What's Streaming? Menopause the Musical and Much More
(courtesy of Menopause The Musical)
With theaters closed around the country, some companies are making their productions available online. Below, you'll find our weekly update of productions, videos, and other theater-related streaming content from across the US and elsewhere. Some streams are free, while others may charge a fee or request a donation. Either way, you're sure to find something to scratch your theater itch. Theaters may be dark, but the shows go on.
This Weekend
* On Thursday, May 14 at 2pm ET, the National Theatre will stream the never-before-seen archive recording of Inua Ellams's smash-hit play Barber Shop Chronicles. The cast includes Fisayo Akinade, Hammed Animashaun, Cyril Nri, and Sule Rimi. The stream will be available for free for one week. Watch it here:
* St. Ann's Warehouse has partnered with Complicité to host a The Encounter, created and performed by Simon McBurney, from Friday, May 15 at 2pm ET through Friday, May 22 at 5pm ET. The Encounter will stream for free here.
Upcoming
* Red Bull Theater's free live stream reading of Shakespeare's Coriolanus will be broadcast on Monday, May 18 on 7:30pm ET. This reading will feature the cast of Red Bull's acclaimed 2016 off-Broadway production: Matthew Amendt, Zachary Fine, Rebecca S'Manga Frank, Lisa Harrow, Merritt Janson, Dion Johnstone, Aaron Krohn, Edward O'Blenis, Tony Award nominee Patrick Page, Olivia Reis, and two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella joined by Lily Santiago. To watch on YouTube, click here.
* On Monday, May 18 at 8pm ET, Audra McDonald and John Dickerson will host a live stream of Broadway on Demand's A Night of Covenant House Stars, featuring more than 50 powerhouse performers — including Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Jon Bon Jovi, Rachel Brosnahan, and many more — uniting to sing and share a message of inspiration for young people in support and celebration of the Covenant House. For more information, click here.
* On Tuesday, May 19 at 8pm ET, the one-hour event You Live, You Learn: A Night With Alanis Morissette and "Jagged Little Pill", hosted on the Jagged Little Pill Facebook and YouTube channels, will feature conversations and exclusive performances from the Broadway cast of Jagged Little Pill and seven-time Grammy Award-winning songwriter and recording artist Alanis Morissette. The event will benefit the Actors Fund.
* The Actors Fund and People magazine will stream the 2015 benefit concert of Bombshell, the musical within the short-lived television drama Smash on Wednesday, May 20 at 8pm ET on people.com.
* On Thursday, May 21, the 2014 National Theatre Live broadcast of the Young Vic and Joshua Andrews co-production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire will stream for free. The cast includes Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster, and Vanessa Kirby. The stream will be available for one week. Visit the National Theatre's YouTube page here.
* A reading of Stephen Adly Guirgis's Our Lady of 121st Street will be presented on Saturday, May 23 at 8pm ET and will be available to stream for 24 hours. Bobby Cannavale, Laurence Fishburne, and more will take part in the reading. The event is free to the public; donations will be accepted throughout the evening. To watch, click here.
* TriviaMania co-host and Broadway star Ellyn Marie Marsh has teamed up with Patrick Hinds for a brand-new true-crime podcast Obsessed With: Disappeared, which will recap episodes of Investigation Discovery Channel's hit series "Disappeared" in a comedic and witty tone, with perpetrators always the butt of the joke. It will be available May 27.
* Free and open to all, the New 42 Virtual Gala 2020 will premiere on June 1, 2020, at 5:30PM EST to raise critical funds for the performing arts engagement and education programs of New 42 and its signature projects, New 42 Studios and New Victory Theater, which recently launched New Victory Arts Breaks, a series of digital performing arts curriculum for families and teachers to adapt to kids' learning spaces at home. To watch, click here.
* The Public Theater will offer a free virtual event, We Are One Public, on June 1. The evening will be hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, with appearances and performances by Antonio Banderas, Anne Hathaway, Sting, Claire Danes, Glenn Close, Oscar Isaac, Sandra Oh, Audra McDonald, Danielle Brooks, Elvis Costello, Danai Gurira, and more. The event will honor Sam Waterston. For more information, click here.
Available for a Limited Time
* Tickets for a streaming version of the musical comedy Menopause The Musical are available through May 31. To join the virtual sisterhood, click here.
* Lucy DeVito, Tracee Ellis Ross, Carole Kane, Natasha Lyonne, and Rosie O'Donnell star in Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss & What I Wore. The stream of the 2017 production will be available through May 25. To buy $10 tickets, click here.
* The Goodman Theatre is streaming Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play through May 31. Tickets are $20. To purchase, click here.
* Geffen Playhouse has extended The Present, its world premiere live, virtual, and interactive theatrical experience written and performed by master illusionist, storyteller, and Geffen alum Helder Guimarães. The show will now run May 7-August 16. A mystery package will be sent to you inside a USPS Priority Mail box before the show, so you must purchase tickets at least seven days in advance. To purchase tickets, click here.
* New York City Ballet has launched a digital season offering content through May 30. For dates and more information, click here.
Always Available
* The global family of Rent paid tribute to the frontline heroes of New York City. Watch their rendition of "No Day But Today" here:
* Theater producer and playwright David Lan has a conversation with longtime artistic collaborator Stephen Daldry celebrating Lan's new memoir, As If By Chance: Journeys, Theatres, Lives. The conversation, a part of BAM's ongoing series of digital programs Love from BAM, can be seen here.
* More than 70 cast members from various international productions of Maury Yeston and Peter Stone's musical Titanic have gathered to record a socially distant version of the ballad "We'll Meet Tomorrow." Watch it below:
* Derek Klena performs a contemporary take on "Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific in the R&H Goes Live! series. Check out that video and the whole series here.
* The Broadway Sings series launches daily performances on its Instagram IGTV account, featuring new arrangements of iconic pop songs.
* Idina Menzel and Ben Platt perform "A Whole New World" from Disney's Aladdin as part of "The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II." Watch the video below:
* Last week, in honor of Florence Nightingale's birthday and the conclusion of Nurses week, and in celebration of our nation's healthcare workers and 2020 Year of the Nurse, the Resilient Project released their "Resilient" video.
* Wicked celebrates first responders on the front lines of the public health crisis with a video featuring stars Lindsay Pearce (Elphaba) and Ginna Claire Mason (Glinda) singing the anthem "For Good."
* Composer Charles Strouse, the last surviving writer of the musical Annie, has tried to help bolster optimism by recording a video of himself performing the show's beloved anthem, "Tomorrow."
* From their homes in Ireland, the UK, the United States, Canada, Spain, Australia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as those dancers who have swapped their dancing shoes for scrubs, the Riverdance cast have come together while being apart to say thank you to all frontline and essential workers, as well as the people at home who continue to do their part in the fight against COVID-19.
* Six fans from across the globe joined the cast for a special performance in isolation.
* Abrons Arts Center has made all of its performance documentation public on its Vimeo page, alongside contact and donation information for the artists whose work you are viewing.
* Tony winner André De Shields (Hadestown) talked to TheaterMania's Senior Features Reporter David Gordon. Watch the video interview below:
