On tap (no pun intended) is a wonderful tap performance from New York’s Joyce Theater by Ayodele Casel; a musical where popular princesses from animated films imagine a different definition of “Happily Ever After;” the return of Tony Award-winner Lena Hall with some new “Obsessions;” a live performance from The Royal Opera House of work by Brecht and Weill; a concert performance of one of Verdi’s least-performed operas and the first of a two-part live performance of a play adapted from Milton’s Paradise Lost.

My top pick this weekend comes from San Francisco Opera. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher inspired an unfinished opera by Claude Debussy and a newer work by Gordon Getty. Both operas are being streamed this weekend and their rarity easily makes this the most interesting option for the weekend.

I’ll begin with my top pick for the week and the balance of my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th are listed in the order in which they are available.

Here are my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th:

*TOP PICK* OPERA: House of Usher – San Francisco Opera – April 10th – April 11th

Conducted by Lawrence Foster; starring Brian Mullian, Jason Bridges, Antony Reed, Jamielyn Duggan, Jacqueline Piccolino, Edward Nelson and Joel Sorensen. This David Poutney production is from the 2014-2015 season.

You know Cultural Attaché covers operas on a very regular basis. So it’s exciting to let you know about two one-act operas that are rarely performed and have not, to my knowledge, been streamed before this offering from San Francisco Opera.

Composers Claude Debussy and Gordon Getty each wrote operas inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe tells the story of Roderick Usher through the eyes of his friend and reveals what may or may not have happened to Usher’s sister Madeline.

Debussy’s work, La chute de la maison Usher, is an unfinished opera that he worked on from 1908-1917. The opera was completed and orchestrated, based on the composer’s draft, by Robert Orledge in 2004. The premiere of the completed opera was in 2014 paired with Getty’s version at the Welsh National Opera. It is this production that came to San Francisco Opera with different casting.

Philip Glass also composed a work inspired by The Fall of the House of Usher. A film, directed by James Darrah, is available for streaming from Boston Lyric Opera for $10. These two one-act operas, our top pick for the weekend, are available for free but only through Sunday, April 11th.

BALLET: Concerto – Royal Ballet – Now – April 25th

This work by legendary choreographer Kenneth MacMillan was one of two pieces that premiered at the first performance after he was named Director of Berlin’s Deutsche Opera Ballet in 1966. For Concerto he used Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concert No. 2 in F as his inspiration.

This new post came after his wildly successful years at Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet where he created nine new ballets.

This Royal Ballet performance is from 2019 and features soloists James Hay, Mayara Magri and Anna Rose O’Sullivan. They are joined by principals Ryoichi Hirano and Yasmine Naghdi.

Sarah Crompton, writing in The Guardian, said of this production: “…a plotless piece of sharp geometric angles and airy leaps, danced to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2. Set by Jürgen Rose against a perfect pale lemon backdrop, with the dancers in orange, russet and yellow, it has a breezy sophistication, with a delicate cross work of steps for soloists and a large corps de ballet. It seems simple but is devilishly complicated.”

The performance is available now for streaming. The price is £3 which equals $3.47.

PLAY READING: Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous – Broadway’s Best Shows – Now – April 12th

Sisters Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad star in the reading of Pearl Cleage’s 2019 play Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous which is being read as part of the Spotlight on Plays series from Broadway’s Best Shows.

After their production of scenes from August Wilson’s Fences ignited a major controversy actress Anna Campbell and director Betty Samson fled to Amsterdam for what they thought would be short-term assignment. 25 years later they are invited back to the United States where their version, nicknamed Naked Wilson, is going to open a women’s theater festival. But the festival wants to work with a much younger actress than Campbell. You don’t think that’s going to go over well, do you?

Also participating in the reading are Heather Alicia Simms and Alicia Stith. Camille A. Brown directs.

Tickets are $15 with proceeds going to the Actors Fund. The show will remain available through Monday, April 12th.

DANCE: Chasing Magic – The Joyce Theater Foundation – Now – April 21st

Fans of tap dance will definitely want to check out Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel streaming now from The Joyce Theater in New York. I saw the film and it’s simply amazing.

For this world premiere, Casel has collaborated with director Torya Beard, dancer/choreographer Ronald K. Brown, singer/songwriter Crystal Monee Hall, composer/musician Arturo O’Farrill, percussionist Sent Stoney and composer Annastasia Victory.

Viewers can expect both traditional tap and also a contemporary style of tap – both of which will put a smile on your face, just as it does the dancers performing.

Tickets are $25/household.

BALLET: Carmen – State Street Ballet – Now – April 14th

Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen serves as the inspiration for this work by William Soleau (Co-Artistic Director of State Street Ballet). The work had its premiere in 2014 and this is a film from a performance at The Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara from that year.

For those unfamiliar with the opera, here is the synopsis:

Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.

Leila Drake dances the title role. Ryan Camou dances the role of Don José. Randy Herrera dances the role of the Toreador Escamillo and Cecily Stewart MacDougall dances the role of Micaëla.

There is no charge to watch the performance which will remain available through midnight on April 14th.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Simone Porter and Hsin-I Huang – Soka Performing Arts Center – Now – June 30th

As part of their Signature Encore Series, the Soka Performing Arts Center is making this 2019 concert by violinist Simone Porter and pianist Hsin-I Huang available through June 30th.

Their performance features works by Mozart (Sonata No. 24 in F Major, K. 376); Leoš Janáček (Violin Sonata, JW VII/7); Esa-Pekka Salonen (Lachen Verlent); Ernest Bloch (“Ningun” from Baal Shem); Maurice Ravel (Tzigane) and Sergei Prokofiev (3 pieces from Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64).

This concert is free to watch on both the Soka website and also their YouTube channel.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: The Heart of the Matter – St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – Now – May 8th

Three of the four pieces being performed in this concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are very well known to classical music fans.

Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile and Giacomo Puccini’s I crisantemi (The Chrysanthemums). The last work was written originally for string quartet, but is rarely heard in that version.

Less known is the first piece on the program: Within Her Arms by composer Anna Clyne.

This work has been compared to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings for the depth of its emotion. It’s a composition that inspired violinist Jennifer Koh to tell the New York Times, “Sometimes things reach you and it’s colorful or intricate or structured in an interesting way or the orchestration is wonderful. But the extraordinary thing about Anna’s music is that it is incredibly moving. And I hadn’t had that reaction for a long time.”

Stéphane Denève leads the SLSO in this performance. Tickets are $15.

