25 Stage Performances to Watch This Weekend, June 13-14
All Weekend
The Wiz Live!
The Shows Must Go On! screens The Wiz Live!, one of the best live TV musicals of recent years. Charlie Smalls and William F. Brown’s all-Black reinvention of The Wizard of Oz won seven 1975 Tony Awards, including best musical. NBC’s 2015 mounting features a starry cast (Ne-Yo, David Alan Grier, Mary J. Blige and Queen Latifah, to name a handful), Cirque du Soleil acrobats as the Flying Monkeys and a charming performance by teenage newcomer Shanice Williams at its center. Watch for free through Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on YouTube.
The Wilma Theater: Kill Move Paradise
Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater shares a recording of its 2018 mounting of Kill Move Paradise, James Ijames‘ potent play about three Black men and one Black boy who find themselves trapped in a surreal netherworld after being victims of police violence. This indelible work was inspired by the murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and so many others. To get the viewing link, make a donation of any amount to Black Lives Matter Philly.
Matrix Theatre Company: Scraps
Los Angeles’ Matrix Theatre Company shares its 2019 production of Scraps, Geraldine Inoa‘s powerful examination of how friends and family cope when a Black loved one is murdered by police. We covered the play when it had its world premiere at The Flea two years ago, and its themes and emotions remain infuriatingly timely. Directed by Obie winner Stevie Walker-Webb, the production is available to watch for free on the theatre’s YouTube channel.
HERE Arts Center: Disposable Men
Downtown culture hub HERE presents Disposable Men, playwright-performer-techie James Scruggs‘ searing multimedia exploration of how American culture depicts Black men as monsters. Using eight channels of video, satire and unforgettable audience interaction, this 2005 work examines many urgent issues, notably how police brutality and unequal health care are killing Black men. Watch for free on HERE’s Facebook page.
Classical Theatre of Harlem: The Bacchae
The Classical Theatre of Harlem, one of NYC’s premiere Black companies, usually mounts a free production in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park during the summer. Since that’s not possible this year, the troupe is sharing a recording of its 2018 take on The Bacchae, which turns Euripides’ play into an raucous, glitter-encrusted, rock-‘n’-roll party… until that tragic ending of course. You can stream the production anytime through June 26 for $10 on Vimeo.
The Metropolitan Opera’s At-Home Gala
Back in late April, the Metropolitan Opera presented an online gala featuring more than 40 stars singing from their homes around the globe. The event was so popular, it almost crashed the Met’s site! Today, the opera house is re-airing that special, which includes performances by Angel Blue, Renée Fleming, Sonya Yoncheva and Michael Volle. Watch for free until Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.
National Theatre: The Madness of George III
London’s National Theatre presents The Nottingham Playhouse’s 2018 revival of The Madness of George III, Alan Bennett‘s fictionalized examination of the U.K.’s King George III, whose battle with mental illness plunged his court into disarray. Mark Gatiss, of Doctor Who and Sherlock fame, delivers a tour-de-force performance in the title role. Watch for free through Thursday, June 18 at 2 p.m. ET on the National Theatre’s YouTube channel.
Stratford Festival: Hamlet
Ontario’s venerable Stratford Festival continues its Shakespeare on Film series with Hamlet, directed by the fest’s artistic director Antoni Cimolino and starring Canadian stage vet Jonathan Goad as the tragic Danish prince. Watch for free on the festival’s YouTube channel. While you’re there, be sure to check out Black Like Me: Behind the Stratford Festival Curtain, an illuminating conversation with a panel of Black resident artists about the racism they’ve experienced in the classical theatre world.
Drama of Works: Water and Rent Party
Brooklyn-based Drama of Works presents a pair of insightful short plays for young audiences by celebrated African-American playwright Amina Henry that examine the impact of racism and poverty in an age-appropriate way. Water tackles the water crisis in Ethiopia, while Rent Party takes place in Harlem in the ’20s, as a family throws a shindig in order to raise money to pay their bills. Both are available on the company’s website: watch Water here and Rent Party here.
Saturday, June 13
Patrick Page in Macbeth
On Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, Stars in the House continues its popular live play reading series with Macbeth, starring Hadestown Tony nominee Patrick Page as the title general who’s whipped into a power-hungry frenzy by three weird sisters and his aspirational wife, played by Brief Encounter Tony nominee Hannah Yelland. Page’s Hadestown costar André De Shields hosts the event, which also features Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Ty Jones as Macduff. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund are encouraged.
Live from Covent Garden featuring The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet
On Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET, London’s Royal Opera House welcomes artists back to its stage for the first time since mid-March to kick off its series of live-streamed shows, which will be performed to an empty auditorium. This inaugural event features a concert of works by Benjamin Britten and George Frideric Handel, as well as a world-premiere piece by Royal Ballet resident choreographer Wayne McGregor starring Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales. Watch for free on the venue’s YouTube channel.
Sunday, June 14
We Are Here: A Celebration of Resilience, Resistance and Hope
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust partners with other cultural institutions to present a concert commemorating the 77th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a world-changing event that resonates in this current moment of resistance against racism. Guests scheduled to appear or perform include opera star Renée Fleming, Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Joel, Tony winner Lea Salonga, Tony nominee Lauren Ambrose and the hilarious Jackie Hoffman. Watch for free online.
Bang on a Can Marathon
On Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, attention avant-garde music lovers: the annual Bang on a Can Marathon goes online, with six hours of cutting-edge, category-defying works from artists located around the globe. Watch for free online.
ABCirque at The Muse
On Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET, The Muse in Brooklyn hosts an online revue featuring some of NYC’s best variety performers. Amazing mentalist and magician Eric Walton hosts and the lineup includes aerialists Eliana Wenick and Shayna Golub, contortionist Tori Kubick and Paris the Hip Hop Juggler. Watch for free on The Muse’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
Rodelinda at the Met
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares Handel’s Rodelinda, starring Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Andreas Scholl, Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser and Shenyang, conducted by Harry Bicket. Filmed for the company’s Live in HD series in 2011, it’s available to watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s Met gala until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Everett Quinton in Der Ring Gott Farblonjet
On Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, in honor of Pride Month, Everett Quinton, the longtime life and stage partner of the late Charles Ludlam, headlines a live reading of one of their most celebrated collaborations, Der Ring Gott Farblonjet, a four-part parody of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, which premiered in 1977 at The Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Tonight’s installment is titled The Dyke Bikers at Helgeland, which gives you a good idea of Ludlam’s signature low-highbrow humor. Watch for free on St. John’s Lutheran Church’s Facebook page.
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Top image: Leland Fowler and Edward Mawere in one in two. Photo by Monique Carboni.
RAVEN SNOOK