7 Shows, Including The Muppet Show on Disney Plus, to Check Out This Week
THIS WEEKEND
1. Jim Henson's The Muppet Show will begin airing on Disney Plus on February 19. The variety show, which introduced the world to characters like Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, and more, feature weekly guests culled from the world of Hollywood and Broadway. You can sign up for Disney Plus here.
2. Actors from Broadway and London's West End team up for the Shakespeare@ Home, all-free radio play Julius Caesar, which launches February 22 at 7pm ET. Tony-nominated actor Patrick Page (Hadestown) stars in the title role with Jordan Barbour (Broadway's The Inheritance) as Brutus, Sky Lakota Lynch (Dear Evan Hansen) as Lucius, and Keith Hamilton Cobb (American Moor) as Cassius. Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's best known and most often quoted plays, chronicling the political and moral crisis of Brutus and his fellow conspirators as they plot to murder Caesar to prevent a dictatorship. Debut dates for parts 2, 3, and 4 of Julius Caesar are subsequent Mondays at 7pm EST on March 1 and 8. The final episode will premiere on March 15. Tickets are free, and donations are welcome. Find out more here
(image provided by the production)
3. Michael Urie, Ann Harada, Colby Lewis, and Constance Shulman will star in a virtual production of the new play Smithtown, written by Drew Larimore and directed by Stephen Kitsakos. Smithtown follows four residents of a fictional Midwestern university town who unwittingly become victims of technology gone awry. The 65-minute play is presented by the Studios of Key West. The play will stream online through February 27. For tickets, click here. Read our interview with Urie and Larimore here.
(© David Gordon)
5. John Lithgow, Shoshana Bean, and Daniel Breaker are among the artists to be featured in the second part of Myths and Hymns, a new digital adaptation of Adam Guettel's theatrical song cycle presented by MasterVoices. The free production, conceived and supervised by artistic director Ted Sperling, will premiere on February 24 at 6:30pm ET. More information can be found here.
6. Sam Tutty, Emily Redpath, and Sir Derek Jacobi will star in a new film version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Shot under Covid-19 regulations, it will stream through February 20, with a portion of the proceeds going to Acting for Others. For tickets and more information, click here.
7. Theatre East will stream Processing…, a play centered around four
NYC high school seniors whose lives have been upended by the lockdown and sudden death of
a beloved computer science teacher, through February 27. For tickets and more information, click here.
ON THE HORIZON
(© Michael Creagh)
Emmy and Tony nominee Bill Camp (The Queen's Gambit) will star in a filmed production of Samuel Beckett's First Love, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis. Theatre for a New Audience will premiere the work on Vimeo February 25-March 1. It was recorded remotely over Zoom at Camp's home in Vermont. Admission is free, but registration is required. You can find out more and register here.
NNR – New Normal Rep has announced its inaugural four-play season, featuring works by playwrights Julia Blauvelt, Jack Canfora, Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony-nominated playwright Nilo Cruz, and Obie winner and Pulitzer nominee Nikkole Salter. Jericho, the first play, which streams March 4-April 4, will be directed by four-time Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason and feature Golden Globe and an Obie Award winner and Emmy nominee Jill Eikenberry. For tickets and more information, click here.
Japan Society, in association with PlayCo, presents the virtual production of Ludic Proxy: Fukushima, written and directed by the Brooklyn-based theater-maker Aya Ogawa. Based on her own play Ludic Proxy, it is a virtual reimagining of the original play's second act commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. This online iteration will stream March 6 at 9:30pm ET, March 7 at 4:30pm ET, and March 11 at 8pm ET. For tickets and more information, click here.
10×10 is back to shake those winter blues away, from the comfort of your own home! Filmed live on Barrington Stage Company's Boyd-Quinson Stage, this year's selection of ten 10-minute plays is sure to delight. For tickets and more information, click here.
