TDF Stages

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 Friday, February 26 to Sunday, February 28, for free or at low cost.

Friday, February 26

Flushing Town Hall: Black History Trilogy - André De Shields in Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, Queens' Flushing Town Hall marks Black History Month with a trio of Broadway favorites performing tributes to groundbreaking African Americans. Tonight, Hadestown Tony winner André De Shields shares excerpts from his one-man play Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, about the world-changing work of the great emancipator who escaped slavery and became an internationally renowned abolitionist, writer and orator. Watch for free until Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on Flushing Town Hall's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

Play-PerView: The Typists
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, Play-PerView presents a live reading of The Typists, Murray Schisgal's two-hander about a pair of coworkers who become involved in an unlikely romance. Real-life husband and wife Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole star, and the busiest man in showbiz, Austin Pendleton, directs. Tickets start at $10 and net proceeds go to the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Can't make the live performance? For $20, you can watch a recording until Tuesday, March 2 at 11:30 p.m. ET.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Traviata
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents La Traviata, Verdi's romantic tragedy about a courtesan whose chance at true love is thwarted by bourgeois mores. Willy Decker helmed this 2012 mounting, which stars Natalie Dessay and Matthew Polenzani as the ill-fated lovers, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as his disapproving father. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Ernani, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Irish Repertory Theatre: Molly Sweeney
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Tonight, catch 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. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.

Stars in the House: Jerome Robbins' Broadway Cast Reunion
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley host a Jerome Robbins' Broadway cast reunion on Stars in the House. The musical revue celebrating the legendary choreographer, director and producer opened on Broadway 32 years ago tonight. Original cast members Jason Alexander, Tom Robbins, Robert La Fosse and Scott Wise will be joined by members of the creative team, including Scott Frankel, Paul Gemignani and Jerry Mitchell. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.

The Reading Series: Next Fall
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, The Reading Series presents Next Fall, Geoffrey Nauffts' beautiful portrait of a gay couple struggling with issues of faith, family and mortality. Originally seen at Playwrights Horizons, the show transferred to Broadway where it earned a 2010 Tony nomination for best play. Alison Tanney directs Wilson Jermaine Heredia, David A. Gregory, Brandon Contreras, Erin Leddy, Christiane Noll and Robert J. Carroll in this heartrending work. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS are encouraged.

LAByrinth Theater Company: Barn Series 2021
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, NYC's LAByrinth Theater Company continues its weeklong Barn Series 2021 with readings of fresh plays by its talented members. Tonight, catch Rayne, a mystery-filled journey through, love, lust and loss by David Deblinger and Ben Snyder. This is a chance to get a behind-the-scenes peek at one of Off-Off Broadway's hottest theatre companies. Register to receive the free Zoom link, which remains the same for all readings this week.

Saturday, February 27

Romeo & Juliet 2021
On Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET, it's your last chance to fall in love with this new digital mounting of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. A stage-cinema hybrid filmed last year, the production stars Olivier Award winner Sam Tutty and Emily Redpath as the ill-fated lovers; theatre legend Derek Jacobi narrates. Tickets are £20, approximately $28.

Metropolitan Opera Stars Live in Concert: Sonya Yoncheva
On Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera continues its series of live recitals with superstar soprano Sonya Yoncheva performing from Germany's Schussenried Cloister, accompanied by Julien Quentin on piano. The set list includes popular arias from Aida, La Bohème, Rusalka, Carmen and other beloved operas. Tickets are $20 and a recording is viewable until Friday, March 12.

Irish Repertory Theatre: A Touch of the Poet
On Saturday at 3 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Today, catch Eugene O'Neill's compelling immigrant drama A Touch of the Poet, featuring Tony nominee Robert Cuccioli as Con, an Irish-American inn owner near Boston in 1828, clinging to a gentlemanly past that never was. Ciarán O'Reilly directs a cast that includes Ciaran Byrne, Kate Forbes and Mary McCann. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.

