30 Stage Performances to Watch Pride Weekend, June 27-28
All Weekend
Christine Lahti in Gloria: A Life
PBS presents Gloria: A Life, Emily Mann‘s vibrant bio-play about feminist icon Gloria Steinem starring Christine Lahti. and is as engaging as it is informative, with insightful recreations of Steinem’s seminal moments such as her 1963 undercover assignment at the Playboy Club, her co-founding of Ms. magazine in 1971 and the 1977 Houston Women’s Conference. A multiracial, all-female ensemble embodies a variety of her peers. Watch for free until Friday, July 24 on PBS’ website.
The Sound of Music Live!
The Shows Must Go On! presents The Sound of Music Live!, NBC’s 2013 live broadcast of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic starring Grammy winner Carrie Underwood as Maria and True Blood‘s Stephen Moyer as Captain von Trapp. While it got incredible ratings, many fans criticized the production, especially the two leads. But this mounting has its pleasures: Tony winners Christian Borle and Laura Benanti delight in supporting roles, and Audra McDonald is breathtaking as Mother Abbess. Her rendition of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” is guaranteed to make you weep. Watch for free until Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on YouTube.
National Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
London’s National Theatre presents the Bridge Theatre’s lauded 2019 mounting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Bard’s beloved romantic comedy about sparring fairies messing with lovesick humans in a magical forest. Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie pulls double duty as Titania and Hippolyta, with hilarious support from UK stage vets Oliver Chris, David Moorst and Hammed Animashaun. Watch for free until Thursday, July 2 at 2 p.m. ET on the National Theatre’s YouTube channel. Bonus: London’s Shakespeare’s Globe is also streaming its mounting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream until Sunday, June 28.
Bristol Old Vic: The Grinning Man
The Bristol Old Vic shares a recording of The Grinning Man, a darkly comic 2016 musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel The Man Who Laughs, about a disfigured young man, an innocent blind girl and a wolf, all denizens of a circus. Watch for free until Thursday, July 2 at 2 p.m. ET on the theatre’s YouTube channel.
The Royal Ballet: Woolf Works
London’s Royal Ballet shares a recording of Woolf Works, resident choreographer Wayne McGregor‘s triptych named for the inimitable Virginia Woolf. The dance-maker drew inspiration from her essays, letters and diaries as well as her seminal novels Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves. Watch for free until Friday, July 10 on YouTube.
Stratford Festival: The Adventures of Pericles
Ontario’s venerable Stratford Festival continues its Shakespeare on Film series with The Adventures of Pericles, a rechristening of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, written at least in part by the Bard. Rarely staged, the play follows the dramatic journey of the title character, who gains, loses and then unexpectedly reunites with his family. Watch for free until Thursday, July 16 on the fest’s YouTube channel.
Bard at the Gate: Kernel of Sanity
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel curates Bard at the Gate, a new series of play readings showcasing urgent, under-the-radar scripts, some of which have never been produced! First up is Kernel of Sanity written in 1978 by Kermit Frazier, about the complicated relationship between a young Black actor and an older white peer who appeared together in a mounting of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The cast features Matthew Hancock, Josh Hamilton and Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin. Watch for free on Bard at the Gate’s YouTube channel.
The Homebound Project
The Homebound Project presents its third edition of world-premiere playlets, and the lineup is stellar. The dozen shorts include Jennifer Carpenter and Tony nominee Thomas Sadoski in a piece by Pulitzer Prize winner John Guare, directed by Jerry Zaks; Hamilton Tony winner Daveed Diggs in a work by C.A. Johnson; and Diane Lane in a piece by newly minted Pulitzer winner Michael R. Jackson, directed by Leigh Silverman. The brainchild of playwright Catya McMullen and director Jenna Worsham, this initiative is raising money to support food insecure families during the pandemic. Tickets start at $10 and proceeds go to No Kid Hungry.
