I have to admit, we did sneak in one event that does actually take place live in a parking lot for those in the Los Angeles area. The other 23 are available for streaming from your home. And there’s great stuff, too.

Our two top picks are both holiday-themed, but couldn’t be more different. Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol is an imaginative re-telling of Charles Dickens’ story that is suitable for the entire family. Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce…Pandemic! is truly for adults. (And you might want to have your favorite holiday sauce at your side.)

I also have Shakespeare, jazz, dance, opera, Broadway stars and more for you. So let’s get started.

Here are your Best Bets at Home: December 11th – December 13th:

PLAY: Stratford Festival’s Romeo and Juliet – Center Theatre Group – Now – March 7th

If you were unable to catch any of the streaming productions Canada’s Stratford Festival made available ealirer this year, Center Theatre Group is making a few of them available through their Digital Stage+ program (events that are free to donors/subscribers and $10 for non-subscribers).

The first of five Shakespeare plays being made available is Romeo and Juliet.

Antoine Yared and Sara Farb play the star-crossed lovers in Scott Wentworth’s production from 2017.

The Toronto Star said of this production, “At the production’s heart is the freshness and credibility of the relationship between Sara Farb and Antoine Yared as the title characters. They play them as youthful, impulsive, and vivacious, but far from a perfect hero and heroine. There are tantrums, shrieks, and teenage mood swings aplenty, many of which play as welcome moments of comedy. The usually central scenes of their meeting, marriage, and morning-after-consummation are handled swiftly, as pivot points in the driving forward action.”

PLAY: Who’s Holiday! – Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – December 11th – December 15th

The insanely talented Lesli Margherita stars in this one-person show that looks at the Dr. Seuss character Cindy Lou Who forty years after she first met The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The play was written by Matthew Lombardo (Looped) and was written in rhyme to mirror the original story.

Parents should note this is an adult Cindy Lou Who – expect raunchiness and double-entendres.

Margherita won an Olivier Award for her role as Inez in Zorro the Musical. She originated the role of Mrs. Wormwood in Tim Minchin‘s Matilda the Musical. She also appeared in Dame at Sea.

Who’s Holiday! was performed off-Broadway in 2017 and garnered Margherita a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, writing in the New York Times, said of her performance, “More happens, but it is almost besides this hourlong production’s point, which is to watch the brassy, very funny Ms. Margherita strut her stuff in the designer Jess Goldstein’s festive holiday get-up.

She expertly milks the many double entendres and profane limerick-like rhymes, but this cabaret regular is equally comfortable ad-libbing. (After breaking into a rap at the Sunday matinee, she rasped “I’m out of breath” and reached for a cigarette). She also belts a mean ‘Blue Christmas.'”

There is no charge to watch the show. Donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS are encouraged.

OPERA: The Five Moons of Lorca – Los Angeles Opera – December 11th – December 25th

Los Angeles Opera launches their digital shorts programs with this new work by composer Gabriela Lena Frank and playwright Nilo Cruz.

The Five Moons of Lorca was inspired by the poet Federico García Lorca’s assassination in the early days of the Spanish Civil War. The short was filmed on the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Choreography and dancing by Irene Rodríguez.

Frank is a Grammy Award-wining pianist and composer who has been commissioned by such artists as the Kronos Quartet, Yo Yo Ma and Dawn Upshaw. Cruz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Anna in the Tropics.

Frank and Cruz have collaborated several times previously including La centinela y la paloma (The Keeper and the Dove), The Saint Maker, Journey of the Shadow and the Conquest Requiem. Their opera, The Last Dream of Frida, was scheduled for its world premiere by the San Diego Opera earlier this year, but that was postponed due to the pandemic.

There is no charge to watch The Five Moons of Lorca. Of course, donations are encouraged.

MUSICAL: Meet Me in St. Louis – Irish Repertory Theatre – December 11th – January 2nd

Vincente Minnelli’s 1944 film, Meet Me in St. Louis, serves as the inspiration for this musical adaptation by Hugh Martin (High Spirits), Ralph Blane (Best Foot Forward) and Hugh Wheeler (Sweeney Todd). The musical made its debut on Broadway in 1989.

Meet Me in St. Louis follows the Smith family in 1903 and follows them through the seasons leading up to the opening of the World’s Fair in 1904.

In addition to the title song, the musical includes The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Irish Rep in New York has filmed a version of the musical that was adapted and directed by Charlotte Moore who appeared in the Broadway production. She’s assembled a terrific cast that includes Melissa Errico (Amour), Ali Ewoldt (Phantom of the Opera), Jay Aubrey Jones (Porgy and Bess) and Max von Essen (An American in Paris).

There are 31 opportunities to stream Meet Me In St. Louis. The price is listed as “Pay what you can” with a suggested donation of $25.

PLAY: Breathe. – YouTube and Twitch – December 11th – December 13th and December 18th

This one-person show by Philicia Saunders follows her increasing participation in civil rights issues. She was inspired by her mentor, Sweet Alice Harris, a legendary community organizer in the Watts area of Los Angeles and a civil rights tour in Alabama.

In Breathe. Saunders depicts 20 different characters within a show that combines film, live performance, performance art and artistic swimming.

Saunders may be best-known to Star Wars fans for her role as Tabala Zo in The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker.

Departing from a lot of programming available now, Saunders will perform Breathe. live on December 11th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST and on December 12th at 6:30 PM EST/3:30 PM PST. Both performances will be on YouTube.

Encore presentations are taking place on December 13th at 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST on Twitch. This will also feature a TalkBack with Sweet Alice. A second encore takes place on December 18th on YouTube at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST.

Tickets are available from $5-$50 with proceeds going to Sweet Alice’s Parents of Watts and Community Coalition.

