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Theater Talk: Veanne Cox, star of stage and screen, talks about the COVID shutdowns and her response

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With a string of television credits as long as your arm, Emmy and Tony nominated Veanne Cox has played Calliope in Disney's live action Cinderella (and can still do the laugh-snort!) also has done PRIVATE LIVES at the Guthrie Theatre, and is working on a version of that play called ELYOT & AMANDA for Playhouse on Park which opens Wednesday, Feb. 10. Yes, Covid has turned everyone's world upside down, even major stars.

ELYOT AND AMANDA: ALL ALONE from Noël Coward's PRIVATE LIVES

Directed by Sean Harris

From Playhouse on Park: "Noël Coward's second act of PRIVATE LIVES speaks to us in a new way with Elyot and Amanda sequestered from the outside world, and finding a lot of time to fill up together. In this very funny and moving adaptation developed by stars Veanne Cox and Ezra Barnes (specifically for Playhouse on Park), these two lovers grapple with hope and fear, memory and desire, song and dance, and love and hate in equal measure.

"Valentine’s Day is always complicated. Add in some songs & a pandemic and you have the makings of a perfect Date Night."

"Disclaimer: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and rules set forth by Actors Equity, this play was filmed in the actors’ place of quarantine. No one else was present during the filming." Watch the trailer for the play at Playhouse on Park or here.

In this conversation, Veanne talks about her visit to Buffalo last March to see her friend Carolee Carmello star in HELLO, DOLLY! at Shea's. That closed down due to Covid before she got to the theater, but was able to catch one of the few performances of THE OUTSIDERS at Theatre of Youth as well as INDECENT at the Kavinoky Theatre before they shut down as well. She admired them very much.

A favorite role was as Calliope, one of the stepsisters in a live-action Disney version of https://vimeo.com/8121771","_id":"0000017a-347b-dad6-adfb-f6ffa8570000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/8121771">Cinderella. In the conversation, Veanne reprises the "laugh-snort" which her mother (as played by Bernadette Peters) has specifically warned her NOT TO DO! You can see clips https://vimeo.com/8121771","_id":"0000017a-347b-dad6-adfb-f6ffa8570000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/8121771">here.

And, on Playbill.com we read some EXCITING NEWS:  "The popular made-for-TV presentation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, starring Brandy Norwood and Whitney Houston, will (finally) begin streaming on Disney+ February 12, after years of clamoring from fans to get the film online. Initially aired November 2, 1997, as part of the Wonderful World of Disney lineup on ABC, the film features Brandy as Cinderella opposite Houston as the Fairy Godmother, with a number of theatre luminaries rounding out the cast. Bernadette Peters co-stars as the Stepmother with Veanne Cox and the late Natalie Desselle as Stepsisters Calliope and Minerva, respectively. Whoopi Goldberg plays Queen Constantina, with Victor Garber as King Maximillian, Paolo Montalbán as Prince Christopher, and Jason Alexander as the valet Lionel."

Listen for Theater Talk, Friday morning at 6:45 and 8:45 during Morning Edition.
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