30+ Stage Performances to Watch Friday to Sunday, September 11-13
Friday, September 11
9/11 Table of Silence Project
On Friday at 7:55 a.m. ET, choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi presents a hybrid adaptation of her annual 9/11 Table of Silence Project, which commemorates the September 11 attacks. Usually more than 150 dancers gather around Lincoln Center’s Revson Fountain, but this year in order to avoid crowding, just two dozen perform a brief prologue, followed by a recording of last year’s mounting of the full ritualistic work. If you miss the live-stream, the video will remain viewable all weekend for free on YouTube.
Virtual Halston: Jim Caruso
On Friday at 5 p.m. ET, Julie Halston, and longtime friend to TDF, welcomes singer, host and cabaret producer Jim Caruso to her weekly chatfest. The two are old pals and collaborators—in fact he’s the mastermind behind her show! Watch them dish for free on YouTube.
The Metropolitan Opera: Les Pêcheurs de Perles
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera‘s French week continues with Bizet’s rarely performed Les Pêcheurs de Perles about an innocent priestess wooed by two friends. Penny Woolcock‘s lauded 2015 production marked the first time the work had been performed at the Met in a century. Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien star. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Cendrillon, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Great Performances: Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet
On Friday at 9 p.m. ET, in 1965, acclaimed choreographer Kenneth MacMillan debuted his iconic staging of Romeo and Juliet at The Royal Ballet. This film adaptation by the BalletBoyz, aka Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, brings the romantic tragedy to the screen, with Francesca Hayward and William Bracewell as Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers dancing to Sergei Prokofiev’s lush score. Watch for free until Friday, October 9 on PBS’ website. It will also air at 9 p.m. ET on TV on PBS Thirteen.
Latino Theater Co.: SHE
On Friday at 10 p.m. ET, Los Angeles’ Latino Theater Co. presents a live reading of SHE, Marlow Wyatt‘s poetic play about a 13-year-old who longs to fly beyond the confines of her small industrial town. Lorenz Arnell, LaVonda Elam, Juanita Jennings, Derek Shaun, Camille Spirlin and Karen Malina White star in this coming-of-age drama. Watch for free on the company’s YouTube channel.
Saturday, September 12
Metropolitan Opera Stars Live in Concert: Joyce DiDonato
On Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera continues its series of live recitals with Grammy-winning superstar Joyce DiDonato. The American mezzo-soprano will perform some of her favorite arias and songs, including Didon’s final scene from Berlioz’s Les Troyens, “Voi che sapete” from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and “Oh Shenandoah.” She will be accompanied by Carrie-Ann Matheson on piano and the chamber ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro at Germany’s striking Jahrhunderthalle. Tickets cost $20 and a recording of the performance will remain available until Thursday, September 24.
ABCirque: Different Trains
On Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET, ABCirque presents a 2019 recording of Different Trains, staged to Steve Reich’s eponymous classical masterwork, inspired by his memories of taking trains across America as a child while his European peers were being shipped to concentration camps. A cavalcade of circus acts juxtapose these very different journeys. Pay-what-you-can tickets are available from the theatre; there’s a second screening at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Stars in the House: Regional Theatre Spotlight on Penobscot Theatre Company
On Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, Stars in the House welcomes creatives from Bangor, Maine’s Penobscot Theatre Company, which was founded in 1973. Producing associate John Siedenberg II hosts this episode and welcomes his colleagues Bari Newport, Ben Layman and Tricia A. Hobbs. Learn more about this venerable institution for free on YouTube.
Fabulous Fanny: The Songs and Stories of Fanny Brice
On Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, if you only know Fanny Brice as Barbra Streisand’s character in Funny Girl, time to get schooled. Kimberly Faye Greenberg portrays the legendary Jewish singer, comedian and Ziegfeld Follies star in this live solo show, which delves into her incredible career and dramatic life. Expect torch songs, old-school shtick and Baby Snooks! (No relation to yours truly.) Tickets are $10.
Theater in Quarantine: Closet Works
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, downtown multihyphenate Joshua William Gelb, known for deconstructing complicated classics like The Jazz Singer, performs a series of brief dance pieces created by Hadestown associate choreographer Katie Rose McLaughlin, with a guest appearance by Ahmad Simmons from West Side Story. There’s a post-show Q&A with the artists, followed by an encore performance at 9 p.m. ET. Watch for free on Gelb’s YouTube channel.
The Billie Holiday Theatre: 12 Angry Men…And Women: The Weight of the Wait
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Brooklyn’s venerable Billie Holiday Theatre, which has been showcasing Black artists since 1972, presents 12 Angry Men…And Women : The Weight of the Wait. A revival of a 2015 production based on the nonfiction book 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today, the evening features harrowing real-life stories of the policing of Black bodies performed by Wendell Pierce, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Lisa Arrindell, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Billy Eugene Jones at Bed-Stuy’s Black Lives Matter mural. The evening kicks off with live music by a quartet of New York Philharmonic musicians at 7:30 p.m. ET, the show is at 8 p.m. ET and the entire evening will be live-streamed for free on the theatre’s YouTube channel.
