This weekend’s Best Bets include traditional ballet and hip-hop dance; a celebration of one of America’s greatest playwrights; an opera legend in concert; a production of an opera by Stravinsky; a chamber music concert from Carnegie Hall; one of Broadway’s most provocative events and a live concert with a Broadway star who knows his way around roller skates.

Here are your Best Bets at Home: July 31st – August 2nd:

The Sleeping Beauty – Royal Ballet – Now – August 6th

Fourteen years ago, the Royal Ballet dusted off their 1946 original staging of Sleeping Beauty. While the costumes and designs by Oliver Messel remained in tact, they combined the choreography of Marius Petipa from the 19th century with new sections created by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon.

The music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky remains front and center as does the story of a young girl, Aurora, who has a curse placed on her. On her 16th birthday she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. The Lilac Fairy can’t reverse the curse, but she does create an opposing spell that spares Aurora from death, but she will remain asleep until a handsome prince kisses her.

Fumi Kaneko dances the role of Aurora. Kristen McNally dances the role of Carabosse who puts the curse on the girl. The Lilac Fairy is danced by Gina Storm Jensen. The Prince is danced by Federico Bonelli.

The Kindness of Strangers – TennesseeWilliams.net – July 31st – August 14

When the 2020 Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival had to be cancelled, actor Bryan Batt (Mad Men) suggested rounding up long-time participants in the festival and taking it online. The result is Friday’s The Kindness of Strangers. The event takes place live on Friday, July 31st at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT. It will remain available online for free through August 14th.

If you need me to tell you the source of the event’s title, perhaps The Kindness of Strangers isn’t for you. But for a quick refresher course on Williams, he is the playwright who gave us The Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending, Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Night of the Iguana and, of course, A Streetcar Named Desire.

The festival was launched in 1986, so they have a length list of participants and many of them are joining for The Kindness of Strangers.

Batt will serves as the host. The scheduled performers includes: Samantha Beaulieu, Troi Bechet, Curtis Billings, Betty Buckley (Camino Real), Leslie Castay, Michael Cerveris, Patricia Clarkson, Patrick Cragin, Brenda  Currin, Lisa  D’Amour, Arsène DeLay, Gwendolyne Foxworth, Alison Fraser, Lawrence Henry Gobble, John Goodman (who was a terrific “Big Daddy” in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Geffen Playhouse), Rodney Hicks, Kenneth  Holditch, Corey Johnson, Idella Johnson, Peggy Scott Laborde, Donald Lewis, Ti Martin, Elizabeth McCoy, Jessica Mixon, Whitney Mixon, Wendell Pierce (who gives a great performance in the film Clemency), Francine Segal, Janet  Shea, Harry Shearer, Carol Sutton, Beverly Trask, Kathleen Turner (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Cassie Worley, and Jake Wynne-Wilson.

The Kindness of Strangers is free to watch, but donations are encouraged.

Janine Jansen and Jean-Yves Thibaudet play Grieg, Debussy, and Chausson – Medici.tv – Now – August 2nd

This week’s Carnegie Hall concert made available on Medici.tv finds violinist Janine Jansen and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing a chamber musical recital from 2018. They are joined by the Dover Quartet for performances of music by Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy and Ernest Chausson.

The program offers Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Minor; Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major and Chausson’s Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet in D Major.

This concert was part of Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series which allows an artist to program a series of concerts. This was the next-to-last of Jansen’s series.

Zoo Nation: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – Royal Ballet – July 31st

Hip-hop meets Lewis Carroll in this adaptation inspired by the author’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Zoo Nation/The Kate Prince Company was commissioned to put this dance piece together by The Royal Ballet to accompany Christopher Wheeldon’s full-length ballet named after Carroll’s book.

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party centers around a young psychotherapist in his first job at the Institute for Extremely Normal Behaviour. His patients are all familiar characters to fans of this book: the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and the Queen of Hearts. He hopes his PhD in normalization will help him understand his patients better. Perhaps there isn’t anything to understand beyond that normal may not be all it is cracked up to be.

Kate Prince directed and choreographed the show. Music is by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde with all three creators collaborating on the lyrics.

Zoë Anderson from the The Independent in London said of the show, “Prince blends big group numbers with explosive solos. The whole company is strong, with dazzling turns by some of its best regular performers.”

Renée Fleming in Concert – Metropolitan Opera – August 1st – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

As part of the Metropolitan Opera’s ongoing series of Met Stars Live in Concert, Renée Fleming will be accompanied by pianist Robert Ainsley for a live recital from Washington, D.C.’s Dumbarton Oaks.

Lyric soprano Fleming is amongst the most popular opera singers in the world.

A graduate of Juilliard, she won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 1988. That same year she made her debut with the Houston Grand Opera Company in The Marriage of Figaro. She sang the role of The Countess. Three years later she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the same opera and the rest is history.

She is a 17-time Grammy Award nominee with four wins. She’s a fierce advocate for the study of health and music and how they are intertwined. Fleming is also passionate about education. She can be found on Broadway (the most recent revival of Carousel) and has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Brad Mehldau and more.

The recital is scheduled to include works by Handel (Semele), Massenet (Manon), Richard Strauss (Der Rosenkavalier), Korngold (Die Tote Stadt), Cilea (Adriana Lecouvreur), Puccini (Giannia Schicchi) along with a folk song by Joseph Canteloube and a little nod to Hollywood with Over the Rainbow from The Wizard Oz by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.

Tickets to watch the concert are $20. With your ticket you will be able to watch the performance live and have access to it for 12 days.

Broadway Bares: Zoom In – Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – August 1st – 9:30 PM EDT/6:30 PM PDT

One of the most popular annual events in the Broadway community is a burlesque show called Broadway Bares. Director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell created the event to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Broadway Bares finds Broadway dancers performing uniquely choreographed routines that all gradually peel away their clothes.

Nobody appears fully nude in show, as per the truest tradition of burlesque. Men and women perform the numbers which are choreographed by some of the Broadway community’s best.

This is always one of the toughest tickets to get in New York. But this year, we’re all invited. Broadway Bares: Zoom In takes place on Saturday and will feature newly created pieces filmed/performed adhering to social distancing guidelines, plus there will be films of classic routines from the nearly 30-year history of the event.

There is no charge to watch the event, but donations are encouraged.

The Rake’s Progress – Glyndebourne – August 2nd – August 9th

Igor Stravinsky’s opera had its world premiere in Venice in 1951. Poet W. H. Auden and poet/librettist Chester Kallman wrote the libretto. All three were inspired by artist William Hogarth’s paintings from the 1730s – a series entitled A Rake’s Progress.

The opera traces the fall of Tom Rakewell. When he encounters Nick Shadow, he leaves behind Anne Truelove. Shadow and Rakewell soak up all that London has to offer.

But Rakewell is unaware that Shadow is actually the Devil. One series of events leads to another and our protagonist finds himself in a mental word.

In this 2010 production from Glyndebourne, Topi Lehtipuu sings the role of Rakewell. Matthew Rose sings Shadow and Miah Persson sings the role of Truelove.

This is a revival of John Cox’s 1975 production that was designed by artist David Hockney. Vladimir Jurowski lead the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tim Ashley, writing for The Guardian, said of this revival, “Designed by David Hockney and directed by John Cox, Glyndebourne’s production of The Rake’s Progress dates from 1975 and is still widely regarded as the benchmark staging of Stravinsky’s great, if difficult, opera.

“Hockney’s designs mediate between the 18th century and the 20th, just as the score self-consciously shuttles between Mozartian models and modernism. Cox’s understanding, meanwhile, of when to keep us detached and when to let emotions through remains wonderfully acute.”

Cheyenne Jackson with Seth Rudetsky – BroadwayWorld.com – August 2nd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

If you only know Cheyenne Jackson from his roles on Glee or American Horror Story, there’s much more than that to him. For it is Broadway where he truly rose to fame.

Jackson made his Broadway debut as a replacement in the musical Aida. He was also a replacement in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Audiences started taking serious notice when he starred in the musical All Shook Up in 2005. The stage musical Xanadu was next in 2007 (which showcased his roller skating abilities). He starred alongside Kate Baldwin in the wonderful 2009 revival of Finian’s Rainbow. His most recent show was The Performers in 2012.

Jackson joins music director/composer/pianist and Broadway expert Seth Rudetsky for his weekly Online Seth Concert Series. The show will be a combination of conversation and song. Sunday’s performance will be live. If you can’t watch the show live, there is an encore showing on Monday, August 3rd at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Tickets are $20 for either performance.

As you can see, this week’s Best Bets at Home: July 31st – August 2nd is a short but sweet list. But I have a few reminders before we go:

This weekend’s opera productions from the Metropolitan Opera are Dvořák’s Rusalka on Friday; Verdi’s Ernani on Saturday and Wagner’s Die Walküre on Sunday.

SF Jazz continues their multi-part Wayne Shorter Celebration on Fridays at Five with Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard on Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

The Fred Hirsch Trio will perform live sets from the Village Vanguard on Friday and Saturday at 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT.

The Julius Rodriguez Trio performs live from Smalls on Sunday at 7:45 PM EDT/4:45 PM PDT.

I hope you enjoy this weekend’s Best Bets at Home: July 31st – August 2nd. Stay safe and healthy!

Photo: Artwork from the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival 2020 Cover/Courtesy of the Festival

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: July 31st – August 2nd appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

What can you watch this weekend? Musicals old and new; an innovative approach to live performance of a play; three classical music concerts; two operas and one opera recital; a dance film festival where every film was shot with mobile devices plus a revival of a classic work of dance from the 1970s.

If that isn’t enough, we’ll remind you of two jazz concerts, three more operas and a marathon audio stream of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

To access any of the on-line events, click on the title of the individual event you want to see.

So what will you watch? Here are this weekend’s Best Bets at Home: July 24th – July 26th:

She Loves Me – PBS Great Performances – July 24th (check local listings)

Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2016 revival of She Loves Me was one of the most enjoyable musical productions of that season. This weekend PBS is airing a film of that production which starred Laura Benanti, Gavin Creel, Byron Jennings, Jane Krakowski and Zachary Levi.

The musical was written by composer Jerry Bock with lyricist Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) and book writer Joe Masteroff (Cabaret). It is based on the book Parfumerie by Miklós László and tells the story of two people who have a truly antagonistic relationship at work, but don’t know they are the anonymous pen pals who are falling in love through the letters they write each other. Sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve seen The Shop Around the Corner or You’ve Got Mail.

This production (the second revival of the show) was directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Warren Carlyle. I cannot recommend it enough. This was truly a wonderful production. See it!

The Weir – Irish Repertory Theatre – July 24th – July 25th

New York’s Irish Rep has had great success with Conor McPherson’s The Weir. Their 2013 production was nominated for Best Outstanding Revival at the Lucille Lortel Awards. The run of the show was so successful that they revived it again two years later. Now comes a version specifically designed for our pandemic age.

The play is set in a pub in Ireland. The bartender is sharing ghost stories with two regulars. They also discuss an imminent new arrival, a woman named Valerie who is renting a nearby house with the help of another former local, Finbar. Over the course of the play, with the men vying for her attention, the stories get more intense and some, deeply personal.

Dan Butler, Sean Gormley, John Keating, Tim Ruddy, and Amanda Quaid star in this new version directed by Ciarán O’Reilly – completed with all social distancing required to keep everyone safe. Critics have raved about how innovative this particular production is.

You must make a reservation to see one of the performances at least two hours in advance in order to get a link to watch The Weir. Performances are Friday, July 24th at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT and Saturday, July 25th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets have a suggested donation price of $25.

Broadbend, Arkansas – Transport Group Theatre – Now – August 16th

Broadbend, Arkansas is a timely musical from 2019 that tells the story of a woman whose father was killed during a routine traffic stop by a police officer when she was a child. Three decades later she is now coming to grips with another attack by a police officer, this time on her teenage son.

Justin Cunningham and Danyel Fulton star in this musical which features a libretto by Ellen Fitzhugh and Harrison David Rivers. The music was written by Ted Shen, who also wrote additional lyrics. This is a film from the 2019 production.

The show was described as “jazz-infused” and paying “homage to Stephen Sondheim” by Laura Collins-Hughes in her New York Times review.

There is no fee to stream the musical. However, Transport Theatre Group is encouraging donations to the Black Theatre Network.