MUSICAL: Disenchanted – Stream.Theatre – April 9th – April 11th

Cinderella, The Little mermaid, Pocahontas, The Princess Who Kissed the Frog and Snow White are just some of the princesses who are changing the definition of happily ever after in this musical with book, lyrics and music by Dennis T. Giacino.

Disnenchanted opened off-Broadway in 2014 and was the recipient of numerous nominations including Best New Musical. The production that is streaming this weekend is from England.

The cast or women playing the princesses are Courtney Bowman, Natalie Chua, Allie Daniel, Shanay Holmes, Sophie Isaacs, Aisha Jawando, Grace Mouat, Millie O’Connell, Jenny O’Leary, and Jodie Steele. Tom Jackson Greaves directs.

There are only three performances. The show will be streamed at 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are £18 (including service charges) which equals almost $25.

OPERA/DANCE: The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel – Royal Opera House – April 9th – 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT

The Royal Opera House offers its first live broadcast of the year with this double bill of works by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

The Seven Deadly Sins is called a ballet chanté. That means it is a sung ballet. The work had its world premiere in Paris in 1933. As you might imagine from the title, each of the seven deadly sins (envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth and wrath) is explored through the story of two sisters: Anna I and Anna II. The first Anna (Stephanie Wake-Edwards) is a singer and the second a dancer (Jonadette Carpio).

Also in the company are Tenors Filipe Manu and Egor Zhuravskii; baritone Dominic Sedgwick, and bass Blaise Malaba who are joined by dancer Thomasin Gülgeç.    

This is satire at its best and it was also the last significant collaboration between Brecht and Weill.

Mahagonny Sonspiel premiered in 1927 in Baden-Baden, Germany. A perfect companion piece to The Seven Deadly Sins, Brecht and Weill were offering their opinion on the pursuit of pleasure. Amongst the songs in this work is The Alabama Song which many will know from the version recorded by Jim Morrison and The Doors.

For this performance, mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nkolaieva will sing the role of Bessie.

Choreographer Julia Cheng has kept the streaming experience in mind while creating this production.

Tickets are $11.53. The performance will be available for streaming through May 9th.

COCKTAILS AND CONVERSATION: Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network on YouTube – April 9th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

I adore Julia Halston and her Friday soirees have been a staple of my winding down and getting ready for the weekend. So I’m sad that this weekend, her 40th episode, will be her last for the time being.

However, I’m thrilled that she’s going on a hiatus to work on a new theater project.

For this episode Halston will welcome producers Ruby Locknar and Jim Caruso for a look back on those 40 episodes that have featured everyone from Charles Busch to Jane Monheit to Michael Urie and so many more.

The show is free to watch but donations to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation are encouraged.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Lena Hall: Obsessed – April 9th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

When Tony Award winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) launched her Obsessed series of EPs in 2018, she offered her versions of both well-known songs and deep-tracks of such artists as Beck, David Bowie, Nirvana, Pink, Radiohead, Jack White and more.

Given her voice, it was probably a surprise she didn’t also record the music of Heart – the duo best known for songs like Baracuda, Crazy on You and Magic Man.

But she’s going to be singing their songs in a live concert on Friday night. This video, from a Broadway Sessions performance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre gives you a taste of what she can do with this music (it does contain some profanity):

Does this foreshadow a second Obsessed series? This is a one-time only concert. There will be no streaming if you can’t see it as it happens. And you should. Lena Hall rocks!

Tickets are $20 and $50. The higher-priced VIP tickets allows for interaction with Hall during the concert.

JAZZ: Claudia Villela: The Music of Jobim – SFJAZZ – April 9th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

There are certain artists who can use just one name and you know immediately who it is. Brazilian composer Jobim is one of them. (For the record his full name is Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim).

Amongst his best-known songs are Corcovado, Desafinado and The Girl from Ipanema.

Singer Claudia Villela will pay tribute to Jobim in this concert from 2019. She is joined by special guest guitarist Chico Pinheiro. Her band includes Celso Alberti on drums and percussion; Gary Brown on bass; Gary Meek on saxophone and flute and Jasnam Daya Singh on piano and keys.

There will be an encore presentation Saturday, April 10th at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT.

This concert is available to digital members of SFJAZZ. Membership is $5 for one month of programs or $60 for one year.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Beethoven Serioso – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Debuts April 9th – 9:30 PM EDT/6:30 PM PDT

As they did with their most recent episode of Close Quarters, the camera moves in and amongst the musicians in this performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 nicknamed Serioso. The orchestration is by Gustav Mahler. Margaret Batjer leads LACO in this performance.

Given the significance the camera plays in this film, I want to give attention to cinematographer Michael Thomas whose deft work breathes new life into ensemble performance. Visual artist Ken Honjo also contributed to this episode.

If you haven’t checked out this terrific series, all previous videos are available for streaming. There’s no charge to watch Beethoven Serioso or any of the other videos.

DANCE: Awakening – Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company – April 10th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

For over 30 years, New Jersey’s Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has been at the forefront of creating works that express through contemporary dance that long history of the Chinese American cultural tradition.

This program will find the company offering two world premieres (Luminescence and Shadow Force) along with two works from 2019 (Truth Bound and Introspection). The works are united in their exploration of ideas we have all probably faced during the pandemic: identity, information, optimism, outside forces that complicate our lives, truth and more.

Tickets are $10 to watch the performance. If you are a member of the South Orange Performing Arts Center, you can watch for free.

THEATER: From Number to Name – East West Players – April 10th – April 11th

Wednesday afternoon I published an interview with the provocative performance artist Kristina Wong who is helming From Number to Name.

Through a series of interviews and over the course of six-and-a-half weeks, Wong and her collaborators have put together this dramatic show that explores the impact of incarceration on the Asian/Pacific Islander community in America. It is a story filled with shame, regret and finds those who are released from prison rarely having a familial support system to reintegrate into society.

There are two performances of From Number to Name. The first is on Saturday at 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT. The second is on Sunday at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT.

Tickets begin at $5 and go up in price based on your ability to include a donation to East West Players.

CHORAL: Amore della Vita, Love of Life – The Verdi Chorus – April 11th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

For those clamoring for all things Italian, this weekend’s virtual concert by The Fox Singers from the Verdi Chorus will delight. They will be performing a program of Italian art songs.

