To acknowledge Juneteenth, the Metropolitan Opera shifted their scheduled operas a little bit. La Forza del Destino, starring Leontyne Price from the 1983-1984 season, has added a second day of showings and is available through Saturday, June 20th at 6:30 PM EDT/3:30 PDT. This pushes the two Philip Glass operas, Akhnaten and Satyagraha one day each. Akhnaten now begins streaming on Saturday and Satyagraha will begin streaming on Sunday. The previously announced production of La Traviata will start Week 15 at the Met.

Here are your Culture Best Bets at Home: June 19th – June 21st.

Live with Carnegie Hall: Juneteenth Celebration – June 19th – Carnegie Hall Website – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

Carnegie Hall celebrates Juneteenth with a program that combines music and commentary. Rev. Dr. James A Forbes Jr. will be front and center for this event that will features performances by pianist Joseph Joubert and the Juneteenth Mass Choir. There will be speeches by Bill Moyers and Bishop Michael Curry. Comments from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Wynton Marsalis and Carnegie Hall’s Chairman, Robert F. Smith, will also be part of the program.

Small Island – National Theatre Live – Now – June 25th

British author Andrea Levy’s 2004 novel, Small Island, was the inspiration for this 2019 National Theatre production. The play was written by Helen Edmundson and, like Levy’s novel, earned raved reviews.

The setting is the second World War and culminates in 1948. Two women are at the center of the story: Hortense (Leah Harvey), a Jamaican immigrant who believes a life in England will be far superior to the one she leaves behind and Queenie (Aisling Loftus), a woman of great generosity and kindness who allows servicemen to use her home while her husband is off at war. Between the two is Gilbert (Gershwyn Eustache Jr.), Hortense’s husband who wants to become a lawyer.

The struggle of Jamaican immigrants to England is ultimately what’s at stake in the play.

Rufus Norris directed this production which features a company of 40 actors. Critics talked about Small Island as being one of the most important plays in the history of the National Theatre.

It should be noted that the website for this NT Live presentation does come with the following warning: “As part of depicting the experience of Jamaican immigrants to Britain after the Second World War, at times characters in the play use language which is racially offensive.”

Dance Theatre of Harlem: Vessels – June 19th – June 21st – DTH’s YouTube Channel

This is a 2014 work choreographed by Darrell Grand Moultrie set to the music of Ezio Bosso. Vessels has regularly been a part of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s touring program.

Moutrie’s work is divided into four sections: Light, Belief, Love and Abundance.

Light features dancers Chyrstyn Fentroy, Jenelle Figgins, Ingrid Silva, Nayara Lopes, Alison Stroming, Fredrick Davis, Da’ Von Doane, Dylan Santos, Anthony Savoy and Samuel Wilson. Belief features Figgins, Silva, Lopes and Stroming. Love showcases Fentroy and Davis and the whole company performs Abundance.

Vessels is important to the company. Earlier this year they created a social-distanced interpretation of Moultrie’s works and its themes in celebration of composer Bosso who passed away in May.

YES! Reflections of Molly Bloom – Irish Repertory Theatre – June 19th and June 20th

Aedín Moloney stars is this one-woman show inspired by James Joyce’s novel Ulysses.

Set in Ireland in 1904, Molly struggles to find meaning in her life after her children are gone, her marriage has lost its luster and the affair she was having ran its course. She doesn’t fully know what she wants, but she knows this isn’t it. With a true Irish sense of both doom and humor, Molly follows an untraditional path to rediscovering who she is.

Moloney, who won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance, adapted the novel with Colum McCann. YES! features music from Paddy Moloney, best known for his band The Chieftains.

The two performances (Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT and Saturday at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT) require reservations made at least two hours in advance. There is a suggested donation of $25. Once a reservation has been made you will receive details how to watch the performance.

Munich Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall – Medici.tv – June 19th – June 21st

Continuing with the Fridays with Carnegie Hall Fridays series on Medici.tv, this week’s program features the Munich Philharmonic conducted by Valery Gergiev. This concert took place October 26, 2019.

