30+ Stage Performances to Watch December 14-15
Monday, December 14
The Old Vic: A Christmas Carol
On Monday at 2 p.m. ET, another Christmas Carol? Before you say, “Bah humbug,” let me assure you, this is a magical mounting of Dickens’ holiday redemption tale. Adapted by Tony-winning playwright Jack Thorne and staged by Tony-winning director Matthew Warchus, the show incorporates beautifully sung Christmas carols and insightful humor into the action. The production originated at London’s Old Vic in 2017 and has been a holiday staple ever since—it even crossed the pond . Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln headlines this year’s edition, which will be performed live on the Old Vic stage to an empty theatre and streamed to an at-home audience. Tickets start at £20, approximately $27. Closed captions and audio description are available.
92nd Street Y: Lyrics & Lyricists: The Theme From…: Songs Written for Film
On Monday at 7 p.m. ET, the 92nd Street Y‘s popular Lyrics & Lyricists concert series concludes with a program dedicated to songs from movies, including classics such as “The Man That Got Away” from A Star Is Born with Judy Garland and “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Musical theatre vets Farah Alvin, Nikki Renée Daniels, Brandon Victor Dixon, Katherine Henly, Jeff Kready, Kara Lindsay, Julia Murney, Zachary Noah Piser, Zachary Prince and Pearl Sun croon these cinematic tunes. Tickets are $15 and the recording remains available through Thursday, December 31.
Congress for Jewish Culture: The Dybbuk
On Monday at 7 p.m. ET, the Congress for Jewish Culture celebrates the centennial of S. Ansky’s famous Yiddish play The Dybbuk with a virtual reading. Allen Lewis Rickman directs Mike Burstyn, Yelena Shmulenson, Shane Baker, Mendy Cahan, Refoyel Goldwasser, Daniel Kahn, Amitai Kedar, Suzanne Toren and Michael Wex in this tale of a young bride who needs to exorcise an ex—literally. Watch for free in Yiddish with English subtitles on the org’s YouTube channel.
Theater in Quarantine: I am Sending You the Sacred Face
On Monday at 7 and 9 p.m. ET, experimental multihyphenate Joshua William Gelb, known for deconstructing complicated classics like The Jazz Singer, stars in I am Sending You the Sacred Face, a solo one-act musical by Obie winner Heather Christian about Mother Teresa. Gelb performs the piece live in drag from his East Village closet with all music and vocals prerecorded by Christian. Watch for free on Gelb’s YouTube channel.
Red Bull Theater: A King and No King
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, NYC’s Red Bull Theater, known for revitalizing classics, presents A King and No King, the 17th-century tragicomedy by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher about a very dysfunctional royal family torn apart by incest and filicide. José Zayas directs a cast that includes Robert Cuccioli, Chukwudi Iwuji, Teresa Avia Lim, Cara Ricketts, Socorro Santiago, Reagan Tankersley, Craig Wallace and CJ Wilson. Tickets are required to receive the free viewing link; a $25 donation is suggested. A recording will be available until Friday at 7 p.m. ET.
The Metropolitan Opera: Samson et Dalila
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Tony-winning director Darko Tresnjak‘s 2018 mounting of Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, starring Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna in the title roles of this Biblical tale. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, The Ghosts of Versailles, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Grace McLean – Live from Rockwood Music Hall
On Monday at 8 p.m. ET, actor-singer Grace McLean has a habit of stealing the spotlight with memorable supporting turns in Alice by Heart, Cyrano and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. In 2018, she took center stage at Lincoln Center as the star and writer of In the Green, a fascinating chamber musical examining the origin story of Hildegard von Bingen, one of the Middle Ages’ most influential women. At this live concert streamed from Rockwood Music Hall, McLean will perform numbers from her singular, looped score as well as songs from her upcoming solo album. Tickets are $15.
Tuesday, December 15
PBS: All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914
On Tuesday, a powerful work of docutheatre, All Is Calm commemorates the Christmas Truce of 1914, an unofficial ceasefire that brought troops from opposing sides of World War I together on December 24 for a night of caroling and companionship. Created by Minneapolis’ Theater Latté Da, the show interweaves excerpts from letters and journals of soldiers who were there with trench songs and Christmas tunes performed a cappella. I saw this emotional piece at the Sheen Center two years ago and I get misty just thinking about it. It perfectly captures the spirit of the season: peace on earth and good will toward men. Watch for free until Thursday, December 31 on PBS’ website.