PLAY: Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol – The Soraya – December 11th – December 13th TOP PICK

We are all familiar with Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol and its bitter character, Scrooge. But I can assure you you haven’t seen A Christmas Carol like the one Manual Cinema has put together.

Each live performance (and they are live) combines acting, music, puppets and film to create a one-of-a-kind experience with a twist on the story that will surprise you!

There are six performances available over the weekend. Tickets are $20. I strongly recommend Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol.

PAGEANT PLAY – La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin – Latino Theater Company – December 11th – December 20th

For 18 years, Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company has performed La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin in Los Angeles. The pageant play depicts the story of Juan Diego, a peasant in 1531, who has a vision of the Virgin Mary. Diego’s vision took place in Spanish colonial territory that is now known as Mexico.

Mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán (Hopscotch, Carmen) stars in this 2009 filmed performance at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles. She is joined by over 100 actors, singers, Aztec dancers and members of the Los Angeles community. This is performed in English and Spanish.

Evelina Fernández adapted The Nican Mopohua (a mid-16th century text) for La Virgen de Guadalupe. José Louis Valenzuela directed. The director first created the work as a thank you to the community after it supported him during a sleep-in he lead protesting the potential closing of the Los Angeles Theater Center in downtown Los Angeles.

There’s no charge to watch the streaming production and it will be available through December 20th.

CABARET: Merry Christmas Darling: Heidi Kettenring Sings Karen Carpenter – Laguna Playhouse – December 11th – December 28th

On October 13, 1978 – when the soundtrack to the film version of Grease and albums by The Rolling Stones, Donna Summer and The Who were topping the Billboard charts, A&M records released A Christmas Portrait, an album of holiday songs by The Carpenters.

That was followed by a television special. The record became very popular and ultimately went Platinum. A second album, using outtakes from that recording session, was released two years after Karen’s death in 1983.

The darling of Downey, California is being celebrated in Merry Christmas Darling: Heidi Kettenring Sings Karen Carpenter. The show is being streamed via the Laguna Playhouse.

Kettenring appeared as Nessarose in the Chicago company of Wicked. She’s toured as Belle in Beauty and the Beast; Anna in The King and I and Penny in Hairspray.

Karen Carpenter had a one-of-a-kind voice. Kettenring sounds terrific even if she’s not Karen. But that doesn’t take away from the pure joy of hearing these songs sung well and remembering everything that made the Carpenters so beloved.

Tickets are $35 can be purchased through December 25th. The show will be available for streaming through December 28th.  

JAZZ: The Klezmatics: Happy Joyous Hanukkah – SFJazz – December 11th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Hanukkah has started and what better way to celebrate than with the Grammy Award-winning ensemble The Klezmatics. Their music is so infectious it is impossible not to be filled with joy – particularly in this concert at SFJAZZ from 2015.

This is part of SFJAZZ’s Fridays at Five series. The concert will only stream once at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST. You’ll need either a one-month membership ($5) or an annual membership ($60) to stream the concert. That will give you access to additional concerts for the length of your membership.

JAZZ: Dave Holland – Village Vanguard – December 11th – December 12th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Since his start at London’s Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, bassist Dave Holland has made a name for himself in the jazz world. From collaborations with Miles Davis (including Bitches’ Brew), Joe Henderson, Kenny Wheeler through to his work as a bandleader (including the 2005 Grammy Award winner Overtime), Holland is considered one of the best.

His most recent release is this year’s Without Deception which finds him performing with pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Johnathan Blake.

For these two concerts from New York’s Village Vanguard he’ll be joined by Jaleel Shaw on saxophone; Steve Nelson on vibraphone and Obed Calvaire on drums.

Tickets are $10.

CLASSICAL: Stephen Hough Recital – Philharmonic Society of Orange County – December 11th – December 18th

Easily one of the finest classical pianists in the world, Stephen Hough will perform a live recital for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Critics long ago ran out of superlatives to describe his playing.

The scheduled program finds Hough performing: Bach/Busoni: Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004; Schumann: Fantasie in C major, Op. 17; Liszt: Funérailles and Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 51 and Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15, mvt. 7, “Träumerei.”

The recital debuts at 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST and will remain available for streaming for one week. Tickets are $20.

DANCE/THEATRE: Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man – Center Theatre Group – December 11th – December 13th

Hector Berlioz’s opera Carmen serves as the inspiration for this ballet from Matthew Bourne (all-male swan version of Swan Lake.) Another source of inspiration for Bourne was the novel The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain and its subsequent film versions.

The ballet had its world premiere 20 years ago in Plymouth, England. The Car Man played the Ahmanson Theatre one year later.

Lewis Segal, in his Los Angeles Times review, said of Bourne’s choreography, “Whether he’s evoking the heat, insects and lust of a night when nothing is happening or the surreal frenzy of social dances that barely contain the characters’ primal urges, this is daring, accomplished, uncompromisingly lurid movement theater.

Center Theatre Group and Matthew Bourne have teamed up to make his film of The Car Man available for viewing with five opportunities to see it this weekend. The film of the ballet will stream on Friday at 8:00 PM PST; Saturday at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM PST and on Sunday at 1:30 PM and 6:30 PM PST.

Tickets are $10 (whether you are a donor/subscriber or not).

Can you believe we’re halfway through Best Bets at Home: December 11th – December 13th? Let’s keep going.

PLAY: The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk – The Wallis – December 11th – December 18th

England’s Kneehigh Theatre originally brought The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk to the Wallis in 2018. Now Kneehigh Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and Wise Children bring a film of the show to The Wallis for one week of streaming.

