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With in-person theatre a rarity for the foreseeable future, many companies and performers from Broadway and beyond are showcasing their work online. Below are performances you can watch this weekend, Friday, May 7 to Sunday, May 9, for free or at low cost.
Mark Morris Dance Group: Live from Brooklyn
On Friday at 2 p.m. ET, members of the acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group return to their Brooklyn stage for the first time since 2020 for a live performance streamed to an at-home audience. The program includes rarely seen works from the troupe's early years, including Jealousy, Three Preludes and Fugue, alongside Tempus Perfectum, a new piece by Morris set to Johannes Brahms' Sixteen Waltzes Op. 39. Tickets are $25.
The Shows Must Go On!: Before the Interval
On Friday at 2 p.m. ET, The Shows Must Go On! presents the satirical dance-theatre piece Before the Interval, the sequel to After the Interval centering on three dancers and their career aspirations. Luca Silvestrini conceived of and directed the work, which was recorded at London's Linbury Studio Theatre in 2014. Watch for free all weekend on YouTube.
Southwark Playhouse: Preludes in Concert
On Friday at 3:45 p.m. ET, London's Southwark Playhouse presents a concert performance of Preludes, a musical about legendary composer Sergei Rachmaninoff by Dave Malloy, the creator of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. Once again, Malloy looks to Russia for inspiration as he explores the mind of this celebrated wunderkind, who became paralyzed by depression and paranoia at age 21. The score fuses melodies by Rachmaninoff and Malloy for a powerful meditation on the healing power of music. Tickets are £15, approximately $21.
Mike Daisey: Scott and Andy and All the Boys
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, even the pandemic can't keep master monologist Mike Daisey down! The performer-playwright (The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, If You See Something Say Something) returns to The Kraine in the East Village for his second searing solo piece this year: Scott and Andy and All the Boys. Performed live on stage to an all-vaccinated audience but also streamed to at-home viewers, this new work is a candid examination of our love-hate relationship with powerful but abusive men like disgraced producer Scott Rudin and scandal-prone Governor Cuomo. Daisey even turns his unflinching critical eye on his own behavior and how toxic masculinity is embedded into our culture. Tickets are $15.
The Metropolitan Opera: Wozzeck
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Berg's Wozzeck about a tormented soldier whose madness drives him to violence. South African artist William Kentridge designed and directed this 2020 production, which stars Peter Mattei as the title character alongside Elza van den Heever, Tamara Mumford, Christopher Ventris, Gerhard Siegel, Andrew Staples and Christian Van Horn. Watch for free until Saturday at noon ET on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Norma, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Stars in the House: Anastasia Reunion
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, get ready for a journey to the past—it's an Anastasia reunion on Stars in the House! Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley welcome original Broadway cast members Christy Altomare, Derek Klena, Mary Beth Peil, John Bolton and Caroline O'Connor, along with Max von Essen, who replaced Ramin Karimloo as the villainous Gleb. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
Broadway Stories & Songs: Betsy Wolfe
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, Tony-winning orchestrator and music director, Ted Sperling, kicks off his new online concert series Broadway Stories & Songs, showcasing the talents and tales of New York stage favorites. His inaugural guest is Betsy Wolfe, best known for her performances in Waitress and Bullets Over Broadway. In addition to sharing backstage stories from her career, she'll croon tunes from The Last Five Years, Into the Woods and other beloved shows. Tickets are $25.
PBS Great Performances: Uncle Vanya
On Friday at 9 p.m. ET, PBS Great Performances presents Conor McPherson's adaptation of Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov's heartbreaking tale of loneliness and longing. Toby Jones stars in the title role, an unhappy man who believes life has unfairly passed him by. Richard Armitage, Rosalind Eleazar, Aimee Lou Wood, Anna Calder Marshall, Dearbhla Molloy, Roger Allam and Peter Wight costar in this stage-cinema hybrid, which was filmed live on stage in August 2020 at London's Harold Pinter Theatre, where the production had enjoyed a critically acclaimed but truncated run due to the pandemic. Watch for free on TV on PBS Thirteen or the channel's website.