Orchestre National de France at Carnegie Hall – Medici.tv – July 24th – July 26th

This week’s Carnegie Hall Fridays concert on Medici.tv comes from a January 2016 performance by the Orchestra National de France. Under the direction of conductor Daniele Gatti, this concert features works by composers from the 19th and 20th century. Joining the orchestra for this performance was violinist Julian Rachlin.

The program opens with the Prelude to Act III of Richard Wagner’s The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. This was performed in tribute to conductor Kurt Masur who had passed away one month prior to this concert. One aspect of Masur’s legacy was serving as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1991-2002. He was named Music Director Emeritus after stepping down in 2002.

The rest of this concert features Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor featuring Rachlin. He continues with an encore of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata for Solo Violin in D Minor.

After Rachlin’s encore the orchestra performs Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor and performs the Prélude to Gabriel Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Suite for Orchestra.

If you regularly read this column you know that Medici.tv and Carnegie Hall make these concerts available for free viewing over the weekend. However, you do need to sign up with an e-mail to access the film.

Faust – Royal Opera House – Now – July 29th

Charles Gounod’s Faust had its world premiere in Paris in 1859. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré who used both Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Part One as inspiration.

This oft-told story is about a man who sacrifices his soul to the devil, Méphistophélès, in order to maintain his youth and the love of Marguerite.

But you know what happens when you make a deal with the devil…it’s not going to end well.

This 2019 revival of David McVicar’s 2004 production stars Michael Fabiano as Faust, Erwin Schrott as Méphistophélès and Irina Lungu as Marguerite. Dan Ettinger conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Opera Chorus.

This opera has five acts and runs nearly three-and-a-half hours, but reviews for this revival were very positive. 

50 Years of Mostly Mozart – Lincoln Center at Home – July 24th

In 1966 Lincoln Center launched their Mostly Mozart Festival. The original mandate was to exclusively celebrate the work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Over the years they have expanded that mandate to include composers who influenced Mozart, who were his contemporaries and later composers who were influenced by him.

This concert from 2016 features Mozart’s first and last symphonies.

Symphony No. 1 in E-Flat Major was written when Mozart was just eight years old. His final symphony is nicknamed Jupiter Symphony and is formally known as the Symphony No. 41 in C Major.

Music Director Louis Langré leads the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in this performance. Pianist Richard Goode joins the orchestra for a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concert No. 12 in A Major.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Summerfest Concert #2 – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – July 25th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This second of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s newly filmed concerts features Joshua Ranz, the orchestra’s principal clarinetist. Each concert in their Summerfest series was filmed practicing social distancing behavior on the stage of Zipper Hall at the Colburn School.

The centerpiece of this second concert will be Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet.

Written in 1789, this is the composer’s only finished clarinet quintet. The work calls for two violins, a viola and cello in addition to the clarinet.

Joining Ranz in this performance are Tereza Stanislav and Cheryl Norman-Brick on violin; Robert Brophy on viola and Andrew Shulman on cello.

The concert will open with a performance of Florence Price’s Adoration. Ranz arranged her composition for Clarinet and String Quartet. You can read about Price in our preview of LACO’s first concert in this series here.

If you are unable to watch the performance as it debuts, it will be archived at LACO’s website.

The Makropulos Case – SF Opera – July 25th – July 26th

Czech composer Leoš Janáček wrote this opera between 1923-1925. It was his penultimate opera. He also wrote the libretto which was based on Karel Čapek’s play Věc Makropulos. The opera had its world premiere in Brno in late 1926.

The story is rather convoluted in The Makropulos Case.

It involves a nearly century-long lawsuit, a missing will, an opera singer admired by many men, a bastard son, allegations of forgery, suicide and a life-extending potion.

San Francisco Opera gave the American premiere of this opera in 1966. This production, directed by Olivier Tambosi, is from 2010 with Jiří Bělohlávek conducting. The cast includes Thomas Glenn, Miro Dvorsky, Susannah Biller and Karita Matilla.

Reviews were overwhelmingly positive for this production and all singled out Matilla who made her role debut in this production.

Mobile Dance Film Festival – 92Y Harkness Dance Center – July 25th – August 31

This is the third year of the 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s Mobile Dance Film Festival. All of the films showcased in the festival were shot on mobile devices.

Films from Europe (Germany, Hungary, Italy); South America (Brazil, Uruguay); Asia (Indonesia, Japan) plus Russia, Australia and Papau New Guinea are included with American entries.

Some of the films in the festival are part of a Quarantine Screen section which features films made during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is also the first-ever documentary film. Bent But Not Broken is a film that looks at dancers with scoliosis.

You need to register to access the Mobile Dance Film Festival and there is a $5 fee for doing so. That will give you full access to four hours of programming from July 25th through August 31st.

Lawrence Brownlee and Friends – Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Facebook Page – July 26th 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Opera singer Lawrence Brownlee has assembled a talented group of friends for this live concert on Sunday. The tenor, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in a 2007 production of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, will be joined by alumni from Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center.

They include soprano Whitney Morrison, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and baritone Will Liverman. Three current students at the Center will also participate. Craig Terry, Chris Reynolds and members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra will also perform from their homes.

The purpose of this concert is to celebrate Black artistry. Not only is Brownlee performing, he is also the artistic advisor of this concert.

Lawrence Brownlee and Friends will stream live on Lyric’s YouTube and Facebook channels.

Dougla – Dance Theatre of Harlem YouTube Page – July 26th

For those of a certain age, Geoffrey Holder is known for directing the original Broadway production (and its 1984 revival) of The Wiz and for directing the 1978 musical Timbuktu! Or you might know him from his 7-Up commercials from the 1970s advertising the soft drink as the “uncola.”

Holder was also a prolific choreographer and Dougla, which the Dance Theatre of Harlem revived in 2018, is one of his best-known works. It was first performed in 1974 and this revival was carefully overseen by Holder’s song, Leo and his widow, Carmen de Lavallade.

Trinidad was were Holder was born and the word Dougla refers to people of both African and South Asian descent. Specifically in his ballet, Dougla depicts a wedding between a couple where one partner is of Indian descent and the other is African.

The music was written by Holder and Tania León and primarily utilizes flutes and percussion. For this 2018 production, León directed the live performance of the music.

That’s this week’s Best Bets at Home: July 24th – July 26th.

Want more? How about a few reminders before we go:

Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner are the featured concert on this week’s Fridays at Five from SFJazz. You can read our preview published earlier this week here.

The Ron Carter Trio performs live on July 24th and 25th from the Village Vanguard in New York. You can read our preview from earlier this week here.

LA Opera audio-streams their 2010 complete Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner on Saturday beginning at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT. For our complete preview please go here.

Metropolitan Opera’s streaming productions this weekend are Verdi’s Falstaff on Friday; Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier on Saturday and Puccini’s La Fannciula del West on Sunday. For details you can go here.

That’s officially it for our Best Bets at Home: July 24th – July 26th. Enjoy your weekend! Enjoy culture! And if you like what you read here at Cultural Attaché, be sure to tell your friends!

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: July 24th – July 26th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

This weekend’s selections include Cuban jazz, a comedy from Shakespeare (and the conclusion of the Stratford Shakespeare Film Festival), George Gershwin’s only opera, live performances by a legendary tenor, a mandolin musician who straddles the worlds of classical and jazz music and so much more.

Here are this week’s Culture Best Bets at Home: July 17th – July 19th:

Virtual Fire Island Dance Festival – July 17th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

The Fire Island Dance Festival – Dancers Responding to AIDS, was launched in 1991 by Denise Roberts Hurlin and Hernando Cortez who were both former Paul Taylor Dance Company members. Nearly three decades later the festival is taking place during another pandemic.

And due to that pandemic, has been forced to go online.

This year’s line-up has a mix of world premiere pieces and some returning favorites. All pieces are being performed and/or were filmed keeping social distancing guidelines in place. Amongst the choreographers and dancers involved are:

Tap Dancer Ayodele Casel in a new work called Oscar Joy; When the Sum Comes Out from KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s Larry Keigwin with a number of dancers performing across Fire Island; Are You Lonesome Tonight from Stephen Petronio; Weekend ’76 from Al Blackstone; Continuum from Garrett Smith and an excerpt from a work in progress from A.I.M’s Kyle Abraham.

You need to register to get the link to Fire Island Dance Festival. There is no charge, but as this is an annual fundraiser, donations are definitely encouraged.

Afro-Cuban All-Stars with Juan de Marcos – SF Jazz – July 17th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Friday at Five from SFJazz offers up the Afro-Cuban All-Stars performing at the venue in a concert on May 3, 2019.

Juan de Marcos has lead the band since the early 1990s. His mission is to celebrate classic Cuban music. This is the orchestra that appears in the film and on the records, Buena Vista Social Club. Like any ensemble, the line-up changes over the years.

If this isn’t music that puts a smile on your face at the end of a week, I don’t know what will.

SF Jazz’s Fridays at Five requires that you sign up for either a one-month package (for all of $5) or a one-year package ($60) to access these concerts. These concerts are only available at 5:00 PM PDT.

The Taming of the Shrew – Stratford Festival – Now – August 6th

Stratford Festival’s Shakespeare Film Festival comes to a conclusion with this 2015 production of The Taming of the Shrew.

Chris Abraham directed this production of two on-again/off-again lovers who appear in the play-within-the-play. Starring as Petruchio and Katherina are Ben Carlson and Deborah Hay.

This film festival has been a great way to get familiar with Shakespeare’s plays during the past few months. Since productions remain available for three weeks, you can still catch Antony and Cleopatra and Romeo and Juliet.

Great Performances: Porgy and Bess at The Met – July 17th – Check Local Listings

DuBose Heyward’s 1925 novel, Porgy, was the inspiration for a play written by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward. That play served as the inspiration for this opera by George Gershwin with a libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. Porgy and Bess had its world premiere in 1935 at Boston’s Colonial Theatre.

In the opera, Porgy (Eric Owens) lives in Charleston’s slums. He’s disabled and spends his time begging.

He is enamored with Bess (Angel Blue) and does everything he can to rescue her from an abusive lover, Crown (Alfred Walker) and a far-too-seductive drug dealer, Sportin’ Life (Frederick Ballentine.)

James Robinson directed this production at the Met Opera. His production was first seen at the English National Opera. David Robertson conducts the Met Opera Orchestra.

Anthony Tommasini, writing for the New York Times raved about the production and, in particular, its two stars:

“As Porgy, the magnificent bass-baritone Eric Owens gives one of the finest performances of his distinguished career. His powerful voice, with its earthy textures and resonant sound, is ideal for the role. His sensitivity into the layered feelings and conflicts that drive his character made even the most familiar moments of the music seem startlingly fresh. And, as Bess, the sumptuously voiced soprano Angel Blue is radiant, capturing both the pride and fragility of the character.”

Denis Matsuev plays Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev – Medici.tv – July 17th – July 19th

In this week’s recital from Carnegie Hall Russian pianist Denis Matsuev gives the second of two recitals he performed there in 2018. This performance is from November 9th.

The program is extensive and includes five encores.

The announced program was Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2 No. 3; Rachmaninov’s Variations on a theme by Corelli, Op. 42; Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52; Tchaikovsky’s Méditation from 18 Pieces, Op. 72 and Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83.

The encores were Schumann’s Dreaming from Kinderszene, Op. 15; Schubert’s Impromptu No. 3 in G flat major from Four Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899; Sibelius’ Etude from 13 Pieces for Piano, Op. 76; Scriabin’s 12th Etude in D-sharp minor from Twelve Etudes, Op. 8 and he concluded with Grieg’s In the Hall Of The Mountain King from Peer Gynt.

Amadeus – National Theatre Live – Now – July 23rd

Peter Shaffer’s play that inspired the Oscar-winning best picture of 1984, has been performed on stage many times. Amongst the memorable actors to appear as either Mozart or Salieri are Paul Scofield, Tim Curry, Ian McKellen, Peter Firth, Mark Hamill, Frank Langella, Michael Sheen and David Suchet.

In this 2016 National Theatre production directed by Michael Longhurst, those roles are played by Adam Gillen (Mozart) and Lucian Msamati (Salieri).

Longhurst came up with the idea of having an 20-person orchestra and six singers on stage to fully integrate the music into the narrative. The results, according to critics, were nothing short of amazing.

