TDF Stages

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 16 to Sunday, July 18, for free or at low cost.

Friday, July 16

The Metropolitan Opera: La Fanciulla del West
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents La Fanciulla del West, Puccini's rootin'-tootin' romance set during the California Gold Rush, as a charming outlaw wins the heart of a gun-toting saloon owner. Barbara Daniels and Plácido Domingo headline this 1992 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Madama Butterfly, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Michael Feinstein Live: Un-plugged & Un-masked
On Friday at 11 p.m. ET, pianist, singer and master of the American Songbook Michael Feinstein performs an in-person concert at his 1940s-style club Vitello's in Studio City, CA, which will also be streamed to at-home audiences. Expect standards by Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and other iconic songwriters. Tickets are $35.

Saturday, July 17

Weathervane Theatre: Buyer & Cellar
On Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. ET, New Hampshire's Weathervane Theatre presents a virtual production of Buyer & Cellar, Jonathan Tolins' uproarious one-man play about an out-of-work actor who lands an insane job curating the tchotchkes in Barbra Streisand's basement. Nathaniel P. Claridad directs Jorge Donoso in this laugh-out-loud comedy. Tickets start at $22.50 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Rondine
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Puccini's La Rondine about star-crossed lovers. Nicholas Joël's 2009 production stars Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, who were a real-life couple at the time. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, La Fanciulla del West, until 6:30 p.m. today.

Michael Feinstein Live: Un-plugged & Un-masked
On Saturday at 11 p.m. ET, pianist, singer and master of the American Songbook Michael Feinstein performs an in-person concert at his 1940s-style club Vitello's in Studio City, CA, which will also be streamed to at-home audiences. Expect standards by Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and other iconic songwriters. Tickets are $35.

Sunday, July 18

The Metropolitan Opera: Turandot
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Turandot, Puccini's tale of an aloof princess whose suitors lose their heads over her knotty riddles. This 2016 mounting of Franco Zeffirelli's sumptuous staging stars Nina Stemme as the hard-to-win royal, and Marco Berti as the prince who ultimately succeeds. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, La Rondine, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

All Weekend

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 Thursday, July 22.

Russell Brand in Our Little Lives: Shakespeare & Me
Actor, comedian and bad boy Russell Brand riffs on his tempestuous life and his love for the playwright behind The Tempest in Our Little Lives: Shakespeare & Me. Filmed live on stage at London's Almeida Theatre, Brand's confessional solo show was developed in collaboration with director Ian Rickson and explores how the Bard's themes and language remain relevant in our modern-day world. Bonus: Brand's dog costars! Tickets start at $15 and the recording is viewable until Friday, July 23.

Apple TV+: Schmigadoon!
We realize Schmigadoon! is a TV show, but this loving send-up of classic musicals (filled with references to Brigadoon, obviously, as well as Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound of Music, Kiss Me, Kate and many others) is sure to tickle theatre lovers. Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key are the in-trouble couple who stumble upon a quirky, musical trope-filled town populated by some of Broadway's best, including Alan Cumming, Kristen Chenoweth, Ann Harada, Ariana DeBose and Aaron Tveit. This song-and-shtick-filled series is free to stream for Apple TV+ subscribers. You can get a seven-day free trial, however this series runs until August 13, so you may want to try it once all six episodes 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.

Manchester International Festival: Notes on Grief
Last summer, as COVID kept families apart, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's father succumbed to kidney disease. Wracked by grief exacerbated by isolation, the acclaimed writer penned an essay for the New Yorker, Notes on Grief, which she subsequently expanded into a memoir. Now director Rae McKen has adapted this poignant remembrance for the virtual stage. Michelle Asante, Uche Abuah and Itoya Osagiede star. A meditation on loss we can all relate to. Tickets start at £5, approximately $7. The recording is viewable until Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. Closed captions are available.

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's self-explanatory Black Women Dating White Men. Tickets are $20 to watch all the shows at your convenience until Sunday, July 25.

Jimmy Awards
See the stars of tomorrow today at the Jimmy Awards, aka the National High School Musical Theatre Awards. Since 2009, this annual celebration has showcased supremely talented teens, some of whom may make it to Broadway. After all, past finalists include Kyle Selig from Mean Girls, Stephanie Styles from Kiss Me, Kate, Antonio Cipriano from Jagged Little Pill and Andrew Barth Feldman from Dear Evan Hansen. Broadway's Corbin Bleu hosted the event on Thursday and even though the winners have already been crowned, their performances are still thrilling. Watch for free until Sunday on YouTube.

Baltimore Center Stage: A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction
On Friday and Saturday at 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.

Not a Moment, But a Movement: The Duat
LA's Center Theatre Group partners with Watts Village Theatre and NYC's The Fire This Time Festival for Not a Moment, But a Movement, a series of virtual events spotlighting Black artists. This week, catch a performance of The Duat, Roger Q. Mason's one-man play about a former FBI informant during the civil rights movement who awakens in the Egyptian afterlife. Taibi Magar directs Gregg Daniel in this one-act. Watch for free until Sunday on Center Theatre Group's website.

Goodman Theatre: I Hate It Here
On Friday at 8:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, Chicago's acclaimed Goodman Theatre presents I Hate It Here, a genre-defying, profanity-laden call to action by playwright-and-director duo Ike Holter and Lili-Anne Brown about the hellscape that was 2020. A diverse ensemble cast brings this rallying cry for our times to life. Tickets are $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.

Chance Theater: Sweat
On Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, Los Angeles' Chance Theater presents a virtual production of Sweat, Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a tight-knit group of blue-collar coworkers torn apart by the economic hardship of the early 21st century. Elina de Santos directs a diverse ensemble cast in this heartbreaker. Tickets start at $20 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.

The Garden
On Friday at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, it's your last chance to watch The Garden, a moving play written by and starring Tony nominee Charlayne Woodard about the complex relationship between a Black woman and her estranged adult daughter. Patricia McGregor directs this world premiere, which costars Caroline Stefanie Clay. Tickets start at $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.

Fishamble Theatre Company: Silent
Dublin's acclaimed Fishamble Theatre Company presents Silent, Pat Kinevane's solo show about a man who's lost everything, including his home and his mind. Kinevane reprises his captivating, Olivier Award-winning performance as McGoldrig, who shares his tumultuous and surprising past with disarming honesty. Jim Culleton directed the production, which was filmed live on stage. Tickets are $15 and the recording is viewable until Sunday.

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.

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.

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

Top image: Ali Ewoldt, who's starring in a virtual concert of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder this weekend.