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, June 18 to Sunday, June 20, for free or at low cost.

Friday, June 18

The Queerly Festival: FRIGID Fridays: Staying Social
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, The Queerly Festival, an annual showcase of cutting-edge LGBTQ artists, is being held in person at the Kraine Theater in the East Village, but performances are also being streamed to at-home audiences. Tonight, enjoy an LGBTQ-themed edition of this monthly variety show, featuring music, storytelling, sketches and other entertainments. Tickets are $10.

The Metropolitan Opera: Rigoletto
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: its thrilling 1981 production of Verdi's Rigoletto, with Louis Quilico as the title character, a court jester who tries to protect his innocent daughter (Christiane Eda-Pierre) from Luciano Pavarotti's lascivious Duke. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Idomeneo, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Stars in the House: Hedwig and the Angry Inch Reunion
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, put on some makeup and turn on the tape deck—it's a Hedwig and the Angry Inch reunion on Stars in the House! Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley welcome Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall, who both won Tony Awards for their fabulous performances in the 2014 Broadway mounting of this gender-bending rock 'n' roll musical. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.

Saturday, June 19

Untitled Theater Company #61: The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, Off-Off Broadway's adventurous Untitled Theater Company #61 presents The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, artistic director Edward Einhorn's critically acclaimed farce written in the title author's singular style featuring four actors slipping in and out of more than 30 characters. This special Zoom benefit performance reunites the show's original New York cast, Jan Leslie Harding, Mia Katigbak, Grant Neale and Alyssa Simon, and Einhorn once again directs. RSVP for the free viewing link but a $25 donation is suggested.

Live with Carnegie Hall: Juneteenth Celebration
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Carnegie Hall marks Juneteenth with an evening of live music and commentary, presided over by the Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. and Broadway's Tamara Tunie. The lineup includes performances by singer-actor-improv genius Wayne Brady, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, opera singer Alicia Hall Moran and the Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble. Watch for free on Carnegie Hall's YouTube channel.

The Metropolitan Opera: Don Carlo
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi's Don Carlo, about a love triangle between the title Spanish crown prince (Roberto Alagna), the daughter of the King of France (Marina Poplavskaya) and Don Carlo's father, King Philip II (Ferruccio Furlanetto), who wants the lady for himself. Tony-winning director Nicholas Hytner made his Met debut with this 2010 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Rigoletto, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Step Afrika! Juneteenth Virtual Celebration
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Step Afrika!, a troupe that blends percussive, contemporary and traditional African dance, presents a virtual Juneteenth celebration featuring three world premieres: Trane, Little Rock Nine and The Movement. Created and filmed outdoors during the pandemic, these powerful pieces explore the determination, resilience and reclamation of freedom that are part of the African-American experience. Watch for free on Step Afrika!'s YouTube channel.

Sunday, June 20

The Seth Concert Series: Jenn Colella
On Sunday at 3 p.m. and 8 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 year he brings the show online and today's headliner is Jenn Colella. A Broadway veteran best known for her Tony-nominated role as real-life airline pilot Beverley Bass in Come From Away, Colella has a big belt and an even larger personality. Expect songs from her career, which includes roles in If/Then, Chaplin, High Fidelity and Urban Cowboy, as well as personal favorites. Tickets are $25. Note: The 3 p.m. performance is live; 8 p.m. is the replay.

The Metropolitan Opera: Luisa Miller
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: Nathaniel Merrill's 1979 mounting of Verdi's Luisa Miller, with Renata Scotto as the title romantic, who's head over heels for Plácido Domingo's Rodolfo, but his father (Bonaldo Giaiotti) and a blackmailer (James Morris) derail their happily ever after. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Don Carlo, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Zero Gravity (zero-G) Lab: chekhovOS / an experimental game/
On Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Zero Gravity (zero-G) Lab presents chekhovOS / an experimental game/, an interactive online workshop by virtual performance innovator Igor Golyak that fuses film, theatre and video game technology to explore Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard as well as the Russian dramatist's life. Tony nominee Jessica Hecht stars and actor and ballet icon Mikhail Baryshnikov appears as Chekhov. This offbeat offering just got a rave review in The New York Times. Log on ready to participate. Tickets are required to receive the free viewing link; donations are encouraged.

