30+ Stage Performances to Watch This Weekend January 15-18
Friday, January 15
Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: Transatlantic Tales
On Friday at 3 p.m. ET, since 2008, Origin Theatre Company has presented the annual Origin 1st Irish Festival featuring readings, productions and panels. Today, AboutFace Ireland presents Transatlantic Tales, a series of eight new playlets performed live on Zoom. The international cast includes many NYC stage actors, including Irish Rep regulars John Keating, Orlagh Cassidy and Kevin Collins, and Drama Desk Award winner Richard Topol. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link.
Virtual Halston: John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey
On Friday at 5 p.m. ET, Julie Halston welcomes husband-and-wife jazz masters John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey to her weekly chatfest. Expect lots of syncopated banter! Watch for free on YouTube.
The Metropolitan Opera: Capriccio
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents John Cox‘s roaring ’20s-set Capriccio, Strauss‘ love triangle featuring Renée Fleming as a countess courted by a composer (Joseph Kaiser) and a poet (Russell Braun). Sarah Connolly, Morten Frank Larsen and Peter Rose costar in this 2011 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Armida, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Stars in the House: Andrea Martin
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley celebrate the birthday of two-time Tony winner Andrea Martin on Stars in the House. Expect games, surprise guests, stories and songs. Watch for free on YouTube though donations to The Actors Fund are encouraged.
The Exponential Festival: Madge Love
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, every January since 2016, The Exponential Festival has showcased cutting-edge 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 Genée Coreno‘s multimedia Madge Love about the intense relationship between two small-town teenage girls. Watch for free on the fest’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
PBS: In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl: Musicals and the Movies
On Friday at 9 p.m. ET, PBS’ new series In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl launches with a compilation of uplifting past performances celebrating classic songs from musicals and cinema. The lineup includes Kristin Chenoweth singing “Over the Rainbow,” Audra McDonald crooning “Moon River,” and Sutton Foster and Brian Stokes Mitchell performing “On the Town,” all backed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Watch for free on PBS’ website.
Saturday, January 16
Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: Under the Albert Clock
On Saturday 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 the year 2050. Tickets are $10.
Fabulous Fanny: The Songs and Stories of Fanny Brice
On Saturday at 7 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 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.
The Metropolitan Opera: Rodelinda
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Stephen Wadsworth’s staging of Rodelinda, Handel’s drama about a queen faced with an impossible decision. Renée Fleming stars as the title royal alongside Stephanie Blythe, Andreas Scholl, Iestyn Davies and Joseph Kaiser in this 2011 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Capriccio, until 6:30 p.m. today.
Metropolitan Playhouse: Aftermath
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Metropolitan Playhouse, an Obie-winning company that revives forgotten plays, presents a reading of Aftermath, Mary P. Burrill’s devastating 1919 one-act about a Black WWI hero who returns to his South Carolina home to discover his father has been lynched by an angry white mob. More than a century after its debut, the play continues to speak to the urgent issues of racism, nationalism and the danger of mob mentality. Timothy Johnson directs Ryan Vincent Anderson, Anthony T. Goss, Linda Kuriloff, Nia Akilah Robinson, Lawrence Winslow and Kim Yancey-Moore. Watch for free on the company’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
The Exponential Festival: Double Bill
On Saturday at 9 p.m. ET, every January since 2016, The Exponential Festival has showcased cutting-edge 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 Nathan Repasz‘s PowerPoint performance The Unquestioned Interiority of Humankind, followed by The Puzzlers + The Puzzlers 2: Black Box, two short films inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Texts for Nothing. Watch both for free on the fest’s YouTube channel.
Sunday, January 17
New Federal Theatre Virtual Gala
On Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, one of New York’s most lauded Black companies, Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a starry virtual gala. The guest list includes Tony winner Phylicia Rashad as well as Tony nominees Debbie Allen, Trazana Beverley, Stephen McKinley Henderson and S. Epatha Merkerson. Watch for free on New Federal Theatre’s website though donations are encouraged.
