WFH The Musical Work From Home The Musical is coming to a feed near you. With music composed by Rock of Ages’ Henry Aronson, duets by Kevin Chamberlin (@chamberlin_kevin) of The Addams Family, James Snyder (@thejamessnyder) of Harry the Potter and the Cursed Child and Lauren Molina (@lomo212) of Sweeney Todd and up-and-coming performances by Gabriella Whiting @gabiwhiting and Bettina Lobo @bettinald, WFH is a mix of heavy-hitters and TikTok natives.
WFH tackles everything from breastfeeding and Zoom meetings to timesheets and afternoon delights. All the while proving that when you work from home (for better or worse) you’re never ever alone.
5:30pm: Broadway’s Future Songbook Concert: Voices of Hope Broadway’s Future Songbook Series, presented by Arts and Artists of Tomorrow, will continue its virtual season April 26 at 5:30 PM ET with a concert titled Voices of Hope.
Produced, directed, and hosted by John Znidarsic, the evening is part of Carnegie Hall’s Voices of Hope Festival in collaboration with the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Expect new works by emerging Broadway talent created in response to the pandemic.
Contributing writers include Joey Contreras, Jill Santoriello, Doug Lyons, Ethan D. Pakchar, Billy Recce, Ross Baum, Angelica Chéri, Alex Ratner, Katya Stanislavskaya, Robert Lindsey Nassif, Lauren Taslitz, Danny Ursetti, Chip Klose, Ben Roseberry, Christiana Cole, Bill Nelson, Jessica Ann Carp, Jay Alan Zimmerman, Charles Morey, Greg Pliska, Maria Christensen, Anthony Nunziata, Richard Pearson Thomas, David Kornfeld, and Kyle Segar.
The new works will be interpreted by Contreras, Nunziata, Segar, Recce, Carly Hughes, Charity Angél Dawson, Daniel Yearwood, Kerstin Anderson, Amy Justman, Lincoln Ginsberg, Brian Russell Carey, Jaygee Macapagay, Kennedy Kanagawa, Amy Burgess, Forest Van Dyke, Keri Rene Fuller, Jacob Fjeldheim, Amy Weintraub, Jason Pintar, Melanie Berg, Belén Moyano, Jesse Gage, Jacob Fjeldheim, Wade McCollum, Paul Loren, Ben Roseberry, Brynn Williams, Jessica Ann Carp, Sail Warsi, Eric Bondoc, Emily Popham Gillins, Brian Childers, Stephanie Miller, Stephen Velasquez, Eileen Tepper, Ellie Handel, James Edward Alexander, Jay Alan Zimmerman, Stephen Drabicki, Ben Jones, Eugene Gwozdz, and Amy Gluck.
7pm: Broadway’s Masked Singer Eight of Broadway’s favorite voices will anonymously compete in a new series to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The series features contestants in deceptive head-to-toe costumes virtually performing in front of a guessing panel full of industry insiders.
Viewers at home will determine the show’s outcome by voting for their favorite performances through donations to Broadway Cares in the name of their favorite masked singer. The first two episodes will be split among the eight contestants. Four finalists will make it to the finale, during which a winner will be declared.
7pm: Brother, Brother Aleshia Harris’ Brother, Brother, directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury, will remain available through July 25.
Featuring Hadestown Tony winner André De Shields, along with Gbenga Akinnagbe, Amari Cheatom, and Owen Tabaka, the new work follows brothers Jim and Wally, who are traveling Appalachia by a tandem bicycle, stopping to play shows on their way to make it big in Tennessee. When a man in a maroon suit starts following them, they come face-to-face with their pasts.
The production also features Affrilachian fiddle music from Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton and the visual imaginations of Ibrahim Rayintakath and Liang-Hsin Huang.
7pm: Live at the Lortel: Sydney James Harcourt Hosted by Eric Ostrow, along with co-hosts Joy DeMichelle and John-Andrew Morrison, season two of Live at The Lortel is dedicated to amplifying the voices and stories of people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and artists who stand in solidarity with the continued fight against institutional racism and racial injustice.
Theater makers will delve into their thoughts on the future of theater during this period of radical change. They will also discuss their craft, as well as their professional and personal projects that help to make theatre and the world more equitable.
7pm: Broadway by the Year: The Cole Porter YearsTown Hall’s long-running series Broadway by the Year hosts Tony nominees Lilli Cooper and Alexander Gemignani, Kenita Miller and jazz star Nicole Henry for a night celebrating the songs of Cole Porter. Audiences can view the concert through April 28.
7pm: The Way Forward: Theater’s Evolution in Moments of Change “Part II: Present — Culture and Crisis.”
