Today’s Highlights:
* An Evening with Audra McDonald benefit concert, with music direction by Andy Einhorn, streams at 7:30 PM ET at NY City Center (and available on-demand through Dec. 16).
* Robert Creighton in concert, with special guest Richard Kind, and music direction by Alex Rybeck, begins streaming at Off-Broadway’s York Theatre.
* “Dr. Suess’ The Grinch Musical,” by Tim Mason & Mel Marvin, directed by Julia Knowles, featuring Matthew Morrison (Dr. Seuss), Denis O’Hare (Old Max), Booboo Stewart (Young Max), Amelia Minto (Cindy-Lou Who), and more, airs at 8 PM on NBC (check local listings).
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Ralph Richardson’s Uncle Vanya is just his Falstaff with a hangover.” ~ George Jean Nathan
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A reading of Laura Maria Censabella’s Interviewing Miss Davis will stream Sat. Dec. 19 at 5 PM PT at LA’s Fountain Theatre.
Karen Kondazian (Bette Davis), Wonjung Kim and Aleisha Force.
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The Seth Concert Series continues on Sun. Dec. 13 at 8 PM here, with special guest James Monroe Iglehart.
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Dori Berinstein & Mark Peikert’s “As the Curtain Rises,” Broadway’s first-ever Audio Soap Opera, returns with 4 new episodes, which will stream every Thursday here, as well as on all podcast platforms.
Alex Brightman (Narrator), Ariana Debose (Zoey Taylor), Andrew Barth Feldman (as himself), James Monroe Iglehart (Steve Jones), Ramin Karimloo (Stavros), Ilana Levine (CAAA agent), Lesli Margherita (Broadway Texter), Mauricio Martinez (Thomas), Bonnie Milligan (Debra Hannaford), Ashley Park (Kay Fields), George Salazar (Maxwell Fernsby), Sarah Stiles (Emma-Olivia), Michael Urei (Bobby), and Lillias White (Cheryl), with Danny Marin, Mark Peikert, and Jacob Smith.
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Nikki Renee Daniels in concert is now available on demand here through Dec. 19.
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Hollywood’s Actors Co-op presents A Co-Op Christmas: Two Evenings of Wonder, Love, and Light, to stream on YouTube Dec. 18 & 19 at 5 PM PT. 
here (required).
December. 18 (hosted by Linda Kerns):
* The Night Before Christmas: An African Christmas Story, by Peter E. Adotey Addo, directed by Rhonda Kohl, featuring Rodrick Jean-Charles.
* Tilly’s Christmas, by Louisa May Alcott, adapted by Nan McNamara, directed by Natalie Hope MacMillan, with music by Linda Kerns, Treva Tegtmeier, and more, featuring Francesca Patron, Anna Telfer, Susanna Vaughn, and Kimi Walker.
December 19 (hosted by Selah Victor):
* The Gift Behind the Gift, by Gregg Easterbrook, directed by Rhonda Kohl, featuring Garrett Botts, Crystal Jackson, and Heidi Palomino.
* The Gift of the Magi, by O’Henry, directed by Linda Kerns, featuring Linda Kerns, Ivy Beech, Phil Crowley, and Jack Tavcar.
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Theatre Communications Group has released its 40th Annual Research Report: Theatre Facts 2019.
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A Christmas Carol, directed by Michael Arden, and starring Jefferson Mays (playing more than 50 characters), has announced its new lottery, which will offer $15 tickets to 10 randomly selected winners every day. The production is available through Jan. 3, 2021. Entries must be submitted here. The production benefits partner theaters all around the United States that have been devastated by the pandemic.
Guidelines:
* The lottery will open every day at 12 AM ET and close at 11:59 PM.
* Winners will be notified via email the following morning at 11 AM ET and will be able to purchase at any time that day.
* Entry is open to anyone with a valid email address.
* Limit one entry per person per day.
* Click here for additional details.
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Laura Esquivel (“Like Water for Chocolate”) has released her memoirs in “What I’ve Seen,” a colorful life spanning 70 years, and is now available in monthly installments here.
“What I’ve Seen” explores the author’s particular vision of growing up and living in Mexico, her inspiration surrounding writing “Like Water for Chocolate” which became a global phenomenon, family relationships and dynamics, her quarantine and pandemic experiences, and much more.
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Jude Christian & Cariad Lloyd’s Dick Whittington will offer socially distanced in-person performances beginning Dec. 11 and then streamed for FREE Dec. 23-27 at the Olivier Theatre, directed by Ned Bennett, with choreography by Danielle ‘Rhimes’ Lecointe, and music direction by Benjamin Kwasi Burrell. Performances will also be filmed and added to the National Theatre at Home and streamed Jan. 11 for 6 weeks.
