I have a slightly expanded Best Bets this week because there are some great shows and three of them have streaming options available for you. So here are my Best Bets: March 16th – March 22nd:
THE WILD PARTY – New York City Center Encores! – New York, NY – March 18th – March 29th
On May 5th of 2000, I saw Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe’s wonderful musical The Wild Party. It was based on a poem by Joseph Moncure March that had inspired another composer, Andrew Lippa, to write his own musical that opened the same season.
A couple whose relationship is falling apart, hosts a drug, alcohol and sex-filled party that goes from bad to worse ending in tragedy. That couple is Queenie and Burrs.
For this Encores! production, Jasmine Amy Rogers and Jordan Donica take on those roles. Amongst the people in their orbit are roles played by Jelanie Alladin, Claybourne Elder, Lesli Margherita, Tonya Pinkins and Adrienne Warren. Note that Donica will not be performing on March 25th. Curtis Bannister plays Burrs for that performance.
Lili-Anne Brown directs with Daryl Waters as music director.
I loved this show and there are songs that still resonate in my brain more than 25 years later.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
LIZ CALLAWAY – 54 Below – New York, NY – March 18th – March 22nd
Singer and Broadway star Liz Callaway celebrates the release of her new album, The Wizard & I: Liz Callaway Sings Stephen Schwartz, in three performances at 54 Below. They are on Wednesday the 18th, Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st at 7 PM ET. The show on March 20th will be available to livestream.
On Sunday, March 22nd, she will perform To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim on His Birthday. This show is also at 7 PM ET and will be available for livestream. Callaway made her Broadway debut in Sondheim‘s Merrily We Roll Along.
For tickets and more information for The Wizard & I shows, please go HERE. For tickets and more information for To Steve With Love, please go HERE.
SONGS OF THE EARTH (DAS LIED VON DER ERDE) – Boston Lyric Opera – Boston, MA – March 20th – March 29th
Gustav Mahler’s Songs of the Earth had its world premiere in Munich in 1911 – six months after the composer had died. It was composed for orchestra and two voices who would alternate amongst the work’s six movements.
Director Anne Bogart has taken that work and expanded it from its original 60 minutes runtime into a theatrical production running 85 minutes. She employs light, projects and intimate staging and has added a third voice to the work.
Rather than the full orchestral version, Bogart is using Arnold Schoenberg’s chamber arrangement.
The BLO website describes this production as taking “place in a single room inhabited across time by three figures: the Poet…. the Lover and the Mother…their lives overlapping without fully touching.”
Singing the first two roles are mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis and tenor Brandon Jovanovich. Ellen Lauren plays the Mother, but since she’s best-known as an actor, I’m guessing she will be performing the additional text Bogart has added.
David Angus conducts.
This should be interesting…let me know your thoughts if you see it!
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
MILES DAVIS CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS – SFJAZZ – San Francisco, CA – March 19th – March 22nd
No doubt you are already aware that 2026 marks the centennial of Miles Davis’ birth. Performing arts organizations around the world are getting in on the celebrations.
SFJAZZ is dedicating four nights to theirs as follows:
Miles Davis: A Century of Cool – March 19th – this is the third in a four-part series of explorations of many of Davis’ most important works. This sold-out class covers E.S.P & Workin’.
Miles Davis’ Doo-Bop & Beyond– March 19th – Hip-hop producer Easy Mo Bee opens this evening exploring Davis’ 1992 album Doo-Bop with a DJ set. He then joins a panel discussion about the album – which he produced. The evening closes with an afterparty with DJ sets by Easy & DJ Flow.
Sketches of Miles Davis – March 20th – This incredible album by Davis and Gil Evans gets new arrangements by Gil Goldstein that center around Keyon Harrold. There’s also a larger ensemble than Davis used. There is a livestream option for this concert.
Music of Miles Davis’ ‘Kind of Blue’– March 21st – Arguably Kind of Blue is Davis’ best known album. No wonder it is front and center for this concert centered on his hard bop ensembles of the 50s and 60s.
Performing in this concert at Donald Harrison on alto saxophone; Eddie Henderson on trumpet; Javon Jackson on tenor saxophone; Patrice Rushen on piano; Lenny White on drums and Charles “Buster” Williams on bass. There are two performances of this concert.
Miles Electric Band– March 22nd – Late era Davis is on the bill here which markes the return of Keyon Harrold to this series. He’s joined by Rasaki Aladokun on percussion; Jean-Paul Borelly on guitar; Robert Irving III on piano and keyboards and serving as music director; Munyungo Jackson on percussion; Darryl Jones on bass; Jason “DJ Logic” Kibler as DJ; Antoin Roney on reeds; Greg Sper on keyboards and Vince Wilburn on drums. If, like me, you love Bitches Brew, this show is for you.
For tickets and more information, click on the name of the concert above.
JACK QUARTET – 92nd Street Y – New York, NY – March 20th
This quartet has long been passionate advocates for new music. This concert is no exception as it features three world premieres and one New York premiere.
Tristan Perich’s A Selection of Colors is the first work to have its world premiere. That is followed by the New York premiere of Keir GoGwilt’s Future Mode. The recital closes with the other two debut performances: Jules Reidy’s Shadow Symmetric and Ailie Ormston’s New Paintings.
Here’s the best thing about this concert: you don’t have to live in New York to see it. It will be streaming live at 7:30 PM ET and remain available for 72 hours after the conclusion of the concert.
For in-person or streaming tickets and more information, please go HERE.
THE CRUCIBLE – Washington National Opera – Lisner Auditorium – Washington, D.C. – March 21st – March 29th
This rarely performed 1961 opera by composer Robert Ward and librettist Bernard Stambler is based on Arthur Miller’s play. The opera won the Pulitzer Prize.
At the core of the opera (and Miller’s play) is what happens when a community believes there are people to be feared in their town. In this case, four young girls who claim they have become victims of witchcraft. They were caught dancing in the woods and made their claim to try to avoid punishment. Miller used the play as a parable for the Red Scare of the 1950s.
J’Nai Bridges sings the role of Elizabeth Proctor with Ryan McKinny as her husband, John. Lauren Carroll sings the role of Abigail Williams and Ronnita Miller is Tituba.
Francesca Zambello directs with Robert Spano conducting.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
That’s all for Best Bets: March 16th – March 22nd.
Enjoy your week and go see a show!
Main Photo: Liz Callaway (photo by Bill Westmoreland/Courtesy Liz Callaway)