Featuring: Oskar Eustis, Nataki Garrett, Maria Manuela Goyanes, and Kwame Anthony Appiah with Stellene Volandes
We are in a moment of evolution in the American theater — reconceiving the very nature of our work amid a worldwide pandemic. It is a period of meaningful and sustained reckoning, one that asks: Who is your true community? How do we create better, more inclusive organizations? What do we want to give to the next generation of artists and audiences? How can our government better support the arts workers who tell our country’s story? Join Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garrett, Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director Maria Manuela Goyanes, and cultural theorist and philosopher Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah for a conversation about the how they have adapted their leadership and deepened their practice in 2020-21.
7:30pm: Paradise Lost With its exquisite language and Shakespearean scale, John Milton’s epic poem explores the fundamental questions of the human experience: What is evil? If God is all-powerful, why did he allow evil to exist? Do humans have free will? Is our life predestined?
Dubbed “an Immorality play” by adaptor and director Michael Barakiva, this Red Bull Theater presentation will be presented in two parts: “The Fall of Lucifer” (April 12) and “Adam and Eve” (April 26).
7:30pm: Underneath the Freeways of Los Angeles Clue meets Chinatown in Underneath the Freeways of Los Angeles, a live-streamed, interactive murder mystery experience inspired by historical events. It’s 1960, and two bodies have been discovered in the lake at East L.A.’s Hollenbeck Park, right below the newly-built section of the Golden State Freeway that runs directly overhead. You, the audience, will question the witnesses and persons of interest. Who is the guilty party? Each virtual performance is live. Every performance is different.
WHO:
• Written by Matthew Paul Olmos
• Directed by Michael Alvarez
• Starring Mia Ando, Morgan Danielle Day, Amy K. Harmon, Gloria Ines, Roland Ruiz, Darrett Sanders
• Produced by Alana Dietze and Chris Fields for The Echo Theater Company
• Commissioned by The Echo Theater Company
7:30pm: Puccini’s La Bohème A passionate, timeless, indelible story of young love in 19th-century Paris, La Bohème can easily stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera. It has a marvelous ability to both make a powerful first impression and to reveal previously unnoticed treasures after dozens of hearings. Throughout, Puccini perfectly captures the “small people” (as he called them) of the drama and explores the deep emotional significance hidden in the trivial things—a bonnet, an old overcoat, a chance meeting with a neighbor—that make up our everyday lives. Presented nearly 500 times since it debuted in 1981, Zeffirelli’s picturesque staging of this classic heartbreaker is the most-performed production in Met history.
8pm: Pajama Cast Party The 55th episode of Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Partywill feature live musical performances by Broadway performers Bonnie Milligan (Head Over Heels), Brittney Johnson (Wicked), Wesley Ryan (Hamilton), gospel singer Tiffany Coburn, and singer/songwriter Phoebe Kreutz.
8pm: Junko is a play that concerns a young woman en route to discover her ancestry in Japan. She is waylaid on the Hawaiian islands due to the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that crippled Japan in 2011.
Junko, the title character, is rough around the edges. She had been on her way to discover her ancestral home at a family reunion in Fukushima prefecture. The Tohoku earthquake and the nuclear disaster to follow makes her trip impossible. She is waylaid on the Hawaiian islands where unexpectedly she is still able to connect with her ancestry, while also soaking in the spirit of aloha.
The proceeds for this presentation will be donated to Stop AAPI Hate.
Romeo & Juliet Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor star in a film of London’s National Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. It premieres on PBS as part of the Great Performances series.
I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical West End regulars Luke Bayer, Charlotte O’Rourke, Lucas Rush and Charlotte Anne Steen star in this streaming production of Alexander S. Bermange’s musical revue. Audiences can watch the journey a wide-eyed drama school graduate takes to become a difficult diva through May 12.
The Gett, Starring Tovah Feldshuh will be available to stream on-demand through April 30. Proceeds benefit Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Congregation Beth Elohim.
The Gett is a Jewish myth about divorce and how we salvage and recover meaning through profound loss and ancient ritual.
Written by Liba Vaynberg and directed by Daniella Topol
Featuring Tony and Emmy nominee Tovah Feldshuh, Peter Mark Kendell, Alfredo Narciso, and Vaynberg.
The Woman’s Party Clubbed Thumb presents the world premiere of The Woman’s Party. Originally slated to premiere as part of the 2020 Summerworks Festival, the piece will now premiere virtually.
Written by Rinne B. Groff and directed by Tara Ahmadinejad, The Woman’s Party has been divided into three 30-minute episodes.
