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, October 13, from the comfort of your couch for free or at low cost.

Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations Special Event
At 7 p.m. ET, Whoopi Goldberg hosts an evening of songs and stories with stars from Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. Temptations founder Otis Williams, Tony-nominated book writer Dominique Morisseau and cast members Nik Walker, James Harkness, Jawan M. Jackson, Matt Manuel, Jelani Remy and Saint Aubyn will talk about the challenges of being Black artists on Broadway, and the company will perform a few numbers from the musical. Watch for free on the show's website.

Irish Repertory Theatre: Give Me Your Hand
At 7 p.m. ET, Off Broadway's intrepid Irish Rep presents Give Me Your Hand, featuring Tony nominee Dearbhla Molloy and Dermot Crowley taking audiences on a virtual tour of London's National Gallery by pairing Paul Durcan poems with paintings by Van Gogh, Rubens and other masters. Directed by Jamie Beamish, this is a digital reimagining of the company's 2012 hit production. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; a $25 donation is suggested.

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater: Why Would I Dare?: The Trial of Crystal Mason
At 7 p.m. ET, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater presents Why Would I Dare?, a virtual reading of the court transcript from the trial of Crystal Mason, a Black woman convicted of trying to cast an illegal vote during the 2016 presidential election. Conceived by actors Marin Ireland, Peter Mark Kendall and Reggie D. White and director Tyler Thomas (the same group behind the Vineyard Theatre's documentary-style series Lessons in Survival), this timely performance features Crystal Dickinson, Peter Gerety, Shane McRae and creators Kendall and Ireland. Watch for free until Monday, November 2, aka Election Day eve, on Rattlestick's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

Bedlam: The Price
At 7 p.m. ET, Bedlam, a NYC theatre company lauded for its reinventions of classics (Sense & Sensibility, The Crucible), presents a live reading of Arthur Miller's The Price, a family tragedy about two brothers at odds about what to do with their late parents' estate. Rajesh Bose, Arash Mokhtar, Michael Twain and Annabel Capper star. The evening kicks off with a half hour of live music at 6:30 p.m. ET. Watch for free on the company's Facebook page though donations to The Okra Project are encouraged.

Broadway Buskers
At 7 p.m. ET, since 2018, the Times Square Alliance has been presenting Broadway Buskers, a 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 Matt Wolpe (Rock of Ages), Isis (Nia Witherspoon: Dark Girl Chronicles) and é boylan (Femmebodys). 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 Metropolitan Opera: La Fille du Régiment
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera's week of Donizetti favorites continues with La Fille du Régiment, a 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, Lucia di Lammermoor, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

New York City Ballet: Classic NYCB
At 8 p.m. ET, New York City Ballet continues its virtual fall season with recent performances of four works by its two cofounders: excerpts from Jerome Robbins' Dances at a Gathering; and Duo Concertant, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (First Movement) and Symphony in C (Fourth Movement and Finale), all by George Balanchine. Dancers include Ashley Bouder, Megan Fairchild, Anthony Huxley, Adrian Danchig-Waring and Peter Walker. Watch for free until Tuesday, October 20 on NYCB's YouTube channel.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre: It Can't Happen Here
At 8 p.m. ET, four years ago, just before the last presidential election, California's acclaimed Berkeley Rep presented a new stage adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' 1935 satirical novel It Can't Happen Here, about a totalitarian U.S. presidential candidate and the journalist who opposes his regime. The company is remounting that production as a four-part radio play, with weekly episodes through Election Day. The first installment debuts this evening and stars West Coast stage actor David Kelly as the demagogue and Oscar nominee David Strathairn as a liberal determined to take him down. Lisa Peterson directs. Listen for free on Berkley Rep's YouTube channel.

Stars in the House: Regional Theatre Spotlight on L.A. Theatre Works
At 8 p.m. ET, Stars in the House spotlights L.A. Theatre Works, one of the leading producers of audio theatre. Producing director Susan Albert Loewenberg hosts this episode and welcomes well-known performers Charlayne Woodard, Matthew Rhys, Sarah Drew and Seamus Dever, who have all acted in the company's productions. Learn more about this venerable institution for free on YouTube.

the cell: Tolerance Party: #2 "Roll Call"
At 8 p.m. ET, cutting-edge downtown theatre the cell continues Joseph Hendel's serialized dark comedy Tolerance Party, about a half dozen people brought together in a video chat by a mysterious stranger. In this episode titled "Role Call," they're goaded into performing a play, and the audience helps decide their fates for the next installment. Tickets start at $5.