Michael Billington, writing for The Guardian, said of this idea, “What is startling about Longhurst’s production is that the band is fully integrated into the dramatic action. As Lucian Msamati’s Salieri strikes a bargain with God to live a virtuous life in exchange for fame, the onstage orchestra bow their heads in silent prayer. At other times, the players are more mutinous: when Salieri proudly refers to his opera, The Stolen Bucket, they disdain his plea to offer an excerpt. The singers are also, literally, to the fore: an adored Viennese soprano (lustrously sung by Fleur de Bray) is wheeled in on a portable dais and key moments from the operas of Salieri’s detested rival, Mozart, are played in full pomp downstage.”

Rossini’s Cinderella – SF Opera – July 17th – July 18th

Gioachino Rossini’s opera of the Cinderella story is based on Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon. The libertto, by Jacopo Ferretti, was based on two previous libretti for operas based on the same story: Charles-Guillaume Étienne’s libretto for Nicolas Isouard’s 1810 opera Cendrillon and Francesco Fiorini’s libretto for Stefano Pavesi’s 1814 opera, Agatina o La virtú premiata. La Cenerentola had its world premiere in 1817 in Rome.

The story is exactly you expect. After being relegated to chores around the house by her Stepmother and her Stepsisters, Cinderella dreams of going to the Prince’s ball. They mock her before leaving themselves for the event. Cinderella’s fairy godmother appears to make her dream a reality, but only if she returns by midnight.

This 2014 production was directed by Gregory Fortner, based on the 1969 Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production. The orchestra was lead by Jesus-López Cobos. Karine Deshayes sings the role of Cinderella.

Joshua Kosman, writing for the San Francisco Gate, said of her performance, ” …French mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes turned in a performance that grew continuously in strength and forcefulness, leading up to the big display of vocal fireworks with which Rossini caps the opera. Deshayes boasts a ripe upper register and the ability to maneuver her way through demanding passagework without breaking a sweat, and her stage demeanor suggests just the sort of inner fortitude that the character should convey.”

Jonas Kaufmann Live in Concert from Polling, Bavaria – Met Opera Stars Live in Concert – July 18th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

The Metropolitan Opera launches a new program this weekend with Met Opera Stars Live in Concert. For $20 you can get access to a live performance by one of opera’s biggest singers. You not only get access for the live event, but you can watch it as many times as you want for 12 days.

The series launches on Saturday with a recital by tenor Jonas Kaufmann who will be accompanied by pianist Helmut Deutsch. The venue is an abbey outside of Munich.

The program has been announced and will have Kaufmann singing 12 arias. He’s included works from such operas as Tosca, Carmen, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Andrea Chénier and the inevitable Nessun Dorma from Turandot.

Upcoming recitals will feature Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Anna Netrebko, Bryn Terfel and more.

Live from Lincoln Center – Lincoln Center at Home – Now Available

While researching this week’s selections, I discovered that there is a bounty of free streaming concerts from Lincoln Center currently available on their website. Here’s a quick rundown:

From the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: a concert celebrating the work of Brahms with Jessye Norman; Odyssey: The Chamber Music Society in Greece; The Chamber Music Society with Itzhak Perlman; Bach to Bach; Masters and Masterpieces; 25th Season Opening Gala; 30th Anniversary Gala; An Evening of Beethoven; The Chamber Society at Shaker Village and I Can’t Believe It’s Schoenberg.

From Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts: Cynthia Erivo in Concert; Annaleigh Ashford in Concert; Megan Hilty in Concert and Yo-Yo Ma Plays Dvorak.

From the New York Philharmonic: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel in Concert (previewed last week); Renée Fleming Sings Mozart and Strauss; Celebrating Sondheim; Itzhak Perlman plays Mendelssohn and Brahms; 9/11 Memorial Concert: A German Requiem; New York Philharmonic: Masur, Ax and Beethoven’s 5th and Symphony No. 1 with Maazel.

Not specified with a link to a particular program or venue: The Romantic Violin with Joshua Bell and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Chris Thile Live – Caramoor – July 19th – July 20th

Bedford New York’s Caramoor has been a source of music and the arts since 1945. They have regular seasons there, but both ongoing work at the venue and the Covid crisis have them putting some performances online.

Mandolin musician Chris Thile will perform there on Saturday, July 18th. There won’t be audience, but the concert will be online the next day. Thile’s performance is being filmed and will be available for $10 for non-Caramoor members and free for members.

In addition to being a Grammy Award-winning artist, Thile is a MacArthur Fellow. He’s regularly performed across music genres and collaborated with a number of artists. Amongst those collaborators is pianist Brad Mehldau. When Thile and Mehldau were performing in Los Angeles in 2017, Mehldau told me about Thile, “I knew from hearing and seeing him that he is a true improviser – and that is what I like to do a lot. Second, his singing really affects me, and I was excited about the idea of making music with that kind of vocal expression.”

Before we close out your Best Bets at Home: July 17th – July 19th, a few reminders:

The weekend’s opera streams from the Metropolitan Opera include their 2008-2009 season of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (this is a popular weekend for Cinderella) on Friday; Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro on Saturday and Puccini’s La Bohème on Sunday.

Night of a Thousand Judys will still be available and features some terrific performances of songs made famous by Judy Garland.

That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoy your weekend and your Best Bets at Home: July 17th – July 19th.

Main photo: Angel Blue and Eric Owens in Porgy and Bess (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera)

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: July 17th – July 19th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Our list this weekend also includes something for everyone: a deeply moving play, a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical in concert, a virtual reading of a bittersweet comedy from the 1970s, the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history and concerts by two of Broadway’s finest leading ladies.

So here are your Best Bets at Home: July 10th – July 12th:

The Deep Blue Sea – National Theatre Live – Now – July 16th

Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play, The Deep Blue Sea, has proven itself time and time again as great drama and also a great opportunity for an actress.

Peggy Ashcroft originated the part of Hester Collyer, a woman whose failed marriage and crumbling relationship with an RAF pilot leads to a suicide attempt. When Hester is discovered in her apartment after failing to take her own life, the residents of the tenement house in which she lives try to encourage her to choose life over death. One neighbor, Dr. Miller, (Nick Fletcher) proves to be particularly influential.

In this 2016 National Theatre production Helen McCrory took on the role of Hester. (Other actresses who have tackled the part include Vivien Leigh, Blythe Danner, Gretta Schacchi and Rachel Weisz.) Carrie Cracknell directed.

Michael Billington, writing for The Guardian, said of McCrory’s performance, “I’ve seen many fine Hesters but few who have conveyed so clearly what Shakespeare called ‘the very wrath of love.'” 

National Youth Orchestras of the United States Highlights (2014-2019) – Medici.tv – July 10th – July 12th

This week’s offering from Carnegie Hall and Medici.tv features highlights from six years of performances by National Youth Orchestras from America. Joining the various orchestras are violinist Gil Shaham, singer Dianne Reeves and conductors Marin Alsop, Sir Antonio Pappano, David Robertson and more.

The program is split into three sections.

The first features John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid Suite.

Part two features works by Sergei Prokofiev. Shaham joins for the composer’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major and then the orchestra plays the second movement from Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major.

The final segment features a jazz orchestra. Their program begins with the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story written by Leonard Bernstein. That is followed by works by John Coltrane and Miguel Zenon before Reeves comes out to sing a couple songs. The program ends with music by Dizzy Gillespie and Thad Jones.

Golda’s Balcony – The Wallis – Now – July 13th

William Gibson is a playwright best known for The Miracle Worker. He also wrote Two for the Seesaw and Golden Boy. One of his later works was a one-woman show about Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel (1969-1974). That show is called Golda’s Balcony.

Tovah Feldshuh, who recently appeared at The Wallis in Sisters in Law, has made Golda’s Balcony her own.

The play opened at New York’s Helen Hayes Theatre in 2003 and ran for nearly 500 performances making it the longest running one-woman show in Broadway history. Feldshuh received a Tony Award nomination for her performance.

This was not, by the way, Gibson’s first play about Meir. Anne Bancroft played her in a less-successful play called Golda in 1977. It only ran for 93 performances.

The Wallis has teamed up with the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival to make Scott Schwartz’s film of Golda’s Balcony available for free viewing through July 13th. On the final day there will also be a Q&A with Feldshuh at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel: Live from Lincoln Center – Lincoln Center – July 10th -September 8th

In 2013, the New York Philharmonic staged a concert version of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel. Starring in the production were Kelli O’Hara (Kiss Me, Kate) and baritone Nathan Gunn.

That concert will be available from Lincoln Center through September 8th.

The cast of Carousel also included Jessie Mueller (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Jason Danieley (Pretty Woman: The Musical), opera singer Stephanie Blythe, Shuler Hensley (The Ferryman), Kate Burton (Present Laughter) and John Cullum (Waitress).

Amongst the songs you will know from Carousel are “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “If I Loved You,” “Soliloquy” and “June Is Busting Out All Over.”

Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert – Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – July 10th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

I published a separate preview of this concert earlier this week. So for details you can go here. This will be amazing and I just wanted to make sure it was on your radar.

Eric Reed Quartet Live at the Village Vanguard – July 10th and July 11th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT

If you’ve ever been to New York’s Village Vanguard you know how the venue is steeped in music history that permeates your experience of being in the room.

Live concerts won’t be happening anytime soon for you to experience in person, but that doesn’t mean the music has stopped playing.

Pianist Eric Reed leads his quartet in two live performances this weekend. There won’t be an audience in person, but you can join online for one of both of the sets.

Reed’s quartet includes Stacy Dillard on saxophone, Dezron Douglas on bass and McClenty Hunter on drums.

J.D. Considine, writing for DownBeat Magazine said of Reed, “(he) is one of those tremendously gifted players who has chops galore, but seldom uses them to show off, instead letting his obvious command of dynamics add color to the melodies he plays.”

You need to purchase tickets to watch either of these sets. Tickets are $10.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Summerfest – July 11th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra launches the first of five Summerfest concerts from Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School of Music this weekend.

Ensembles are small and practice social distancing during performance. Each performance is filmed in advance for streaming.

The series launches with principal cellist Andrew Shulman, concertmaster and violinist Margaret Batjer and pianist Andrew von Oeyen performing.

The program begins with Florence Price’s The Deserted Garden. Price was the first black female composer to be recognized as a symphonic composer. Her Symphony No. 1 had its world premiere in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The centerpiece of the program is a performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D Minor. The composer wrote this four-movement trio in 1839. It is considered amongst his best compositions.

This is a free concert. If you cannot watch it live as it happens, the concert will be archived here for later viewing.

Additional concerts are scheduled to take place every other Saturday this summer. We will keep you notified of those performances.

Same Time, Next Year – Guild Hall – July 12th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PDT

Eastern Long Island’s Guild Hall is holding a virtual stage reading of Bernard Slade’s 1975 play Same Time, Next Year.

The play revolves around Doris and George who are married to other people, yet meet once a year in Northern California to continue their annual affair. Same Time, Next Year depicts the couple’s getaways from 1951 to 1975.

Starring in this virtual reading will be Julianne Moore (Still Alice) and Alec Baldwin (30 Rock).

When the play opened on Broadway the leads were Ellen Burstyn and Charles Grodin. Burstyn won the Tony Award for her performance. A film version was released in 1978 with Alan Alda joining Burstyn.

This is a fundraiser and tickets are priced at $100 per household. You can purchase tickets here. Once you have purchased tickets you will get details how and where to see the reading.

Audra McDonald with Seth Rudetsky – July 12th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald is Seth Rudetsky’s guest for his weekly concert series. Each concert features a live performance with a second opportunity to see the concert later.

McDonald has won Tony Awards in all four possible categories for an actor or actress: Best Actress in a Musical (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Carousel, Ragtime); Best Actress in a Play (Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill) and Best Featured Actress in a Play (Master Class, A Raisin in the Sun).

She and Rudetsky have known each other for years. They have regularly appeared together including this performance of “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady.

Tickets for either the live stream or the second viewing are $25 each. The rerun of Sunday’s concert will be streamed at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 13th.

Billy Budd – Glyndebourne – July 12th – July 19th

Herman Melville’s short novel, Billy Budd, left unfinished by the author and published in 1924 (33 years after Melville’s death), serves as the inspiration for Benjamin Britten’s opera.

Billy Budd, the opera, had its world premiere in London in 1951. Novelist E.M. Forster (A Passage to India) and Eric Crozier wrote the libretto. Billy Budd is a rare opera in that it features no female roles. Even the chorus is all-male.

