Coming together to celebrate Schwartz are three performers: Nikki Renée Daniels, Sean Hartley and Gabrielle Stravelli.

Daniels was just about to open in the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company when the pandemic forced the closing of theatre. She appeared as Clara in the 2012 production, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and has also appeared in The Book of Mormon and the 2011 revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes.

Hartley is the producer and host of Broadway Close Up and also serves as director of the musical theatre division at Kaufman Music Center. He’s written lyrics for multiple musicals including Love and Real Estate with one of my favorite composers, Sam Davis.

Stravelli is no stranger to my columns at Cultural Attaché. She’s a wonderful vocalist and jazz singer whose old soul and song stylings betray her age. She’s insanely talented.

In addition to his theater credits, Schwartz has composed songs for Disney’s Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He collaborated with Alan Menken on both films. A stage version of Hunchback has been for several years with a well-received production at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse in 2015.

With songs like Meadowlark, Magic to Do, Day by Day, Popular and Colors of the Wind, there will be plenty of material to choose from and opportunities for the cast to shine.

Tickets are $15 and allow for viewing for 48 hours. After the performance there will be a Q&A with Hartley.

Photo of Stephen Schwartz by Ralf Rühmeier/Courtesy StephenSchwartz.com

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For those who love great acting Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Carole Kane and Bill Pullman headline one reading. The original and lesser-known cast of an award-winning 2010 show in Los Angeles headlines another. Jeff Daniels, Linda Lavin and Sierra Boggess will all tell stories about their careers and perform music. Then there are concerts from multiple genres of music and a popular jazz festival goes virtual.

If that isn’t enough, we have an opera recital from Norway and a production from Glyndebourne.

So let’s get to it. Here are your Best Bets at Home: August 28th – August 30th:

The Jacksonian – The New Group – Now – August 30th

In 2012 the world premiere of Beth Henley’s play The Jacksonian took place at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Over a year later it had its New York premiere in The New Group production at the Acorn Theatre.

The cast for both productions was nearly the same: Ed Harris, Glenne Headley, Amy Madigan and Bill Pullman. Bess Rous appeared in Los Angeles; Juliet Brett in New York.

The New York cast has reunited for an online reading of The Jacksonian. Carole Kane assumes the role originally played by the late Glenne Headley.

The play is set in a seedy motel in Jackson, Mississippi in 1964. Bill Perch (Harris) has moved here after becoming estranged from his wife (Madigan). While there his encounters with his daughter (Brett), a bartender with dubious motives (Pullman) and a less-than-reliable motel worker (Kane) hasten his descent. In a town where racism is far too prevalent and a murder has just happened, these characters face what may be simply a dead end for them all.

The reading was live on Thursday, August 27th, but remains available through August 30th at 11:59 PM EDT for viewing. The cost is $25. 10% of all proceeds will benefit Race Forward, an organization dedicated to racial equality.

Virtual Halston – August 28th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

Last week we introduced you to Julie Halston’s Virtual Halston. So you can go here to see what we said about this delightful woman and her thoroughly enjoyable show.

All we have to add this week is that her special guest is Tony Award, Obie Award, Drama Desk and Golden Globe winner Linda Lavin. You might know her best as Alice from the long-running sitcom of the same name.

The Ballad of Emmett Till 2020 – The Fountain Theatre – August 28th 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT – $20 live or to stream later

The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles had a commercial and critical success with Ifa Bayeza’s play The Ballad of Emmett Till. With director Shirley Jo Finney on board, the original cast will reunite for an online reading of the play.

The play combines multiple disciplines (music, poetry, drama) to tell the story of the 14-year-old boy who was tortured and killed for whistling at a white woman in 1955 in Mississippi.

The cast includes Bernard K. Addison, Rico E. Anderson, Lorenz Arnell, Adenrele Ojo and Karen Malina White.

F. Kathleen Foley, in her review for the Los Angeles Times, said of the play and this production:

“Those familiar with Till’s history may be shocked to find that Ballad is, initially at least, warm and vibrant, with a surprising quotient of laughter. That’s part of Bayeza’s careful design to make Till’s ultimate fate all the more harrowing. 

“In that she succeeds, brilliantly. Make no mistake: You will be devastated.”

Tickets are $20 and will allow for later streaming as well.

Jeff Daniels Concert and Stories – Wharton Center – August 28th- 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT $15

Jeff Daniels has been nominated for three Tony Awards (God of Carnage, Blackbird and To Kill a Mockingbird). All three for his performance as an actor. Daniels is also a singer/songwriter. He’s also the founder of The Purple Rose Theatre Company in Michigan. (If you don’t know why the theatre has that name, I urge you to check out the movie The Purple Rose of Cairo which is truly one of the most wonderfully romantic movies ever made.)

Daniels is performing from Lansing’s Wharton Center on Friday. He’ll share stories from his many film, television and stage projects and also perform original songs. Tickets are $15.

After the concert he will do a Q&A with the audience for up to 30 minutes.

