Today’s Highlights
* “The Broadway Q&A Series,“ featuring Jerry Mitchell answering questions about his career, with special guests Billy Porter, Annaleigh Ashford, and Matthew Morrison, livestreamed at 1 PM ET here (then available on demand).
* Michael Mott & Friends: Live at Home concert, with special guests Jenna Ushkowitz and Darnell Abraham, streamed for FREE at 6 PM ET here.
* NYC’s 92Y‘s “The Twilight Zone” (on CBS All Access) FREE conversation, with Billy Porter and Morena Baccarin, livestreamed at 5 PM ET.
* “The Understudy,” by Ellen Tovatt Leary, released on Kindle here.
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GRACE NOTE Quote of the Week: “The absolute truth is the thing that makes people laugh.” ~ Carl Reiner
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RIP: Carl Reiner died June 29 at his home in Beverly Hills of natural causes at the age of 98.
Best known for creating and starring in “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” Reiner got his start acting in Broadway musicals, including Inside U.S.A, and Call Me Mister.
Born and raised in New York City, Reiner was the son of two Jewish immigrants. Like his father, a watchmaker, Reiner had a knack for handy work. He worked as a sewing machine repairman until his older brother introduced him to the world of performing when he read in the New York Daily News. Reiner still credits his older brother for his sudden, but successful career change.
His big break came in 1950 when he was cast in “Your Show of Shows” appearing in comedy skits, working alongside writers Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.
Reiner and Brooks worked so well together that they decided to partner up as a comedy duo in “The Steve Allen Show” which gained so much popularity that the routine expanded into a series of five comedy albums and an animated TV special.
Using his life as another story plot, he wrote “My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir” in 2004 (available on Amazon here)
Video: Carl’s final interview, on May 12, 2020
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Our Town will return to Broadway in 2021, starring Dustin Hoffman (Stage Manger), and directed by Bartlett Sher.
Timeline, additional casting, and more information TBA.
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Video: The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues (June 30)
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Off-Broadway’s Mint Theater Company has announced its upcoming Summer Stock Streaming Festival, featuring archival recordings of 3 past productions, all of which will be available July 5-19:
* The Fatal Weakness, by George Kelly, directed by Jesse Marchese. 
Society woman Ollie Espenshade, after 28 years of marriage, is still an incurable romantic (her fatal weakness). Perhaps discovering that her husband is a lying cheat will cure her?
* The New Morality, by Harold Chapin, directed by Jonathan Bank. Set aboard a houseboat, the story depicts how Betty Jones restores dignity to her household and harmony to her marriage, by losing her temper and making a scene.
* Women Without Men, by Hazel Ellis, directed by Jenn Thompson. Set in the teachers’ lounge of a private girls boarding school in Ireland in the 1930’s, Jean Wade is a new enthusiastic young teacher who soon finds herself popular with the students and at odds with her quarrlesome colleagues — especially the antagonistic Miss Connor.
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Canada’s 2020 Dora Award winners
Click here for the complete list of winners.
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Broadway’s Hadestown composers and stars, along with past/present Major League Baseball players have come together and released 2 videos in celebration of the start of Spring Training and Broadway’s eventual and inevitable return.
Video 1: “Wait for Me,” with new lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell, featuring Steven Brault, Reeve Carney, Josh Bell, Andre Dé Shields, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, and Kay Trinidad.
Video 2: “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” with new lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell (performers not listed)
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“The Broadway Q&A Series” offers past interviews HERE.
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Video: Highlights from Playbill’s Pride Spectacular Concert, celebrating LGBTQIA+ stories, writers, and performers.
Jelani Alladin, Alexandra Billings, Billy Bustamante, Jenn Colella, DeMarius Copes, Wilson Cruz, Robin De Jesús, Lea DeLaria, Brandon Victor Dixon, Eden Espinosa, Niani Feelings, Harvey Fierstein, Gaby Gamache, Celia Rose Gooding, Matt Gould, James Harkness, Curtis Holland, Cheyenne Jackson, Jawan M. Jackson, Michael R. Jackson, Francis Jue, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Caitlin Kinnunen, L Morgan Lee, Raymond J. Lee, Matthew Lopez, Rick Lyon, Cheech Manohar, Matt Manuel, Griffin Matthews, Anastacia McCleskey, John McDaniel, Michael McElroy, John McGinty, Gerry McIntyre, Chris Medlin, Ezra Menas, Paul HeeSang Miller, John Cameron Mitchell, Mary Kate Morrissey, Javier Muñoz, Alan Muraoka, Shakina Nayfack, Ariana Notartomaso, Diana Oh, Ken Page, Lauren Patten, Clint Ramos, Jelani Remy, Matt Rodin, Jai Rodriguez, Mj Rodriguez, Mars Rucker, Sushma Saha, George Salazar, Miriam Shor, Jason Tam, John Tartaglia, Sonya Tayeh, Sergio Trujillo, Vishal Vaidya, Nik Walker, BD Wong, Iain Young, and Brittany Zeinstra.
