Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: August 9, 2020
By: Laura Deni
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TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS RESTART IN NEW YORK, LAS VEGAS AND LOS ANGELES

Admitting that Broadway will be the last entertainment to rebound following the COVID-19 catastrophe, entertainment executives are looking at television and film. While resuming production is a challenge, efforts are underway.

As for those who want to become a "Broadway star" they're best to hone their craft off-off Broadway, at schools and in local community theater. At home videos are wonderful for keeping your name alive provided you have a name and a following. Few unknowns will jump to the foreground.

Performers and creatives of all stripes are banking on television and film to enable the rocky road to recovery.

In order to make that happen rules had to be formulated and rewritten to address how to handle working in a COVID-19 environment.

Nevada has some of the most stringent guidelines.

Due to the continuing developments regarding COVID-19 and the desire to restart productions during this uncertain time, the Nevada Film Office continues to work with industry partners and offers the following guidance: The following jurisdictions will be issuing permits for cast/crew of 50 people or less and in accordance with the Governor’s Phase 2 General Guidance:
Boulder City
City of Henderson
City of Las Vegas
City of North Las Vegas
City of Reno
Clark County
OTHER AREAS:
Red Rock not yet issuing permits
Lake Mead issuing film permits on a case by case basis
Private Property (including Casinos): Filming is not allowed without approval of the property.
Valley of Fire Effective Monday, June 1, commercial activities were re-instituted at Valley of Fire advising a minimum of six weeks from date of inquiry to filming date in order to ensure adequate permit processing time. Permit application paperwork should be correctly submitted no less than 30 days prior to the filming date.

As far as 'paperwork" is concerned, the agency offers a Safe Sets COVID-19 (Level A) Certificate Program which Broadway To Vegas took and passed, receiving a certificate which "demonstrates to your team that you’re knowledgeable about upholding a safe production environment and that you value crew’s health and safety."

This program, created by Safe Sets International is "designed to communicate the most current health and safety information relevant to our community of filmmakers, producers, crew, and industry professionals. The materials in these guidelines have been reviewed by medical experts and sourced using reputable, science-driven resources."

An excellent class, which requires a grade of at least 80% to pass, some of the guidelines include:

A chart which indicates how long the virus stays alive on surfaces using statistics from the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet such as such as 24 hours on cardboard and 7 days on the outside of the mask you are wearing.

Production guidelines including using boom mikes rather than lavalieres. Other suggestions include only having one department in a work area at a time.

Mask wearing was emphasized because: "this is particularly important to talent, as they are the most at risk on set as they cannot wear PPE due to make-up, hair and wardrobe."

Scouting locations should be done virtually when possible. Discontinue hand shaking and stagger call times. Craft Services has major changes, including offering sealed, prepackaged food, plastic throw away utensils. No buffets and permit cast and crew to brown bag it from home should they prefer to bring in their own food.

Two network productions now call Las Vegas home.

The internet lists 121 Television Production Jobs in Las Vegas. However, they appear to be mostly "assistant" positions, with the salary range listed between $10 -14 per hour.

The cast of Love Island which is working in Las Vegas

CBS' Love Island is in Sin City, bedded down a the Cromwell, a Caesars Entertainment boutique hotel. The network has set a two-hour August 24 premiere date for the second season of the hook-up show, hosted by Arielle Vandenberg and narrated by Matthew Hoffman.

The anxious to get their pants off contestants are living in a “quarantine bubble” and everyone associated with Love Island, including the show’s cast and all crew members, were required to be quarantined prior to the start of production.

From the release: "All Las Vegas staff and crew working on the production and all cast participating will be within quarantined “bubbles” where they will undergo isolation before production begins and be tested prior to beginning work, and the cast will be tested prior to their participation. They will also all be regularly tested throughout the season, as well as screened daily for symptoms. Crew and staff will be required to wear PPE and work in pods to enhance social distancing. Stringent and ongoing cleaning and disinfecting protocols in filming and production areas will be in place. In addition, COVID-19 compliance officers will be on staff to monitor and enforce all health and safety COVID-19 protocols."

