Today’s Highlights:
* Broadway’s The Boys in the Band, directed by Joe Mantello, featuring Jim Parsons (Michael), Zachary Quinto (Harold), Andrew Rannells (Larry), Matt Bomer (Donald), Robin De Jesús (Emory), Brian Hutchison (Alan), Michael Benjamin Washington (Bernard), Tuc Watkins (Hank), and Charlie Carver (Cowboy), premieres on Netflix.
* “The Glorias,” featuring Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Lulu Wilson, Ryan Kiera, Bette Midler, Janelle Monáe, Lorraine Toussaint, Monica Sanchez, and Kimberly Guerrero, premieres on Amazon Prime.
* New York Theatre Barn‘s New Works Series, featuring Micaela Diamond, Bryonha Marie Parham, Malik Bilbrew, Aidan Cole, Kate Fahey, and Jasmine Forsberg, and more premieres at 7 PM ET.
* Rubicon Theatre‘s Streamathon FREE benefit event, featuring Bryan Cranston, Dan Lauria, John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Joe Montegna, Priscilla Lopez, Jim Pickens Jr, Joe Spano, Norm Lewis, Hugh Panaro, Amanda McBroom, George Hall, David Burnham, Sylvie Davidons & Trevor Wheetman, Beverly Ward & Kirby Ward, Peter Scolari, Kim Brockington, Lou Diamond Phillips, Reno Wilson, and Tony Shalhoub, begins streaming at 5 PM PT.
* Broadway & The Bard: An Evening of Shakespeare & Song virtual event, starring Len Cariou, streams at 7:30 PM ET here.
* LA Opera presents Opera Happy Hour, with Jeremy Frank, streams for FREE at 4 PM PT.
* “Bunheads: Misty Copeland in Conversation with Rodhika Jones” streams at 7 PM ET at NYC’s 92Y.
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GRACE NOTES Quote of the Week: “The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life.” ~ Arthur Miller
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Video: “Plays in the House,” presents Project Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra adapted & directed by David Staller, featuring Jeff Applegate, Rajesh Bose, Brenda Braxton, Robert Cucioli, Dan Domingues, Jonathan Hadley, and Mirirai Sithole. (2:29:52)
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Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre has announced its 3-part virtual concert series – Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway, all at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET.
* Patti LuPone (Oct. 24)
* Laura Benanti (Nov. 14)
* Vanessa Williams (Dec. 5)
Each show, transmitted live in HD with professional sound mixing, will feature a mix of Broadway showtunes, pop songs, and personal stories from the life of each headliner.
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Video: Rebecca Luker sings “I’ll Tell the Man in the Street” (2012)
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LA’s Skylight Theatre presents Tony Abatemarco, Michael Kearns & Penelope Lowder’s Grocery Store Roses Have No Smell on Thurs. Oct. 1 at 3 PM PT, directed by Abatemarco.
Adam Foster Ballard, Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, and Peter Van Norden.
The play began as the depiction of a street in Silver Lake, where two men attempted to connect, but failed. During its 6 installments, it has alluminated racial unrest on street throughout America, the universal challenges of the COVID pandemic, and the profound desire for an interracial gay couple to navigate the intricacies of their hearts against a backdrop of political and societal bedlam. In this 6th installment, the play will present a parental reckoning, and LA reunion, and a speed bump no one saw coming. Love resumed and love thwarted on a single day.
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Diane Paragas, Annie J. Howell & Celena Cipriaso’s “Yellow Rose” will be released on Oct. 9 by Sony Pictures, directed by Paragas.
Eva Noblezada and Lea Salonga, with Princess Punzalan, Dale Watson, Liam Booth, and Libby Villari.
The story of Rose, an undocumented Filipina teen living in Texas and dreaming of becoming a country music star. Her world is shattered when her mom suddenly gets picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rose, facing this new reality, is forced to flee the scene, leaving behind the only life she knows, and embarks on a journey of self-discovery as she searches for a new home in the honky-tonk world of Austin.
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Indie Works Theater presents “Bite-Sized Broadway: A Mini Musical Podcast,” which will premiere on Oct. 5 all major streaming platforms, and will feature well-known cast members from Broadway, The West Wend, TV, and digital platforms.
The series features new and exciting “mini-musicals” presented as fully-produced radio plays complete with lush orchestrations, captivating sound effects, and some of the greatest talent that Broadway, Hollywood, TV and YouTube have to offer.