1947 is the year that the savvy politicos of the National Woman’s Party will finally get the ERA passed once they quash that insurgency—or oust the old guard. The Woman’s Party takes place 27 years after the ratification of women’s suffrage, when the Equal Rights Amendment was poised for passage.
The cast includes Rosalyn Coleman, Alma Cuervo, Laura Esterman, Marga Gomez, Marceline Hugot, Emily Kuroda, Lizan Mitchell, Socorro Santiago, Rebecca Schull, and Connie Winston.
Sitting and Talking, Starring Dan Lauria and Wendie MalickLaguna Playhouse presents Dan Lauria and Wendie Malick in the Southern California premiere of Sitting and Talking.
Created and written specifically for the zoom platform, Lia Romeo’s charming, deeply heartfelt play follows a man and woman in their 60s as they navigate the vulnerable, awkward, and sometimes hilarious path to companionship via online dating during quarantine.
Two Sisters and a Piano Emmy winner Jimmy Smits and Daphne Rubin-Vega star in a streaming production of Nilo Cruz’s 1999 play presented by the new streaming theater company New Normal Rep. Cruz also serves as director for the work that follows follows two sisters serving time under house arrest in Cuba, and the lieutenant assigned to their case who falls in love with one of them.
Cheyenne Jackson, Ted Sperling, More Sing Adam Guettel’s Myths & Hymns (Episode 3) By MasterVoices The central project of MasterVoices’ 2020-2021 season will be a virtual rollout of award-winning composer Adam Guettel’s theatrical song cycle, Myths and Hymns, in an online staging conceived by Ted Sperling.
The Wandering an immersive theatrical experience inspired by the music of Franz Schubert, is set to premiere online and in real life on April 15–May 15.
Part visual album, part queer drama, and part communal live experience, The Wandering transports participants into a wonderous environment that unfolds both online and via physical tasks and ephemera shipped directly to audiences.
At its heart, The Wandering uses a queer lens to examine the love and pain that divided Schubert while taking guests on a journey that radically reshapes how classical music can be presented.
The Wandering is created by newcomers Calista Small and Jeremy Weiss in collaboration with filmmaker Lara Panah-Izadi, designer Charlotte McCurdy, animator Zach Bell, theater artist Christine Shaw, graphic and print designer Irina Wang, web designer TanTan Wang, and executive producer Max Sauberman.
Neat: Manhattan Theatre Club presents a virtual performance of Charlayne Woodard’s play that originally premiered in 1997. Neat is an inspiring portrait of a young woman’s coming of age, and her realization that some of life’s most difficult times can also be the most fulfilling.
Zoo Motel Step into this virtual odyssey that combines interactive live theater, gripping storytelling, cinematic illusions, and magic all in one creative hour of surprises.
Theatre Exile invites you to check into Zoo Motel, devised by director, designer, and performer Thaddeus Phillips in 2020 as a quarantined experiment that offers a window into what’s possible for live performance — a world where audiences from around the globe can share a mind-bending adventure in the comfort of their own home.
Broadcast live and online from one room in a South American village, Zoo Motel takes you on a journey to Spain, Japan, the Mojave Desert, and other parts of the world alongside fellow motel guests.
Islands of Contentment Co-produced by Hypokrit Productions and The Tank in association with Autonomous Works, Dipti Bramhandkar’s Islands of Contentment is a moving meditation comprised of thirteen monologues.
An elegy to the (dis)harmony of romantic relationships, each piece invites us into the intimate, poignant, and hilarious interactions with significant others in the form of modern-day confessionals.
Thirteen characters reflect on moments that feel strangely familiar: the break-up dream, the plight of the nice guy, the ex who unexpectedly shows up, and even a baking fetish. No one writes love songs about this stuff.
Shadow/Land Michelle Wilson, Te’Era Coleman, Lizan Mitchell, Lance E. Nichols, Lori Elizabeth Parquet and Sunni Patterson star in the world premiere of Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s audio play. The drama is set amidst the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and is part of the Public Theater’s digital stage.
Reverb Theatre Arts Festival through May 20th. Reverb Theatre Arts Festival presents the voices of artists with disabilities on the virtual stage. Artists from around the country submitted their works of original theatre—monologue, spoken word, dance, or music—based on creative prompts on the theme of Connection. The work is the result of twenty-four collaborations between Participating Artists and Collaborating Artists.
John Cullum: An Accidental Star Two-time Tony winner stars in a streaming production of his new solo show that features songs and stories from his six-decade career. Extended through May 6th.
Row Grace McLean, John Ellison Conlee, Tamika Lawrence, John McGinty and more star in the world premiere of this musical. With a book by Daniel Goldstein and music and lyrics by Dawn Landes, Row is inspired by A Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden McClure and is part of the partnership between Williamstown Theatre Festival and Audible Theater.
