Today’s Highlights:
* Musical Theatre West‘s Keep the Lights On benefit concert, featuring David Engel, Larry Raben & Bets Malone, re-broadcast any time between 3 PM – Midnight PT.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: Theatre is like a gym for empathy. It’s where we can go to build up the muscles of compassion to practice listening and understanding and engaging with people that are not like ourselves. We practice sitting down, paying attention, and learning from other people’s actions. We practice caring.~ Bill English, San Francisco Playhouse
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Video: “Stars in the House,” a Smokey Joe’s Cafe reunion, featuring Brenda Braxton, Ken Hanson, Adrian Bailey, Frederick Owens, Sir Ken Ard, DeLee Lively-Tori, Robert Torti, and Deb Lyons. (1:10:28)
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Lockdown Theatre will present a reading of Private Lives on Sun. Sept. 13 at 7 PM GMT/3 PM ET, directed by Jonathan Church. A Q&A with the cast and director will follow.
Emma Thompson (Amanda), Robert Lindsay (Elyot), Sanjeev Bhaskar (Victor), and Emilia Clarke (Sybil).
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Video: Amy Adams performs “Moments in the Woods,” from Into the Woods (Shakespeare in the Park 2012).
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Michael Riedel’s “Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway” will be released in hardcover and Kindle on Nov. 10. 
here.
The 1990s — the extraordinary story of a transformative decade on Broadway, featuring gripping behind-the-scenes accounts of shows such as Rent, Angels in America, Chicago, The Lion King, and The Producers — shows that changed the history of the American theater.
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“Casey Nicholaw: Measured in Love,” an 8-part video series, will feature a different theatremaker each week, talking not just about their love of the industry but also about how everyone involved with a show relies on one another, eliciting a magical alchemy that results in a Broadway show.
Video: Watch last night’s premiere, with Nicholaw, who first fell in love with the theatre seeing national tours in the San Diego area, and shares about what the performing arts have meant to him.
One positive thing that has come out of the Broadway shutdown is that more people than ever before understand just how big the theatrical community is. Broadway isn’t just the stars and the writers—it’s a whole team of designers and others, who have their own teams working for them. And Broadway isn’t just Broadway: It’s regional theatre and community theatre and national tours, all of which serve to inspire the next generation of theatremakers.
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LA’s Skylight Theatre presents a reading of Michelle Kholos’ Flapping & Flying on Thurs. Sept. 3 at 3 PM PT , directed by Jenny Sullivan.
Joe Spano and JoBeth Williams
Isolation can make you batty.
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Video: Trailer for Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of Broadway’s “The Prom,” by Matthew Sklar & Chad Beguelin, premieres this Fall (date TBA) on Netflix.
Meryl Streep (Dee Dee Allen), Nicole Kidman (Angie Dickinson), James Corden (Barry Glickman), Andrew Rannells (Trent Oliver), Ariana DeBose (Alyssa Green), Keegan-Michael Key (Mr. Hawkins), Kerry Washington (Mrs. Greene), Kevin Chamberlin (Sheldon Saperstein), and Jo Ellen Pellman (Emma Nolan).
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Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater has announced that the original Broadway cast of Hairspray will reunite for Miscast20 on Sun. Sept. 13 at 8 PM ET here (and available through Sept. 17), with music supervision by Will Van Dyke.
A pre-show featuring performances from past Miscast events and never-before-seen content, including performer introductions, will be available at 7:45 PM ET here.
(Hairspray): Laura Bell Bundy, Kerry Butler, Harvey Fierstein, Jenn Gambatese, Jackie Hoffman, Kamilah Marshall, Matthew Morrison, Corey Reynolds, Judine Somerville, Shayna Steele, and Marissa Jaret Winokur.
Norbert Leo Butz, Robert Fairchild, Beanie Feldstein, Heather Headley, Joshua Henry, Ingrid Michaelson, Rob McClure, Leslie Odom Jr, Isaac Powell, Lauren Ridloff, Nicolette Robinson, Phillipa Soo, and Adrienne Warren.
