American Ballet Theatre, 2021 Broadway Backwards, and More Stream This Weekend
From Broadway to off-Broadway, from music to magic, TheaterMania Streaming offers you the best live-streams and videos on demand in the world of performing arts. For more information, click here and watch the trailer below:
THIS WEEKEND
American Ballet Theatre Live from City Center | A Ratmansky Celebration, now streaming through April 18, showcases many of the company's renowned dancers in excerpts from The Seasons, Seven Sonatas, and The Sleeping Beauty, and a world premiere, Bernstein in a Bubble, set to the music of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein. Digital access may be purchased for $25. This event will be available to watch on demand through Sunday, April 18. To purchase, click here.
(© Tricia Baron)
Maulik Pancholy will star in George Street Playhouse's streaming production of Becky Mode's solo show Fully Committed, available through April 11. Fully Committed is based on characters created by Mode and original star Mark Setlock. Pancholy will play more than 40 characters in the work, which follows a day in the life of Sam, a reservation-line receptionist at one of New York's trendiest restaurants. For tickets and more information, click here.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, which took place on March 30, will stream its 2021 Broadway Backwards benefit for free through April 3. In this virtual production, Jay Armstrong Johnson stars as an isolated New Yorker who dreams a fantastical journey guided by a late-night television host, portrayed by Jenn Colella. Chasten Buttigieg, Ariana DeBose, Debra Messing, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tony Shalhoub, and Ben Vereen make special appeals for donations. Watch the entire show above, and click here to donate.
(© David Gordon)
American Conservatory Theatre has announced casting for its upcoming filmed reading of Alice Childress's Trouble in Mind, directed by Awoye Timpo and streaming on demand March 29-April 4. The company will be led by Patrice Johnson Chevannes, alongside David Harbour as Al Manners, Lauren Spencer as Millie Davis, Anthony Fusco as Bill O'Wray, Kadeem Ali Harris as John Nevins, Dakin Matthews as Henry, Steven Anthony Jones as Sheldon Forrester, Eliza Kaye as Judy Sears, and Johnny Rice as Eddie Fenton. Childress's masterpiece would have been the first play by a Black woman produced on Broadway if she had agreed to the producers' demands that she soften its message. For tickets and more information, click here.
(image via the Strand Theatre)
This weekend is the last chance to see Middletown, a new play by Dan Clancy streaming through April 4. The production stars Didi Conn (Grease), Sandy Duncan (My One and Only), Adrian Zmed (T.J. Hooker), and Don Most (Happy Days). The play is presented as a reading, with the actors standing at four podiums with scripts. Middletown tells the story of two couples, Peg and Tom, and Dotty and Don, as they "endure the roller coaster of life together in this exhilarating and universal depiction of love, life, and friendship." For tickets, click here.
The Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center has launched Stories of Human Resilience — a groundbreaking video project with Emmy- and Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright, actor, author, journalist, and educator Anna Deavere Smith. Stories of Human Resilience's second installment, which you can watch above, features Tony-award winning actor LaChanze and her personal resilience journey as a performer, wife, and mother. In May, Smith will focus on the migration crisis through stories of migrants in Latin America. You can subscribe to Atlantic Council's YouTube channel here.
ON THE HORIZON
(© Cliff Roles)
Florida's Asolo Repertory Theatre will stream its concert production of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot April 5-11. The outdoor concert, which is currently running, stars Britney Coleman as Guenevere, Nick Duckart as Arthur, Alex Joseph Grayson as Lancelot, John Rapson as Mordred/Sagramore, Joseph Torello as Dinadin, and Levin Valayil as Lionel/Dap/Tom. For tickets and more information, click here.
(© Tristan Fuge/David Gordon/Tricia Baron)
The second season of the Spotlight on Plays continues with Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous by Pearl Cleage (April 9). Upcoming productions will include Watch on the Rhine by Lillian Hellman; Ohio State Murders by Adrienne Kennedy; Dear Elizabeth by Sarah Ruhl; The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel; and The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein. Actors scheduled to take part include Debbie Allen, Ellen Burstyn, Bobby Cannavale, Kathryn Hahn, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Keanu Reeves, Heidi Schreck, Alia Shawkat, Heather Alicia Simms, and Alicia Stith. For tickets and more information, click here.
