Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be limited theatre news for the foreseeable future. I will continue to search for anything meaningful and/or fun to report. Stay safe and healthy.
In addition, with national protests in full swing, and many events being postponed or cancelled, I don’t know when more theatre news will be available, so newsletters may be even shorter for awhile…
Today’s Highlights:
* At Home with Rebecca Luker benefit event, in support of Prosetin (a new, promising ASL drug), hosted by Santino Fontana, at 8 PM ET. Click here to register on Zoom & donate.
* CBS All Access’ “The Good Fight” FREE conversation, (I think it’s free), with Christine Baranski and Robert & Michelle Kelly, streamed at 8 PM ET here.
* “Viral Vignettes” presents “Bed Buds,” starring Mary Chieffo & Jenny Leona, at 3 PM ET here.
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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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Video: “Stars in the House,” featuring actresses who have played Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera, including Ali Ewoldt, Rebecca Luker, Sierra Boggess, Patti Cohenour, and Gay Willis. (1:12:26)
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NBC has announced its Fall schedule, with its biggest shows seemingly set to return despite the current coronavirus production situation.
While it is unlikely that everything will be ready in time for the traditional start of the network season in September, it is confident that the return to production is moving along fast enough that it will have its biggest series like “This Is Us” and new “Law & Order” spinoff “Law & Order: Organized Crime” ready for “around mid-October.”
The stability of NBC’s schedule comes as a bit of a surprise, given that Fox and The CW previously announced major changes to their usual lineups with acquired series and other stop gaps in place.
Reports NBC: ““With the reopening of the Universal lot for select productions this week, we are confident that our schedule will premiere intact later this fall. We design shows for longevity and this schedule remains a powerful propulsive force for shows to start here and carry on entertaining across generations.”
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Lorna Luft will offer an online concert on Sat. June 20 at 4 PM PT here.
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Video: Billy Porter, “What It’s Worth”
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Lin-Manuel Miranda joins Ballet Hispánico‘s “Noche Unidos” for A Night of Dance and Unity on Tues. June 30 at 7:30 PM ET, hosted by Eduardo Vilaro.
Kiri Avelar, Rodney Hamilton, Michelle Manzanales, Andrea Miller, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Pedro Ruiz, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Nancy Turano, and Eduardo Vilaro
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gloria Estefan, Rita Moreno, Norman Lear, Pacquito D’Rivera, Arturo O’Farrill, and other Latinx artists
The pre-recorded show will include new works set remotely on our dancers by prominent choreographers. The choreographers are social distancing in locations around the world, and our dancers are across the country, yet the beauty of dance transcends the distance between them.
Donate here.
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The 2020 Primetime Emmy telecast will take place as planned on Sun. Sept. 20 at 8 PM ET. But beyond that, information about the telecast’s producer, or how the show will look in these pandemic times, will be announced soon. Jimmy Kimmel will host.
The pre-recorded show will include new works set remotely on dancers (across the county) by prominent choreographers, who will be socially distancing in locations around the world.
Among the scenarios being explored for the broadcast are a fully virtual version, as well as an in-person event that could still incorporate some virtual or other “non-traditional” elements that would ensure the health and safety of anyone involved with the show.
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LA’s Rogue Artists Ensemble has announced a digital showcase of its 2020 Rogue Lab New Play Incubator plays-in-progress.
The project offers audiences the opportunity to view short surreal snippets, readings, puppet demonstrations, and a play that unfurls through an Instagram feed, getting a u nique view into the Rogue new play development process. The project can be viewed through December.
* Penny’s Puppet Hour, by Chelsea Sutton, directed by Hannah Wolf
* Shells, by Amy Judd Lieberman, directed by Dylan Southard
* Oysters, by Carissa Atallah, directed by Keiana Richard
* The Reckless Sea of the Brain, by Mady Schutzman, directed by Sonia Norris
* Wind Phone, by Bernardo Solana, directed by BJ Dodge
* Los Bastardos, by Mercedes Floresislas, directed by Andy Lowe.
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Video: West End Men (Daniel Koek, James Bisp, Daniel Boys, Alexis Gerred and Ashley Stillburn) sing “Defying Gravity.” Stunning.
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RIP: Pat Brymer, a well-known puppeteer and puppet builder who manipulated Bill Murray’s irrepressible nemesis, that pesky gopher, for “Caddyshack,” has died at the age of 70 on Apr. 12 after a battle with cardiomyopathy. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the announcement of his death. Survivors include his partner of 47 years, husband James T. McDermott.
A remembrance of Pat’s life will be held at a later date.
Brymer died April 12 after a battle with cardiomyopathy at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, family friend Stephen Dolainski told The Hollywood Reporter. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the announcement of his death.
Brymer created an updated version of the woolly Lamb Chop character for renowned puppeteer and ventriloquist Shari Lewis. In the 1990s, they collaborated on the PBS shows Lamb Chop’s Play-Along and The Charlie Horse Music Pizza and on Lamb Chop on Broadway.
Brymer also served as principal puppeteer on Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “Team America: World Police “(2004), for which he also “portrayed” Baxter, the bartender and limo driver. Other credits include “Short Circuit” (1986), “My Stepmother Is an Alien” (1988), “So I Married an Axe Murderer” (1993), “Extreme Movie” (2008) and “Carving a Life (2017),” a 1995 episode of “The Nanny “and the “McDonaldland” ad campaign for the fast food chain.
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LA’s Center Theatre Group has postponed its 2020-21 season, and will now begin its full 7-show season in April 2021.
By that time, all 3 theatres will have been dark for 56 weeks, resulting in nearly $40 million of lost revenue, and forcing a 65% budget reduction and expansion of staff furloughs. Please consider donating here.
* To Kill a Mockingbird will open the season on Apr. 29, 2021.
* The Lehman Trilogy, Dear Evan Hansen, Les Misérable, and Hadestown will be rescheduled.
* Come From Away and Ain’t Too Proud will be shortened by 2 weeks each, to accommodate other tour stops.
* Slave Play dates TBA.
…and more TBA…
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LA theaters team up for the Juneteenth Theater Justice Project with a Zoom reading of Vincent Terrell Durham’s Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids on Fri. June 19 at 6 PM PT here, directed by Andi Chapman.
Brandon Scott, Christine Woods, Tesiana Elie, Todd Grinnell, Garrett Mercer, Kacie Rogers, and Sheldon White.
A liberal white couple opens the doors of their renovated Harlem brownstone to host a cocktail party for a Black Lives Matter activist, his gay white lover, and the mother of a slain 12-year-old Black boy. A night of cocktails and conversation sparks emotional debates on topics ranging from the underweight polar bears and Lana Turner, to saving the planet, gentrification, racial identity, and protecting the lives of Black boys.
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Videos: “The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues,” in support of Juxtaposition Arts, featuring Raúl Esparza, J. Smith-Cameron, Frankie J. Alvarez, Raúl Castillo, April Matthis, Jaime Ray Newman & Patch Darragh, Bojana Novakovic, Maria-Christina Oliveras, and Mariama Whyte.
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Ali Wentworth & Liz Tuccillo’s “East Wing” is in development with Starz.
Debra Messing and Tuccillo, and more TBA.
Based on Wentworth’s mother, who served as a Social Secretary in Ronald Reagan’s White House, the series tells the story of Hollis Carlisle, a hostess extraordinaire in the 1980s. who juggles her threatened husband, rebellious children, Nancy Reagan’s Chief of Staff, and a crippling anxiety disorder.
Timeline and additional casting TBA.