This highly theatrical show portrays the life of painter Marc Chagall and his wife Bella. Through the use of color and imagery mirroring the master painter’s work and music from the Russian Jewish history, this show offers many of the same delights found in other Kneehigh projects such as their Brief Encounter and Tristan and Yseult. Marc Antolin plays Marc Chagall and Audrey Brisson plays Bella. The show was written by Daniel Jamieson and directed by Emma Rice.

When The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk played The Wallis I spoke to Antolin about the show and his role. You can read that interview here.

This is a wonderful show. I strongly recommend seeing it. Tickets are $21.38 (the current exchange rate with the English pound. But it doesn’t not include any additional credit card fees).

PLAY/DANCE/MUSIC/POETRY: KICKBACK – About Face Theatre – December 12th – January 12th

A collection of short plays, dance, music, and poetry make up this online festival from Chicago’s About Face Theatre. The work centers around Blackness and queerness and where those two worlds meet.

For KICKBACK, About Face reached out to numerous artists to create work. The end result features contributions from Dionne Addai, Ky Baity, Keyonna Jackson, Robert Cornelius, Ben Locke, ShaZa (a collaboration between Zahra Baker and Shanta Nurullah), About Face Artistic Associate Paul Oakley Stovall, Michael Turrentine, Cori Wash, Vic Wynter and Rebuild Foundation resident artists Jenn Freeman and avery r. young.

Rebuild Foundation and their collections were made available to the artists who were asked to use their archives as inspiration for their work.

During our turbulent times, it will be fascinating to see what these artists have to say about where we’ve been, where we are and most importantly, where we might be going.

OPERA: La Bohème – San Francisco Opera – December 12th – December 13th Starting 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PST

Conducted by Giuseppe Finzi; starring Michael Fabiano, Alexia Voulgaridou, Nadine Sierra, Alexey Markov and Christian Van Horn. This John Caird production is from the 2014-2015 season.

Easily one of the most popular operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème had its world premiere in Turin, Italy in 1896. The libretto is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. (If this sounds like the musical Rent, it is because La Bohème served as Jonathan Larson’s inspiration for that musical.)

San Francisco Opera had two casts performing La Bohème. Joshua Kosman, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, said one performance in this production stood out.

“If one singer left a particularly outsize impression from the weekend’s openings, it was Fabiano, whose performance as Rodolfo made good on the promise of his fine 2011 company debut in Lucrezia Borgia and hinted at even more impressive things to come. This was a full-throated, almost heroic depiction of the moonstruck poet, with muscular sound, impeccably placed high notes and an air of romantic ardor that lent weight and power to everything he sang.”

CLASSICAL: Reaching Dreams Through Music – Lang Lang International Music Foundation – December 12th – 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST

Classical pianist Lang Lang and his foundation have assembled an illustrious cast for Reaching Dreams Through Music. Joining Lang Lang and his wife will be Stay Human’s Jon Batiste, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, opera singer Renée Fleming, actor/director Ron Howard, musician Wyclef Jean, jazz pianist/vocalist Diana Krall and pop singer Sam Smith.

The purpose of this streaming event is to celebrate the role music plays in our lives and how it has shaped these artists lives since their childhood. In short, if reading is fundamental, music is instrumental in our lives.

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City will also be making an appearance, along with the LLIMF Young Scholars and Junior Music Camp Music Ambassadors.

There is no fee to watch Reaching Dreams Through Music. There was no information available as to how long this program will be available for viewing at press time.

OPERA: Bryn Terfel in Wales – Met Stars Live in Concert – December 12th – 12:00 PM EST/9:00 AM PST

Bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is what you’d call a cross-over artist. He’s performed in countless opera productions (you should see him in Don Giovanni if you get the chance), he’s portrayed the title character in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd and he has released albums of songs from his native Wales.

That’s exactly where you’ll find him in this Met Stars Live in Concert performance – specifically Brecon Cathedral.

Joining Terfel are harpist Hannah Stone, pianist Jeff Howard, the Welsh traditional folk group Calan plus soprano Natalya Romaniw and tenor Trystan Llyr Griffiths – two rising young Welsh singers.

The announced program finds a combination of holiday-appropriate songs, music by Gustav Holst, Richard Wagner, Lerner and Loewe and traditional songs.

The show takes place live on Saturday, but will remain available for streaming afterwards. Tickets are $20.

DANCE: Pam Tanowitz Dance – The Joyce Theatre – December 12th – December 26th

Acclaimed choreographer Pam Tanowitz debuts new work live from New York’s The Joyce Theatre on Saturday at 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST. You may recall she is the choreographer of Four Quartets in which she collaborated with Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and American painter Brice Marden on a presentation of T.S. Eliot’s monumental work.

Finally Unfinished: Part 1 was created during the pandemic (with obvious precautions in place) and is set to new music by composer Ted Hearne. It is a site-specific work that utilizes The Joyce Theatre in all its emptiness.

Gustave Le Gray, No. 2 has its New York premiere in this program. Composer Caroline Shaw‘s music for solo piano serves not just as the score for the dance, but also its inspiration.

The dancers are Jason Collins, Brittany Engel-Adams, Christine Flores, Zachary Gonder, Lindsey Jones, Victor Lozano, Melissa Toogood.

Tickets are $13 (including service charges).

OPERA: La Bohème aka The Hipsters – Pacific Opera Project – December 12th – December 13th

Josh Shaw and Pacific Opera Project are back with another drive-in opera for you: their version of Puccini’s La Bohème (I guess it’s La Bohème week). Only their version, as you would expect, is not going to be traditional.

Several years ago Shaw updated Puccini’s opera to present-day and gave the opera a subtitle, The Hipsters. He’s been reworking it again so that the opera takes place between Christmas Eve 2019 and November 2020. I wonder what significant events might inspire him since Act 3 is in April of 2020 and Act 4 appears timed to the elections.