Godspell Online In Concert – Hope Mill Theatre – August 28th – August 29th

Stephen Schwartz, the composer of the musical Wicked, had an early hit with the musical Godspell that opened off-Broadway in 1971. It would take several years before the show made its way to Broadway. It has become one of the most popular shows Schwartz ever wrote.

Even though it seems as if they are a little early, Godspell Online in Concert celebrates the show’s 50th anniversary this weekend.

This concert is taking place in England. But don’t worry, you don’t have to get up to see it first thing in the morning. Once you purchase a ticket for £15 plus £1.50 in service charges (roughly $22), you can watch the performance for up to 24 hours from when it first became available (which is 10 AM London Time; 5:00 AM EDT/2:00 AM PDT each date).

Ruthie Henshall (Chicago) and Darren Day (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) reprise their roles from a 1993 cast recording. Sam Tutty, Ria Jones and Jenna Russell also star in the concert.

Jodie Steele, Danyl Johnson, Jenny Fitzpatrick, Natalie Green, John Barr,  Sally Ann Triplett, Gerard McCarthy, Alison Jiear, Shekinah McFarlane and Lucy Williamson, all performers on the West End, join the concert.

Lise Davidsen in Oslo – Metropolitan Opera – August 29th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen made a stunning Metropolitan Opera debut in last season’s production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. As one of the fastest rising new stars in opera, it was no surprise that the Met invited her to be part of their Met Stars Live in Concert series.

With James Baillieu on piano, Davidsen will be performing live from Oslo. The program includes works by Richard Wagner (Tannhäuser), Edvard Grieg, Giuseppe Verdi (Un Ballo in Maschera), Jean Sibelius, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini (Manon Lescaut), Benjamin Britten, Emmerich Kálmán (Die Csárdásfürstin), Landon Ronald, Ernest Charles and a song from the musical My Fair Lady.

Tickets are $20 and the concert will remain available to you for 12 days.

Leimert Park Jazz Festival – August 29th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

This year’s Leimert Park Jazz Festival, like many other summer festivals, is going virtual. It’s free and though you won’t get to also discover this historic neighborhood in Los Angeles, you will get some great music.

This year’s line-up is:

Guitarist Michael O’Neill and Friends: David Witham, piano; Andrew Ford, bass; Land Richards, drums

Munyungo Jackson Quartet: Jackson is a percussionist with Errol Clooney on guitar; Keith Jones, bass; Euro Zambrano drums

Sy Smith featuring The Myron McKinley Trio – Smith is a vocalist joined by McKinley on piano; Ian Martin, bass; Stacey Lamont Sydnor, drums/percussion

Dwight Trible – singer

MFUO featuring Jacques Lesure on guitar; Marvin “Smitty” Smith, drums; Pete Kuzma, keyboards; Christian Moraga, percussion. MFUO means “Groove” in Swahili

The festival will be available for viewing on Leimert Park Jazz Festival’s Facebook page.

Skirball Stages: Gavin Turek and Ak Dan Gwang Chil – Skirball YouTube Page – August 29th – 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT

This concert doesn’t neatly fit into what I usually cover at Cultural Attaché, but it seems too interesting not to include it.

The premise of this concert is to pair two unique artists: Los Angeles-based singer Gavin Turek with South Korean band Ak Dan Gwang Chil.

Turek, who performed on the empty grounds of the Skirball, is a singer for whom R&B is her passion, particularly that from the last two decades of the twentieth century.

In Seoul, Ak Dan Gwang Chil performed their trademark fusion of folk songs, sacred and secular gut (ritual music) and other music traditions from the Hwanghae-do region into music that feels both new and traditional at the same time.

The musical conversation between these two very different artists, at a time when political tensions between the United States and the Korean Peninsula are increasingly unsteady, should prove to be both fascinating and entertaining.

The Skirball Cultural Center undertook this project in the absence of being able to present their annual Sunset Concerts. Ak Dan Gwang Chil had been booked to participate in those concerts this year.

You need to RSVP to see the program on August 29th. After that the concert will remain available on the Skirball’s YouTube page through late November.

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Glyndebourne – August 30th – September 6th

Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg had its world premiere in Munich is 1868. As with his other works, Wagner wrote the libretto. It is also a rare comedy from the composer. The opera is one of Wagner’s longest running nearly four-and-a-half hours.

At stake in the opera is the love of a young girl named Eva. She has been betrothed to whomever wins a singing contest. Walther von Stolzing is desperately in love with Eva and wants to compete, but the song he wants to sing doesn’t conform to the rules set out by the competition. With the help of a cobbler named Hans Sachs, he hopes to overcome the opposition to him, win the contest and ultimately marry Eva.

This 2011 production from Glyndebourne marked the first-ever performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the venue. David McVicar directed the production with Vladimir Jurowski conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Gerald Finely sings the role of Hans Sachs, Marco Jentzsch sings the role of Walther and Anna Gabler sings the role of Eva.