The Metropolitan Opera: Les Troyens
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera‘s French week continues with Les Troyens, Berlioz’s epic take on the aftermath of the Trojan War and the exploits of Aeneas. Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Karen Cargill, Bryan Hymel, Eric Cutler, Dwayne Croft and Kwangchul Youn star in Francesca Zambello‘s 2013 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
American Conservatory Theater: In Love and Warcraft
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, San Francisco’s A.C.T. presents In Love and Warcraft, Madhuri Shekar‘s gleefully geeky rom-com about a college senior who prefers online role-playing games to real life… until she starts crushing on one of her clients. Tickets are available to purchase from the theatre but TDF members get a discount.
Metropolitan Playhouse: Cocaine
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Metropolitan Playhouse, an Obie-winning company that revives forgotten plays, presents a reading of Cocaine, a vintage one-act melodrama by Pendleton King about a prostitute and a pugilist who’ve hit rock bottom on the Bowery in 1916. But there’s always further down to go. Erin Beirnard and James Ross star, Michael Hardart directs. Watch for free on the company’s website though donations are encouraged.
Seacoast Repertory Theatre: The Bus Stop
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, New Hampshire’s Seacoast Repertory Theatre presents The Bus Stop, a new drama by Najee Brown about five Black women who meet while on their way to visit incarcerated loved ones. The play will be performed live in front of a small in-person audience and streamed to many more online. Tickets are $20.
Sunday, September 13
Lockdown Theatre: Emma Thompson and Robert Lindsay in Private Lives
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, UK’s Lockdown Theatre presents a live reading of Act I of Private Lives. Oscar winner Emma Thompson and Tony winner Robert Lindsay headline Noël Coward’s effervescent comedy of divorce and disloyalty as exes who bump into each other while on their respective honeymoons with their new spouses, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar and Emilia Clarke. Tickets are £35, approximately $45, and proceeds go to UK arts workers.
Stars in the House Presents Hastings Street
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, Stars in the House continues its live reading series for young audiences with Hastings Street, Barton Bund and Rick Sperling’s history-inspired musical about a Black neighborhood in ’40s Detroit. Carollette Phillips directs members of the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit ensemble. Watch for free on YouTube.
Queensborough Performing Arts Center: Ben Vereen
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, Queensborough Performing Arts Center presents an evening with Pippin Tony winner Ben Vereen. Rare videos of some of his electric stage performances will be followed by a live Q&A with the theatre legend— fans can even ask questions. Watch for free on QPAC’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
For the Love of Lyric
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, the Lyric Opera of Chicago presents a concert featuring renowned Tony-nominated soprano Renée Fleming, Aida Tony winner Heather Headley, and opera vets Ailyn Pérez, Soloman Howard and J’Nai Bridges. Watch for free on the Lyric’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Werther
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera‘s French week wraps up with Werther, Massenet’s adaptation of Goethe’s epistolary novel starring Jonas Kaufmann as the tortured title character, whose passion for Sophie Koch‘s Charlotte leads to tragedy. Lisette Oropesa, David Bižic and Jonathan Summers costar in Richard Eyre’s 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, Les Troyens, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
All Weekend
Incidental Moments of the Day: The Apple Family: Life on Zoom
Tony-winning dramatist and director Richard Nelson presents Incidental Moments of the Day, the final installment of his of-the-moment Zoom trilogy centered on his fictional Apple family. From 2010 to 2013, Nelson mounted one hyper-realistic play a year about this Rhinebeck, New York clan as they grappled with national milestones such as the 10th anniversary of September 11, the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama and the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. This past April, as the COVID-19 pandemic peaked in New York, the Apples reunited for What Do We Need To Talk About?, a Zoom call in quarantine, followed by And So We Come Forth in July. Once again, the four siblings and one boyfriend, played by the cast of the original tetralogy—Tony winner Maryann Plunkett, Sally Murphy, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders and Stephen Kunken—will assuage their isolation via technology as they discuss how they’re faring. There’s also a surprise guest, Charlotte Bydwell as Lucy Michael, a character from another Nelson series, The Michaels. The previous hour-long Apple Zooms were profoundly moving and akin to eavesdropping, an uncanny reflection of how so many white, middle-class, middle-aged liberals are feeling today. Expect more of the same from this climactic episode. Watch for free until November 5 on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
Live & In Color: Days of Re-Creation
Live & In Color presents Days of Re-Creation, an urgent reimagining of the Book of Genesis inspired by how we’re living today. The evening consists of seven playlets by writers of color: 3 Karens by Tony winner BD Wong; The Strong Friend, and Company by Masi Asare; SoilMates by SEVAN; To the Stars, With Love by Nandita Shenoy; The Nerd by Lauren Yee; S.C.R.I by AriDy Nox and La Egoista by Erlina Ortiz. The diverse cast includes Marc delaCruz and Jared Dixon from Hamilton; Angel Desai from Company, L Morgan Lee from A Strange Loop, Jason Veasey from The Lion King and Brandi Porter from A Bronx Tale. Watch for free on YouTube though donations are encouraged.
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Top image: Leslie Odom Jr. Photo by Christopher Boudewyns.
RAVEN SNOOK