Quarantine just keeps getting more fantastical. I mean, who would have thought we’d get Donna, one of her Dynamos and a Tony Award-winning Ruth Younger all drinking together?
Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald all hopped into the virtual party — in their bathrobes, of course — to celebrate musical theater king, Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday. As for their drinks of choice (the most important part of any party), Streep was sipping on a martini, Baranski had a classic glass of red wine and McDonald went all in and drank straight from the bottle. We also may have witnessed the most iconic moment in modern history when Streep looked as if she was going to pour herself some scotch, but took a swig straight from the bottle instead. Queen.
The trio sang “The Ladies Who Lunch” from Sondheim’s musical Company, which is turning 50 this year. Not only was it truly amazing, but it also made me want nothing more than a zoom call of these three hanging out and eating lunch (or even brunch, because mimosas) together.
They also sang the line “I’ll drink to that” in honor of Sondheim, who’s best known for Broadway musicals like Sweeney Todd, Follies and Into the Woods, and for writing the lyrics to West Side Story. As expected, Twitter had a lot to say about all of this.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Donna Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth, Mandy Patinkin, Sutton Foster, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kelli O’Hara, Aaron Tveit, Stephen Schwartz and more were also a part of the two and a half hour stream. Proceeds will benefit Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kill some quaran-time and watch the full Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration stream here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A92wZIvEUAw&feature=emb_title