Broadway Bares: Twerk from Home
On Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, for the second year in a row, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' most seductive annual fundraiser Broadway Bares goes virtual, with more than 170 stage performers showing off their sexy sides in socially distant stripteases. Creator and Tony-winning director Jerry Mitchell oversees this online ogling fest featuring brand-new numbers recorded all across NYC—even on the red steps at our TKTS Booth! Special guests include Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots' J. Harrison Ghee, Jay Armstrong Johnson from The Phantom of the Opera and Tony nominee Robyn Hurder from Moulin Rouge!. It's the steamiest stream in town. Watch for free on Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

All Weekend

Broadway's Best Shows Spotlight on Plays: Dear Elizabeth
Since spring of 2020, Broadway's Best Shows has presented performances of important plays featuring big stars acting from their respective homes. The series wraps up with acting legends and frequent costars Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline (Sophie's Choice on screen, The Seagull on stage) in a digital performance of Sarah Ruhl's Dear Elizabeth, based on the correspondence between poets Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop. Directed by Kate Whoriskey, the play maps the relationship of the two writers, from first meeting to a brief affair, as well as the turmoil of their lives in between. Tickets are $19 and the recording is viewable until Monday at 6 p.m. ET.

George Street Playhouse: It's Only a Play
New Jersey's George Street Playhouse presents It's Only a Play, Terrence McNally's popular comedy set at a dramatic party where a Broadway producer, playwright, director and cast anxiously await their opening night reviews. Funnyman Kevin Cahoon directed this mounting, which was filmed live on stage at the theatre. Tootsie Tony nominee Andy Grotelueschen, Greg Cuellar, Julie Halston, Doug Harris, Christine Toy Johnson, Triney Sandoval and Zach Shaffer star. Tickets are $33 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. The recording is viewable until Sunday, July 4. Closed captions and audio description are available.

Ailey Celebrates Juneteenth
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater marks Juneteenth with a program of highlights from Cry and Revelations by the troupe's namesake choreographer, as well as Rennie Harris' Lazarus. The video includes a conversation featuring Ailey artistic director Robert Battle, Opal Lee, Samuel Collins and Reginald Adams about the historical significance of Juneteenth and why Americans of all backgrounds should celebrate it. Watch for free until Tuesday on Alvin Ailey's YouTube channel.

The Old Vic: Home?
London's lauded Old Vic presents Home?, a trio of monologues created by refugee artists, curated by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Tony nominee Noma Dumezweni, who arrived in England as a refugee herself. Then and Now, written by Women for Refugee Women founder Natasha Walter, is performed by British stage legend Harriet Walter; Dina Nayeri's Now I'm Gonna Get Paid is done by Betsabeh Emran; and Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Displaced is essayed by four actors: Elizabeth Chan, Taheen Modak, John Pfumojena and Michael Phong Le. Watch for free until Sunday on The Old Vic's website.

Goodman Theatre: Ohio State Murders
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 Ohio State Murders, Adrienne Kennedy's semi-autobiographical 1992 play about a Black writer who's invited to talk about the violence in her work at her alma mater. But as she revisit the not-so-safe haven of her academic youth, she unravels heartbreaking truths about the personal impact of racism. Performed live on stage and streamed to an at-home audience, the production is directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene, and stars Eunice Woods and Jacqueline Williams as the writer at different points in her life. Tickets are $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. Closed captions are available at the Sunday performance.

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.

Lincoln Center Theater: Marys Seacole
Lincoln Center Theater presents Marys Seacole, Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury's critically acclaimed play about an ambitious Jamaican woman whose adventures span many countries and eras, from the Crimean War to a modern-day nursing home. A profound exploration of women who are paid to look after others, this fantasia is inspired by the real-life 19th-century nurse and healer Mary Seacole as well as all the caregivers who came after her. This Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 production was recorded on stage in 2019, with Lileana Blain-Cruz directing Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Gabby Beans, Marceline Hugot, Karen Kandel, Ismenia Mendes and Lucy Taylor. Register on Broadway on Demand to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Sunday, July 4.

North Coast Repertory Theatre: Becoming Dr. Ruth
California's North Coast Repertory Theatre presents four-time Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh in Becoming Dr. Ruth, Mark St. Germain's inspiring one-woman bio play about the cheery sex therapist and her compelling past, including losing her family in the Holocaust, working as a sniper for the Haganah and finally finding Mr. Right after two divorces. David Ellenstein directs the production, which was filmed live on stage at Bay Street Theater, a co-producer of the show. Tickets start at $35 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, July 11.

East West Players: 1 Hour Photo
On Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, LA's lauded East West Players presents 1 Hour Photo, Tetsuro Shigematsu's rich bio-play chronicling the remarkable times of Mas Yamamoto, from his adolescence in a Canadian World War II incarceration camp to his life as a scientist, businessman and father. A digital reinvention of Shigematsu's award-winning 2019 play, this 75-minute cinematic adaptation will be followed by a live post-show talkback. Tickets are $35. ASL interpretation is available at the Friday night performance.

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

Top image: Christopher Jackson in After Midnight, which is streaming until early August. Photo by Christopher Mueller.