Flushing Town Hall: Black History Trilogy - Divine Sass: A Tribute to the Music, Life, and Legacy of Sarah Vaughan
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, Queens' Flushing Town Hall marks Black History Month with a trio of Broadway favorites performing tributes to groundbreaking African Americans. The series wraps up with Tony winner Lillias White channeling celebrated jazz singer Sarah Vaughan in this one-woman bio show. Watch for free until Monday at 7 p.m. ET on Flushing Town Hall's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

New Federal Theatre: Widows
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, in honor of Black History Month, Woodie King Jr.'s half-century-old New Federal Theatre presents readings of important plays from its past. The series wraps up tonight with Mfundi Vundla's Widows, originally produced by the theatre in 1981. Set in the playwright's native South Africa, the drama centers on three women, a peasant, a maid and a revolutionary, who band together to help liberate their homeland from apartheid. Clinton Turner Davis directs Zoleka Vundla, Phindi Wilson and Tanya Nomaziko Zondo. Watch for free until Monday on New Federal Theatre's website though donations are encouraged.

The Seeing Place Theater: Sweat
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, The Seeing Place Theater presents a live Zoom performance of Sweat, Lynn Nottage's devastating drama about how layoffs and picket lines tear apart a tight-knit working-class community in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play was inspired by real-life interviews with denizens of one of the poorest cities in the US. Brandon Walker directs a diverse cast. Tickets start at $10.

An Evening with Ali Stroker
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, New Jersey's Kean Stage presents Ali Stroker in a live virtual concert. After competing on The Glee Project and landing a guest spot on the namesake TV series, the Paper Mill Playhouse-trained performer returned to her first love, the stage, making her Broadway debut in Deaf West Theatre's revival of Spring Awakening in 2015. But it was her fabulous and flirtatious turn as Ado Annie in the 2019 revival of Oklahoma! that turned her into a star and earned her a Tony Award. For this intimate set, she'll belt out tunes by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Carole King and Oklahoma! songwriters Rodgers and Hammerstein. You "Cain't Say No" to this! Tickets are $25 but if you're a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. Live captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation are available.

The Metropolitan Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera , featuring Marcelo Álvarez as a ruler in love with his best friend's wife. Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe and Dmitri Hvorostovsky costar in David Alden's 2012 production, which is styled as a film noir. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, La Traviata, until noon ET today.

Black Theatre Coalition: Upon These Shoulders
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Black Theatre Coalition presents Upon These Shoulders, a celebration of the incredible work Black theatre artists have created over the past 150 years. A jaw-dropping lineup of Black luminaries, including André De Shields, Bebe Winans, Brandon Victor Dixon, Camille A. Brown, Carly Hughes, Daniel J. Watts, Lilli Cooper, Michael R. Jackson, Nathan Lee Graham, Norm Lewis, Paul Tazewell, Raja Feather Kelly, Savion Glover, Shereen Pimentel, Tituss Burgess, Whoopi Goldberg and Wynton Marsalis, will honor their forebears with performances, interviews and tributes. Tickets are $18.

The Directors Company: Chicken and Biscuits
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, The Directors Company presents a live reading of Chicken and Biscuits, a rollicking comedy by Douglas Lyons about the skeletons that emerge at a family funeral. Janet Hubert from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air headlines a cast that includes Broadway vets Carly Hughes and Michael Urie; Zhailon Levingston directs. Tickets start at $10.

Irish Repertory Theatre: Meet Me in St. Louis
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Tonight, catch Meet Me in St. Louis, a charmingly old-fashioned musical based on the cherished MGM movie of the same name. Charlotte Moore, who appeared in the 1989 Broadway mounting of the show, directs a cast led by the honey-voiced Shereen Ahmed in the Judy Garland role, alongside Broadway vets Melissa Errico and Max Von Essen. The glorious score includes "The Trolley Song," "The Boy Next Door" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.

Stars in the House: Seth Rudetsky's Birthday Bash
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, James Wesley throws his husband/Stars in the House cohost Seth Rudetsky a birthday party! The guest list is under wraps, but considering Rudetsky knows everyone on Broadway, expect lots of your favorite stars. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.

Metropolitan Playhouse: The Valliant
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Metropolitan Playhouse, an Obie-winning company that revives forgotten works, presents a reading of The Valliant, Holworthy Hall and Robert Middlemass's harrowing one-act about a murdered on death row who refuses to divulge his identity or his motives. But a last-minute visitor may finally shine a light on his past. Cheryl Black directs Bryson Bruce, John Ottavino, Dewey Caddell, Joseph J. Menino and DeAnna Supplee. Watch for free on the company's YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

LAByrinth Theater Company: Barn Series 2021
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, NYC's LAByrinth Theater Company continues its weeklong Barn Series 2021 with readings of fresh plays by its talented members. Tonight, catch Dani & Joe: A Gen X Love Story, Kristina Poe's drama about the fallout of a destructive decades-long affair. This is a chance to get a behind-the-scenes peek at one of Off-Off Broadway's hottest theatre companies. Register to receive the free Zoom link, which remains the same for all readings this week.