No longer will you find the bohemian characters Puccini introduced to the world. These hipsters are a graphic designer, a screenwriter, an English major, an indie-rocker and a fashion designer.

The cast includes Arnold Livingston Geis as Rodolfo, Oriona Falla as Mimi, Ben Lowe as Marcello, Maria Dominique Lopez as Musetta, E. Scott Levin as Schaunard, Keith Colclough as Colline, and Luvi Avendano in the roles of Benoit, Alcindoro and Parpignol.

The socially-distanced performances take place in the parking lot of the Camarillo United Methodist Church at 5:30 PM. Tickets are $65-$175 per car (there are sections just as there would be in an opera house).

CABARET: Shoshana Bean – Sing Your Hallelujah – For the Record Live at the Apollo Theatre – 9:00 PM EST/6:00 PM PST

Singer/actress Shoshana Bean sold out New York’s Apollo Theatre the last two years in a row. The pandemic made a trifecta impossible, so what’s a girl to do? Film a special there. That’s exactly what Bean has done with Sing Your Hallelujah which is being streamed on Saturday night.

The show was inspired by the holiday television specials some of us grew up with (or maybe you experienced A Holly Dolly Christmas earlier this week).

Joining Bean for the show are Gavin Creel (Tony Award-winner for Hello, Dolly!), tap dancer Jared Grimes, Jeremy Jordan (The Last Five Years), singer Shayna Steele, Connie Talbot (Britain’s Got Talent Finalest) and Daniel J. Watts (Tony Award-nominee for his performance as Ike in Tina – The Tina Turner Musical). David Cook serves as Music Director.

Tickets start at $30 with various VIP packages also available that will include a Q&A hosted by Sara Bareilles.

PERFORMANCE: Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce…Pandemic! – CAP UCLA – December 12th – 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST TOP PICK

Two years ago, after rocking my world with A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Taylor Mac returned to Los Angeles to perform Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce. Mac, who prefers judy as the preferred pronoun, brought to CAP UCLA at Royce Hall a holiday concert like no other.

judy is back in a pandemic version of this holiday show which has been safely produced to skewer our world this holiday season. Fans of Mac will know to expect wildly imaginative costumes (by designer Machine Dazzle), uniquely arranged songs (with the assistance of Music Director Matt Ray) and definitely an adult take on everything. This is NOT family friendly material. Unless, of course, you’re “family.”

Mac was the named a MacArthur Fellow and this year became the first American to win the International Ibsen Award. American Theatre Magazine says the award is considered “the Nobel Prize for theatre.”

Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce…Pandemic will only stream once. Tickets require a minimum of $25 with proceeds going to CAP UCLA.

CLASSICAL: Jeremy Denk Recital – 92nd Street Y – December 13th – 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST

If you didn’t get a chance to see pianist Jeremy Denk‘s recital from Caramoor in October, he’s performing the same program from New York’s 92nd Street Y on Sunday.

The program is scheduled to include: Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, K 457; Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins’s The Battle of Manassas; Joplin/Chauvin’s Heliotrope Bouquet; Tania León’s Ritual; Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor, Op. 111.

You’ll get two classical period compositions, ragtime, the work of a young Black man during The Civil War and the work of two contemporary composers. How’s that for diverse?

Tickets are $15.

OPERA: Pasión Latina – Lyric Opera of Chicago – December 13th – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Music from Argentina, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain is on tap in this concert starring soprano Ana María Martínez that will premiere on Sunday on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Martínez has appeared at LA Opera in the title role of Carmen and in the title role of Madama Butterfly with Lyric Opera of Chicago. Those are just two of her many roles she’s performed around the world.

Joining Martínez in Pasión Latina are Mexican-American tenors René Barbera and David Portillo; Mexican tenor Mario Rojas, Mexican-American bass-baritone Richard Ollarsaba; Mexican soprano Denis Vélez and Puerto Rican baritone Ricardo José Rivera.

The singers will be accompanied on piano by Ryan Opera Center music director Craig Terry and Ensemble pianist Chris Reynolds. The show concludes with a concert segment in which the singers are joined by members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra.

This concert is free.

CHORAL: Broadway Inspirational Voices: A Season of Hope and Inspiration – December 13th – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

What began as the Broadway Gospel Choir in 1994 has become an acclaimed ensemble that has captured the hearts of all those who hear them sing. Broadway Inspiration Voices is a music group that has members of Broadway and off-Broadway shows – whether singers or musicians – as their members.

Last year BIV was awarded a Special Tony for Excellence in Theatre.

This Sunday they are live streaming A Season of Hope and Inspiration. As it is a live stream, this will only be shown live as scheduled.

You won’t want to miss this concert. Take a look at who’s joining them: guest appearances by Debbie Allen, Gavin Creel, Montego Glover, Celia Rose Gooding, Angela Grovey, Marva Hicks, LaChanze, Telly Leung, Lisa Lynne Mathis, Audra McDonald, Michael McElroy, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Karen Olivo, John Eric Parker, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Robinson, Jeanine Tesori, Leslie Uggams, Schele Williams and Vanessa Williams.

There will also be performances featuring Shoshana Bean, Crystal Monee Hall, Marcus Paul James, Patti LuPone, Leslie Odom Jr., Billy Porter, Daniel J. Watts, and hundreds of guest artists from Broadway, U.S. National tours, London’s West End, and Australia.

You can watch the concert for free, but you do need to register for it. you can also make donations to Broadway’s Inspiration Voices and also purchase a VIP experience that allows for some pre-show fun.

We’ve come to the end of Best Bets at Home: December 11th – December 13th. With so many options from which to choose, I’m not going to add any reminders. If you are curious, check out our This Week in Culture section on the main page or the Now Playing section.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Have a great weekend and enjoy these Best Bets at Home: December 11th -December 13th.