The opera tells the story of a young sailor (Jacques Imbrailo) who is newly recruited to join the HMS Indomitable. He possess great beauty and charm. The Master-at-Arms, Claggart (Phillip Ens), finds himself inexplicably drawn to the young man. Uneasy with the feelings Budd instills him, Claggart seeks to do everything he can to destroy the young man.

This 2010 production from Glyndebourne was directed by Michael Grandage. This was the first opera Grandage directed. He is best known for his work in theatre including the plays Red and Frost/Nixon. Mark Elder conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Andrew Clements, writing for The Guardian said of this production, “Jacques Imbrailo’s Billy is a total joy – slight, lithe and wonderfully guileless, singing his farewell to life with immense dignity and pathos. …The remorseless inhumanity of the story is certainly vivid, both on stage and in Mark Elder’s account of the score, by turns luminous and scaldingly intense. Elder does not neglect a single detail of what is perhaps Britten’s greatest orchestral accomplishment, and both the playing of the London Philharmonic and the singing of the Glyndebourne chorus have marvellous presence.”

That’s it for your Best Bets at Home: July 10th – July 12th. As always, a few reminders:

The Metropolitan Opera productions available this weekend are Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin on Friday; Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on Saturday and my personal favorite opera, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde on Sunday.

Fridays at Five from SFJazz this weekend features John Scofield and Lettuce in a concert from 2019.

Stratford Festival continues its Shakespeare films with their 2017 production of Romeo and Juliet. Also available are The Adventures of Perciles and Antony and Cleopatra.

Now we’re officially done with the Best Bets at Home: July 10th – July 12th. Enjoy your weekend and stay safe and healthy.

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: July 10th – July 12th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

We have ten options for you and each and every one is a winner. They include Lorraine Hansberry’s last play, a highly-acclaimed new ballet based on the writings of Virginia Woolf, two one-act operas by Ravel and one of a jazz legend’s final concerts. Oh…and a little show called Hamilton.

Here are your Best Bets at Home: July 3rd – July 5th:

Hamilton – Disney Plus – Begins July 3rd

You pretty much have to be living under a rock not to know that the smash musical Hamilton becomes available for viewing on Disney Plus this weekend.

Before the original Broadway cast left the show, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail filmed the show. They shot a couple performances and then shot on-stage and close-ups with the cast without an audience.

This film was originally going to be released theatrically, but Disney has added it to their Disney Plus service realizing that no one was going to see Hamilton on stage for quite some time. Let’s also be honest, the pandemic has slowed down new content for the service. Both factored into the decision to release Hamilton this weekend.

Hamilton won 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical and also the Pulitzer Prize.

The cast includes Tony Award winner Daveed Diggs as “Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson”; Tony Award winner Renée Elise Goldsberry as “Angelica Schuyler”; Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff as “King George”; Tony Award nominee Christopher Jackson as “George Washington”; Jasmine Cephas Jones as “Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds”; Lin-Manuel Miranda as “Alexander Hamilton”; Tony Award-winner Leslie Odom, Jr. as “Aaron Burr”; Okieriete Onaodowan as “Hercules Mulligan/James Madison”; Anthony Ramos as “John Laurens/Philip Hamilton”; and Tony Award nominee Phillipa Soo as “Eliza Hamilton.”

If you want to have the room where it happened come alive in your room, you will need to subscribe to Disney Plus. One month is $6.99 or you can get an annual subscription for $69.99. They are not currently offering one week free-trial memberships.

Les Blancs – National Theatre Live – Now – July 9th

The National Theatre staged Lorraine Hansberry’s last play, Les Blancs, in 2016. This is the film of that production.

Hansberry is best known for her play A Raisin in the Sun.

After 30 previews Les Blancs opened at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway in November of 1970. It closed in mid-December of that year after 40 regular performances. This production came five years after Hansberry’s death. The text was adapted by her husband Robert Nemiroff and it is that text that is used for the National Theatre production directed by Yaël Farber.

Les Blancs, which Hansberry considered to be amongst her most important works, addresses colonialism bridging the time from the late 19th century into the 20th century. Tshembe (Danny Sapani) has returned home to his African country as its struggles with an impeding civil war over the issue of independence from colonial rule. There for his father’s funeral, he finds himself in the middle of the two warring factions.

Michael Billington, writing for The Guardian, said of Les Blancs, “…an epic production by Yaël Farber of a text that explores both the divided individual soul and the bitterness of the colonial legacy…An imperfect play…has been given a near-perfect production.”

Woolf Works – The Royal Ballet – Now – July 9th

If I offer you the combination of Virginia Woolf, choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Max Richter, would you really need to know more? That alone is a compelling trio.

In this 2015 work created specifically for The Royal Ballet, McGregor used Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves as inspiration.

He then combined them with excerpts from her diaries, letters and essays. The end result won the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Classical Choreography and the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.

The company performing Woolf Works is Alessandra Ferri, Federico Bonelli, Edward Watson, Francesca Hayward, Sarah Lamb and Akane Takada. They are joined by soprano Anush Hovhannisyan. Koen Kessels leads the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

Antony and Cleopatra – Stratford Festival – Now – July 23rd

This 2014 Stratford Festival production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra was directed by Gary Griffin. Starring as the titular couple are Geraint Wyn Davies and Yanna McIntosh.

One of Shakespeare’s historical dramas, Antony and Cleopatra tells of the love affair between Mark Antony (one of three men ruling the Roman republic) and the passionate and seductive queen of Egypt, Cleopatra.

Their affair leaves them vulnerable to political intrigue that will change their lives and their relationship dramatically.

This begins the final trilogy of Shakespeare productions from Canada’s Stratford Festival. Called Relationships, this trilogy will continue in the next couple weeks with Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew.

Still available for streaming are Shakespeare’s King John and The Adventures of Pericles.

Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and L’enfant et les sortilèges – -Glyndebourne – Now – July 5th

Two one-act operas by Maurice Ravel are paired together in this 2012 production by Laurent Pelly at Glyndebourne.

L’heure espagnole had its world premiere in Paris in 1911. Franc-Nohain wrote the libretto based on his own play of the same name from 1904.

The opera tells the story of an unfaithful Spanish woman who tries to make love to multiple different men while her husband is away. When he shows up, the men try hiding in the many clocks her husband owns and sometimes find themselves getting stuck inside them.

The cast of L’heure espagnole features Elliot Madore, François Piolino, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Alek Shrader and Paul Gay.

The second opera, L’enfant et les sortilèges, had its world premiere in Monte Carlo in 1925. The libretto is by Colette who apparently wrote the libretto in eight days. (Did you see Wash Westmoreland’s 2018 film about her? You should. And classical music fans will enjoy Thomas Adés’ score for this wonderful film.)

In the opera a petulant young child, prone to throwing tantrums and destroying the toys and animals around him, is surprised when they come to life to give him a lesson about kindness.

The cast of L’enfant et les sortilèges features Khatouna Gadelia, Elodie Méchain, Madore, Gay, Julie Pasturaud, Piolino, Kathleen Kim, Natalia Brzezińska, Hila Fahim, d’Oustrac and Kirsty Stokes.

Kazushi Ono conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Declassified Memory Fragment – Joyce Theater – July 2nd – July 31

Burkina Faso is a small, landlocked country in Africa. From it comes musician and choreographer Olivier Tarpaga who created Declassified Memory Fragment. This 70-minute piece had its world premiere in 2015. It is a work that features dancers and live musicians sharing the stage.

New York’s Joyce Theater will stream Declassified Memory Fragment for the first time during the month of July.

Tarpaga was inspired by the various political issues his own country faces as well as other countries like Kenya, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe. Information from The Joyce Theater states that “Declassified refers to living in a society where aspects of everyday life are subjected to restrictions and cultural expectations of secrecy and privacy, even within the family. The act of declassifying is a process of revealing, exposing what is hidden from view and obscured, not spoken.”

Marina Hars, writing in the New York Times said Tarpaga’s piece, “is an extraordinary, distilled piece of music and dance. As the title suggests, it conjures fragmented memories, images and stories, often from childhood, gathered and transformed through movement and music by Mr. Tarpaga, three fellow dancers, and four musicians.”

Allen Toussaint with Preservation Hall Jazz Band – SF Jazz – July 3rd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This 2014 performance was one of the last concerts performed by jazz singer and pianist Allen Toussaint. He died one year after this performance at SF Jazz. He appears with Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Toussaint’s concert is part of SF Jazz’s Fridays at Five. That means the concert will stream only once at 5:00 PM PDT/8:00 PM EDT.

If you like jazz you won’t want to miss this one. New footage from the concert has been added for this presentation. To watch Fridays at Five requires either signing up for one month of concerts for $5 or signing up for a year at $60. With upcoming concerts by John Scofield, Cécile McLorin Salvant and their ongoing Wayne Shorter Celebrations plus this rare performance by Toussaint, it seems like an easy decision.

New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall – Medici.tv – July 3rd- July 5th

This 2015 Carnegie Hall concert finds Alan Gilbert leading the New York Philharmonic. The highlight of this performance was the world premiere of Vivo by Magnus Lindberg. Carnegie Hall co-commissioned the work from Lindberg.

Pianist Evgeny Kissin joins for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s crowd-pleasing Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23.

As an encore, Kissin performs Méditation from Tchaikovsky’s 18 Pieces.

Kissin made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1990. That performance also marked his US recital debut.

The concert concludes with Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2.

Susannah -San Francisco Opera – July 4th – July 5th

American composer Carlisle Floyd wrote this opera during his tenure as a member of the faculty at Florida State University. Floyd wrote both music and the libretto. Susannah had its world premiere in 1955 at the University.

His inspiration was a story in the Book of Daniel in certain bibles. Floyd updates the story of Susannah and the Elders to a more contemporary story of a teenage girl whom many in her isolated religious community accuse of being a sinner. Her journey into womanhood is challenged by the residents in a small mountain town in Tennessee.

This San Francisco Opera production was staged in 2014. Michael Cavanagh directed the production and the performance is conducted by Karen Kamensek.

Patricia Racette sings the role of “Susannah.” Brandon Jovanovich sings the role of “Sam Polk”; Raymond Aceto sings the role of “Reverend Olin Blitch”; the role of “Elder Ott” is sung by Timothy Mix; Catherine Cook sings the role of “Mrs. McLean” and the role of Little Bat McLean is sung by James Kryshak.

This was the first time one of Floyd’s operas had been performed by San Francisco Opera. Critics hailed the production and Racette’s performance in the title role.

Melissa Errico with Seth Rudetsky – July 5th – 8:00 PM/5:00 PM (rerun July 6th 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT)

Melissa Errico hasn’t had the Broadway career her many fans and admirers feel she deserves. A 1993 revival of My Fair Lady was followed by roles in High Society, Amour, Dracula the Musical and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Those subsequent shows had short runs.

Off-Broadway has been far kinder offering Errico a chance to shine in productions of Finian’s Rainbow, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and Stephen Sondheim’s Passion.

You can experience how talented she is when she appears as Seth Rudetsky’s Concert guest in his online Concert Series. The live performance takes place on July 5th. There is a second streaming of the concert on July 6th. Tickets for each performance are $25.

Those are your Best Bets at Home: July 3rd – July 5th. But before we go, a couple reminders:

Metropolitan Opera offerings Friday – Sunday are Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Rossini’s La Donna del Lago.

All Live with Carnegie Hall events-to-date are archived and available for viewing at any time. They include pianist Daniil Trifonov, opera singer Isabel Leonard, Yannick Nézet-Séguin discussing opera, Michael Feinstein celebrating composer Irving Berlin, opera singer Renée Fleming, violinist Joshua Bell and many more.

Stay safe. Stay sane. Be healthy. And enjoy your Bets Bets at Home: July 3rd – July 5th and your holiday weekend.

Photo: Lin-Manuel Miranda in a scene from the film of Hamilton (Photo courtesy of Disney Plus)

The post Cultural Best Bets at Home: July 3rd – July 5th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

What’s on tap for the Best Bets at Home: June 26th – June 28th?

Broadway fans will have a musical, a diva in concert and an all-star special concert. Fans of theatre will have Shakespeare, Molière (with a Broadway star), a reading of a sequel to a classic play (also featuring Broadway stars) and more. Opera fans have a second production of a Massenet opera available to them just this week and a celebration of opera choruses. Jazz fans have two options with many of the genre’s biggest names performing. Classical music fans have a Carnegie Hall concert by one of our greatest living composers and also the farewell to a legendary conductor.