Melanie La Barrie (Bow Belles), Dickie Beau (Sarah), Amy Booth-Steel (Queen Rat), Laura Checkley (Mayor Pigeon), Lawrence Hodgson-Mullings (Dick Whittington), Georgina Onuorah (Alice), and Cleve September (Tom Cat), with Beth Hinton-Lever, Travis Kerry, Jaye Marshall, Ken Nguyen, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, and Christopher Tendai.
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Carmen Cusack: Therapy is now available on demand through Jan. 3 here.
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Hollywood’s Celebration Theatre presents a reading of Ryan Spahn’s Norah Highland on Tues. Dec. 15 at 7:30 PM PT, directed by Michael A. Shepperd.
Dalila Ali Rajah and Evan J. Todd.
The play tackles the subject of homophobia — sometimes subtle and sometimes not — in show business.
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Playwright Jeremy O. Harris has announced The Gold Collection, composed of 15 plays by prominent Black playwrights:
Complete Collection:
* Slave Play, by Jeremy O. Harris
* Les Blancs, by Lorraine Hansberry
* The Colored Museum, by George C. Wolfe
* An Octoroon, by Branden Jacobs Jenkins
* Sweat, by Lynn Nottage
* A Collection of Plays, by Alice Childress
* Fucking A, by Jackie Sibblies Drury
* The Mountaintop, by Katori Hall
* Is God Is, by Aleshea Harris
* Fires in the Mirror, by Anna Deavere Smith
* Funnyhouse of a Negro, by Adrienne Kennedy
* For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, by Ntozake, Shange
* Bootycandy, by Robert O’Hara
* Dream on Monkey Mountain, by Derek Walcott
For every purchase of the full collection, Books and Crannies will make a $10 donation to the National Black Theatre. To buy, gift, or donate The Golden Collection, please visit Books & Crannies.
For more information about The Golden Collection and for an interactive map highlighting the libraries and community centers receiving the donations, click here.
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Merry Christmas Darling: Heidi Kettenring Sings Karen Carpenter will be available to stream Dec. 17-27 at Goodspeed Musicals.
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Broadway on Demand is now offering gift subscriptions.
Click here for more information.
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The Phantom of the Opera is now scheduled to re-open in June 2021 (exact date TBA) at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Killian Donnelly (The Phantom) and more TBA.
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“One Night Only: The Best of Broadway,” in support of BC/EFA, will air Thurs. Dec. 10 at 8 PM on NBC (check local listings), hosted by Tina Fey.
Barbra Streisand, Antonio Banderas (with his Spanish cast of A Chorus Line), Sutton Foster, Brittney Mack, Rob McClure, Mary-Louis Parker, Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Patti LaBelle, Annaleigh Ashford, Lance Bass, Kristen Bell, Ron Cephas Jones, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Peter Gallagher, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sean Hayes, Nathan Lane, Camryn Manheim, Alanis Morissette, Jerry O’Connell, Leslie Odom Jr., Billy Porter, John Stamos, Aaron Tveit, Blair Underwood, Vanessa Williams, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
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Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons has created an Artists’ Relief Fund that will offer $1,000 grants to 135 theatre artists, continuing the organization’s work focusing on artists’ needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
50% of all funds raised by Playwrights Horizons through the end of the year will be allocated to the relief fund. Funding for the grants also includes proceeds from Jeremy O. Harris’ presentation of the Playwrights Horizons production of Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning, directed and produced by Danya Taymor.
Artists who have been part of the fabric of the NYC non-profit theatre community, and who have been working in the field for a minimum of three years, are eligible, and can fill out an application here from Dec. 14 (at Noon ET) – Dec. 20 (11:59 PM ET) or until the organization receives 600 applications. The applications will be reviewed for eligibility by the Playwrights Horizons staff, and a selection committee—including a scenic designer, a stage manager, an actor, a playwright, a director, and two members of Playwrights Horizons’ staff—will convene Jan. 4, 2021. Applicants will be notified of their status by Feb. 12.
Playwrights Horizons encourages applications from people of all races, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, classes, and religions, and people with disabilities.
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Shoshana Bean: Sing Your Hallelujah!, directed by Amy Segel, will stream Sat. Dec. 12 at 3 PM ET here.
Jeremy Jordan, Gavin Creel, Jared Grimes, Shayna Steele, Connie Talbot, and Daniel J. Watts
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Video: 2020: The Musical, with Andrew Rannells and Jimmy Fallon. (8:20)
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Christian Borle and Michael Potts will join Fox‘s 2nd season of “Prodigal Son,” which premieres on Jan. 12.
Borle will play Friar Pete, a psychiatric patient imprisoned with Michael Sheen’s character, and Potts will portray Dr. Marsh, a new therapist in the ward.