Jocelyn Bioh, Kenneth Cole, Raúl Esparza, Judith Light, Julianna Margulie, Piper Perabo, and Thomas Sadoski,
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Brave Hearts for Broadway presents Let Us Entertain You, in support of The Actors Fund, to take place Thurs. Sept. 23 at 7 PM ET, with choreography by
This special video event will bring together a performance from frontline and essential workers, and give back to the theater industry and celebrate the performing arts. “The Frontline Choir and Friends,” a company made up of frontline workers, a dance group and theater professionals. “The Frontline Choir” will sing and dance to original songs written especially for this event by Matt Cusson, Terron Brooks, Elisa Nicholas and Andrew David Sotomayor. The event is choreographed by Kathleen Brazie and John Scott. All donations will go directly to The Actors Fund.
Matt Cusson, Terron Brooks, Elisa Nicholas, and Andrew David Sotomayor
: Cameos from Broadway and Hollywood stars thanking the frontline workers for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic: Jelani Alladin, Annaleigh Ashford, Shoshana Bean, Annette Bening, Alexandra Billings, Tommy Bracco, Kristin Chenoweth, Harvey Fierstein, Mandy Gonzalez, Ann Harada, Ruthie Henshall, Judy Kuhn, Linda Lavin, Andrea Martin, Laurie Metcalf, Jessie Mueller, Bebe Neuwirth, Bernadette Peters, Conrad Ricamora, Chita Rivera, Krysta Rodriguez, Lea Salonga, Stephen Schwartz, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Allyson Tucker, with special performances by Billy Porter, Megan Hilty and Brian Gallagher, and Lorna Luft.
Video: Trailer
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Video: Rebecca Luker and Mandy Patinkin perform “How Could I Ever Know” from Broadway’s The Secret Garden (1991)
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Broadway Sessions Presents: Belting for Biden on Thurs. Sept. 3 at 9 PM ET here, hosted by Ben Cameron.
Judy Kuhn, Hailey Kilgore, Laura Bell Bundy, Saycon Sengbloh, Krystal Joy Brown, Angela Birchett, Nikki Renée Daniels, Ashley Loren, Ryann Redmond, Sharone Sayegh, Betsy Struxness, Marisha Wallace, and Shaina Taub.
The concert begins at 9 PM ET on Broadway Session’s YouTube and Facebook. While free to watch, donations are suggested with proceeds going to the Biden Victory Fund.
The lineup also includes Angela Birchett (The Color Purple), Nikki Renée Daniels (Company), Ashley Loren (Moulin Rouge!), Ryann Redmond (Frozen), Sharone Sayegh (The Band’s Visit), Betsy Struxness (Hamilton), Marisha Wallace (West End’s Dreamgirls), and composer-lyricist Shaina Taub (Suffragist). Ben Cameron hosts.
Viewers can also submit questions ahead of time to be answered during the event.
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Glendale’s Alex Theatre‘s 95th Birthday Telethon will take place Sat. Sept. 5 from 9 AM -9 PM, and will also celebrate Musical Theatre Guild.
Fritz Coleman, Alonzo Bodden, Palmira Perez-Najarian, Mary Basmadjian, and Michael Raynor.
TBA.
* Jason Graae will give viewers a virtual tour of the historic Alex Theatre.
* Listen to “Heart & Music” (from A New Brain)performed by 40+ MTG members
* Jeffrey Scott Parsons will discuss MTG’s Youth Outreach programs.
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CA’s Rubicon Theatre presents Music of the Knights: Celebrating the Songs of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney, conceived & created by Scott Coulter, will run Sept. 7-9 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds parking lot (gates open at 6:30 PM PT, show begins at 8 PM PT), directed by James O’Neil, with music direction by Chris Lash.
Ted Neeley
Teri Bibb, David Burnham, Davis Gaines, Chris Lash, Tami Tappan Damiano, and Ty Taylor.