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, June 30, from the comfort of your couch for free (or at very low cost).

OSL: Bach at Home 2020
At noon ET, every summer, the Orchestra of St. Luke's presents a month-long series of Bach concerts. This year the group brings the fest online with recordings of orchestral, chamber and solo performances being released every Tuesday through July 14. Today's lineup includes Pierre Hantaï playing select Goldberg Variations on harpsichord, the Paul Taylor Dance Company performing Junction to Bach cello suites and soprano Amanda Forsythe singing various Bach works. Watch for free on OSL's website.

San Francisco Ballet: 2020 Opening Night Spellbound Gala
At 1 p.m. ET, as a thank-you to its fans, San Francisco Ballet shares a recording of its January gala featuring a dozen pieces that were meant to have runs this truncated season. Highlights include world-premiere performances of Val Caniparoli's Foreshadow and Myles Thatcher's 05:49, the pas de deux from David Dawson's Swan Lake and the troupe's premiere of Danielle Rowe's For Pixie. During the "intermission," there will also be a brand-new remotely recorded work by the company's choreographer in residence, Yuri Possokhov, created for principal dancer Yuan Yuan Tan and inspired by her mother. Watch the program for free until Monday, July 6 on San Francisco Ballet's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

The Sol Project: Jenna & The Whale
At 5:30 p.m. ET, The Sol Project, which showcases Latinx storytellers, partners with North Star Projects for a benefit reading of Vanessa Garcia and Jake Cline's Jenna & The Whale, a fantastical allegory about a woman trapped inside an aquatic beast who refuses to accept her presumed fate. Tickets are $8.

The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues
At 6 p.m. ET, catch a special Pride Month edition 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 will perform tailor-made monologues by LGBTQ dramatists, all penned and filmed within the last 24 hours. A dozen playwrights—Preston Max Allen, Omar Hantash, Rodney Hicks, Audrey Lang, Carmen LoBue, Ted Malawer, Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, Hayley St. James, Lovell Holder and Roger Q Mason—created monologues for Philippe Bowgen, Yin Chang, Travis Coles, Lea DeLaria, Drew Droege, Scott Evans, Lola Kelly, Jordan Kisner, L Morgan Lee, Larry Owens, Josh Rivas and Ianne Fields Stewart. Watch for free on The 24 Hour Plays' Instagram though donations are encouraged.

Repertorio Español: Abejas y miel
At 6 p.m. ET, venerable Latinx theatre company Repertorio Español presents a live reading of Eva Luna, Obie winner Caridad Svich's adaptation of Isabel Allende's epic novel exploring the life of the title character against the backdrop of the political turmoil in her unnamed homeland. This performance will be presented in Spanish, and you can watch for free on Repertorio Español's YouTube channel.

Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY: 8:46
At 7 p.m. ET, the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY partners with other Albany-area companies to present 8:46, seven playlets responding to the murder of George Floyd, police brutality and systemic racism. Participating theatres include Capital Repertory Theatre, Creative Action Unlimited, Illuminate Theatre, Troy Foundry Theatre and Playhouse Stage Co., and each short lasts precisely 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time Floyd gasped in vain for air under his killer's knee. Watch for free on the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY's Facebook page though donations are encouraged.

Ballet Hispánico: Noche Unidos
At 7:30 p.m. ET, Ballet Hispánico, an invaluable NYC-based dance company specializing in work by Latinx choreographers, marks its 50th anniversary with an online celebration. The evening features ten remotely recorded world-premiere performances created by renowned choreographers such as Michelle Manzanales, Andrea Miller, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Pedro Ruiz and Ballet Hispánico artisic director Eduardo Vilaro, plus appearances by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gloria Estefan, Rita Moreno and Arturo O'Farrill. Watch for free on Ballet Hispánico's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

The Metropolitan Opera: Die Walküre
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares Die Walküre, the second opera in Wagner's "Ring" cycle, with Brünnhilde defying her god father Wotan. Hildegard Behrens, Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, Gary Lakes, James Morris and Kurt Moll star in this 1989 Otto Schenk/Günther Schneider-Siemssen production, which is conducted by James Levine. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, La Fille du Régiment, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Musical Theatre Factory: Diana Oh in Concert
At 8 p.m. ET, Musical Theatre Factory, which incubates work by underrepresented artists, shares a 2018 Joe's Pub concert by genre-defying playwright-performer-songwriter-truth-teller Diana Oh featuring material from 24 Hour Punk, cowritten with Matt Park, and Clairvoyance. Watch for free on Musical Theatre Factory's YouTube Channel though donations are encouraged.

Available to Watch All Day

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
It's the last day to watch The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, writer-performer James Lecesne's one-man play about how the disappearance of a gay teenager impacts a small New Jersey town. Lecesne, who earned an Oscar for his short film Trevor, portrays all the characters in this award winner, which was a hit Off Broadway. Watch for free until tonight on the 92nd Street Y's website though donations are encouraged.

Pride Plays: Masculinity Max
It's the last day to watch a reading of MJ Kaufman's Masculinity Max, about a recently transitioned trans man flirting with toxic masculinity and male privilege. Will Davis directs a cast that includes Ty Defoe, David Greenspan, Judy Gold, Aneesh Sheth, Kelli Simpkins and Vishal Vaidya. Watch for free until 7 p.m. ET on YouTube though donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS are encouraged.

Christine Lahti in Gloria: A Life
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 as engaging as it is 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-female ensemble embodies a variety of her peers. Watch for free until Friday, July 24 on PBS' website.

National Theatre: A Midsummer Night's Dream
London's National Theatre presents the Bridge Theatre's lauded 2019 mounting of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Bard's beloved romantic comedy about sparring fairies messing with lovesick humans in a magical forest. Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie pulls double duty as Titania and Hippolyta, with hilarious support from UK stage vets Oliver Chris, David Moorst and Hammed Animashaun. Watch for free until Thursday at 2 p.m. ET on the National Theatre's YouTube channel.

Stratford Festival: The Adventures of Pericles
Ontario's venerable Stratford Festival continues its Shakespeare on Film series with The Adventures of Pericles, a rechristening of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, written at least in part by the Bard. Rarely staged, the play follows the dramatic journey of the title character, who gains, loses and then unexpectedly reunites with his family. Watch for free until Thursday, July 16 on the fest's YouTube channel.

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

Top image: San Francisco Ballet's Yuan Yuan Tan and Vitor Luiz in pas de deux from Possokhov's Bells. Photo by Erik Tomasson.