What will you choose?

Here are the Best Bets at Home: June 26th – June 28th

Falsettos – Lincoln Center at Home on Broadway HD – Now – June 27th at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

The 2016 Broadway production of James Lapine and William Finn’s musical Falsettos is available for streaming through Saturday, June 27th. The presentation of this Tony Award-nominated production is part of Lincoln Center at Home in collaboration with Broadway HD.

Lapine and Finn paired two one-act Off-Broadway musicals they created (1981’s March of the Falsettos and 1990’s Falsettoland) to make the full length musical Falsettos.

Christian Borle plays Marvin. He and his wife, Trina (Stephanie J. Block), are preparing their son, Jason (Anthony Rosenthal) for his Bar Mitzvah. Marvin has recently left Trina for Whizzer (Andrew Rannells) which complicates more than just their marriage. Trina is seeing a therapist, Mendel (Brandon Uranowitz) and her therapist is falling in love with his patient.

It sounds complicated and perhaps it is. But Lapine and Finn have created a musical that is both funny and heartbreaking, romantic and sad. They’ve also created one hell of a show that feels just as topical today as when it was first created.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – National Theatre Live – Now – July 2nd

First let me tell you this is definitely not a traditional production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This 2019 Nicholas Hytner production finds most of the audience walking around the theatre as the play takes place.

The Bridge Theatre, where this production was staged, has high ceilings and a unique structure that allows for this immersive version of Midsummer. Critics talked about Cirque du Soleil-style elements, some queering up of the story and they all raved about how this possibly over-produced play has, with this production, entered the 21st century.

Maybe not being a traditional production is going to be not just a good thing, but a great thing with this A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Philip Glass Ensemble: Music with Changing Parts – Medici.tv – June 26th – June 28th

This weekend’s free Carnegie Hall concert available on Medici.tv features a 2018 performance by composer Philip Glass with his ensemble. The concert is complete performance of his 1970 work Music With Changing Parts.

For quite some time this was not amongst Glass’s best-known works. It was independently released on vinyl and went out of print in the late 1970s. It was remastered and released on CD in 1994. It’s a work that greatly influenced Brian Eno and David Bowie who saw the Philip Glass Ensemble perform it in Europe in the 1970s.

Michael Riesman is the conductor for this performance. Joining Glass and the Ensemble are the San Francisco Girls Chorus (Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Conductor) and students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Watching the concert is free, but it does require signing in with Medici.tv.

Wayne Shorter Celebration Part 2 – SF Jazz Friday’s at Five – June 26th 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

On May 22nd SF Jazz streamed the first part of their Wayne Shorter Celebration featuring Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin and Shorter’s touring musicians pianist Danilo Pérez, bass player John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade. This was one of the concerts that replaced Shorter’s scheduled shows that he had to miss due to health issues.

For part two of this celebration the special guests are Herbie Hancock and Terence Blanchard. Once again, Pérez, Patitucci and Blade also perform.

Friday’s At Five does require you sign up in advance. You can join for one month for $5 or for an entire year for $60. Membership allows you to watch all Friday’s at Five programs. Upcoming performances will include Allen Touissant, John Scofield, Cécile McLorin Salvant and two more celebrations of Wayne Shorter (with guests Branford Marsalis, Joshua Redman and Ambrose Akinmusire.)

The Men From the Boys – Playbill Pride Plays – June 26th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

As part of their programming celebrating Gay Pride, Playbill will live stream a reading of Mart Crowley’s The Men from the Boys. This is a 2002 sequel to Crowley’s best-known play, The Boys in the Band. Many of the characters from the first play appear in this sequel and new characters are also introduced.

Performing this reading will be Denis O’Hare as Michael, Rick Elice as Donald, Mario Cantone as Emory, Joseph James O’Neil as Hank, Kevyn Morrow as Bernard, and Lou Liberatore as Harold. For the new characters Carson McCalley plays Scott, Charlie Carver plays Jason and Telly Leung plays Rick.

Directing The Men From the Boys is Zachary Quinto who appeared in the 2019 Broadway production of The Boys in the Band.

Crowley passed away earlier this year.

Playing Through Changes – Jazz House Kids – June 26th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

New Jersey-based Jazz House Kids offers education and performances for children ages 8 to 18. Like many organizations this year their plans of a big gala were thwarted by the pandemic. So they took their efforts online in a mix of live performances and classic footage. This is a re-streaming of last week’s event.

Lester Holt of NBC News hosts the program.

The performers included in this 2 hour and 15 minute show are Dianne Reeves, David Sanborn, Eddie Palmieri, Diana Krall, Ingrid Jensen, Wynton Marsalis, Andra Day, Chick Corea, Bill Charlap Trio, Ravi Coltrane, Dee Dee Bridgewater, José James, The Christian McBride Big Band featuring Melissa Walker and the late Al Jarreau and George Duke.

McBride and Walker will do a live introduction to this week’s streaming of Playing Through Changes.  

We’ve provided a link in the title that goes to the Jazz House Kids webpage. It will also be available for viewing on their Facebook page and YouTube Channel

Gloria: A Life – PBS Great Performances – June 27th (Check Local Listings)

Christine Lahti stars in Emily Mann’s play as women’s rights leader Gloria Steinem. Lahti is joined by an all-female cast playing the non-Steinem characters. Gloria: A Life is directed by Diane Paulus.

Reviews for the play itself were mixed. The last 20 minutes of the production, which feature a talking circle, regularly got singled out for how powerful they were. Since Steinem is included in this film, it is probably a safe assumption that she will be part of this part of the performance..

Manon – San Francisco Opera – June 27th – June 28th

This week’s offering from San Francisco Opera is their 2017 production of Jules Massenet’s Manon. This was a co-production with Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Israeli Opera.

We’ve written previously about the creation of Manon and its storyline. Rather than recap it again, you can find it here.

For this production Ellie Dehn sings the role of Manon and Michael Fabiano sings the role of Chevalier des Grieux. Both singers were making their role debuts in this production, which was directed by Vincent Boussard. Patrick Fournillier is the conductor.

Tartuffe On Line – Molière in the Park – June 27th – 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT and 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Who knew Molière would be so topical in 2020. If you don’t know the premise of Tartuffe, here’s a quick preview:

Tartuffe believes himself to be a righteous man, but he is ultimately a thief. His favorite accessory is his bible which he has at the ready whenever its mere presence can be helpful to him.

Oronte longs for his days of having power. But his power is quickly disappearing. He is now old, rudderless and hopelessly naive.

Imagine what happens when these two meet up. This is truly a satire that mirrors our times.

Raúl Esparza and Samira Wiley had the cast that also includes Kaliswa Brewster, Naomi Lorrain, Jared McNeill, Jennifer Mudge, Rosemary Prinz, Carter Redwood. Lucie Tiberghien directs and the translation is by Richard Wilbur.

The performance will remain available online through July 12th. This event is free, but does require registration here.

Lea Salonga with Seth Rudetsky – June 28th – 9:00 AM EDT/6:00 AM PDT (second showing 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT)

Lea Salonga probably needs no introduction. She is this week’s guest performer in Seth Rudetsky’s concert series. The concert will be live for the first showing and that performance will be streamed later in the day (at a better hour for most people.

If you want a reminder, she is the Tony Award-winning actress who originated the role of Kim in Miss Saigon. She has also appeared on Broadway in Les Misérables, Flower Drum Song, Allegiance and Once on This Island.

This is not a free event. Tickets are required and they are $25.

Great Opera Choruses – LA Opera at Home – June 28th – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Every year the LA Opera Chorus performs a concert celebrating Great Opera Choruses. This year’s event was scheduled at The Soraya in Northridge (where the concert had taken place for four years), but was cancelled due to the pandemic. Rather than give up on their annual tradition, LA Opera is performing a virtual concert in collaboration with The Soraya.

Grant Gershon, Resident Conductor of the LA Opera Orchestra, will be joined by Assistant Chorus Master Jeremy Frank who will serve as accompanist and music supervisor.

The program is slated to include three famous choruses from popular works. The concert will culminate with a performance of the Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il Trovatore. The audience will be encouraged to sing along (and bang things). The virtual concert will provide lyrics on screen.

MTT25: An Online Tribute to Michael Tilson Thomas – San Francisco Symphony Facebook Page – June 28th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Conductor, pianist and composer Michael Tilson Thomas ends his 25-year tenure with the San Francisco Symphony not quite as anyone imagined. But that won’t stop the orchestra from celebrating him.

Sunday finds an on-line tribute to Tilson Thomas hosted by Audra McDonald and Susan Graham.

Joining them for this tribute will be Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Julia Bullock, Measha Brueggergosman, Bonnie Raitt, Lars Ulrich, and more. They will all share their own memories of working with MTT and there will also be performances.

MTT has long been a personal inspiration for me. I was too young to have been around to watch Leonard Bernstein on television. When I was growing up MTT offered his own perspectives on classical music for me to enjoy. Not only were they informative, they instilled in me a passion that helped guide me through tedious piano practices, lessons and recitals.

His passion for certain composers also inspires me. One of my all-time favorite recordings is MTT leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an amazing concert with Sarah Vaughan called Gershwin Live! Seeing him lead the same orchestra in 2018 in a performance of Charles Ives’s A Symphony: New England Holidays is one of my favorite concerts.

Playbill Pride Spectacular – Playbill Pride Plays – June 28th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Playbill closes out their Pride celebrations with an all-star concert on Sunday featuring some of Broadway’s best-known performers.

How’s this for a line-up: Jelani Alladin, Alexandra Billings, Billy Bustamante, Jean Colella, DeMarius Copes, Wilson Cruz, Robin De Jesús, Lea Delaria, Brandon Victor Dixon, Eden Espinosa, Niani Feelings, Harvey Fierstein, Gaby Gamache, Matt Gould, Curtis Holland, Cheyenne Jackson, this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson, Francis Jue, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Caitlin Kinnunen, L. Morgan Lee, Raymond J. Lee, Matthew Lopez, Cheech Manohar, Griffin Matthews, Anastacia McCleskey, Michael McElroy, John McGinty, Chris Medlin, Ezra Menas, Paul HeeSang Miller, John Cameron Mitchell, Mary Kate Morrissey, Javier Muñoz, Alan Muraoka, Shakina Nayfack, Ariana Notartomaso, Diana Oh, Ken Page, Clint Ramos, Lee Roy Reams, Matt Rodin, Jai Rodriguez, Mj Rodriguez, Mars Rucker, Sushma Saha, George Salazar, Miriam Shor, Jason Tam, John Tartaglia, Sonya Tayeh, Sergio Trujillo, Vishal Vaidya, BD Wong, Iain Young, and Brittany Zeinstra.

John McDaniel serves as Music Director. The concert will showcase songs from musicals with LGBTQ stories. Playbill Pride Spectacular is free to watch, but will serves as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

That’s a wrap on this weekend’s Best Bets at Home: June 26th – June 28th. Enjoy yourselves!

Main Photo: The company of Falsettos (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Update: This post has been updated to include the extension to July 12th of the ability to view Tartuffe Online

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: June 26th – June 28th – UPDATED appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Most of the events listed are free. When they are not, they are noted. Links to each event can be found in the individual names of the events.

Creole Giselle – Dance Theatre of Harlem – Now – June 19th

The classic ballet Giselle was reconceived by Arthur Mitchell in the early 1980s. In 1984, Dance Theatre of Harlem premiered Creole Giselle at the London Coliseum in England.

The original Giselle choreography was by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The production was staged by Frederic Franklin.

Creole Giselle garnered rave reviews in both London and New York. For some background on the creation of this work, I suggest reading this 1984 column from Burton Taylor writing for the New York Times.

Dance Theatre of Harlem is making the full ballet available for free viewing through June 19th. The film they are showing of Creole Giselle aired on television in Denmark in 1987.

Hamlet – Stratford Festival – Now – June 25th

Stratford Festival’s ongoing series of Shakespeare’s plays continues with this 2015 production of Hamlet.

Jonathan Goad stars as “Hamlet” with Seana McKenna as “”Gertrude; Geraint Wyn Davies as “Claudius/The Ghost”; Tim Campbell as “Horatio”; Adrienne Gould as “Ophelia;” Tom Rooney as “Polonius;” and Mike Shara as “Laertes.” The production is directed by Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino.

