TDF Stages

With in-person theatre still a rarity for the time being, many companies and performers from Broadway and beyond are showcasing their work online. Below are performances you can watch this Memorial Day Weekend, Friday, May 28 to Monday, May 31, for free or at low cost.

Friday, May 28

Bristol Old Vic: Touching the Void
On Friday at 3 p.m. ET, the UK's Bristol Old Vic presents a live performance of Touching the Void that will be streamed to at-home audiences. Based on Joe Simpson's bestselling memoir of the same name, David Greig's thrilling stage adaptation chronicles the mountaineer's near fatal descent with Simon Yates after they climbed the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Tony-winning War Horse director Tom Morris helms the production, and Josh Williams and Angus Yellowlees star. Tickets start at £10, approximately $14.

Ballet Hispánico 50th Celebration
On Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET, Ballet Hispánico marks half a century of presenting Latino dance with a digital celebration. The troupe's artistic director, Eduardo Vilaro, hosts the program, which features world premieres from Lauren Anderson, Ana "Rokafella" Garcia and Belén Maya; archival recordings of works by Graciela Daniele, Ann Reinking, Geoffrey Holder, Nacho Duato, Pedro Ruiz and Gustavo Ramírez; and special appearances by famous friends such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lauren Anderson, Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas and Rosie Perez. Watch for free until Friday, June 11 on the dance company's YouTube channel.

The Way Forward: Theatre's Evolution in Moments of Change: Part III: Future — Where Do We Go Now?
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, the 92nd Street Y and Town & Country magazine wrap up their three-part interview series with theatre industry leaders discussing the long road back to in-person performances. Part III is titled "Future — Where Do We Go Now?" and features industry innovators such as NYC's Public Theater Associate Artistic Director Saheem Ali, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, theatre-maker Mei Ann Teo and director-playwright-activist Stevie Walker-Webb discussing what they want in-person theatre to look like on the other side. Register to receive the free viewing link.

The Metropolitan Opera: Fedora
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Beppe De Tomasi's lush mounting of Fedora, Giordano's rarely staged tragedy about a Russian princess who falls for the man who murdered her fiancé. Mirella Freni and Plácido Domingo star in this 1997 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, The Nose, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Bandstand
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, in honor of Memorial Day, Broadway on Demand is streaming Bandstand, an underrated musical starring Laura Ones and Corey Cott about WWII vets trying to win a music contest while grappling with PTSD. A special pre-screening event at 7:30 p.m. ET features Cott and members of the creative team talking about the making of the musical. Tickets cost $9 and the recording is viewable until Monday.

Broadway Stories & Songs: Jason Danieley
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, Tony-winning orchestrator and music director, Ted Sperling, continues his live online concert series Broadway Stories & Songs, showcasing the talents and tales of New York stage favorites. This weekend's guest is beloved Broadway tenor Jason Danieley (Candide, The Full Monty, Next to Normal), who'll sing songs from his illustrious career as well as numbers by Kander and Ebb, Flaherty and Ahrens and Cole Porter. Danieley will also pay tribute to his late wife, Broadway star Marin Mazzie. Tickets are $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.

FourthWall Theatrical: This American Wife
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, Tony-nominated Slave Play scribe Jeremy O. Harris is one of the producers of this virtual reimagining of This American Wife, created by his Yale School of Drama pals Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, the duo behind the digital smash Circle Jerk. Like that production, This American Wife is also a live Internet show as Breslin, Foley and Jakeem Dante Powell present an amusing multimedia meditation on theReal Housewives phenomenon and its cultural influence. Tickets start at $25.

Saturday, May 29

Broadway Stories & Songs: Jason Danieley
On Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, Tony-winning orchestrator and music director, Ted Sperling, continues his live online concert series Broadway Stories & Songs, showcasing the talents and tales of New York stage favorites. This weekend's guest is beloved Broadway tenor Jason Danieley (Candide, The Full Monty, Next to Normal), who'll sing songs from his illustrious career as well as numbers by Kander and Ebb, Flaherty and Ahrens and Cole Porter. Danieley will also pay tribute to his late wife, Broadway favorite Marin Mazzie. Tickets are $25. Note: this is a replay of Friday night's live concert.