The Last Five Years (Encore) The Last 5 Years, with book, music and lyrics by three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, stars Nasia Thomas (Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) and Nicholas Edwards (Frozen, Berkshire Theatre Group’s Godspell), and is directed and musically directed by Tony Award winner Jason Michael Webb (Choir Boy).
The production, which was rehearsed remotely and filmed in a New York apartment, following all COVID-19 safety protocols from Actors’ Equity Association, the state of New York and federal guidelines, was produced by Out of the Box Theatrics, Holmdel Theatre Company, and Blair Russell (Slave Play).
An emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years, The Last 5 Years’ unconventional structure consists of Cathy (Thomas), the woman, telling her story backwards while Jamie (Edwards), the man, tells his story chronologically; the two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show.
Amour, Starring Derrick Baskin, Adam Pascal, Christiani Pitts, More Be a part of our Playbill Opening Night Celebration for the virtual revival of Amour. Join host Felicia Fitzpatrick who will take us to the “red carpet” to talk to the stars of the show and hear from behind the scenes how this special event was inspired and came together. Beyond the show, enjoy the party with tips on cooking your own French meal and learn a bit about wine.
Ailey All Access: Blues Suite Ailey All Access releases a recorded performance of Blues Suite from 1985 PBS Great Performances.
“Blood memories” of rural, Depression-era southern Texas, come to life in Blues Suite, which launched Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958 and defined Alvin Ailey’s choreographic genius of presenting real people on the concert dance stage. With the rumble of a train and the toll of distant bells, a cast of vividly-drawn characters from the barrelhouses and fields of his Texas childhood are summoned to dance and revel through one long, sultry night.
Ailey’s classic is set to songs of lost love, despair, and protest, expressing the sorrow, humor, and humanity of the blues, the heartfelt music that he called “hymns to the secular regions of the soul.”
The Thanksgiving Play Spotlight on Plays returns with Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play, directed by Leigh Silverman. The cast features Tony nominees Heidi Schreck and Bobby Cannavale, along with Keanu Reeves and Alia Shawkat.
Whiterock Cliff Goode Productions presents a streaming production of Ryan McCurdy’s one-man Off-Broadway musical Whiterock Cliff will be performed live at New York’s Funkadelic Studios for a five-week virtual run.
The show features a book by Ryan McCurdy and Ellie Pyle, music and lyrics by McCurdy, and directed by Mary Chieffo.
Whiterock Cliff weaves together memory, music, mental health, the creative process, the stories we tell ourselves, and the ones we tell to each other.
This act is performed live each night with the permission of Actors’ Equity from a Times Square studio with one performer, three cameras, and eight musical instruments.
Wish You Were Here: The world premiere of Sanaz Toossi’s new work releases as part of the partnership between Williamstown Theatre Festival and Audible Theater. Nikki Massoud, Marjan Neshat, Nazanin Nour, Artemis Pebdani, and Roxanna Hope Radja star in the podcast production directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.
Gutenberg! The Musical! A newly filmed presentation of Gutenberg! The Musical!, starring Bobby Conte Thornton and Alex Prakken, will stream as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The performance, recorded by Pierre Marais at Open Jar Studios, features piano accompaniment by Andrew Callahan and choreography by Kaitlyn Frank.
The musical follows two aspiring playwrights, Bud and Doug, as they attempt to secure producers for their new musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. The pair sing all the songs and play all the parts in the hope of a Broadway contract.
The Sound Inside Mary-Louise Parker and Will Hochman reprise their roles in this audio production of Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside, which earned six Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, for its 2019 Broadway run.
Romeo y Julieta Lupita Nyong’o and Juan Castano star in this free bilingual audioplay of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, presented by the Public Theater and WNYC Studios.
Lights on the Radio Tower Originally developed at the Adirondack Theatre Festival and Bloomington Playwrights Project, this thrilling two-hander rock musical tells the story of Molly and Jesse, a brother and sister who, after eighteen years apart, reunite at their decaying childhood home following the death of their father. The estranged rock duo’s competing recollections of their childhood, their last night together, and their final gig force them to face the painful truth of their past.
