“You Can’t Stop the Beat” from “Hairspray,” an Actors Fund fundraiser

Monday, March 8, 2021
Truth be told, I was sobbing by the end of this brilliant video. It’s the road I didn’t take into performing, and this is the first time I’ve seen a really fresh approach in the medium, where the originality and artistry of this made-for-the-internet production took my breath away. The fundraiser was very successful. From the comments: “If there’s a good thing about quarantining and the pandemic, it is that there is this generosity of spirit” — indeed, across the board, with hordes of artists from versions of Hairspray saying yes. At the start of this performance and in the wind-up, in big windows, is Ricki Lake, who I remember being so brilliant in the original Hairspray movie and who early on became the good pal she still is with my twin daughters. I still have a memory of Ricki at my house and being excited about her getting a talk show! How can that be so long ago when it really does seem like yesterday? To read more about the Actors Fund click here.