Author: Randy Slovacek

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Rosie O’Donnell’s ‘Broadway-Palooza’ Raises $500k For Actor’s Fund

Rosie O’Donnell offered up a heaping helping of Broadway stars (all from the comfort of their own homes) during a 3+ hour streaming revival of her eponymous talk-show on Sunday evening. From her garage/craft room, Rosie welcomed folks like Barry Manilow, Randy Rainbow, Judith Light, Billy Porter, Chita Rivera, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, and many, many more via Skype.

Billy Porter on The Rosie O’Donnell Show
And yes, there were performances including Patti LuPone (singing a lovely “Smile”), Kelli O’Hara (singing Sondheim’s “Take Me to the World”), Audra McDonald & hubby Will Swenson (also choosing to sing “Smile”), Lea Salonga (singing “Reflection”), Darren Criss (singing “Being Alive” from Company), Shoshana Bean (“Don’t Rain on My Parade”), and Kristin Chenoweth popping off a funfilled “Taylor the Latte Boy” (with her hottie boyfriend making a cameo). The project was the brainchild of Broadway and TV actor Erich Bergen who popped in every now and then to address small sound or tech issues. And Rosie’s former music director John McDaniel was on hand as well.
Kelli O’Hara on The Rosie O’Donnell Show
The event served as a fundraiser for The Actor’s Fund, which helps not only actors but everyone in the theater world during hard times including stagehands, stage managers, and more. At the end of the Broadway-palooza, over $500,000 was raised for the charity. Bravo to everyone involved! Hit the play button below and enjoy 🙂  

If you want to jump to a particular perf0rmer, here at the time marks for each (in chronological order): John McDaniel – 2:42 Jesse Tyler Ferguson – 4:56 Tituss Burgess – 8:09 Gloria Estefan – 12:57 Lin-Manuel Miranda – 19:40 Cynthia Erivo – 23:55 Patti LuPone – 28:50 Ben Platt – 36:07 Laura Benanti – 41:50 Idina Menzel – 48:10 Aaron Tveit – 53:35 Rob McClure – 54:03 Jordin Sparks – 54:31 Bernadette Peters – 55:01 Chita Rivera – 56:13 Alan Menken – 1:02:15 Neil Patrick Harris – 1:09:40 Brian Stokes Mitchell – 1:15:43 Audra McDonald and Will Swenson – 1:23:30 Andrew Lloyd Webber – 1:29:52 Stephen Sondheim – 1:30:23 Jeremy Jordan – 1:32:33 Jane Krakowski – 1:33:05 Uzo Aduba – 1:33:36 Andrew Rannells – 1:33:49 Annette Bening – 1:34:20 Judith Light – 1:37:02 Darren Criss – 1:41:23 Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker – 1:47:37 Kelli O’Hara – 1:54:16 Jeremy Pope – 2:03:20 Nate Berkus – 2:08:01 Adrienne Warren – 2:11:40 Kristin Chenoweth – 2:18:16 Harvey Firestein – 2:25:25 Katharine McPhee and David Foster – 2:29:12 Billy Porter – 2:33:40 Shoshana Bean – 2:40:17 Gavin Creel – 2:43:54 Miranda Sings / Colleen Ballinger – 2:48:19 Lauren Patten- 2:54:43 Skylar Astin – 2:59:25 Michael Gladis and Beth Behrs – 2:59:53 Ben Vereen – 3:00:21 Sutton Foster – 3:00:41 Frankie Valli – 3:01:09 Matthew Morrison – 3:01:42 Jordan Fisher – 3:04:47 Maria Tomei – 3:11:32 Lorna Luft – 3:12:02 Miguel Cervantes – 3:12:33 Andy Karl and Orfeh – 3:12:55 Elizabeth Stanley – 3:13:26 James Wesley and Seth Rudetsky – 3:13:54 Lea Salonga – 3:13:34 Randy Rainbow: 3:20:59 Barry Manilow: 3:23:59