Amongst the composers are Ruggero Leoncavallo (best known for his one-act opera Pagliacci), Pietro Mascagni (best known for Cavalleria rusticana), Gioachino Rossini (best known for the theme song to The Lone Ranger*) and Paolo Tosti (best known for his over 50 art songs).

Featured performers in this concert are sopranos Tiffany Ho, Megan Lindsey McDonald and Sarah Salazar; mezzo-soprano Ariana Stultz; and tenors Elias Berezin and Joseph Gárate. Anne Marie Ketchum leads the ensemble with Laraine Ann Madden accompanying.

If this concert (and perhaps Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy) makes you hungry, The Verdi Chorus is publishing The Verdi Chorus Pandemic Cookbook. How many of the recipes are Italian, I couldn’t tell you. But if they can cook like they sing…. The book is available for pre-order here.

CABARET: Ali Stroker – Seth Concert Series – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Ali Stroker won a Tony Award for her performance as Ado Annie in the 2019 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! She became the first performer in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. (She was paralyzed in an automobile accident when she was two years old.)

This wasn’t her first Broadway performance. She appeared in the 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. This was the Deaf West Theatre production that was first performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

She is Seth Rudetsky‘s guest for this weekend’s concert and conversation.

I saw Stroker in both shows and she is simply amazing. This will be well worth watching.

In addition to the live concert on Sunday afternoon there will be an encore showing Sunday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT. Tickets for either showing are $25.

OPERA: Atilla Highlights in Concert – Lyric Opera of Chicago – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Giuseppe Verdi’s Atilla had its world premiere in Venice in 1846. The opera tells the story of Atilla the Hun (how many other Atillas do you know?) and his ill-fated relationship with Odabella, a prisoner whose father died at the hands of Atilla. Foresto and Ezio, having their own reasons for wanting revenge on Atilla, defer to Odabella who will stop at nothing to see Atilla die.

Atilla is not amongst Verdi’s most popular nor the most commonly-performed. In fact, the Metropolitan Opera only staged Atilla for the first time in 2010. The Lyric Opera of Chicago staged their first production ten years earlier.

On Sunday they will premiere a concert of excerpts from Atilla that will feature bass-baritone Christian Van Horn singing the role of Attila, soprano Tamara Wilson singing Odabella, tenor Matthew Polenzani singing Foresto, and baritone Quinn Kelsey singing Ezio. Pianist William C. Billingham and Jerad Mosbey accompany the singers.

Enrique Mazzola leads the concert which will be available on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: A Tour of Iran – New West Symphony – April 11th – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Michael Christie leads the New West Symphony in a performance of work exploring the influence of Iranian poetry and music on the West. Joining the performance are mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and two Iranian instrumentalists: Pejman Hadadi (tombak and dad) and Masoud Rezaei (setar).

The program features a mix of classical works by Mozart (The Magic Flute Overture), Rameau (Suite from Zoroastre), Handel (“Ombra mai fu” from Xerxes) and Gounod(selections from Faust) with works by Iranian composers Khayam (Seven Valleys of Love for Strings), Ranjbaran (Enchanted Garden: Joy) and excerpts from Rezaei’s album Nothingness.

Tickets to stream the concert are $25 per household and will include a post-performance reception with Christie and the guest artists.

CLASSICAL MUSIC/CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Jennifer Koh Solo Recital – Shriver Hall Concert Series – April 11th – 5:30 PM EDT/2:30 PM PDT

Violinist Jennifer Koh appears in this very intriguing concert which finds her playing two compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and peppering the concert with twelve new compositions that she commissioned in 2020 for her Alone Together project.

Bach’s Partita No. 3 and the Sonata No. 3 are sharing space with works by Kati Agócs, Katherine Beach, Hanna Benn, Patrick Castillo, Vijay Iyer, Angelica Negrón, Andrew Norman, Ellen Reid, Darian Donovan Thomas with electronics by Layale Chaker, Ian Chang, George Lewis and Cassie Wieland.

Tickets are $15. The recital will remain available through April 18th.

PLAY: Smokefall – Goodman Theatre – April 12th – April 25th

Critics found themselves searching for superlatives when Noah Haidle’s Smokefall opened in 2013. From the writing to the performances and the production, the acclaim was universal.

In Haidle’s play, Violet is pregnant with twins and anticipating a major shift in her life. What she doesn’t know is that her husband is getting ready to leave her.

Adding to her worries is that her daughter has chosen not to speak and her father is suffering from senility. Just what an expectant mother wants in her life as she’s about to give birth to twins.

Starring in Smokefall are Catherine Combs, Anne Fogarty, Katherine Keberlein, Guy Massey, Mike Nussbaum, Eric Slater. (In case you are wondering, two of the actors play Fetus One and Fetus Two). Directing is Anne Kaufmann.

There’s no charge to stream Smokefall, but you do need to reserve your streaming opportunity.

PLAY READING: Paradise Lost – Red Bull Theater – April 12th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

John Milton’s Paradise Lost, an epic poem about temptation and the fall of man seen through the eyes of Adam & Eve and Satan, was probably something you read in college.

It has proven to be catnip for playwrights who want to find a way of putting this extraordinary work on stage.

Enter Michael Barakiva who offered up a 13-hour adaptation in 2013 with Upstart Creatures.

New York’s Red Bull Theater is offering a live reading of the play with the first part on Monday. (I’m betting that the play has been edited since its first presentation eight years ago). The second part will be performed live on Monday, April 26th.

Starring as Satan is Jason Butler Harner. Said Arrika Ekulona is God. The cast includes Stephen Bel Davies, Sheldon Best, Gisela Chípe, Robert Cuccioli, Carol Halstead, Gregory Linington, Daniel José Molina, Sam Morales, Howard Overshown and Cherie Corinne Rice. Barakiva directs.

Tickets are pay what you can. After the initial live performance, the livestream will remain available until 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST the Friday immediately following the live performance.

CABARET AND CONVERSATION: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – April 12th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Joining Jim Caruso for this Monday’s Pajama Cast Party are up-and-coming musical theater performer D’Marreon Alexander, Jackie Burns (Wicked), singer Jacob Daniel Cummings and country singers Chase McDaniel and Emily West.

The show is free to watch and if you can’t make it Monday night, the show (and Virtual Halston for that matter) will remain available for streaming on the Cast Party Network on YouTube.

That’s my official list of Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. But you know I always have a few reminders:

The Metropolitan Opera continues its From Page to Stage series with their 2013-2014 season production of Shostakovich’s The Nose on Friday; their 2007-2008 season production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette on Saturday and their 2017-2018 season production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller on Sunday.