On the program is Jörg Widmann’s Con brio; Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

The soloist for the Brahms is Leonidas Kavakos. His encore is Enescu’s Ménétrier (“The Fiddler”) from Impressions d’enfance, Op. 28, No. 1.

You do not have to subscribe to Medici.tv to see this concert. You do need to register with them, however, to do so.

Act One – Lincoln Center at Home – June 19th – July 3rd

If you ask most theater professionals what one book should be read by anyone contemplating a career in theater or anyone who has a career in theatre and almost universally the answer is Moss Hart’s biography, Act One.

Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner James Lapine adapted Hart’s book and turned it into a Tony-nominated play that ran at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center in 2014. Santino Fontana (last year’s Tony Award winner for Tootsie) and Tony Shalhoub (Tony Award winner for The Band’s Visit) each play Hart at various points in his life. Andrea Martin (Tony Award winner for Pippin) heads the rest of the company that finds 22 actors playing over 40 roles.

Hart is best known as the playwright who gave us You Can’t Take It With You (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize) and The Man Who Came to Dinner. He directed the musical My Fair Lady and won a Tony Award for his work. He wrote several screenplays including the Oscar-nominated Gentleman’s Agreement and the script for the 1954 version of A Star Is Born (the Judy Garland version.)

Ann – Great Performances on PBS – June 19th (check local listings)

You have to have real drive and passion for a project to leave a hit television show like Two and Half Men to pursue a play. That’s precisely what actress/writer Holland Taylor did when she left the sitcom to realize her dream of putting the life of Texas governor Ann Richards on stage.

That play, Ann, played at Lincoln Center (earning Taylor a well-deserved Tony Award nomination for her performance) and has been filmed. Ann will air this weekend on PBS’s Great Performances series.

Richards was bigger than life and had a quick-wit. An classic example of her quick turn of phrase was during the 1988 Democratic Convention when she said of George H.W. Bush, “Poor George, he can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”

Salome – San Francisco Opera – June 20th – June 21st

Richard Strauss worked with Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name to create his opera, Salome. The opera had its world premiere in 1905 in Dresden. The opera was controversial with several companies not allowing it to be performed until many years after its premiere (including the Metropolitan Opera where performances in 1907 were cancelled after its first performance and the opera was not seen again until 1934.)

What made it so controversial? No doubt it is the “Dance of the Seven Veils.” That dance inspires the warning that this production contains nudity and scenes that viewers might find disturbing.

In this 2009 production, Nadja Michael sings the role of “Salome.” Herod is sing by Kim Begley. James Robinson directed and Nicola Luisotti conducted. The opera is performed without an intermission and runs approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Jessie Mueller with Seth Rudetsky – June 21st – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Tony Award winning actress Jessie Mueller (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) joins Seth Rudetsky in this weekend’s concert. Her other Broadway credits include originating the role of “Jenna” in the musical Waitress and she was Tony nominated for her performance as “Julie Jordan” in the most recent Broadway revival of Carousel.

If you are unable to watch Sunday’s live concert, there will be a rebroadcast of it on Monday at 3 PM EDT/12 PM PDT. Tickets for either viewing are $25.

That’s it for this week’s Best Bets at Home: June 19th – June 21st. But before we go we want to remind you that the world premiere of a reimagined Immediate Tragedy (a long-lost work by Martha Graham) takes place on Friday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT on the Soraya Facebook Page and will be shown on Saturday on the Martha Graham YouTube Channel on Saturday at 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT.

Have a great weekend.

Photo from Small Island by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg/Courtesy National Theatre Live

Update: We erroneously credited Moss Hart with having written the book for MY FAIR LADY. Alan Jay Lerner was the sole writer of the book of the musical. We regret the error.

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In other words, Seth Rudetsky lives and breathes Broadway. So if you want to know the inside stories about all the famous folk who have spent time treading the boards in New York, Rudetsky’s book, Seth’s Broadway Diary #3 is essential reading.

Talking to someone who regularly interviews people himself is an interesting challenge. Since we spoke on the day of the Grammy nominations, we got right into it.

In the category of Best Cast Album the Grammy’s only have three nominees: Dear Evan Hansen, Hello Dolly! and Come From Away. Did they miss something or is that a reflection of the past year of musical theatre?