Also filming in a "quarantine bubble" is Shark Tank The popular show lends itself to filming over a short period of time. Reported Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. 'Because of the Sharks’ busy schedules, an entire season of 22 episodes is typically filmed in a pair of two-week 'pods.'

In a recent episode of Variety's weekly podcast Strictly Business, Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, said that at the time the COVID-19 crisis hit, there were 35 active non-news TV series filming in the city. “I don’t think we’re going to see all 35 of them roll up at once — that would be quite a challenge,” admitted del Castillo.

The New York Film Office is currently accepting applications for Phase 4 production activity. The latest Commissioner’s Directive No. 9 includes updated guidance for Phase 4 film permitting. Directive No. 9, along with a plain language explanation and FAQ are now available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

On June 23, 2020 that office issued a 14 page document outlining Guidance for Media Production during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (“Interim COVID-19 Guidance for Media Production”) was created to provide owners and managers of film, television, music, and other media production businesses and their employees, contractors, and vendors with precautions to help protect against the spread of COVID-19.

Rules include: "Responsible Parties must prohibit shared food and beverages among employees, cast, and crew (e.g., self-serve meals and beverages) and reserve adequate space for employees, cast, and crew to observe social distancing while eating meals. Responsible Parties may provide food service via buffet, provided that they are not self-serve and that they are sufficiently staffed to ensure that there is no employee, cast, or crew touching of common objects (e.g., serving spoons, tongs) and that appropriate social distance is maintained. Responsible Parties should consider providing food and beverage in pre-packaged containers to limit sharing between individuals. If providing food and beverage, Responsible Parties should also provide disposable or individually wrapped eating utensils."

No matter the location - "removed should be any unnecessary communal fixtures from the venue, such as newspaper or magazine stands, in favor of individual distribution upon request."

"For indoor media production facilities or locations, the presence of employees, cast, and crew members is limited to no more than 50% of the maximum occupancy for a particular area as set by the certificate of occupancy; and ensure that a distance of at least six feet is maintained between all employees, cast, and crew in all locations (e.g., meal areas, common areas, holding areas,trailers, video village, equipment areas) around the media production facility or location; provided that certain functions during media production may require coming within six feet of other individuals (e.g., wardrobe, hair, makeup, sound, filming, performing), Responsible Parties must identify such functions and implement a protocol for mitigation of risk for affected individuals."

One of the first to resume production in New York City was Jimmy Fallon who does an effective job delivering his monologue to an empty studio while a limited number of musicians are socially distanced.

In Los Angeles Young Sheldon used James Corden's garage studio for filming. Both Corden and fellow talk show host Stephen Colbert are set to return to studio tapings.

Daytime soap operas have resumed production at ABC and CBS, where cast and crew are tested for COVID-19 before and during production; crew members work in pods to limit interaction between them. The now-standard social distancing and sanitation protocols also apply.

One of the requirements is that there be a COVID-19 enforcement officer.

According to a report in the LA Times Producers of the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful took multiple precautions: They used dolls and actors’ real-life partners as “stunt kissers,” cut the crew by about 20% and separated directors with Plexiglas at Television City studios in Los Angeles."

Lights! Camera! Nose swabs!

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In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

PICTURE ID: CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKS ON PAPER addresses issues of race, gender and identity as this new exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art highlights nine contemporary artists, including Glenn Ligon, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker and Fred Wilson.

These contemporary African American artists use a mixture of text and images to tackle cultural stereotypes and challenge oppressive racial characterizations. Picture ID: Contemporary African American Works on Paper, which was scheduled to open in March and postponed due to the coronavirus, is now on view for the public in Gallery 4. The exhibition will close on January 17, 2021. All works in the exhibition are drawn from TMA’s permanent collection.

