The YouTube channel The Shows Must Go On continues to air free, full-length recordings of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, with the 2001 filmed staging of By Jeeves available May 8 at 2 PM ET for 48 hours on YouTube.
By Jeeves features music by Lloyd Webber and a book and lyrics by Alan Ayckbourn. The wacky comedy is based on the characters by P. G. Wodehouse: Bertie Wooster and his butler, Jeeves. When Bertie's banjo goes missing before a concert, Jeeves encourages him to tell stories about his high-society friends instead.
READ: Revisit Playbill's 2001 Interview With By Jeeves Star John Scherer Before Streaming the Musical
Starring in this production, seen on Broadway in 2001, are John Scherer as Berite, Martin Jarvis as Jeeves, Donna Lynne Champlin as Honoria Glossop, Don Stephenson as Bingo Little, James Kall as Gussie Fink-Nottle, Heath Lamberts as Sir Watkyn Bassett, Becky Watson as Madeline Bassett, Emily Loesser as Stiffy Byng, Ian Knauer as Harold "Stinker" Pinker, and Steve Wilson as Cyrus Budge III Junior.
The musical follows the May 1–3 streaming of Andrew Lloyd Webber–The Royal Albert Hall Celebration, which raised money for The Actors Fund and other charities. Donations are encouraged to support industry professionals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Shows Must Go On has also already aired the 2011 Australian production of Love Never Dies; The Phantom of the Opera, starring Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring Donny Osmond; and the 2012 U.K. arena tour production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
The musical re-broadcasts are made possible through permission by Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group.
Robert Torti and company in the original Broadway production of Starlight Express.