Photo: Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past from Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol (Courtesy of The Soraya)

The post Best Bets at Home: December 11th – December 13th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

So let’s get to it. Here are your Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th:

Zoot Suit – Center Theatre Group – Now – December 20th

Amongst one of the most memorable shows ever to appear at the Mark Taper Forum was Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit. Upon its premiere in1978, it was immediately hailed as a masterwork. Zoot Suit returned to the Taper in 2017 for their 50th anniversary season.

Zoot Suit tells the story of Henry Reyna, the leader of the 38th Street Gang, who gets accused of the murder of José Williams at Sleepy Lagoon. Reyna and his gang were about to fight their rivals, the Downey Gang, when the mythical El Pachuco stops it. Police nonetheless arrive and arrest Williams and his gang. This sets in motion a very magical show that uses dance, Latin music and surreal moments to reveal what happens to Reyna and how El Pachuco guides the actions and reveals certain truths.

In collaboration with Los Angeles Theatre Works, Center Theatre Group is making their radio play version of Zoot Suit available for free listening.

Marco Rodriguez plays El Pachuco, Kinan Valdez is Henry Reyna, Daniel Valdez is Enrique Reyna and Alma Martinez is Dolores Reyna.

This is a wildly imaginative and entertaining play. Well worth your time to give it a listen.

Skeleton Crew – Atlantic Theater Company – Now – October 23rd

Playwright Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew had its world premiere at New York’s Atlantic Theater in 2016. It is the third play in her Detroit Cycle and depicts one auto plant department’s work family. Everyone has challenges in their own lives that will have to be navigated if the plant closes. In the middle of this is Reggie, the manager who was once one of the workers. He has to determine whether to be loyal to his work family or maintain the discretion required of his job.

As part of their Fall Reunion Reading series, Atlantic Theater is bringing most of the original cast back: Jason Dirden as Dez, Wendell B. Franklin as Reggie, Nikiya Mathis as Shanita and Adesola Osakulumi (choreographer and performer.) New to the company is Caroline Clay who takes on the role of Fay which was originated by Lynda Gravatt. Ruben Santiago-Hudson returns to direct.

Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review of that production said, “It is, in other words, a deeply moral and deeply American play, with a loving compassion for those trapped in a system that makes sins, spiritual or societal, and self-betrayal almost inevitable.”

I saw the Geffen Playhouse production of Skeleton Crew. It’s quite a good play. This should be an excellent reading.

There is no charge to watch Skeleton Crew, but reservations are required. A donation of $25 is suggested.

Beethoven Symphony No. 7 – LA Philharmonic Sound/Stage – Starts October 23rd

In this fifth episode of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage series, Gustavo Dudamel leads the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

Composed in 1811-1812, the symphony’s debut took place in 1813 in Vienna. There are four movements: Poco sostenuto – Vivace, Allegretto, Presto – Assai meno presto and Allegro con brio.

Dudamel and the LA Phil performed a full cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies in 2015 that earned rave reviews. Given that this work is orchestrated for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings it is perfect for a socially-distanced performance at the Hollywood Bowl.

Of course, it’s also great music.

dwb (driving while black) – Baruch College – October 23rd – October 29th

The New York premiere of Susan Kander and Roberta Gumbel’s dwb (driving while black) was meant to take place in March at Baruch Performing Arts Center. As a result of that postponement, they have created a directed-for-video performance of the work which will have its world premiere on October 23rd.

The 44-minute dwb portrays the dilemma every Black parent faces when his/her son is of age to drive. How do you both encourage him to enjoy the freedom that comes with the ability to drive while also making sure he’s fully aware of the challenges and anxiety that come with driving while Black.

Gumbel sings dwb. She is accompanied by Hannah Collins on cello and Michael Compitello on percussion. Chip Miller directed.

The work had its debut in Kansas City in 2019. The Pitch, the alternative newspaper, said of dwb, “In pinpointing and relating the terror racial biases and injustices cause, Kander and Gumbel created one of the most singularly devastating theatrical moments of the last year.”

You must register to watch the video of dwb. Baruch Students can watch for free. General admission is available and you can pay what you can to watch it.

Ravi Coltrane Quartet – Village Vanguard – October 23rd – October 24th

New York’s Village Vanguard has straightened out their streaming issues and returns with two performances by saxophonist Ravi Coltrane.

Coltrane had not even turned 2 when his father, John Coltrane, passed away. But he inherited true musical talent from both his father and his mother, Alice.

He became a bandleader and released his first album, Moving Pictures, in 1998. At this point in his career he had already worked with Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Stanley Clarke, Steve Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Santana and McCoy Tyner.

For these performances he will be joined by David Virelles on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass and Jonathan Blake on drums.

Tickets are $10.

Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Is Now – American Masters on PBS – Check Local Listings

Earlier this year, and perhaps not quite as ceremoniously as planned, Michael Tilson Thomas concluded a 25-year run as the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. It was just one accomplishment in a truly amazing career. He has 11 Grammy Awards, has received a National Medal of Arts and was a Kennedy Center Honoree. Not too bad for a guy who grew up in Los Angeles and accompanied musicals while a student at USC.

American Masters on PBS will presents Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is on October 23rd. The 90-minute documentary by Susan Froemke and Kirk Simon follows his young life in Southern California to his time as a protégé of Leonard Bernstein through to his becoming one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors.

Amongst those appearing in the documentary are composer Steve Reich, architect Frank Gehry, LA Philharmonic’s CEO Chad Smith, Carnegie Hall’s Clive Gillinson and Thomas’s husband, Joshua Robison.