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Podcast: Coronavirus & LGBTQ Community; Being Gay And Older Brothers; ‘Idol’ Alum Gary Beals

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • A new study shows having an older brother could increase the odds of being gay • Canadian Idol alum Gary Beals comes out and a drops new single, “Me for Me” • Virtual dance parties online help to alleviate stress during the ongoing health crisis. LInk – www.instagram.com/mkik808/ • Talking about the coronavirus pandemic, certain risk factors for LGBTQ people in particular, and where dating apps fall in all this. GLMA provides a directory for welcoming providers here: www.glma.org/index.cfm?fuseacti…iewPage&PageID=939 The Human Rights Campaign has a list of LGBTQ-friendly medical centers and hospitals here: www.hrc.org/hei/search All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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Watch Broadway Stars Perform LIVE From Home Today

Don’t forget to hit the play button below at 7pm ET/4pm PT today for the return of The Rosie O’Donnell Show LIVE! as she hosts a star-studded array of Broadway’s finest performing from their homes. The event will serve as a fund-raiser for The Actor’s Fund,  which fosters stability and resiliency, and provides a safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals over their lifespan. According to Broadway.com, the special program will feature performances and appearances by some of the biggest names in entertainment, all participating live from the comfort of their own homes, including Sebastian Arcelus, Skylar Astin, Beth Behrs, Nate Berkus, Stephanie J. Block, Matthew Broderick, Tituss Burgess, Norbert Leo Butz, Kristin Chenoweth, Gavin Creel, Darren Criss, Gloria Estefan, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Harvey Fierstein, David Foster, Morgan Freeman, Neil Patrick Harris, Megan Hilty, Lorin Latarro, Judith Light, Barry Manilow, Rob McClure, Audra McDonald, Katharine McPhee, Alan Menken, Idina Menzel, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lauren Patten, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Randy Rainbow, Andrew Rannells, Chita Rivera, Seth Rudetsky, Miranda Sings, Jordin Sparks, Ben Vereen, Adrienne Warren, James Wesley and more.

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Madonna’s Mega-Hit ‘Vogue’ Turns 30

Hard to believe, but Madonna’s monster hit, “Vogue,” turns 30 this week. From my Instinct Magazine colleague Michael Cook:

Behind the scenes, Vogue was the highlight of her musical partnership with musical impresario and legendary musical architect Shep Pettibone. After remixing several of her other tracks, Pettibone was approached to create a brand new song for the Material Girl.

With vocals that he recalls Madonna laying down as “efficient” (with Madonna rapidly tracking all the verse and chorus vocals in order, in single takes). It was Pettibone that suggested the idea of a rap to fill the middle eight portion of the track. He suggested name-checking classic film stars, so he and Madonna came up with a list of names, recording it immediately. Pettibone also came up with the vocal coda (“Ooooh, you’ve got to, let your body move to the music”).

Madonna then returned to Los Angeles & Pettibone added both piano and altered the bassline to fit the vocals. Pettibone and Madonna continued an ultra-successful partnership through several songs (including “Rescue Me”) culminating in the critically acclaimed and Golden Globe-nominated ballad “This Used To Be My Playground.”

Say what you will, but if you’re out at a club and “Vogue” comes out of the sound system, the floor is about to fill up.

Look around, everywhere you turn is heartache / It’s everywhere that you go (look around) You try everything you can to escape / The pain of life that you know (life that you know) When all else fails and you long to be / Something better than you are today I know a place where you can get away / It’s called the dance floor, and here’s what it’s for

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Trumper Buys All Paper Towels & Toilet Paper From Dollar Store, Promises To Sell It For Double

A Trump supporter was caught on video loading up her truck after clearing out all the toilet paper, paper towels and paper napkins from a Dollar Tree store in Pompano Beach, Florida. The short video, shot by another customer at the store, shows the woman loading several huge boxes onto the back of a truck. In the clip, you can hear the woman recording the scene ask, “I hope you’re not like going to go sell it to other people. Don’t worry you’ll see her on the street corner selling it for double in a minute.” “That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” replies the woman who purchased the products. “I bet you she likes Donald Trump too,” says the woman recording the video to which the purchaser begins yelling, “Donald Trump! Go, Donald Trump!” Is anyone surprised? Show of hands – anyone? Yeah, I didn’t think so. The video in Brian Tyler Cohen’s tweet has been viewed 3.4 million times. Needless to say, the Twitterverse wasn’t exactly thrilled with Toilet Paper Tammy.

