The Actors Fund and Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers have teamed up for “an auction event without precedent,” featuring a diverse array of rare and one-of-a-kind memorabilia from stars of Hollywood, Broadway, and beyond. This “landmark live auction,” set for Wednesday, April 28, will allow collectors and fans around the world to participate digitally, with live online bidding through BidLive!
The Actors Fund, the nonprofit that serves as a “safety net” for workers in the performing arts and entertainment industry, has provided more than $20 million in emergency financial assistance to more than 15,800 performers nationwide during the first year of the pandemic.
To continue supporting those still sidelined by the pandemic, The Actors Fund will receive all proceeds from items sold at the auction as well as all proceeds from donations by the auction’s online viewers. Additionally, the organization will reap 100 percent of sales from auctioned items in a collection of donated goods specially curated by the auction’s third partner and driving force behind the event, stage and screen star Christine Baranski.
“I asked my friends and colleagues of stage and screen to lend support to this meaningful auction, and the response has been extraordinary,” Baranski says in an official release. “Our colleagues in the performing arts need our support during this incredibly difficult time of crisis. The Actors Fund has provided a much-needed lifeline to our industry, and their work is nothing short of miraculous. I know I’m excited to see what Dolly Parton, Cher, Julie Andrews, Bruce Springsteen, and over 20-plus incredible stage and screen legends are pulling out of their closet!”
Some of the many highlights up for bid include an autographed pair of black-and-brown boots that Lin-Manuel Miranda wore in Hamilton; iconic glasses from Elton John; the leather suit Alan Cumming wore when he won a Tony in 1998 for Cabaret; Bob Mackie dresses from Carol Burnett; an autographed, limited leather-bound copy of the Downton Abbey screenplay; original drawings by Oscar- and Tony-winning costume designer Cecil Beaton, including a hat design from My Fair Lady and an ensemble for Barbra Streisand’s character in On A Clear Day You Can See Forever; gowns Baranski wore to the Golden Globes, the Emmys, and the Kennedy Center Honors; and celebrated dresses worn over the past decade by Tina Fey, Bette Midler, and Glenn Close. –Doug Rule
The “Stage & Screen” Live Online Auction is Wednesday, April 28, starting at 10 a.m. Visit www.doyle.com for more information including an interactive auction catalog.
Theater suggestions are part of a critic's job. So when a friend sent a text asking for a recommendation to take his visiting mom to -- "something joyful" on Broadway was the requirement -- I didn't waste a moment responding: Boop! The Musical.
It may seem a surprising answer because the property upon which it's based comes from a cartoon that was popular from 1930 to 1939. Nevertheless, Betty Boop has endured, accumulating legions of cross generational fans and becoming one of the most globally recognized animated figures of all time.
Director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who has a knack for leaving audiences on a natural high after all his shows, once again brings literal glitter to a work that makes us long for the days when nearly every old-fashioned musical delivered big thrills.
With the well-timed arch of an eyebrow, or just a sharp glance, Nathan Lee Graham can command a scene in silence, well before he unleashes some artful, perfectly enunciated turn of phrase.
The actor has been brandishing his enviable diction and expressive mien for decades on Broadway, in The Wild Party and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, in films from Zoolander to Theater Camp, and on TV shows, like the new Hulu sitcom Mid-Century Modern, where he stars with Nathan Lane and Matt Bomer as three mature gay friends who move in together à la The Golden Girls.
You would think that, by now, reasonable theatergoers would be exhausted by angry, self-serving bloviates who unleash profanities and cruel language on each other and anyone within earshot.
Obviously, there is more demand for it, as David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glenn Ross is back on Broadway for a third time.
And, like the unwitting suckers who fall into the clutches of this predatory group of real estate sharks, audiences are quick to drop top dollar to see a starry cast comprised of Bob Odenkirk as Shelley Levene, a past-his-prime salesman looking to increase his numbers, Bill Burr as Dave Moss, another older sales guy who huffs and puffs like the big, bad wolf, and Kieran Culkin as hotshot Ricky Roma, a slick smooth talker who has no time for excuses.
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