25+ Stage Performances to Watch December 2-3
Wednesday, December 2
Old Vic: Three Kings
On Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET, over the past few months, London’s Old Vic has streamed a series of impressive shows performed live on stage to an empty auditorium. Now the theatre is presenting recordings of those productions, starting with Stephen Beresford‘s solo piece Three Kings, about a man recounting his complicated relationship with his estranged father. Fleabag‘s Hot Priest, Andrew Scott, stars and Matthew Marchus directs. Tickets start at £10.00, approximately $13.50. Audio description and closed captions are available.
The Metropolitan Opera: Le Comte Ory
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 Rossini’s rarely staged comedy Le Comte Ory. Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher helmed this charming 2011 production starring Juan Diego Flórez as the title character, a philandering count whose lust life is complicated by Diana Damrau‘s virtuous Countess Adèle and his page, played by Joyce DiDonato. Watch for free until Friday at 5 p.m. ET on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.
The Metropolitan Opera: Parsifal
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Parsifal, François Girard‘s 2013 mounting of Wager’s final work, with Jonas Kaufmann as the title character who recaptures the Holy Spear and restores the land of the Holy Grail. Katarina Dalayman, Peter Mattei, Evgeny Nikitin and René Pape costar. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Aida, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Theater Mitu: remnant
On Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, the high-tech, avant-garde Brooklyn collective Theater Mitu reimagines remnant, its 2018 multimedia meditation on war, death and loss for digital consumption. Crafted out of extensive interviews and research with doctors, soldiers and other experts, the show is helmed by the company’s artistic director, Rubén Polendo. Tickets are $10.
Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes — At Home Holiday Special
On Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, for the first time since its 1933 debut, Radio City Music Hall’s annual Christmas Spectacular is not going on… not on stage at least. Tonight, NBC is airing an hour-long special featuring archival recordings of the show’s most beloved segments starring the legendary, leggy Radio City Rockettes. In between numbers such as the “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” Whoopi Goldberg, Josh Groban, John Legend and other celebrities will share personal season’s greetings. For even more holiday cheer, tune in early at 8 p.m. ET for the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, which includes performances by Hamilton‘s Leslie Odom Jr. and the cast of Ain’t Too Proud. Watch for free on TV on NBC or stream throughout the season on NBC’s online service Peacock, which is free to join.
Thursday, December 3
Old Vic: Three Kings
On Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET, over the past few months, London’s Old Vic has streamed a series of impressive shows performed live on stage to an empty auditorium. Now the theatre is presenting recordings of those productions, starting with Stephen Beresford‘s solo piece Three Kings, about a man recounting his complicated relationship with his estranged father. Fleabag‘s Hot Priest, Andrew Scott, stars and Matthew Marchus directs. Tickets start at £10.00, approximately $13.50. Audio description and closed captions are available.
Theater of War Productions: Antigone in Ferguson
On Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET, Theater of War Productions, a company that uses classical texts to illuminate contemporary issues, presents Antigone in Ferguson, a Black Lives Matter-infused take on Sophocles’ tragedy, which was previously mounted in Harlem, Brooklyn and Missouri. The production fuses dramatic readings of passages from Antigone with original gospel music by Phil Woodmore sung by a diverse choir. Today’s performance features actors Moses Ingram, Corey Hawkins, Tate Donovan and Marjolaine Goldsmith; pastor Willie Woodmore; New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams; St. Louis police officer John Leggette; singers Marcelle Davies-Lashley and Gheremi Clay; and De-Rance Blaylock and Duane Foster, both former teachers of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teen killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, the event that inspired this piece. After the performance, director-adapter Bryan Doerries will co-moderate a discussion with Missouri social worker De-Andrea Blaylock Johnson about racialized violence, structural oppression and social justice. Register to receive the free viewing link. This performance won’t be available after-the-fact.
Birdland: Reeve Carney in Concert
On Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, midtown jazz haunt Birdland presents Hadestown heartthrob Reeve Carney in concert. In addition to playing the honey-voiced Orpheus, he originated the title role in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and played Dorian Gray in Showtime’s Penny Dreadful. But he’s also an accomplished indie singer-songwriter and he’ll share his many talents in this intimate one-man performance. Tickets are $20.