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Asymptomatic Sen. Rand Paul Tests Positive For COVID-19

Sen. Rand Paul (photo: Gage Skidmore)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has become the first U.S. Senator to test positive for coronavirus. From NBC News:

“Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for COVID-19,” Paul’s account tweeted. “He is feeling fine and is in quarantine. He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person.”

“He expects to be back in the Senate after his quarantine period ends and will continue to work for the people of Kentucky at this difficult time,” the thread continued. “Ten days ago, our D.C. office began operating remotely, hence virtually no staff has had contact with Senator Rand Paul.”

Paul is the third member of Congress to announce a positive test for coronavirus, following Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Ben McAdams, D-Utah. Several Republican lawmakers also self-quarantined earlier this month after learned they had interacted with someone who tested positive for the virus at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Some might note the irony that Paul was the only senator to vote against a bipartisan $8 billion deal to provide emergency coronavirus funding earlier this month. Earlier this week, I reported that Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman developed symptoms, knew he’d been exposed to the coronavirus, went to the ER and was told (after ringing up a bill for $9,000+) that his test couldn’t be “processed” because he wasn’t a senior citizen or traveled recently in China or Italy. How did an asymptomatic U.S. senator get tested if Newman and others couldn’t? Of course, we know the answer to that question.

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Economy Roiled By Health Threat, But Some Companies Looking To Hire

From the New York Times:

The volume of food and paper products passing through a warehouse just outside Los Angeles is up 30 percent from the same time a year ago.

Pizza deliveries are surging as people around the country hunker down. Medical product manufacturers are racing to help hospitals lacking critical equipment needed to diagnose and treat Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Millions of people lost jobs or saw their wages severely curtailed last week as many companies shut down or cut back on operations. But the pandemic has also created a spike in demand for critical products and services, causing some of America’s biggest employers to scramble to try to hire workers.

On Thursday, Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, said it was looking to hire 150,000 additional employees through the end of May.

The grocery chain Kroger is hiring 10,000 people across its stores and distribution centers. Amazon is also planning to hire 100,000 additional people to keep up with the crush of online orders.

While the casinos here in Las Vegas are closed, I did see several of the large grocery stores have “Hiring” signs up. I know these may not be some people’s “chosen careers,” but if a family needs an income, at least there are a few opportunities to earn a living.

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Randy Rainbow Parody Goes The “Social Distance”

As Randy Rainbow interviews “Vice President and dance captain of the coronavirus task force Mike Pence,” his thoughts turn to the COVID-19 road ahead. Riffing on the Alan Menken/David Zippel tune “Go the Distance” from the Disney animated feature Hercules, Randy reassures us we CAN “Social Distance.”

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FDA Approves ‘Quick Result’ Coronavirus Test

The Washington Post reports the FDA has approved a new “rapid result” coronavirus test that can deliver results in 45 minutes.

The FDA granted “emergency use authorization” to Cepheid, a California company that makes a rapid molecular test for the coronavirus. Getting results in 45 minutes would be far quicker than the current situation in which tests typically are sent to central reference labs that can take days to deliver results.

The FDA authorization covers “patient care settings,” including doctors’ offices, but initially will be used primarily by hospitals and emergency departments, the company said.

The specimen can be collected either by a nasal swab or by a saline wash using a small catheter. Neither is particularly comfortable, but the advantage of the wash is that it doesn’t require swabs, which are in short supply.