Monday the Metropolitan Opera begins a series of operas based on fairy tales called Once Upon a Time. They start with the 2017-2018 of Massenet’s Cendrillon. I’ll have the full line-up for you on Monday.

This is your last weekend to watch Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike free on Broadway on Demand. The Lincoln Center Theater production stars Billy Magnussen, Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver. If you need a good laugh this weekend, this play will offer you many of them. (Use code VANYAFREE on the BOD website)

Also be sure to check with previous Best Bets to find other options that might still be available. As you can see from this week’s list, there are always shows you can watch well after this weekend is over.

That’s officially a wrap on this week’s Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. Enjoy your weekend!

Photo: An image from House of Usher (Photo by Cory Weaver/Courtesy San Francisco Opera)

*You don’t think I’m serious do you?

The post Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Topping our list is a special celebration of Liza Minnelli’s 75th birthday. The stars are coming out in droves to celebrate the woman who forever put her mark on Sally Bowles, who famously served as Gwen Verdon’s understudy (look that one up!), captured Arthur’s heart and made us all try singing New York, New York just like she does.

We have an unbelievable 21 different shows for you this week. No one will be left out. Whether you like opera, dance, classical music, Broadway musicals, plays or jazz, there’s something great for you to watch this weekend.

But you’ll have to be careful with your time. You lose an hour this weekend. Sunday marks the return of Daylight Savings Time. So don’t forget to move your clocks one hour forward on Sunday. You don’t want to miss the start of these shows!

Here are your Best Bets: March 12th – March 15th starting with our Top Pick. The rest are in order of availability.

*TOP PICK*: A Love Letter to Liza Minnelli: 75th All-Star Birthday Tribute Celebration – March 12th – March 14th

You know it’s either a monumental birthday or you’re quite beloved if Lea DeLaria, Michael Feinstein, Joel Grey, Ute Lemper, Melissa Manchester, Seth Sikes, Billy Stritch, Haley Swindal, Lily Tomlin, Ben Vereen and more are performing to celebrate you.

It’s actually both for Oscar, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress/singer Liza Minnelli.

The star of Bob Fosse’s Cabaret and the Broadway musicals Flora, the Red Menace, Chicago, The Act and The Rink turns 75 on Friday. And her friends are celebrating the best way they can during a pandemic – with an on-line event.

Offering their own memories of working and being friends with Liza are Jason Alexander, Sandra Bernhard, Charles Busch, Mario Cantone, Jim Caruso, Joan Collins, Craig Ferguson, Kathie Lee Gifford, Kathy Griffin, Jonathan Groff, Tony Hale, Julie Halston, John Kander, Nicholas King, Hoda Kotb, Nathan Lane, Michele Lee, Lorna Luft, Andrea Martin, John Cameron Mitchell, Kathy Najimy, Coco Peru, Parker Posey, Andrew Rannells, Chita Rivera and Michael York.

The show will stream only three times and only at these exact times: Friday, March 12th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST; Saturday, March 13th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST and Sunday, March 14th at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT. Tickets are $30 with 20% of all proceeds going to The Actors Fund.

PLAY: Three Days of Rain – Manhattan Theatre Club – Now – March 21st

In 2006 Richard Greenberg’s play Three Days of Rain was performed on Broadway by Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd. But that was not its first appearance in New York. In 1997, Manhattan Theatre Club offered the first production with Patricia Clarkson, John Slattery and Bradley Whitford.

That cast, along with original director Evan Yionoulis, have reunited for an online reading of Three Days of Rain that began on Thursday and will continue being available through Sunday, March 21st.

Three Days of Rain tells the story of a brother and sister who return to settle their father’s affairs after his passing. They are joined by their best friend, Pip. Upon discovering a diary they learn more about their parents than they ever expected to. What they learn helps them understand more about their own lives.

There’s no charge to watch the reading, but you do need to register at Manhattan Theatre Club’s website.

DANCE: After It Happened – Invertigo Dance Theatre – Now available

Laura Karlin choreographed this work for nine dancers that was performed at The Ford Theatre in 2016. Two musicians perform the score by composers Toby Karlin, Diana Lynn and Hyosun Choi.

The “it” that happened is a natural disaster in this work created in 2014. What the dancers discover, performing as the community dealing with the aftermath if the event, is that they must forge together to overcome the tragedy that has befallen them.

There’s no charge to watch After It Happened. You will find it on The Ford’s website and also on their YouTube channel and Facebook page. It will remain available for viewing for one year.

PLAY/DISCUSSION: Another Day’s Begun: Exploring Our Town – Pasadena Playhouse – Now available

Thorton Wilder’s Our Town is one of the most often-produced plays. Wilder won the Pulitzer Prize for this deceptively simple play in which the lives of the citizens of Grover’s Corners are shared and depicted. Along the way there are guest lecturers and even questions from the audience. Leading the whole show is the role of the Stage Manager. This is a spare show and a powerfully moving one.

Jane Kaczmarek will perform scenes from Our Town and lead a discussion with author Howard Sherman. His book gives this program its name. Also participating in performance are Youssef Kerkour, Keith Randolph Smith and Alexandria Wailes.

For trivia buffs, Frank Craven originated the role of the Stage Manager when the play debuted on Broadway in 1938. Marc Connelly played the part in a 1944 revival (that also featured Montgomery Clift as George Gibbs). In 1969 Henry Fonda headlined a production as the Stage Manager. Spalding Gray took on the part in a 1988 revival. Paul Newman played the part in a 2002 revival.

There’s no charge to watch this show.

RADIO PLAY: Moby Dick … in the Dark – Theatre in the Dark – Now – April 10th

If like many of us you’ve found it a big of a slog to get through Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and the thought of listening to a full book on tape is also daunting, but you still want to know what all the fuss is about, Chicago’s Theatre in the Dark is presenting a radio play version that’s much shorter.

If you don’t know the story it is, at least on the surface, about one man’s relentless effort to capture the white whale that gives this story its title. He will stop at nothing with little concern of what it costs.

Corey Bradberry, who also directs, adapted Melville’s story. This will be a true radio play. There are no visuals. An original score by Nick Montopoli will be married with recorded sound, live foley effects and the performances of the cast.

Elizabeth McCoy plays Ishmael (and some other characters). Mack Gordon plays Starbuck, Stubb and other characters. Robinson J. Cyprian plays Captain Ahab and others.

