David Bowie's Lazarus Set to Stream This Weekend; Find Out What Else to Watch
David Bowie's Lazarus will stream for three performances this weekend, January 8-10. The filmed London production stars Michael C. Hall as Newton (the character famously portrayed by David Bowie in the 1976 screen adaptation of The Man Who Fell to Earth). The show includes songs from Bowie's iconic catalogue as well as new songs written for the stage including the title song, "Lazarus." With a book by Bowie and Tony winner Enda Walsh, Lazarus co-stars Sophia Anne Caruso and Michael Esper. Tony winner Ivo van Hove directs. For tickets, click here.
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The Shows Must Go On YouTube channel will present a free stream of Heroes Live, a recording of a 2011 concert by beloved West End actor Michael Ball. Heroes features Ball performing hits by some of his musical heroes, including Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, and Tony Bennett. Songs include "New York State of Mind," "For Once in My Life," "Summer Wind," and more. The concert will air on January 7, beginning at 2pm ET in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Japan, and will stream for 48 hours. To watch, click here.
The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival (UTR) is entirely virtual this year, running January 6-17. Under the Radar 2021 will feature an exciting mix of innovative artists including 600 Highwaymen, Javaad Alipoor, Inua Ellams, Trinidad González, Alicia Hall Moran, Piehole, and Whitney White and Peter Mark Kendall. For programming information and tickets, click here.
The 2021 Origin 1st Irish Festival, a three-week celebration of contemporary Irish culture, will take place virtually January 11-31. The festival presents work by theater companies from Ireland, Northern Ireland, and New York. Highlights of this year's festival include Under the Albert Clock, a collection of short plays by five of Northern Ireland's most inventive female playwrights, Transatlantic Tales, a series of eight original plays, and Irish Rep's production of Darren Murphy's The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, the story of a man in Belfast on his last call with his mother in Dublin. For festival calendar and tickets, click here.
Sleep Squad, a family-friendly, interactive, virtual theater experience, turns your home into a rocket ship to launch kids into their dreams. This on-demand production creates a new kind of bedtime ritual for kids age 4-12. Sleep Squad stars Tony Award nominee, Lilli Cooper (SpongeBob SquarePants,Tootsie) as the Dream Queen, who guides adventurers through three different enchanting audio experiences, adapted from stories written by real kids, including a visit to a desert island, a dinosaur's birthday party, and an intergalactic nightclub. Tickets are available January 6-February 21. To purchase, click here.
The LCT Spotlight Series — Lincoln Center Theater's free program of digital events which features LCT artists in performance, conversation and more — resumes on January 14 at 8pm with "Turning the Page: LCT" Artists Read Their Own Poetry and Prose. To be introduced by poet Honor Moore, author of the recently published memoir Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at Midcentury, the event will feature playwrights David Adjmi, Ayad Akhtar, and Sarah Ruhl; playwright and director James Lapine; director Jack O'Brien; and actor and writer Andrew Rannells reading from their own nontheatrical works. To register for the Zoom webinar, click here.
Hershey Felder stars as Sholem Aleichem in Before Fiddler — Live From Florence, running for one night only on February 7. Before the beloved musical Fiddler on the Roof, there was Sholem Aleichem and his beloved character of "Tevye the Milkman." Before the beloved songs "Tradition," "If I Were a Rich Man," "Matchmaker," and more, there was music of the Old World … a music that imitated talking, laughing, weeping, and singing, where musicians didn't just make music, they spoke to you in song — Klezmer. In Florence, Italy, one of the oldest artistic centers in the world, a group of such musicians have been, by day, virtuosos in Florence's world famous Maggio Musicale symphony orchestra; by night, they are the Klezmerata Forientina … with their ancient European roots, and Hershey Felder as their storyteller, playing an array of characters and music from the "Old World," from a Tevyeh, to a Yenteh, to a Rabbi, to a newlywed daughter, to many many more … Purchase includes the live stream and a week of ON DEMAND viewing access to the recording of the live stream (through 2/14). For tickets, click here.
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Josh Groban's latest live-streamed concert will be a romantic one, taking place on Valentine's Day, February 14, at 8pm ET. On Instagram, Groban teased that the "rip roarin'" concert will feature "tons of songs I've rarely (or never!) done." The new show will air in multiple timezones, with on-demand playback for up to 48 hours from the start time. For tickets and more information, click here.
Vineyard Theatre's original cast benefit reading of Gloria, the Pulitzer Prize finalist play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Evan Cabnet, will stream January 19-24, allowing for two additional days of viewing on demand. Proceeds from this reading will support the artists and programs in the nonprofit theater's 2020-21 season, with a portion of the proceeds supporting the Dramatists Guild Foundation. For tickets and more information, click here.
Carrie Coon headlines Rajiv Joseph's new play Red Folder, presented as part of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's virtual Steppenwolf Now initiative. It streams beginning January 27. Coon narrates the 10-minute work, which is described as an "illustrated short." The plot is described cryptically as follows: "The red folder belongs to a first grader. It is the source of all his woes. Years later, he seeks vengeance." For more information, watch the video above and click here.