(image provided by the Old Vic Theatre)
London's Old Vic Theatre will present a live-streaming production of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax for six performances only, April 14-17. Adapted for the stage by David Greig, with a score by Charlie Fink, The Lorax will star Jamael Westman as the Once-ler, with Audrey Brisson, David Ricardo-Pearce, and Ben Thompson as the Lorax. Richard Katz, Melanie La Barrie, and Silas Wyatt-Barke round out the cast. The show chronicles the plight of the environment and focuses around a confrontation between the Lorax, who speaks for the trees, and the Once-ler, who causes destruction. For tickets and more information, click here.
(image provided by Roundabout Theatre Company)
Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the launch of the Refocus Project, a multiyear effort to elevate rarely produced dramas by formerly marginalized theatrical voices to the forefront of the American theatrical canon. The centerpiece of the Refocus Project is a series of play readings, with the first season spotlighting historically overlooked Black dramatists from the 20th century. In association with Black Theater United, the readings will include Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimké (April 23), Home by Samm-Art Williams (April 30), I Gotta Get Home by Shirley Graham Du Bois (May 7), Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston (May 14), and Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress (May 21). The readings are free, with all suggested donations supporting Black Theatre United. For more information, click here.
(image provided by the production)
Veteran cast members from across the world will come together to celebrate the 30th-longest-running show in Broadway history on April 24 with the live Rock of Ages: All-Star Reunion Concert. Featuring a "supergroup" cast, the show will include live performances of the greatest hits of the 1980, with performances at the Rock of Ages Hollywood stage at the Bourbon Room and in New York City. For more information on the show's streaming platform, click here.
(© Tristan Fuge)
The nonprofit organization Target ALS will host a one-night-only concert tribute to Rebecca Luker on May 4, at 7:30pm. The fundraiser, titled Becca, will feature Laura Benanti, Sierra Boggess, Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Santino Fontana, Judy Kuhn, Howard McGillin, Norm Lewis, Kelli O'Hara, and Sally Wilfert. Tickets are $20 with 100 percent of sales sales and donations benefiting ALS research. For to find out more and to purchase tickets, click here.
Tony- and Grammy-winner John Lloyd Young will stream in his show John Lloyd Young By Request: Live From Las Vegas. Taking place on May 1 at 9pm ET, the 75-minute livestreamed pay-per-view concert will include favorites from John's popular repertoire of classic R&B, rock, doo-wop, Broadway, and of course, Jersey Boys. The concert will be available for purchase OnDemand for one week following the live event. A virtual VIP after-party will begin at 10:45pm. For tickets and more information, click here.
CURRENTLY RUNNING
Sleep Squad is a family-friendly, interactive, virtual theater experience that turns your home into a rocket ship to launch kids into their dreams. Featuring brand-new, unique, kid-driven comedy and music from the Story Pirates that you can't see or hear anywhere else, this world premiere on-demand production creates a new kind of bedtime ritual for kids ages 4-12. Sleep Squad stars Tony Award nominee Lilli Cooper as the Dream Queen, who guides adventurers through three different enchanting virtual experiences, adapted from stories written by real kids. Check out the trailer and buy tickets above.
Christopher Carter Sanderson's film telling of Shakespeare's Macbeth up close and personal in the 9/16 aspect ratio with a stellar cast led by TV's Leajato Robinson (Bull, Orange Is the New Black, Boardwalk Empire), based on the long-running critical success. Check out the trailer and buy tickets above.
The Al Hirschfeld Foundation presents its latest online exhibition, It Goes So Fast: Our Town by Hirschfeld. The exhibition features Hirschfeld's reflections of the legendary Thornton Wilder drama featuring artists including Frances Conroy, Henry Fonda, Spalding Gray, Helen Hayes, Penelope Ann Miller, Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra, Eric Stoltz, and more. To view the exhibition now through May 15, click here.
(© Lowell Thomas)
Steppenwolf Theatre Company has released a streaming world premiere production of Duchess! Duchess! Duchess!, written by Vivian J.O. Barnes and loosely inspired by the struggles of Meghan Markle and the British royal family. Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! uses the monarchy to investigate how society's institutions of power affect Black women. The two-hander is directed by Weyni Mengesha and stars Chicago-based actors Sydney Charles and Celeste M. Cooper, who filmed the play in their separate homes. Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! is available via the Steppenwolf Now Virtual Stage, which can be found here.
