Today’s Highlights:
War Horse (London’s National Theatre production) begins livestreaming here.
Reasons to be Happy FREE benefit reading, by Neil LaBute, directed by Alison Tanney, featuring Andrew Kober (Greg), Jessica Vosk (Steph), Janine DiVita (Carly, and Kahlil Garcia (Kent), livestreams at 8 PM ET here.
Black Matter, written & performed by Giles Terera (Best Actor Olivier Award for Aaron Burr in Hamilton), concludes streaming here.
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LA Stage Alliance 31st annual Ovation Award winners.
Video: Watch the complete ceremony here. (1:47:06)
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2020 Drama League nominations.
Click here for the complete list of nominees.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “If Patti Lupone was born to play Evita, then Madonna was born to play Patti Lupone playing Evita.” ~ Buck Bannister
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Video: Stars in the House, a Game Night with the Broadway cast of Company — Etai Benson, Matt Doyle, Greg Hildreth, Jennifer Simard, and Chris Sieber. (1:39:45)
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Joe DiPietro & David Bryan’s Diana: The Musical will begin previews Dec. 1 and open Dec. 16 at the Longacre Theatre, directed by Christopher Ashley, with choreography by Kelly Devine, and music supervision by Ian Eisendrath.
Jeanna de Waal (Diana), Roe Hartfampf (Prince Charles), Erin Davie (Camilla Parker Bowles), and Judy Kaye (Queen Elizabeth), with Zach Adkins, Tessa Alves, Ashley Andrews, Austen Danielle Bohmer, Holly Ann Butler, Stephen Carrasco, Bruce Dow, Richard Gatta, Lauren E.J. Hamilton, Emma Hearn, Shaye B. Hopkins, André Jordan, Gareth Keegan, Nathan Lucrezio, Tomás Matos, Chris Medlin, Laura Stracko, and Bethany Ann Tesarck.
Diana: The Musical will premiere as a special presentation on Netflix on Oct. 1, two months ahead of its Broadway debut. This special presentation, directed by Christopher Ashley, was filmed in 2020 and features the original Broadway cast.
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“Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It,” directed by Mariem Pérez Riera, will be released June 18 in movie theaters, and will also be broadcast on PBS sometime after the theatrical release.
George Chakiris, Héctor Elizondo, Gloria Estefan, Tom Fontana, Morgan Freeman, Mitzi Gaynor, Whoopi Goldberg, Norman Lear, Eva Longoria, Justina Machado, Terrence McNally, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Karen Olivo.
The film chronicles Moreno from her early years in Puerto Rico through her childhood as an immigrant in New York City and the racial bias she faced in the studio system, while breaking down barriers and overcoming sexism and identity discrimination with integrity.
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Video: Broadway Backwards 2021 (1:35:05)
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Kavin Panmeechao’s Public Heroics Commission will stream Sat. Apr. 17 at 8 PM ET at Hudson Mainstage Company, directed by Mark Shanahan.
Joan Almedilla, Patrick Halley, Denise Bessette, and Oliva Sklar.
Dan hasn’t had the best of luck. He’s in a dead-end job, newly divorced, and living out of cardboard boxes in a new apartment that he is too apathetic to furnish. So imagine his surprise when he is recruited by the Public Heroic Commission, the government’s top-secret superhero organization.
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Resounding, the immersive-audio entertainment company, has announced casting for the world premiere live outdoor performance and simulcast of Steve Wargo’s Beyond the Veil, which will run Apr. 30 – May 1 (both at 8 PM ET) at Long Island’s Radial Park.
Montego Glover and Quentin Earl Darrington, with Alyssa Fox, Siho Ellsmore, Mary Jo McConnell, and John Stimac.
An original ghost thriller, the production will be performed for both an in-person audience and via audio simulcast as part of a month-long festival at the theatrical drive-in experience Radial Park. In-person audiences will be given special “silent disco”-style headphones to get the full immersive sound experience while enjoying atmospheric and stage projections on the venue’s 50×60 foot screen. NYC bartender Jena Ellenwood will curate an at home experience for remote audiences including exclusive access to seance-themed dinner menu suggestions and a custom cocktail recipe perfect for enjoying a “night out, in.”
