Me going to the theatre in person, for the first time in over a year. Blindness, a sound and light experience, at the Daryl Roth Theatre.

Dear Family and Friends,

     Wow. How much changes in a month. I hope this finds you still safe and healthy and hanging in. I don’t know about you, but last month it felt like we were in the thick of things. Now, weeks later, the sun is dawning over the horizon. With vaccine eligibility broadening across the country and the weather warming up, relief feels closer. Of course, we must still double mask, wash our hands, get tested, and get vaccinated when we can. Which reminds me…I got my first shot! 

     At the vaccine site, I was in a room where hospital curtains cordoned off individual areas for actual inoculation. Sitting there, I heard someone behind a curtain say, “I don’t know where to look! I don’t want to watch, but I want to make sure I’m getting it.” And I shouted, “LOOK AT YOUR ARM! Wonder at the beauty of science!” Ever since I was a toddler, I always wanted to get my shots. I always marveled at the capability of humanity—of our ability to protect each other, to be resourceful and smart enough to fight threats. You bet your bottom dollar I stared at my shoulder as that miracle went into my body.

     This month has also proven to me my own capability. Last month, I released a deep investigative feature about the state of theatre and how we ensure its strong future. I call it my magnum opus. For anyone out there who has asked, “When will Broadway be back?” this is for you. (Don’t be intimidated by the estimated read time; I divided this into eight parts for a reason.) I wrote the piece because my heart and soul are with the theatre. I have five friends in all of New York City who have a job. Five. I’ve been frustrated for months, feeling like there are things we can do in this downtime—and only in this downtime—to ensure the future of the art form. I feel a responsibility to this art and the artists. So I did what I know how to: I researched and interviewed and wrote “What It Will Take for New York Theater to Come Back as the Industry and Community It Professes to Be.” I didn’t know if I could write something this big and fact-based, but I proved to myself I can. Thank you to my stable of pre-readers, especially my copy editor Andy Lefkowitz. I hope you’ll read it! Be sure to “clap” for it, highlight passages, bookmark it, share it on social or your WhatsApp thread or your email address book. Spread the word!

     Which reminds me...the word has been spreading about Why We Theater. The Hartford Courant featured me and the podcast in a half-page print article in the Sunday paper last month. I’ve also kept up more writing for Parents.com (returned to my old stomping grounds to teach the children to love theatre with a list of best virtual theatre production to watch with your family). And, I am now the staff moderator for Second Stage Theater’s (2ST) new artist talk series 2STREAM. Watch the videos of my first two streams below! This weekend, you can watch my panel about Movement Work on Broadway for BroadwayCon (which is free this year). You can also watch the video of a talk I did for Barnard’s Athena Film Festival about how COVID has affected the entertainment industry (see below); I was a panelist, for a change, and joined by Kelly McCreary of Grey’s Anatomy! Working on some more freelancing and panels, so be sure to follow on social for the latest updates.

     Speaking of the larger landscape of the theatre industry right now, I know many of you out there are fans and are not “on the inside” of the business or as close to it as I am. Theatre needs your support right now. The community is fragile; we’re at a tipping point. The fires are raging. The devastation of mass unemployment due to COVID (on a greater scale than most other industries), the health crisis and loss of life, the necessary racial justice reckoning we are all dealing with, more explicit publication of long-known power abuse by producer Scott Rudin, the lack of leadership, it has left so many lost and angry and sad and desperate. And in-fighting has ensued. But we have to stop hurting each other and we need everyone's support.  

     The abuses alleged by Rudin’s employees are horrific. As my own father said, “very scary that he is a successful person and a boss.” It is. But I'm also scared by the volume of accounts about successful yet toxic workplaces across industries and across the country. We need a shift in American work culture. We need to hold people at the top accountable and get them out of power (and focus our anger on the perpetrators not our peers). We can also make a more immediate impact. We must be kind leaders and supportive colleagues ourselves. If you are a boss, if you are an employer, please lead with kindness. Let your reflex be respect, decency, and graciousness. Not only does this make life better for everyone, it will lead to greater business success. It's smart and it's right. 