La Femme Theatre Productions: The Night of the Iguana The show will feature Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Dylan McDermott (Netflix’s “Hollywood”) as Reverend Shannon, Emmy nominee and Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad (Broadway’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) as Maxine, Roberta Maxwell (Broadway’s Summer and Smoke) as Judith Fellowes, Tony nominee, Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Austin Pendleton (Broadway’s Choir Boy) as Nonno, and Jean Lichty (Off-Broadway’s A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, The Traveling Lady) as Hannah, with Keith Randolph Smith (Broadway’s Jitney, American Psycho) as Jake, Carmen Berkeley (Off-Broadway’s Our Dear Dead Drug Lord) as Charlotte, Eliud Kauffman (Roundabout Theatre’s 72 Miles to Go) as Hank, Julio Macias (Netflix’s “On My Block”) as Pancho, Stephanie Schmiderer (No Exit, The Human Voice) as Frau Fahrenkopf, Bradley James Tejeda (Broadway’s The Inheritance) as Pedro, and John Hans Tester (Amazon’s ”Hunters” ) as Herr Fahrenkopf.
The New York Pops Up Festival a thousand in-person performances throughout the state from now through June. Most events associated with NY PopsUp will be unannounced (and unticketed) and will be designed so that New Yorkers happen upon them in their everyday lives. (Since we can’t have large gatherings right now, we want to bring a lot of small things to the public where they are) NY PopsUp is a surprise that you happen upon, rather than an event or concert you are alerted to via a notification or a schedule.
Julius Caesar, Starring Patrick Page By Shakespeare@ Tony nominee Patrick Page (Hadestown) stars in the title role with Jordan Barbour (The Inheritance) as Brutus and Keith Hamilton Cobb (American Moor) as Cassius. West End Harry Potter and the Cursed Child performers Jamie Ballard and James Howard co-star as Mark Antony and Metellus Cimber, respectively.
The production is also be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Stitcher.
Produced by Jersey City’s Shakespeare@, this audio production is the third installment of the season, produced and adapted by Artistic Director Sean Hagerty.
Hagerty has crafted the production into four weekly parts and partnered with the Emmy-winning team at Sonic Designs to capture the lost art and thrill of radio drama all without leaving the confines of quarantine.
Julius Caesar features original music composed by Joan Melton with sound design by the Emmy-winning team of Dan Gerhard and Ellen Fitton of Sonic Designs. Justin Goldner is the music producer and supervisor, and casting is by Robin Carus. Sydney Steele serves as the associate producer.
Assassins Reunion: Original Off-Broadway Cast The original cast and creative team of the 1991 Off-Broadway debut of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Tony-winning Assassins will reunite virtually to celebrate the musical’s 30th anniversary.
The free online event is part of the Studio Tenn Talks: Conversations with Patrick Cassidy series and will feature Studio Tenn Artistic Director Cassidy as well as other original cast members Victor Garber, Greg Germann, Annie Golden, Lyn Greene, Jonathan Hadary, Eddie Korbich, Terrence Mann, Debra Monk, William Parry, and Lee Wilkof plus Sondheim and Weidman, director Jerry Zaks, musical director Paul Gemignani, and orchestrator Michael Starobin.
SuperYou Musical the new musical that last year pivoted from its traditional opening to a drive-in concert in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, is now heading online. A filmed version of the drive-in presentation will stream on Broadway On Demand
The musical, penned by Lourds Lane, tells the story of a woman and her superheroine creations that suddenly come to life, reminding her of the power of her own voice.
Prior to the 8 PM stream, Playbill will host a virtual red carpet event, with interviews with the cast and creative team. A digital afterparty will also take place at 9 PM.
An Iliad (Streaming) Court Theater. A film of the site-specific production at Chicago’s Oriental Institute by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare.
The Things Are Against Us Susan Soon He Stanton’s The Things Are Against Us will be the next production in MCC’s LiveLab one-act digital reading series. Ellie Heyman directs the cast, which includes Juan Castano, Emily Davis, Susannah Flood, Babak Tafti, and Danny Wolohan, in tthe play set in a mysterious house with a mind of its own.
SoHo Playhouse Presents Typical Soho Theatre and Nouveau Riche present the world premiere of Typical, the film version of the stage play, released exclusively on Soho Theatre On Demand
Written by Ryan Calais Cameron and directed by Anastasia Osei-Kuffour, Typical uncovers the man and the humanity behind the tragic true-life events of Black British ex-serviceman Christopher Alder and the injustice that still remains twenty years since his story emerged.
The Manic Monologues Current Slave Play Tony nominee Ato Blankson-Wood, Rent Tony winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Accidentally Brave playwright Maddie Corman, and more stage favorites will explore mental health this winter in a new digital production from the McCarter Theatre Center.
The Manic Monologues debuts February 18 with 21 true-life monologues that users can explore at their own pace and through an interactive element virtually respond to.
#AndréDeShields #BroadwayCares/EquityFightsAIDS #ColePorter #OskarEustis #BonnieMilligan