Stratford’s streaming productions of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens and Love’s Labour’s Lost are also still available this weekend.

The Madness of King George – National Theatre Live – Now – June 18th

Many of us first became aware of this Alan Bennett play by seeing the 1994 Nicholas Hytner film starring Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren.

This 2018 Nottingham Playhouse production stars Mark Gatiss as King George and Debra Gillett as Queen Charlotte. It was directed by Adam Penford.

Bennett’s play depicts a king whose relationship with what is real seems to change on a dime. He’s both a very powerful man and a wildly erratic leader whose delusions call into question his ability to lead. This prompts others to do whatever they can to undermine the King and take control of the Crown.

This production sold out and earned rave reviews. Bennett wrote staggeringly complicated roles for the two leads. It should be pure theater joy watching Gatiss and Gillett in this production.

Michael Tilson Thomas and Yuja Wang at Carnegie Hall – MediciTv – June 12th – June 14th

The collaboration between Carnegie Hall and Medici.Tv continues this weekend with a concert from May of 2019. Michael Tilson Thomas leads the New World Symphony and America’s Orchestral Academy. They are joined by pianist Yuja Wang.

The program features Julia Wolfe’s Fountain of Youth (in its New York premiere); Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 5 and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. The encores find the conductor taking to the piano for a solo performance of his composition You Come Here Often? The concert concludes with Wagner’s Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin.

There is no charge to watch this program.

Björk Ballet – San Francisco Ballet – June 12th – June 19th

San Francisco Ballet’s Unbound Festival in 2019 featured this ballet by Arthur Pita centered on the songs by best-selling singer/songwriter Björk.

Pita used a wide range of her music: from her first album in 1993, Debut, through 2017’s Utopia.

A playlist on SF Ballet’s website for Björk Ballet indicates that the songs used are “Overture” from Selmasongs; “All Is Full of Love” and “Bachelorette – Family Tree Version” from Homogenic; “Vokuro” from Medulla; “Frosti” from Vespertine; “The Gate” from Utopia; “Hyperballad” from Post and “The Anchor Song” from Debut.

Pita says that the duality he finds in Björk as an artist inspired the story he created for this ballet. “She’s this very playful, naughty fairy, dancing nymph, otherworldly creature, full of light and love. And then you’ve got this very deep, mournful, sorrowful, almost tragedy in some of her songs. So it’s like the theater masks.” 

La Fille mal gardée – Royal Ballet – June 12th – June 26th

A love story between Lise and a young farmer, Colas, is the centerpiece of this ballet choreographed by Frederick Ashton. This ballet had its world premiere in 1960.

The translation of the title is The Wayward Daughter. Clearly her parents aren’t too keen on her taste in men. Or in this case, her widowed mother.

Ashton based this work on a 1789 ballet by Jean Dauberval. The music was adapted by John Lanchberry from an 1828 score by Ferdinand Hérold.

Marianela Nuñez dances the role of Lise. Carlos Acosta dances the role of Colas. The role of Lise’s mother is danced by William Tuckett.

Il Trittico – San Francisco Opera – June 13th – June 14th

Puccini’s trilogy of operas seems popular this month. Last week the Royal Opera in London made their 2012 production available. This weekend San Francisco Opera makes their 2009 production available for viewing.

The three operas are Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. For details on these three operas, check out our Royal Opera House preview here.

Cast in this trilogy are soprano Patricia Racette (who performs in all three pieces), contralto Ewa Podles, tenor Brandon Jovanovich and baritone Paolo Gavanelli. Patrick Summers conducts this James Robinson production.

San Francisco Opera’s production received glowing reviews.

Live from Covent Garden – June 13th – 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT

This is the first of three live performances from Covent Garden since it had to temporarily close. It takes place on Saturday evening in London.

The event is being streamed live and has an impressive line-up.

Benjamin Britten: On this Island op.11 (1937, to five poems by W.H. Auden), performed by soprano Louise Alder

George Butterworth: Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (1911, to poems by A.E. Housman), performed by tenor Toby Spence

Ballet Interlude: New pas de deux, choreographed by Wayne McGregor to Richard Strauss Morgen! op.27 no.4 (1894, to the poem by John Henry Mackay). Louise Alder (soprano) and violinist (tbc). Performed by Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales

Mark-Anthony Turnage: Three Songs (2000, to texts by Stevie Smith, Thomas Hardy and Walt Whitman), performed by baritone Gerald Finley

arr. Benjamin Britten: The Crocodile (1941, to a traditional text and melody), performed by Gerald Finley

Gerald Finzi: Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun op.18 no.3 (1929, to a text by William Shakespeare), performed by Gerald Finley

George Frideric Handel: ‘Tornami a vagheggiar’ (from the opera Alcina, 1735, after a story from Orlando furioso), performed by Louise Alder

Georges Bizet: ‘Au fond du temple saint’ (from the opera Les Pêcheurs de perles, 1863, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré), performed by Toby Spence and Gerald Finley

Vanessa – Glyndebourne – June 14th – June 21st

Composer Samuel Barber won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1958 opera that features a libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti. The world premiere was at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

This Glyndebourne production took place in 2018. Keith Warner directed and the orchestra is conducted by Jakub Hrůša.

Barber’s opera is a psychological drama about family relationships. The title character (sung by Emma Bell) finds herself alone after her boyfriend, Anatol, has left her. She pulls away from the world leaving her with only her mother (Rosalind Plowright) and her niece (Virginie Verrez) for company. Their world gets upended when Anatol’s son (Edgaras Montvidas) shows up twenty years later.

Jeremy Jordan – Seth Rudetsky Concert Series – June 14th – 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT

Seth Rudetsky travels across the country with Broadway stars for evenings of conversation and songs. Unable to take his shows on the road, he’s bringing them to our homes.

This week’s performance features Jeremy Jordan who starred in the musicals Bonnie and Clyde and Newsies (for which he received both Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations). He was also featured in the television series Smash.

The live performance takes place as listed above. If you cannot watch that performance, there is an encore presentation on June 15th at 3 PM EDT/12 PM PDT. These are not free events. Tickets are $25 not including service fees.

Upcoming concerts will feature Seth with Jessie Mueller (Beautiful), Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon), Melissa Errico (Passion) and Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess).

Life in a Pandemic: “One Day At a Time:” Norman Lear and Rita Moreno in Conversation with RuPaul – 92Y – June 14th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Legendary television producer Norman Lear and living legend Rita Moreno will discuss the many lives of the reboot of One Day at a Time with RuPaul. This is a live-streaming event presented by the 92Y in New York.

I find it unlikely that any of these three need introduction, but here goes. Norman Lear is the five-time Emmy Award winning creator of such shows as All in the Family and Maude. He has also won a Peabody Award and has been awarded a Kennedy Center Honor.

Rita Moreno is an EGOT. She won two Emmy Awards, one Grammy Award, an Oscar for West Side Story and a Tony Award for The Ritz. She also happens to have a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a National Medal of Arts, a SAG Lifetime Achievement Award and is also the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor.

RuPaul is the six-time Emmy Award winning host and producer of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Tickets are required for this event which is not free. The price of each ticket is $20. You must be registered in advance in order to get access to the event.

Before we close out our Best Bets at Home: June 12th – June 14th, here are a few reminders:

Friday’s at Five from SF Jazz features Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi. This takes place at 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT on June 12th.

The Metropolitan Opera programming this weekend features their April 2020 At-Home Gala on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is the 2011-2012 production of Handel’s Rodelinda with Renée Fleming.

The musical Allegiance streaming on Broadway on Demand has been extended through June 23rd. You can get details at our preview here.

Here ends our list of your Best Bets at Home: June 12th – June 14th. Enjoy your weekend. Stay safe and healthy!

Main Photo: Elizabeth Powell and Ulrik Birkkjaer in Björk Ballet at San Francisco Ballet (Photo ©Erik Tomasson/Courtesy of SF Ballet)

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: June 12th – June 14th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

For those of you who will be missing the annual Tony Awards, we have a clip of James Corden celebrating the pleasure to be found in live performance.

First amongst your Best Bets at Home: June 5th – June 7th stars a man who stood a very good chance of walking away with the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Coriolanus – National Theatre Live – Now – June 11th

Tom Hiddleston (most recently seen on Broadway in Betrayal/”Loki” in Marvel’s Avengers movies) stars in this 2013 Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare’s play.

The title character is one of Rome’s greatest heroes and fiercest defenders. He answers the call as the city faces an old enemy. But Rome is not the only one with enemies, Coriolanus has them, too. As circumstances get worse for the citizens of Rome, Coriolanus must find a way to keep the people on his side and address their issues.

In Paul Taylor’s review for The Independent he wrote, “Hiddleston’s magnificent performance compels you to feel what an awful fate it is to be Coriolanus. There’s an extraordinary sequence here in which, blood-soaked after battle, he stands under a shower of water gasping with pain. We are suddenly privy to the lonely willpower of the man behind the myth.Hiddleston’s magnificent performance compels you to feel what an awful fate it is to be Coriolanus. There’s an extraordinary sequence here in which, blood-soaked after battle, he stands under a shower of water gasping with pain. We are suddenly privy to the lonely willpower of the man behind the myth.”

Joining Hiddleston in the cast are Mark Gatiss, Hadley Fraser, Alfred Enoch and Deborah Findlay. Coriolanus is directed by Josie Rourke.

Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela – Medici.tv – June 5th – June 7th

Carnegie Hall opened their 2016-2017 season with this concert celebrating dance. Dudamel, best known to audiences as the Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is also Music Director and Conductor of the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.

The program for this concert included Ravel’s La valse, Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor; Copland’s Hoe-Down from Rodeo; Strauss Jr.’s Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214; Ginastera’s Malambo from Estancia and Leonard Bernstein’s Mambo from West Side Story. The event closed with Gutierrez’s Alma Llanera from Aires de Venezuela as arranged by José Terencio.

Director’s Choice – San Francisco Ballet – June 5th – June 12th

San Francisco Ballet’s Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson selected the three ballets to be included in this performance from February of 2020. Excerpts from the following ballets are included: Tomasson’s own Soirées Musicales and Concerto Grosso and the pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain.

Tomasson, a former dancer, became the Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet in 1985. Wheeldon is also a former dancer having been a member of the Royal Ballet in London and New York City Ballet. He won a Tony Award for his choreography for An American in Paris.

Il trittico – Royal Opera – June 5th – June 19th

Il trittico is a trilogy of one-act operas by Giacomo Puccini. The three operas are Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. The latter is the best-known of the three as it is the most commonly performed.

Jealousy and murder are on tap in Il tabarro involving the love triangle of Michele (Lucio Gallo), his wife Giorgetta (Eva-Maria Westbroek) and her lover Luigi.

Suor Angelica is the dramatic story of a nun (Ermonela Jaho) dealing with loss.

Gianni Schicchi (Gallo) depicts what happens when someone dies and the will goes missing. And you think your relatives were difficult?

Richard Jones directed this 2016 production (a revival of his 2011 production) and Antonio Pappano conducted.

Agrippina – Great Performances at the Met (PBS) – June 7th (check local listings)

If you aren’t getting enough opera from the daily streaming operas made available by the Metropolitan Opera, PBS is adding another production for your viewing pleasure: Handel’s Agrippina. Joyce DiDonato stars in this David McVicar production from 2020. Henry Bicket conducts.

Agrippina (DiDonato) is the Roman empress who is fixated on the idea of having her highly unqualified son, Nerone (Kate Lindsey), take over the throne. To do that, she will stop at nothing to get her husband, Claudio (Matthew Rose), to cede it to him.

Zachary Woolfe, in his review for the New York Times said, “Three centuries on, Agrippina remains bracing in its bitterness, with few glimmers of hope or virtue in the cynical darkness. But it’s irresistible in its intelligence — and in the shamelessness it depicts with such clear yet understanding eyes.”

As with all PBS broadcasts, it is best to check your local listings. In Los Angeles this production will not air until June 9th at 11:00 PM with additional broadcasts on June 19th at 9:30 PM and June 20th at 4:00 AM. In New York it will air on June 14th at 12 PM.

Cosi fan tutte – Glyndebourne – June 7th – June 14th

Mozart’s opera (written with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte) debuted in Vienna in 1790. It was not warmly embraced and only became popular long after the composer’s death.

The opera hinges on a bet that Ferrando (Topi Lehtipuu) and Guglielmo (Luca Pisaroni) make with Don Alfonso (Nicolas Rivenq) about the fidelity of their fiancées, Dorabella (Anke Vondung) and Fiordiligi (Miah Persson).

This is a film of the 2006 production directed by Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George, The History Boys). The orchestra was lead by Iván Fischer.

Uncabaret – June 7th – 10:30 PM EDT/7:30 PM PDT

With everything going on in our world right now, the need for laughter is probably greater than ever. As she has done for more than a quarter century, Beth Lapides is assembling some of the brightest and funniest comedians she knows. They are coming together for an online version of Uncabaret.

For the uninitiated, Lapides describes the “un” part of her cabaret as “Unhomophobic, unxenophobic, unmysogynistic. Unhacky.”

Joining her for this week’s show are Sandra Bernhard, Julia Sweeney, Alec Mapa, Jen Kirkman, Alex Edelman, Tim Bagley and Jamie Bridgers. Music is provided by Mitch Kaplan and his band.

Registration on Eventbrite is required, but there is no fee to watch the performance. Donations, of course, are accepted.

Those are our selections for the Best Bets at Home June 5th – June 7th.

A couple reminders:

SFJazz has Fridays at Five with Marcus Shelby Quartet w/ Angela Davis in a program entitled Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. The concert features Terri Lyne Carrington, Tia Fuller, Tammy Hall, Paula West, Kim Nalley, & Tiffany Austin. This concert takes place June 5th at 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT.

The Met Opera productions available this weekend are Thomas Adés’ The Exterminating Angel on Friday; Verdi’s Otello on Saturday and Massenet’s Thaïs on Sunday.

As I mentioned, Sunday would have been the Tony Awards. You can always find plenty of Tony Awards clips of performances to entertain yourself in the absence of the annual broadcast. One example: James Corden’s opening from the 2019 show which celebrates the joy of live performance.

There you have it. Enough Culture Best Bets at Home June 5th – June 7th to keep you entertained all weekend long.

Main photo: Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus (Photo by Johan Persson/Courtesy of National Theatre Live)

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: June 5th – June 7th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

We’ve got quite the list for you. There are 14 Best Bets at Home: May 29th – May 31st. Plus a few reminders, of course!

This House – National Theatre Live – Now – June 4th

James Graham wrote this play that sold out two runs at the National Theatre and transferred to the Garrick Theatre in 2017.

The setting is Parliament in Britain in 1974. The Labour and Tory parties are battling one another over the direction England should go. It’s a herculean task and one that requires cunning maneuvers, compromise and finding a way to bend the rules just to the point before breaking.

Michael Billington, writing in The Guardian, gave the show a five-star review. He said, “It has taken four years for James Graham’s enthralling play to make it from the National to the West End. It has been worth the wait because it enables us to see the work from a fresh perspective. In recording the struggle of the Labour government of 1974-79 to simply survive, the play offers a fascinating slice of history. Yet as we enter a new age of fractured opposition, the play raises serious questions about whether our current parliamentary system is fit for purpose.”

Jeremy Herrin directed This House.

Love’s Labour’s Lost – Stratford Festival – Now – June 18th

In Aristophanes’s Lysistrata women withhold sex from their husbands in an attempt to end war. It’s a dramatic play. Shakespeare took a similar premise for Love’s Labour’s Lost, but he was interested in making people laugh.

Four men, including the King of Navarre (Sanjay Talware), have vowed not to be in the company of women for three years. They are more interested in study than in females. Just as they have embarked on this plan, the Princess of France (Ruby Joy) and three female companions arrive testing each man’s resolve. Add a Spanish nobleman and his infatuation with a woman to the mix just to make things more frantic.

Shakespeare employs his usual tricks of disguises and mix-ups for this comedic play.

John Caird (Nicholas Nickelby, Les Misérables) directed this 2015 production.

Snowblind – San Francisco Ballet – May 29th – June 5th

Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome is the inspiration for this one-act ballet by Cathy Marston. In the ballet, Ethan Frome is married to his wife, Zeena. She is a difficult woman and also a hypochondriac. Mattie, Zeena’s cousin, joins the couple to help them in their home. But Ethan soon finds himself drawn to the woman. You know this won’t end well.

The music used in the ballet comes from a variety of composers including Amy Beach and Arthur Foote. Philip Feeney arranged the music. Scenery and costumes are by Patrick Kinmonth and the lighting was designed by James F. Ingalls.

Dancing the principal roles are Mathilde Froustey (Mattie), Sarah Van Patten (Zeena) and Ulrik Birkkjaer (Ethan). This performance took place in 2018.

The Broadhurst At 100! 54 Celebrates the Broadhurst Theatre – Feinstein’s/54 Below – May 29th 6:30 PM EDT/3:30 PM PDT

When New York’s Broadhurst Theatre opened in 1917, George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance was the first production. Amongst the musicals to have appeared there are Fiorello!, Cabaret, Godspell, The Tap Dance Kid, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Fosse and Anastasia.

100 years after The Broadhurst first opened, Feinstein’s/54 Below celebrated the centennial with a concert featuring cast members from many of the shows that have appeared on that stage. (This show took place in 2017.)

The performers include Jerry Adler (Oh What a Lovely War), Jim Brochu (Zero Hour), Carole Demas (Grease), Wayne Cilento (Dancin’), Josh Franklin (Grease), Marcy Harriell (Lennon), Sarah Charles Lewis (Tuck Everlasting), Howard McGillin (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Bonnie Milligan (Head Over Heels), Christiane Noll (Ragtime), Alice Ripley (Next To Normal), Don Scardino (Godspell), Rebecca Spigelman (Hairspray), and a Trivia Contest Video with Tony Award winner Jason Alexander (Broadway Bound).

Due to rights issues, these performances are only available at the set time and are not repeated.

The Cellist – The Royal Ballet – May 29th – June 12th

If you want to get another look at the work of choreographer Cathy Marston, you can check out the latest offering from The Royal Ballet. The Cellist is a ballet by Marston inspired by the life of cellist Jacqueline du Pré. She was at the pinnacle of her career when she passed away at the age of 28 after suffering from multiple sclerosis. (You might remember the film Hilary and Jackie with Rachel Griffiths and Emily Watson told her story.)

Lauren Cuthbertson dances the role of The Cellist. Marcelino Sambé dances The Instrument and Matthew Ball dances the role of The Conductor. The music includes Schubert’s Trout Quintet along with cello sonatas by Faure and Elgar. The cello solos are performed by Hetty Snell.

The world premiere of The Cellist was just this past February.

Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn – Broadway HD – May 29th – June 1st

The 1942 movie that introduced the world to the song White Christmas was turned into a stage musical that opened on Broadway in 2016. The movie was called Holiday Inn, but the musical includes the composer’s name: Irving Berlin.

Broadway HD is making this film of the 2016 production available for free this weekend.

The story remains pretty much the same: two men vie for the attention of a young rising star. In the film those roles were played by Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds. In the musical they are played by Bryce Pinkham, Corbin Bleu and Lora Lee Gayer.

The musical, directed by Gordon Greenberg (who co-wrote the book with Chad Hodge), includes the classic Berlin songs, “Blue Skies,” “Steppin’ Out With My Baby,” “Cheek to Cheek” and “Easter Parade.”

I guess with everything that’s going on they think we need a little Christmas. (Wait, that’s in Mame.)

Daniil Trifonov Recital – Carnegie Hall – May 29th – May 31st

In February of 2019 pianist Daniil Trifonov gave a solo piano recital at Carnegie Hall. Medicitv.com, in association with Carnegie Hall, is making that performance available for free beginning on Friday, May 29th and continuing through the weekend.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review of this concert raved, “By this point, it’s no surprise that Daniil Trifonov, one of the most awesome pianists of our time, can sell out Carnegie Hall. Still, that the hall was packed for the unusual recital program he played on Saturday was a testimony to the trust his admirers place in him. At 27, he is also an adventurer intent on exploring overlooked realms of the repertory. On Saturday it was thrilling to go along on his journey.”

The program of which he was so enamored included: Beethoven’s Andante in F Major, WoO 57 (“Andante favori”) and Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major, Op. 31, No. 3; Schumann’s Bunte Blätter and Presto passionato and Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major. The encores featured Prokofiev’s Allegro rubato and Allegro precipitato from Sarcasms, Op. 17, Nos. 2 and 3 and Chopin’s Largo from Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65 (arr. Alfred Cortot).

How are you doing so far? You’re halfway through the list of Best Bets at Home: May 29th – May 31st!

Allegiance – Broadway on Demand – May 29th – June 7th

Lea Salonga, George Takei and Telly Leung star in this musical set during World War II that tells a story of family, duty, customs and betrayal set during the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The story is based on Takei’s own experiences.

The book was written by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione. Kuo wrote the music and lyrics.

Allegiance was directed by Stafford Arima.

This is not a free streaming event. Broadway on Demand is charging $14.99 for the initial viewing on May 29th at 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT. That fee includes a download of the cast album, exclusive content and the ability to watch the show over a 24-hour period. From May 30th – June 7th, the streaming fee, minus those extras, will be $8.99.

30 minutes before the May 29th event Playbill.com will host Toast to Allegiance which will include interviews with the cast. This event is free and open to everyone.

Igor Levit: Vexations – The Gilmore – May 30th – 8 AM EDT/5 AM PDT

If you want to catch this recital you’ll have to get up early and stay up late. Pianist Igor Levit is going to live-stream a performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations. If you are unfamiliar with the work, it lasts 20 hours. There is one theme, two variations and they get repeated 840 times over the course of the 20 hours.

What propels someone to tackle so challenging a work? Levit says in press materials, “The sheer duration of over 20 hours of Vexations doesn’t feel like a ‘nuisance’ or ‘torture’ to me, as the title would suggest, but rather a retreat of silence and humility. It reflects a feeling of resistance.

“That’s why it feels right to play the Vexations right now. My world and that of my colleagues has been a different one for many weeks now and will probably remain so for a long time. Vexations represent for me a silent scream.”

John Williams: Maestro of the Movies – Pacific Symphony – May 30th – August 13th

The Pacific Symphony Orchestra had planned on having a May 30th Family Musical Morning performance. Having to cancel an in-person event, they are holding their first virtual concert and the program is a celebration of the music of composer John Williams.

During this 45-minute online concert, music from Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter and E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial will be performed by the Pacific Symphony which is being conducted by Richard Kaufman. Interspersed amongst the selections will be Ask the Composer with John Williams along with personal stories and anecdotes about playing at recording sessions with Williams.

Viewing the show requires signing up with an e-mail address, but there is no fee. The program will then be available for streaming for 45 days.

Lucrezia Borgia – San Francisco Opera – May 30th – May 31st

Victor Hugo’s play Lucrèce Borgia served as the inspiration for this opera by Gaetano Donizetti and his librettist Felice Romani.

The scandals and the intrigue in the house of Borgia have fascinated people for centuries. In Donizetti’s opera a young orphan named Gennaro (Michael Fabiano) finds himself in the company of Lucrezia Borgia (Renée Fleming). Though he and his friends were warned about her and her husband, he is enraptured by her beauty and sees in her the mother he never knew. Lucrezia’s husband believes Gennaro to be her lover and plots his murder. What happens over the course of the opera is tragedy at its most dramatic.

This San Francisco Opera production from 2011 marked the first time Lucrezia Borgia had been performed by the company. John Pascoe directed the production and the orchestra was lead by conductor Riccardo Frizza.

The [title of show] Vineyard Theatre Virtual Variety Show Show – May 30th – 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT

In 2006, the Vineyard Theatre in New York presented a unique musical entitled [title of show]. The musical was written by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen. They starred in their own musical along with Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff. Two years later [title of show] was on Broadway.

To celebrate this musical-within-a-musical that could (and the theatre that gave it life), the Vineyard Theatre is hosting a live-streaming fundraiser event. The evening, which costs a minimum of $25 (after which you are given a link to the show), is billed as “new material from the cast and creators of [title of show] and over 40 starry guest artists from theatre, film, and television sharing performances, sketches, reflections, special quarantine talents, and more.”

