Broadway Jukebox: The 50 Greatest 11 O’Clock Numbers!
Missing Broadway in a major way Stay strong by jamming to the biggest tunes that musical theatre has to offer- the 11 o’clock number. What’s an 11 o’clock number
Watch Broadway Bares: Zoom In on Playbill August 1
Due to the ongoing pandemic, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS takes its annual striptease fundraiser online: Broadway Bares: Zoom In streams August 1. Produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares, the event will be available beginning at 9:30 PM ET in the video above.
Although the in-person 30th anniversary celebration, originally set for June 21, was postponed until 2021, the annual evening lives on digitally through streamed stripteases featuring New York City dancers. Viewers can expect new performances that make social distancing sexy, plus favorite numbers from years past.
Special guests include Nick Adams, Charles Busch, Lea DeLaria, J. Harrison Ghee, Nathan Lee Graham, Debbie Shapiro Gravitte, Jane Krakowski, Nathan Lane, Beth Leavel, Judith Light, Andrew Lippa, Lesli Margherita, Angie Schworer, Marc Shaiman, Miriam Shor, Christopher Sieber, and Wesley Taylor.
READ: 30th Annual Broadway Bares Postponed Until 2021
Introducing the favorite numbers will be co-executive producer, past director, and choreographer Nick Kenkel, Bares director and choreographer Laya Barak, and choreographers John Alix, Al Blackstone, Armando Farfan Jr., Denis Jones, Michael Lee Scott, Kellen Stancil, Charlie Sutton, Andrew Turteltaub, and Sidney Erik Wright.
“We’re so excited to bring the heat of Broadway Bares to screens around the world for the first time with Broadway Bares: Zoom In,” Bares creator and Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, who will also make an appearance, said in an earlier statement. “This year’s performers have gone full-out in both their show-stopping dance moves and desire to make a difference. You’ve got to Zoom In, because it’s sure to make your laptop tingle and your cell phone vibrate!”
Though the stream is free, donations are welcome and will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $200,000, by the Dream Alliance. Every dollar will help those across the country affected by HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, and other critical illnesses receive healthy meals, lifesaving medication, emergency financial assistance, housing, counseling, and more. The donations also support and champion organizations focused on social justice and anti-racism. Visit BroadwayCares.org.
Broadway Bares was created in 1992 by director-choreographer Mitchell, then a Broadway dancer, as a way to raise awareness and money for those living with HIV/AIDS. In its first year, Mitchell and six of his friends danced on a New York City bar and raised $8,000. The 2019 Broadway Bares: Take Off raised a record-breaking $2,006,192.
The 29 editions of Broadway Bares have raised more than $21.2 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations.
Go Backstage of Broadway Bares: Take Off With These Steamy Glam Photos
Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: July 31
1948 The original Broadway production of Brigadoon closes after 581 performances at the Ziegfeld Theatre. Written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Agnes de Mille won the 1947 Tony Award for Best Choreography for her work on the show—especially notable since the 1947 ceremony was the first Tonys in history. Brigadoon marks Lerner and Loewe’s third Broadway collaboration. The production stars David Brooks, Marion Bell, Pamela Britton, and Lee Sullivan and goes on to inspire the 1954 film starring Gene Kelly (which you can watch here). Separately, this date marked the closing of Strange Bedfellows, the play by Florence Ryerson (the last of hers to appear on Broadway) and Colin Clement.
1967 Judy Garland is At Home at The Palace for a four-week engagement at the famed theatre. Following a first act of vaudeville comic Jackie Vernon, soft-shoe and tap dancer John Bubbles, and juggler Francis Brunn, Garland performs a concert of signature songs including “The Man That Got Away,” “Rockabye Your Baby,” “Chicago,” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” During the performance, Garland also introduces “her proteges” Joey and Lorna Luft.
1969 Talk about a writer’s revenge! Josef Bush, who adapted De Sade Illustrated at Off-Broadway’s Bouwerie Theatre, wreaks havoc on the set, spreading white paint all over it. His reason: a nude scene he doesn’t approve of has been added.
1979 Brenda Braxton, Cleavant Derricks, Reginald Vel Johnson, and Lynn Thigpen are among the denizens of Wonderland in But Never Jam Today, Vinnette Carroll and Bob Larimer’s all-black adaptation of Lewis Carroll‘s classic Alice in Wonderland. The production opens on this day in history. However, it runs a short eight regular performances at the Longacre Theatre.
1985 A revised version of the musical revue What’s a Nice Country Like You…Doing in a State Like This? opens at Off-Broadway’s Actors’ Playhouse. Missy Baldino, Jane Brucker, Steve Mulch, Hugh Panaro, and Rob Resnick sing music by Cary Hoffman and lyrics by Ira Gasman. The show plays 252 performances before closing February 9.
