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.
Today’s Highlights:
* 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues presentations, written by Mallery Avidon, Trista Baldwin, Chad Beckim, Rachel Bonds, Emily Breeze, John J. Caswell Jr., Joshua Conkel, Laura Eason, Alex Edelman, Rebecca Gilman, Daniel Goldfarb, Dylan Guerra, J. Holtham, Garlia Cornelia Jones, David Lindsay-Abaire, Wendy MacLeod, Donald Margulies, Caroline V. McGraw, Tony Meneses, Itamar Moses, Dan O’Brien, Scott Organ, Brian James Polak, Andrew Rincón, Andrew Rosendorf, Alexis Scheer, and Jonathan Marc Sherman, performed by Alex Brightman, Sophia Anne Caruso, Ben Ahlers, Aya Cash, Michael Chernus, Johanna Day, John Doman, Brett Gelman, Zabryna Guevara, Evan Handler, Jessica Hecht, Alexander Hodge, Deirdre Lovejoy, Anson Mount, Ronald Peet, Liza Jessie Peterson, Danny Pudi, Gabriela Quezada Bloomgarden, Nina Quezada Bloomgarden, Ben Shenkman, Mirirai Sithole, and Shaunette Renée Wilson, begin at 6 PM ET here.
* Viral Vignettes TV clips, “Pass The Matzoh,” starring Renée Taylor and Michele Greene. livestreamed at 3 PM ET here.
* The Actors Fund’s “Humpday with Hampshire” Ep. 8, weekly live-streamed talk show, with Emily Hampshire, at 5 PM ET here.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “If you have built castles in the air your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
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Video: “Stars in the House,” with guest host Judy Gold, featuring Donna Lynne Champlin, Maddie Corman, and Anne L. Nathan. (1:29:55)
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Video: “Stars in the House,” a “Star Trek Voyager” reunion, with Kate Mulgrew , Jeri Ryan, Roxann Dawson, Robert Beltran, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Tim Russ, and Garret Wang. (1:06:50)
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Linda Purl‘s new jazz CD, “Taking a Chance on Love…taking flight with your dreams,” is now available digitally here, with music direction by Tedd Firth.
Proceeds for the first month will be donated to MusiCares COVID-19 Fund, and the 2nd month’s proceeds will benefit The Actors Fund.
1. Pure Imagination/Never Never Land
2. I Have Dreamed
3. Lucky Day/Shooting High
4. And We Will Fly/Come Fly With Me
5. Taking a Chance on Love
6. Too Late Now
7. Throw It Away
8. Wave
9. Darn That Dream
10. You Fascinate Me So
11. Try Your Wings
12. Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) Listen here.
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Chita: A Legendary Celebration (2013) will stream on Fri. May 29 at 8 PM ET here, in support of BC/EFA, written by Terrence McNally, directed by Graciela Daniele, with music direction by Michael Croiter.
Ben Vereen and John Kander
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Video: Ferris and Milnes perform 33 Sondheim Songs in 5 Minutes. Wow!
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Off-Broadway’s Public Theater has announced its 2020 online auction.
This year’s packages include an exclusive New Yorker cartoon by Tom Toro, a chance to perform with The Losers Lounge at Joe’s Pub, an opportunity to cook with chef Andrew Carmellini, and much more.
Click here to view all items and to bid. Bidding closes June 2 at 6 PM ET.
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“The Homebound Project,” which supports children affected by Covid-19, will run from June 3 (7 PM ET) – June 7 (7 PM ET) here. The Playwrights have been given the prompt of “Champions.”
John Guare, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Michael R. Jackson, Gina Femia, Mara Nelson-Greenberg, Daniel Talbott, Xavier Galva, Samuel D. Hunter, Clare Barron, and Korde Arrington.
Jerry Zaks, Jenna Worsham, Taylor Reynolds, Kevin Laibson, and Steven Pasquale.