McVicar discussed the troubled history of this opera with The Guardian prior to its opening at Glyndebourne. In his comments you can get a glimpse into how he handled Wagner’s work:

“When Wagner composed the opera in the 1860s, he thought he was telling a joyous human story,” he says. “He didn’t consider that he was telling a negative, disturbing story. But if you produce the end of Meistersinger according to Wagner’s own stage directions, it would be unbelievably alarming.”

Sierra Boggess with Seth Rudetsky – August 30th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

If you think Sierra Boggess is only known for originating the role of Ariel in the Broadway musical version of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, you might be surprised to learn she’s been in several other shows. She has appeared as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera and has appeared in a revival of Master Class and in the musicals It Shoulda Been You and School of Rock.

She will be discussing her career and singing songs on this week’s Seth Rudetsky Concert. Tickets for the concert at $25. If you can’t watch the live version on August 30th, there is an encore streaming of the show on Monday, August 31st at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. That also costs $25.

That’s almost all there is for your Best Bets at Home: August 28th – August 30th. But, as always, we have a few reminders:

Los Angeles area audiences can watch Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on PBS SoCal at 8:00 PM PDT

Jazz Stream reminders:

August 28th: SFJazz’s Fridays at Five is Wayne Shorter Celebration Part 4 at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

August 28th and 29th: David Murray at the Village Vanguard in New York 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT

August 29th: Multiple Charlie Parker events at the 92 Street Y in New York

August 29th: SummerStage presents Charlie Parker’s 100th Birthday Celebration from New York

August 29th: Ramsey Lewis at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT

August 29th: Jon-Erik Kellso at Smalls – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PDT

Metropolitan Opera reminders:

Verdi week continues with La Traviata on Friday; Don Carlo on Saturday; Falstaff on Sunday

By my calculation there is far more to watch, see and hear than you could possibly fit into one weekend. So what will you choose? Here ends your Best Bets at Home: August 28th – August 30th. Enjoy!

Main photo: Rico E. Anderson, Adenrele Ojo, Bernard K. Addison, Lorenz Arnell and Karen Malina White in The Ballad of Emmett Till 
(Photo by Ed Krieger/Courtesy of The Fountain Theatre)

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Over the weekend, Benanti hosted the first Sunshine Songs concert online. Recognizing that school productions all around the country were being postponed due to the pandemic, she encouraged young performers to send her videos of the performances they would have given had the shows not been canceled. She received over 6,000 videos and the video that started it all has been viewed over 4 million times.

Saturday’s event was the first of many events according to what Benanti said during Sunshine Songs. Let’s hope so. There’s so much joy to embrace here.

During her livestream event, we got to see many of those videos and hear directly from a couple of the kids whose performances were shown. Getting to see 17-year-old Khadija talk passionately about wanting to perform Once on This Island, and then get to see her completely nail a song from the show, was a much-needed reminder that the passion and enthusiasm for the arts starts young. And I agree with Benanti, this young lady will be on a Broadway stage in the future.

Watching the passion of the youngest performers (particularly 9-year-old Parker singing “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman) reminded me of my own participation in school shows so many years ago. It also awakened in me that desire to do more, be more and celebrate life more.

Awakened desires is also a part of Encore!, a series on Disney+ that is hosted by Kristen Bell. The premise is simple: the high school cast of a musical is reunited – after as many as 40 years – and has less than one week to remount the production under the guidance of professional directors, choreographers and music directors.

Encore! first started airing in November of last year. I only recently became aware of the show after a friend told me how moved she was by it. Simply put, I can’t get enough and hope there will be many more seasons of the show.

On a fundamental level each episode functions as a reunion. Like all reunions, these are filled with joy, tears, old issues rearing their ugly heads and expectations there are as high as the pressure to get it right. Each cast must sort all those things out while coming together to perform musicals like Grease, Beauty and the Beast, Godspell, Anything Goes. It is pure joy.

I found myself rooting for each and every one of them to succeed, often times in spite of their insecurities, challenges or limitations. But there are two more extremely powerful components to each episode of Encore!

First and foremost is the concept of second chances. This show absolutely gives every adult not just a chance to relive their youth, but to rediscover the excitement found in performing live theatre. Will they be as good as they were in high school? Might they be better? Can they all sing or dance? Of course not. Do you remember your high school shows? Nonetheless, each adult gets another opening of another show.

The second and more powerful component in this time of crisis (and perhaps why the show resonates on such an emotional level) is the idea that no matter our circumstances, the choices we have made or where our lives have taken us, we are all so much stronger and more powerful when we work together. That sense of camaraderie is the very heartbeat that pulses through each and every episode.

When viewed on the same weekend, as I did, Sunshine Songs and Encore! demonstrate that no matter what your age, coming together to create something bigger than ourselves is amongst the most noble of pursuits. Passion prevails. And with a song in your heart, it’s all so much more fun.

Photo of Kristen Bell courtesy of Disney+

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