The nine artists featured – Glenn Ligon, Howardena Pindell, Adrian Piper, Martin Puryear, John Rozelle, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems and Fred Wilson – created works in response to artistic developments and cultural debates prevalent through the late 1980s and 1990s in the United States. These included the rise of multicultural activism, concerns surrounding the AIDS crisis, conservative social and economic policies, rapid gentrification and increasing urban crime.

“The exhibition title is inspired by the key question each artist raises, which is how appearances shape our perceptions and assumptions of our identity and character,” said Robin Reisenfeld, TMA’s senior curator of works on paper. “The artists manipulate texts, words and phrases related to race, combining them with photographic or invented imagery to examine the meaning and interpretation of individual identity. Through various visual strategies, they ask the viewer to consider identity through the overlapping perspectives of gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality to challenge the notion of selfhood as one fixed set of characteristics.”

CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE 2020 Open to all, it is the leading international competition celebrating and promoting the very best in contemporary portrait photography. Since the competition began in 1993, it has established a reputation for creativity and excellence, with works submitted by a range of photographers, from leading professionals to talented amateurs and the most exciting emerging artists.

This year the exhibition will be displayed online, from Tuesday 24 November 2020, in a virtual gallery that replicates the rooms of the NPG.

Deadline for entry: Tuesday, September 22, 2020.

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SWEET CHARITY

THE PULMONARY FIBROSIS FOUNDATION (PFF) the nation’s leading pulmonary fibrosis (PF) patient education and advocacy organization, has appointed actress and comedienne, Julie Halston, to its Board of Directors. Halston has supported the PF community for 10 years as host and a founder of the annual Broadway Belts for PFF! benefit in New York City.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive, debilitating lung disease with different causes that affects more than 200,000 Americans. Over 50,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. There is no known cure.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to join the Board of Directors of the PFF. I look forward to playing a larger role in the crucial work leading to improved treatments, research and care for those living with this devastating disease,” said Halston, who is best known for her Broadway roles in Tootsie; Hairspray; Gypsy and You Can’t Take It With You.

Broadway Belts for PFF! features legendary Broadway stars who sing their favorite show tunes in a gala evening benefiting the PFF. Since its inception in 2010, the event has raised more than $2 million and is now the PFF’s single-largest fundraiser.

“Julie has generously devoted herself and has inspired many Broadway celebrities to help raise awareness and funds for PF research and patient programs,” said George Eliades, Chair of the PFF Board of Directors. “She is a talented and passionate advocate for our community and we are delighted to welcome her to the PFF board.”

In 2010, Halston joined Broadway friends D. Michael Dvorchak, Sue Frost, and Ed Windels, in creating a memorial tribute to honor long-time Associated Press theater critic, Michael Kuchwara, who had succumbed to PF. Halston’s late husband, Ralph Howard, was battling PF at the time Halston came on board as emcee for the show. He received a life-extending lung transplant that year. Howard passed away from complications from the disease in 2018.

CELEBRITIES HAVE COME TOGETHER virtually - to raise awareness of the plight of the Asiatic black bear, or ‘moon bear,’ and the urgent need to end the practice of bear bile farming - where bears are held in tiny cages so that their bile can be extracted for use in traditional medicine. NGO Animals Asia, which created the video to mark Moon Bear Day on August 8th, aims to rescue 500 bears currently in bear bile farms in Vietnam by 2022, so they can live out their lives in a sanctuary with world class care. To date, Animals Asia has rescued 634 bears, and has agreement with Vietnamese authorities to completely end bear bile farming in Vietnam by 2022.

In mid-July, as the celebrities recorded their video message, Animals Asia rescued two three-month-old moon bear cubs that had been illegally trapped and put on sale on the black market, and are now taking care of them at the NGO’s sanctuary in Tam Dao, Vietnam.

