10+ Stage Performances to Watch Online This Weekend April 8-10
While in-person theatre is back in NYC, there are still wonderful shows to stream at home. Below are performances you can watch online this weekend, Friday, April 8 to Sunday, April 10, for free or at low cost.
Saturday, April 9
Sunday, April 10
All Weekend
Baltimore Center Stage: The Folks at Home
On Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, the celebrated Baltimore Center Stage is currently presenting an in-person production of R. Eric Thomas‘ The Folks at Home, but select performances are also being live-streamed to at-home audiences. Inspired by ’70s family sitcoms, this new comedy centers on a down-on-their-luck interracial couple whose lives spiral when all their parents move in. Obie winner Stevie Walker-Webb directs an ensemble cast that includes small-screen star Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle). Tickets are $30.
TheatreSquared: Tiger Style!
Arkansas’ TheatreSquared is currently presenting an in-person production of Mike Lew‘s new comedy Tiger Style!, but you can also watch a recording at home. As adolescents, squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen were academic superstars, but as grown-ups they’re failures at work, love and life. So, they confront their parents about how they were raised. Chongren Fan directs this sharp-witted satire about culture, parenting and the definition of success. Tickets start at $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday.
The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park: Much Ado About Nothing
Get pumped for the upcoming season of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park with its 2020 mounting of Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon and featuring an all-Black cast led by the fabulous Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple, Orange Is the New Black) and Grantham Coleman, this is one of my favorite mountings of the Bard’s romantic comedy, a production that is often hilarious but also highlights the ongoing battle for equality. Watch for free anytime until Thursday, April 28 on PBS’ website.
Christine Lahti in Gloria: A Life
PBS presents Gloria: A Life, Emily Mann‘s vibrant bio-play about feminist icon Gloria Steinem starring Christine Lahti. and is as engaging as it is informative, with insightful recreations of Steinem’s seminal moments such as her 1963 undercover assignment at the Playboy Club, her co-founding of Ms. magazine in 1971 and the 1977 Houston Women’s Conference. A multiracial, all-female ensemble embodies a variety of her peers. Watch for free until Thursday, April 28 on PBS’ website.
Center Theatre Group: I’ll Be Seein’ Ya
Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group presents I’ll Be Seein’ Ya, a new play by two-time Pulitzer finalist Jon Robin Baitz (Other Desert Cities, The Substance of Fire) about what we’ve all just been through. A fragile woman named Allie (played by Oscar and Tony nominee Christine Lahti) recedes into a Hollywood-fueled fantasy world as the chaos of summer 2020 explodes outside her L.A. apartment. How can she face the future in a quickly evolving urban America? Filmed live on stage and directed by Robert Egan, this timely drama costars Justin Kirk as Allie’s chatterbox brother. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, May 1.
Out of the Box Theatrics: The Last Five Years
Last chance! On Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, Out of the Box Theatrics‘ digital reimagining of The Last Five Years was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike in 2021. Now this unique production, which was filmed inside a New York City apartment, is being restreamed for two weeks. Jason Robert Brown‘s musical dissection of a romance is the ultimate he sang, she sang, with the man telling his side of their love story chronologically while the woman recalls their relationship in reverse. Nasia Thomas and Nicholas Edwards star as the ill-fated couple, and celebrated musical director Jason Michael Webb helmed the production. Tickets start at $29.
New Victory Theater: Jabari Dreams of Freedom
NYC’s premiere family theatre, the New Victory, is presenting an in-person production of Jabari Dreams of Freedom, but you can also watch a recording at home. Nambi E. Kelley‘s play centers on Jabari, a modern-day Black teen who connects with Civil Rights greats such as Ruby Bridges and Claudette Colvin in his dreams. Rap, freedom songs, hip-hop dance and humor are threaded into this powerful piece. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, April 17.
Court Theatre: The Lady From the Sea
Last chance! Court Theatre, the professional company of the University of Chicago, presents Richard Nelson‘s new translation of Ibsen’s The Lady From the Sea, about a lighthouse keeper’s daughter torn between her landlocked marriage and the sailor she once loved. Lauded director Shana Cooper helms the production, which was filmed live on stage. Tickets start at $15 and the recording is viewable until Sunday.
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Top image: Cabaret legend Marilyn Maye, who’s performing a concert to celebrate her 94th birthday at Feinstein’s/54 Below, which will be live-streamed to at-home audiences.
RAVEN SNOOK