All tickets are Pay-what-you-can. There is a $20-$30 suggested donation. Performances are available Thursday-Sunday until the last week where the performance schedule is Wednesday-Saturday. Tickets can be purchased here.

BALLET: Elite Syncopations – Royal Ballet – March 12th – April 11th

In October of 2020, when things were looking up for England during the pandemic, The Royal Ballet held a special performance called Back on Stage. While they were only briefly back on stage, one highlight from that evening will be available for streaming beginning this weekend.

Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations is set to the music of Scott Joplin (best known for the use of his music in the film The Sting). MacMillan debuted the 35-minute work in 1974. Even critics who weren’t as fond of it as others said it was impossible to watch this work and not have a smile on your face.

Tickets to stream Elite Syncopations are £3 which equates to approximately $3.60.

FAMILY FARE: The Musician: A Horror Opera for Children – The Belfast Ensemble – March 12th – March 14th

If I were a parent I might be scratching my head at a title that claims to be “A Horror Opera for Children.” The story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the inspiration for this world premiere work by Conor Mitchell. He is the composer, librettist and stage director of The Musician.

This is a film of a live performance for the Belfast Children’s Festival. It features a 16-piece orchestra and a four-person cast (Matthew Cavan, Paul Carey Jones, Rebecca Murphy and Sarah Richmond).

This work is recommended for kids ages 6 and above. Tickets are £5 which equates to approximately $6.00 (without service charges) and can be purchased here.

JAZZ: Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington & Esperanza Spalding – SFJAZZ – March 12th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Three mightily talented women take to the stage for this 2018 concert from SFJAZZ. Pianist Geri Allen, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and bassist Esperanza Spalding perform the music of Wayne Shorter, Bob Dorough and an Allen original in this Fridays at Five concert.

SFJAZZ has added a rebroadcast of these shows to their schedule. So if you can’t see the concert on Friday, you’ll have a second chance to see it on Saturday, March 13th at 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST.

A gentle reminder that you need to sign up for either a one-month digital membership ($5) or an annual membership ($60) to view these weekly concerts.

JAZZ: Jane Monheit Come What May Album Release Concert – Feinstein’s at Vitello’s – March 12th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Vocalist Jane Monheit has released her 12th album, Come What May, and she will be celebrating with a live concert streaming from Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Los Angeles.

On the album she performs the standards Let’s Face the Music and Dance, The Nearness of You and my personal favorite song, Lush Life.

For those who want even more of Monheit, there’s an Encore After Show where she will join Brad Roen for a post-performance conversation.

Tickets for the concert are $36.75. Tickets for Encore After Show are $26.75. (Prices include service charges).

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Debuts March 12th – 9:30 PM EST/6:30 PM PST

On paper this appears to be the most ambitious of LACO’s Close Quarters series. Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale is over an hour in length. Based on a Russian folk tale, the work tells the story of a a soldier who makes a deal with the devil. The devil offers him wealth in exchange for the soldier’s fiddle. As written The Soldier’s Tale calls for seven musicians, three actors and one or more dancers.

For this film LACO is collaborating with Robey Theatre Company. Ben Guillory will serve as the narrator. Julio Hanson plays the soldier. William Warren plays the devil.

Because this is part of James Darrah‘s exploration of new ways to present classical music, LACO has added another collaborator to this film: artist Huimeng Wang. I’m excited to see her contribution which is described on the website as: “Wang’s work features a grand piano being dramatically and violently destroyed by gunfire before being reborn with stunning deep red velvet flocking.”

For those who want to dive deeper into this work, there is a pre-broadcast talk with the three actors and LACO principal trumpeter David Washburn. The live conversation will happen at 8:30 PM EST/5:30 PM PST on March 12th in advance of the premiere. You must register to see the live conversation as it will be available on Zoom. If you’re unable to catch it live, it will be available for viewing afterwards.

There’s no charge for any of this programming. Donations to LACO are encouraged.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Sutton Foster in Concert – Live From Lincoln Center on PBS – March 12th – Check local listings

BROADWAY VOCALS: Stephanie J. Block in Concert – Live from Lincoln Center on PBS – March 12th – Check local listings

Two Tony Award stars appear in their own Live from Lincoln Center concerts this weekend.

Sutton Foster, who will be starring opposite Hugh Jackman in the upcoming revival of The Music Man, appears in a concert from April 2018. She has appeared in the musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Anything Goes and Violet. She won her Tony Awards for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes.

Joining her as a special guest in the concert will be Jonathan Groff (most recently seen on stage in an off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors.

Stephanie J. Block won her Tony Award for her performance as “Star” in The Cher Show. She made her Broadway debut as Liza Minnelli in The Boy From Oz (which also starred Jackman). She’s also appeared in Wicked, The Pirate Queen, 9 to 5, Anything Goes (she took over the role of Reno Sweeney when Foster left the production), The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Falsettos.

As with all PBS programming, best to check your local listings for exact airtime and dates.

JAZZ: Jeremy Pelt Quintet – SmallsLive – March 13th – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST and 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt just released a new record entitled Griot – This is Important! It’s a combination of spoken word and instrumentals. It’s a stunning album.

Will selections from Griot be on the setlist for these two shows from Smalls in New York?

Whatever he chooses to play it will be with his incredibly beautiful phrasing and emotion.

Joining Pelt for these two shows are Vicente Archer on bass; Victor Gould on piano; Chien Chien Lu on vibraphone and Allan Mednard on drums.

There’s no charge to watch these shows. Those who can donate can make “reservations” for the show.

PLAY: The Year of Magical Thinking – Keen Company – March 13th – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Writer Joan Didion shared her own experiences and thoughts after suffering several tragedies in her life in her book The Year of Magical Thinking. The emotional book was turned into an one-person show. Vanessa Redgrave starred in the play on Broadway in 2007.

This weekend the equally talented Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America) will take on the role in a live streaming event for Off-Broadway’s Keen Company.

I saw Redgrave perform the show in the months after her own daughter’s (Natasha Richardson) tragic death in 2009. It’s an incredibly moving work. After a year with the pandemic and quarantines, I can only imagine how much more deeply and personally we will all respond to this work on Saturday.

