20 Stage Performances to Watch This Weekend June 18-20

Friday, June 18

The Queerly Festival: FRIGID Fridays: Staying Social
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, The Queerly Festival, an annual showcase of cutting-edge LGBTQ artists, is being held in person at the Kraine Theater in the East Village, but performances are also being streamed to at-home audiences. Tonight, enjoy an LGBTQ-themed edition of this monthly variety show, featuring music, storytelling, sketches and other entertainments. Tickets are $10.

The Metropolitan Opera: Rigoletto
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: its thrilling 1981 production of Verdi’s Rigoletto, with Louis Quilico as the title character, a court jester who tries to protect his innocent daughter (Christiane Eda-Pierre) from Luciano Pavarotti‘s lascivious Duke. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Idomeneo, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Saturday, June 19

The Metropolitan Opera: Don Carlo
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi’s Don Carlo, about a love triangle between the title Spanish crown prince (Roberto Alagna), the daughter of the King of France (Marina Poplavskaya) and Don Carlo’s father, King Philip II (Ferruccio Furlanetto), who wants the lady for himself. Tony-winning director Nicholas Hytner made his Met debut with this 2010 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Rigoletto, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Step Afrika! Juneteenth Virtual Celebration
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Step Afrika!, a troupe that blends percussive, contemporary and traditional African dance, presents a virtual Juneteenth celebration featuring three world premieres: Trane, Little Rock Nine and The Movement. Created and filmed outdoors during the pandemic, these powerful pieces explore the determination, resilience and reclamation of freedom that are part of the African-American experience. Watch for free on Step Afrika!’s YouTube channel.

Sunday, June 20

The Metropolitan Opera: Luisa Miller
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: Nathaniel Merrill‘s 1979 mounting of Verdi’s Luisa Miller, with Renata Scotto as the title romantic, who’s head over heels for Plácido Domingo‘s Rodolfo, but his father (Bonaldo Giaiotti) and a blackmailer (James Morris) derail their happily ever after. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Don Carlo, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Zero Gravity (zero-G) Lab: chekhovOS / an experimental game/
On Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Zero Gravity (zero-G) Lab presents chekhovOS / an experimental game/, an interactive online workshop by virtual performance innovator Igor Golyak that fuses film, theatre and video game technology to explore Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard as well as the Russian dramatist’s life. Tony nominee Jessica Hecht stars and actor and ballet icon Mikhail Baryshnikov appears as Chekhov. This offbeat offering just got a rave review in The New York Times. Log on ready to participate. Tickets are required to receive the free viewing link; donations are encouraged.

All Weekend

The Old Vic: Home?
London’s lauded Old Vic presents Home?, a trio of monologues created by refugee artists, curated by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Tony nominee Noma Dumezweni, who arrived in England as a refugee herself. Then and Now, written by Women for Refugee Women founder Natasha Walter, is performed by British stage legend Harriet Walter; Dina Nayeri‘s Now I’m Gonna Get Paid is done by Betsabeh Emran; and Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s The Displaced is essayed by four actors: Elizabeth Chan, Taheen Modak, John Pfumojena and Michael Phong Le. Watch for free until Sunday on The Old Vic’s website.

Goodman Theatre: Ohio State Murders
On Friday at 8:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, Chicago’s acclaimed Goodman Theatre presents Ohio State Murders, Adrienne Kennedy‘s semi-autobiographical 1992 play about a Black writer who’s invited to talk about the violence in her work at her alma mater. But as she revisit the not-so-safe haven of her academic youth, she unravels heartbreaking truths about the personal impact of racism. Performed live on stage and streamed to an at-home audience, the production is directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene, and stars Eunice Woods and Jacqueline Williams as the writer at different points in her life. Tickets are $25 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. Closed captions are available at the Sunday performance.

Lincoln Center Theater: Marys Seacole
Lincoln Center Theater presents Marys Seacole, Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury‘s critically acclaimed play about an ambitious Jamaican woman whose adventures span many countries and eras, from the Crimean War to a modern-day nursing home. A profound exploration of women who are paid to look after others, this fantasia is inspired by the real-life 19th-century nurse and healer Mary Seacole as well as all the caregivers who came after her. This Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 production was recorded on stage in 2019, with Lileana Blain-Cruz directing Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Gabby Beans, Marceline Hugot, Karen Kandel, Ismenia Mendes and Lucy Taylor. . The recording is viewable until Sunday, July 4.

North Coast Repertory Theatre: Becoming Dr. Ruth
California’s North Coast Repertory Theatre presents four-time Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh in Becoming Dr. Ruth, Mark St. Germain‘s inspiring one-woman bio play about the cheery sex therapist and her compelling past, including losing her family in the Holocaust, working as a sniper for the Haganah and finally finding Mr. Right after two divorces. David Ellenstein directs the production, which was filmed live on stage at Bay Street Theater, a co-producer of the show. Tickets start at $35 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, July 11.

East West Players: 1 Hour Photo
On Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, LA’s lauded East West Players presents 1 Hour Photo, Tetsuro Shigematsu‘s rich bio-play chronicling the remarkable times of Mas Yamamoto, from his adolescence in a Canadian World War II incarceration camp to his life as a scientist, businessman and father. A digital reinvention of Shigematsu’s award-winning 2019 play, this 75-minute cinematic adaptation will be followed by a live post-show talkback. Tickets are $35. ASL interpretation is available at the Friday night performance.

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Top image: Christopher Jackson in After Midnight, which is streaming until early August. Photo by Christopher Mueller.

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