A Broadway.com online event that was supposed to help tide theater fans over until the Tony Awards were rescheduled or Broadway productions reopened has been postponed in the wake of ongoing nationwide unrest after the death of George Floyd in police custody on May 25.
“We stand in solidarity with our colleagues, artists, friends, communities and audiences of all races in the fight for equality and unity,” Paul Wontorek, the editor in chief of the industry website Broadway.com, said in a statement.
A new date for the event, “Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes the Tonys,” scheduled for Sunday — when the Tonys would have taken place — has not been announced.
The Tonys were postponed in March because of the coronavirus, and that ceremony’s fate is uncertain. The Broadway season was cut short by the health crisis and shows have been canceled through Sept. 6.
Broadway.com has produced a number of online charity events since live theater in New York was suspended in March, including a new installment of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.” Its celebration was intended to benefit the educational initiatives of the American Theater Wing and the Broadway League, the two organizations that administer and present the Tonys.
Broadway.com is not alone in looking outward. The Public Theater postponed its June 1 digital gala, saying, “It just feels wrong to sail ahead with our event” during a “time of national trauma.” On Sunday, Broadway On Demand called off its own June 7 Tonys-related fund-raiser as a sign of its solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
