Here's a quick roundup of stories you may have missed today.
Paula Vogel Honored with Lifetime Achievement Obie Award
Indecent playwright Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning legend who at 65 is making her Broadway debut, will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Obies, the annual celebration of off-Broadway theater, on May 22 at Webster Hall. Vogel’s off-Broadway career spans more than two decades and 12 productions. Indecent, which was commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Rep, opened at off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre on May 17, 2016 before debuting its current run at Broadway's Cort Theatre on April 18, 2017.
Great Comet Team Wins American Ingenuity Awards
Dave Malloy, the book and score writer of Broadway hit Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, and the show’s innovative director, Rachel Chavkin, have won Smithsonian magazine’s 2017 American Ingenuity Awards. The pair will receive the award at a gala at the National Portrait Gallery on November 29.
Broadway Barks Sets 2017 Date
Get your crate and leash ready. It's almost time to adopt a shelter animal this summer at Broadway Barks, which has set a date of July 8 in Shubert Alley (located between 44th and 45th Streets, between Broadway and Eighth Avenues). The event, co-founded by Bernadette Peters and the late Mary Tyler Moore, features celebrities of the Great White Way who use their star power to find loving homes for animals in need from 27 participating NYC area shelters. The event will begin at 3:00 p.m. with celebrity presentations of adoptable pets taking place between 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Ivan Hernandez Joins A Chorus Line at the Muny
Ivan Hernandez, who gave a moving performance in the 2010 off-Broadway production of Yank!, will play Zach in the Muny production of A Chorus Line, July 29-August 4. Hernandez rounds out the principal cast, which, as previously announced, will also star Bianca Marroquin as Cassie and Megan Sikora as Sheila among a talented group of co-stars. Denis Jones, the man behind the Broadway musical Holiday Inn, directs and choreographs.
Ben Platt, Bette Midler & Josh Groban Celebrate Broadway Cares Fundraising Record
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has released an adorable highlights video from the April 24 and 25 Easter Bonnet competition, where Broadway shows presented original skits and showed off their one-of-a-kind bonnets. BC/EFA raised a record of $6,379,572 over six weeks of curtain call fundraising. Plenty of fun was had sharing the news with Broadway stars Bette Midler, Ben Platt and more.