15+ Stage Performances to Watch January 21

St. Ann’s Warehouse: The Approach
At 2:15 p.m. ET, Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse continues bringing some of the UK’s best theatre to US audiences with a live-stream of The Approach, Mark O’Rowe‘s enigmatic play about three women (Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty and Aisling O’Sullivan) telling different but interconnected tales. The production will be performed live on stage at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre and broadcast to international audiences. Tickets start at €15, approximately $18.

Old Vic: Michael Sheen in Faith Healer
At 2:30 p.m. ET, last year, London’s Old Vic presented a series of starry shows performed live on stage to an empty auditorium; now the theatre is offering encore streams. Today, catch Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, a powerful play about the dramatic life of Hardy, portrayed by Michael Sheen. This story about faith and fragility unfolds through a series of monologues delivered by Hardy, his wife (Indira Varma) and his longtime manager (David Threlfall). Tickets start at £10, approximately $14. Audio description and closed captions are available.

Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: The Scourge and The Gifts You Gave to the Dark
Since 2008, Origin Theatre Company has presented the annual Origin 1st Irish Festival featuring readings, productions and panels. This year the event goes virtual with daily offerings through the end of the month. On Thursday, catch two mainstage shows:

• At 3 p.m. ET, Wexford Arts Center presents The Scourge, Michelle Dooley Mahon‘s autobiographical solo drama about her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s and how it impacted their tight-knit Irish family. Former Abbey Theatre head Ben Barnes directs. Tickets are $10.
• At 8 p.m. ET, Irish Rep presents The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, Darren Murphy‘s moving one-act about the final Zoom conversation between Tom, sick in Belfast with COVID-19, and his elderly mother Rose, who’s on her deathbed in Dublin. Seán McGinley, Marty Rea and The Beauty Queen of Leenane Tony winner Marie Mullen star, Caitríona McLaughlin directs. Tickets are $10.

The Metropolitan Opera: La Traviata
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, Norma, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Saving Wonderland: A Seize the Show Experience
At 8 p.m. ET, go down the rabbit hole with Seize the Show‘s interactive adventure featuring Lewis Carroll’s iconic Alice in Wonderland characters. This family show takes place live on Zoom as audiences solve puzzles to move the story forward. Multiple endings are possible, so log on ready to participate. Tickets start at $13.

Not a Moment, But a Movement: Crowndation
At 8 p.m. ET, LA’s Center Theatre Group partners with Watts Village Theatre and NYC’s The Fire This Time Festival for Not a Moment, But a Movement, a series of virtual events spotlighting Black artists. It kicks off with a reading of Angelica Chéri‘s one-person play Crowndation about a young woman who’s pulled in different directions by her faith, her sexuality and a secret she discovers about her dad. Tickets are $10 and the recording is viewable until Monday, March 22.

The Exponential Festival: Lucky Star: superstar
At 8 p.m. ET, every January since 2016, The Exponential Festival has showcased cutting-edge works mostly on Brooklyn stages. For its sixth annual edition, the event goes virtual with performances by some of the most exciting theatre-makers in the digital space. Tonight, Pioneers Go East Collective presents Lucky Star: superstar, an installation inspired by icons of NYC’s ’70s performance art scene. Watch for free on the fest’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

San Francisco Ballet: George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
At 9 p.m. ET, San Francisco Ballet kicks off its new digital season with a recording of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which had its run cut short due to the pandemic last year. Based on Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy about love, magic and manipulation, the ballet features a lovely score by Felix Mendelssohn and was the first full-length ballet choreographed by George Balanchine. Tickets are $29 and the recording is viewable until Wednesday, February 10.

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Opéra-Comique in Paris: Titon et l’Aurore
Here’s something you don’t see every day, a brand-new production streamed directly from Opéra-Comique in Paris! Award-winning puppet master Basil Twist (Symphonie Fantastique) directs Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville’s rarely staged 1753 fable Titon et l’Aurore, about the relationship between a shepherd (Reinoud Van Mechelen) and a goddess (Gwendoline Blondeel). Although the opera’s in-person run this month was canceled due to COVID, the venue produced it live on stage to an empty house and recorded the performance. Watch for free until Monday, April 19 on Medici TV though you need to create an account.

The Metropolitan Opera: Carmen
Ever since the shutdown began, the Metropolitan Opera has been sharing productions from its Live in HD series nightly at 7:30 p.m. ET. But it also presents weekly student streams that debut on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. ET. These productions have been specially selected for families, and Zoom education sessions leading up to the screening teach school-age kids about opera. This week’s offering is Richard Eyre‘s thrilling mounting of Bizet’s Carmen, featuring Elina Garanca as the title character, who captivates all the men around her. Filmed in 2010, the production was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, and costars Barbara Frittoli, Roberto Alagna and Teddy Tahu Rhodes. Watch for free until Friday at 5 p.m. ET on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.

New York Theatre Workshop: The Wright Stuff
New York Theatre Workshop presents The Wright Stuff, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright‘s new interview series of one-on-one chats with some of the most insightful and hilarious political commentators of our time: comedians. The five-episode series features talks with New Yorker satirist Andy Borowitz, Daily Show alum Aasif Mandvi, CBS Sunday Morning special correspondent Nancy Giles, irreverent stage and screen scribe Paul Rudnick, and Late Night with Seth Meyers‘ writer Jenny Hagel. Watch the series for free on NYTW’s YouTube channel.

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Top image: Ann Harada, who’s hosting a cabaret benefiting The Actors Fund.

RAVEN SNOOK