Tony Awards 2020 Are Postponed Indefinitely from June 7th, Theater Season Is Probably Over for this Year
update: The Outer Critics Circle has also postponed their nominations and awards indefinitely. The season is over.
The 2019-2020 theater season is basically over.
CBS and the Broadway League have cancelled the Tony Awards for June 7th. They will be rescheduled when a better time can be figured out.
Broadway went dark on March 13th and was supposed to return on April 12th or 13th. But that seems unlikely now.
The eligibility period for the Tonys was supposed to end on April 24th. But now that’s moot.
Some shows have already closed before actually opening, like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and “The Hangmen.” But now more will close, or try to open in the fall. The best thing the Tonys could so is have their show the first week of December. For CBS, that would conflict with the Kennedy Center honors. (I may have more on the latter soon.)
The financial hit to the Shuberts, Nederlanders, Jujacymyn Theaters, all of it is calculable– it’s hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s also devastating to the ancillary businesses in marketing, publicity, advertising, not to mention the actors, crews, etc. And then there all the local businesses that depend on Broadway in the theater district.
Rosie O’Donnell did such a good job Sunday night with her fundraiser. Please donate to the Actors Fund, to Equity’s Broadway Cares, and all the related theater charities if you want to see shows come back in the fall.
Coronavirus Cure, or At Least Preventative? Canadian Firm Ondine Having Success with New Treatment at Edmonton Nursing Home
EXCLUSIVE
I’m not going to start running a bunch of stories about potential cures for COVID 19, but this seemed like it has some value.
Canadian health care firm Ondine Biomedical is having success with a nasal treatment for MRSA and other pathogens. The laser like treatment for the nose is said to be stopping the spread of disease, and may be useful for preventing if not curing coronavirus.
At a time when a number of different methods are being tested for use on coronavirus/COVID 19, it might not be a bad idea for our own health officials to check out this process, called Steriwave. Yesterday I spoke to Izabella Roth, who runs the Edmonton, Alberta nursing home called Westmount. They’ve been using Steriwave for their staff and finding excellent results.
A story about Ondine and Westmount first appeared on Canada’s Global News site on March 14th. “Have we proven this? No. This is a brand new virus and a brand new problem, but we think that having a really important and effective nasal decolonization tool is going to make a difference, we will have to study what that means and we are going to have to look at what that does for the infection rates,” Ondine Biomedical CEO Carolyn Cross said in the report.
Steriwave was invented more than 10 years ago to reduce surgical infections, and the company says those infections have been reduced by 80 per cent in the last decade.
Cross is no lightweight. She has a strong CV and 25 years’ experience running Canadian corporations.
According to a press release about Steriwave:
“The 6-minute treatment involves swabbing the nose with a blue gel (photosensitizer) followed by illumination with a red light for a few minutes. The protocol – applied by an LPN or RN nursing staff trained by the Ondine team – is intended to
build on infection control strategies (such as handwashing, social distancing, environmental controls) already in place.”
Can any of this be helpful to us now? I’m told there are more headlines coming from Ondine shortly. Click on the blue tab for Vimeo since there are no embed codes yet for Ondine’s videos.
MRSAid in Vancouver General Hospital from Ondine Biomedical Inc. on Vimeo.
Happy Birthday, Elton John and Aretha Franklin: Watch Them Perform Elton’s “Border Song” Together
Today would have been Aretha Franklin’s 78th birthday. Her friends and family and fans miss her so much. Aretha and Sir Elton John shared a birthday, so we’re wishing him a Happy 73rd birthday, and hope to see him soon back behind the piano.
In the meantime, here’s a clip of Elton and Aretha singing “Border Song,” which Miss Franklin recorded also solo and a chart hit with years ago.
Jackson Browne Says He’s Tested Positive for Corona Virus, Other Stars He Performed with Live Recently Have, Too
Doctor, my eyes! Rock star Jackson Browne says he’s tested positive for Corona Virus. He tells Rolling Stone that many of the performers he played with two weeks ago at the Love Rocks show at New York’s Beacon Theater have, too.
Browne played the charity show for Gods Love We Deliver included Bonnie Raitt. Dave Matthews, Cyndi Lauper, Chris and Rich Robinson, Leon Bridges, Warren Haynes, Macy Gray and many others. The show was sponsored by fashion mogul John Varvatos.
Browne says: “Now I wish I hadn’t gone to New York and done this benefit. I think to myself, “How much simpler would it have been had I just called in and said, ‘No, I’m not going to travel on a cross-country flight and spend two days in New York with all these people that are singing all over the country.’
But you know, in the end, Jackson helps so many charities and stands up for so many causes, it’s not likely he would have stepped back.
How’s he occupying himself? “I’m listening to music. I’m watching some shows. I’m spending a lot of time reading all these op-eds. There’s a bunch of medical bulletins and stories in the New York Times. When you called earlier, I was listening to the press conference with Governor Cuomo. It’s all really good, important information.”
Speedy recovery, Jackson!
Terrence McNally, Four Time Tony Winning Playwright, Author of “Master Class,” Has Died at Age 81 from Coronavirus
This is really tragic: Terrence McNally is dead at age 81.
Four time Tony winner, Pulitzer Prize nominee, recipient of a 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tonys. Loved and respected by everyone in theater.