Saturday, June 27
Raúl Esparza in Tartuffe
On Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, Molière in the Park, which usually presents productions in Prospect Park, moves to cyberspace with an online performance of the classical comedy Tartuffe, starring four-time Tony nominee Raúl Esparza as the title hypocrite and con man. The company’s co-founder, Lucie Tiberghien, directs a cast that includes Samira Wiley (Orange Is the New Black) and husband and wife Chris Henry Coffey and Jennifer Mudge. If you’re busy in the afternoon, there will be an encore performance at 7 p.m. ET, and a recording will be available to watch until Sunday, July 12. Tickets are free but required to get the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
Stars in the House Presents Beautiful Thing
On Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, Stars in the House continues its popular live play reading series with Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing about a teen coming of age and coming out in a working-class neighborhood in ’90s London. Devanand Janki directs, and the cast features Natalie Toro, Kennedy Kanagawa, Cheech Manohar, Kuhoo Verma and Jason Veasey. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund are encouraged.
The Other Palace: The Last Five Years
On Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET, London’s The Other Palace presents The Last Five Years, Tony winner Jason Robert Brown‘s musical dissection of a romance, with the man telling his story chronologically while the woman recalls their relationship in reverse. The actors, Danny Becker and Lauren Samuels, who also directs, recorded their parts remotely, which adds to the sense of a couple disconnected. Tickets are £8, approximately $10. This performance won’t be available after-the-fact.
Josh Groban: An Intimate Concert Event
On Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, international recording sensation and Tony-nominated Great Comet star Josh Groban performs a live online concert featuring a wide range of repertoire, from pop to classical to theatre. The VIP packages are already sold out, and we know we don’t have to “sell” his fans on this. As of this writing, tickets are still available and start at $20. This performance won’t be available after-the-fact.
The Metropolitan Opera: Cendrillon
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares Cendrillon, Massenet’s enchanting operatic adaptation of the Cinderella story, starring Kathleen Kim, Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe and Laurent Naouri, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Filmed for the company’s Live in HD series in 2018, 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, L’Elisir d’Amore, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Play-PerView: Brain Problems
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, the live-streamed theatre series Play-PerView presents Brain Problems, a new comedy by Malcolm Barrett (star of NBC’s Timesless) about a cynic whose mental illness thrusts him into an imaginary world. Barrett leads a cast that includes Tina Huang, Brit Manor and Brandon Scott. The performance takes place on the free app Zoom, which you’ll need to download in advance. Tickets start at $5, and proceeds benefit LA’s Ammunition Theatre Company and Colors of Change. This performance won’t be available after-the-fact.
BAM and New York Live Arts: Pride 2020: The House Party with Everybooty
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, avant-garde culture hubs BAM and New York Live Arts join forces for a virtual Pride party filled with drag, dance and music. Hosts Andre J., Tyler Ashley (better known as the Dauphine of Bushwick) and choreographer-director Raja Feather Kelly welcome an array of fierce and fabulous NYC artists including Migguel Anggelo, Bubble_T, DJ Shirine Saad’s Gyal Tings, the House of LaBeija, the Illustrious Blacks, OOPS!, RAGGA NYC, Papi Juice and Switch n’ Play. Watch for free on YouTube though donations are encouraged.
Sunday, June 28
Joanna Lumley and Michael Palin in a Bit of Waiting for Godot
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, three beloved British stars, Me and My Girl Tony winner Robert Lindsay, Tony nominee and Absolutely Fabulous diva Joanna Lumley and Monty Python genius Michael Palin perform scenes from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, followed by a live Q&A. Tickets are £35, approximately $43, and proceeds benefit the Royal Theatrical Fund.
Stars in the House Presents Almost, Maine
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, Stars in the House continues its reading series for young audiences with Almost, Maine, John Cariani‘s charming collection of vignettes featuring kooky characters in a small New England town. The cast includes Girl From the North Country‘s Colton Ryan, Becca Bastos, Courtnee Carter, Cheech Manohar and Tevae Shoels. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to the New Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Die Zauberflöte
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares Tony winner Julie Taymor‘s puppet-filled production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a fantastical fable starring Golda Schultz, Kathryn Lewek, Charles Castronovo, Markus Werba, Christian Van Horn and René Pape, conducted by James Levine. Filmed for the company’s Live in HD series in 2017, it’s available to watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. Bonus: You can also watch The Royal Opera’s take on the classic on YouTube.
Everett Quinton in Der Ring Gott Farblonjet
On Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, in honor of Pride, Everett Quinton, the longtime of the late Charles Ludlam both on stage and off, 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 climactic installment is titled Götterdämmerung (Ring Damns Gods). Expect an outrageous, low-highbrow good time. Watch for free on St. John’s Lutheran Church’s Facebook page.
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Top image: Robin De Jesús.
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