Streaming Theatre

[scenicdesign71]

At noon today (EST) I watched Sarah Kane's Crave streamed live, sans audience, from Chichester.

The good news of Biden's win was still piping-hot off the press -- after about ten minutes of hearing celebratory noise from the street and wondering what was up, I had finally put two and two together and refreshed my NYT homepage for confirmation.  So it became an oddly incongruous experience, watching the very private agony of Kane's characters on my laptop screen while hearing the very public jubilation continue -- all afternoon, off and on -- just outside my window.

But on its own terms, I admired Crave: ingeniously and elegantly staged, and beautifully performed.  Kane's script intrigued me, and if I can find the copy of her complete plays that's floating around somewhere in this apartment (purchased a year ago but thus far unread), I want to revisit it while this production is still fresh in my mind.

[Leighton]

I've just purchased tickets for Emilia to watch this week!

[scenicdesign71]

Thanks for posting, @Leighton -- I hadn't heard about this before, but have now purchased a ticket to watch Emilia as well!

The (TV) show I'm now working on is being produced under a contract which happens to give all employees Veterans Day off; it's one of those holidays that varies among different production contracts, though my hunch is that those that do observe it are rarer than those that don't -- perhaps partly because it's celebrated on a fixed date, November 11.  This year, that means we get a Wednesday off, breaking this week into two bite-sized chunks (which I actually almost prefer over the more common "three-day weekend" occasioned by other holidays that are made to fall, or at least to be observed, on a Monday -- or, more rarely, Friday -- every year).

All of which is to say that I have tomorrow off from work and will likely watch Emilia then.

[Leighton]

I have also purchased a ticket for The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk!

[scenicdesign71]

I have also purchased a ticket for The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk!

OOOH!  Booking now, hadn't heard about this one either -- thanks again, Leighton!

After a lazy morning (I slept in until noon) and an afternoon spent attending, by phone, to my mom's computer-related issues (marginally less tedious than it sounds, the upshot being that her spiffy new laptop is on its way and I'll be setting it up personally this time to make it, hopefully, more secure and user-friendly for her than the old one was),
...I'm now settling in to order Grubhub and enjoy Emilia! 

[DiveMilw]

Boston Marriage is streaming through 8PM EST, Nov 16th.  It's pay-what-you-can starting at $5.00.  
Staring Patti LuPone and Rebecca Pidgeon, with Sophia Macy.  Directed by David Mamet.

[scenicdesign71]

I'm planning to watch Boston Marriage on Saturday; I'd really like to watch it tonight, but I'm super tired and need to crash early for work tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening I'll be watching a livestream of The Last Five Years from ACT of Connecticut.  They claim to be the first company to have gotten AEA approval for full runs of live-in-person theatre on the strength of their meticulously-wrought safety plan for cast and audiences.  They've also secured approval to livestream these performances, thereby hopefully making up in streaming sales what they're losing at the box office by selling only 50 of their 180 seats to real live theatergoers.  It's an interesting solution from a young company (TL5Y marks the beginning of their third season) of whom I hadn't been aware until now, so I'm excited to watch tomorrow -- and hoping they're as good at making theatre as they are at creative problem-solving.  (There is, after all, a good deal of overlap between the two skill-sets).

Full-price streaming tickets for TL5Y go for $72 (!), but they're available for just $11 on TDF if you're a member.  I haven't checked out the live-in-person ticketing situation yet, but if this production excites me online I might even possibly consider visiting them in CT sometime later in the season.

I did watch Emilia last night, and my feelings about it are strongly mixed, but I'm quite glad I saw it (and might even watch again, since it's streaming through Dec. 2).  In the meantime, I might try and get my initial thoughts about it down this weekend.

Ticket purchased for The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Saturday night (or 2pm EST) Dec. 5.

[DiveMilw]

Kenneth Branagh to Chat Online With Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen, Maggie Smith

Sir Kenneth Branagh will host a conversation with British acting legends Dame Judi Dench, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen, and Dame Maggie Smith on Sunday, November 29, at 7pm GMT.

This illustrious quintet will discuss their lives and stage and screen work in an event presented on Zoom. Audience members will be able to contribute questions throughout the evening.

