35+ Stage Performances to Watch This Weekend February 26-28
Friday, February 26
Play-PerView: The Typists
On Friday at 7 p.m. ET, Play-PerView presents a live reading of The Typists, Murray Schisgal‘s two-hander about a pair of coworkers who become involved in an unlikely romance. Real-life husband and wife Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole star, and the busiest man in showbiz, Austin Pendleton, directs. Tickets start at $10 and net proceeds go to the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Can’t make the live performance? For $20, you can watch a recording until Tuesday, March 2 at 11:30 p.m. ET.
The Metropolitan Opera: La Traviata
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents La Traviata, Verdi’s romantic tragedy about a courtesan whose chance at true love is thwarted by bourgeois mores. Willy Decker helmed this 2012 mounting, which stars Natalie Dessay and Matthew Polenzani as the ill-fated lovers, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as his disapproving father. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Ernani, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Irish Repertory Theatre: Molly Sweeney
On Friday at 8 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Tonight, catch Molly Sweeney, Brian Friel’s popular drama about a woman blind since infancy whose sight is restored with unexpected consequences. Geraldine Hughes and Ciarán O’Reilly reprise their performances as Molly and her husband from the theatre’s hit 2011 production, alongside newcomer Paul O’Brien as the surgeon who changes the title character’s life. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
Saturday, February 27
Romeo & Juliet 2021
On Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET, it’s your last chance to fall in love with this new digital mounting of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. A stage-cinema hybrid filmed last year, the production stars Olivier Award winner Sam Tutty and Emily Redpath as the ill-fated lovers; theatre legend Derek Jacobi narrates. Tickets are £20, approximately $28.
Metropolitan Opera Stars Live in Concert: Sonya Yoncheva
On Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera continues its series of live recitals with superstar soprano Sonya Yoncheva performing from Germany’s Schussenried Cloister, accompanied by Julien Quentin on piano. The set list includes popular arias from Aida, La Bohème, Rusalka, Carmen and other beloved operas. Tickets are $20 and a recording is viewable until Friday, March 12.
Irish Repertory Theatre: A Touch of the Poet
On Saturday at 3 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Today, catch Eugene O’Neill’s compelling immigrant drama A Touch of the Poet, featuring Tony nominee Robert Cuccioli as Con, an Irish-American inn owner near Boston in 1828, clinging to a gentlemanly past that never was. Ciarán O’Reilly directs a cast that includes Ciaran Byrne, Kate Forbes and Mary McCann. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
New Federal Theatre: Widows
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, in honor of Black History Month, Woodie King Jr.’s half-century-old New Federal Theatre presents readings of important plays from its past. The series wraps up tonight with Mfundi Vundla‘s Widows, originally produced by the theatre in 1981. Set in the playwright’s native South Africa, the drama centers on three women, a peasant, a maid and a revolutionary, who band together to help liberate their homeland from apartheid. Clinton Turner Davis directs Zoleka Vundla, Phindi Wilson and Tanya Nomaziko Zondo. Watch for free until Monday on New Federal Theatre’s website though donations are encouraged.
The Seeing Place Theater: Sweat
On Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, The Seeing Place Theater presents a live Zoom performance of Sweat, Lynn Nottage’s devastating drama about how layoffs and picket lines tear apart a tight-knit working-class community in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play was inspired by real-life interviews with denizens of one of the poorest cities in the US. Brandon Walker directs a diverse cast. Tickets start at $10.
The Metropolitan Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera , featuring Marcelo Álvarez as a ruler in love with his best friend’s wife. Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe and Dmitri Hvorostovsky costar in David Alden‘s 2012 production, which is styled as a film noir. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, La Traviata, until noon ET today.
Black Theatre Coalition: Upon These Shoulders
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Black Theatre Coalition presents Upon These Shoulders, a celebration of the incredible work Black theatre artists have created over the past 150 years. A jaw-dropping lineup of Black luminaries, including André De Shields, Bebe Winans, Brandon Victor Dixon, Camille A. Brown, Carly Hughes, Daniel J. Watts, Lilli Cooper, Michael R. Jackson, Nathan Lee Graham, Norm Lewis, Paul Tazewell, Raja Feather Kelly, Savion Glover, Shereen Pimentel, Tituss Burgess, Whoopi Goldberg and Wynton Marsalis, will honor their forebears with performances, interviews and tributes. Tickets are $18.
