Today’s Highlights:
* Barrington Stages‘s Three Viewings reading, by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Julianne Boyd, starring Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith, begins streaming (available through Nov. 27)
* Brave Hearts for Broadway’s Let Us Entertain You FREE benefit concert, a frontline worker tribute to the theatre industry, featuring Billy Porter, Megan Hilty & Brian Gallagher, Lorna Luft, 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, streams at 7 PM ET here.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “Why, except as a means of livelihood, a man should desire to act on the stage when he has the whole world to act in, is not clear to me.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
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Video: “Stars in the House,” an “America for the Arts” special, with guests Annette Bening, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ariana DeBose, Ben Folds, Todrick Hall, Javier Muñoz, Bebe Neuwirth, Storm Reid, Alfre Woodard, Dr. Jonathan LaPook and Nina Ozlu Tunceli (Chief Counsel of Government and Public Affairs & Executive Director, Americans for the Arts Action Fund). (1:33:06)
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NYC’s City Center Encores! will launch its “Inside the Revival” documentary series on Oct. 14, in which Lear deBessonet and Clint Ramos open up their creative process through performances and one-on-one conversations with the artists invested in reviving these productions.
Additional documentaries (dates TBA):
* Billy Porter’s reimagining of The Life.
* Kenny Leon discussing The Tap Dance Kid
* Victoria Clark on Love Life
* Ashley Park on Thoroughly Modern Millie
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Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” has announced additional casting:
Previously announced: Austin Butler (Elvis Presley), Tom Hanks (Colonel Tom Parker), and Olivia DeJonge (Priscilla Presley).
Newly announced: Richard Roxburgh (Vernon Presley), Helen Thomson (Gladys Presley), David Wenham (Hank Snow), and Dacre Montgomery (Steve Binder).
The film centers on Presley’s rise and zenith, with a focus on his relationship to Parker, who held major control over Presley’s life and career.
Timeline and additional information TBA.
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San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus has announced its Season 43:
* Fall Showcase annual concert (Oct. 17), which includes the world premiere of Andrew Lippa’s “What Will We Hear” performed by Kristin Chenoweth.
* [At] Home for the Holidays (Dec. 19).
* Love Cabaret (Feb. 13, 2021), a special Valentine’s concert
* Pride Showcase (June 20), a special celebration in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
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Video: “My Daughters” by Michele Brourman & Hillary Rollins, inspired by a poem by Jo-Ann Mort, performed by Brourman.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theatre has announced Othello 2020, a multi-program initiative providing an engaging and educational experience for all who are interested in Shakespeare’s Othello and the world in which we live today. Also included are plays by Keith Hamilton Cobb and Anchuli Felicia King.
* Patrick Page: “I hate the Moor” podversation (Oct. 5 at 7:30 PM ET), who will investigate approaches to essential passages from the Shakespearean and Jacobean canon―and beyond.
* Exploring Othello in 2020 (Oct. 7, 14, 21 & 28, all at 2 PM ET) seminar, with a group of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) theater artists to read and discuss Shakespeare’s Othello with celebrated Shakespeare scholar, Ayanna Thompson.
* American Moor benefit reading (Oct. 12 at 7:30 PM ET, and available until Oct. 16), featuring Keith Hamilton Cobb.
* Bull Session/American Moor (Oct. 15 at 7:30 PM), offering a post-performance interactive discussion with artists and scholars.
* Keene (Oct. 19 at 7:30 PM ET, and available until Oct. 23) livestreamed benefit reading, by Anchule Felicia King, directed by Ethan McSweeny. It’s love at first sight for Kai, a Japanese musicologist, when she spies Tyler, the only student of color in his PhD cohort, at a Shakespeare conference. Each night, while Tyler dreams he is the subject of his thesis: Ira Aldridge, the first black man to play Othello, Kai dreams of Tyler. As dreams start to merge with reality, Tyler and Kai are brought closer together. Yet Tyler, like Ira before him, can not perceive the inevitable betrayal of his closest ally. A heartfelt ode to always being the second-class genius of color, Keene is a playful riff on early-career academia, Shakespeare’s Othello, and the power of American pop.
* Bull Session/Keene (Oct. 22 at 7:30 PM ET, offering an interactive discussion with some of the artists involved along with scholar David Sterling Brown, moderated by Anne G. Morgan.
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A new drive-in movie theatre experience in NYC will open with screenings of The Phantom of the Opera filmed at London’s Royal Albert Hall, starring Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess. Previews for the special event begin Sept. 26 at Radial Park in Astoria, Queens, ahead of a double-feature opening night Oct. 1 with The Phantom of the Opera musical and Purple Rain. 
Click here for more information and tickets.
Prior to each showing, Phantom alums Ali Ewoldt and Derrick Davis will perform a live concert, accompanied by an 11-piece orchestra.