For me personally, Thomas was one of the most influential people discussing, creating and performing classical music as I was growing up. Watching him talk about this music instilled in me a great appreciation for it. I would turn to his many recordings on a regular basis from the classics to a live concert with Sarah Vaughan and the LA Phil – which if you haven’t heard, you must.

While scheduled for October 23rd, you should check your local listings.

Taj Mahal Quartet – SFJAZZ – October 23rd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJAZZ is one of the last concerts to take place this year before venues were required to shut down. Taj Mahal Quartet performed on February 28th, 2020 in the concert being shown.

Taj Mahal began his career in an ill-fated band called Rising Sons with Ry Cooder in 1964. When that failed to come together successfully, he recorded with a few artists before going on his own with his first album in 1968. 31 studio albums, 7 live albums and three Grammy Awards later, he is considered one of the best ambassadors for the blues. Of course, he does more than the blues. His influences range from soul music, international rhythms and so much more and all find their way into his music.

Fridays at Five requires you have either a one-month membership ($5) or a year-long membership ($60) to watch the performances.

Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio – Lobero Theatre – October 23rd – 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT

Jazz legend Charles Lloyd just keeps performing. Aren’t we lucky? For this live performance from Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre he will be joined by pianist/composer Gerald Clayton and guitarist/composer Anthony Wilson. As Lloyd says in this video, he’s trying to keep live music alive.

Tickets are $15.

State of Darkness – The Joyce Theater – October 24th – November 1st

In 1988 choreographer Molissa Fenley debuted a solo project called State of Darkness. The 35-minute seriously intense work is set to the music of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Anna Kisselgoff, writing in the New York Times in 1988, said of State of Darkness , “Molissa Fenley’s use of Stravinsky’s ‘Sacre du Printemps’ as music for a new dance solo succeeds beyond expectation. A dancer who has been unmatched on the experimental scene for her explosive, even primal, energy, Miss Fenley has found her true center here.”

For these performances, Fenley has restaged the work and will have seven different dancers performing State of Darkness. This weekend’s schedule is as follows:

Saturday, October 24th: Michael Trusnovec of Paul Taylor American Dance Company performs at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT; 2020 Juilliard graduate Jared Brown performs at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

Sunday, October 25th: Annique Roberts of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE performs at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT; Shamel Pitts (formerly of Batsheva Dance Company) performs at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

There are three additional performances next week by Lloyd Knight of Martha Graham Dance Company, Sara Mearns of the New York City Ballet and Cassandra Trenary of American Ballet Theatre.

Tickets are $13 to watch each individual performance.

Le Nozze di Figaro – San Francisco Opera – October 24th – October 25th

Conducted by Patrick Summers; starring Phillippe Sly, Lisette Oropesa, Nadine Sierra, Luca Pisaroni, Catherine Cook  Greg Fedderly and John Easterlin. This Robin Guarino production is from the 2014-2015 season and is a revival of their 1982 production. Guarino was new to the production.

Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro is based on the 1784 play La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (translated: “The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”) by Pierre Beaumarchais. Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto. La Nozze di Figaro had its world premiere in Vienna in 1786.

Figaro and Susanna are getting married. They are in a room made available to them by the Count who plans to seduce the bride-to-be based on an old law that gave permission to lords to have sex with servant girls on their wedding night. When Figaro gets wind of this plan he enlists several people to outwit the Count using disguises, altered identities and more.

Critics mostly lauded this production. Many were intrigued by a younger-than-usual cast that brought a freshness to Mozart’s oft-performed opera. Of particular interest to me is Oropesa as Susanna. She should be delightful in this performance.

Diana Damrau and Joseph Calleja – Met Stars Live in Concert – October 24th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

After some schedule changes, Met Stars Live in Concert returns this weekend with a performance by soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Joseph Calleja. Accompanied by pianist Vincenzo Scalera, they will be performing from Caserta, Italy.

The program will include three arias from Puccini’s Tosca, one from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, one from Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, one from Rossini’s Semiramide, two from Bizet’s Carmen, Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria and more.

Damrau made her Met Opera debut in 2005 in Ariadne auf Naxos. Since then she’s performed nearly 150 times at the Met. Calleja made his debut at the Met one year later in Rigoletto and has given almost 100 performances there.

Tickets are $20

Patti LuPone Live from the West Side – Segerstrom Center – October 24th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT – $30

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone is the first of three performers in Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway series. The series features intimate live-streamed performances from New York’s Shubert Virtual Studios. Songs, stories and apparently questions responded in real time are all part of the show.

LuPone, as you certainly must know, is the two-time Tony Award winner for her performances in Evita and the 2008 revival of Gypsy. She has received five other Tony nominations. She was in rehearsals to open in a new revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company when the pandemic forced the closure of Broadway.

If you watched Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, you would have seen her as the strong-willed and risky Avis Amber.

This series will include two additional concerts: Laura Benanti (LuPone’s co-star in Gypsy and also a winner of the Tony Award) will perform on November 14th; Vanessa Williams (who appeared in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods with Benanti) performs on December 5th.

The three concerts are being held to help support 22 theaters around the country. In Southern California that venue is the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Tickets are $30 for each individual concert. A three-show package might be available depending on the venue. You will be able to stream the concert for an additional 72 hours after its completion.

Gateway to Cabaret: A Star Studded Virtual Event – The Cabaret Project of St. Louis – October 24th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Fans of musical theatre will want to catch Gateway to Cabaret from The Cabaret Project of St. Louis. Their line-up is impressive: Norm Lewis (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess), Faith Prince (Tony winner for the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls), Brandon Victor Dixon (Shuffle Along or The Making of a Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed), Alexandra Billings (Wicked), Sidney Myer (Don’t Tell Mama), Christine Andreas (On Your Toes, Oklahoma), Tony DeSare (jazz singer), Capathia Jenkins (Caroline, Or Change), Billy Stritch (pianist/singer) and Steven Brinberg (Simply Barbra).