(images provided by the production)
A starry cast headed by Fionn Whitehead will perform a contemporary adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, streaming March 16-31. Whitehead will take on the title role, alongside Alfred Enoch as Harry Wotton, Joanna Lumley as Lady Narborough, Emma McDonald as Sibyl Vane, Russell Tovey as Basil Hallward, and Stephen Fry as the Interviewer. The play is written by Henry Filloux-Bennett and directed by Tamara Harvey. For tickets and more information, click here.
(© Tricia Baron)
Maulik Pancholy will star in a streaming production of Becky Mode's solo show Fully Committed, available March 23-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. Ticketing information to come.
(© 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.
CURRENTLY RUNNING
(© Disney)
The much-loved 1997 Wonderful World of Disney presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston, will come to Disney Plus beginning Friday, February 12. Cinderella stars Brandy in the title role and Houston as her Fairy Godmother, alongside Whoopie Goldberg as Queen Constantina, Bernadette Peters as the evil Stepmother, Paolo Montalbán as Prince Christopher, Victor Garber as King Maximillian, Jason Alexander as Lionel, Natalie Desselle as Minerva, and Veanne Cox as Calliope. To watch, sign up for Disney Plus here.
(© Helen Maybanks)
The Tony-winning revival of Tony Kushner's Angels in America has joined the lineup of National Theatre at Home, the official streaming service of London's National Theatre. Marianne Elliott's production was filmed during its 2017 run at the National, prior to its Broadway engagement the next year. The filmed Angels in America features nearly the exact same cast lineup as the New York run, led by Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield as Roy Cohn and Prior Walter, respectively, roles for which they would eventually win Tonys. To watch, subscribe here. The full production is also available as an audio play, which you can purchase here.
The Geffen Theatre is streaming Bollywood Kitchen now through March 6. In this interactive production, filmmaker and cookbook author Sri Rao invites us to prepare a homemade Indian meal along with him, drawing on the recipes that were staples at his family's table. As we join him in cooking these delicious dishes in our very own kitchens, Sri interweaves the story of his parents immigrating to America, the joy and nourishment that Bollywood musicals brought to his whole family, and the culinary traditions they shared. To read our review, click here. For tickets and more information, click here and watch the video above.
MasterVoices is presenting a new digital film series inspired by Adam Guettel's song cycle Myths and Hymns. Conceived by artistic director Ted Sperling, Myths and Hymns is divided into four chapters. The first edition of the digital series, titled "Flight," premieres January 13 at 6:30pm ET on the MasterVoices YouTube channel and will be available through June 30. It will include the songs "Prometheus," performed by Anderson & Roe; "Saturn Returns: The Flight," performed by Joshua Henry; "Icarus," performed by Mykal Kilgore and Norm Lewis; "Migratory V," performed by Julia Bullock, Renée Fleming, and Kelli O'Hara; "Pegasus," performed by Jose Llana, Capathia Jenkins, and Elizabeth Stanley; and "Jesus, the Mighty Conqueror," performed by Take 6. Watch the video above.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is streaming Hi, Are You Single? through February 28. The show is described as follows: "Ryan has a higher sex drive than you. He also has cerebral palsy. You can often find him on Grindr or at your local inaccessible gay bar. Join writer/performer Ryan J. Haddad on his search to find love." For tickets and more information, click here.
The Al Hirschfeld Foundation celebrates Black History Month with its latest online exhibition, Amplified Dignity: Black Dancers Drawn by Hirschfeld. The exhibition, which will be available though March 13, features Hirschfeld's reflections of legendary 20th-century artists including Sammy Davis Jr., Josephine Baker, Nicholas Brothers, Bunny Briggs, Judith Jamison, Hinton Battle, Maurice Hines, and Honi Coles. To view the collection, click here.
Shakespeare Theatre Company is streaming Tony nominee Patrick Page's All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain through July 28. Page explores how Shakespeare created the treacherous characters we all love to hate. Read our interview with the Hadestown star here, and watch the show's trailer above. For tickets and more information, click here.