You have to secure your “ticket” prior to 12 PM EDT/9 AM PDT on May 30th in order to view the show. The show itself, which Christopher Isherwood of the New York Times called “a zesty, sweet, Broadway-trivia-riddled musical about the anxiety and excitement of creating a zesty, sweet, Broadway-trivia-riddled musical about the anxiety and excitement of creating a. …” has a cult following. Fans of musical theatre have loved it. So have Broadway stars as is indicated by the guests they have lined up for Saturday’s event.

A partial list includes: Laura Benanti, Victoria Clark, Billy Crudup, Christopher J. Hanke, Bill Irwin, Cheyenne Jackson, John Kander, Judy Kuhn, Linda Lavin, The Lopez Family Singers (Lindsay Anderson, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Annie Lopez, Bobby Lopez, and Katie Lopez), Bob Mackie, Audra McDonald, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Newell, Leslie Odom, Jr., Kelli O’Hara, Steven Pasquale, Zachary Quinto, Brooke Shields, Douglas Sills, Phillipa Soo and Michael Urie.

Spotlight Virtual Grand Finale – Music Center – May 30th – 10 PM EDT/7 PM PDT

Each year the Music Center in Los Angeles hosts a competition to find the best high school performers from San Diego up to Santa Barbara. They have several categories from which to choose: acting, dance, music and vocals. Usually the event is a big gala at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This year Spotlight goes online.

There are fourteen students competing in this year’s finals. This Grand Finale will be hosted by an alumnus of the Spotlight program: Tony Award-winner Lindsay Mendez (Carousel). Special guests include Matthew Rushing from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, ballet star Misty Copeland and singer Josh Groban.

Don Giovanni – Glyndebourne – May 31st – June 7th

Mozart’s masterpiece opera about Don Juan is Glyndebourne’s featured opera this week. This 2010 production was directed by Jonathan Kent.

Starring in Don Giovanni are Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni; Luca Pisaroni as Leporello; Anna Samuil as Donna Anna; Brindley Sherratt as Commendatore; William Burden as Don Ottavio; Kate Royal as Donna Elvira; Anna Virovlansky as Zerlina and Guido Loconsolo as Masetto. Vladimir Jurowski conducts the orchestra.

Kent set this production in Southern Europe in the 1970s/1980s. Critics were very divided about how successful this Don Giovanni was. Which seems to make this must-see viewing so we can decide for ourselves.

Don’t forget that this weekend’s operas from the Metropolitan Opera are Bellini’s La Sonnambula (Friday); Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore (Saturday) and R. Strauss’s Salome (Sunday).

Fridays at Five from SFJazz this week features Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés at 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT on Friday only.

Stratford Festival has two additional Shakespeare plays available this week: The Tempest and Timon of Athens.

I hope that gives you enough Best Bets at Home: May 29th – May 31st for your weekend entertainment.

Main photo: Lauren Cuthbertson and Marcelino Sambé in The Cellist (Photo by Bill Cooper/©2020 ROH)

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: May 29th – May 31st appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

A Streetcar Named Desire – National Theatre Live – Now – May 28th

This week’s offering from National Theatre Live is the 2014 production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson as Blanche, Ben Foster as Stanley and Vanessa Kirby as Stella. Benedict Andrews directed this Young Vic production.

Williams won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this play about two sisters (Blanche and Stella) who find themselves sharing a small apartment in New Orleans with Stella’s volatile husband, Stanley. He doesn’t trust his wife’s sister and thinks there’s much more going on with her than she admits. Tensions rise as he becomes more distrustful and Blanche’s drinking, which she tries to conceal from them, becomes more and more problematic.

Andrews took a non-traditional approach to this production which was modern in look and feel and involved a set that was constantly in motion. Anderson earned rave reviews for her performance. Susannah Clapp, writing for The Guardian said of her performance:

“Gillian Anderson captures both Blanche’s airy pretensions to grandeur and her desolate loneliness. Her Blanche is a deeply sensuous, tactile woman whose natural instinct is to stroke Stanley’s hairy forearms or to provocatively disrobe in front of a flimsy curtain. But Anderson also conveys Blanche’s emotional solitude: she is especially fine in the scene with her nervous beau, Mitch, where you sense two helpless people desperately reaching out to each other.”

Anastasia – The Royal Ballet – Now – May 28th

The classic story of the young girl who may be Anastasia, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and the only person to survive the assassination of the Romanovs in 1918, was first turned into a one-act ballet by Kenneth MacMillan in 1967. Four years later he completed the full-length ballet set to music by Tchaikovsky and Bohuslav Martinu.

As part of their programming available for home viewing, The Royal Ballet has made this 2016 production of this ballet available for free streaming. Natalia Osipova dances the role of Anastasia. Christopher Saunders dances the role Tsar Nicholas II. Christina Arestis dances the role of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorova and Thiago Soares dances the role of Rasputin.

PBS Shows – Now – May 26th

Social media has been filled with posts about PBS making 20 Broadway musicals and/or concerts available for viewing through May 26th. A careful examination found that not all productions are available in all areas.

The following titles may be available regardless of where you live in the United States:

Annaleigh Ashford in Concert; Megan Hilty in Concert; Celebrating Sondheim; Leslie Odom, Jr. in Concert; A Broadway Celebration at the White House; Macbeth with Patrick Stewart; Alfred Molina in Red; Doubt from the Minnesota Opera and Cynthia Erivo in Concert.

Residents in these counties: NY: Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester; NJ: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren; CT: Fairfield; PA: Pike have access to the following titles:

Buried Child with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan; Richard Thomas in Incident at Vichy; Bill Irwin and David Shiner in Old Hats; School Girls or, The African Mean Girls Play; Jay Sanders in Uncle Vanya and Kelli O’Hara in a New York Philharmonic concert of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel.

Sutton Foster in Concert seems to be an expired link.

Timon of Athens – Stratford Festival – Now – June 11th

In this Shakespeare play, the title character starts off rather care-free. He’s generous to a fault which prompts his friends to take full advantage of that generosity. When suddenly he finds himself bankrupt, he also finds himself without those same friends. Disillusioned and bitterly disappointed, he leaves Athens and becomes a hermit.

Joseph Ziegler plays Timon in this 2017 production directed by Stephen Ouimette. Ben Carlson plays the philosopher Apemantus; Tim Campbell plays Timon’s friend Alcibiades and Michael Spencer-Davis plays Timon’s steward, Flavius.

This is part of Stratford Festival’s At Home series where each week a new production becomes available for streaming for three weeks. Still available are productions of Macbeth and The Tempest.

Anne-Sophie Mutter: Mutter Virtuosi – May 22nd – May 24th

This 2014 Carnegie Hall concert by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter found her leading the Mutter Virtuosi Ensemble and playing violin. The ensemble is comprised of young students and professional string players who are alumni of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. 

The program for this concert included: Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, Strings, and Continuo in D Minor, BWV 1043; the US premiere of André Previn’s Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (with two Harpsichord interludes); Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and the Presto from Concerto in G Minor for Violin and Orchestra, RV 315 (L’estate) and Bach’s Air on the G String.

The program is available of Medici.tv and does not require membership. It is free.

Are you ready for more Best Bets at Home: May 22nd – May 25th?

Cendrillon – The Royal Opera – May 22nd – June 4th

Of Jules Massenet’s best-known operas, his version of the Cinderella story isn’t top of the list. The opera had its world premiere in 1899 in Paris and features a libretto by Henry Caïn.

This 2011 Royal Opera production stars Joyce DiDonato as Cendrillon, Alice Coote as Prince Charming, Ewa Podlés as the Stepmother and Eglise Gutierrez as the Fairy Godmother.

Laurent Pelly directed this production. The orchestra is lead by Bertrand de Billy.

Moby Dick – San Francisco Opera – May 23rd

The next in the streaming productions from San Francisco Opera is Jake Heggie’s opera based on the Herman Melville novel no one wanted to read in high school. The libretto is by Gene Scheer. For those who might be worried, they have condensed this whale of a book into an opera that runs just shy of two-and-a-half hours.

Heggie, who is perhaps best known for his opera Dead Man Walking, was commissioned by the Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, Calgary Opera, San Diego Opera, and the State Opera of South Australia to write Moby Dick. The opera had its world premiere in Dallas in 2010. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive.

Jay Hunter Morris sings the role of the single-mindedly determined Captain Ahab. First mate Starbuck is sung by Morgan Smith and Queequeg is sung by Jonathan Lemalu. Interestingly, Ishmael, the narrator of the book, is not part of the opera.

Leonard Foglia directed this 2012 production (which was a San Francisco Opera premiere) and the orchestra is conducted by Patrick Summers.

This SF Opera production is available for viewing beginning at 1 PM EDT/10 AM PDT on Saturday, May 23rd through 2:59 AM EDT on May 25th/11:59 PM PDT May 24th.

Our Lady of 121st Street – LAByrinth Theatre Company – May 23rd

In the movie The Big Chill the characters talk about how there’s always great post-funeral bash. When friends of the family of Sister Rose show up at the funeral home in Our Lady of 121st Street, they can’t have that bash…until they find out who stole her body.

Don’t get carried away thinking this will be a riotous broad comedy. It comes from the mind of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis. This dark comedy reveals what happens when life’s circumstances bring old friends back together who haven’t fully sorted out lingering issues nor overcome old wounds.

LAByrinth Theatre Company, who first premiered the play, will do a virtual reading with many of the members of the original off-Broadway cast on Saturday, May 23rd at 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT. The reading will be available for viewing for 24 hours.

The reading will be directed by Elizabeth Rodriguez and feature eight members of the original Off-Broadway cast: Elizabeth Canavan, Liza Colón-Zayas, Scott Hudson, Russell G. Jones, Portia, Al Roffe, Felix Solis, and David Zayas. Joining them are Bobby Cannavale, John Doman, Laurence Fishburne, and Dierdre Friel. David Deblinger will read stage directions.

The Marriage of Figaro – Glyndebourne – May 24th – May 31st

Michael Grandage directed this 2012 production of the Mozart/DePonte opera at Glyndebourne in Sussex County, England. He updates the setting to the 20th century during the waning days of Franco’s regime in Spain.

The Marriage of Figaro is a comic opera in which Figaro and Susanna plan to get married. In order to do so, they must navigate the wandering hands and eyes of her employer, Count Almaviva.

The opera continues the story that was started in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

Figaro is sung by Vito Priante. Lydia Teuscher is Susanna and Isabel Leonard sings the role of Cherubino. The countess is sung by Sally Matthews and her husband, Count Almaviva, is sung by Auden Iverson. Robin Ticcati conducts the orchestra.

Grandage, best known for his work on stage (he’s a Tony Award-winner for directing the play Red by John Logan), made his debut as a director of operas with Billy Budd at Glyndebourne.

Lyrics and Lyricists – Jerry Herman: You I Like – May 24th – May 31st

The 92nd Street Y in New York is celebrating the 54th anniversary of the opening of Jerry Herman’s musical Mame at the Winter Garden with this concert from the Lyrics and Lyricists series celebrating the composer.

In addition to Mame, Herman’s musicals include Milk and Honey, Hello Dolly!, Ben Franklin in Paris, Dear World, Mack and Mabel, The Grand Tour and La Cage Aux Folles. Herman, who died in 2019, was the recipient of three Tony Awards and a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Participating in this concert (which took place earlier this year) are Tony Award-winner Cady Huffman, who made her Broadway debut in the original production of La Cage Aux Folles; Quentin Earl Darrington (who starred as Coalhouse Walker in the 2009 revival of Ragtime); Bryonha Marie Parham (Prince of Broadway); Andrea Ross (The Sound of Music) and Ryan Vona (Beautiful).

This concert was conceived and music directed by Andy Einhorn (Hello, Dolly! revival) and was directed by Huffman.

Jerry Herman: You I Like becomes available on May 24th at 7 PM EDT/4 PM PDT and will remain available through May 31st at 11:59 PM EDT/8:59 PM PDT.

Don’t forget you can also check out SFJazz’s Wayne Shorter Celebration Part 1 on May 22nd. The Metropolitan Opera offerings this weekend are Don Giovanni, Faust and Manon.

That’s it for this weekend’s Best Bets At Home: May 22nd – May 25th

Enjoy your long weekend!

Update: This post has been updated to correct the composer of The Barber of Seville as Rossini, not Mozart. Cultural Attaché regrets the error.

Main Photo: Gillian Anderson in A Streetcar Named Desire (Photo by Johan Persson/Courtesy of NT Live)

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: May 22nd – May 25th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.