Today’s Highlights:
Songs for a New World virtual production, by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Paul Daigneault, featuring Rashed Al Nuaimi, Laura Marie Duncan, Jennifer Ellis, Dwayne P. Mitchell, Davron S. Monroe, Mikayla Myers, Rebekah Rae Robles, Alexander Tan, and Victor Carrillo Tracey, begins streaming at Boston’s Speakeasy Stage Company.
“Myths & Hymns Song Cycle” film, by Adam Guettel, featuring Kelli O’Hara, Jennifer Holliday, Mykal Kilgore, Theresa McCarthy, Anthony Roth Constanzo, Miles Mykkanen, Larry Owens, and Nicholas Phan, streams for FREE at 6:30 PM ET here.
The Wilderness concert presentation, by Kyle Jarrow & Lauren Worsham, featuring Lilli Cooper, Lauren Worsham, Kyle Jarrow, David Blasher, Jeff Fernandes, Lindsey Ford, Sharone Syegh, Jamie Mohamdein, and Kevin Wunderlich, streams at 7 PM ET here.
Set Designer David Rockwell‘s new book, “Drama,“ released i Hardcover here, which explores the ideas and method of design. Royalties will be donated to The Actors Fund.
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Years concert, 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, concludes streaming here.
Blackademics, by Idris Goodwin, directed by Ansley Valentine, featuring Mariah Burks, Colleen Longshaw, and Lisa Marie Schueller, concludes streaming at Cleveland Playhouse.
American Ballet Theatre’s Uniting in Movement concludes streaming at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
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Video: Stars in the House, offering a Here Lies Love reunion (2014 production at The Public Theater), with guest host Jose Llana, and special guests Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu, Jeigh Madius, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Kelvin Moon Loh, Jaygee Macapugay, and Renee Albulario. (1:24:57)
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Acting in the theatre is a fascinating combination of the visceral and the spiritual.” ~ Laurence Luckinbill
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Hamilton will play to 100% capacity beginning Aug. 17 at the Pantages Theatre.
Tickets are now on sale through Jan. 2, 2022.
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The 2021 Theatre Woman Awards Virtual Gala will stream Mon. June 7 at 7 PM ET here.
Estelle Parsons, Stephanie Berry, Taylor Reynolds, Meghan Finn, Cookie Jordan, Sheilah Rae, and Mei Ann Teo.
Martha Gehman, Troy Anthony, Joan D. Firestone, Joe Barros, Susan Bernfield, Montano Blanco, Melody Brooks, and Gina Femina.
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Lincoln Center Theatre’s Celebration of Student Songs continues streaming through June 20 here.
This annual event is the culmination of LCT’s “Songwriting in Schools Program,” a 9-session residency where NYC public middle and high school students engage in a rigorous creative process, writing their own songs from a character’s point of view under the guidance of professional composers and lyricists.
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RIP: Samuel E. Wright died May 24 at the age of 74.
Wright was the original Mufasa on Broadway in The Lion King, as well as the voice of Sebastian in The Little Mermaid.
Samuel’s extensive career on Broadway began in 1971 when he appeared in the ensemble of the original Jesus Christ Superstar. His career continued in Broadway’s Two Gentlemen of Verona (as Valentine), and he earned his first Tony nomination for The Tap Dance Kid, and went on to receive another nomination for The Lion King (which turned out to be his last Broadway show).
Film and TV credits include “The Little Mermaid” (voice of Sebastian), as well as “Sebastian’s Caribbean Jamboree,” “The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea,” “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning,” the “Little Mermaid” animated series, “Raw Toonage,” “Marsupilami,” and “Disney’s House of Mouse.”
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Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon will run June 11 – Sept. 19 at the Fountain Theatre, directed by Judith Moreland.
Leea Ayers, Matthew Hanock, Mara Klein, Hazel Lozano, Rob Nagle, Kacie Rogers, Vanessa Claire Stewart, and Pam Trotter.
A modern-day Black playwright is struggling to find his voice. He adapts his favorite play, The Octoroon, a 19th-century melodrama about illicit interracial love written seven years after Uncle Tom’s Cabin. What ensues is an upside-down world where racial stereotypes are challenged and brutally satirized. A highly stylized reality is created to tell the story of an octoroon woman ( a person who is 1/8 black) and her quest for identity and love. Hilarious and profoundly tragic.
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Dorothy Lyman’s We Have to Hurry will livestream Sat. June 5 at 8 PM ET and Sun. June 6 at 3 PM ET here, directed by Patricia Vanstone.
Alfred Molina and one more TBA.
At a retirement community in sunny Cedar Key, Florida, Margaret and Gil are forced to be apart in their adjacent condos due to a mandatory isolation order for all residents. From their neighboring balconies, lovestruck Gil witnesses Margaret’s increasing frustrations at their circumstances, and realizes that he must use his humor and wit to turn her spirits around. Keenly award that every moment is precious, Gill knows “we have to hurry,” but can he get Margaret to take a walk on the beach and the first step toward happily ever after?
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Jason Danieley: Broadway Stories and Songs, with Ted Sperling will stream Fri. May 28 at 8 PM ET and Sat. May 29 at 2 PM ET.
available only through TDF.
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Jonathan Rockefeller’s Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation will begin Oct. 21 at Theatre Row. Casting and creative team TBA.
The show will be performed with life-size puppetry, and will include songs from Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree” and “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,” with songs by the Sherman brothers and A.A. Milne
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Space Dogs concert, featuring selections from the new musical, written & performed by Van Hughes & Nick Blaemire, will stream Mon. June 28 at 7 PM ET Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater (and available through July 1).
The heartbreaking story of Laika, a stray dog who is sent to space during the Cold War by a top-secret Russian scientist. Laika made history as the first animal to orbit the Earth, but she was only supplied with one meal, seven days’ worth of oxygen, and died from overheating within hours of liftoff. The 27-minute stream will feature puppets, animation, green screen technology, and guitars.
For tickets and more information, click here.
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Disney’s Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation, adapted & developed by Jonathan Rockefeller, will begin previews Oct. 1 at Theatre Row.
Creative team, casting, and additional information TBA.
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Broadway’s Back, featuring performers from Broadway’s Moulin Rouge!, Diana, Dear Evan Hansen, Wicked, The Lion King, and Chicago, will take place today at 11;30 AM for an audience of 25 vaccinated educators, along with a livestream of the event which will be available for students and teachers across all five boroughs for 30 days. The event will be hosted by N’Kenge.
Sahr Ngauijah, Holly Ann Butler, Zachary Noah Piser, Jennifer DiNoia, Nteliseng Nkhela, Haley Swindal, and Jeremy Stolle.
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A collection of Broadway memorabilia, Tony Awards, and other belongings from the personal collection of Carol Channing will be auctioned on June 17 at 10 AM PT in an online-only sale here.
Available:
* Channing’s 3 Tony Awards
* 1968 Golden Globe for “Thoroughly Modern Mille”
* A dress Channing wore on stage performing the title number from Hello, Dolly
* A tiara prop from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”
* Many other personal effects and mementos collected over 70+ year career.