Borne Dance Company Showcase
On Saturday at 9 p.m. ET, NYC's Borne Dance Company presents a collection of new works inspired by the creators' experiences with eating disorders. A celebration of body positivity and self-acceptance, the evening includes dance, music and spoken word performances. Watch for free on the troupe's Facebook page though donations are encouraged.

Sunday, February 28

Irish Repertory Theatre: The Weir
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Today, catch The Weir, Conor McPherson's haunting 1997 drama about a quartet of Irishmen sharing ghost stories at a pub in order to impress a comely lass. The theatre originally mounted the play in 2013; this virtual adaptation reunites director Ciarán O'Reilly with three cast members from that production, Dan Butler, Sean Gormley and John Keating, along with Amanda Quaid and Tim Ruddy, who appeared in its 2015 encore run. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.

The Seth Concert Series: Brian Stokes Mitchell
On Sunday at 3 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 Brian Stokes Mitchell. Although he started out on TV (raise your hand if you remember him on Trapper John, M.D.!), Mitchell is best known for his enchanting Broadway performances in musicals, notably Ragtime, Man of La Mancha and the 1999 revival of Kiss Me, Kate, for which he won a Tony Award. The powerhouse baritone will croon songs from his career and also talk about his role as the longtime chairman of The Actors Fund, which has been a lifeline for out-of-work entertainment industry professionals during the pandemic. Tickets are $25. Note: the 3 p.m. ET concert is performed live, the replay is at 8 p.m. ET.

The Seeing Place Theater: Sweat
On Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, The Seeing Place Theater presents a live Zoom performance of Sweat, Lynn Nottage's devastating drama about how layoffs and picket lines tear apart a tight-knit working-class community in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play was inspired by real-life interviews with denizens of one of the poorest cities in the US. Brandon Walker directs a diverse cast. Tickets start at $10. Can't make the live performance? Starting at 7 p.m. ET, you can watch a recording on demand until Wednesday, March 3.

Borne Dance Company Showcase
On Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, NYC's Borne Dance Company presents a collection of new works inspired by the creators' experiences with eating disorders. A celebration of body positivity and self-acceptance, the evening includes dance, music and spoken word performances. Watch for free on the troupe's Facebook page though donations are encouraged.

Irish Repertory Theatre: YES! Reflections of Molly Bloom
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Tonight, catch YES! Reflections of Molly Bloom, Aedín Moloney's solo adaptation of the "Penelope episode" from James Joyce's Ulysses. This monologue play was a hit at the theatre in 2019 and offers intimate insights into one woman's desires and dreams, with brief musical interludes composed by Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.

The Metropolitan Opera: Il Trovatore
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi's Il Trovatore, starring Yonghoon Lee as Manrico, the passionate troubadour, Anna Netrebko as his lady love and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the evil Count di Luna who stands in the way of their happiness. Sir David McVicar staged this 2015 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera's website. You can still stream yesterday's opera, Un Ballo in Maschera, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

LAByrinth Theater Company: Barn Series 2021
On Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, NYC's LAByrinth Theater Company wraps up its weeklong Barn Series 2021 with a reading of The Undertaking, Chris McGarry's portrait of a small-town mortician. This is a chance to get a behind-the-scenes peek at one of Off-Off Broadway's hottest theatre companies. Register to receive the free Zoom link.

All Weekend

George Street Playhouse: Bad Dates
New Jersey's George Street Playhouse presents a new digital production of Theresa Rebeck's one-woman comedy Bad Dates, about a single mom recounting the dud dates she endured on her quest for Mr. Right. Peter Flynn directed his wife, the effervescent Andréa Burns (Broadway's In the Heights, On Your Feet!) in this romp, which was filmed in their real-life bedroom. Their son, filmmaker Hudson Flynn, serves as cinematographer, making this a funny family affair. 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, March 14. Closed captions and audio description are available.

