Odds & Ends: Billy Porter & Renee Elise Goldsberry Team Up, SAG Awards Love for B'way Faves & More
Here's a quick roundup of stories you may have missed today.
Billy Porter & Renee Elise Goldsberry Team Up
Tony winner Billy Porter, Hamilton's Renee Elise Goldsberry, Joshua Henry and Marcus Paul James will join forces with the Broadway Inspirational Voices for Inspirational Broadway. The evening of Main Stem, R&B, Gospel and Pop classics (think numbers from Rent, Sunday in the Park with George and more), is scheduled to take place on February 15, 2016 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill. It’s all in aid of the BIV Outreach Program and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate one of the best days of the year.
SAG Awards Love for Broadway Faves
Good news for stage faves on December 9 with the nominations for the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Tony winner Helen Mirren picked up two nods, for Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Leading Role for her performance in Woman in Gold (along with Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn) and in the category of Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Supporting Role for Trumbo. Meanwhile, Tony winners Eddie Redmayne and Bryan Cranston received Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role nominations for The Danish Girl and Trumbo, respectively. Three-time Tony winner Mark Rylance was recognized (naturally) in Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Supporting Role for his work in Bridge of Spies and for his performance in the Wolf Hall miniseries. Others celebrating TV and/or ensemble nods include Tony winners Kevin Spacey, Viola Davis, Maggie Smith and Cherry Jones, along with Uzo Aduba, Brian d'Arcy James, Jim Parsons, William H. Macy, Edie Falco, Danielle Brooks and Elizabeth Moss. To top it all off, Carol Burnett was named winner of the special award for Lifetime Achievement. Congrats to all!
Shakespeare to Get Sitcom Treatment at the BBC
British comedian David Mitchell will soon find it’s hard to be the bard—he will play Shakespeare in a BBC sitcom about the legendary playwright, Upstart Crow. Blackadder’s Ben Elton has penned the six-part series, which is also set to star Liza Tarbuck, Harry Enfield, Paula Wilcox, Gemma Whelan, Dominic Coleman, Steve Speirs and Mark Heap. In other words, the crème de la crème of U.K. comedic talent is working on the project, so it's liable to be must-see TV when it lands on this side of the pond.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Cancer Scare
Our best wishes go to the Broadway-bound Jesse Tyler Ferguson. The Modern Family star posted the below pic on his Instagram, thanking his doctor for "taking the cancer out of my face...#phantommask #spf75." We hope that Ferguson has a swift recovery and look forward to welcoming him to the Great White Way's Lyceum Theatre in Fully Committed from April 2, 2016.
