SPOTLIGHT ON PLAYS Star-Studded Benefit Readings Begin Thursday 5/7

"SPOTLIGHT ON PLAYS" SERIES PRESENTED BY BROADWAY'S BEST SHOWS

ONE-NIGHT-ONLY LIVESTREAM EVENTS TO BENEFIT THE ACTORS FUND

5/7: David Mamet's NOVEMBER
STARRING JOHN MALKOVICH, PATTI LUPONE, DYLAN BAKER, ETHAN PHILLIPS & MICHAEL NICHOLS
DIRECTED BY DAVID MAMET

5/14: Joshua Harmon's SIGNIFICANT OTHER
REUNITING THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST
DIRECTED BY TRIP CULLMAN

5/21: A.R. Gurney's LOVE LETTERS
STARRING BRYAN CRANSTON & SALLY FIELD
DIRECTED BY JERRY ZAKS

EACH THURSDAY AT 8PM ET/5PM PT BEGINNING MAY 7, 2020
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTIONS TO BE ANNOUNCED

https://www.broadwaysbestshows.com/post/the-best-of-series/

https://deadline.com/2020/05/bryan-cranston-sally-field-john-malkovich-patti-lupone-actors-fund-play-readings-broadways-best-shows-1202925303/

Updated On: 5/4/20 at 03:25 PM

At least we get Rebecca Jones for Significant Other, I guess?

Man, that was good. I hadn't seen that play since it was on Broadway and didn't realize just how relevant it was going to be tonight, it was kind of a trip!

Updated On: 5/7/20 at 11:47 PM

Did something change since the NOVEMBER we saw on Bway with Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf? I can't imagine a more perfect pair of actors but that script was just God-awful. I couldn't wait for the curtain to come down.

I definitely agree, Jordan.   Some plays grow in stature over the years and "November" is certainly helped with the current administration.  As I was watching it, I thought this could have been written during the past year.  Glad to have seen it-- not only was it outrageously funny but so pertinent (can't believe that impeachment line was in the original script but I've been told it was)--and John Malkovich was incredible.   He gave a devilishly cartoonish character a serious underpinning, making this "November" even more fun and believable than I could have imagined   And a shout out to the rest of the company who were just perfect.  Dylan Baker may be one of our more underrated actors and Patti LuPone reminds us what a terrific actress she is in straight plays.  Thank you, David Mamet.  Great to be able to laugh during these times.

excellent question. I will say that, as time moves on, the enthusiasm for what we have been enjoying will likely wane, both among actors (some have already expressed this to me) and presenters. Stars in the House has always said they will keep doing this until Broadway reopens. At the start, I don't think anyone realized what we were facing. It will be interesting to see if there is a course correction. And we are also starting to see some (mostly pathetic) commercial ventures, but folks will not watch this stuff if it is not good, any more than we go to see lousy plays on Broadway. That said, there is also an incredible opportunity to develop work on the cheap, and I suspect we will talk one day about how so and so got their start streaming their art that they could not afford to produce and that no one was picking up. This to me is the challenge and the excitement artistically.

Regarding renegotiating, the difficulty is: with whom are you going to negotiate? There are LOT of parties, and every one of them marches to the beat of a different drummer. Even assuming you could get all of the unions lined up (I'm dubious; it's a tall order), each show has an author (or a few) and many of them are dead. You would have to persuade the person controlling the rights separately for each one. And let me quickly add that we are not talking about a huge amount of money and not everyone would want their work seen in this way. So I would not start lining up quite yet. Even in unprecedented times. (Oh, and one more thing. If in fact this is a stop gap until things are up and running again, then there is going to be a lot of push back that letting this genie out of the bottle is a bad idea.) 

I think more possible (especially in the context of what I have been saying about Broadway and getting tourists back in seats) would be filming new productions. There will be a period, potentially lengthy, when the unions will be satisfied that it is safe for their members to work again even though there will not be enough business to prompt producers and investors to take the risk. (In other words, if Spring '21 is deemed "safe," there will still be a huge lag in getting tourists back in the requisite numbers. I have said this could be Fall '21, but some others think we are talking 2022.) I am optimistic about putting this behind us, but not about doing it soon. I have opined on this and related subjects in other threads so I won't say more here.