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 1 to Sunday, April 3, for free or at low cost.

Friday, April 1

Page 73: Man Cave
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, for the past quarter century, Page 73 has been dedicated to giving promising dramatists their NYC debuts. The company has an impressive track record—recent world premieres include Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop and Zora Howard's Pulitzer finalist Stew. Its current production, Man Cave, is playing at The Connelly Theater in the East Village, but the last two weeks of performances are also be live-streamed to at-home audiences. This ambitious, politically charged horror story by John J. Caswell centers on four struggling Mexican-American women who hole up in the fancy basement of a racist Arizona congressman, hoping to call on angry spirits to avenge their brutal circumstances. Taylor Reynolds directs this chilling exploration of the plight of the historically disenfranchised. Tickets start at $20. Closed captions are available.

PBS Great Performances: Fire Shut Up In My Bones
On Friday at 9 p.m. ET, when The Metropolitan Opera reopened in fall 2011 after more than 18 months of darkness, the institution did something that was long overdue: present an opera by a Black composer for the first time in its history. Grammy-winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard's adaptation of Charles M. Blow's memoir Fire Shut Up In My Bones was a smash with audiences and critics alike. Now you can watch a recording of that landmark production on PBS. Featuring a libretto by filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, the opera chronicles a young Black man's journey to overcome a life of trauma, racism and challenges. Watch for free on TV on PBS Thirteen. Note: This program will not be available to stream online though it will air on other dates.

Live from Feinstein's/54 Below: New Musical: Hide and Seek
On Friday at 9:45 p.m. ET, even though Feinstein's/54 Below has reopened for in-person performances, the swanky cabaret club continues to stream select events live from its stage. Tonight, catch a concert performance of Danny Feldman's autobiographical musical Hide and Seek, about a high schooler coming to terms with his sexual orientation. Feldman, who also stars, penned this poignant piece at age 16! The cast also features Broadway vets JJ Niemann, Wonu Ogunfowora and Mia Pinero. Tickets are $25. If you prefer to attend in person, click here for info.

Saturday, April 2

Page 73: Man Cave
On Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. ET, for the past quarter century, Page 73 has been dedicated to giving promising dramatists their NYC debuts. The company has an impressive track record—recent world premieres include Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop and Zora Howard's Pulitzer finalist Stew. Its current production, Man Cave, is playing at The Connelly Theater in the East Village, but the last two weeks of performances are also be live-streamed to at-home audiences. This ambitious, politically charged horror story by John J. Caswell centers on four struggling Mexican-American women who hole up in the fancy basement of a racist Arizona congressman, hoping to call on angry spirits to avenge their brutal circumstances. Taylor Reynolds directs this chilling exploration of the plight of the historically disenfranchised. Tickets start at $20. Closed captions are available.

Sunday, April 3

The Seth Concert Series: Bonnie Milligan
On Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, even though show-tune savant Seth Rudetsky is back doing shows in person, he hasn't completely abandoned the virtual realm. In fact, he's relaunched his weekly live-streamed concert series! Tonight his guest is Bonnie Milligan. Blessed with powerhouse pipes and uncanny comic timing, Milligan won a Theatre World Award for her hilarious Broadway debut in Head Over Heels and went on to give scene-stealing performances in Encores! Off-Center's revival of Promenade and Atlantic Theater Company's Kimberly Akimbo. This star can literally sing anything, so expect the set list to be electric and eclectic. Tickets are $25.

CBS: The Grammys
Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, normally, we wouldn't recommend this annual awards show, however, this year's Sondheim tribute during the in memoriam segment is not to be missed. West Side Story's Rachel Zegler alongside Tony winners Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Ben Platt will celebrate the late master. If you don't want to watch the whole ceremony, this section should be available on CBS' YouTube channel by Monday.

All Weekend

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) recedes into a Hollywood-fueled fantasy world as the chaos of summer 2020 explodes outside her L.A. 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.

