21 Stage Performances to Watch November 11-12
Wednesday, November 11
The Metropolitan Opera: La Traviata
On Wednesday 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 La Traviata, Verdi’s romantic tragedy about a courtesan whose chance at true love is thwarted by bourgeois mores. Tony-winning director Michael Mayer helmed this 2018 mounting, which stars Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez as ill-fated lovers, and Quinn Kelsey as his disapproving father. Watch for free until Friday at 5 p.m. ET on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.
ACT of Connecticut: The Last Five Years
On Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, Jason Robert Brown‘s musical dissection of a romance, The Last Five Years, has proven to be a pandemic favorite with multiple productions in the UK and stateside. It makes sense since the two-hander is about disconnection, as the man tells his side of their love story chronologically while the woman recalls their relationship in reverse. This mounting comes courtesy of ACT of Connecticut and is performed live on stage in front of a small in-person audience with many more watching online. Tickets are available from the theatre but TDF members get a discount.
The Metropolitan Opera: La Fanciulla del West
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents La Fanciulla del West, a rootin’-tootin’ romance set during the California Gold Rush, as a charming outlaw wins the heart of a gun-toting saloon owner. Deborah Voigt and Marcello Giordani headline this 2011 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Salome, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Thursday, November 12
London Coliseum: [title of show]
On Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET, the London Coliseum presents a digital reimagining of Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen’s Tony-nominated meta musical [title of show], about two pals named Hunter and Jeff trying to write a tuner on an insanely tight deadline. London stage vets Marc Elliot, Tyrone Huntley, Jenna Russell and Lucie Jones star. Tickets start at £14.75, approximately $20.
PlayCo: Read Subtitles Aloud
On Thursday at 5 p.m. ET, PlayCo and Media Art Xploration debut the interactive online series Read Subtitles Aloud featuring an unlikely star: you. Not only are you the main character, you’re the only live actor in this mind-bending exploration of control, submission and isolation created by Onur Karaoglu and Kathryn Hamilton, who appear in prerecorded segments. No idea what to expect? That’s the point! Register to receive the free viewing link; new episodes are released daily through Monday, November 23.
ACT of Connecticut: The Last Five Years
On Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, Jason Robert Brown‘s musical dissection of a romance, The Last Five Years, has proven to be a pandemic favorite with multiple productions in the UK and stateside. It makes sense since the two-hander is about disconnection, as the man tells his side of their love story chronologically while the woman recalls their relationship in reverse. This mounting comes courtesy of ACT of Connecticut and is performed live on stage in front of a small in-person audience with many more watching online. Tickets are available from the theatre but TDF members get a discount.
Live with Carnegie Hall: Kronos Quartet and Friends
On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Carnegie Hall presents cutting-edge classical ensemble Kronos Quartet in a live concert celebrating the activist songs of the late Pete Seeger, the subject of the group’s tribute album Long Time Passing. Watch for free on Carnegie Hall’s YouTube channel.
The Metropolitan Opera: Lulu
On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Berg’s Lulu about the charismatic title character, who captivates all the men around her. Marlis Petersen stars in William Kentridge’s 2015 production, with Johan Reuter Daniel Brenna, Paul Groves and Franz Grundheber as those under her spell. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, La Fanciulla del West, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
On Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, Mark Morris celebrates his namesake troupe’s 40th anniversary with a quartet of videodances created remotely by the choreographer. Two are based on preexisting Morris pieces, Empire Garden Layla and Majnun; the two premieres are set to Debussy’s Clair de Lune and Conlon Nancarrow’s Piano Sonata. The program includes a special performance by renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and a Q&A with Morris. Register to receive the free viewing link; a $20 donation is suggested.
Available to Watch Both Days
The Shows Must Go On: Fiona Shaw in Richard II
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. This week’s gem is a 1997 recording of the brilliant Fiona Shaw as the peevish title monarch in the rarely mounted tragedy Richard II, helmed by her frequent collaborator Deborah Warner. Watch for free until Sunday on YouTube.
Syracuse Stage: Talley’s Folly
Real-life spouses Jason O’Connell and Kate Hamill, known for costarring in her clever stage adaptations of classic literature, headline Talley’s Folly, Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning two-hander about an unlikely romance in rural Missouri in 1944. The production was recorded live at Syracuse Stage to an empty house, and the lighting design is by TDF Wendy Wasserstein Project mentor Dawn Chiang! Tickets start at $30.
Emilia
Shakespeare’s Globe commissioned Morgan Lloyd Malcolm to write a play inspired by the life of Emilia Bassano, the 17th-century poet and feminist rumored to have been the Bard’s Dark Lady, the subject of some of his bawdiest sonnets. Titled Emilia, the empowering, all-women work was such a critical and commercial hit, it transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre on the West End, and a recording of that production is being streamed until Monday, November 23. Pay-what-you-can tickets start at £1, approximately $1.30. Closed captioning and audio description are available.
Play-PerView: Toni Stone
On Tuesday, Play-PerView presented a live reading of Toni Stone and you can watch a recording until Saturday. Lydia R. Diamond‘s rousing play centers on the title Black athlete, the first woman to play big-league professional baseball alongside men when she joined the Negro American League in 1953. A potent examination of racism and misogyny in America, the show was a hit for the Roundabout Theatre Company last year. This event reunites that production’s director, Pam MacKinnon and cast, led by April Matthis in her superb Obie-winning turn as Toni Stone. Tickets start at $15 and benefit the Negro League Baseball Museum.
George Street Playhouse: Conscience
New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse presents an encore streaming of Conscience about US Senator Margaret Chase, who heroically denounced McCarthyism in her 1950 “Declaration of Conscience” speech. Written by Memphis Tony winner Joe DiPietro, this play was running at the New Brunswick theatre when the shutdown hit. Director David Saint reunites castmates Mark Junek, Lee Sellars, Cathryn Wake and Tony winner Harriet Harris as the courageous Chase for this virtual production. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish but a $25 donation is suggested. The recording is viewable until Sunday.
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Top image: Patti LuPone, who stars in David Mamet’s Boston Marriage.
RAVEN SNOOK