Metropolitan Playhouse: The Valliant
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Metropolitan Playhouse, an Obie-winning company that revives forgotten works, presents a reading of The Valliant, Holworthy Hall and Robert Middlemass‘s harrowing one-act about a murdered on death row who refuses to divulge his identity or his motives. But a last-minute visitor may finally shine a light on his past. Cheryl Black directs Bryson Bruce, John Ottavino, Dewey Caddell, Joseph J. Menino and DeAnna Supplee. Watch for free on the company’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
Sunday, February 28
Irish Repertory Theatre: The Weir
On Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Today, catch The Weir, Conor McPherson‘s haunting 1997 drama about a quartet of Irishmen sharing ghost stories at a pub in order to impress a comely lass. The theatre originally mounted the play in 2013; this virtual adaptation reunites director Ciarán O’Reilly with three cast members from that production, Dan Butler, Sean Gormley and John Keating, along with Amanda Quaid and Tim Ruddy, who appeared in its 2015 encore run. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
The Seeing Place Theater: Sweat
On Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, The Seeing Place Theater presents a live Zoom performance of Sweat, Lynn Nottage’s devastating drama about how layoffs and picket lines tear apart a tight-knit working-class community in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play was inspired by real-life interviews with denizens of one of the poorest cities in the US. Brandon Walker directs a diverse cast. Tickets start at $10. Can’t make the live performance? Starting at 7 p.m. ET, you can watch a recording on demand until Wednesday, March 3.
Irish Repertory Theatre: YES! Reflections of Molly Bloom
On Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, this winter, the venerable Irish Rep is presenting encore streams of its entire digital season. Tonight, catch YES! Reflections of Molly Bloom, Aedín Moloney‘s solo adaptation of the “Penelope episode” from James Joyce’s Ulysses. This monologue play was a hit at the theatre in 2019 and offers intimate insights into one woman’s desires and dreams, with brief musical interludes composed by Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains. Tickets are free but required to receive the viewing link; donations are encouraged.
The Metropolitan Opera: Il Trovatore
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera presents Verdi’s Il Trovatore, starring Yonghoon Lee as Manrico, the passionate troubadour, Anna Netrebko as his lady love and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the evil Count di Luna who stands in the way of their happiness. Sir David McVicar staged this 2015 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Un Ballo in Maschera, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
All Weekend
Theatre for a New Audience: First Love
Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience presents a stage adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s haunting short story First Love, about a loquacious loner who has an unexpected awakening of the heart. Tony nominee Bill Camp brings this literary classic to life under the guidance of Obie-winning director JoAnne Akalaitis. Register to receive the free viewing link. The recording is viewable until Monday.
New York City Ballet: Prodigal Son
New York City Ballet kicks off its digital spring season with Prodigal Son, George Balanchine’s biblically inspired 1929 ballet set to Sergei Prokofiev’s score. Daniel Ulbricht and Teresa Reichlen star in this archival recording. Watch for free until Thursday, March 4 on NYCB’s YouTube channel.
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene: Hava Tequila Cabaret
The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presents Hava Tequila Cabaret starring performers from the company’s hit productions of Yiddish Fiddler and The Sorceress. Expect Yiddish standards as well as songs in celebration of Purim, a Jewish holiday that takes place this week. Watch for free until Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on Folksbiene’s website.
Center Theatre Group: The Gaze…No Homo
LA’s Center Theatre Group presents Larry Powell‘s The Gaze…No Homo, about a Black queer artist trying to create new work at an overwhelmingly white American theatre festival. Sharon Lawrence, Galen J. Williams, Devere Rogers, Jason Greene, Yvette Cason, Eugene Byrd and TC Carson star in a dozen digital episodes released simultaneously, directed by the playwright, Joanna Strapp, Zhailon Levingston, Satya Bhabha, Reginald L. Douglas, Amber A. Harris, Jonathan McCrory, Bianca Laverne Jones and Lelund Durond Thompson. Watch for free until Sunday on Center Theatre Group’s website.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: The Magical New Musical
On Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET, catch the new British musical The Sorcerer’s Apprentice inspired by Goethe’s poem of the same name about an aspiring wizard who makes all spells break loose. In Richard Hough and Ben Morales‘ take on the tale, the title character is actually the conjurer’s rebellious daughter, but the pair mend their relationship to save a troubled town. Filmed at London’s Southwark Playhouse earlier this month, the production was directed by Charlotte Westenra and stars Dawn Hope, David Thaxton and newcomer Mary Moore. Tickets are £18, approximately $25.
Gatsby a Musical
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET, experience the decadence and disappointment of the roaring ’20s in Gatsby a Musical. Director Linnie Reedman adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel for the stage, with songs by Joe Evans. This semi-staged concert was filmed at London’s Cadogan Hall during quarantine, and features West End stars Jodie Steele as Daisy Buchanan, Liam Doyle as her husband, Tom, and Ross William Wild as the title character. Tickets are £22, approximately $31.
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Top image: André De Shields in his solo show Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, which streams on Friday. Photo by Lia Chang.
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