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NYC’s 92Y presents “American Utopia Meets Utopia Avenue,” with David Mitchelll and David Byrne, on Tues. July 14 at 6 PM ET.
A conversation on writing, music, and the creative life.
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2020 Del Hughes Award winners for the Art of Stage Management:
* Patreshettarlini (Pat) Adams
* Alden J. Vasquez
* Robert Sutherland-Cohen (Founders Award)
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Video: Nancy Dussault, “Bless Your Heart,” by Alex Rybeck & Ira Gasman.
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“The Perfect Fit” EP concept album, by 13–year-old Joshua Turchin, will be released July 17 for digital purchase and streaming. Link TBA.
Laura Benanti, Nikki Renée Daniels, Joshua Turchin, Carly Gendell, Grace DeAmicus, Ellie Kim, Swayam Bhatia, Lily Brooks, Luke Islam, Audrey Bennett, and Fabi Aguirre.
The musical centers on a child actor who suddenly finds he’s too old to play a child and too young to play an adult.
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Video: The Temptations perform “If I Were A Rich Man” (1969)
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Off-Broadway’s Public Theater will present the world premiere of Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen’s The Line, to be streamed Wed. July 8 at 7:30 PM ET (and available through Aug. 4), directed by Blank.
Santino Fontana, Arjun Gupta, John Ortiz, Alison Pill, Nicholas Pinnock, Jamey Sheridan, and Lorraine Toussaint.
A documentary work based on the first-person accounts of NYC’s first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Video: Trailer for “Respect,” starring Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin.
The film will be released on Dec. 25, directed by Liesel Tommy, with a script by Tracey Scott Wilson, and co-stars Marlon Wayans, Forest Whitaker, Queen Latifah, Audra McDonald, and Mary J. Blige.
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Turn Up!, a benefit concert, filmed in part at London’s Cadogan Hall, will stream July 10-12. 
here.
Norm Lewis, Sharon D. Clarke, and Noma Dumezweni, with Clive Rowe, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Johnnie Fiore, Brenda Edwards, Zaris-Angel Hator, Aisha Jawando, Brittney Johnson, Brandi Chavonne Massey, Joe Aaron Reid, Jeannette Bayardelle, Layton Williams, Alexia Khadime, Kelly Agbowu, Melanie La Barrie, Ryan Carter, Marcus Collins, Chloë Davies, Nicole Raquel Dennis, Alexandra Grey, Cameron Bernard Jones, Claudia Kariuki, Natalie Kassanga, Vula Malinga, Sandra Marvin, Cedric Neal, Trevor Dion Nicholas, Jay Perry, Sharon Rose, Jordan Shaw, Danielle Steers, and Vinegar Strokes.
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MA’s Tanglewood has announced its online 2020 Summer season:
* TLI ShopTalks (July 2 at 1 PM ET), featuring Juilliard String Quartet violinist Areta Zhulla and cellist Astrid Schween in conversation
* BSO Musicians in Concert (July 3 at 8 PM ET), featuring works by Copland, Brahms, and James Lee III.
* Great Performers in Recital From Tanglewood (Saturdays through Aug. 22)
* Boston Symphony Orchestra (Fridays through Aug. 21)
* Recitals From the World Stage (Wednesdays from July 8 – Aug. 19)
….and more…
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“Undefeated Presents: Hamilton In-Depth with Kelley Carter,” a roundtable discussion with the cast and director of Hamilton on Disney+, will stream here.
Thomas Kail, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Christopher Jackson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Okieriete Onadowan, Anthony Ramos, and Phillipa Soo.
The discussion will focus on the cultural impact of the musical and how the story parallels the current landscape of systemic racism and social injustice, as well as the musical’s origins and its effect on pop culture. .
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Video: Alanis Morissette and Jagged Little Pill‘s cast members perform “Smiling”