Terry’s Tony’s included “Master Class,” “Ragtime,” “Longtime Companion,” and “Kiss of the Spiderwoman.” But his total credits for great plays and musicals just goes on and on. They include the hilarious recent “It’s Only a Play,” as well “Anastasia,” “Frankie and Johnny,” and “Ragtime.” He is simply irreplaceable and one of a kind.
McNally died in Sarasota of complications from COVD-19. He was a lung cancer survivor and suffered from COPD. He is survived by his husband Tom Kirdahy.
Lady Gaga Postpones “Chromatica” Album, Tour, Secret Coachella Performance Until Virus Crisis Subsides
Lady Gaga’s new album, “Chromatica,” has been postponed from its intended release date of April 10th.
She says in a statement that everything she planned was postponed, including a secret performance at Coachella (which is also postponed).
Gaga follows Alicia Keys and other music stars putting off new releases tied to tours and marketing that can’t happen now. (This is making my life difficult because I was counting on music releases this spring. You know, it’s all about me!)
Well, you know Lady Gaga is not “Shallow.” She’s thinking of all of us!
Read below:
Shocker from Woody Allen Memoir: Married Judge in Custody Case “Hit” on Famed Photographer, Visited Her Home without Invitation
Back in the day when Woody Allen and Mia Farrow were in their very famous custody case, there was a lot of weird information about their judge, Elliot Wilk. As Woody notes in his new memoir, Wilk disregarded all the evidence in his favor and awarded custody of Ronan and Dylan Farrow solely to Farrow.
Later, Mia adopted a little boy with severe handicaps and named him Thaddeus Wilk Farrow. Years later, Thaddeus killed himself.
But in Woody’s memoir, “Apropos of Nothing,” a new story has emerged. Woody writes that Wilk, who’d presided over a case small claims court, made inappropriate contact with a party to a case.
The party was famed rock and roll photographer Lynn Goldsmith, who is so highly regarded for her pictures of, among others, Bruce Springsteen.
Woody writes:
Finally, the gifted still photographer Lynn Goldsmith told
me this story. She had been before Judge Wilk in a case
where he ruled in her favor. A day later he showed up at her
apartment unannounced and tried to sleep with her. When
she resisted and pointed out he was married, it did not
matter. He persisted. She finally got rid of him. Talk about
exploiting one’s status. But that’s the kind of man I was at
the mercy of.
I’ve been in touch with Goldsmith today, who basically confirmed the story. There other stories about Wilk that Woody relates:
Wilk’s irresponsible mischief extended much beyond my experience
with him. A child shrink told me the worst cases of suffering
for kids he dealt with inevitably came from bad judgment
in the Wilk court. Another weeping mother told me Wilk
had ruled against her because she had to postpone a court
date to attend her child’s birthday and he wouldn’t hear of
it. Another woman told me he ruled for her but refused to
ever enforce his ruling, so it was as if she’d lost the case.
Judge Wilk died in July 2002 at age 60 from brain cancer.
Another Straight to Video B Movie for Bruce Willis (See Trailer) This One Second Bills Him to Chad Michael Murray
Is it possible Bruce Willis actually needs money? (No.) Or is it just that he wants to work, even if the work is ridiculous? (Yes.)
Willis has yet another B movie coming, straight to video on May 22nd. This one’s called “Survive the Night,” and if we can survive watching it, that’s the question. Bruce is second billed to Chad Michael Murray, former star of not “Dawson’s Creek,” but the other one, “One Tree Hill.” Murray is the Steve McQueen of ’00s television.
For Willis, this is now the latest in a long line of these crappy productions. He shoots for one or two days, appears in a couple of scenes, and is used in the trailer as a lure to whatever audience is left. In Edward Norton’s recent “Motherless Brooklyn,” which was a box office dud but certainly not a B movie, Willis appeared for less than 15 minutes.
Whatever is going with Willis that is forcing him to make these movies, maybe it’s time to fess up. He is beloved by fans. But these movies aren’t doing much to help his legacy.
Woody Allen on Harvey Weinstein, Who Distributed But Never Produced His Movies: “We never could have worked together”
In his memoir, “Apropos of Nothing,” Woody Allen recalls having some of his films distributed by Harvey Weinstein. Indeed, three of Woody’s biggest box office successes were sent to theaters via Miramax: “Bullets Over Broadway,” “Vicki Cristina Barcelona,” and “Mighty Aphrodite.” Each was a box office hit and scored many Academy Awards.
Woody writes:
Once, when Harvey Weinstein was distributing Everyone
Says I Love You, a film he bought for a lot of money, he saw,
hated, and asked me to take out the word motherfucker from
the rap song. I explained that I wasn’t going to do that. He
said if I would just cut that one word the movie, a musical,
could play Radio City Music Hall. I said I understand, but
I don’t make films to accommodate movie houses.
Incidentally,
despite what was printed in the newspapers, Harvey never produced any movies of mine. Never backed me. He only distributed a few already completed films and distributed
them well. In addition to Harvey’s skill at distributing,
he had an eye for offbeat, artsy movies and presented a
number of them. Still, I would never have allowed Harvey
to back or produce a film of mine because he was a hands-on
producer who changed and recut a director’s movie. We
never could have worked together.