Tony Award-winning actor/singer Len Cariou will present an online version of his acclaimed one-man show, Broadway & The Bard: An Evening of Shakespeare & Song, as a fund-raiser for the Actors Fund.Broadway & the Bard combines Shakespeare and American musical comedy – Cariou’s two great loves – in a blended mix of soliloquy and song.
The show outfits classical Shakespeare soliloquies and sonnets with inventive musical pairings from beloved writers of the Great White Way.
For sure, the show includes one of my own favorites, Brush Up Your Shakespeare, from the beloved musical Guys and Dolls, with it’s wonderfully witty lyrics.
The production will be streamed free every evening at 8pm from September 30 to October 4, on the Actors Fund’s YouTube channel, with donations directly benefiting the organization, .
Founded in 1882, The Actors Fund is a national human services organization here to meet the needs of our entertainment community with a unique understanding of the challenges involved in a life in the arts.
Services include emergency financial assistance, affordable housing, health care and insurance counseling, senior care, secondary career development and more.
Cariou is familiar also to fans of the TV series Blue Bloods, about a three-generation family of NYC police offers starring Tom Selleck as NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan, and Cariou as clan patriarch Henry Reagan, a former NYPD Commissioner.
Cariou is a Theatre Hall of Famer who earned a Tony Award for his performance in the original 1979 production of Sweeney Todd.
He was nominated for his starring roles in Applause and A Little Night Music.
His other Broadway credits include King Henry V, Nightwatch, Cold Storage, Teddy & Alice, Dance a Little Closer, The Speed of Darkness, Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party, and Proof.
His one-man show is conceived by Cariou, Barry Kleinbort, and Mark Janis, with Kleinbort directing and Janis serving as musical director.
The creative team for Broadway & The Bard also includes Josh Iacovelli (sets), and Matt Berman and Rocky Noel (lights and sound). The production was filmed by Matthew Gurren.
The show is produced by Aruba Productions, working with Amas Musical Theatre and Alan Siegel Entertainment, which produced the stage version.
Photo of Len Cariou is (C) David Gordon, via TheaterMania.
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