Review: Rosie O'Donnell Helps the Show Go On for One Night Only

When all this is over, one of the enduring cultural moments of the coronavirus pandemic will be the memories of the music. Across the world, people have been turning to music for comfort and community. Clips have gone viral of Italians holding nightly singalongs from their balconies and Spaniards jamming out together from a distance. And here in America, the performing arts community has been coming together to produce all sorts of remote content. The most high-profile of these to date is the one-off "revival" of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, which streamed live on Sunday, Mar. 22. It was a testament to the power of community (and the humor of technical problems).

Unlike some of the other celebrity "viral" videos, this event had a concrete goal in mind: raising money to support the Actor's Fund - which it did, to the tune of over $600,000. That shared goal lent the night a deeper sense of community, inviting audiences in and reminding us all of how very human the arts must be. The show, which was the brainchild of Erich Bergen, along with O'Donnell and Paul Wontorek, was charmingly low-key and yet a joyful celebration of what makes the theatre community so special. Most Broadway stars aren't wealthy elites waiting out the shutdown in luxury; their living room broadcasts instead seemed to close the gap between them and their viewers, making all of us just theatre kids geeking out on our couches together and offering each other comfort and a little joy through what we all know best: humor, anecdotes, and music.

There was a light goofiness to the evening as well, in large part due to the fact that the digital conferencing part of the broadcast had some inevitable hiccups, lapses, and more. Adrienne Warren had to try three times to get her feed to work, but it was more than worth it for the ridiculous and wonderful delight of finally getting to see her belting out "Simply the Best" from her bathtub, with a toy saxophone as a giggle-inducing prop. Bernadette Peters, meanwhile, gave us a perfectly GIF-worthy moment with a face mask moment that had to be seen to be believed. Self-care, y'all.

One of the best aspects of the whole thing was that it genuinely felt like everyone was participating because they wanted to and because they felt like part of the community. Lin-Manuel Miranda admitted to squeezing in his appearance in between parts of his family's nighttime routine; Idina Menzel expounded on the merits of lasagna; Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick revealed their quarantine binge-watch choices (Columbo, if you're curious); Kristin Chenoweth introduced us all to her boyfriend and adorable dog before singing the throwback "Taylor the Latte Boy." We're all going through this together, it seemed to say, and it was infinitely more effective than any sort of cheerleading from famous people.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Broadway event without the music, and there was plenty of it. Shoshana Bean belted out a stunning "Don't Rain on My Parade." We got not one, but two separate renditions of "Smile": one from Patti LuPone, one from Audra McDonald (accompanied by husband Will Swenson on guitar). A third, from Kelli O'Hara, was on the agenda, but she switched to Stephen Sondheim's "Take Me to the World" at the last minute. And speaking of Mr. Sondheim, he was part of the proceedings too. On his 90th birthday - and what would have been the opening night for the revival of Company - Sondheim appeared to sing "Happy Birthday" to fellow legend Andrew Lloyd Webber, who then returned the favor. Company's signature song, "Being Alive," made an appearance too, as Darren Criss sang it for the audience at home.

It's a scary time to be in the theatre community. With so much uncertainty around when public gatherings - and, by extension, theatre performances - can resume, we're all on edge. If there's one thing this show proved, though, it's the resilience and support of the community. We're in this together: all of us, from Tony-winning icons to audiences at home, and if nothing else, it's proof that when the curtain rises again, we'll be ready.

Click here to watch the full broadcast!

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