25+ Stage Performances to Watch January 13-14

Wednesday, January 13

Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: The Gifts You Gave to the Dark and The Scourge
Since 2008, Origin Theatre Company has presented the annual Origin 1st Irish Festival featuring readings, productions and panels. This year the event goes virtual with daily offerings through the end of the month. On Wednesday, catch two mainstage shows:

• At 3 p.m. ET, Irish Rep presents The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, Darren Murphy‘s moving one-act about the final Zoom conversation between Tom, sick in Belfast with COVID-19, and his elderly mother Rose, who’s on her deathbed in Dublin. Seán McGinley, Marty Rea and The Beauty Queen of Leenane Tony winner Marie Mullen star, Caitríona McLaughlin directs. Tickets are $10.
• At 8 p.m. ET, Wexford Arts Center presents The Scourge, Michelle Dooley Mahon‘s autobiographical solo drama about her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s and how it impacted their tight-knit Irish family. Former Abbey Theatre head Ben Barnes directs. Tickets are $10.

The Metropolitan Opera: Der Fliegende Holländer
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 Der Fliegende Holländer, Wagner’s ghost story about a sea captain cursed to sail the globe forever unless he finds true love. Evgeny Nikitin, Anja Kampe, Sergey Skorokhodov and Franz-Josef Selig star in this 2020 mounting, which was filmed just before the pandemic shut down the opera house. Watch for free until Friday at 5 p.m. ET on the Metropolitan Opera’s website.

Ballet Hispánico: Arabesque
On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. EST, Ballet Hispánico revives its Wednesday evening watch parties with a screening of Arabesque, choreographer Vicente Nebrada‘s suite of dances set to the music of Spanish composer Enrique Granados. Watch for free on the dance company’s Facebook page.

The Metropolitan Opera: Der Rosenkavalier
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Der Rosenkavalier, Strauss’ comedy of love and errors starring Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Christine Schäfer and Kristinn Sigmund. Filmed for the Met’s Live in HD series in 2010, 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 opera, Thaïs, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Stars in the House: Myths and Hymns
On Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley welcome cast members from Myths and Hymns, a four-part theatrical song cycle by Adam Guettel that’s being produced digitally by MasterVoices. The first installment, Flight, drops tonight and stars Renée Fleming, Norm Lewis, Jose Llana, Kelli O’Hara and Elizabeth Stanley will pop by Stars in the House to chat about this ambitious project. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.

The Exponential Festival: Double Bill
On Wednesday at 9 p.m. p.m. ET, every January since 2016, The Exponential Festival has showcased cutting-edge stage works mostly on Brooklyn stages. For its sixth annual edition, the event goes virtual with performances by some of the most exciting theatre-makers in the digital space. Tonight, catch a double bill of tantalizingly titled pieces: the comedic cavalcade “Stiff Drink!?” with Dr. Eustice Sissy (Psy.D.), presents: “Corona Cam Show”, followed by the pensive Einst träumte ich von dir: A Maybe-Myth of Runny Nuns OR Once, I Dreamed of You. Watch both for free on the fest’s YouTube channel.

Thursday, January 14

Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: Under the Albert Clock
On Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, since 2008, Origin Theatre Company has presented the annual Origin 1st Irish Festival featuring readings, productions and panels. Today, The Lyric Theatre presents Under the Albert Clock, a quintet of new audio playlets penned by five Irish playwrights, each inspired by a different Belfast landmark and set in 2050. Tickets are $10.

The Metropolitan Opera: Armida
On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Mary Zimmerman‘s eye-popping 2010 mounting of Armida, Rossini’s drama about an evil sorceress (Renée Fleming) using black magic to capture a knight’s heart. Lawrence Brownlee, Barry Banks, John Osborn and Kobie van Rensburg costar. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Der Rosenkavalier, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.

Lincoln Center Theater: Turning the Page
On Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, Lincoln Center Theater continues its Spotlight Series with some of its favorite artists reading from their non-theatrical works. Participants include actor Andrew Rannells and playwright David Adjmi sharing excerpts from their memoirs, Sarah Ruhl reading her poetry and James Lapine giving a sneak peek at his upcoming book about creating Sunday in the Park with George with Stephen Sondheim. Register for the free Zoom link.

The Exponential Festival: Mga Stasyon
On Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, every January since 2016, The Exponential Festival has showcased cutting-edge stage works mostly on Brooklyn stages. For its sixth annual edition, the event goes virtual with performances by some of the most exciting theatre-makers in the digital space. Tonight, the duo an_outskirt present Mga Stasyon about the constant reinvention of personal identity. Watch for free on the fest’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.