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Shakin’ the Blues Away: A Virtual Gala for Goodspeed will take place Thurs. Oct. 29 at 7:30 PM ET here, and will feature stars of Goodspeed and Broadway performing beloved songs from classic musicals, with music direction by Adam Souza, and choreography by Kelli Barclay.
Klea Blackhurst, Bryan Thomas Hunt, Gizel Jiménez, Rashidra Scott, Kelly Sheehan, Alysha Umphress, Nicholas Ward, and more TBA.
The event will be available for ticketholders only, for 1 week.
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If you’re a fan of Jason Graae (and who isn’t), please check out his new YouTube channel here, for fabulous music, songs, concerts… and especially Murray (the cutest dog ever). As Jason says, “It will change your life.”
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Off-Broadway’s Ars Nova has announced the remainder of its 2020 virtual season:
* Showgasm (Oct. 8), with guest host Sonia Denis, featuring Odinaka Ezeokoli, Rebecca O’Neal, and Jonathan Teklai.
* Laura Galindo in Concert! (Oct. 16), with special guests Henry Trinder, Isaiah Hazzard, Greg Tock, and Sam Revaz.
* Find Him (Oct. 23), written & performed by Dylan Guerra.
* The Other Other (oct. 27), created by Shayok Misha Chowdhury and Kameron Neal.
* A Blue Moon Study by O-die (Oct. 31), created by lim with puppetry created by Marte Ekhougen.
* Ars Nova Experiences (Nov. dates TBA), offering a series off-screen, tactile works, created by Teddy Bergman, Sam Chase & Amina Henry.
* Forever Telethon (Dec. 4). Details TBA.
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A reading of Ezra Brain & J Andrew Norris’ Something’s Coming, in support of The Actors Fund, will take place Oct. 25 (time TBA) here.
Marc Kudisch (Leonard Bernstein), Vincent Rodriguez III (Hal Prince), Adam B. Shapiro (Stephen Sondheim), Robert Torti (Arthur Laurents), and Ted Louis Levy (Jerome Robbins).
The play explores the creation of West Side Story.
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Theatre books coming this Fall:
“Ann Miller: Her Life and Career,” by Peter Shelley. 
Order here
“But He Doesn’t Know the Territory,” by Meredith Willson, who brings readers back in time with him to the 1950s to experience firsthand the exciting trials and tribulations of creating The Music Man. Order here
“God, Sex, and Musical Theatre: Meditations for Unlocking the Powerful Self,” by Kristin Hanggi, who examines what it means to be a creative spirit in search of self-awareness. Order here
“Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown,” by Anaïs Mitchell, who gives us an inside look at the Hadestown score and shares behind-the-scenes stories. Order here.
“American Utopia,” by David Byrne & Maira Kalman, who use the song lyrics and drawings to remind us that all is not lost in the world we live in. Order here.
“Hamilton and the Law: Reading Today’s Most Contentious Legal Issues Through the Hit Musical.” by Lisa A. Tucker, who contributes magazine-style articles to create a collection of think pieces that connect Broadway and problems facing the justice system, including domestic abuse, systemic racism, and the second amendment. Order here
“Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise.” by Scott Eyman, who draws on Grant’s personal writings, archival research, and interviews with family and friends, to present a portrait of the actor. Order here
“Jagged Little Hill: You Live, You Learn,” by Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, and the cast and crew of the musical Jagged Little Pill with photography, interviews with the cast, crew, Alanis Morissette, and Diablo Cody. The book includes a full annotated libretto. Released Oct. 27. Link for ordering TBA.
“Starring Women: Celebrity, Patriarchy, and American Theater, 1790 – 1850 (Women, Gender, and Sexuality in American History,” by Sara E. Lampert, who explores overlooked female performers from Europe and the United States. Order here
“Walking with Ghosts,” by Gabriel Byrne, who shares his story of going from wanting to be a priest to becoming a star of stage and screen. Link for ordering TBA.
* “Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat: The Amazing Story of Mary Coyle Chase,” by Mimim Pockross. How did a housewife with three children living in a working-class Irish community in Denver, Colorado, became a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright? Order here
“I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are,” by Rachel Bloom. A collection of personal essays, poems and even amusement park maps on the subjects of insecurity, fame, and anxiety from the “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” creator and star. Order here
“This is Not My Memoir,” by Andre Gregory and Todd London. Gregory shares memories from his life and career, including the making of “My Dinner with André,” the days of wartime Paris and golden-age Hollywood, and his visits to monasteries in India. Order here
” Time to Act: An Intimate Photographic Portrait of Actors Backstage,” by Simon Annand, who captures the focus and tension of performers before they take the stage, including Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Judi Dench. Order here
“I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Baby: Dorothy Fields and Her Life in the American Musical Theatre,” by Kristin Stultz Pressley. In this biography, get to know the Oscar winner as well as the stories behind the creation of classics such as Annie Get Your Gun, Redhead, Sweet Charity, Seesaw, and more. Link for ordering TBA.