Michael Urie Will Reprise BUYER & CELLAR Role for Livestream Benefit

Obie, Lortel, and Drama Desk Award- winner Michael Urie (Grand Horizons, Torch Song) will reprise his role in a livestreamed one-night-only performance of Buyer & Cellar to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund. The site-specific performance will broadcast live from the living room of his apartment on Sunday, April 19 at 8pm. Watch live on Youtube!

Written by Jonathan Tolins, this benefit performance of Buyer & Cellar is directed by Nic Cory (Pride Plays 2019) and is based on the original production directed by Stephen Brackett. The livestream will be directed by Paul Wontorek.

Donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund are helping those onstage, backstage and behind the scenes receive urgent medical care and financial assistance during the pandemic and work shutdown. With every passing day that theaters remain dark, entertainment professionals face unprecedented health and financial challenges requiring immediate attention and resources. Donations to the emergency fund can be made at broadwaycares.org/help2020.

In the basement of a house on her Malibu estate, Barbra Streisand created a private fantasy world to display her accumulated tchotchkes: a narrow cobblestoned "street" of boutiques, from an antique doll store and confectionery with its own taffy-making machine to a dress shop filled with favorite costumes from her films. In a one-man comedy, Urie plays Alex More, who is down on his luck after being recently fired from Disneyland. He lands a job curating the basement of Barbra Streisand.

Urie's performance in the 2013 one-man show Buyer & Cellar won him a Clarence Derwent Award, as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. The production was the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show. The New York Times called it "The Most Talked about comedy of the year!" while Entertainment Weekly said it's "Beyond Brilliant. This show will go down like Butta'!" Time Out New York declared it "A Must See Comedy." Buyer & Cellar was the Critics' Pick in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, and Entertainment Weekly.

Buyer & Cellar had its world premiere at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2013. It was originally directed by Stephen Brackett and featured choreography by Sam Pinkleton, set design by Andrew Boyce, costume design by Jessica Pabst, lighting design by Eric Southern, sound design by Stowe Nelson, and properties by Andrew Diaz. Hannah Woodward served as production stage manager. It was subsequently produced commercially Off-Broadway by Darren Bagert, Dan Shaheen, and Ted Snowdon, on a North American tour, in London and continues to be performed throughout the world.

Pride Plays is currently scheduled to return June 25 - 29, 2020. The producers are closely monitoring updates from the local government and will adhere to their guidance.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the social service programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative and the Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. Broadway Cares also awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance.

The event is produced by Broadway.com, in association with Pride Plays (Festival Producers Doug Nevin and Michael Urie, and Festival Director Nick Mayo).

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos