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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 this Monday, January 25 and Tuesday, January 26, from the comfort of your couch for free or at low cost.
Monday, January 25
The Seth Concert Series: Jessica Vosk
On Monday at 3 p.m. ET, apparently, hosting a daily online talk show and a Sirius XM Satellite Radio series isn't enough for the multitalented Seth Rudetsky. Well-known for his skills as a pianist, musical director and interviewer, he's hosted a series of intimate live concerts with Broadway stars for the past decade. This season he brings the show online. Last night's headliner was Jessica Vosk and you can watch a recording today. A Broadway vet with powerhouse pipes, Vosk is best known for playing Elphaba in Wicked on tour and in NYC. Tickets are $25.
Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: Under the Albert Clock
On Monday at 3 p.m. ET, since 2008, Origin Theatre Company has presented the annual Origin 1st Irish Festival featuring readings, productions and panels. Today, The Lyric Theatre presents Under the Albert Clock, a quintet of new audio playlets penned by five Irish playwrights, each inspired by a different Belfast landmark and set in the year 2050. Tickets are $10.
Broadway's Future Songbook Series: Black Voices
On Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts presents a concert of songs by up-and-coming Black musical theatre artists. Guest curator Zhailon Levingston, a Broadway Advocacy Coalition cofounder and associate director of Tina on Broadway, helped put together the lineup, which includes work by Nik Alexander, Nehemiah Luckett, Tracey Conyer Lee, Sissi Liu, Kirya Traber, Alex Hare, Derrick Byars, Tia DeShazor, AriDy Nox and Brandon Webster. Register to receive the free viewing link.
Red Bull Theater: The Woman Hater
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, NYC's Red Bull Theater, known for reinvigorating forgotten classics, presents a live reading of The Woman Hater, a rarely seen proto-feminist satire by Frances Burney centering on the jilted Sir Roderick, who really hates ladies. Although Burney wrote the play at the turn of the 19th century, it remained unpublished and unperformed until 2007, when it was finally mounted in London. A comedy of manners and misogyny, the performance is directed by Everett Quinton and stars Bill Army, Arnie Burton, Veanne Cox, Rebecca S'Manga Frank, Cherie Corinne Rice, Matthew Saldivar, Jenne Vath and Nick Westrate. Watch for free on Red Bull's YouTube channel though a $25 donation is suggested. A recording will be viewable until Friday at 7 p.m. ET.
The Metropolitan Opera: Don Giovanni
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Don Giovanni, featuring Simon Keenlyside in the title role of the world's most notorious lover. The production was filmed for the company's Live in HD series in 2016 and costars Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Byström, Serena Malfi, Paul Appleby and Adam Plachetka. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Die Walküre, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Consequences: Asè
On Monday at 8 p.m. ET, three lauded NYC theatre organizations—Harlem Stage, Harlem 9 and the Lucille Lortel Theatre—launch Consequences, a series of playlets by Black writers in response to systemic racism and the 2020 presidential election. The first premiere is York Walker's Asè exploring the dynamic between a white executive who recently completed diversity training and her Black assistant. Watch for free on YouTube.
Jim Caruso's Pajama Cast Party
On Monday at 8 p.m. ET, cabaret maven Jim Caruso welcomes renowned singers and up-and-comers at Pajama Cast Party, a live-streamed version of his popular weekly Cast Party gatherings that have taken place at Birdland for years. Tonight's lineup includes 2021 Grammy nominee Thana Alexa, singer-guitarist Bill Brooks, Tony-winning Drowsy Chaperone book writer Lisa Lambert and vocal group RESOLVE!. Watch for free on YouTube though tips via the Venmo app are appreciated.
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus: Open Stage Variety Show: Quarantine Edition
On Monday at 8 p.m. ET, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus continues its live weekly variety show hosted by adorkable ringmaster Keith Nelson. Tonight's awe-inspiring lineup includes acrobats Mugwanya Najib and Busulwa Yasin, contortionist Elena Sanders, juggler Zak McAllister and sword swallower Wendy Blades. Watch for free on Bindlestiff's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
Tuesday, January 26
Round House Theatre: The Catastrophist
On Tuesday at noon ET, prolific and popular playwright Lauren Gunderson turns her perceptive pen on her husband, famed virologist Nathan Wolfe, who helped track Ebola, swine flu and now COVID-19. Gunderson has written many plays about historical figures in science but this is the first time she's explored the life and career of her spouse, who's portrayed by William DeMeritt in this one-man play, which was recorded at California's Marin Theatre Company and is co-presented by Maryland's Round House Theatre. Don't worry if stats and data make your head spin—as always, Gunderson is more interested in what makes her characters tick personally rather than professionally. Tickets are $32.50 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, February 28.
Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: Stay Home and Stay Safe and Transatlantic Tales
Since 2008, Origin Theatre Company has presented the annual Origin 1st Irish Festival featuring readings, productions and panels. This year the event goes virtual with daily offerings through the end of the month. This Tuesday, you can catch:
African Caribbean MixFest: A Collection of Short Plays
On Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, throughout the month, Off Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company is presenting African Caribbean MixFest, a series of free readings by African Caribbean dramatists. Tonight, catch a collection of shorts by Julissa Contreras, Dane Figueroa Edidi, Patrice Johnson Chevannes and Jeff Augustin, all directed by Danielle A. Drakes. The performers include A Strange Loop's L Morgan Lee, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play's Mirirai Sithole and TL Thompson from Is This A Room. Register to receive the free viewing link.
Irish Repertory Theatre: Molly Sweeney
On Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. First up is Molly Sweeney, Brian Friel's popular drama about a woman blind since infancy whose sight is restored with unexpected consequences. Geraldine Hughes and Ciarán O'Reilly reprise their performances as Molly and her husband from the theatre's hit 2011 production, alongside newcomer Paul O'Brien as the surgeon who changes the title character's life. Told in series of monologues, this Molly Sweeney was filmed remotely last May. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
The Tank: The Black Queen Screen Tests Act I
On Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, Off-Off Broadway's invaluable The Tank presents Act I of Jerome A. Parker's The Black Queen Screen Tests, a queer musical epic set to the hits of Dinah Washington, aka the Queen of the Blues. Created, performed and designed by an all-Black team, the surreal show fuses drag, lip-syncing and dance. Acts II and III stream later this week. Tickets start at $10.
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
On Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, avant-garde haven La MaMa presents an online edition of its La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival featuring new pieces created specifically for digital consumption. Nicky Paraiso curated and hosts the four-episode series, which features work by Kari Hoaas and Tamar Rogoff this evening. Tickets start at $5.
The Metropolitan Opera: Le Comte Ory
On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Rossini's rarely staged comedy Le Comte Ory. Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher helmed this charming 2011 production starring Juan Diego Flórez as the title character, a philandering count whose lust life is complicated by Diana Damrau's virtuous Countess Adèle and his page, played by Joyce DiDonato. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Don Giovanni, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Marisa Tomei and Bobby Cannavale in Three Hotels
On Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, Tectonic Theater Project presents Three Hotels, Jon Robin Baitz's celebrated 1993 play about a superficially successful couple masking their moral and emotional decay. Told via monologues set in hotel rooms in Morocco, the Virgin Islands and Mexico, the production stars two-time Tony nominee Bobby Cannavale as an unethical international businessman and Oscar winner Marisa Tomei as his wife. Moisés Kaufman directs this digital performance. Watch for free until Saturday on Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' website though donations are encouraged.
Stars in the House: Disney Legends Party
On Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, it's guest host week on Stars in the House! First up is RuPaul's Drag Race alum Nina West and she's throwing a fierce and fabulous Disney Legends Party with powerhouse princess vocalists Lea Salonga (Mulan and Jasmine!), Jodi Benson (Ariel!) and Paige O'Hara (Belle!), along with the composer who wrote their anthems, Alan Menken. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
Available to Watch Both Days
Metropolitan Opera Stars Live in Concert: Piotr Beczala and Sondra Radvanovsky
On Saturday, the Metropolitan Opera presented Piotr Beczala and Sondra Radvanovsky performing from Germany's Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal and you can watch a recording all week. This is the first time the duo has sung together for Met audiences since 2015, and the lineup includes beloved arias and duets from Giordano's Andrea Chénier, Dvorák's Rusalka and Verdi's La Forza del Destino. Tickets are $20 and the recording is viewable until Friday, February 5.
St. Ann's Warehouse: The Approach
Last week, Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse streamed a live performance of The Approach from Dublin's Project Arts Centre and you can watch a recording all week. Mark O'Rowe's enigmatic play centers on three women (Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty and Aisling O'Sullivan) telling different but interconnected tales. Tickets start at €15, approximately $18, and the recording is viewable until Sunday.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.
Top image: Marisa Tomei, who costars with Bobby Cannavale in a performance of Three Hotels on Tuesday evening.
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