2003 A musical in which puppets are the main characters? The PG-13-rated musical, Avenue Q, opens at the Golden Theatre, confounding skeptics with an eyebrow-raising run that brings it the 2004 Tony Award as Best Musical. It also marks the Broadway debut of now-double EGOT winner Bobby Lopez. It stays on Broadway for 2,534 performances before transferring to a commercial Off-Broadway run at New World Stages. The show is the first of its kind in the modern era to make the transfer from Broadway to Off-Broadway, leading the way for shows like Rock of Ages and Jersey Boys to do the same in the future.
2005 The Broadway revival of Steel Magnolias closes at the Lyceum Theatre, but the thing to note about the production was the Broadway debut of actor Lily Rabe—who earned a Tony nomination for her performance.
2009 Sheryl Lee Ralph, Barbara Walsh, and Karen Ziemba sing new songs by the legendary team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland in the new musical The First Wives Club. Opening at The Old Globe in San Diego, California, the musical inspired by the novel and film of the same name is directed by Francesca Zambello, and features a libretto by Rupert Holmes.
2016 A Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking musical Cats opens at the Neil Simon Theatre. Chart-topping British pop star Leona Lewis plays the role of Grizabella the Glamour Cat—the role originally created in London by Elaine Paige and subsequently on Broadway by Betty Buckley. On this same date, Fully Committed starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson closes at the Lyceum Theatre. Written by Becky Mode, the show earned the Drama Desk for Oustanding Solo Performanc.
2019 Domenica Feraud’s Rinse, Repeat officially opens July 31 at the Signature Theatre Off-Broadway. With the actor-playwright starring in the leading role of Rachel, the new play, directed by Kate Hopkins, traces a young woman’s struggles with an eating disorder. The cast also features Florencia Lozano (One Life to Live) as Rachel’s mother Joan, Jake Ryan Lozano (Mary Stuart) as Brody, Portia (Queen For a Day) as Brenda, and Michael Hayden (A View From The Bridge, When They See Us) as Peter.
Today’s Birthdays: Vernel Bagneris (b. 1949), Eve Best (b. 1971), Geraldine Chaplin (b. 1944), Daniel Evans (b. 1973), Richard Griffiths (1947–2013), Don Murray (b. 1929), Peter Nichols (1927–2019), J.K. Rowling (b. 1965), Sab Shimono (b. 1943), Wesley Snipes (b. 1962).
Watch highlights from the 2016 Broadway revival of Cats:
Ralph Fiennes To Portray David Hare in New Play About COVID-19, A TALKING HEADS Return and More Planned for Bridge Theatre Season
Actor Ralph Fiennes has signed on to portray playwright David Hare in Beat the Devil, a new piece in which Hare unpacking his experience contracting and healing from the COVID-19 virus. Nicholas Hytner will direct the piece at Bridge Theatre.
Lindsay Mendez, Telly Leung, and More to Celebrate Teachers on the Next EMPATHY CONCERT
Elliott Masie Telly Leung are hosting the 15th weekly one-hour Empathy Concert on Thursday, July 30th, addressing Empathy for our Teachers.
Tonya Pinkins, Condola Rashad, Steven Boyer, More Set for Playing on Air Season
Plays by Alan Zweibel, Rachel Bonds, Cassandra Medley, and David Ives will stream as part of Playing on Air‘s August mini-season. The podcast series of audio dramas will feature four short works, each followed by a conversation with the artists.
The August lineup follows:
August 2: Happy by Alan Zweibel
Starring Frankie Faison and Scott Adsit, directed by Fred Berner
A baseball fan shows up at the home of his childhood hero, George “Happy” Halliday. Has the stranger come to pay his respects or to throw a curveball?
August 9: Anniversary by Rachel Bonds
Starring Sarah Sokolovic, Michael Esper, Sue Jean Kim, and Steven Boyer, directed by Linsay Firman
Through a haze of gin, mediocre roast beef, and horrible apartment parties, a grieving New Yorker finds herself drawn to a quirky, flirtatious friend-of-a-friend.
August 16: Cell by Cassandra Medley
Starring Tony winner Tonya Pinkins, Condola Rashad, and Melanie Nicholls-King
When a jaded guard at an immigrant detention center finds jobs for her sister and niece, family tensions erupt into a battle over home and homeland security.
August 23: St. Francis Preaches to the Birds by David Ives
Starring Carson Elrod, Julie Halston, and Matthew Saldivar with cameos by Lois Smith and Ives
In the middle of the desert, two vultures find their lunch interrupted by a man of faith. Now, they have a bone to pick with Saint Francis of Assisi.
READ: Why Horror Had to Be the Genre of Tonya Pinkins’ Directorial Film Debut Red Pill
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