16 Stage Performances to Watch Today, October 21
The Metropolitan Opera: Don Pasquale
At 5 p.m. ET, 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 Otto Schenk‘s staging of Don Pasquale, starring Anna Netrebko as Norina, the clever young widow who helps teach John Del Carlo‘s Scrooge-like title character much-needed lessons about generosity and love. Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien costar in this 2010 mounting. Watch for free until Friday at 5 p.m. ET on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.
New York Theatre Barn: New Works Series
At 7 p.m. ET, for the past 13 years, New York Theatre Barn has showcased musicals in progress in its New Works Series. That initiative has now gone virtual, with 40-minute peeks at two new projects a week. Tonight, catch excerpts from Jamie Floyd and Mêlisa Annis‘ The King’s Wife, about the imagined friendship between King Henry VIII’s first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Subtitled “an Afrofuturist musical,” AriDy Nox and Brandon Webster‘s Metropolis chronicles the adventures of an android-turned-space-time-continuum-anarchist. Watch for free on New York Theatre Barn’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Così fan tutte
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera‘s week of operatic comedies continues with Phelim McDermott‘s eye-popping 2018 mounting of Così fan tutte, which sets Mozart’s tantalizing comedy of romance and infidelity on Coney Island in the ’50s. Amanda Majeski, Serena Malfi, Ben Bliss and Adam Plachetka star as the young couples, with Tony winner Kelli O’Hara in a supporting role. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, The Merry Widow, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy
At 7:30 p.m. ET, although foreign manipulation of our populace and our elections via social media is no joke, playwright Sarah Gancher mines the phenomenon for dark humor in Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy. Presented by TheaterWorks Hartford and TheatreSquared with an assist from docutheatre masters The Civilians, the play was created specifically for digital consumption and is performed live by Danielle Slavick, Mia Katigbak, Haskell King, Ian Lassiter and Greg Keller, who portray professional internet trolls. Elizabeth Williamson and Jared Mezzocchi codirect. Get ready to ??. Tickets cost (what else?) $20.20.
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The Public Theater: Forward. Together
If you missed The Public Theater‘s starry gala on Tuesday evening, you can still watch a recording. Directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, the event included many unforgettable performances, including Jelani Alladin crooning a new Alan Menken tune from the stage adaptation of Disney’s Hercules; Oscar Isaac strumming his guitar while singing “Symphony” from Two Gentlemen of Verona; Antonio Banderas and Laura Benanti duetting on a Spanish-language version of “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line; Audra McDonald performing “There Will Be A Miracle” from See What I Wanna See; and many charming behind-the-scenes stories from Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Danielle Brooks, John Leguizamo, David Hyde Pierce, Danai Gurira, Meryl Streep, Lin-Manuel Miranda and others about the art and friendships made at the theatre over the decades. Watch for free until Saturday on The Public Theater’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
St. Ann’s Warehouse: Henry IV
Throughout October, Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse presents director Phyllida Lloyd‘s acclaimed Donmar Warehouse Shakespeare Trilogy, starring Tony nominee Harriet Walter and an all-female ensemble as inmates mounting the Bard’s plays in prison, a framing that provides a fresh perspective on familiar works. All three productions were filmed in front of live audiences in 2016, with handheld and GoPro footage edited in to give them a kinetic feel. The series continues with Henry IV, its two parts condensed into two compelling hours, with Walter as the embattled title King. Watch for free until Thursday on St. Ann’s website though donations are encouraged.
Red Bull Theater: Keene
NYC’s Red Bull Theater, known for reinvigorating classics, continues its Othello-centric season with Anchuli Felicia King‘s Keene, about a racially charged conflict between grad students, one of whom is writing his dissertation on Ira Aldridge, the first Black man to play Shakespeare’s Moor. American Shakespeare Center’s Ethan McSweeny directed the reading, which was presented live on Monday night. The Great Society‘s Grantham Coleman, Paul Gross, Carol Halstead, John Harrell, Chris Johnston, Sam Lilja, Amelia Pedlow, Sam Saint Ours, Sarah Suzuki and Sara Topham star. Watch for free until Friday on Red Bull’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
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Top image: Brian Dennehy and Elizabeth Franz in the Goodman Theatre’s 1998 production of Death of a Salesman. Photo by Eric Y. Exit.
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