I've been checking out the Stars in the House series as a benefit for the Actors Fund (and yes I did make a small donation). I'm going to be honest and say that Tales of the Allergist's Wife, which ran as a Saturday matinee, was just not for me. It was mostly a lot of Jewish kvetching (and a mother who called for Dr. Kevorkian three times), and ended with the couple, challenged in a relatively minor way, expelling the outsider and going back into their bubble. (It's a little amusing that some people still feel it should have won the Tony instead of Proof, or Stoppard's The Invention of Love for that matter.) I also really was not enjoying the NT's One Man, Two Guvnors, as it was much too broad for my tastes. That said, it is still very much worth supporting the arts in these trying times.
Tonight, starting at 8 pm, there will be a live-streaming of Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth Apart. McNally was a fairly early US victim of coronavirus, so it is a particularly fitting tribute. I've seen the play (and probably on Broadway, though I'll have to doublecheck my Playbill collection), but I plan on tuning in for this and seeing how a new cast handles it. Even with all the limitations of Zoom, it should still be interesting.
Update: I thought they pulled together a very strong cast for the reading of Lips Together, Teeth Apart. It does appear to be archived, though it may be only for a few days or a week or longer. Do watch sooner rather than later if interested (and of course please donate if you feel so moved). I suppose it does help when they have the enthusiastic support of McNally's spouse, who can make the rights available for longer than a single livestream. I was having very bad connection issues for the second half of the first act, but I was able to resolve them during the intermission while Nathan Lane was talking and the rest was fortunately much better. I was able to check my archives, and I did see this on Broadway in 1992 in its original run. Nathan Lane, who originated the role of Sam Truman, had decamped, but Christine Baranski was still playing the role of Chloe Haddock. (1992 was a good year for me, as I saw Alan Alda in Neil Simon's Jake's Women that same week!) It's an interesting play, with the fear of AIDS (and a more general dread of modern life) suffusing the play. I'm not really in that business any longer, but I could envision a good academic article pairing Lips Together, Teeth Apart and DeLillo's White Noise.
FYI - there are a few art galleries trying to move into the digital realm during the lockdown. I haven't watched it yet, but the Tate's Warhol exhibit has a short virtual tour on video. This article lists a number of Toronto-based virtual tours, and I will definitely be checking more of them out over the next couple of weeks.
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