The Oct. 5 premiere will feature The Getaway, by Jared Corak & Joshua Cerdenia, directed by Christopher Michaels, with music direction by Jonathon Lynch, featuring Rick Negron (Peter), Johanna Carlyle Zepeda (Marie/Robber 1), A.J. Holmes (Robber/2nd Pedestrian), Andy Roninson (Radio), and Lance Roberts (Officer). Watch here.
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The Skvvies: Classic Undie Rock will perform Thurs. Oct. 1 at 7 PM ET here.
Matt Doyle and Tamika Lawrence.
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Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater presents “I Hate the Moor: Exploring Iago with Patrick Page” will take place Mon. Oct. 5 at 7:30 PM ET.
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“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey,” written & directed by David E. Talbert, will be released globally on Nov. 13. The film has original songs by John Legend, Philip Lawrence, and Davy Nathan.
Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Phylicia Rashad, and Anika Noni Rose, with Madalen Mills, Sharon Rose, Kieron Dyer, Justin Cornwell, Lisa Davina Phillip, and Hugh Bonneville.
A toymaker’s most-prized creation is stolen by his trusted apprentice, and it’s up to the toymaker’s granddaughter to “reawaken the magic within.
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The Drinkwater Brothers Drink-Wa-Ter-Thon 2020 will stream its 24-hour marathon on Sat. Oct. 10 at 5:30 PM ET – Sat. Oct. 10 at 5:30 PM ET on Facebook, in support of Feed America.
The brothers will perform eclectic covers from many musical genres, as well as their many original songs.
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“Christmas on the Square” will premiere Nov. 22 on Netflix, directed by Debbie Allen.
Christine Baranski, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Lewis, Treat Williams, Josh Segarra, Jeanine Mason, Mary Lane Haskell, Matthew Johnson, and Selah Kimbro Jones.
Regina Miller, a Scrooge-esque town owner, is poised to evict everyone and sell the land to a mall developer. An angel enters and leads her on the path to redemption.
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“Boy*Friends,” premiered last night, directed by Darren Stein.
Jay Armstrong Johnson, Andy Mientus, Kathryn Gallagher, Jennifer Damiano, Julia Murney., Mike Heslin, Isaiah Frizzelle, and Nicolas Wilson.
The show follows two college roommates: one gay and one straight, and flips social paradigms where being gay is not an issue, the jocks are the underdogs, the a cappella singers are the popular kids, and the women are always in charge.
Video: Pilot episode
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An all-new immersive audio performance of Macbeth, a surround sound experiment, will stream a sound experiment, in support of The Actors Fund, to run Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, all at 8 PM ET here, adapted & directed by Joseph Discher.
Tamara Tunie, Laila Robins, Derek Wilson, Joel de la Fuente. Robert Cuccioli, Geoffrey Owens, Jacob Cogman, Sean Hudock, Rocío Mendez, Tim Nicolai, Mandy Olsen, Shane Taylor, Patrick Toon, and Jeorge Bennett Watson.
The broadcast is designed to be listened to in the dark on a pair of headphones with a candle. Ticket-buyers will receive access to the audio performance, along with special instructions, a cocktail recipe, and accoutrements that help complete the experience.
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The London re-opening of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, originally scheduled to begin performances again on Oct. 23 with social distancing in place, has been delayed (new re-opening date TBA)
“Since the British government’s announcement last week that the situation is deteriorating, together with increased restrictions being imposed across the country, makes it impossible to proceed with confidence,” reported producer Adam Spiegel.
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NJ’s Paper Mill Playhouse has announced its reimagined 2020-21 season:
* Live from the West Side: The Women of Broadway: Patti LuPone (Oct. 24), Laura Benanti (Nov. 14), and Vanessa Williams (Dec. 15).
* Sing in a New Year (streams Dec. 19 – Jan. 2, 2020), a holiday cabaret
* Enchanted Evening: The Songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein (streams Feb. 13-27).
* Pete ‘n’ Keely (dates TBA), by James Hindman & Patrick Brady.
* Beehive: The 60’s Musical (dates TBA), directed & choreographed by JoAnn M. Hunter
A livestream option will be available for all shows this season and may become the only possibility if reconvening live audiences is not feasible.