20+ Stage Performances to Watch This Labor Day Weekend, September 4-7
Friday, September 4
The Metropolitan Opera: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents James Robinson‘s lauded production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, which was recorded at the venue just a month before the shutdown. Eric Owens and Angel Blue star as the title couple trying to find happiness on Catfish Row, and the supporting cast includes Alfred Walker, Frederick Ballentine, Latonia Moore, Golda Schultz and Donovan Singletary. This is a breathtaking mounting of a classic, with a Tony-winning creative team and choreography by Camille A. Brown. Watch for free for 48 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Lulu, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Seacoast Repertory Theatre: The Bus Stop
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, New Hampshire’s Seacoast Repertory Theatre presents The Bus Stop, a timely new drama by Najee Brown about five Black women who meet while on their way to visit incarcerated loved ones. The play will be performed live in front of a small in-person audience and streamed to many more online. Tickets are $20.
Latino Theater Co.: The Last Angry Brown Hat
On Friday at 10 p.m. ET, Los Angeles’ Latino Theater Co. presents a live reading of The Last Angry Brown Hat, a new drama by Alfredo Ramos about four former members of the Brown Berets, a ’60s Chicano civil rights group, who reconnect at the funeral of a peer. Robert Beltran of Star Trek: Voyager fame, Mike Gomez, Sal Lopez and Geoffrey Rivas star, and Jose Luis Valenzuela directs. Watch for free on the company’s YouTube channel.
Saturday, September 5
Barrington Stage Company: Harriet Harris in Eleanor
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Pittsfield, Massachusettes’ Barrington Stage Company presents Tony winner Harriet Harris in Eleanor, an evocative bio play about former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. See Friday at 7:30 p.m. above for more info. Tickets are $15.
Sunday, September 6
The Metropolitan Opera: The Tempest
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents The Tempest, composed and conducted by Thomas Adès and based on Shakespeare’s powerful play. Visionary director Robert Lepage helmed this 2012 production, starring Simon Keenlyside as Prospero the sorcerer, whose quest for revenge softens when his daughter Miranda (Isabel Leonard) falls in love. Alek Shrader, Alan Oke and Audrey Luna costar. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.
Monday, September 7
The Seth Concert Series: Karen Olivo
On Monday at 3 p.m. ET, if you missed this live concert with Tony-winning Moulin Rouge! star Karen Olivo yesterday, you can watch a recording today. See Sunday at 8 p.m. above for more info. Tickets are $25.
The Metropolitan Opera: Manon
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera kicks off its French week with Massenet’s Manon, starring Anna Netrebko as a naive country girl turned ill-fated courtesan. Piotr Beczala, Paulo Szot and David Pittsinger costar in Laurent Pelly‘s lauded 2012 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, The Tempest, until 6:30 p.m. today.
Bindlestiff Open Stage: Quarantine Edition
On Monday at 8 p.m. ET, after taking August off, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus leaps into fall with a new season of its weekly live-streamed variety show. Hosted by adorkable ringmaster Keith Nelson, this evening’s cavalcade includes hair hanger The Flying Brain, juggler Jon Udry, hula hooper Carolina Cantillo, contortionist Eva Lou Rhinelander and dance trapeze artist Jon Joni. Watch for free on Bindlestiff’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party
On Monday at 8 p.m. ET, cabaret maven Jim Caruso welcomes renowned singers and up-and-comers at Pajama Cast Party, a live-streamed version of his popular weekly Cast Party gatherings that have taken place at Birdland for years. Tonight’s lineup includes Tony-winning Next to Normal composer Tom Kitt and his son Michael, who’ll sing a new tune by his talented dad; Anastasia and Jagged Little Pill star Derek Klena; and Australian musical theatre hunk Stephen Mahy. Watch for free on YouTube though tips via the Venmo app are appreciated.
Available to Watch All Weekend
The Rev Theatre Co.: The Buddy Holly Story
Auburn, New York’s The Rev Theatre Co. presents The Buddy Holly Story, a jukebox musical celebrating the life and music of the title rocker, who died tragically in a plane crash at age 22. Featuring a slew of his ’50s hits, including “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue” and “Not Fade Away,” the show was filmed live at the theatre earlier this summer without an audience. Now it’s being streamed to fans around the globe. Tickets are $15 and the recording is available until Wednesday, September 16.
The Wooster Group: The B-Side
Pioneering avant-garde theatre troupe The Wooster Group shares a recording of its acclaimed 2017 production The B-Side, inspired by the 1965 LP Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons, featuring work songs and spirituals recorded live by inmates in Texas’ then-segregated penitentiaries. Billed as a “record album interpretation,” the singular piece is a collaboration between the company and actor Eric Berryman, who brought the source material to The Wooster Group’s attention. Watch for free until Monday, September 14 on the company’s website.
Latinx New Play Festival
Friday through Sunday, San Diego Repertory Theatre hosts a virtual edition of its annual Latinx New Play Festival, featuring panels, readings of fresh works and a full-fledged performance of Marga Gomez‘s darkly comic memoir Spanking Machine about growing up brown and queer in Washington Heights. The full schedule is on the website. Tickets are pay-what-you-can but $50 for the three-day event is suggested.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel
It’s your last chance to catch the New York Philharmonic‘s 2013 concert staging of Carousel, starring Tony winner Kelli O’Hara as Julie Jordan and opera star Nathan Gunn as Billy Bigelow. The supporting cast is just as impressive, with Tony winner Shuler Hensley as the villainous Jigger, Tony winner Jessie Mueller (a future Julie Jordan) as Carrie Pipperidge opposite Jason Danieley‘s Enoch Snow, Kate Burton as Mrs. Mullin, Tony winner John Cullum (a former Billy Bigelow) as the Starkeeper and Dr. Seldon, and New York City Ballet dancers Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck in the Act II dream ballet. Watch for free until Tuesday, September 8 on Lincoln Center’s YouTube channel.
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Top image: Brandon Victor Dixon in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. Photo courtesy of Peter Kramer/NBC..
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