The Old Vic: A Christmas Carol
On Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET, another Christmas Carol? Before you say, “Bah humbug,” let me assure you, this is a magical mounting of Dickens’ holiday redemption tale. Adapted by Tony-winning playwright Jack Thorne and staged by Tony-winning director Matthew Warchus, the show incorporates beautifully sung Christmas carols and insightful humor into the action. The production originated at London’s Old Vic in 2017 and has been a holiday staple ever since—it even crossed the pond . Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln headlines this year’s edition, which will be performed live on the Old Vic stage to an empty theatre and streamed to an at-home audience. Tickets start at £20, approximately $27. Closed captions and audio description are available.
Manhattan Theatre Club: Friendly Monsters
On Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET, Manhattan Theatre Club wraps up its virtual reading series with Penelope Skinner‘s Friendly Monsters, about a young woman who moves in with her more mature boyfriend only to discover he may not be the catch he seems. Nicole Charles directs. Watch for free until Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on MTC’s YouTube channel.
The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues
On Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, catch the final 2020 installment of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, a six-hour series of solos about how we’re living today. Every 15 minutes from 6 p.m. until midnight, well-known actors—including Matthew Broderick, Kerry Butler, Daniel Dae Kim, Hugh Dancy, Willie Garson and Mirirai Sithole—perform tailor-made monologues, all penned and filmed within the last 24 hours. Participating playwrights include Will Arbery, Jeryl Brunner, Lily Houghton, Kenneth Lonergan, Ali MacLean, Roger Q Mason, Jonathan Marc Sherman and Jen Silverman. Watch on The 24 Hour Plays’ Instagram though donations to You Gotta Believe are encouraged.
La MaMa: Christmas in Virtual NickyLand 2020
On Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, veteran The Club at La MaMa programming director Nicky Paraiso throws a radical holiday cabaret, with experimental artists performing from their homes around the world. The lineup includes Meredith Monk, Justin Elizabeth Sayre, Ginger Dolden, Paz Tanjuaquio, Kyle Dacuyan and Yoshiko Chuma. Watch for free on La MaMa’s website though donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Lohengrin
On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: a 1986 production of Wagner’s Lohengrin starring Peter Hofmann as the title knight of the Holy Grail and Eva Marton as his lady love. Leonie Rysanek, Leif Roar and John Macurdy costar. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Samson et Dalila, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Available to Watch Both Days
Bristol Old Vic: The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk
The UK’s Bristol Old Vic presents Daniel Jamieson‘s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, a play with music about the romance between fantastical painter Marc Chagall and his wife, Bella, who faced pogroms and the Russian Revolution as a young couple. The always innovative Emma Rice staged the show last week at the theatre with Marc Antolin and Audrey Brisson as the lovers, and a recording is available to watch with proceeds going to various regional stages, including NYC’s Skirball Center. Tickets are £16, approximately $21, and the recording is viewable until Saturday. Audio described and closed captioned versions are also available.
Who’s Holiday!
The divine Lesli Margherita stars as a middle-aged Cindy Lou Who in Matthew Lombardo‘s satirical skewering of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! A , this solo comedy finds the little girl who melted the Grinch’s heart all grown up and not doing well. As she prepares her Christmas Eve party in her trailer park, she lets loose with her raunchy and rhyming autobiography. Watch for free until Tuesday though donations are encouraged.
New York City Ballet: George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker
New York City Ballet presents The Nutcracker choreographed by George Balanchine. This legendary version of Tchaikovsky’s Christmas ballet was recorded last year during its annual holiday engagement at Lincoln Center and stars NYCB principal dancers Maria Kowroski as the Sugarplum Fairy, Tyler Angle as her Cavalier and Megan Fairchild as Dewdrop. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, January 3, 2021.
San Francisco Playhouse: Songs for a New World
San Francisco Playhouse presents Songs for a New World, Tony winner Jason Robert Brown’s breakthrough musical revue, a series of insightful numbers featuring a wide array of characters grappling with pivotal moments in life and love. Filmed live on stage at the theatre during quarantine, the production stars John Paul Gonzalez, Cate Hayman, Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. and Katrina Lauren McGraw. Tickets start at $15.
Williamstown Theatre Festival: Photograph 51
Although the celebrated Williamstown Theatre Festival had to cancel its in-person summer season, some of the scheduled productions were reimagined and recorded as audio plays, a genre that has exploded during the pandemic. The second release is an audio mounting of Photograph 51, Anna Ziegler’s history play about chemist Rosalind Franklin, who unlocked secrets about DNA while battling 20th-century sexism in science. Anna Chlumsky stars as Franklin, and David Corenswet, Aasif Mandvi and Omar Metwally play some of the men who undermined her achievements. The recording costs $8.
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Top image: Andrew Lincoln as Scrooge in The Old Vic’s live-streamed Christmas Carol. Photo courtesy of the theatre.
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