Jagged Little Pill Fundraiser for Biden Victory Fund
At 8 p.m. ET, Alanis Morissette is here to remind you of who she's voting for. The feminist singer-songwriter and the cast of her Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill, including Elizabeth Stanley, Celia Rose Gooding and Lauren Patten, will perform songs from her seminal album. Regardless of what you plan to do on Election Day, this should be a rocking good time. Donate $25 to receive the viewing link.

Vineyard Theatre: Lessons in Survival Episode 3
At 8:30 p.m. ET, Off Broadway's invaluable Vineyard Theatre drops the latest installment of Lessons in Survival, an intriguing project featuring a collective of 40 theatre artists sharing historic conversations, interviews and speeches by listening to the original speakers in an earpiece while repeating their words verbatim. Conceived by actors Marin Ireland, Peter Mark Kendall and Reggie D. White and director Tyler Thomas, this singular series continues tonight with an episode titled "When You Say Revolution... What Do You Mean?," featuring Nicole Lewis, Ricardy Fabre, Crystal Dickinson and Helen Cespedes channeling the words and wisdom of three legendary women activists: Fannie Lou Hamer in 1968, Georgia Gilmore in 1979, and Angela Davis in 1972 and 2008. Tickets start at $5.

Latino Theater Co.: A Mexican Trilogy, Part 2: Hope
At 10 p.m. ET, Los Angeles' Latino Theater Co. presents a recording of part 2 of Evelina Fernández's epic A Mexican Trilogy, chronicling the lives of the Mexican-American Morales family over multiple decades of the 20th century. This second installment is titled "Hope" and set in the clan's Phoenix home during the Cuban Missile Crisis. José Luis Valenzuela directed this 2012 production, which stars Esperanza America, Robert Beltran, Evelina Fernández, Sam Golzari, Kenneth Lopez, Sal Lopez, Julio Macias, Xavi Moreno, Geoffrey Rivas, Lucy Rodriguez, Elia Saldana and Olivia Delgado Young. Watch part 2 for free until Thursday, October 22 on the company's YouTube channel. If you missed part 1 last week, it's streaming until Thursday.

Available to Watch All Day

St. Ann's Warehouse: Julius Caesar
Throughout October, Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse presents director Phyllida Lloyd's acclaimed Donmar Warehouse Shakespeare Trilogy, starring Tony nominee Harriet Walter and an all-female ensemble as inmates mounting the Bard's plays in prison, a framing that provides a fresh perspective on familiar works. All three productions were filmed in front of live audiences in 2016, with handheld and GoPro footage edited in to give them a kinetic feel. The series kicks off with Julius Caesar featuring Walter as Brutus. Watch for free until Thursday on St. Ann's website though donations are encouraged.

Play-PerView: Next Fall
On Saturday, Play-PerView presented a 10th anniversary reunion reading of Next Fall , and you can watch a recording until Thursday. Geoffrey Nauffts' beautiful portrait of a gay couple struggling with issues of faith, family and mortality debuted at Playwrights Horizons before transferring to Broadway where it earned a 2010 Tony nomination for best play. Sheryl Kaller once again directs Patrick Breen, Maddie Corman, Sean Dugan, Patrick Heusinger, Connie Ray and Cotter Smith in this heartrending work. Tickets start at $15 and benefit Teens for Food Justice.

Stars in the House: Annette Bening in Coastal Disturbances
On Saturday, Stars in the House presented a live reading of Tina Howe's Coastal Disturbances, and you can watch a recording until tonight. A bittersweet meditation on romance set on a private Massachusetts beach, the performance is directed by and stars Annette Bening reprising her 1987 Tony-nominated performance. She's joined by the surviving cast of the Broadway mounting, Tim Daly, Jonas Abry, Jean DeBaer, Angela Goethals, Ronald Guttman and Heather MacRae, and new additions Mary Kay Place and Ed Begley Jr. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.

Red Bull Theater: American Moor
On Monday, NYC's Red Bull Theater, known for reinvigorating classics, presented a live reading of Keith Hamilton Cobb's thought-provoking American Moor, and you can watch a recording until Friday. Part of the company's Othello 2020 season, this almost-solo show centers on a Black actor deconstructing Shakespeare's Othello, a character too often misunderstood by white directors and audiences. This event reunites Cobb with costar Josh Tyson and director Kim Weild, who collaborated with him on Red Bull's Off-Broadway production last year. Watch for free on the theatre's YouTube channel.

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

Top image: New York City Ballet's Erica Pereira with Spartak Hoxha, Troy Schumacher and Ralph Ippolito in George Balanchine's Symphony in C. Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.