TDF Stages

With in-person theatre out of commission for the foreseeable future, many companies and performers from Broadway and beyond are showcasing their work online. Below are performances you can watch today, Tuesday, August 25, from the comfort of your couch for free or at low cost.

The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues: Immigrant Detention Stories
At 6 p.m. ET, catch the latest installment of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, a six-hour series of solos about how we're living today. Every 15 minutes from 6 p.m. until midnight, actors perform tailor-made monologues, all penned and filmed within the last 24 hours. For this week's edition, writers interviewed immigrants in detention and turned their stories into powerful of-the-moment pieces. The participating playwrights are Matt Barbot, Juliette Carrillo, Donna Clovis, Michael John Garcés, Dylan Guerra, Tony Meneses, Julián Mesri, Elaine Romero, Jesse J. Sanchez, Tamara Sevunts and Caridad Svich, and the performers include Sean Carvajal, Brandon Espinoza, Danny Hoch, Joél Pérez, Raviv Ullman and Ana Villafañe. Watch on The 24 Hour Plays' Instagram though donations to New Sanctuary Coalition are encouraged.

Broadway Buskers
At 7 p.m. ET, since 2018, the Times Square Alliance has been presenting Broadway Buskers, a summer concert series showcasing the songwriting talents of NYC theatre folk. This year the show goes online with live-streamed sets on Tuesday nights through October 27. This evening enjoy numbers by Joel Waggoner (School of Rock), Jen Sánchez (On Your Feet!) and Jaime Jarrett (Wonder Boy). Watch for free on the Times Square Alliance website though donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition are encouraged.

The Tank: With Dignity
At 7 p.m. ET, indie theatre incubator The Tank presents With Dignity as part of its annual LimeFest, which showcases work by women, nonbinary and gender nonconforming creators. Written by Victoria M. Fragnito, the drama focuses on a woman with a fatal illness, breaking the news to her tight-knit Italian-Catholic family that she wants a say in how she goes. Tickets are $5.

The Metropolitan Opera: Il Trovatore
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera's Verdi week continues with its' 2015 mounting of Il Trovatore, starring Yonghoon Lee as Manrico, the passionate troubadour, Anna Netrebko as his lady love and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the evil Count di Luna who stands in the way of their happiness. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Rigoletto, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Bay Street Theater: The Letters of Noël Coward Starring Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason
At 8 p.m. ET, erstwhile Goodbye Girl costars Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason reunite for a virtual reading of The Letters of Noël Coward. Presented by Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theater, this dramatic reading of correspondence between Noël Coward, writer Graham Greene and actor Sir Alec Guinness was curated by director Bob Balaban. The trio met collaborating on the classic 1959 spy comedy Our Man in Havana and their witty and insightful stories are a joy to hear. Tickets are $30.

Beauty and the Beast Reunion on Stars in the House
At 8 p.m. ET, Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley invite you to be their guest as they welcome a trio of Belles and one Beast to Stars in the House. The original title stars of Disney's very first Broadway musical, Susan Egan and Terrence Mann, will be joined by a pair of Belle replacements: Kerry Butler and Andréa Burns. Expect stories, songs and service! Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.

Queens Theatre: New American Voices Summer 2020 Virtual Reading Series: Delivery
At 8 p.m. ET, Queens Theatre wraps up its New American Voices reading series with Delivery, Jelisa Jay Robinson's exuberant play about a trio of high school slam poets competing for a coveted scholarship while navigating life as young Black and brown folks. Reserve your ticket to receive the free viewing link.

Ain't (Y)Our History
At 8 p.m. ET, a pair of Seattle companies, BrownBox Theatre and Azeotrope, present a live reading of Ain't (Y)Our History, Rachel Atkins' meditation on race relations in the women's suffrage movement. Shermona Mitchell directs a piece that combines original protest songs, poems and prose. Watch for free on YouTube.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo and Jasmine Cephas Jones in Conversation
At 8:30 p.m. ET, you get to be in the Zoom where it happens when Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda chats with the original Schuyler sisters: Phillipa Soo, Jasmine Cephas Jones and Tony winner Renée Elise Goldsberry. A fundraiser for the Latino Victory Fund, the prerecorded conversation is moderated by veteran journalist Soledad O'Brien. Donate any amount in order to receive the viewing link.

Latino Theater Co.: Solitude
At 10 p.m. ET, Los Angeles' Latino Theater Co. presents a recording of Evelina Fernandez's Solitude about a wealthy lawyer who reconnects with his long-lost childhood friends at his mother's funeral. Inspired by Octavio Paz's collection of essays The Labyrinth of Solitude, the 2009 drama explores class, love, death and politics, and features an all-Latinx cast. Watch for free on the company's YouTube channel.

Available to Watch All Day

Barrington Stage Company: Judgment Day
On Saturday, Barrington Stage Company presented a star-studded reading of Judgment Day, and you can watch a recording until Wednesday. An over-the-top comedy by veteran TV writer/producer Rob Ulin, the show stars Jason Alexander as a shady lawyer, who's scared into trying to change by a domineering angel, played by an acerbic Patti LuPone. Santino Fontana costars as a priest in crisis, and the rest of the cast includes Loretta Devine, Elizabeth Stanley and Michael McKean. If this trailer is any indication, prepare for irreverent laughs. Donate $35 or more to receive the viewing link.

And So We Come Forth: The Apple Family: A Dinner on Zoom
It's your last chance to see And So We Come Forth, Tony-winning director and playwright Richard Nelson's latest of-the-moment drama centered on his fictional Apple Family. From 2010 to 2013, Nelson mounted one hyper-realistic play a year about this Rhinebeck, New York clan as they grappled with national milestones such as the 10th anniversary of September 11, the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama and the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. This past April, as the COVID-19 pandemic peaked in New York, the Apples reunited for What Do We Need to Talk About?, a Zoom call in quarantine. Once again, the four siblings and one boyfriend, played by the cast of the original tetralogy—Tony winner Maryann Plunkett, Sally Murphy, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders and Stephen Kunken—assuage their isolation via technology, as they discuss how they're faring. Watch for free until Wednesday on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.

Great Performances: Kevin Kline in Present Laughter
It's your last chance to catch Moritz von Stuelpnagel's effervescent 2017 mounting of Noël Coward's Present Laughter starring Kevin Kline, who earned his third Tony Award for portraying narcissistic actor Garry Essendine, plagued by midlife fears, an uncontrollable libido and obsessed fans. Kate Burton, Kristine Nielsen and Cobie Smulders costar. Watch for free until Friday on PBS' website.

---

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

Top image: Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas Jones in Hamilton. Photo by Joan Marcus.