Jennifer Carpenter, Thomas Sadoski, Ralph Brown, Diane Lane, Paola Lázaro, Joshua Leonard, Eve Lindley, Arian Moayed, Ashley Park, Phillipa Soo, and Blair Underwood.
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Musicals on the road to film adaptations (most of which you already know from past GRACE NOTES newsletters):
Timelines, casting, and additional information TBA.
* Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
* West Side Story
* In the Heights
* Wicked
* The Prom
* Tick, Tick….Boom!
* Sunset Boulevard
* Matilda
* Dear Evan Hansen
* Beautiful
* Guys and Dolls
* Little Shop of Horrors
* Follies
* Mean Girls
* Merrily We Roll Along
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Works & Process at NYC’s Guggenheim will present the premiere of Storm on Sun. June 7 at 7:30 PM ET, choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, performed by Sara Mearns, with Zoe Sarnak at the piano, and vocals by Margo Seibert.
Reports Bergasse: For me this was all about dichotomy; I was feeling so many opposing emotions. Sometimes debilitatingly negative, and then extraordinary positive and powerful. That’s where the movement came from. And I wanted to capture Sara’s state of being against Zoe’s song of hope.
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Off-Broadway’s Public Theater has announced additional performers for its We Are One Public, to take place Mon. June 1 at 8 PM, directed by Kenny Leon, and hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Sam Waterston and Audrey & Zygi Wilf
Antonio Banderas, Laura Benanti, Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Danielle Brooks, Glenn Close, Jenn Colella, Elvis Costello, Claire Danes, Holly Gould, Danai Gurira, Anne Hathaway, Stephanie Hsu, Oscar Isaac, Nikki M. James, John Leguizamo, Audra McDonald, Grace McLean, Sandra Oh, Mia Pak, David Hyde Pierce, Phillipa Soo, Trudie Styler & Sting, Will Swenson, Shaina Taub, Kuhoo Verma, Ada Westfall, Kate Wetherhead, Todd Almond, Troy Anthony Burton, Michael Cerveris, Daniel Craig, Carla Duren, Danaya Esperanza, Jane Fonda, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, David Henry Hwang, Brian d’Arcy James, Alicia Keys, John Lithgow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Margaret Odette, Kelli O’Hara, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad, Jay O. Sanders, Liev Schreiber, Deandre Sevon, Martin Sheen, and Meryl Streep.
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Nate D. Sanders Auctions is auctioning 2 Tony Award statues tomorrow (May 28):
Florence Klotz costume design Tony awards for Show Boat and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Bidding for both statues begins at $7,500.
The Tony Awards being auctioned are Klotz’s final two wins. She passed away from heart failure in 2006 at the age of 86.
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FilmedOnStage.com is offering a plethora of musicals to watch in their entirety.
I’m not 100% sure it’s free or there is a charge.
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Broadway Records (link TBA) will release “Robbie Rozelle: Songs From Inside My Locker” for digital purchase and streaming on June 26. Recorded live over two performances at 54 Below in 2019, the album features performances from special guests stars Bonnie Milligan and Maya Days.
Rozelle uses songs from The Wizard of Oz, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Alice in Wonderland, and more to tell the story of how showtunes saved his life.
1. Let’s Misbehave
2. “Kim at the top of Miss Saigon…”
3. If I Only Had a Brain
4. “A ballad k-hole…”
5. Little Girls / Captain Hook’s Tango
6. “My two dads…”
7. Charles Nelson Reilly / Paul Lynde Medley
8. The Kid
9. “My very first boyfriend ever…”
10. First Penis I Saw
11. “They just decided it’s Spring…”
12. In Hell’s Kitchen
13. “There are so many roles I never got to play…”
14. The Aged-Out Medley
15. “Comedy comes in threes…”
16. A Step Too Far (with Bonnie Milligan and Maya Days)
17. “Everyone has mantras…”
18. I Have Found
19. Tomorrow / Here Comes the Sun
20. “I’m an accidental performer…”
21. Change in Me
22. “A Hefty bag covered in KY…”
23. Jam Tomorrow