Bristol Old Vic: Touching the Void
On Saturday at 3 p.m. ET, the UK's Bristol Old Vic presents a live performance of Touching the Void that will be streamed to at-home audiences. Based on Joe Simpson's bestselling memoir of the same name, David Greig's thrilling stage adaptation chronicles the mountaineer's near fatal descent with Simon Yates after they climbed the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Tony-winning War Horse director Tom Morris helms the production, and Josh Williams and Angus Yellowlees star. Tickets start at £10, approximately $14.

The Metropolitan Opera: Capriccio
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents John Cox's roaring '20s-set Capriccio, Strauss' love triangle featuring Renée Fleming as a countess courted by a composer (Joseph Kaiser) and a poet (Russell Braun). Sarah Connolly, Morten Frank Larsen and Peter Rose costar in this 2011 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Fedora, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

HBO: Oslo
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, HBO premieres Bartlett Sher's film adaptation of J.T. Rogers' Tony-winning play Oslo about the back-channel negotiations that led to the momentous 1993 handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House Lawn. Sher initially directed the show at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theater in 2016, then helmed its Broadway transfer the next year. Andrew Scott and Ruth Wilson headline the movie as Norwegian diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen and his indispensable wife Mona Juul, who kick-started the covert conversations that led to the Oslo Accords. A play about peace that feels even more urgent in light of what's happening in the Middle East. HBO subscribers can watch for free. There's currently no free trial, but those come and go. Keep an eye out!

FourthWall Theatrical: This American Wife
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Tony-nominated Slave Play scribe Jeremy O. Harris is one of the producers of this virtual reimagining of This American Wife, created by his Yale School of Drama pals Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, the duo behind the digital smash Circle Jerk. Like that production, This American Wife is also a live Internet show as Breslin, Foley and Jakeem Dante Powell present an amusing multimedia meditation on theReal Housewives phenomenon and its cultural influence. Tickets start at $25.

Sunday, May 30

Zero Gravity (zero-G) Lab: chekhovOS / an experimental game/
On Sunday at 11 a.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. Tickets are required to receive the free viewing link; donations are encouraged.

Congress for Jewish Culture: Itzik and the Golden Peacock
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, the Congress for Jewish Culture hosts a virtual 120th birthday celebration for renowned Yiddish writer Itzik Manger, who's best known for his Megillah Cycle. Performers include Broadway vet Mike Burstyn (Barnum, Ain't Broadway Grand) and new Yiddish theatre stars such as Shura Lipovsky, Ruth Levin, Mendy Cahan and Shane Baker. Watch for free on the org's Facebook page.

The Seth Concert Series: George Salazar
On Sunday 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 year he brings the show online and today's headliner is George Salazar. A stage favorite who went viral with his painfully funny rendition of "Michael in the Bathroom" from Be More Chill, Salazar has also appeared on stage in Here Lies Love, Tick, Tick... Boom! and Godspell. During the pandemic, he launched his own YouTube talk show Sundays on the Couch with George and also had a recurring role on NBC's sitcom Superstore. Expect tunes from his career as well as numbers by his longtime BFF, Be More Chill songwriter Joe Iconis. Tickets are $25. The 3 p.m. performance is live; 8 p.m. is the replay.

The Metropolitan Opera: Le Comte Ory
On Sunday 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, Capriccio, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

PBS: National Memorial Day Concert
On Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, PBS presents the annual National Memorial Day Concert honoring the military service and sacrifice of all our folks in uniform. For the second year in a row, the event is virtual, but the lineup is still starry, including Broadway vets such as Brian d'Arcy James, Joe Morton and Sara Bareilles as well as Joe Mantegna, Gary Sinise, Gladys Knight and various military bands. Watch for free on TV on PBS Thirteen or on PBS' website. The recording will be viewable until Sunday, June 13.

