15 Stage Performances to Watch Today, December 1
Manhattan Theatre Club: Ball Change
At 2 p.m. ET, Manhattan Theatre Club continues its virtual reading series with Ball Change, Brittany K. Allen‘s time-traveling examination about how modes of communication evolve and shape society. Margot Bordelon directs. Watch for free until Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on MTC’s YouTube channel.
Irish Repertory Theatre: Plaguey Hill
At 7 p.m. ET, the intrepid Irish Rep presents Plaguey Hill, a brand-new piece by Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Paul Muldoon performed by Tony winner Liev Schreiber. Written this past spring, the lyrical work parallels New York at the height of COVID-19 with the 1830s cholera epidemic in Belfast. Watch for free on Irish Rep’s YouTube channel though a $10 donation is suggested.
The Metropolitan Opera: Aida
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: legendary diva Leontyne Price in her farewell performance as Aida. Fiorenza Cossotto, James McCracken and Simon Estes costar in this 1985 milestone. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Eugene Onegin, until 6:30 p.m today.
At 8 p.m. ET, The 24 Hour Plays, which has been sharing timely Viral Monologues throughout the pandemic, presents its 20th annual gala featuring six online shorts, all written, rehearsed and performed in one day. Acclaimed dramatists Rachel Axler, J. Holtham, David Lindsay-Abaire, Christopher Oscar Peña, Jonathan Marc Sherman pen the playlets, which are performed by a starry lineup including David Cross, Hugh Dancy, Rachel Dratch, Jesse Eisenberg, Noah Galvin, Clark Gregg, Josh Hamilton, Marcia Gay Harden, Gillian Jacobs, David Krumholtz, Bebe Neuwirth, Solea Pfeiffer, AnnaSophia Robb and Michael Zegen. Tickets start at $30.
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TheaterWorks Hartford: Christmas on the Rocks
Deck the halls with tales of folly with Christmas on the Rocks, TheaterWorks Hartford‘s irreverent holiday staple. Conceived and directed by Rob Ruggiero, it’s a cavalcade of Christmas jeer as iconic kid characters from holiday movies and specials share their woes in satirical shorts. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Thursday, December 31. Closed captions are available.
Jefferson Mays in A Christmas Carol
Jefferson Mays is a master at playing multiple characters in the same show. He won a Tony Award for doing just that in I Am My Own Wife (40 different roles!), and earned a nomination for portraying eight members of the ill-fated D’Ysquith family in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. He’s at it again in this solo adaptation of A Christmas Carol in which he plays everyone from Scrooge to Tiny Tim. Originally mounted at LA’s Geffen Playhouse in 2018, the production was reimagined for digital consumption by director Michael Arden (Once on This Island) and costume and set designer Dane Laffrey, who restaged and recorded it during quarantine at the stunning United Palace theatre in Washington Heights. The result is a fresh and intimate take on Dickens’ timeless tale featuring Mays in a tour-de-force performance—make that performances. Tickets are $50 and a portion of the proceeds goes to TDF! The recording is viewable until Sunday, January 3.
PBS’ Great Performances: Lea Salonga in Concert
PBS’ Great Performances presents Lea Salonga in concert at the Sydney Opera House. Backed by a lavish orchestra, the Tony winner belts out numbers from her three-decade career, including “On My Own” from Les Misérables, “Why, God, Why?” from Miss Saigon and “A Whole New World” from Disney’s animated movie Aladdin. Watch for free until Friday, December 25 on PBS’ website.
MNM Theatre Company: Closer Than Ever
Florida’s MNM Theatre Company presents Closer Than Ever, Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire’s witty musical revue of insightful songs about love and life. Propelled by theme not plot, the show features a cast of four and was filmed live on stage during quarantine in an empty theatre. Director Jonathan Van Dyke‘s clever blocking delivers a sense of intimacy while keeping actors socially distant. Tickets are $20 and the recording is viewable until Thursday, December 31.
Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique
Puppet master Basil Twist presents a recording of his breakthrough show Symphonie Fantastique, an underwater ballet danced by vibrant pieces of fabric, sheets of plastic and other inanimate objects to Berlioz’s title composition. A one-of-a-kind spectacle, this production was filmed during the show’s 20th anniversary run at HERE Arts Center in 2018 and includes behind-the-scenes moments illustrating how the magic is made. Tickets are $20 for a 48-hour rental.
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Top image: Telly Leung in The Nice List.
RAVEN SNOOK