MasterVoices: Myths and Hymns: Work
MasterVoices presents Work, the second 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 first chapter, Flight, was released last month and can be streamed for free on YouTube. I was absolutely enchanted by the inaugural collection of multimedia musical shorts and I expect to be charmed anew by part II, which stars Broadway favorites Shoshana Bean, Daniel Breaker, Broadway Inspirational Voices founder Michael McElroy and John Lithgow. Watch for free on MasterVoices' YouTube channel; the final two parts will be released in the coming months.

Theatre for a New Audience: First Love
Brooklyn's Theatre for a New Audience presents a stage adaptation of Samuel Beckett's haunting short story First Love, about a loquacious loner who has an unexpected awakening of the heart. Tony nominee Bill Camp brings this literary classic to life under the guidance of Obie-winning director JoAnne Akalaitis. Register to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Monday.

New York City Ballet: Prodigal Son
New York City Ballet kicks off its digital spring season with Prodigal Son, George Balanchine's biblically inspired 1929 ballet set to Sergei Prokofiev's score. Daniel Ulbricht and Teresa Reichlen star in this archival recording. Watch for free until Thursday, March 4 on NYCB's YouTube channel.

National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene: Hava Tequila Cabaret
The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presents Hava Tequila Cabaret starring performers from the company's hit productions of Yiddish Fiddler and The Sorceress. Expect Yiddish standards as well as songs in celebration of Purim, a Jewish holiday that takes place this week. Watch for free until Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on Folksbiene's website.

Center Theatre Group: The Gaze...No Homo
LA's Center Theatre Group presents Larry Powell's The Gaze...No Homo, about a Black queer artist trying to create new work at an overwhelmingly white American theatre festival. Sharon Lawrence, Galen J. Williams, Devere Rogers, Jason Greene, Yvette Cason, Eugene Byrd and TC Carson star in a dozen digital episodes released simultaneously, directed by the playwright, Joanna Strapp, Zhailon Levingston, Satya Bhabha, Reginald L. Douglas, Amber A. Harris, Jonathan McCrory, Bianca Laverne Jones and Lelund Durond Thompson. Watch for free until Sunday on Center Theatre Group's website.

The Mint Theater: Women Without Men
Off Broadway's esteemed Mint Theater Company, which has been unearthing forgotten plays since 1992, presents a recording of Women Without Men, Hazel Ellis' workplace dramedy about the competition between teachers at a girls' boarding school in Ireland in the 1930s. The Mint's 2016 production was a US premiere featured an all-women cast directed by Jenn Thompson. Fill out this Google Form in order to receive the password to watch the show for free until Sunday, March 21 on The Mint's website. You can still watch The Mint's mounting of Katie Roche until Sunday, March 28. Donations are encouraged.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice: The Magical New Musical
On Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET, catch the new British musical The Sorcerer's Apprentice inspired by Goethe's poem of the same name about an aspiring wizard who makes all spells break loose. In Richard Hough and Ben Morales' take on the tale, the title character is actually the conjurer's rebellious daughter, but the pair mend their relationship to save a troubled town. Filmed at London's Southwark Playhouse earlier this month, the production was directed by Charlotte Westenra and stars Dawn Hope, David Thaxton and newcomer Mary Moore. Tickets are £18, approximately $25.

Gatsby a Musical
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET, experience the decadence and disappointment of the roaring '20s in Gatsby a Musical. Director Linnie Reedman adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald's iconic novel for the stage, with songs by Joe Evans. This semi-staged concert was filmed at London's Cadogan Hall during quarantine, and features West End stars Jodie Steele as Daisy Buchanan, Liam Doyle as her husband, Tom, and Ross William Wild as the title character. Tickets are £22, approximately $31.

Songs for a New World
It's your last chance to catch this virtual reimagining of Jason Robert Brown's breakthrough musical revue Songs for a New World, a series of insightful numbers featuring a wide array of characters grappling with pivotal moments in life and love. Filmed remotely last summer, the show was directed by Séimí Campbell and the four-person cast includes Les Misérables Tony nominee Ramin Karimloo and Rachel Tucker, who had just taken over the role of Capt. Beverley Bass in Broadway's Come From Away when theatres shut down. Tickets are £18, approximately $25. 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: André De Shields in his solo show Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, which streams on Friday. Photo by Lia Chang.