Southwark Playhouse: Preludes in Concert
On Saturday at 11:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. ET, London's Southwark Playhouse presents a concert performance of Preludes, a musical about legendary composer Sergei Rachmaninoff by Dave Malloy, the creator of the Tony-nominated musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. Once again, Malloy looks to Russia for inspiration as he explores the mind of this celebrated wunderkind, who became paralyzed by depression and paranoia at age 21. The score fuses the melodies by Rachmaninoff and Malloy for a powerful meditation on the healing power of music. Tickets are £15, approximately $21.
Metropolitan Opera Stars Live in Concert: Wagnerians in Concert
On Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents a quartet of superstar vocalists performing soaring selections by Wagner and Strauss live from the glorious Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany. Accompanied by piano, sopranos Christine Goerke and Elza van den Heever, tenor Andreas Schager and baritone Michael Volle will sing excerpts from Tannhäuser, Parsifal, Die Walküre, Die Frau ohne Schatten as well as Wagner's complete Wesendonck Lieder. Tickets are $20 and a recording will be viewable until Friday, May 21.
Broadway Stories & Songs: Betsy Wolfe
On Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, Tony-winning orchestrator and music director, Ted Sperling, kicks off his new online concert series Broadway Stories & Songs, showcasing the talents and tales of New York stage favorites. His inaugural guest is Betsy Wolfe, best known for her performances in Waitress and Bullets Over Broadway. In addition to sharing backstage stories from her career, she'll croon tunes from The Last Five Years, Into the Woods and other beloved shows. Tickets are $25.
Feinstein's/54 Below: Marilyn Maye: Broadway, the Maye Way
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, Feinstein's/54 Below presents cabaret great Marilyn Maye in her brand-new concert Broadway, the Maye Way. Recorded at the club last month around Maye's 93rd birthday, the show features the legend singing numbers from the golden age of Broadway backed by her world-class jazz trio. Tickets are $35 and the recording is viewable until Saturday, May 29.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center: Revelations Reimagined
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center presents Revelations Reimagined, a film directed by choreographer Preston Miller about Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's signature work. When Revelations turned 60 last year, live dance performances were verboten due to the pandemic. So Miller shot dancers doing the piece in the gardens of Wave Hill and other evocative locales, and juxtaposed that footage with rarely seen clips from a 1962 television special of Revelations. It's a treat for dance lovers. RSVP to receive the free viewing link.
Working Theater: Missing Them
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, more than 32,000 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Over the past year, the local news site The City has been memorializing these souls in the collaborative journalism project Missing Them, which invites people to share anecdotes about and photos of their deceased loved ones from NYC. Now Reza Salazar (Sweat on Broadway) and Anjali Tsui (an editor at The City) have turned these tributes into a live-streamed show for Working Theater. It promises to be a powerful evening. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish but donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Madama Butterfly
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Madama Butterfly, Puccini's beloved tragedy about a young geisha (Patricia Racette) abandoned by her lover, a callous American naval officer (Marcello Giordani). Anthony Minghella staged this 2009 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Wozzeck, until noon ET today.
ONE Archives Foundation: The Normal Heart
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, the LGBTQ nonprofit ONE Archives Foundation presents a one-night-only virtual reading of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's groundbreaking autobiographical play about the early days of the AIDS epidemic in New York City. Emmy winner Paris Barclay directs a predominately BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) and LGBTQ cast, including Sterling K. Brown, Laverne Cox, two-time Tony nominee Jeremy Pope, Vincent Rodriguez III, Guillermo Díaz and Jake Borelli. Afterward, stick around for a live Q&A with the actors. Tickets start at $20.
TheaterWorks Hartford: Christiane Noll: Coming Alive Again
Starting on Sunday, Connecticut's TheaterWorks Hartford presents Tony nominee Christiane Noll in Coming Alive Again, an intimate and optimistic cabaret about returning to a new normal. The Broadway favorite will talk candidly about the challenges of navigating motherhood during a pandemic and perform songs from a few of the Broadway shows she's known for, Dear Evan Hansen and Ragtime, as well as numbers from Follies, Bridges of Madison County, Company, Fun Home, Grey Gardens, Hello, Dolly!, Jagged Little Pill, Next to Normal and Wicked. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Monday, May 31.