     When I was in high school, I was a Hall High Jazz Dancer (think dance team). I was the only freshman accepted on the team in the ninth grade. And I was bullied. Hard. I was going to quit, but I realized, if I stuck with it that when I became a senior, I could become captain and I could create the kind of ensemble I wanted to be in. Three years later, I was captain and I made it clear that we were a team. We would have each other’s backs. Bullying was not an option. Meanness, not an option. Hazing, not happening. And it wasn’t just that I said “don’t be mean”, I led with kindness. I favored  compassion. So my fellow dancers chose to do the same. Honestly, shifting that vibe is one of my proudest accomplishments to this day. Do what you can in your world. Baby steps, friends. Breathe.

     As always, the event calendar for April and my latest recommendations are below. Until next month! Love and all that jazz, Ruthie

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale, Broadway's American Psycho), Alexis Scheer (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord), and I talk about their work, the genre of horror, and more.

Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) and May Adrales (artistic director of The Lark) talk about their upcoming original 2ST play Letters of Suresh.

Kelly McCreary (Grey's Anatomy), Kelli Herod (The Smithsonian Channel) and I talk about entertainment in the COVID era with moderator Elena Blekhter.

Mark Your Calendar

The Last 5 Years

Now through May 9

Tickets start at $32.50, OOTBtheatrics.com

Out of the Box Theatrics and Holmdel Theatre Company present a fresh take on Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years. Tony Award recipient Jason Michael Webb directs and music directs Nasia Thomas and Nicholas Edwards in this moving take on the love story. (My full glowing recommendation below.)

BroadwayCon

April 17–18

FREE, BroadwayCon Facebook Live and BroadwayOnDemand

The annual convention for everything Broadway and theatre goes digital and free! Tune in for two days of panels, performances, and special events like BroadwayCon Game Night and the BroadwayCon Cabaret. I lead the panel “Thrilling Combination: Movement Work on Broadway” airing at 3:30pm ET on April 17. Join me as I talk with director-choreographer-performer Luis Salgado (original Broadway cast and assistant choreographer In The Heights, On Your Feet!), circus director-choreographer Gypsy Snider (Pippin, co-founder The 7 Fingers), and intimacy director Teniece Divya Johnson (Mothers Off-Broadway).

Seth Concert Series: Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus

April 18, 3pm and 8pm ET

Tickets $28.50, BroadwayWorld

I am obsessed with the two of them. Stephanie’s voice is unreal (see: Wicked, Falsettos, The Cher Show). Sebastian is the sweetest and so is his voice (see: Wicked, Elf). The married pair together melt the heart.

Live at the Lortel: Andre De Shields

April 19, 7pm ET

FREE, YouTube

The icon. The legend. Tony Award winner Andre De Shields (The Wiz, Hadestown) goes live on YouTube as part of this ongoing conversation series via Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Islands of Contentment

April 9–30

Tickets $30, Zoom

The Tank presents this collection of 13 monologues on intimate, poignant, and hilarious interactions with significant others in the form of modern-day confessionals. Stay tuned to my Instagram, since I’m seeing it this weekend.

Stars in the House: ER Cast Reunion

April 22, 8pm

FREE, YouTube

George Clooney, Juliana Marguiles, and more of their ER castmates revisit their scrub-wearing days with Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley as part of the ongoing Actors Fund fundraiser Stars in the House.

Private Reels: The Royale

On Demand April 22–May 16

FREE, LCT.org

Watch the capture of the 2016 Lincoln Center Theater production. Helmed by now Tony-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown), the cast stars Tony nominees Montego Glover (Memphis) and Clarke Peters (Five Guys Named Moe), as well as Khris Davis (Sweat), John Lavelle (The Graduate), and McKinley Belcher III (A Soldier’s Play).

Sutton Foster: Bring Me to Light

Premiers April 28 7pm ET, On Demand through May 31

Tickets $35, City Center On Demand

Two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster offers this one-hour concert that also includes performances by Raúl Esparza, Joaquina Kulakango, Kelli O’Hara, and Wren Rivera.

Recommendations: 

*If these recommendations inspire you to check out something new, I’d love to know! Tag your post about it with #ruthierecommends.