Tickets are $25 and will include a post-show talkback with Chalfant and director Jonathan Silverstein.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: A Bartók Journey – Tesla Quartet – March 13th – 7:30 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Tesla Quartet musicians Edwin Kaplan (viola); Michelle Lie (violin); Serafim Smigelskiy (cello) and Ross Snyder (violin) are embarking this weekend on a six week series of exploring, rehearsing and performing all six of Béla Bartók’s string quartets.

This weekend beings, for obvious reasons, with the String Quartet No. 1 in A Minor, op. 7. For those interested in watching them rehearse the work, they will be streaming that on March 12th at 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST.

There’s no charge to watch any of the events of this six-week series. You do, however, need to register. You can do so in the link built into A Bartók Journey. You will also find details for the entire series there.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Narek Hakhnazaryan and Armine Grigoryan – Shriver Hall Concert Series – Debuts March 14th – 5:30 PM EDT/2:30 PM PDT

Cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan made a name for himself by winning the Cello First Prize and Gold Medal at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition. He will be performing as part of the Shriver Hall Concert Series with pianist Armine Grigoryan. She, too, is an award-winning musician.

On Sunday’s program will be Beethoven’s Seven Variations in E-Flat Major on Mozart’s “Dei Männem”; Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70; Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Cello; E. Bagdasaryan’s Nocture and A. Arutyunian’s Impromptu.

Tickets are $15. There will be a post-performance conversation. This concert will remain available through March 21st.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Emily Skinner – Seth Concert Series – March 14th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Broadway fans first became aware of Emily Skinner as one-half of the conjoined Hilton twins in the musical Side Show. Skinner received a shared Tony nomination for Best Actress with co-star Alice Ripley. (After all, how could you separate their performances?)

She continued dazzling audiences with performances in James Joyce’s The Dead, The Full Monty, Prince of Broadway and The Cher Show.

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest for this weekend’s live streaming concert and conversation show. The program will air live on Sunday at 3:00 PM EDT. If you are unable to watch the show then, there is a rebroadcast on Sunday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

MUSICALS: Passing Through – Goodspeed Musicals – March 15th – April 4th

A young man decides he wants to walk from Pennsylvania to California with a sign on his backpack that says, “Walking to Listen.” Wouldn’t it be nice if more people wanted to listen these days? Anyway, along the way he documented his many encounters with people and their stories.

Upon hearing about Andrew Forsthoefel, who took this trip unsure about what to do with his life post-college, composer/lyricist Brett Ryback and book writer Eric Ulloa knew immediately there was a musical in this true story.

Passing Through is the result of their collaboration. Goodspeed Musicals presented a workshop production of the musical in the summer of 2019. A film of that production will be available for streaming on demand starting on March 15th and running through April 4th.

Max Chernin stars as Andrew. The cast includes Joan Almedilla, Reed Armstrong, Ryan Duncan, Linedy Genao, Charles Gray, Garrett Long, Mary Jo Mecca, Celeste Rose, Jim Stanek and the incomparable Jennifer Leigh Warren. Igor Goldin directed and the choreography is by Marcos Santana.

Tickets are $25 and allow for 72 hours of streaming. Your time begins when you first start watching Passing Through.

BROADWAY REUNION: The Bridges of Madison County – The Jesse Walker Show – March 15th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Jesse Walker will celebrate his 20th anniversary of his eponymous talk show with a reunion of the cast and creative team of the musical The Bridges of Madison County. Participating in the reunion are Kelli O’Hara, Steven Pasquale, Hunter Foster, Caitlin Kinnunen and Derek Klena. Composer Jason Robert Brown, librettist Marsha Norman and director Bartlett Sher will also be joining.

Brown won two Tony Awards for his original score and its orchestrations. O’Hara also received one of the show’s four nominations.

The Bridges of Madison County didn’t run as long as it should have, but its legions of fans will definitely want to tune-in to this reunion which will raise funds for The Actors Fund.

OPERA: For the Love of Opera: Celebrating RBG’s 88th Birthday – Lowell Milken Center of American Jewish Experience at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music/National Museum of American Jewish History/Opera Philadelphia – March 15th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Liza’s not the only one being feted. So is the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It wasn’t just law that she loved, it was also opera. To celebrate what would have been RBG’s 88th birthday, a program of arias from operas that address issues of social justice, equality and more will be performed.

The program is set to include arias from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore; Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Mozart’s Le nozze de Figaro and Cosí fan tutte, Verdi’s Falstaff, Menotti’s The Consul and a song from the Flaherty and Aherns musical Ragtime.

Performers are Joshua Blue (tenor), Norman Garrett (baritone), Michelle Rice (soprano) and Ashley Marie Robillard (soprano). Pianists Stephen Karr and Grant Loehnig will accompany on piano.

The event will be presented via Zoom, so you will need to register to see it. The program will become available on demand shortly after its conclusion on the various venues’ social media pages.

VARIETY: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – March 15th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM EDT

If you want even more of jazz vocalist Jane Monheit, you’ll want to join this week’s edition of Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party. She’ll be singing songs from Come What May and sharing stories with Caruso. The two are longtime friends. Monheit is a semi-regular performer when Cast Party happens live at Birdland in New York. (I’ve seen here there myself.)

Also joining this week at magician Dana Daniels, actor/singer Shu Q and Broadway actor Michael Winther (the upcoming Flying Over Sunset).

The show is free to watch and is always a delight.

Are you overwhelmed yet? I hope not, because I have a couple reminders before we go:

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Violinist Gil Shaham and The Knights perform works by Beethoven and Boulogne in a concert that began streaming from New York’s 92nd Street Y on Thursday. The concert will remain available through March 18th. (Next week I’ll have an interview with Shaham. Check back for that.)

OPERA: The Metropolitan Opera concludes its week celebrating Verismo Passions with Umberto Giordano’s Fedora on Friday and his Andrea Chénier on Saturday and Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca on Sunday. Monday they will launch Viewer’s Choice week with the 2009 production of Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Liza’s Birthday, RBG’s Birthday…and whole lot in between. Maybe this time you really did get lucky! After all, life is a cabaret old chum! Have a great weekend!

Photo: Liza Minnelli in the film version of “Cabaret” (Courtesy Liza Minnelli’s Facebook page)

The post Four Days of Best Bets: March 12th – March 15th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

We have links in the title for most of the events we have listed here. That will make it easy for you to find your way directly to these exciting performances.

So let’s get to it. Here are your Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th:

This Is a Man’s World – Latino Theater Company – Now – September 17th

In Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company’s ongoing series of streaming archived performances, this week they have added Sal Lopez’s one-person show This Is a Man’s World.