Tickets are $25/household.

Jeremy Denk Recital – Caramoor – October 25th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

I’ve written about Jeremy Denk before. I think he’s one of our most talent and interesting classical pianists. This program on Sunday from Caramoor in New York only proves how interesting he is. The program is scheduled to include: Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, K 457; Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins’s The Battle of Manassas; Joplin/Chauvin’s Heliotrope Bouquet; Tania León’s Ritual; Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor, Op. 111.

You’ll get two classical period compositions, ragtime, the work of a young Black man during The Civil War and the work of two contemporary composers. How’s that for diverse?

Tickets are $10 for non-Caramoor members. No charge for members.

LaChanze with Seth Rudetsky – October 25th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

In 1990, LaChanze originated the role of Ti Moune in the Broadway production of Once on This Island. She was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2005 she originated the role of Celie in the original Broadway production of The Color Purple. She won the Tony Award. In 2018 she originated the role of Diva Donna in Summer. She received another Tony Award nomination. Throw in some Sondheim, Dreamgirls and being one of sixteen performers to play Fanny Brice in a concert presentation of Funny Girl and you’ve got someone with serious talent and certainly some great stories.

All of that is a good thing as she is Seth Rudetsky’s guest for this week’s concert and conversation. One more thing she can discuss: her daughter, Celia Rose Gooding, just received a Tony nomination for her performance in the musical Jagged Little Pill.

As usual, there will be an encore presentation of the show on Monday, October 26th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Tickets for either date are $25.

That’s our official list of the Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th. We do have a few reminders:

Last week we wrote about Shakespeare Trilogy on Film from Donmar Warehouse and St. Ann’s Warehouse. The series continues this week with an all-female version of The Tempest.

Charity, the final play in The Mexican Trilogy by Evelina Fernández, is now available from Latino Theater Company. For our preview of the trilogy, please go here.

This weekend’s Table Top Shakespeare: At Home includes Coriolanus, The Merry Wives of Windsor and King Lear. To read our preview, please go here.

The Public Theater’s Forward. Together. virtual fundraiser remains available through Saturday, October 24th. This was a terrific show. You can read our preview here.

The reading of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth remains available through Saturday, October 24th. Details can be found here.

SFJAZZ members can watch Terence Blanchard’s opera in jazz, Champion, through Sunday, October 25th. Our preview has all the details. You can read it here.

Metropolitan Opera’s week of Operatic Comedies concludes with Verdi’s Falstaff on Friday, Rossini’s Le Comte Ory on Saturday and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier on Sunday. You can find our preview here.

The 1999 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman that originated at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre will be available through the weekend on Playbill. For more details, you can read our preview here.

That officially ends our Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th.

There are only 72 hours in a weekend. How can you possibly watch it all? You can’t, but wouldn’t it be great if you could?

Photo: Patti LuPone (Photo by Rahav/Courtesy Segerstrom Center)

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As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, cultural events are picking up now that we’ve entered the traditional fall season. This week proves that point as we have 13 different shows for you to consider. Plus a few reminders, just in case you don’t find something you like. But seriously, what are the odds of that?

So here are our Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th:

Shipwreck – The Public Theater – October 16th – 12:00 PM EDT/9:00 AM PDT

Starting on Friday – for an open-ended run – is a radio play from The Public Theater called Shipwreck. This is a recent work from playwright Anne Washburn who was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009.

The play was scheduled to be part of The Public Theater’s 2020 season and has been recorded and produced for listening at home.

In Shipwreck a group of friends have gathered in upstate New York. What starts out as a glorious day, suddenly turns dark and stormy. That applies to both the weather and to the relationships. It turns out that even close, liberal friends, can find their belief systems challenged in present-day America.

Performing Shipwreck are Mia Barron, Brooke Bloom, Phillip James Brannon, Rob Campbell, Bill Camp, Raúl Esparza, Jenny Jules, Sue Jean Kim, Bruce McKenzie, Joe Morton, Jeremy Shamos and Richard Topol. Saheem Ali directs.

When the Almeida Theatre in London produced Shipwreck in 2019, the play earned strong reviews. Amongst them was this comment from Michael Billington writing in The Guardian: “…this is an important play that not only examines the Trump phenomenon but also asks why he was elected: one character shocks his friends by explaining that he voted for Trump because a failing democracy needs a shock to the system. It is precisely the argument you sometimes hear in Britain about a no-deal Brexit being a catalyst for change.”

Andra Day – Los Angeles Philharmonic Sound/Stage – October 16th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

The fourth episode of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage online series starts running on Friday and it is the first one to feature a solo artist without the orchestra: singer/songwriter Andra Day.

Day is perhaps best known for her hit song, Rise Up. She’ll perform that song along with Gold (both songs are from her 2015 album Cheers to the Fall) and also Nina Simone’s classic song, Mississippi Goddam. She will also appear in an interview as part of the program.

Included in the program as well will be performances from Flypoet Summer Classic that was filmed at The Ford.

For details about the full Sound/Stage series, please check out our full preview here.

Henry IV – St. Ann’s Warehouse – October 16th – October 22nd – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse has partnered with London’s Donmar Warehouse to stream Shakespeare Trilogy on Film, three of his plays performed by all-female casts. They began by streaming the 2013 production of Julius Caesar last week. (Don’t worry, you have another chance to see it).

This week the 2016 production of Henry IV is streaming.

Phyllida Lloyd (who, for better or worse, was the director of Mamma Mia! both on stage and screen) directed all three plays.

In this version of Henry IV, the two Shakespeare plays have been condensed into one 135-minute play. Harriet Walter, who is perhaps best known for her roles in Sense and Sensibility and Atonement, plays Henry.

