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With in-person theatre still a rarity, many companies and performers from Broadway and beyond are showcasing their work online. Below are performances you can watch this weekend, Friday, July 23 to Sunday, July 25, for free or at low cost.
Friday, July 23
PTP/NYC: Standing on the Edge of Time
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, PTP/NYC continues its digital season with Standing on the Edge of Time, a compilation of shorts by multiple celebrated writers, including David Auburn, Caryl Churchill, Tony Kushner and Mac Wellman that help us reflect on the madness of our age. The company's co-artistic director, Cheryl Faraone, helms this 90-minute program. Register to receive the free viewing link though donations are encouraged. The recording is viewable until Tuesday.
The Metropolitan Opera: La Fille du Régiment
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, after 71 weeks (!!!), the Metropolitan Opera wraps up its free nightly screenings with favorites picked by fans. Tonight, catch La Fille du Régiment, Donizetti's beloved romantic comedy about an orphan girl raised by a regiment of French soldiers who ends up falling for a rebel. This 2008 production stars Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez as the quirky couple, alongside Felicity Palmer, Alessandro Corbelli and late stage icon Marian Seldes in a cameo. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
The Actors Gang: We Live On: Part II
On Friday at 10 p.m. ET, LA's innovative theatre company The Actors' Gang, led by Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins, presents We Live On, a three-part performance inspired by Studs Terkel's epic Hard Times, in which Americans from all walks of life shared what it was like surviving the Great Depression. In April 2020, Robbins and his company started working on a virtual adaptation of this nonfiction classic, dramatizing 30 different stories, some from the original book, others from the family history of cast members. Part II premieres tonight and tickets are pay-what-you-wish. Parts I and III are viewable at different times this weekend.
Saturday, July 24
The Metropolitan Opera: Il Trovatore
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, after 71 weeks (!!!), the Metropolitan Opera wraps up its free nightly screenings with favorites picked by fans. Tonight, catch Verdi's 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. Sir David McVicar staged this 2015 mounting. 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.
The Actors Gang: We Live On: Parts I, II and III
On Saturday at 8 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET, LA's innovative theatre company The Actors' Gang, led by Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins, presents We Live On, a three-part performance inspired by Studs Terkel's epic Hard Times, in which Americans from all walks of life shared what it was like surviving the Great Depression. In April 2020, Robbins and his company started working on a virtual adaptation of this nonfiction classic, dramatizing 30 different stories, some from the original book, others from the family history of cast members. You can watch Parts I, II and III consecutively tonight with all installments performed live online. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish.
Sunday, July 25
The Actors Gang: We Live On: Parts I, II and III
On Sunday at noon, 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. ET, LA's innovative theatre company The Actors' Gang, led by Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins, presents We Live On, a three-part performance inspired by Studs Terkel's epic Hard Times, in which Americans from all walks of life shared what it was like surviving the Great Depression. In April 2020, Robbins and his company started working on a virtual adaptation of this nonfiction classic, dramatizing 30 different stories, some from the original book, others from the family history of cast members. You can watch Parts I, II and III consecutively today. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish.
The Metropolitan Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, after 71 weeks (!!!), the Metropolitan Opera wraps up its free nightly screenings with favorites picked by fans. For the final offering, catch Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera , featuring Marcelo Álvarez as a ruler in love with his best friend's wife. Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe and Dmitri Hvorostovsky costar in David Alden's 2012 production, which is styled as a film noir. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Il Trovatore, until 6:30 ET today.
Derek Klena: Live at the Bourbon Room
On Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, Derek Klena, a newly minted Tony nominee for his powerful performance in Jagged Little Pill, is performing a one-night-only concert at Hollywood's Bourbon Room this weekend, and fans around the world can stream a recording of the show on Sunday. His Broadway credits include the romantic leads in Anastasia and Wicked as well as parts in Carrie and Dogfight Off Broadway. Expect songs from his career as well as personal favorites. Tickets are $20.
All Weekend
Lincoln Center Theater: The Wolves
Lincoln Center Theater shares a never-before-seen treat: a recording of The Wolves, Sarah DeLappe's Pulitzer finalist play about nine high school juniors on a soccer field, exchanging ideas, thoughts and confidences as they pass the ball back and forth. The chatter is incessant but insightful, offering a glimpse into the insular and messy world of American teenage girls as they candidly discuss everything from periods to politics. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, this Obie-winning production stars Lauren Patten, Sarah Mezzanotte, Susannah Perkins, Tedra Millan and other up-and-comers, and was filmed live on stage at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in 2017. The footage was originally intended to be used for promotional clips, but Lincoln Center Theater is releasing the full recording as part of its Private Reels: From the LCT Archives series. Register on Broadway on Demand to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Sunday, August 15.
Vineyard Theatre: Composers in Conversation: John Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda
Two musical theatre legends—composer John Kander and performer and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda—chat about their illustrious careers in the climactic installment of Vineyard Theatre's Gala Series. In addition to sharing insights about their creative processes, they'll reveal their favorite selections from each other's songbooks, with performances by Broadway vets Heidi Blickenstaff, Brandon Victor Dixon, Mandy Gonzalez, Bryonha Marie Parham and George Salazar. Don't throw away your shot to this cabaret! Tickets are pay-what-you-wish and the recording is viewable until Sunday.