The play opened in 2015 and takes a look at masculinity. Lopez combines monologue and music to relay the important events in his life. These include the Watts Riots, falling in love and the birth of his son.

This Is a Man’s World was directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela

Table of Silence Project 9/11 – Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center – September 11th – 7:55 AM EDT/4:55 AM PDT

For the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy in 2011, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Artistic Director of Buglisi Dance Theatre, created Table of Silence Project 9/11. The work found over 150 dancers gradually making their way to Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza. The plaintive call of a conch shell brings them together as music from a flute, bass drums, a trumpet, bells and the sounds of a chorus fill the space.

Three of her collaborators – Composer/Music Director Daniel Bernard Roumain, spoken-word poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and Buglisi Dance Theatre Co-Founder/Principal Dancer Terese Capucilli – have re-worked Table of Silence Project 9/11 for 2020.

There will be a new Prologue which will feature dancers from Buglisi Dance Theatre, Ailey II, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, Ballet Hispánico’s BHdos, The Juilliard School, Limón Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company. In addition to other dancers from the NYC community, violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain and poet Joseph will be joining this year’s performance.

The entire event will be streamed live with the following program:

A Prologue, performed live from Lincoln Center; welcome remarks from industry leaders; an excerpt from Buglisi’s Requiem, (choreographed in 2001 as an immediate response to the events of 9/11); the World Premiere of Études, a new three-minute film featuring more than 100 dancers from around the world who have been inspired by the Table of Silence Project 9/11 to create and submit small scale works recorded during the month of August and, finally, the full presentation of the 2019 Table of Silence Project 9/11.

If you cannot watch the event live, it will be available on-demand after its premiere.

Amanda Green AF in Q – Birdland – September 11th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

If you don’t know Amanda Green by name, you might be familiar with some of her work. She wrote the lyrics for the musical High Fidelity; lyrics with Lin-Manuel Miranda for Bring It On: The Musical; music with Trey Anastasio and lyrics for Hands on a Hardbody; additional material for the 2019 revival of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate and additional lyrics for the 2015 revival of On the Twentieth Century.

Green has a distinct connection to the last musical. Her father, the late Adolph Green, co-wrote the music and lyrics for On the Twentieth Century with his long-time writing partner Betty Comden. In the interest of being fair to both parents, her mother was the late Phyllis Newman, a Tony Award winner for her performance in the musical Subways Are For Sleeping.

In one of the Radio Free Birdland! concerts filmed at the venue without an audience, Green performs along with her guests singer Natalie Douglas, singer/songwriter Curtis Moore and drummer Sean McDaniel. The music director is James Sampliner.

She’s working on a couple new musicals – including one with Jason Robert Brown and Billy Crystal. Perhaps there will be previews of the new material.

Tickets are $23.50.

The Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet – Great Performances PBS – September 11th (Check local listings)

In 1965 legendary choreographer Kenneth MacMillan debuted his new ballet, Romeo and Juliet, with the Royal Ballet. It’s Shakespeare’s classic tale danced to the music of composer Sergei Prokofiev. It received phenomenal reviews and the company, which featured Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, gave 43 curtain calls during the 40-minute standing ovation at the ballet’s completion.

For this film airing on Great Performances, the ballet leaves the stage and takes place in and around multiple locations and sets in Budapest, Hungary.

Dancing the role of Juliet is Francesca Hayward, William Bracewell dances Romeo and Matthew Ball dances the role of Tybalt. BalletBoyz Michael Nunn and Wiliam Trevitt directed the film.

As with all PBS airings, best to check your local listings for exact dates and times.

SHE – Latino Theater Company – September 11th – September 20th

Latino Theater Company also continues new readings of plays and this week it is SHE written by Marlow Wyatt. This is a sneak peak at a production that has been rescheduled for next year.

In the play the title character is a 13-year-old. She’s growing up in a small town where poverty is all-too-present. SHE uses her imagination to escape the trappings of her world by creating poetry. When she gets the chance to go to Vanguard Academy, a prestigious school, she comes face-to-face with the harsh realities of the real world. Her dreams have a price. But support comes from the most unlikely of places.

This reading is directed by IMANI.

Joyce DiDonato in Bochum, Germany – Metropolitan Opera – September 12th – 1:30 PM EDT/10:30 AM PDT

If you are a regular reader of Cultural Attaché (particularly the weekly listings of Metropolitan Opera nightly streams), you’ll immediately recognize the name of mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. She has appeared in their streamed productions of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Le Comte Ory, La Donna del Lago and La Cenerentola; Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda; Massenet’s Cendrillon and Handel’s Agrippina.

This Saturday she joins the Met Opera Stars Live in Concert series with a recital of her own from Bochum, Germany. Joining DiDonato for the performance will be pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson and chamber ensemble Il Pomo D’Oro.

Her program is scheduled to include works by Claudio Monteverdi, Hector Berlioz, Gustav Mahler, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Cesti, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alberto Evaristo Ginastera, Louiguy and Rodgers and Hammerstein. There will also be the world premiere of a new work by Kenyatta Hughes with text by Langston Hughes.

Tickets are $20.

Moonlight Sonata Gala – Pasadena Symphony & Pops – September 12th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT

Like many a gala in 2020, the Pasadena Symphony and Pops have gone on-line. Their Moonlight Sonata Gala will be free to watch, but you’ll have to register to do so. The registration does require you add credit card details. Your card will only be charged if you choose to bid on and win items in their auction.

The event will feature performances by Michael Feinstein, singer Catherine Russell, Broadway’s Cheyenne Jackson and others. Patti Austin will appear as will Pops conductor Larry Blank. Music Director David Lockington serves as host. After the event is over there is an after-party with Michael Cavanaugh who appeared on Broadway in the musical Movin’ Out.

Love in Action: A Telethon To Support the LGBTQ Community – KTLA TV – September 12th – 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT

So what makes a telethon something to consider at Cultural Attaché? Well, any telethon that has a line-up like this one is bound to appeal to fans of culture:

Tony Award winners Cynthia Erivo, Cyndi Lauper, Leslie Odom Jr., Billy Porter and Lily Tomlin

Tony Award nominee Andrew Rannells

Drama Desk Award-winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Drama Desk nominee Anthony Rapp

Singers Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, Sia and the vocal ensemble Tonality

Actors Alexandra Billings, Wilson Cruz, Armie Hammer, Alec Mapa, Peter Paige, Pauley Perrette and Brian Michael Smith

Comedians Margaret Cho, Ilana Glazer, Jay Leno and Bruce Vilanch

Drag icons RuPaul, Miss Coco Peru and Shangela.

