* CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE PRESENTS SAVORY TANHA
From Thursday July 9-Saturday July 11 @ 8pm, Cleveland Public Theatre will present Savory Tanha, sixteen short plays as part of its Encounters (Here and Now Series). The series was written and directed by David Hansen.
Each presentation, which is a virtual memory of long longing and loss, happiness and helpfulness, and navigating the pathways of human desire, will be 50 minutes and be limited to 60 “seats” (a live presentation via Zoom.)
For tickets, which are a suggested donation of $1, go to cptonline/savory taṇha/.
* SEE HAMILTON WITHOUT GOING BROKE!
The cinematic capture of Hamilton drops July 3 on Disney+. This is Hamilton, beginning to end. The only lyric cuts are the removal of two uses of “f*ck” so that the film could receive a PG-13 rating (one will be muted, the other replaced with a record scratch).
The platform starts at $6.99 a month. Be aware that many televisions are not capable of downloading the app so before you enroll for a subscription make sure your set is compatible. (None of the smart TVs in our house will handle it.).
To see a trailer for Hamilton, click here.
* WATCH BROADWAY STAR BERNADETTE PETERS IN CONCERT
For the first time online, watch an extraordinary evening with Broadway leading lady and three-time Tony Award recipient Bernadette Peters in concert. The free stream is set for 8pm Eastern on Friday July 10, and can be watched at broadwaycares.org/bernadette.
Throughout the evening, get the scoop from Peters and Broadway and television star Michael Urie as they talk about the concert and share insider stories. The one-night-only benefit concert, originally performed at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre in 2009, features spectacular performances of songs by Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein and more.
*PROJECT SING OUT! BENEFITS ARTS EDUCATION
Project Sing Out!, supporting the Educational Theatre Foundation and their efforts to increase access to arts education in under-resourced schools, will stream live on Playbill’s YouTube channel and Facebook page Monday July 20 at 7pm.
The event will offer musical and spoken word performances and special appearances, including Chita Rivera, Vanessa Williams and Audra McDonald.
For information go to project-sing-out-a-one-night-only-benefit-for-arts-education/
*BROADWAY TO REMAIN DARK UNTIL JANUARY 3, 2021
As performing arts organizations across the country announce plans to forgo their fall programming, Broadway is following suit. The Broadway League has announced that all productions will remain closed through at least January 3, 2021.
While it is now official, the decision does not come as a surprise. The League stated in May that while shows would be dark through September 6, this date serves more as a determination of how late productions would offer refunds and exchanges than a look into when the curtain will rise again.
Once that can happen, audiences can expect shows to return on a rolling basis, rather than on one specific date. Details concerning this scheduling and ticketing will be announced in the coming weeks.
*THEATER PLANS DIVIDERS FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING
Like most other large regional nonprofit and commercial theaters, the Wilma in Philadelphia plans to stay closed through the fall. But this theater has an unusual idea for how to reopen when the time comes: it will prevent theatergoers from breathing on one another by separating them with wooden dividers.
The Wilma, which normally seats 300 people in a traditional auditorium, says it will build a new structure, seating as many as 100 or as few as 35, on its stage. The two-tiered structure, which can be configured in the round or as a semicircle, is based in part on Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. The most distinctive feature is that each party of patrons — whether they be solo or in groups of up to four — is seated in a box, physically separated from all other parties.
For the whole story go to nytimes.com/theater/wilma-theater-social-distancing.
[Collected by Roy Berko, member: Cleveland Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association]