First Date: The Virtual Broadway Musical
On Friday at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 8 p.m. ET, swipe right on American Idol alums Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young in the feel-good musical comedy First Date. The real-life spouses star as hate-at-first-sight singles who are destined to get together... they just need some outside encouragement. NYC stage regulars Nick Cearley, Kevin Massey, Jennifer Sánchez, Vishal Vaidya and Aurelia Williams round out the cast of this tuneful romance, Tickets are $20 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.
Signature Theatre Company: Preview of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Off Broadway's celebrated Signature Theatre Company was in the middle of a season honoring the work of Anna Deavere Smith when the pandemic hit. This fall, the company continues its focus on the groundbreaking playwright with a reimagined production of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, her searing, Tony-nominated examination of the LA uprising, which was precipitated by the acquittal of white police officers who had beaten a Black man named Rodney King almost to death. After interviewing more than 300 people both directly and tangentially connected to the unrest, Smith created a collage of disparate voices and perspectives. This week, you can enjoy a digital sneak peek at Signature's upcoming production, featuring actors Esther Chae, Wesley T. Jones, Karl Kenzler, Tiffany Rachelle Stewart and Carmen Zilles performing select monologues from the play in tandem with historical footage. Taibi Magar directs. Register to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. Captioning and ASL interpretation are available.
National Theatre at Home
Last December, London's lauded National Theatre launched its own streaming service featuring professional stage captures of its productions. What I didn't realize until a TDF Stages reader recently told me is that the recordings are available to rent individually for 72 hours. That means you can watch Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane in Angels in America, Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch in Frankenstein, Sienna Miller and Jack O'Connell in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and many other plays as one-offs. Tickets are $10 for each offering.
Signature Theatre: After Midnight
Virginia's lauded Signature Theatre presents After Midnight, an enthralling celebration of the legendary Cotton Club that was nominated for seven 2014 Tony Awards. Recorded on stage during quarantine, this new production is headlined by Hamilton Tony nominee Christopher Jackson and Nova Y. Payton, and is directed and choreographed by Jared Grimes, who appeared in the show on Broadway. Evocative renditions of Langston Hughes poems provide the framework for eye-popping tap-dance numbers set to the swinging songs of Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen and other big band-era greats. Tickets are $35 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. The recording is viewable until Wednesday, August 4.
59E59 Theaters: East to Edinburgh Goes Virtual
59E59 Theaters presents a virtual edition of its annual East to Edinburgh Festival featuring nine cutting-edge productions worthy of the world's largest fringe fest. One pass gets you on-demand access to all the offerings, including Tristan Bernays's Testament, a modern-day take on four biblical characters; Katherine Teed-Arthur's Joan/Jehanne, a meditation on Joan of Arc; Priyanka Shet's solo exploration of racially charged violence in #Charlottesville; and Somebody Jones' self-explanatory Black Women Dating White Men. Tickets are $20 to watch all the shows at your convenience until Sunday.
Baltimore Center Stage: A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction
On Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, Baltimore Center Stage presents A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, a dark comedy by Miranda Rose Hall about a theatre company putting on a show about climate change that goes awry. So the stage manager/light board operator/dramaturg comes up with some unexpected ways to engage the audience. Log on ready to participate in this communal experience. Tickets start at $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.
The Brick: Machine Learning Hamlet; or Text Like Dagger
On Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, one of Brooklyn's most adventurous theatres, The Brick, presents an in-person performance of Machine Learning Hamlet; or Text Like Dagger, which will also be live-streamed to at-home audiences. This high-tech riff on Shakespeare was devised by the NYC-based troupe Meta-Phys Ed., with an approximation of Hamlet performed by a super-intelligent computer AI. This singular show was conceived and directed by Jesse Freedman, and inspired by Shakespeare, the 1981 text adventure computer game ZORK 1 and '80s icon Max Headroom. Watch for free on The Brick's YouTube channel.
New Normal Rep: Lines in the Dust
New Normal Rep presents Lines in the Dust by Obie winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Nikkole Salter. Set in Newark in 2010, this moving drama centers on a working-class single mother desperate to find an alternative to the underperforming zoned school for her bright young daughter. How much will she risk to give her kid a leg up? Awoye Timpo directs Lisa Rosetta Strum, Melissa Joyner and Jeffrey Bean. Tickets are $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. The recording is viewable until Sunday, August 8 and closed captions are available.
The Shakesolo Festival
Frigid New York's The Shakesolo Festival, showcasing Bard-inspired solo performances, kicks off this weekend with a pair of offerings performed in-person at the Kraine Theater that are also live-streamed to at-home audiences.
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
CollaborAzian presents an abridged online concert of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder starring an all-Asian American and Pacific Islander cast. A dark musical comedy about a man gleefully killing off his kin in an attempt to inherit a fortune, this production is directed by Alan Muraoka and stars Cindy Cheung, Karl Josef Co, Ali Ewoldt, Diane Phelan and Thom Sesma. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish and proceeds benefit Stop AAPI Hate. The recording is viewable until Wednesday, July 28.
The New Group: Waiting for Godot
It's your last chance to watch The New Group's mounting of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot featuring Ethan Hawke and John Leguizamo as Vladimir and Estragon. Helmed by the troupe's artistic director Scott Elliott and shot in isolation at the actors' respective homes, this play is a perfect fun-house-mirror reflection of our pandemic times as we all await change, both personal and global. Tickets start at $10 and the recording is viewable until Sunday. Closed captions are available.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.
Top image: Derek Klena, who's performing in a live concert on Sunday evening.
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