And a certain Oscar winner named Cher is also joining the fun.

Jane Lynch is hosting the two-hour event along with KTLA News anchor Cher Calvin. You know what they say, Cher and Cher alike.

For the Love of Lyric Concert – Lyric Opera of Chicago – September 13th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Established in 1954, the Lyric Opera of Chicago has been a prominent part of the performing arts in Chicago. Like many an institution struggling to navigate the pandemic, they have chosen to go on-line with their gala this year. For the Love of Lyric Concert is this year’s program.

Soprano Renée Fleming, who has served as Creative Consultant to the Lyric Opera since 2010, will headline the event.

Joining her will be Ryan Opera Center alumna mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, Heather Headley (Tony Award-winner for Aida); bass Soloman Howard and soprano Ailyn Pérez. Doug Peck is the music director.

The program is set to include music from opera, Broadway, popular songs and “some surprising sources.” I’m not quite sure what that means. I guess that is why it will be a surprise.

The event will stream for free on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Facebook page a day after it virtually runs for sponsors.

Miscast20 – MCC YouTube Page – September 13th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

New York’s MCC Theater (Manhattan Class Company) annually holds an event that is one of the most popular and most-anticipated events every year. It is called Miscast. The concept is rather simple: actors perform songs from musicals that are performed by characters they would never get cast to play.

Take for example this video of Hamilton‘s Jonathan Groff performing Reno Sweeney’s title song from the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes:

I have no idea what songs are going to be performed and by whom during Sunday’s event. But, I can tell you who will be performing:

Tony Award winners Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Heather Headley (Aida) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton)

Tony Award nominees Robert Fairchild (An American In Paris), Joshua Henry (Carousel), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Lauren Ridloff (Children of a Lesser God), Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) and Adrienne Warren (Tina)

Also joining are Beanie Feldstein (Hello, Dolly!), Ingrid Michaelson (Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812), Isaac Powell (Once on This Island) and Nicolette Robinson (Waitress).

There will also be a reunion of the original company of Hairspray including Laura Bell Bundy, Kerry Butler, Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, Jean Gambatese, Jackie Hoffman, Kamilah Marshall, Matthew Morrison, Tony Award nominee Corey Reynolds, Judine Somerville, Shayna Steele and Tony Award winner Marissa Jaret Winokur.

Presenters include Jocelyn Bioh, Raúl Esparza, Judith Light, Julianna Margulies, Piper Perabo and Thomas Sadoski.

If you enjoy Broadway musicals, this is truly a must-see event.

Jeremy Jordan with Seth Rudetsky – September 13th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

On June 14th, Jeremy Jordan was one of Seth Rudetsky’s first guests in his online concert series. He’s back with a new show as Rudetsky’s guest on Sunday.

In addition to his well-known roles in Broadway’s Bonnie & Clyde and Newsies, Jordan has also appeared in West Side Story, Rock of Ages and Waitress. He was a series regular on Smash and appeared with Anna Kendrick in the film adaptation of The Last Five Years.

Tickets for the show are $25. If you can’t see the show live on Sunday, there is an encore presentation on Monday, September 14th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Kritzerland 10th Anniversary Show – September 13th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Fans of rare recordings of Broadway musicals and new recordings of lost musicals are well acquainted with Kritzerland Records. They have released recordings of the musicals Anya, Ilya Darling, The Grass Harp and restored recordings of the 1971 production of Follies, House of Flowers and more.

They will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their live shows with an on-line concert. The show promises to include rarities, well-known material and a few songs that have never been heard before.

The cast includes Daniel Thomas Bellusci, Jason Graae (Wicked tour), Peyton Kirkner, Beth Malone (the 2018 revival of Angels in America), Pamela Myers (original cast of Company), Kerry O’Malley (Billy Elliot: The Musical), Hartley Powers, Sami Straitman, Adrienne Stiefel and Robert Yacko (Mark Taper Forum production of Parade).

They also have one very special guest: Petula Clark. In addition to having hit songs with Downtown and I Know a Place, she has appeared on stage in The Sound of Music, Sunset Boulevard and on Broadway in Blood Brothers.

This concert is free, but donations that will go to The Actors Fund are encouraged. Donations can be made here.

Those are my selections of your Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th. I also have some reminders for you:

Los Angeles area residents can catch this week’s In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on PBS SoCal on Friday, September 11th at 8:00 PM. This week’s theme is Musicals and the Movies and includes performances by Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

Here are reminders from this week’s Jazz Stream:

Red Baraat are featured in this week’s Fridays at Five from SFJazz on September 11th.

John Scofield Trio will perform from New York’s Blue Note on September 11th.

Bill Charlap Trio performs September 11th and 12th from the Village Vanguard in New York.

Pasquale Grasso Quartet performs September 13th from Smalls.

Here are reminders of this weekend’s schedule at the Metropolitan Opera:

Georges Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles on Friday; Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens on Saturday and Jules Massenet’s Werther on Sunday.

Will that suffice? Do you have enough options to keep you entertained this weekend? I hope so and I hope you have enjoyed Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th.

Montage of Miscast performers courtesy of MCC Theater

The post Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th 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)

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Mayerling, set to the music of Franz Liszt, tells the story of Austria-Hungarian Crown Prince Rudolf who is obsessed with death. His family forces him to marry Princess Stephanie. This increases the instability of an already unhappy man. Marie Larisch, his former lover, introduces him to a young lady who is equally fascinated by death, Mary Vetsera. What happens over the course of three hours will prove to be tragic.

Saturday’s cast features Matthew Ball, Sarah Lamb, Laura Morerz, Itziar Mendizabal, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Mayara Magri, James Hay, Gary Avis and Nehemiah Kish

Sunday the cast will be Thiago Soares, Lauren Cuthbertson, Itziar Mendizabal, Lara Turk, Anna Rose O’Sullivan, Claire Calvert, Paul Kay, Alastair Marriott and Gary Avis.

Due to adult themes Mayerling is recommended for audiences age 12 and above. Haze and gun shots are both used in the production.

At press time the best availability was for Sunday’s matinee. However, the Saturday evening performance had the largest number of closer seats available.

Photo:  Lauren Cuthbertson and Thiago Soares in Mayerling/ Photo by Helen Maybanks ROH

Courtesy of The Music Center

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