The video, featuring Ricky Gervais, Jane Goodall, Mulan star Tzi Ma, Dame Judi Dench, Downton Abbey stars Peter Egan and Lesley Nicol, Guns’n’Roses rockers Slash and Matt Sorum, and actors Dame Olivia Newton John AC DBE, Virginia McKenna OBE, Joanna Lumley OBE, James Cromwell, Alicia Silverstone, Louis Hofmann, Daniel Gillies, Celina Jade, Maggie Q, Dustin Nguyen, Kristin Bauer, Michelle Forbes, Tara Buck, poet Benjamin Zephaniah, Vietnamese TV Presenter Minh Trang Nguyen, musician Rick Wakeman and singers Han Geng and Mýa, highlights the mistreatment animals as a root cause of pandemics such as the Covid19 crisis, in response “The Only Cure is Kindness” has been launched. Actor Joaquin Phoenix, who doesn’t appear in the video, is also spreading the message, appearing on social media wearing a t-shirt bearing the “The Only Cure is Kindness” message.

ONLINE TRIVIA NIGHT WITH HOSTESS PISSI MYLES staged by State Theatre New Jersey takes place Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 7pm. Proceeds raised support State Theatre’s Community Engagement programs. A minimum donation of $5 allows patrons to participate in the trivia challenge.

Hosted by drag comedian and singer Pissi Myles, the trivia challenge covers the music, movies, musicals, and pop culture of the early 2000s. The trivia will be composed of 60 multiple choice questions. The first-place winner gets a $150 State Theatre gift certificate and the second-place winner gets a State Theatre swag bag.

Online Trivia Night will be hosted on Zoom on each participant’s desktop computer and played on a smartphone-based trivia game. One player per entry.

SPREADING THE WORD

THE 2020 RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR

Rockette Sydney Mesher

starring those high kicking Rockettes, has been canceled - the first time that has happened in its 87 year history.

MSG Entertainment said it is canceling the annual Christmas Spectacular due to concerns about COVID-19.

At least Sydney Mesher, who joined the famed Radio City Rockettes last year, got to perform in the previous season's Christmas spectacular. Radio City's newest Rockette, twenty-three-year-old Mesher, is redefining society's beauty norms one powerful kick at a time. The first Rockette with a noticeable physical disability in the world-famous organization's 94-year-history, Mesher was born without a left hand - the result of a rare congenital condition - and her success now acts as a shining symbol for everyone pursuing their dreams, emphasizing that everybody is beautiful, no matter how different they may appear.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Mesher grew up loving dance. When her parents found out during a routine ultrasound that she would be born without her left hand, they immediately resolved that nobody would treat her differently because of her disability. Her father simply removed his wedding ring from his left hand and placed it on his right. Sydney was going to have the same opportunities as everyone else. Before she reached elementary school, she started taking dance classes. By the time she was in third grade, she had joined her studio's competition team and was dancing 25 hours a week, training primarily in jazz, tap and ballet, in addition to hip-hop.

While attending Pace University in New York City, she began auditioning for the Rockettes, and got all the way to the final round in her first outing - a rare accomplishment. It took a few more tries, but in 2019 right after she earned her degree in Fine Arts, she got the call she had been dreaming of - she was going to be a Rockette.

Missing a hand doesn't interfere with Mesher performing the famed routines. One of the most famous, where the dancers are in a line, high kicking, requires their arms to be behind the dancer on each side, but their hands never touch the other dancers.

When not on stage she is active in the non-profit Lucky Finn Project, which provides education on limb differences and creates a support network for parents across the U.S. and around the world.

LOVE, NOEL: THE SONGS AND LETTERS OF NOEL COWARD a performance on screen, written and devised by Barry Day. Directed by Charlotte Moore. Filmed at The Players starring Steve Ross and KT Sullivan can be viewed August 11 – 15, 2020.