For One Knight Only is presented by Lockdown Theatre and Acting for Others. All proceeds will be donated to Acting for Others, which provides emotional and financial support to theater workers in times of need through its 14 member charities.


Click here for tickets.

[DiveMilw]

Tomorrow evening I'll be watching a livestream of The Last Five Years from ACT of Connecticut.  

Thank you for the reminder about this show and the discount offered through TKTS.  I can't afford the $72.  It would be OK if I had a lot of people to watch with me but that is not the case.  

I watched last night.  Aside from a few buffering issues (mostly during The Next Ten Minutes, my favorite song in the show  ) I thought the experience was great.

[scenicdesign71]

I saw Bill Irwin's award-winning On Beckett at Irish Rep in 2018, and they've just recently filmed it for streaming -- this weekend only!
I highly recommend giving it a look, and better still, tickets are free (though a donation, if you can, is as always encouraged):

https://www.theatermania.com/shows/new-york-city-theater/on-beckett-in-screen_334424

Though apparently prerecorded, they do seem to be live-streaming it, in the sense of appointment-watching as opposed to viewing-on-demand.  The remaining showtimes are Saturday at 3pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm.

[scenicdesign71]

2020 pandemic Christmas Carol roundup in the NYT.  Including, among many others:

Jefferson Mays's one-man version, filmed a couple of blocks from me in the Heights.

The Old Vic's recent adaptation.

And my personal MVP this year (about whom you're probably sick of hearing), Manual Cinema's brand-new puppet Carol.

Happy holidays, all!

[scenicdesign71]

Oh, and one more, announced today:

https://www.59e59.org/shows/show-detail/virtual-reading-a-christmas-carol/

...featuring Raúl Esparza giving the Old Vic's Andrew Lincoln a run for his money in 2020's Hot Scrooge-Off.

[DiveMilw]

Hartford Stage is doing a version of their Christmas Carol this year.  It's free to stream. 

A COMMUNITY CAROL
OPENING NIGHT
DECEMBER 17, 2020 | 7:30 PM
A recorded version will be available through Monday, December 21 at 7:30 pm.
Inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Collectively Created in Community

On a quiet winter's night, the cast of Hartford Stage's annual A Christmas Carol has Zoomed together to read the famous story in honor of what would have been the 23rd season. But, as the spine of the book cracks open, the cold wind sweeps in, the lights flicker, the Wi-Fi is unstable and the spirits that haunt its pages guide us on a journey through a story we thought we knew so well.
Hartford Stage presents A Community Carol, a virtual storytelling experience adapted and directed by Rachel Alderman and created in partnership with our beloved returning Christmas Carol cast members, local artists, Hartford neighbors and area theater students.
Community Candle Lighting
Join us before the show at 7 pm for a community candle lighting ceremony! Patrons who make a donation of $25 or more will receive a special "Community Carol" candle that can be used during the ceremony!

IMPORTANT INFO
Approximate Running Time
70 minutes
Recommended Age
Recommended for the entire family!

[scenicdesign71]

Having been fascinated, if occasionally confounded, by Will Arbery's Heroes of the Fourth Turning when I caught it at Playwrights Horizons a little over a year ago, I'm curious to see the Wilma Theater's new virtual production.  I've been thinking of checking it out ever since hearing about it a few weeks ago, but even more so after reading Jesse Green's thumbnail comparison of the two stagings (he loved both) in yesterday's NYT.

[scenicdesign71]

Saturday's final livestreamed performance of The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk was thoroughly enjoyable - sweet, sad, romantic, lovely to look at.  It reminded me a bit of Paula Vogel's Indecent, which I loved.  Both historical dramas about eastern-European Jewish artists trying to survive the first half of the 20th century.  Similar story-theatre staging (well, broadly speaking; similar-ish? kinda Indecent crossed with The Fantasticks??), with dollops of period (or period-pastiche?) music.  Both framed by narrator/participants telling the story in haunted retrospect.  Flying Lovers, smaller and more sentimental than Indecent, maintains a tight focus on its central couple, with a tiny company of just two actor/singer/dancers accompanied by two musicians.  (Indecent has a larger cast, but its ensemble likewise doubles up on roles and even musical instruments).  The cast was splendid, and Emma Rice's distinctive visual and theatrical sensibility was in fine form.