25+ Stage Performances to Watch February 24-25
Wednesday, February 24
Irish Repertory Theatre: Love, Noël
On Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Today, catch Love, Noël, a virtual reinvention of its 2019 celebration of playwright, songwriter and sparkling wit Noël Coward. Barry Day devised this two-person tribute featuring seasoned cabaret stars Steve Ross and KT Sullivan singing Coward’s songs, such as “Mad About the Boy,” “Together with Music” and “I’ll Follow My Secret Heart,” and channeling his famous friends, including Gertrude Lawrence, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Elaine Stritch. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: La Bohème
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 are complemented by online educational materials. This week’s offering is La Bohème, Puccini’s romantic tragedy about love, bromance and art. Kristine Opolais, Susanna Phillips, Vittorio Grigolo, Massimo Cavalletti, Patrick Carfizzi and Oren Gradus star in this 2014 mounting. Watch for free until Friday at 5 p.m. ET on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene: Hava Tequila Cabaret
On Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presents a Hava Tequila Cabaret starring performers from the company’s hit productions of Yiddish Fiddler and The Sorceress. Expect Yiddish standards as well as songs in celebration of Purim, a Jewish holiday that takes place this week. Watch for free until Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on Folksbiene’s website.
The Metropolitan Opera: Eugene Onegin
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Tchaikovsky’s romantic tragedy Eugene Onegin, with Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the title character, the object of affection for Renée Fleming‘s Tatiana. Ramón Vargas costars in this 2007 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, The Queen of Spades, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Irish Repertory Theatre: Give Me Your Hand
On Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Tonight, catch Give Me Your Hand, a virtual tour of London’s National Gallery featuring Tony nominee Dearbhla Molloy and Dermot Crowley reciting Paul Durcan poems as paintings are projected. Directed by Jamie Beamish, this is a digital reimagining of the company’s 2012 hit production. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
Thursday, February 25
MCC Theater: The Things Are Against Us
On Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET, MCC Theater continues its LiveLabs: One Acts series with The Things That Are Against Us, a new drama by the prolific Susan Soon He Stanton about a young man trying to excavate his family’s murky past. Ellie Heyman directs Juan Castano, Babak Tafti, Susannah Flood, Danny Wolohan and the fabulous Emily Davis from Is This A Room. Tickets are $7 and a recording is viewable until Sunday.
Theatre for a New Audience: First Love
On Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience presents a stage adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s haunting short story First Love, about a loquacious loner who has an unexpected awakening of the heart. Tony nominee Bill Camp brings this literary classic to life under the guidance of Obie-winning director JoAnne Akalaitis. Register to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Monday, March 1 at 7 p.m. ET.
Irish Repertory Theatre: On Beckett / In Screen
On Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Tonight, catch Tony winner Bill Irwin in a virtual reimagining of his hit solo show On Beckett. Once again, the acclaimed clown takes the stage at the Chelsea theatre to explore the words and work of the groundbreaking Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. Only this time, no one is in the audience, which makes this meditation on Beckett’s themes of loneliness, loss and decay even more haunting. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Ernani
On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi’s Ernani, starring Marcello Giordani in the title role of the wronged nobleman turned bandit, and Angela Meade as his lady love. Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruccio Furlanetto costar in this 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, Eugene Onegin, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
New York City Ballet: Prodigal Son
On Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, New York City Ballet kicks off its digital spring season with Prodigal Son, George Balanchine’s biblically inspired 1929 ballet set to Sergei Prokofiev’s score. Daniel Ulbricht and Teresa Reichlen star in this archival recording. Watch for free until Thursday, March 4 on NYCB’s YouTube channel.
Center Theatre Group: The Gaze…No Homo
On Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, LA’s Center Theatre Group presents Larry Powell‘s The Gaze…No Homo, about a Black queer artist trying to create new work at an overwhelmingly white American theatre festival. Sharon Lawrence, Galen J. Williams, Devere Rogers, Jason Greene, Yvette Cason, Eugene Byrd and TC Carson star in a dozen digital episodes released simultaneously, directed by the playwright, Joanna Strapp, Zhailon Levingston, Satya Bhabha, Reginald L. Douglas, Amber A. Harris, Jonathan McCrory, Bianca Laverne Jones and Lelund Durond Thompson. Watch for free until Sunday on Center Theatre Group’s website.
Available to Watch Both Days
Crossroads Theatre Company: The Colored Museum
New Jersey’s Crossroads Theatre Company presents an archival recording of The Colored Museum, a scathing satire by George C. Wolfe organized as a series of “exhibits” about African-American culture. The landmark play premiered at Crossroads in 1986 and soon transferred to New York’s Public Theater. In 1991, Crossroads restaged the piece with Wolfe directing many members of the original cast, including Loretta Devine and the late, great Danitra Vance, so it could be filmed for PBS’ Great Performances series. Four decades later, it’s more potent than ever. Watch for free until Sunday on Crossroad’s website though donations are encouraged.
Red Bull Theater: The Belle’s Stratagem
NYC’s Red Bull Theater, known for reinvigorating forgotten classics, presented a live reading of The Belle’s Stratagem on Monday, and you can watch a recording until Friday. Hannah Cowley’s 1780 comedy of manners and courtship centers on a clever young woman who hatches a plan to beguile her condescending fiancé. Former Tootsie costars Lilli Cooper and Santino Fontana headline this romp of mistaken identity and comeuppance; Gaye Taylor Upchurch directs. Watch for free on Red Bull’s YouTube channel though a $25 donation is suggested.
Manhattan Theatre Club: The Past Is the Past
Manhattan Theatre Club spotlights important plays from its five-decade history in the new Curtain Call reading series. First up is The Past Is the Past, an early drama by Richard Wesley produced by MTC in 1975, about two seeming strangers, one middle-aged, the other in college, who end up grappling with the past while shooting pool. This Is Us Emmy winner Ron Cephas Jones and Jovan Adepo (Watchmen, When They See Us) star, and Oz Scott directs. Reservations are required to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Sunday.
BAM: Riz Ahmed’s The Long Goodbye: Livestream Edition
BAM presents Emmy-winning actor, rapper and activist Riz Ahmed in a digital reimagining of his solo show The Long Goodbye, which was originally scheduled to play the Brooklyn venue last year. Inspired by his album of the same name, the piece blends music and storytelling as Ahmed dissects the United Kingdom’s fraught relationship with South Asians and British Asians, using an abusive relationship as a metaphor for racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Tickets start at £5, approximately $7, and the recording is viewable until Monday, March 1.
Primary Stages: The Night Watcher
Primary Stages presents an encore stream of Charlayne Woodard‘s autobiographical solo show The Night Watcher, about how she’s served as a maternal figure to many loved ones in her life. A Tony nominee for Ain’t Misbehavin’ and a star of TV’s Pose, Woodard originally performed this show at Primary Stages in 2009 and then reimagined it as a virtual theatre piece last year. It’s a wise and empathetic exploration of what it means to mother. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish and the recording is viewable until Sunday at 11 p.m. ET.
TheaterWorks: Talkin’ to This Chick Sippin’ Magic Potion
Hartford’s TheaterWorks presents Talkin’ to This Chick Sippin’ Magic Potion, a new play by up-and-comer James Anthony Tyler about a professional cuddler whose experience with an isolated client inspires her to reach out to her estranged teenage daughter. Awoye Timpo directs Miriam A. Hyman, Sheria Irving, Jules Latimer, Darius McCall and Mateo Ferro in this digital production. Tickets are $25 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount. The recording is viewable until Friday, and ASL interpretation and closed captions are available.
All Arts: Isolation to Creation
Since 1984, the Guggenheim Museum has given audiences behind-the-scenes peeks at upcoming shows in its Works & Process series. But when the pandemic hit, the program changed its focus and began commissioning digital shorts from music, dance and theatre artists. All Arts‘ four-part documentary series Isolation to Creation explores how the pieces were created in our new abnormal. Featured artists include Ephrat Asherie, Les Ballet Afrik, Tony-nominated choreographer Joshua Bergasse, Sara Mearns from New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey’s Jamar Roberts and singer Justin Vivian Bond. Watch all episodes for free on All Arts’ website.
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Top image: Daniel Ulbricht in George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, which kicks off New York City Ballet’s digital spring season on Thursday. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
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