Get to know the life and times of one of the 20th century’s most dynamic creative icons – Noël Coward – through this intimate performance in which Steve Ross and KT Sullivan transform into some of the many characters that made up Coward’s unique life…Gertrude Lawrence, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Elaine Stritch, Lynn Fontanne, Virginia Woolf, Edna Ferber, the Queen Mother, and, of course, The Master himself, Noël Coward.

After the sold-out run of the Irish Rep World Premiere production of Love, Noël in the summer of 2019, the Irish Rep is delighted to present a reimagined production for the screen, filmed on location, with COVID-19 precautions, at The Players.

The Irish Repertory Theatre’s 2019 production of Love, Noël was designed by James Morgan (set), Michael Gottlieb (lighting), and Brooke Von Hensbergen (properties).

This event is free to attend, but advance reservations are required. The event link will be emailed to registered attendees 2 hours before the performance begins.

L.A. THEATRE WORKS begins the new school year by expanding and extending its acclaimed learning initiative, Setting the Stage for Learning in which 25 audio recordings of significant stage plays performed by well-known, professional actors available at no charge to educators worldwide. Now extended through December 31, 2020.

The curriculum guide includes the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion to life through personal stories of those affected. Featuring a cast headlined by Jane Kaczmarek and James Morrison, this powerful work goes beyond the headlines to give voice to the people living along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, capturing their varied viewpoints and their resilience in the face of natural destruction and man-made tragedy.

Setting the Stage for Learning provides valuable resources for teachers, enhancing both distance and classroom learning. By harnessing the power of professional theater, students deepen their understanding of complex literature and subject content through an engaging and meaningful learning experience. An introductory guide suggests topics for engaging conversations and ideas for student-created content. Educators can select and preview a play, then select an approach, whether having students listen to an entire play with follow-up discussions and/or assignments, or listening in segments, pausing for comprehension checks, answering questions and transitioning through the arc of the plot.

A non-profit media arts organization and the world's leading producer of audio theater, L.A. Theatre Works’ mission is to present, preserve and disseminate classic and contemporary plays featuring critically acclaimed actors. With LATW, teachers bring the excitement of a stage play into their students’ immediate environment and allow them to share their experiences of this rich content with peers, even when separated by distance learning. Discussions about culture, context, the history and arc of the story, and personal connections to characters overcoming obstacles will add to students’ enjoyment as stories come to life through talented casts, foley artists (creating sound effects) and well-crafted scripts.

OPERA AUSTRALIA is inviting everyone to relive the magic of our first ever production.

In 1973, the Sydney Opera House opened in spectacular fashion with Prokofiev's epic operatic adaption of War and Peace.

The production marked their first performance in the iconic building that they've called home for almost five decades, and was celebrated by critics and audiences alike. War and Peace has more than 70 characters listed in the libretto, which allowed plenty of their most celebrated singers to be involved in that historic first night.

The dazzling production was filmed for ABC TV, and you can now stream it for free, in its entirety, on OA TV.

CABINET CONVERSATIONS: CREATIVITY, HISTORY AND LEADERSHIP presented by Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC takes pace August 13 and 27 at 4 p.m. EDT.

On August 13, join author Clint Smith and historian Sharita J. Thompson as they discuss Black voices and how they have been represented, misrepresented or not represented at all from the Civil War era through today.

On August 27, join for a discussion marking the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. Fellow Washingtonians will share their experiences during the 1963 March, the 1968 riots and the current protests in D.C.

All events are simulcast on digital platforms including the Ford’s Theatre website, Facebook Live, YouTube and Twitter, and include viewer Q&A. If you are unable to join us live, you can always watch the recording on the Ford's Theatre website.

HARVEY GRANAT PRESENTS ICONS OF THE AMERICAN SONGBOOK: SETTING THE STANDARD a 92Y in New York City presentation with special guests Daryl Sherman, Emma McGahan and Lisanne Lyons. The for fee three part course takes place Monday, August 10-August 24.

