Sky Lakota-Lynch, Garbrielle Carrubba, Jason Tam, Alex Boniello, and Will Roland.
Audiences will serve as detectives as they track down suspects in the live, unscripted, and interactive performance, this time set at an ill-fated summer camp. The stars will receive nothing but their character descriptions beforehand. When the show begins, they will receive a set of objectives to achieve their characters’ goals.
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RIP: Salome Bey, the singer-songwriter, composer, and actor who was known as Canada’s First Lady of the Blues, died Aug. 8 at the age of 86.
Born October 10, 1933, in Newark, New Jersey, the Obie-winning artist performed with brother Andy Bey and sister Geraldine Bey (de Haas) as Andy & the Bey Sisters across the U.S., Europe, and Canada before relocating to Toronto in 1964.
Ms. Bey made her Broadway debut in October 1972 in the short-lived musical Dude. That same year, she received an Obie Award for her work in Love Me, Love My Children. In 1976, she appeared in Alex Bradford, Micki Grant, and Vinnette Carroll’s Tony-nominated Your Arms Too Short to Box with God; her performance was preserved on the musical’s Grammy-nominated cast album. She subsequently created a cabaret show celebrating the history of Black music, Indigo,
Ms. Bey’s musical theatre work Rainboworld provided a foundation for young artists to develop their skills and explore issues of the world through music, dance, and theatre.
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Video: Laura Benanti performs “Somebody Somewhere” from The Most Happy Fella (Encores 2014).
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LA’s Skylight Theatre presents a reading of Michelle Kholos Brooks’ Allergic to Walnuts on Thurs. Aug. 13 at 3 PM PT on Facebook, directed by Jenny Sullivan.
Joe Spano and JoBeth Williams
Is love a logical equation or simply about nuts?
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Jason Howland, Nathan Tysen, Kait Kerrigan & Rachel Axler’s A Killer Party: A Murder Mystery Musical, directed by Marc Bruni, with choreography by Sarah O’Gleby, which premiered Aug. 5, and is now a fully-produced (from home!) 9-episode star-studded musical, is now available for purchase for $12.99 here.
Jessica Keenan Wynn (Justine Case), Michael James Scott (Varthur McArthur), Krystina Alabado (Lily Wright), Carolee Carmello (Detective Case), Drew Gehling (Cameron Mitchelljohn), Jackie Burns a(oan McArthur), Laura Osnes (Vivika Orsonwelles), Jarrod Spector (George Murderer), Alex Newell (Shea Crescendo), Miguel Cervantes (Clarke Staples) and Jeremy Jordan (as Jeremy Jordan).
Performers will play a slew of zany characters. One of them will be murdered, and one of them will be the murderer. You, the detectives, will be able to go between different “rooms” on our website to follow the clues, watch the mystery unfold, and find the murderer, all in real time. You don’t know the ending, and neither do the players.
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Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre‘s 3-day fundraiser, Porchlight Palooza, will stream Aug. 21-23 (nightly at 7 PM CT), with music direction by Linda Madonia
Joel Grey
Bob Balaban, Patrick Cassidy, Kristin Chenoweth, Raul Esparza, Josh Gad, Tom Kitt, David Mamet, Joe Mantegna, Howard McGillin, Mandy Patinkin, Benj Pasek, Bernadette Peters, Lonny Price, Chita Rivera, Susan Stroman, Paul Oakley Stovall, Stephen Wallem, Maury Yeston, Andres Enriquez, Erica Evans, Cory Goodrich, Christopher Kelley, Laura Savage, and Joey Stone.
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Video (scroll down) Week 4 of Playbill’s Search for a Star.
The Top 10 will now be revealed Aug. 20 due to an overwhelming number of applicants.
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An updated and re-imagined version of “The Accidental Wolf,” starring Kelli O’Hara, will premiere Nov. 26 on Topic.
Kelli O’Hara, Sahr Ngaujah, Denis O’Hare, Raúl Castillo, Mike Doyle, Judith Ivey, and Laurie Metcalf.
The story of 2 strangers in distress who a linked by a late night phone call. Katie Bonner lives and unexceptional life. Married to a successful attorney, she cares for their newborn, and quietly exists in her Manhattan penthouse. One night, Katie recieves a call from an unknown number. On the other line, a distressed man fights for survival as gunshots and explosions echo in the background. In his final moments, the caller pleads for the life of his pregnant and wounded wife, Tala. Deeply affected, Katie embarks on a journey to find her. Before too long, the mystery of the unknown caller and the search for Tala threaten to cost Katie everything.
Video: Trailer
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Zac Efron will star in the Disney+ remake of “Three Men and a Baby.”
Director, casting, release date, and additional information TBA.
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The Ali Forney Center will presents its 11th annual Oasis:A Virtual Variety Show, a retro 1970s variety hour, on Wed. Aug. 19 at 7 PM ET here.
Jeremy Pope, Lena Dunham, Dove Cameron, Cindy Crawford, Michelle Visage, Brandon Flynn, Miss Jay Alexander, Kaia Gerber, Marc Jacobs, Margaret Cho, Keala Settle, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Hari Nef, Renée Taylor, Cindy Williams, Bruce Villanch, Crystal Methyd, Lena Hall, Jinkx Monsoon, Ginger Minj, Latrice Royale, Jackie Cox, Vanessa “Vanjie” Mateo, Nina West, Benny Drama, Bowen Yang, Judy Gold, Jeremy O. Harris, Janaya Future Khan, Nick Adams, Joel Kim Booster, Geoffrey Mac, Tyler Neasloney, Jake Dupree and many more.
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Video: Ann Hampton Callaway & Marilyn Maye perform an improv version of “It Had To Be You” (2010)
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Steve Martin and Martin Short will star in a new comedy series, “Only Murders in the Building,” to stream on Hulu. The released date is TBA.
The series revolves around three strangers who share an obsession with true crime who suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. Selena Gomez also stars.
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Video: “Life of a Musical Theatre Major (DBJ Comedy)” written & performed by Kylie McNeill.