The Exponential Festival: perverse reverie forever
On Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, every January since 2016, The Exponential Festival has showcased cutting-edge 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 Deepali Gupta‘s perverse reverie forever described as “a filmed album project concerning the limbic and the liminal.” Watch for free on the fest’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
NewYorkRep: CivilWrights
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the ongoing fight for equality, New York Rep presents CivilWrights, an evening of anti-racist playlets by four BIPOC dramatists. The lineup consists of Jerome A. Parker‘s Animals – The Last Days of Amy Cooper, about last year’s infamous encounter between a Black male bird watcher and a white woman walking her dog in Central Park; Akin Salawu‘s N%##&r of the Month (or Feeding the Beast), which examines racism in the allegedly progressive nonprofit world; Ren Dara Santiago‘s Where We At. featuring two friends discussing identity and relationships; and James Anthony Tyler‘s Those Wishing about a Black family grappling with whether to call the police for help. The performance will be followed by a Town Hall-style talkback. Register to receive the free viewing link.
The Metropolitan Opera: Rusalka
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Otto Schenk‘s staging of Rusalka, Antonín Dvorák’s tragic Little Mermaid-style fable, starring soprano Renée Fleming as a water nymph who longs to be where the people are so she can win her prince (Piotr Beczala). Emily Magee, Dolora Zajick and John Relyea costar in this 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, Rodelinda, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Monday, January 18
BAM’s 35th Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On Monday at 11 a.m. ET, BAM‘s annual MLK Day celebration goes virtual this year with an impressive array of performers and politicians. The lineup includes a keynote speech by Alicia Garza, cofounder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, and performances by Grammy winner PJ Morton, Sing Harlem!, and spoken word artists Timothy DuWhite and Ashley August. Watch for free on BAM’s website.
Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival: Transatlantic Tales
On Monday at 3 p.m. ET, since 2008, Origin Theatre Company has presented the annual Origin 1st Irish Festival featuring readings, productions and panels. Today, AboutFace Ireland presents Transatlantic Tales, a series of eight new playlets performed live on Zoom. The international cast includes many NYC stage actors, including Irish Rep regulars John Keating, Orlagh Cassidy and Kevin Collins, and Drama Desk Award winner Richard Topol. Tickets are free but required.
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene: Soul to Soul
On Monday at 4 p.m. ET, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene honors the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with Soul to Soul, an annual concert celebrating cross-cultural connections between the African-American and Jewish communities. A tuneful mix of gospel, jazz, klezmer and folk songs, the event was conceived by Folksbiene artistic director Zalmen Mlotek and stars Lisa Fishman, Magda Fishman, Elmore James, Zalmen Mlotek, Tony Perry and Tatiana Wechsler. Tickets are $12 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.
Theater of War Productions: The Drum Major Instinct
On Monday at 7 p.m. ET, Theater of War Productions, a company that uses classical texts to examine contemporary issues, presents a reading of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “The Drum Major Instinct” speech, which he delivered in February 1968 at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. A cautionary sermon about the oppressive outcome of always wanting to be first, the text will be read by Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Moses Ingram from The Queen’s Gambit, with soloists De-Rance Blaylock, Duane Foster and John Leggette singing original music by Dr. Philip Woodmore. After the performance, director Bryan Doerries will facilitate a community conversation about racism, inequality and social justice. Tickets are free but required.
The Metropolitan Opera: Carmen
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Bizet’s Carmen starring Anita Rachvelishvili as the title character, who captivates all the men around her. Anita Hartig, Aleksandrs Antonenko and Ildar Abdrazakov costar in this 2014 production. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Rusalka, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
All Weekend
Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella
On Friday at 11 p.m.; Saturday at 5 and 11 p.m.; and Sunday at 4 and 9:30 p.m. ET, visionary choreographer Matthew Bourne brings his signature theatrical flair to the old Cinderella story with this breathtaking ballet, set to Prokofiev’s sumptuous score. This production was filmed live at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre during Cinderella‘s 2017-18 tour, and the dancing and camerawork are absolutely dazzling. If you enjoyed Bourne’s take on Swan Lake, this is a must-see. Tickets are $10.
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Top image: Ashley Shaw and Andrew Monaghan in Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, which is streaming Friday through Sunday. Photo by Tristram Kenton.
RAVEN SNOOK