Performer, producer, and educator Harvey Granat presents a three-part program exploring some of the musicians, composers, and lyricists that helped created the Great American Songbook. Their standards transcend the time in which they were written to become the cultural fabric for generations of music lovers and are revived time and time again as reflections of the human spirit. Through performance, video, and images, Granat will showcase just a few of the talents whose lyrics or music help make up this canon, including Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Harold Arlen, Marvin Hamlisch, Dorothy Fields, and Sammy Cahn.

August 10: Rodgers & Hammerstein (with a special focus on Carousel and The King and I) with special guest singer/pianist, Daryl Sherman.

August 17: Harold Arlen and Marvin Hamlisch with special guest up-and-coming Broadway performer Emma McGahan.

August 24: Dorothy Fields and Sammy Cahn special guest, Lisanne Lyons, one of south Florida's leading jazz vocalists and head of jazz vocal studies at FIU School of Music.

CABARET HISTORY AND GREAT PERFORMANCES a for fee 4 session 92Y in New York City class takes place Monday, August 10-Auguat 31.

Award-winning cabaret performer and member of the 92Y Music Faculty, Michael Kirk Lane leads this lecture series about the art form of cabaret. Using video and audio recordings of influential performers throughout the decades - including Mabel Mercer, Bobby Short, Julie Wilson, Baby Jane Dexter, Nancy LaMott and many more - the series explores the history of the art form and where it is headed into the future.

THE ALLEY THEATRE IN HOUSTON is canceling all programs at its downstairs Neuhaus Theatre, citing compliance with social distancing guidelines by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the state of Texas.

Consequently, the 2020-21 season is now six plays, down from the original 10-play season announced in April. Of the affected plays, Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery and Sandy Rustin’s Clue are canceled, while Chisa Hutchison’s Amerikin, Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow’s Noir and Isaac Gómez's What-a-Christmas! are left for later seasons. The Alley All New Festival is canceled as well.

The company is adding Sweat, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lynn Nottage play, as a collaboration with the Ensemble Theatre.

The Alley’s season now opens on November 20 with a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol, by Doris Baizley.

The Alley Theatre is operating with $7 million smaller of a budget (for a total of $13 million) and 49 less full-time staff than it did during 2019-2020.

THE ELECTRIC DAISY CARNIVAL (EDC) one of the most popular annual events in Las Vegas announced that the electric dance festival won't take place this year, not returning to Sin City until May 2021.

The event is sold out.

COLORADO BALLET has canceled its 60th annual Nutcracker presentation. Also getting the axe performances performances of Giselle, originally slated to take place in October 2020.

Ticketing revenue lost from The Nutcracker and Giselle is projected to be between $3.5 million and $4 million.

Colorado Ballet has announced the launch of its Relief and Recovery Fund with a fundraising goal of $3 million. The fund will help cover a significant portion of the loss of ticketed revenue.

SEMA Special Equipment Market Association - one of the largest annual conventions held in Las Vegs - has canceled it's November 2020 event.

REGIS AND JOY PHILBIN'S

Regis Philbin

Connecticut home which they had lived in since 2008 recently sold. The Philbins listed the home in late 2019 with plans to move full time to California to be closer to their children. According to GreenwichTime.com, the home recently sold for $4.015 million, just a few weeks before Regis died from a heart attack. An alumnus of the University of Notre Dame and super enthusiastic fan of the Fighting Irish, Philbin was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery on the school’s campus.

The Philbins’ English-Manor gated mansion with 13,661 square feet, six bedrooms and nine baths is sited on 2.59 acres of expansive manicured lawns dotted with mature trees and flower gardens in a neighborhood of similar multi-million-dollar homes. While the home is an impressive venue to entertain, it also has the warmth and livability that encourages family togetherness with formal living and dining rooms, a large eat-in kitchen, mahogany-paneled library, home theater, family room, sunroom, billiards room, large gym, sauna, wine cellar and a tasting room with a full bar. The lush grounds include a swimming pool, spa and tennis courts with terraces for entertaining and dining. With enough activities to satisfy all ages of family and guests, it has seven fireplaces to warm cold toes on chilly New England winter nights.