Available to Watch Both Days

The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival
Since its founding in 2005, The Public’s Under the Radar Festival has been a mecca for avant-garde artists from around the globe, showcasing performances by hundreds of trailblazers. This year, the event goes online and all performances are free. This week, you can catch:

• On Thursday at 5 p.m. ET, playwright Javaad Alipoor presents Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran, a multimedia exploration of the global class divide fusing online performance and a live Instagram feed. The second installment of a trilogy examining identity in our high-tech age, the hour-long show is followed by a talkback. Register in advance to receive the free viewing link.
• On demand both days: singer Alicia Hall Moran presents the motown project, a concert recorded at Joe’s Pub exploring the nexus between Motown classics and classical music. Watch for free until Sunday on The Public’s website.
• On demand both days: Award-winning director Whitney White and stage and screen vet Peter Mark Kendall present Capsule, a nuanced meditation on the upheavals of the past ten months and the challenges of connecting at a distance. Watch for free until Sunday on The Public’s website.
• On demand both days: Chile’s Teatro Anónimo presents Espíritu, a nighttime fantasia set in an unnamed city as denizens grapple with spiritual crises. Performed in Spanish with English subtitles. Watch for free until Sunday on The Public’s website.
• On demand both days: Incoming! is a mini-festival within Under the Radar showcasing works in progress from members of The Public’s Devised Theater Working Group. The eight creators in the current cohort present an eclectic collection of digital shorts. Watch for free until Sunday on The Public’s website.

HERE Arts Center: Prototype Festival
Since 2013, Prototype, a festival featuring works that fuse opera and theatre, has defied genre expectations. Co-produced by HERE Arts Center and Beth Morrison Projects, the event goes (mostly) digital this year with six eclectic pieces. Five are online and on demand until Saturday; Ocean Body is an in-person, by-appointment-only installation at HERE, so it’s not included below. Most offerings are free.

• Modulation is a digital, self-guided exploration of our new abnormal created by 13 contemporary composers. Tickets are $25; the recording is viewable until Saturday.
• Times³ (Times x Times x Times) is a sonic journey through Times Square past, present and imagined, which can be enjoyed at the iconic intersection or at home. Tickets are free but required; the recording is viewable until Saturday.
• The Murder of Halit Yozgat explores the real-life 2006 slaying of a 21-year-old immigrant in Germany. Tickets are free but required; the recording is viewable until Saturday, January 16.
• The Planet – A Lament is a staged song cycle by Garin Nugroho featuring dancers, a 14-member choir and searing images evoking our deteriorating home. Tickets are free but required; the recording is viewable until Saturday.
• Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists is inspired by a.rawlings’ book of the same name exploring sleeping, dreaming and butterflies. Tickets are free but required; the recording is viewable until Saturday.

TWEED TheaterWorks: ‘Taint
Like many NYC nightspots, East Village alt-cabaret club Pangea is in dire financial straits. So, over the holidays, the camp masters at TWEED TheaterWorks put together an irreverent variety show to help see the venue through the new year. The lineup is a who’s who of downtown divas, including drag legend Charles Busch, storyteller David Cale, opera singer Joseph Keckler and vocal impressionist Amber Martin. Tickets are $20 and the recording is viewable until Wednesday, January 20.

Fake Friends: Circle Jerk
Fake Friends presents an encore stream of Circle Jerk, a critically acclaimed satire about gay white supremacists. Penned and performed by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, the duo who wrote the book for the viral Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, this is an unsettling examination of right-wing trolling in the queer community. Tickets start at $5 and the recording is viewable until Sunday.

Red Bull Theater: The African Company Presents Richard III
On Monday, NYC’s Red Bull Theater streamed a live reading of The African Company Presents Richard III and you can watch a recording until Friday. Carlyle Brown‘s fascinating history-inspired drama explores competing NYC productions of Shakespeare’s tragedy in 1821 and how a white producer used racist laws to shut a Black troupe down. Carl Cofield directs Clifton Duncan, Edward Gero, Dion Johnstone, Paul Niebanck, Antoinette Robinson, Craig Wallace and Jessika D. Williams. Watch for free on Red Bull’s YouTube channel; a $25 donation is suggested.

Parity Productions: Stop-Motion
Parity Productions, a NYC-based company showcasing women, trans and gender-nonconforming artists, presents a reading of Stop-Motion, Liz Kerin‘s multimedia tragicomedy about a young woman who spent her twenties as her mom’s caretaker now navigating the aftermath of a terrible accident. Register to receive the free viewing link; the recording is viewable until Monday, January 18.

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Top image: Kelli O’Hara, who’s part of the cast of Myths and Hymns.

RAVEN SNOOK