20+ Stage Performances to Watch Friday Through Sunday, August 21-23
Friday, August 21
Virtual Halston: Mercedes Ruehl and Michael Urie
On Friday at 5 p.m. ET, Julie Halston, and longtime friend to TDF, welcomes Mercedes Ruehl and Michael Urie to her weekly chatfest. The duo costarred as overbearing Jewish mother and son in the recent Tony-nominated revival of Torch Song, so we expect this to be a hilarious reunion. Watch for free on YouTube.
BOLD 2020: Ten-Minute Play Festival
On Friday at 6 p.m. ET, BOLD 2020, a new festival of shorts written and directed by Black women, continues with Lakhiyia Hicks‘ Sermon I Wish I’d Heard and Chanel Carroll‘s Choices, both directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones. Watch for free on YouTube.
Kinesis Project: Breathing with Strangers
On Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET, dance-theatre company Kinesis Project reimagines its waterfront work Breathing with Strangers as a series of solos and duets, performed live and streamed online. Tonight, Nicole Truzzi dances the piece at the intersection of three rivers in Pittsburgh. On Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET, Claudia Lynn Rightmire performs it in upstate New York. Watch for free on the dance troupe’s website.
Newsies the Musical
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, seize the day by watching Newsies on Playbill.com. The Tony-nominated musical was filmed in LA in 2016 with original stars Jeremy Jordan, Kara Lindsay, Ben Fankhauser and Andrew Keenan-Bolger joined by Steve Blanchard, Aisha de Haas and Ethan Steiner. An expansion of the 1992 movie musical about turn-of-the-20th-century paperboys going up against Joseph Pulitzer, the show features catchy songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, a charming book by Harvey Fierstein, Christopher Gattelli’s exhilarating choreography and direction by Jeff Calhoun. Stick around after the stream for interviews with cast members. Watch for free for eight hours on Playbill.com but donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
In a Dark Dark House
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, catch a live reading of In a Dark Dark House, Neil LaBute‘s chilling drama about two estranged brothers who reunite and dredge up their traumatic past. Alison Tanney directs Nick Gaswirth, Tim Realbuto and Laurissa Romain, and there’s a Q&A with the cast and playwright following the performance. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Simon Boccanegra
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, with Plácido Domingo in the title role, a man plagued by political and personal problems. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani and James Morris costar in this 2010 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Un Ballo in Maschera, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
The Tank: meet you at the Galaxy Diner.
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, indie theatre incubator The Tank presents a reading of meet you at the Galaxy Diner., a new play by Gina Femia about a pair of long-lost high school pals who reconnect via AOL Instant Messenger. Tickets start at $10.
The King and I with Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe
On Friday at 9 p.m. ET, PBS Thirteen is airing Lincoln Center Theater’s Tony-winning revival of The King and I, a tuneful tale of a 19th-century culture clash that blossoms into understanding and affection. Ken Watanabe stars as the obstinate King of Siam opposite Tony winner Kelli O’Hara as Anna, the British schoolteacher who changes his life. Watch on TV on PBS Thirteen. This won’t be available after-the-fact.
Saturday, August 22
TADA! Youth Theater: Games Changers
On Saturday at 11 a.m. ET, TADA!, NYC’s 35-year-old, Drama Desk Award-winning youth company whose alums include Jordan Peele and Kerry Washington, is sharing recordings of its original shows for families. Inspired by ’90s kids game shows, Game Changers is a charming musical about a half dozen disparate contestants, who learn that they need to work together in order to win. The production stars talented tykes ages 8 to 18 who are members of TADA!’s Resident Youth Ensemble—including my daughter (she’s Tracy, the girl in the box). Watch for free on TADA!’s YouTube channel.
Barrington Stage Company: Judgment Day
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, Barrington Stage Company streams a star-studded reading of Judgment Day, an over-the-top comedy by veteran TV writer/producer Rob Ulin. Jason Alexander stars as a shady lawyer, who’s scared into trying to change by a domineering angel, played by an acerbic Patti LuPone. Santino Fontana costars as a priest in crisis, and the rest of the cast includes Loretta Devine, Elizabeth Stanley and Michael McKean. If this trailer is any indication, prepare for irreverent laughs. Donate $35 or more to receive the viewing link; the recording will remain available through Wednesday, August 26.
The Metropolitan Opera: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: John Cox’s sparkling 1988 mounting of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini’s comic masterpiece about Figaro, a resourceful barber who helps a couple out of a hairy situation. Leo Nucci stars as the title character and Kathleen Battle and Rowell Blake are the young lovers. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Simon Boccanegra, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Sunday, August 23
Stars in the House Presents 13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview and Variations on a Theme
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, Stars in the House continues its live reading series for young audiences with a pair of one-acts about leaving the nest for higher education: Ian McWethy’s 13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview and Ed Monk’s Variations on a Theme. Watch for free on YouTube.
The Metropolitan Opera: Hansel and Gretel
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares its 1982 mounting of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, with Frederica von Stade and Judith Blegen as the mischievous siblings who have a tasty run-in with Rosalind Elias‘s witch. Nathaniel Merrill directed this English-language production, which features eye-popping design by Robert O’Hearn. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
All Weekend
Black Lives, Black Words International Project: Plays for the People: Buffafly Precinct
Friday through Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Black Lives, Black Words International Project presents Buffafly Precinct, a passionate new piece written and directed by Shá Cage, about two young Black girls carrying dark secrets and a jar of butterflies who get caught up in George Floyd’s murder and its aftermath. Ashe Jafaaru, Ava Saunders and Javari Horne star. Tickets are $17.
Great Performances: Kevin Kline in Present Laughter
It’s your last weekend to catch Moritz von Stuelpnagel‘s effervescent 2017 mounting of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter starring Kevin Kline, who earned his third Tony Award for portraying narcissistic actor Garry Essendine, plagued by midlife fears, an uncontrollable libido and obsessed fans. Kate Burton, Kristine Nielsen and Cobie Smulders costar. Watch for free until Friday, August 28 on PBS’ website.
And So We Come Forth: The Apple Family: A Dinner on Zoom
It’s also your last weekend to see And So We Come Forth, Tony-winning director and playwright Richard Nelson‘s latest of-the-moment drama centered on his fictional Apple Family. From 2010 to 2013, Nelson mounted one hyper-realistic play a year about this Rhinebeck, New York clan as they grappled with national milestones such as the 10th anniversary of September 11, the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama and the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. This past April, as the COVID-19 pandemic peaked in New York, the Apples reunited for What Do We Need to Talk About?, a Zoom call in quarantine. Once again, the four siblings and one boyfriend, played by the cast of the original tetralogy—Tony winner Maryann Plunkett, Sally Murphy, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders and Stephen Kunken—assuage their isolation via technology, as they discuss how they’re faring. Watch for free until Wednesday, August 26 on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
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Top image: Jeremy Jordan in Newsies the Musical. Photo by Deen Van Meer.
RAVEN SNOOK