The Seth Concert Series: Christine Pedi
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 Christine Pedi. An incredible impressionist known for her performances in Forbidden Broadway (her Liza is to die for!) and NEWSical the Musical, she's also a fabulous cabaret singer in her own right. Her Broadway roles include Mama Morton in Chicago, and on Saturdays she goes up against Rudetsky on SiriusXM's The Dueling Divas. Expect her to channels lots of fabulous voices... including her own spectacular belt. Tickets are $25. The 3 p.m. performance is live; 8 p.m. is the replay.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center: Revelations Reimagined
On Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center presents Revelations Reimagined, a film directed by choreographer Preston Miller about Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's signature work. When Revelations turned 60 last year, live dance performances were verboten due to the pandemic. So Miller shot dancers doing the piece in the gardens of Wave Hill and other evocative locales, and juxtaposed that footage with rarely seen clips from a 1962 television special of Revelations. It's a treat for dance lovers. RSVP to receive the free viewing link.
Cry by Alvin Ailey
On Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents a new digital performance of Cry, the namesake choreographer's iconic 17-minute solo created for his muse Judith Jamison in 1971, now danced by Jacqueline Green on the piece's 50th anniversary. Divided into three parts set to Alice Coltrane's "Something about John Coltrane," Laura Nyro's "Been on a Train" and The Voices of East Harlem's "Right on. Be Free," the dance was a gift for Ailey's mother for her birthday, so its resurrection Mother's Day weekend is impeccably timed. Watch for free on the troupe's website.
Andrea Marcovicci: Spring Song
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, cabaret legend Andrea Marcovicci celebrates the season with an uplifting concert featuring tunes by Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer and other American Songbook greats. Brad Ellis accompanies her on piano. Watch for free until Saturday, May 15 on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
Working Theater: Missing Them
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, more than 32,000 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Over the past year, the local news site The City has been memorializing these souls in the collaborative journalism project Missing Them, which invites people to share anecdotes about and photos of their deceased loved ones from NYC. Now Reza Salazar (Sweat on Broadway) and Anjali Tsui (an editor at The City) have turned these tributes into a live-streamed show for Working Theater. It promises to be a powerful evening. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish but donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Agrippina
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Agrippina, Handel's satirical take on the games the people surrounding Roman emperor Claudius play, including his wife, portrayed by Joyce DiDonato. Sir David McVicar's mounting was recorded in early 2020 and costars Brenda Rae, Kate Lindsey, Iestyn Davies, Duncan Rock and Matthew Rose. 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.
The New Group: Waiting for Godot
Off Broadway trailblazer The New Group presents its inaugural digital production: Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot featuring Ethan Hawke and John Leguizamo as Vladimir and Estragon. Helmed by the troupe's artistic director, Scott Elliott, and shot in isolation at the actors' respective homes, this play is a perfect fun-house-mirror reflection of our pandemic times as we all await change, both personal and global. Tickets start at $20 and the recording is viewable until Wednesday, June 30. Closed captions will be available beginning Tuesday, May 11.
Great Barrington Public Theater: Four American Women
Massachusetts' Great Barrington Public Theater presents Four American Women, a quartet of brand-new monologues by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow) featuring the eclectic stories of an aviator, a lawyer, a psychiatrist and real-life journalist Dorothy Kilgallen. Heidi Sulzman, Yolonda Ross and Mamet's wife Rebecca Pidgeon bring these diverse voices to life. Tickets are $24 but use promo code FOURTDF2021 to buy $11 tickets. The recording is viewable until Sunday.
Feinstein's/54 Below: Jeremy Jordan: Carry On
Feinstein's/54 Below presents Newsies Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan in Carry On, a profoundly personal concert that explores his life as a father as well as his own complex childhood. Although the show debuted in 2020 before the shutdown, this edition has been reimagined for digital consumption and was recorded on stage during the pandemic at the celebrated cabaret club. The lineup includes numbers from the musicals he's known for, including the TV series Smash, plus pop songs and personal favorites. Tickets are $35 and the recording is viewable until Thursday, May 27.
