Odds & Ends: Hello, Dolly! Tour Star Betty Buckley Set for New Joe's Pub Concerts & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed today and this weekend.

Hello, Dolly! Tour Star Betty Buckley Set for New Joe's Pub Concerts
Betty Buckley, the Tony-winning Cats original who will soon appear on the national tour of Hello, Dolly!, will return to downtown venue Joe's Pub for four concerts this week. The cabaret engagement, set for June 5 and 6 at 7:00pm and June 9 at 7:00pm and 9:30pm, will coincide with the release of Buckley's new live CD Hope. In addition to her renowned stage turns, Buckley will soon appear as Madame L'Angelle on AMC's hit series Preacher.

Broadway Stars Give the Queer Eye Treatment to Mean Girls Tony Nom Grey Henson
This pitch-perfect Queer Eye parody has us shook! A group of Broadway favorites recently came together to help Mean Girls standout Grey Henson look his most dapper at this year's Tonys. Zach Adkins (Anastasia), Cheech Manohar (Mean Girls), Jeff Heimbrock (Wicked), Jordan Barrow (Sousatzka) and Reed Campbell embody Queer Eye's "Fab Five" in this amazing tribute to help give Henson everything he needs to triumph on Broadway's biggest night. We'll most definitely be watching right up till Tony night.



SpongeBob's Ethan Slater to Be Honored at Broadway Beacon Awards
Arts education nonprofit Inside Broadway has announced SpongeBob SquarePants Tony nominee Ethan Slater as the honoree at the 2018 Broadway Beacon Awards! The organization's annual gala will be held at The JW Marriott Essex House on June 25 at 5:30pm. The Broadway Beacon Awards are presented to individuals in the theater community who have been advocates for increasing audiences for live theater and understanding the importance of arts and education in the lives of New York City's young people.

Ivo van Hove’s The Damned to Play Off-Broadway's Park Avenue Armory
Tony-winning director Ivo van Hove (A View From the Bridge) will offer up the North American premiere of The Damned—a theatrical retelling of Luchino Visconti’s Oscar-nominated screenplay—off-Broadway this summer. The co-production with Comédie-Française will appear at Park Avenue Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall from July 17-28. A chilling and topical rumination on political depravity, The Damned portrays the manipulations of the von Essenbeck family during the rise of Nazi Germany. 

Russell Nype, Tony Winner of Goldilocks & Call Me Madam, Dies at 98
Russell Nype, a multi-talented actor who won a pair of Tony Awards for turns alongside Elaine Stritch in Goldilocks and Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam, died on May 27 in Florida, according to The New York Times. He was 98. Nype made his Broadway debut in Regina (1949), which was followed by his turn as Kenneth Gibson in Call Me Madam (1950), netting him his first Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Nype followed that with performances in Wake Up, Darling (1956) and Carousel (1957). He received great acclaim for his next Broadway gig, as George Randolph Brown in Goldilocks (1958), winning his second featured Tony Award. Later Broadway credits included Brigadoon (1963), Once for the Asking (1963), Hello, Dolly! (1964), The Girl in the Freudian Slip (1967) and his final Broadway show, Morning's at Seven (1980).

Dakin Matthews & More to Join James Earl Jones in Night of the Iguana Benefit
A talented group of actors has been announced to appear in The Acting Company's upcoming benefit reading of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana. Michael Wilson will direct the previously announced event, slated to take place at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on June 11 at 7:00pm. New to the company are current Iceman Cometh star Dakin Matthews, Brian Cross (The Snow Geese), Stacia Fernandez (The Drowsy Chaperone) and Richmond Hoxie (I’m Not Rappaport), along with Kiko Macan, Matt Morrison, Hannah Sharafian and Mike Turner. They join the previously announced two-time Tony winner James Earl Jones as Nonno alongside fellow Tony winners Amanda Plummer as Hannah Jelkes and Elizabeth Ashley as Judith Fellowes, two-time Emmy winner Dana Delany as Maxine Faulk, Bill Heck as Rev. Shannon and Susannah Perkins as Charlotte Goodall.