Rosie O’Donnell Returns, with Guests in the Basement and the Bathtub – The New York Times

A lot happened during the just-this-once edition of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” that streamed live Sunday night — that would be expected with an event lasting three and a half hours. But it will be hard to top Adrienne Warren, the star of “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” singing “Simply the Best” in a bathtub, clad in a bathing suit worthy of a 1970s Bond girl. At the end of the song, she whipped out a tiny toy saxophone.

What made this surreal scene even more memorable was that by then a beaming Warren had already attempted the song twice, each time foiled by her audio feed. As a running gag, it was sheer perfection, and the obvious accidental nature just made it more endearing.

This was not the only time technical difficulties hampered the online “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” in which the participants — the vast majority of them from the Broadway or Broadway-adjacent community — called in from their homes. But these glitches only added to the D.I.Y. charm of the evening, a benefit for the Actors Fund (an organization that supports a wide range of professionals in film, theater, television, music, opera, radio and dance). It felt like a hybrid talk show, Jerry Lewis telethon and the entertainment the United Service Organizations provided during World War II. (Erich Bergen came up with the idea and handled some on-air, so to speak, troubleshooting; Paul Wontorek, of Broadway.com, directed.)

Hosting “from the comfort of my garage-slash-art studio” and wearing a “Hamilton” hoodie, O’Donnell eased back into the role she held on daytime from 1996 to 2002, years during which she established herself as one of Broadway’s most devoted superfans. The community repaid the affection by turning up in droves for the virtual shindig, most of them live and some on video message. The star-studded lineup — first names are not necessary with the likes of Chenoweth, Benanti, LuPone, Menzel, McDonald, Fierstein, Salonga — included performers who, in normal times, could rarely be free on the same evening. This sudden availability was a bittersweet reminder that these are not normal times.

Following the tried-and-true talk-show formula, O’Donnell asked guests about their childhood dreams, parenting tips and current hobbies, in split-screened segments. Essentially, she did what most of us are doing right now: She checked in on friends remotely.

Everybody was generally cheerful — including Gavin Creel, who said he was “pretty sure” he had the coronavirus — though a dark undertone was unmistakable. These were people who are aware that while they are in comparatively fortunate positions, some from spacious country or suburban homes, they also represent only one edge of a bigger and more endangered performing-arts ecosystem.

So we learned that Lin-Manuel Miranda has been bingeing the Netflix docu-series “Cheer” and that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick watch “Columbo” and cook. (And that she hasn’t seen the “Sopranos” finale — shhhh.) Chita Rivera wasn’t hearing it when O’Donnell asked about “that big Italian family of yours.” (Rivera has Puerto Rican roots; it’s her daughter who is more connected to her Italian relatives.)

We also got glimpses of the stars’ kitchens, living-room couches or bathrooms. Patti LuPone’s basement got such a reaction on social media that she tweeted a video tour as “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” was still going on.

And of course there was a lot of singing.

It all sounded right despite the subpar laptop or phone mics and iffy acoustics, because at this point merely hearing a live song feels right. If I had to pick a favorite performance, it would be Kelli O’Hara’s. She, too, experienced audio problems. Then she made a last-second switch from “Smile” (which two previous guests had already done) to “Take Me to the World” by Stephen Sondheim, whose 90th birthday was Sunday.

“Take me to the world,” O’Hara sang to a shut-in nation, “with all around things growing in the ground, where birds that make a sound are birds, we shall see the world come true.”

In the meantime, the event has raised over $600,000, including $100,000 donated by O’Donnell herself. And the total continues to grow. The show will go on.