Out of the Box Theatrics: The Last Five Years
On Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, Out of the Box Theatrics' digital reimagining of The Last Five Years was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike in 2021. Now this unique production, which was filmed inside a New York City apartment, is being restreamed for two weeks. Jason Robert Brown's musical dissection of a romance is the ultimate he sang, she sang, with the man telling his side of their love story chronologically while the woman recalls their relationship in reverse. Nasia Thomas and Nicholas Edwards star as the ill-fated couple, and celebrated musical director Jason Michael Webb helmed the production. Tickets start at $29.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Robert Battle's For Four
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents For Four, an exuberant quartet choreographed by the troupe's artistic director Robert Battle set to Wynton Marsalis' glorious jazz score. Originally created as the opening video segment for Ailey's 2021 virtual gala, the piece taps into the pent-up energy of a world on pandemic pause. Watch for free until Sunday, April 10 on Ailey's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

New Victory Theater: Jabari Dreams of Freedom
NYC's premiere family theatre, the New Victory, is presenting an in-person production of Jabari Dreams of Freedom, but you can also watch a recording at home. Nambi E. Kelley's play centers on Jabari, a modern-day Black teen who connects with Civil Rights greats such as Ruby Bridges and Claudette Colvin in his dreams. Rap, freedom songs, hip-hop dance and humor are threaded into this powerful piece. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, April 17.

The Builders Association: I Agree to the Terms
Last chance! On Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 5 p.m. ET, NYU Skirball Center presents I Agree to the Terms, a created-for-Zoom show by the Obie-winning collective The Builders Association. Log in to vie for a job as an Amazon "microworker," the employees who train the algorithms that shape our online experience. These workers earn from $1 to $100 a day in a vast, unregulated industry that is often boring and sometimes disturbing. Connect with real-life microworkers as you train alongside this invisible online labor force. Tickets are $15.

Birmingham Rep: The Play What I Wrote
Last chance! Marvel baddie and Tony nominee Tom Hiddleston is the special guest star in Birmingham Rep's laugh-out-loud mounting of The Play What I Wrote about two performing pals who have different ideas about what belongs on stage. Thom has written an epic set in the French Revolution called A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple. Dennis thinks they should do a tribute to a beloved British comedy duo. But first, Dennis needs to persuade someone famous to appear in Thom's play. Guess who's the lucky target? Dennis Herdman, Thom Tuck and Mitesh Soni round out the cast of this production, which was recorded last December. Tickets start at £10, approximately $13, and the recording is available until Sunday. Captions and audio description are available.

The Cherry Arts: The Wetsuitman
Last chance! On Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET, Ithaca, NY's innovative The Cherry Arts is currently presenting The Wetsuitman in person, but it's also being streamed to at-home audiences. A modern-day mystery about a Norwegian architect who discovers a wetsuit on a beach with a human bone protruding from the leg hole, this genre-defying play is a mystery-turned-meditation on identity and migration. Tickets are $20.

Bard at the Gate: Passing
During the shutdown, Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Paula Vogel launched Bard at the Gate, a play reading series showcasing timely, under-the-radar scripts. The initiative is now being presented by New Jersey's lauded McCarter Theatre Center and its latest offering is Dipika Guha's Passing, about an indigenous child kidnapped by British parents who grows up to be a visual artist reckoning with a brutal history. Nicole A. Watson directs a cast that includes K.K. Moggie, Max Gordon Moore and Kelley Curran. Tickets are $12.

Court Theatre: The Lady From the Sea
Court Theatre, the professional company of the University of Chicago, presents Richard Nelson's new translation of Ibsen's The Lady From the Sea, about a lighthouse keeper's daughter torn between her landlocked marriage and the sailor she once loved. Lauded director Shana Cooper helms the production, which was filmed live on stage. Tickets start at $15 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, April 10.

The Huntington: The Bluest Eye
Boston's The Huntington recently presented an in-person theatricalization of Toni Morrison's celebrated debut novel The Bluest Eye, and you can stream a recording of the production online. Adapted for the stage by award-winning dramatist Lydia Diamond, the play centers on Pecola, a young Black girl who believes the world would be wonderful if she could have blue eyes. Awoye Timpo directs. Tickets start at $20 and the recording is viewable until Saturday, April 9.

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

Top image: Justin Kirk and Christine Lahti in I'll Be Seein' Ya on Center Theatre Group's Digital Stage. Photo by: Craig Schwartz Photography.