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PERFORMING ARTS SPACES
Through a new initiative called Restart Stages, Lincoln Center will open ten new outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces on Apr. 7, kicking off with a special performance for healthcare workers. 
Click here to learn more.
“Designed with expert advice from medical and public health professionals, Restart Stages will create a safe, welcoming, accessible, and dynamic environment for arts and community organizations from across New York City, including Lincoln Center resident companies.”
Some of the new outdoor spaces will include:
A cabaret-style stage on Hearst Plaza
Dedicated family and kids’ areas with arts activities for young people
Venues for rehearsals, opening up the artistic process to visitors
Space for public school graduations
An outdoor reading room
Artistic programming will include:
Film screenings presented by Film at Lincoln Center
Evening concerts with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Concert and cabaret series by Lincoln Center Theater
Dance workshops from New York City Ballet
The spaces will also host blood drives with the New York Blood Center and food distributions with Food Bank For New York City.
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NYC’s Town Hall has announced upcoming concerts as part of its Broadway by the Year series. All concerts will begin streaming at 7 PM ET and remain available for 72 hours.
Apr. 26: The Cole Porter Years, which includes songs from Anything Goes, The Gay Divorce, Paris, and Kiss Me Kate, featuring Alexander Gemignani, Lilli Cooper, Kenita Miller, Danny Gardner, Nicole Henry, and Emily Larger.
May 10: The Kander & Ebb Years, which includes songs from Chicago, Cabaret, Flora, The red Menace, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, featuring Beth Leavel, Ute Lemper, Tony Yazbeck, Natascia Diaz, and Danny Gardner.
May 24: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Years, which includes songs from Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, Sunset Boulevard, and Phantom of the Opera, featuring Max Von Essen, Liz Callaway, Ali Ewoldt, Ethan Slater, Danny Gardner, and Emily Larger.
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VA’s Signature Theatre presents After Midnight. conceived by Jack Viertel, to stream mid-June – early August (exact dates TBA) on BroadwayOnDemand, directed & choreographed by Jared Grimes, with music direction by Mark G. Meadows.
Christopher Jackson, Nova Y. Paton, Sophia Adoum, Phillip Attmore, Jessica Bennett, DeWitt Fleming Jr., Jennie Harney-Fleming, Andre Hinds, Jodeci Milhouse, Solomon Parker III, Shayla S. Simmons, and Kanysha Williams.
This exhilarating song and dance extravaganza is set to the swinging sounds of Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen and more and framed by the poems of Langston Hughes.
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In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Follies, 13-year-old podcast host Charles Kirsch presents Follies at 50: A Conversation with the Cast and Crew of the Original Broadway Production on Sun. Apr. 4 at 7 PM ET here, and will chat with a panel of 7 important figures from different aspects of the show.
Marti Rolph (Yount Sally), Kurt Peterson (Young Ben), Susan L. Schulman (Press Agent), Mary Jane Houdina (Young Hattie/Assistant to Michael Bennett), Michael Misita (Young Vincent), Joanna Merlin (Casting Director), and Ted Chapin (Production Assistant/Historian).
All of these veterans will get together, some for the first time in 50 years, and share their memories, from rehearsal process to closing night. A must-see for any fan of the musical, or any theater buff looking for a historical night where all the elements of putting together a legendary musical will be discussed.
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Women of Legend, Fantasy, and Lore, starring Jessye Norman, is now available to stream, through Apr. 28, at Lincoln Center, conducted by Dame Jane Glover, with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
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Duncan MacMillan will write the stage adaptation of “Games of Thrones,” which is aiming for a 2023 premiere. Of course a Broadway run in also in the works.
The stage work will be set at a pivotal moment in the series’ history: the Great Tourney at Harrenhal, taking “audiences deeper behind the scenes of a landmark franchise event that previously was shrouded in mystery.” The play will also likely feature well-known characters from the Emmy-winning HBO series, as a number of them—Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, Jamie Lannister included—were present at the event, according to the books.