Top 5 Stage Performances to Stream This Weekend March 15-17
Ryan McKinny and Joyce DiDonato in The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Dead Man Walking, which is airing on PBS this weekend. Photo courtesy of the Met.
Even though in-person theatre and dance are back in full swing, in the name of accessibility we’re continuing to round up performances to watch online from the comfort of home. Our carefully curated list spotlights the five best options to stream this weekend, Friday, March 15 to Sunday, March 17, for free or at low cost.
PBS Great Performances at the Met: Dead Man Walking
Airing on TV on PBS Thirteen on Friday, March 15 at 9 p.m. ET for FREE. Not available to stream.
Tony-winning director Ivo van Hove (A View From the Bridge, Network) helms this acclaimed mounting of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally’s opera based on the powerful, real-life story of Sister Helen Prejean (celebrated soprano Joyce DiDonato), who counsels and comforts condemned murderer Joseph De Rocher (Ryan McKinny). Susan Graham, who played Prejean in the work’s 2000 premiere, portrays De Rocher’s mother in this staging. Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens hosts the broadcast. Can’t watch on Friday? See when it’s airing on other PBS channels.
—
George Street Playhouse: The Club
Live-streaming Friday, March 15 at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 16 at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 17 at 2 p.m. ET for $49
New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse is presenting an in-person production of The Club and you can live-stream the final weekend of performances at home courtesy of The League of Live Stream Theater. A world premiere written by best-selling novelist Chris Bohjalian (The Flight Attendant, Hour of the Witch), the play centers on three suburban couples in the late ’60s who mistakenly believe they’re insulated from the cultural upheavals reshaping the country. An insightfully funny examination of the social issues that continue to divide us decades later.
—
My Beatnik Youth: A Solo Riff
A new solo show from the inimitable playwright-performer Justin Elizabeth Sayre, My Beatnik Youth is live-streaming one performance directly from La MaMa, where it runs throughout the month. Teenager Jay is fixated on the Beat Generation. After a drunken car crash, Jay is placed in the psych ward to contemplate their behavior, face their demons and determine why Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and their ilk mean so much to them.
—
TheatreSquared: Cambodian Rock Band
Arkansas’ TheatreSquared is presenting an in-person production of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band, but a recording is also available to stream at home. A live band plays contemporary Dengue Fever hits and Cambodian oldies in this award-winning play about a father who escaped the murderous Khmer Rouge regime only to return home 30 years later to help his daughter prosecute one of the perpetrators. This time-hopping play, seen at NYC’s Signature Theatre Company a few years back, is equal parts rock concert and thrilling mystery.
—
Paramount+: Mean Girls
—