20+ Stage Performances to Watch This Weekend November 6-8
Friday, November 6
Theater of War Productions: Philoctetes and Ajax
On Friday at 2 p.m. ET, Theater of War Productions, a company that uses classical texts to examine contemporary issues, presents a reading of scenes from Philoctetes and Ajax, followed by a town hall-style discussion with the audience. Damian Lewis, Lesley Sharp, Nyasha Hatendi and Jason Isaacs will perform scenes from Sophocles’ tragedies, and then director-adapter Bryan Doerries will facilitate a conversation about how the plays’ themes explore the visible and invisible wounds of war. Tickets are required to receive the free viewing link. This performance won’t be available after-the-fact.
The Shows Must Go On: From Here to Eternity
On Friday at 2 p.m. ET, The Shows Must Go On presents From Here to Eternity, Stuart Brayson and Tim Rice‘s 2013 musicalization of James Jones’ eponymous novel, centering on a US Army sergeant who falls for the wife of his commanding officer during the weeks leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The creators based their show on the uncensored version of the book, and the score features a mix of blues, swing and even rock numbers. Watch for free until Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on YouTube.
Virtual Halston: Margaret Cho
On Friday at 5 p.m. ET, get ready to guffaw when Julie Halston welcomes fellow funny lady Margaret Cho to her weekly chatfest. If you’re looking for folks who tell it like it is, these are your women! Watch for free on YouTube.
Stephen Petronio Company: Virtual Bloodlines Festival
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, NYC choreographer Stephen Petronio continues his multi-year Bloodlines project exploring his modern dance influences with three programs of archival performances. This final digital installment features Rudy Perez‘s Coverage Revisited (1970) and Anna Halprin‘s Courtesan and the Crone (1999). There will be a live post-screening conversation with Petrino and fellow choreographer Wendy Perron. Watch for free until Friday, November 13 online though donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: La Forza del Destino
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: John Dexter‘s mounting of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, starring the legendary Leontyne Price as an ill-fated Spanish noblewoman who loses three of her loved ones before facing her own demise. Giuseppe Giacomini, Leo Nucci and Bonaldo Giaiotti costar in this 1984 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Semiramide, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Stars in the House: Scandal Reunion
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, it’s a Scandal reunion on Stars in the House! No, not the TV show. This episode is all about the never-opened musical of that title, staged by late A Chorus Line genius Michael Bennett and starring Priscilla Lopez, Trish Ramish and Treat Williams, who’ll all dish on the Scandal-ous experience. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
Great Performances: James Corden in One Man, Two Guvnors
On Friday at 9 p.m. ET, PBS Great Performances presents James Corden in One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean‘s uproarious swinging ’60s adaptation of a commedia dell’arte classic about a not-so-smooth operator trying to juggle two jobs. If you need a laugh (don’t we all right now?), don’t miss Corden in his hilariously exhausting Tony-winning performance. Watch for free until Friday, December 4 on PBS’ website.
Saturday, November 7
La MaMa Love Global Gala
On Saturday at 11 a.m. ET, East Village mainstay La MaMa presents its Love Global Gala, with avant-garde artists from around the world saluting the experimental institution on the birthday of its late founder, Ellen Stewart. Actor Bill Pullman and his wife, dancer Tamara Hurwitz host the shindig, with cutting-edge performances by composer Philip Glass, dancer Bobbi Jene Smith, downtown multihyphenate Joshua William Gelb and Hadestown associate choreographer Katie Rose McLaughlin, actor Aroji Otieno and many others. Tickets start at $25.
The Metropolitan Opera: Roméo et Juliette
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Roméo et Juliette, Charles Gounod’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy about ill-fated teenage lovers. Roberto Alagna and Anna Netrebko play the star-crossed couple in this 2007 production, which costars Nathan Gunn and Robert Lloyd. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, La Forza del Destino, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Metropolitan Playhouse: Shell Shock
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Metropolitan Playhouse, an Obie-winning company that revives forgotten plays, presents a reading of Shell Shock, a devastating short by Eugene O’Neill about a World War I hero reflecting on his less-than-courageous motives. Eric Fraisher Hayes directs Rafael Jordan, Willem Long and Jed Peterson. Watch for free on the company’s website though donations are encouraged.
Sunday, November 8
This Is Not a Theatre Company: Readymade Cabaret 2.0
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, the boundary-busting This Is Not a Theatre Company presents Readymade Cabaret 2.0, an interactive, Dada-inspired experience that can’t go on without you. That’s because the audience decides which sequences of drama, art, poetry and music will happen by rolling dice. Take a chance on art—literally! Tickets are available from the theatre but TDF members get a discount.
Play-PerView: Armie Hammer in Sundogs
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, in honor of Veterans Day, Play-PerView presents a live reading of Howard Emanuel‘s drama Sundogs, featuring movie star Armie Hammer as a US Army sergeant haunted by the sound of drums beating in his head. Heather Arnson directs, and Jordan Bridges, Jenn Gambatese, Maurice Jones, Tobias Segal and Grace Porter costar. Tickets start at $5 and benefit The WDA and Stop Soldier Suicide.
The Metropolitan Opera: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Otto Schenk‘s staging of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Wagner’s epic comedy starring Michael Volle as Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet at the center of this tale of love, art and age. Annette Dasch, Johan Botha and Paul Appleby costar in this 2014 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Roméo et Juliette, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
All Weekend
The Shows Must Go On: Simon Callow in Being Shakespeare
Since theatres shut down, the UK-based The Shows Must Go On series has been screening musicals on weekends. But for the month of November, they’re adding weekly streams of starry Shakespearean productions. First up is the one-man play Being Shakespeare featuring acclaimed stage and screen actor Simon Callow. Jonathan Bate‘s script fuses the Bard’s biography with some of his greatest poetry, performed beautifully by Callow, a seasoned classical theatre artist. Watch for free until Sunday on YouTube.
Little Wars
British stage and screen star Juliet Stevenson headlines Little Wars, a play by Steven Carl McCasland about a sextet of real-life sheroes—Lillian Hellman, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas and antifascist agent Muriel Gardiner—hobnobbing at a pre-WWII soiree. Stevenson plays Hellman and Sophie Thompson, Linda Bassett, Debbie Chazen, Natasha Karp, Catherine Russell and Sarah Solemani round out the cast. Tickets are £12, approximately $16.
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Top image: James Corden in One Man, Two Guvnors. Photo by Johan Persson.
RAVEN SNOOK