Broadway.com's Living Room Livestream of Buyer & Cellar Starring Michael Urie Raises Over $200K

More than 70,000 online theater fans have watched the Broadway.com living room livestream of Michael Urie reprising his award-winning solo turn in Jonathan Tolins' Buyer & Cellar. The special event, which was streamed live on Sunday, April 19, raised over $200,000 for the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund.

Due to popular demand, the full-length play will now remain on Broadway.com through Wednesday, April 22, 2020 at 11:59 EST. Fans can stream the performance for free on Broadway.com/buyerandcellar and the Broadway.com YouTube channel.

On Vulture, critic Helen Shaw raved about the performance. "There has been a bit of a public back-and-forth about whether or not new theater can go out over the airwaves (broadbands?) without losing everything that makes it vigorous and exciting. And here it is, at least for one type of show: a clear answer... I bought it, people; I was sold."

The performance was directed by Nic Cory with Broadway.com's Paul Wontorek as livestream director. It was produced by Broadway.com and Rattlestick Playwright Theater in partnership with Pride Plays. A festival of LGBTQ play readings that premiered in 2019, Pride Plays is produced by Urie and Doug Nevin under the direction of Nick Mayo, and is currently set to return in 2020 from June 25 through 29. Urie was originally set to perform the show for two sold-out benefit performances that were canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In the basement of a house on her Malibu estate, Barbra Streisand created a private fantasy world to display her accumulated tchotchkes: a narrow, cobblestoned “street” of boutiques, from an antique doll store and confectionery with its own taffy-making machine to a dress shop filled with favorite costumes from her films. In this one-man comedy, Urie plays Alex More, who is down on his luck after being recently fired from Disneyland. He lands a job curating the basement of Barbra Streisand.

Last seen on Broadway in Bess Wohl's Grand Horizons, Urie originated the role of Alex More in Buyer & Cellar off-Broadway in 2013, later taking the show on tour and to London. For his acclaimed performance, he received the Drama Desk Award, Clarence Derwent Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, LA Drama Critics Award and nominations for the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Best known for TV's Ugly Betty, his other Great White Way credits include Celebrity Autobiography, Torch Song and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, which are matched dollar to dollar, are helping those onstage, backstage and behind the scenes receive urgent medical care and financial assistance during the pandemic and work shutdown. With every passing day that theaters remain dark, entertainment professionals face unprecedented health and financial challenges requiring immediate attention and resources. Donations to the emergency fund can be made by clicking here.

Broadway.com recently presented a starry, livestreamed reading of the late Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth Apart, starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Zachary Quino and Ari Graynor, which was seen by over 50,000 theater fans. In addition, Broadway.com's the successful livestreaming return of The Rosie O'Donnell Show on March 22 raised close to $700,000 for The Actors Fund.

Watch the full show below!