1. The Last Five Years. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you already know that I am enamored with this new production. Jason Michael Webb (a 2019 Special Tony Award recipient for his outstanding musical arrangements for Broadway’s Choir Boy) re-envision’s Jason Robert Brown’s two-hander musical. (What can I say, three-name Jasons are apparently ridiculously talented.) The musical tells the story of Jamie and Cathy, a Jewish creative writing prodigy and a shiksa (non-Jewish) actor, respectively, and their five-year relationship. He tells the story from beginning to end; she tells the story from the end to the beginning. This is an at-home viewing experience. Is it theatre? Is it an indie film? Is it both? Whatever it is I don’t care because it is SO COOL. I don’t want to give too much away about what this looks like, but needless to say Webb (who directs and music directs) imposes a strong and fresh perspective on the love story. With this, he  innovates how we tell stories, and demonstrates a daring resourcefulness I haven’t witnessed in far too long. Nasia Thomas nails as Cathy, her voice liquid and thick and resonant and her acting made to match; Nick Edwards smooth vocals brings Jamie’s everything-comes-easy nature to life. Moving and brilliant, Brown’s piece stands the test of so many times. Performances now through May 9. Purchase tickets here.

2. A Million Little Things. It’s not a Ruthie newsletter if I’m not late to the party on something. Now in its third season, I just started this dramatic gem. The pilot is phenomenal. Anyone who is a sucker for deep man-bonding like me, this is for you. (It’s also an ideal alternative for the garbage Grey’s Anatomy has become—dramatic and focused on live-or-die friendship.) I love every one of these characters. There’s great music on the show (courtesy of one of the guys being a professional musician and another one’s daughter as a budding guitarist) and the writers actually manage to keep some things mysterious. This is snuggly warm Nora Ephron blanket of a show. Start it and watch along with me on Hulu.

3. The Fabulous Invalid, Episodes 88 & 89 “Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune, Parts 1 and 2”. My dear friend Rob Russo is one of the stellar hosts of this podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network alongside Jamie DuMont. I recently listened to their gigantic episode on Jerry Herman. For musical theatre classicists: this is IT. You honestly cannot get a better education on the man behind Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage Aux Folles. Who knew he wrote a musical about American tourists in Israel called Milk and Honey? Who knew it was Frank Loesser (and a boost from his mom) that turned him from a songwriting hobbyist to one of the most renowned musical theatre writers in history? The episode also includes original interviews from seven theatre greats who worked with Jerry or on his shows, including Joel Grey and Lee Roy Reams. These are the kinds of stories you used to only be able to hear at the Polish Tea Room. 4. One Night in Miami. Kemp Powers’s play gets the movie treatment in this Amazon original starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr. The play debuted in 2013 in Los Angeles. Though it never made it to Broadway, clearly that didn’t keep the piece from entering the consciousness of Regina King, who chose this for her feature film directing debut. The play is a gem. A gentle meditation at a fiery time. Powers (also of Disney Pixar SOUL fame) shows just how brilliant, imaginative, and tuned-in he is. He writes a fictional account of the real night February 25, 1964, when Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) became the world heavyweight champion and gathered his three best friends—Malcom X (Ben-Adir), NFL’s Jim Brown (Hodge), and producer-singer Sam Cooke (Odom)—to celebrate. All four actors are fantastic, although I do have to say I’m partial to Ben-Adir’s Malcom. Wow. This adaptation captures the quiet essence beneath the public persona of each of these four men. Then confrontation crackles as they spar about how to serve the plight of their people—each man thinking they (and only they) have got it right. Powers, King, and these men remind us how much we still have to learn if change is gonna come. Watch it on Amazon Prime Video.

Playbill/BPN calendar. Craving theatre? There are galas and conferences and classes and Zoom readings and streams galore. Find ALL of them in this streaming calendar from Playbill and the Broadway Podcast Network.

My Philosophy

I believe in art's power to create change. Art—particularly theatre—can help us reflect, determine, and, sometimes, change our beliefs. I hope that you all continue to engage with the storytelling and art around you—wherever you are and whatever level—and that you entertain different points of view. Advocate for your principles while always leaving room to hear others and evolve. Let's stay engaged, thoughtful, and active. 

As always, if you need show recommendations or if you have theatre questions, please get in touch! I LOVE to answer. Keep tabs on Playbill.com and RuthieFierberg.com, and thank you for your enduring support.