The listing agent for the Philbin home was Joseph Barbieri of Sotheby’s International Realty, Greenwich Brokerage.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM IN NEW YORK CITY has cuts 353 staff as it projects a loss of more than $150 million amid coronavirus pandemic. This most recent cut brings the employee count to about 1,600.

According to a memo sent last Wednesday, as first published by the NY Times, 79 staff members had been laid off, 181 were furloughed and 93 took voluntary retirement. The Met laid off over 80 people in April after closing in March due to the pandemic spread.

The museum is projecting a $150 million loss in revenue due to the pandemic and its annual budget is $320 million.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

FINAL OVATION

PATTI KARR dancer/singer who appeared regularly on Broadway, including as an understudy for Chita Rivera, Carol Burnett, Gwen Verdon, and Michele Lee died July 11, 2020 of natural causes. She was 88.

Karr performed in over 25 Broadway productions, National Tours, Off-Broadway shows, and other productions throughout the country, as well as film and television, from 1950-2006. Karr made her Broadway debut in 1956 in Bells Are Ringing, as a dancer. She went on to be a dancer in The Body Beautiful and Redhead. In 1959, she played Lady Rowena in Once Upon a Mattress. In the 60s, she performed in shows such as Do Re Mi; New Faces of 1962; Come on Strong and To Broadway With Love.

Karr appeared in the 1972 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, followed by the original Broadway production of Different Times. She also appeared in the original Broadway cast of Pippin, as Fastrada, as well as Lysistrata, as Theta.

Her Off-Broadway credits included Skits-oh-Frantics!; Month of Sundays; Up Eden; The Housewives' Cantata and I Can Get It for You Wholesale.

She was pre-deceased by her parents, brother, and two sisters. She is survived by nieces and nephews, including Dagny Henry and Richard Karkalits.

EDDIE GALE known as the San Jose Ambassador of Jazz. died July 10, 2020 from cancer. He was 78.

Sun Ra once referred to Eddie Gale as "the first avant garde trumpeter."

He performed with John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Booker Ervin, and Illinois Jacquet.

After a storied career as a bandleader and collaborator, Eddie settled down in San Jose in 1972 and earned a title that would come to define his later musical trajectory, San Jose's "Ambassador of Jazz." It's a distinction he carried proudly, using music as a means to celebrate peace and unity.

He collaborated with Desert Storm Veteran and Guitar player Dennis Kyne, to develop Music in Our Schools and a free trumpet program for underserved youth in San Jose. Holding concerts with the Inner Peace Orchestra and fundraisers for musicians' health care, Eddie Gale took the music to churches, universities and colleges.

BRENT CARVER a Tony Award winner died August 4, 2020 at home in his hometown of Cranbrook, British Columbia. He was 68.

He was best known for his performances on Broadway in Parade as Leo Frank and Kiss of the Spider Woman as Molina, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 1993.

Carver appeared in nine seasons with the Stratford Festival, beginning with Long Day's Journey Into Night with William Hutt and Jessica Tandy in 1980. Also in the 80s he appeared in an original rock version of Hamlet as the lead and later in 2000 as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.

In 2017 - his last season with the festival - he starred in Twelfth Night and The School for Scandal, as well as presenting his own cabaret.

In May 2014, Carver received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honor in the performing arts, for his lifetime contribution.

Carver is survived by his sisters, Vicki Stanley and Frankie Reekie, and brothers Randy and Shawn, as well as many nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and -nephews .

Next Column: August 16, 2020
Copyright: August 9, 2020 All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary, Photographs or Graphics from any Broadway To Vegas (TM) columns may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, utilized as leads, or used in any manner without permission, compensation and/or credit.
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