A coupla Hello, Dolly! dollies (Image via video still)

Check out Broadway Does Mother's Day, billed as a benefit for the Broadway Cares COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund — it's got a little of everything, and a lot of everyone ...

I didn't get to see Madonna on the street, but I do now own that signage, inset. I guess this is a good example of why collecting ephemera has so much power — it's a substitute for, or reinforcement of, memories.

 

Thirty-two years ago today, on May 3, 1988, Madonna made her Broadway debut as David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow officially opened. Jennifer Grey, Billy Joel, Jennifer Beals and others showed up that night, and such luminaries as Jackie Onassis watched during the run.

 

 

The play received solid reviews (it was Tony-nominated for Best Play and Best Direction of a Play, and the late Ron Silver won the Tony for Best Actor), but Madonna was mostly panned. Frank Rich, in an outlier New York Times, review, controversially wrote:

 

Although her role is the smallest, Madonna is the axis on which the play turns —  an enigma within an enigma, in the manner of the Lindsay Crouse heroine in House of Games. It's a relief to report that this rock star's performance is safely removed from her own Hollywood persona. Madonna serves Mr. Mamet's play much as she did the Susan Seidelman film Desperately Seeking Susan, with intelligent, scrupulously disciplined comic acting. She delivers the shocking transitions essential to the action and needs only more confidence to relax a bit and fully command her speaking voice.

 

I made my first trip to NYC in order to see my idol late in the run of Speed-the-Plow, even though money was hard to come by. With $110 in my pocket, I landed in a thunderstorm on August 25, 1988, and told my cab driver, “Take me to the — “ well, to my friend's apartment building. Cost $18.

 

 

I saw Madonna & Co. on the day before the original cast ended its run. Imagine having so much invested in the belief that Madonna, who had loudly proclaimed she was over the play by then, would show up for her second to last matinee! But she did.

ABOVE: I'd like to dive into his deep end.

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(Image via Broadway.com)

Did you watch the tribute to Stephen Sondheim upon the occasion of his 90th birthday Sunday night?

ABOVE: I need those ... pants!

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There are so many lighthearted approaches to COVID-19, and truthfully, I think they're all good.

I don't think it's bad for people to take inspiration from darkness, or to try cute things to cheer others up.

Here, a 16-year-old out for a ride with his poker-faced mom (bursting with pride inside!) sings an entire parody of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. Great voice ...

ABOVE: Maybe this mask thing could be fun?

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Every word. (GIF via GIPHY)

Such a huge loss. 

Terrence McNally, the brilliant playwright and librettist behind everything from The Ritz to Master Class, Corpus Christi to The Full Monty, and — of course — Love! Valour! Compassion!, has died after battling COVID-19. He was 81.

From the original production of the Broadway classic (Image by Martha Swope)

Full obit is here.

Mayor Bill de Blasio took time out to remember McNally in his presser:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pays tribute to Terrence McNally, who died from coronavirus

“Someone who wrote some of the greatest plays of recent memory, but also someone who worked so hard for a better NYC and a better America” https://t.co/YvBtdfFD6U pic.twitter.com/ATUqqqChok

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 24, 2020