Tonight was the night that CBS was going to broadcast the 74th Tony Awards from Radio City Music Hall. But Covid-19 changed all that; now Tony winners Andre De Shields and Bernadette Peters were among the Broadway luminaries interviewed for an eight-minute segment on its Sunday Morning TV program, entitled, oddly, “Keeping Broadway’s Lights On” — an allusion to the ghost light that remains shining in an empty theater.
Excerpts:
Andre De Shields is asked whether he remembers what he sang for his audition for The Wiz. “Of course I do” — and then he sings it!
Coming up on #SundayMorning@MoRocca talks with @hadestown star @Andre_DeShields about keeping the lights burning on Broadway during the COVID shutdown and the Great White Way then and now https://t.co/6LW593ueFv pic.twitter.com/9DIBPcDTxo
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) June 6, 2020
Bernadette Peters is asked why people need live theater. She says it’s the energy.
Tomorrow on #SundayMorning
COVID-19 has shuttered stages on the Great White Way, but there are some traditions in Broadway theaters that can’t be totally turned off@MoRocca chats with @OfficialBPeters about coping with the shutdown https://t.co/saHJfMmVyC pic.twitter.com/Ls1G9geb8w
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) June 6, 2020
Seth Rudetsky (co-host of Stars in the House) suggests that shows on “this medium” — meaning online — will get more elaborate while theater artists try to figure out how to pay their rent.
This #SundayMorning@SethRudetsky talks with @MoRocca about how the theater world is coping with the shutdown, and when shows may be expected to reopen https://t.co/MnFOqY3584 pic.twitter.com/RWMXaX0Yua
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) June 6, 2020