Literally that to me is not the greater issue. The complete lack of caring about Broadway at the Grammy Awards is. Because they don’t give a shit. There’s no criterion? How can Hello Dolly! be up against Dear Evan Hansen? Are you comparing the scores? The recording? What are the Grammy Awards voting on? Where they have a thousand sub categories in other genres, they don’t have a best album of a show or best revival. It’s so insulting. It makes me angry.

When you tell these stories, whether in your columns or on your show, do the performers involved give you permission to do so? Or does it come with the territory when they tell you the stories?

Yes and no. I think I have a really good sense of what I can say and what I can’t. Last night after the concert [a series he produces called Concert For America: Stand Up, Sing Out! that raises funds for civil rights organizations] someone was telling me a story “not as a friend and not as a columnist.” I maybe have gotten someone annoyed at me three times. Do they realize it would go into my columns? Who cares? The stories are hilarious. If you don’t like it, don’t tell me anything. I’m not Pollyanna and I don’t want to write only positive stuff, but I won’t write mean-spirited stories.

Of all the relationships you’ve developed over the years, which one surprises you the most that it actually exists?

Probably Andrea Martin – because she’s such a close friend of mine. I was so obsessed with her growing up. It’s just weird how close we are and what a fan I was with the TV star. Almost every idol I’ve met has been exactly what I wanted them to be. She’s hilarious. Just the other day it was really weird talking to Andrea McArdle. I remember reading that Annie book with the red cover. She was a photograph on an album. I had never seen her live, but she was such a megastar. It’s nice that everyone has lived up to who I wanted them to be.

Do you think the price structure for Broadway shows will make it impossible for a future Seth Rudetsky’s to get exposure to shows the way you did?

I’m not an expert, but it began with the Broadway Inner Circle with The Producers. That was the first crazy megahit, more than Rent, where scalpers were making a lot of money and this scheme came up to bust scalpers. I was just thinking the other day it’s so expensive to put on a show. Most of those costs are initial costs. I wonder if there is a new tactic. Why can’t you borrow money on the run of the show? For every three months you run, you pay back what it would have cost.

If you’re going to talk about the next young Seth Rudetsky, the problem is the devastating destruction of arts in the schools. There has been such a marginalization of Broadway as something gay. The arts are considered gay and feminine and it can be cut because of misogyny. The arts were not feminine in the old days. Ed Sullivan was right wing, ultra-straight and he had Broadway on every week. Now if you like Broadway you are gay. How does a kid know they like to sing or act if they don’t have a chance to do it? That’s really where the fault is in finding our next Stephen Sondheim.

You did your own jukebox musical, Disaster! A Musical. But are you concerned that shows based on pre-existing material or jukebox musicals show a lack of imagination on producer’s parts?

Yes and no. People say, “Oh Seth, you took the lazy way out. You wrote a jukebox musical about disaster movies.” I did it because I really wanted to. I love disaster movies and 70s music. I think there’s this theory if you have a well-know title, that’s a surefire way to have a Broadway show. It isn’t. But it is a surefire way to get investors. It’s not a way to sell tickets.

I was talking to Hal Prince [director of Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd and more] about when someone came to him with an idea. He said, “Nobody did that. We would talk and create it together. It used to be much more artistic.” There are still some producers that still do that. We don’t have a lot of them like we used to.

If you could go back in time and see any productions you never got a chance to see and performers you never got a chance to experience, what and who would they be?

100% Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand and West Side Story with Chita Rivera. I would die to see what Barbra sounded like live and would have died to see Chita do the original choreography for “America.” I think about it all the time. Those two 100%. [For the record, it took Seth about 2 seconds to start his answer to that question.]

You produced the Broadway for Orlando project after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Florida. And you have the Concert for America series. What’s the next phase of advocacy you have planned?

We are going to start in January doing salons. We did one in Judy Kuhn’s apartment [She starred in Fun Home, Les Misérables]. These are for causes or particular candidates we believe in. We’ve raised so much money. If anyone is reading this and wants to help a particular candidate or cause, keep us in mind.

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