Manhattan Theatre Club: Old Friends New Works Benefit
On Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, Manhattan Theatre Club enlists some of its famous collaborators for an evening of brand-new pieces. The hour-long program includes Edie Falco performing a monologue by Simon Stephens; Laura Linney reprising her Tony-nominated turn as Lucy Barton in a follow-up monologue by Elizabeth Strout; and Jeremy Pope crooning a new tune by Jason Michael Webb. Watch for free until Monday, December 7 on MTC’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
On Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell hosts this concert fundraiser for Pennsylvania’s Erie Playhouse. The lineup of performers includes his fellow Tony winners Beth Leavel and Alice Ripley as well as local performers. Iain Armitage, Tamara Tunie, Paige Davis and Stephen Schwartz are also set to appear. Watch for free on Erie Playhouse’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
Live with Carnegie Hall: Global Ode to Joy
On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Carnegie Hall commemorates Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a concert celebrating the “Ode to Joy” from his Ninth Symphony. The live lineup includes conductor Marin Alsop, violinist Bonn Daniel Hope, opera star Joyce DiDonato and the Stay at Home Choir with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, plus archival performances by Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma, The Philadelphia Orchestra and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Watch for free on Carnegie Hall’s YouTube channel.
The Metropolitan Opera: Macbeth
On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi’s Macbeth featuring Željko Lucic and Anna Netrebko as an aspirational couple with blood on their hands. Joseph Calleja and René Pape 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, Parsifal, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol
On Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, yes, there are a lot of virtual Christmas Carols this season. But the one by Manual Cinema, a company acclaimed for combining shadow puppetry and filmic elements, may be the most unconventional. Performed live from the troupe’s Chicago studio, the production features hundreds of paper puppets, miniatures, silhouettes and a live original score. You’ve never seen Charles Dickens’ seasonal ghost story presented like this! Tickets start at $15.
Theater Mitu: remnant
On Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, the high-tech, avant-garde Brooklyn collective Theater Mitu reimagines remnant, its 2018 multimedia meditation on war, death and loss for digital consumption. Crafted out of extensive interviews and research with doctors, soldiers and other experts, the show is helmed by the company’s artistic director, Rubén Polendo. Tickets are $10.
Available to Watch Both Days
Dylan McDermott in Night of the Iguana
La Femme Theatre Productions presents Night of the Iguana, Tennessee Williams’ steamy tale of an Episcopal priest turned tour guide, who gets into love trouble south of the border. Dylan McDermott stars as the struggling reverend, and Phylicia Rashad, Roberta Maxwell, Carmen Berkeley and Jean Lichty are some of the ladies who complicate his life. Emily Mann directs this prerecorded reading. Tickets start at $10 and all proceeds go to The Actors Fund.
TheaterWorks Hartford: Christmas on the Rocks
Deck the halls with tales of folly with Christmas on the Rocks, TheaterWorks Hartford‘s irreverent holiday staple. Conceived and directed by Rob Ruggiero, it’s a cavalcade of Christmas jeer as iconic kid characters from holiday movies and specials share their woes in satirical shorts. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Thursday, December 31. Closed captions are available.
MNM Theatre Company: Closer Than Ever
Florida’s MNM Theatre Company presents Closer Than Ever, Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire’s witty musical revue of insightful songs about love and life. Propelled by theme not plot, the show features a cast of four and was filmed live on stage during quarantine in an empty theatre. Director Jonathan Van Dyke‘s clever blocking delivers a sense of intimacy while keeping actors socially distant. Tickets are $20 and the recording is viewable until Thursday, December 31.
Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique
Puppet master Basil Twist presents a recording of his breakthrough show Symphonie Fantastique, an underwater ballet danced by vibrant pieces of fabric, sheets of plastic and other inanimate objects to Berlioz’s title composition. A one-of-a-kind spectacle, this production was filmed during the show’s 20th anniversary run at HERE Arts Center in 2018 and includes behind-the-scenes moments illustrating how the magic is made. Tickets are $20 for a 48-hour rental.
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Top image: Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes. Photo courtesy of MSG.
RAVEN SNOOK