Top 5 Stage Performances to Stream This Weekend September 23-25
In-person shows have been back for over a year now, but sometimes we want to get our theatre fix at home. Thankfully, there are still wonderful stage performances to watch online. Our carefully curated list spotlights the five best performances to stream this weekend, Friday, September 23 to Sunday, September 25, for free or at low cost.
Great Performances: Intimate Apparel
PBS Great Performances presents Intimate Apparel, a critically acclaimed opera based on Lynn Nottage’s eponymous play that was filmed live on stage at Lincoln Center Theater earlier this year. The work centers on a lonely African-American seamstress (Kearstin Piper Brown) searching for love and fulfillment in turn-of-the-20th-century New York. Composer Ricky Ian Gordon (Orpheus & Euridice, Morning Star) actually approached the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright about collaborating on transforming her script into a sung-through piece. Tony winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific, My Fair Lady) directs. Watch for free on TV on PBS Thirteen in real time, or stream the production on the website anytime through Friday, October 21.
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NYU Skirball: Textplay
And now for something completely different. Legendary UK playwrights Tom Stoppard and Samuel Beckett go head-to-head in this text experience by “Archer Eland” (a pseudonym, though his true identity remains a mystery). Nothing to see here but words and wit as the dramatists discover they’re trapped in another universe where they can only communicate via text message. Together they try to make sense of their lives and legacies. Don’t expect actors! The dialogue will appear as text on your screen.
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Live from 54 Below: The Failure Cabaret
Live-streaming Saturday, September 24 at 9:45 p.m. ET for $15
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The Green Room 42: Eva Noblezada: So This Is Love
Live-streaming Sunday, September 25 at 7 p.m. ET for $19
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The Green Room 42: Reeve Carney
Live-streaming Sunday, September 25 at 9:30 p.m. ET for $19
Hadestown star Reeve Carney continues his cabaret residency at The Green Room 42 with an intimate concert featuring numbers from his career (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Fox’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again) as well as original songs from his solo album Youth Is Wasted. Live-streaming directly from the venue’s stage. If you prefer to attend in person, click here for info.
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Top image: Kearstin Piper Brown and Justin Austin in Intimate Apparel, which is streaming for free beginning on Friday on PBS. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.