Roundabout Theatre Company: The Refocus Project: I Gotta Home
Roundabout Theatre Company partners with Black Theatre United for The Refocus Project, an initiative to diversify the canon of classic plays. The program kicks off with a series of readings of undersung works by 20th-century Black dramatists. The third play is Shirley Graham Du Bois' I Gotta Home, a drama about the family of Reverend Cobb, who believe his long-lost sister is heir to a fortune. But when she reconnects with her kin, they uncover all kinds of secrets. The unpublished work had a 1940 production by the Gilpin Players at Western Reserve University and Du Bois was praised for her promise. But her marriage to W. E. B. Du Bois and political activism took her abroad and away from the theatre. Steve H. Broadnax III directs a large ensemble cast, headlined by Wendell B. Franklin, Latrice Royale and Broadway vet Keith Randolph Smith. RSVP to receive the free viewing link but donations to Black Theatre United are encouraged. The recording is viewable until Monday.
The Secret Garden Workshop
In 1991, Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon's musicalization of Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved children's novel The Secret Garden was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including best musical. Over the decades, there have been rumors of revivals, most recently in 2018 when Tony winner Warren Carlyle staged a workshop of the show starring Broadway favorites Sierra Boggess, Drew Gehling, Amber Iman, Adam Chanler-Berat and Ali Ewoldt, alongside Brooklyn Shuck as the young protagonist. Now Broadway on Demand is sharing a recording of that industry-only performance. Tickets start at $10 and the recording is viewable until Sunday. Proceeds benefit The Dramatists Guild Foundation and The Actors Fund.
The Joyce Theater: Limon Dance Company
Chelsea dance haven The Joyce continues its digital season with lauded modern dance troupe Limon Dance Company. The program includes classics by cofounder José Limon, The Moor's Pavane (1949) and There Is a Time (1956), alongside Chafin Seymour's Suite Donut, which was commissioned last year. 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, May 19.
San Francisco Ballet: Romeo and Juliet
California's acclaimed San Francisco Ballet presents Romeo and Juliet choreographed by the troupe's artistic director, Helgi Tomasson. This archival recording of Prokofiev's passionate ballet features Davit Karapetyan and Maria Kochetkova as the star-crossed lovers. Tickets are $29 and the recording is viewable until Wednesday, May 26.
Irish Repertory Theatre: Little Gem
On Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8, and Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, it's your last chance to catch Irish Rep's Little Gem, Elaine Murphy's delicate play about three North Dublin women from different generations, each facing a major life change. Brenda Meaney, Lauren O'Leary and four-time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason reprise their critically acclaimed performances from the theatre's hit 2019 production, with each actor taping her part remotely. Marc Atkinson Borrull once again directs. Tickets are required to receive the free viewing link though a $25 donation is suggested. Closed captions are available.
Bedlam: Mary Stuart
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Bedlam, a NYC theatre company lauded for its reinventions of classics (Sense & Sensibility, The Crucible), presents Mary Stuart, Friedrich Schiller's history play about the power struggle between Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I of England. Directed by Zachary Elkind and recorded in his fourth-floor Brooklyn apartment, the drama has been adapted for a cast of four, with Shirine Babb and Violeta Picayo as the warring royals. All performances are followed by a post-show talkback with the cast. Tickets are $30.
Sing for Hope Virtual Performances
Since 2006, Sing for Hope has been bringing the power of live music to unexpected places such as hospitals, care facilities, schools, refugee camps, transit hubs and community spaces all over the world. (You may have seen our video of a Sing for Hope concert at the Javits Center as one of our TDF staffers got vaccinated!) Now the nonprofit is expanding its reach with Open Arts, a series of live-streamed performances you can watch online from anywhere. The virtual calendar is packed with eclectic offerings, including 45-minute online concerts with Broadway vets every weekday at 4 p.m. ET. To watch, you must sign up for a free account with the org.
All Arts: Whitman in the Woods
Celebrate spring with drag legend, MacArthur genius and Pulitzer finalist Taylor Mac as he performs the poetry of Walt Whitman in Whitman in the Woods. Recorded outdoors in the Lower Hudson Valley, this fabulous short features Mac in a stunning array of nature-inspired costumes as he recites the words of the groundbreaking poet and gay icon. Watch for free on All Arts' website.
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Raven Snook is the Editor of TDF Stages. Follow her at @RavenSnook. Follow TDF at @TDFNYC.
Top image: Ethan Hawke, who's starring opposite John Leguizamo in a new digital production of Waiting from Godot for The New Group.
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