TDF Stages

While in-person theatre is back in NYC, there are still wonderful shows to stream at home. Below are performances you can watch online this weekend, Friday, April 22 to Sunday, April 24, for free or at low cost.

Friday, April 22

John O'Hurley in Concert
On Friday at 11 p.m. ET, although John O'Hurley is best known for playing Elaine's eccentric boss J. Peterman on Seinfeld, he's also showed off his vocal skills on Broadway in Chicago and on tour in Spamalot, cut quite a figure on Dancing with the Stars and is an accomplished composer-pianist. Tonight, this multitalented entertainer is performing an intimate solo concert at Feinstein's at Vitello's in Los Angeles, but you can watch a live-stream at home. Tickets are $30.

Sunday, April 24

Live from Feinstein's/54 Below: Sondheim Unplugged
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, even though Feinstein's/54 Below has reopened for in-person performances, the swanky cabaret club continues to stream select shows live from its stage. Tonight, enjoy the latest installment of Sondheim Unplugged, cabaret impresario Phil Geoffrey Bond's stripped-down concert series celebrating the late songwriting legend. John Treacy Egan, Aaron Ramey, Brian Charles Rooney, Donna Vivino and Lucia Spina will croon Sondheim tunes accompanied solely by piano alongside special guests Sarah Rice (Sweeney Todd's original Johanna), Lorna Dallas (Side by Side by Sondheim 25th anniversary production in London), Ramona Mallory (Anne in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music) and Sally Mayes (Rose in Harbour Lights Theatre's Gypsy). Tickets are $25. If you prefer to attend in person, click here for info.

All Weekend

The New Victory Theater: Step Afrika!: Stono
NYC's premiere family theatre, The New Victory, was supposed to present an in-person production of Stono this month, but COVID had other ideas. The good news is you can stream this powerful dance performance. Originally conceived for digital consumption during the shutdown, the piece uses Step Afrika!'s signature blend of percussive, traditional African and contemporary dance to evoke the Stono slave rebellion of 1739 in South Carolina. Using their universally acclaimed dancing as well as live music, Step Afrika! digs into this undertaught history while reminding audiences that the fight for emancipation is never quiet. Tickets are $15 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, May 22.

Play-PerView: The Right to Be a Bad Person
Play-PerView presents a recording of The Right to Be a Bad Person, which was filmed live on stage in LA. Inspired by Chekhov's Platonov, Whit Hertford's play takes place at a surprise party where everyone's bored. Then the most awful person alive arrives. Sitcom vet John Ross Bowie (Speechless, The Big Bang Theory) headlines this dark comedy. Tickets are a suggested donation of $20.

Alvin Ailey: An Inside Look at Jamar Roberts' Holding Space
Last chance! Last November, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presented a peek at resident choreographer Jamar Roberts' new dance piece Holding Space at the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process series, and you can watch a recording this weekend. The program includes a conversation with Roberts and his dancers as well as excerpts from the piece. Watch for free until Sunday on Ailey's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

National Theatre at Home: Trouble in Mind
In 2020, London's lauded National Theatre launched its own streaming service featuring professional stage captures of its productions. While you can buy a subscription, shows are also available to rent individually for 72 hours. New to the roster is Trouble in Mind, which was staged last fall in London at the same time Childress' 1955 play was having its belated Broadway debut. A prescient examination of racism in the theatre industry, it centers on a Black actress starring in an anti-lynching drama on Broadway who challenges the show's white director. Talk about timely! Trouble in Mind tickets are $10. Captions are available. It's just one of many fantastic National Theatre shows you can stream, so be sure to browse the entire list.

Seattle Repertory Theatre: Ghosts
The lauded Seattle Rep is currently presenting an in-person production of Ibsen's Ghosts, but you can watch a recording at home. Filmed live on stage, this new translation of the classic stars Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as a widow who's spent her life protecting her son from her late husband's philandering. But when her son returns home with a new love in tow, long-held secrets begin to emerge. The cast also includes Oscar nominee David Strathairn. Tickets are $45 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, May 1. Closed captions and audio description are available.

All Arts: Queer Latine Voices at Teatro Pregones
All Arts presents the documentary Queer Latine Voices at Teatro Pregones, which chronicles the two-decade evolution of a program by the celebrated South Bronx theatre to spotlight queer Latinx artists. Watch for free. Closed captions and audio description are available.

The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park: Much Ado About Nothing
Last chance! Get pumped for the upcoming season of The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park with its 2020 mounting of Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon and featuring an all-Black cast led by the fabulous Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple, Orange Is the New Black) and Grantham Coleman, this is one of my favorite mountings of the Bard's romantic comedy, a production that is often hilarious but also highlights the ongoing battle for equality. Watch for free anytime until Thursday, April 28 on PBS' website.

Christine Lahti in Gloria: A Life
Last chance! PBS presents Gloria: A Life, Emily Mann's vibrant bio-play about feminist icon Gloria Steinem starring Christine Lahti. The show played for months Off Broadway and is engaging and informative, with insightful recreations of Steinem's seminal moments such as her 1963 undercover assignment at the Playboy Club, her co-founding of Ms. magazine in 1971 and the 1977 Houston Women's Conference. A multiracial, all-women ensemble embodies a variety of her peers. Watch for free until Thursday, April 28 on PBS' website.

Center Theatre Group: I'll Be Seein' Ya
Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group presents I'll Be Seein' Ya, a new play by two-time Pulitzer finalist Jon Robin Baitz (Other Desert Cities, The Substance of Fire) about what we've all just been through. A fragile woman named Allie (played by Oscar and Tony nominee Christine Lahti) retreats into a Hollywood-fueled fantasy world as the chaos of summer 2020 explodes outside her LA apartment. How can she face the future in a quickly evolving urban America? Filmed live on stage and directed by Robert Egan, this timely drama costars Justin Kirk as Allie's chatterbox brother. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, May 1.

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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.

Top image: Stono by Step Afrika! Photograph courtesy of Torrey Allen/Step Afrika!