Some wonderful, largely-homemade things are appearing online. I'm just starting to watch episodes of Stars in the House and let me tell you what that is. It's a twice-daily webcast telethon to benefit The Actors Fund, which is a charity that helps folks involved in show business and not just actors. It also helps writers and stagehands and ticket sellers and anyone who's in that vicinity and needs financial aid…as so many do at this time.
It's run by SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and producer James Wesley from their New York home (they're husband and husband) and they do an episode each day at 2 PM Eastern Time and another at 8 PM Eastern Time (so 11 AM and 5 PM on my coast) and via Skype or some other teleconferencing software, they chat with Broadway stars and even get performances out of them. There's also some surprisingly-responsible medical news and advice.
They started this March 16 with a show featuring Tony winner Kelli O'Hara and that's the one I've embedded below. Since then, the guest list reads like a Who's Who? (or maybe a Who's Anybody?) of live theater. So far, the list includes Jason Alexander, Sebastian Arcelus, Colleen Ballinger, Laura Benanti, Linda Benanti, Annette Bening, Stephanie J Block, Sierra Boggess, Betty Buckley, Andréa Burns, Norbert Leo Butz, Liz Callaway, Len Cariou, Will Chase, Kristin Chenoweth, Gavin Creel, Charlotte D'Amboise, Jason Danieley, Colin Donnell, Raúl Esparza, Tina Fey, Christopher Fitzgerald, Melissa Gilbert, Joanna Gleason, Mandy Gonzalez, JoAnn Hunter, Jeremy Jordan, Ramin Karimloo, Tom Kitt, Judy Kuhn, Anika Larsen, Norm Lewis, Judith Light, John Lithgow, Melissa Manchester, Terrence Mann, Andrea Martin, Eric McCormack, Audra McDonald, Lindsay Mendez, Ruthie Ann Miles, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Patti Murin, Pamela Myers, Kathy Najimy, Anne L. Nathan, Rosie O'Donnell, Kelli O'Hara, Billy Porter, Jeff Richmond, Chita Rivera, Blake Ross, Lea Salonga, Keala Settle, Marc Shaiman, Christopher Sieber, Jennifer Simard, Ashley Spencer, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Will Swenson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Vanessa Williams, Patrick Wilson and Chip Zien.
See anyone on that list who's any good? I can spot a few.
Throughout, they encourage you to donate to The Actors Fund, which you can do here or other ways they'll tell you about. There are also auctions and other fund-gathering mechanisms and while I haven't watched them all, the shows I've watched are very entertaining. You can see the lineups and watch episodes on this page. And now, here's Show One…