Broadway Stars To Headline Bay Street's Virtual Gala

By this point of the summer, Scooter Pietsch should be basking in what was a glorious month spent living and working on the East End.

He should be fantasizing about the future of his newest comedy, “Windfall,” after it made its world premiere at Bay Street Theater, followed by a nearly three-week run on the storied Sag Harbor stage.

But he isn’t, and “Windfall” didn’t. And as disappointing as this is for the playwright, they are not his primary concerns.

“I think what’s really important for people to realize is the fact that this is the biggest catastrophe to hit the theater in anybody’s lifetime, this whole pandemic,” he said during a telephone interview from his home in California, referring to the COVID-19 crisis that has effectively shut down theatrical productions indefinitely, including at Bay Street.

“We all love to go to Broadway, we all love to go to the West End and see these big, big shows. These shows don’t get there unless regional theaters do them, and allow the creative team and the producers to figure out what makes the show great — and make it great before it moves on,” he continued. “This is that time where pretty much every regional theater has lost its season, and they have no money. This is the most important time for anybody who enjoys theater to give something, to help a little bit.”

While the in-person summer benefit season — which many local institutions rely upon to keep them afloat year-round — is temporarily obsolete, a new virtual wave of galas and fundraisers has taken its place, with Bay Street’s iteration rapidly approaching on Wednesday, July 22, at 8 p.m., hosted by actor Richard Kind, according to Executive Director Tracy Mitchell.

“Oh my god, we are all so excited. It’s given us such drive,” she said. “We’re just giddy with being able to work on a creative project that we know is gonna be so much fun and fabulous, and it’ll be a fun show. That’s the biggest thing, that we’re creating a really fun hour of entertainment with some of the biggest names in Broadway.”

With a script written by Mr. Pietsch, the 29th annual summer gala, “A Starry Night,” will celebrate Broadway musicals of the 1970s and pay comedic homage to the celebrity telethon specials popular at the time, featuring performances by luminary figures of the performing arts and even some unexpected guest appearances from beyond the grave.

“I know for a fact we have some superstar guests that are calling in. I’ve heard that Frank Sinatra is calling in,” Mr. Pietsch deadpanned. “Yeah, that level of talent is coming out for Bay Street. I’ve heard Ethel Merman is gonna call in, too. So there’s some crazy stuff happening in the show. And, by the way, we haven’t even gotten to all the terrific people that are performing.”

Under the musical direction of Andy Einhorn, special guests — including Raul Esparza, Ben Vereen, Betty Buckley, Melissa Errico, André De Shields, Josh Young, Hunter Parrish and more — will perform numbers from some of Broadway’s biggest musicals of the 1970s, including “A Chorus Line,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita,” “Godspell,” “Pippin,” “Sweeney Todd,” “The Wiz” and more.

“I hope it’s a moment of joy and a moment to celebrate live theater,” said artistic director Scott Schwartz, “to celebrate who Bay Street is and what we do, and what we will be continuing to do for many, many years into the future. The whole thing is gonna be entertaining. That’s the idea, we want it to be really fun and fast moving, and wild and zany, and then have these amazing performances.”

While it is free to tune into the show, donations from the evening will support Bay Street’s educational and theatrical programs, and 10 percent of all proceeds will benefit the JBJ Soul Kitchen Food Bank in Wainscott, which has provided meals for thousands of food-insecure families across Long Island since it launched on May 11.

“For me, this gala means being actually able to also help our neighbors directly, in terms of the food bank,” Ms. Mitchell said. “For everybody, and certainly the arts, which are gonna have an extended pause, if you will, this is a real moment when we can share a bit of joy — and what this music and theater and talent really brings to us all. If it can only be virtually, then let it be virtually.”

That is the mentality adopted by Mr. Pietsch, who readily accepted the invitation to write the gala script, despite having rarely taken on a task like this.

“If I hadn’t married my wife, I would know very little about musicals, even though I’ve written a musical,” he said. “I started out playing in rock and roll bands, I didn’t grow up doing theater. Then I transitioned into writing music for movies and TV shows, and then became a playwright even after that.

“Although I’ve seen hundreds of plays performed, I don’t have an extensive theater background,” he continued. “So, of course, you know the hits from any of the shows from the ’70s, from ‘Chicago,’ ‘Grease,’ ‘Company,’ ‘Evita,’ you know a lot of the big songs from there. But I don’t know those shows inside and out, so I had to go back and listen to a lot of these shows and see what could I write about.”

He dove headfirst into the research, not only by immersing himself in the musicals themselves, but also by reviewing archival footage of Mr. Kind — to get a sense of his cadence — and learning more about the individual performers. He came away with an even greater appreciation for what he now calls the “second Golden Era of Broadway.”

“I mean, you can’t imagine Broadway now, or any regional theater, or the West End in London, without your shows like ‘Chicago’ or ‘Evita’ or ‘Godspell’ or ‘Pippin’ or ‘Sweeney Todd,’ or ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’” he said. “Those shows are such, hell, half of them are still running on Broadway or the West End. It’s really hard to imagine modern musical theater without those shows — even to a certain extent, more so than the Golden Age of the 1950s, in a way.”

But even all of those shows got their start somewhere, pointed out Mr. Pietsch, whose own play, “Windfall,” is rescheduled to premiere next summer. Without regional theaters, the show literally cannot go on — which is why, this year, Bay Street Theater’s benefit gala is more important than ever, he said, “aside from the fact that I’m writing the script.”

“I think that’s one of my biggest fears as a writer and an originator of projects is, what if a certain percentage of regional theaters don’t come back? How does that affect later on?” he said. “All of our shows start someplace else, very few just go straight to Broadway. It happens very rarely. So we need places like Bay Street to get the ball rolling and start the word of mouth.”