Monday, May 31

The Metropolitan Opera: Turandot
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Puccini's final masterwork Turandot, about an aloof princess whose suitors lose their heads over her knotty riddles. This 2019 mounting of Franco Zeffirelli's classic staging stars Christine Goerke as the hard-to-win royal and Yusif Eyvazov 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, Le Comte Ory, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

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 YouTube comedy star Colleen Ballinger, jazz pianist Richard Glazier and jazz singer Lucy Yeghiazaryan. Watch for free on YouTube though tips via the Venmo app are appreciated.

All Weekend

Manhattan Theatre Club: The Niceties
Manhattan Theatre Club presents The Niceties, Eleanor Burgess' thought-provoking two-hander about a Black student and her veteran white college professor locking horns over the presentation of American history. The play sparked lots of conversation when it ran Off Broadway at MTC in 2018. This new digital mounting, co-presented by Boston's Huntington Theatre Company, reunites the stars of that production, Lisa Banes and Jordan Boatman, with director Kimberly Senior. RSVP to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Sunday, June 13.

MasterVoices: Myths and Hymns: Faith
MasterVoices presents Faith, the final installment of the four-part theatrical song cycle Myths and Hymns by Light in the Piazza Tony winner Adam Guettel. Inspired by Greek myths and 19th-century Presbyterian hymns, the 1998 work explores the nature of faith and longing in our secular society. The other three chapters, Flight, Work and Love, were released earlier this year and can be streamed for free on YouTube. This fourth collection of multimedia musical shorts stars Tony winners Jennifer Holliday and Kelli O'Hara, A Strange Loop's Larry Owens, Mykal Kilgore, The Gospel Soul Children of New York and others. Watch for free on MasterVoices' YouTube channel.

The Vineyard Theatre: Brutal Imagination
Twenty years after Cornelius Eady's Brutal Imagination premiered at The Vineyard Theatre, the play returns with original stars Joe Morton and Sally Murphy. Directed by Morton, the drama is inspired by the infamous case of Susan Smith, a white woman from South Carolina who falsely claimed that a Black man kidnapped her children when, in fact, she had drowned them. A potent examination of dangerous racial stereotyping in America, then and now. Tickets start at $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. The recording is viewable until Monday, June 7.

The York Theatre Company: Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose
The York Theatre Company presents Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose, Broadway vet Ed Dixon's solo show about his complicated friendship with George Rose, the Tony-winning star of My Fair Lady and The Mystery of Edwin Drood who turned out to have a terrifying dark side. This is a recording of the play's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run in 2017, which was filmed at The Davenport Theatre. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, July 18.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: The Story of Greenwood
To mark the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents The Story of Greenwood featuring footage from Donald Byrd's powerful dance piece Greenwood as well as excerpts from a recent documentary about what happened in Oklahoma 100 years ago. Watch for free on the troupe's YouTube channel.

The Joyce Theater: Batsheva Dance Company: YAG
Chelsea dance haven The Joyce continues its digital season with the Batsheva Dance Company in YAG, the first piece adapted specifically for the screen by the lauded Israeli troupe. House choreographer Ohad Naharin fuses cinema and movement in collaboration with video artist Roee Shalti and a cast of six dancers. 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 Wednesday, June 2.

New York City Center: Sutton Foster: Bring Me to Light
It's your last chance to catch two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster (Anything Goes, Thoroughly Modern Millie) in this uplifting concert, which was recently recorded live on stage at New York City Center. During the hour-long benefit performance, she's joined by some of her talented pals, including Raúl Esparza (Company, The Homecoming), Joaquina Kalukango (Slave Play) and Kelli O'Hara (The King and I) to sing numbers from Anyone Can Whistle, Camelot, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Violet, The Wild Party and other Broadway musicals. Foster's frequent collaborator, Leigh Silverman, directs this inspirational evening. Tickets are $35 and the recording is viewable until Monday.

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

Top image: Corey Cott, Laura Osnes and the cast of Bandstand on Broadway. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.