Ben Brantley of the New York Times, called Walter “one of the great Shakespearean interpreters of her generation” in his review of this production when it played St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2015.

He also said of Lloyd’s Henry IV, which is set in a women’s prison, “It’s a multilayered act of liberation. Prisoners are allowed to roam the wide fields of Shakespeare’s imagination; fine actresses are given the chance to play meaty roles that have been denied them; and we get to climb out of the straitjackets of our traditional perceptions of a venerated play.”

The third play in this trilogy is The Tempest, which will become available on October 23rd – October 29th. But fear not, the entire trilogy (which includes Julius Caesar) will be available for streaming at will October 30th – November 1st. All viewings are free.

Mary Stallings and Bill Charlap Trio – SFJAZZ – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Friday’s at Five concert from SFJAZZ features vocalist Mary Stallings with the Bill Charlap Trio (which includes Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums). The concert is from March, 2018.

If Mary Stallings isn’t familiar to you, let me start by sharing this review from her concert.

“At 78, Stallings has entered territory that’s largely uncharted. Her voice sounds remarkably lithe and strong, and her gift for blues-tinged phrasing links her directly to matriarchs Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.

“The only precedent for a world-class jazz vocalist sounding this good closing in on 80 is Ernestine Anderson (the extraordinary Sheila Jordan is still going strong at 89, but she’s a very different kind of jazz singer). Considering how relatively little Stallings has recorded, her performances feel like precious, ephemeral experiences, and she made the most of her time with Charlap’s trio, a unit that’s been touring and recording together for more than two decades.”

Those were the words of Andrew Gilbert writing in the San Francisco Classical Voice.

Stallings’ most recent album was last year’s Songs Were Made to Sing. She has kept some pretty fine company during her career: Tony Bennett, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams and the list goes on. Her best known recording was Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings which came out in 1960.

This collaboration with the Bill Charlap Trio should be a great way to start your weekend.

Sticks & Stones – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

The story of David versus Goliath gets a new telling in the musical Sticks & Stones which was written by composer John McDaniel and lyricist/bookwriter Scott Logsdon.

A concert performance of Sticks & Stones will stream this weekend as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.

Teen bullying is the theme of Sticks & Stones with the Biblical story serving as the setting for the story.

An impressive cast has been assembled for the concert. Audra McDonald plays David’s mother, Nizevet. Javier Muñoz, who was the first actor to take over the title role in Hamilton after Lin-Manuel Miranda left the show, plays David’s father, Jesse. George Salazar, who appeared in Be More Chill, plays King Saul. Joshua Colley (2014 revival of Les Misérables) is David and Mykal Kilgore (Motown: The Musical) is The Prophet Samuel.

The concert will be available for streaming through October 20th. There is no charge to watch Sticks & Stones, but donations are encouraged.

Aaron Diehl Trio – Caramoor – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Because I think he is one of the finest pianists working today, I’ve written about Aaron Diehl a few times and have interviewed him. He plays both jazz and classical music. (You can read the interview here.)

For this concert he’ll be performing standards and some of his own compositions with Aaron Kimmel on drums and Paul Sikivie on bass.

Rather than reiterate his credits or offer more praise, just listen to the music.

This concert is streaming from Caramoor in Katonah, NY which is a bit more than 40 miles from Manhattan. They are presenting the Aaron Diehl Trio in association with Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Tickets are free for Caramoor members. If you’re not a member, there is a $10 fee to watch the live stream concert.

Ben Williams Live – Blue Note New York – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

At the 2009 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Bass Competition, the musicians had a mightily impressive jury to win over. Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Robert Hurst, Christian McBride and John Patitucci were the judges. They awarded 1st place to Ben Williams.

Williams will be performing live from Blue Note in New York on Friday.

In addition to the live stream listed above, there is an encore showing at 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT.

Lest you think his competition victory was a fluke, he’s gone on to work with George Benson, Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Roy Hargrove, Chaka Kahn, Pharrell and many more.

His most recent album is I Am a Man which was released earlier this year. It’s a terrific album. He also released an instrumental-only version called I Am a Man: Mentals.

Tickets for either the live performance or the re-stream are $15.

Los Angeles Dance Festival Week #3 – October 16th – October 18th

The third week of Los Angeles Dance Festival is upon us. The show, which runs two hours, becomes available at 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT on October 16th and will remain available until 3:00 AM EDT/12:00 AM PDT on October 19th.

This week’s line-up features Charlotte Katherine & Co (modern dance), Nannette Brodie Dance Theater (modern dance), Kybele Dance (multi-cultural contemporary dance), Poets In Motion, MarieElena Martingano & Camryn Eakes, John Castagna (contemporary ballet), Louise Reichlin & Dancers/Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers (contemporary dance), The Dance Narrative Project, Lula Washington Dance Theatre (modern dance) and SIDFIT South Korean Artists: Lee Jihee, Kim Jubin. 

Atilla – SF Opera – October 17th – October 18th (begins 10:00 AM through 11:59 on 10/18)

This marks the second weekend of opera productions streamed by San Francisco Opera this fall. This weekend finds a rarely performed opera by Giuseppe Verdi: Atilla.

Verdi’s opera, his ninth, had its premiere in Venice in 1846. The libretto was based on Zacharias Werner’s play Attila, König der Hunnen (Attila, King of the Huns) and was written by Temistocle Solera.

Atilla isn’t an easy man to please. Odabella, a prisoner of war, hopes to kill Atilla in retribution for his killing of her father. Ezio, a Roman Envoy, wants to cause havoc in the empire with Atilla’s help. Instead he infuriates him.

Amongst those who have survived the carnage that is dividing the empire is Foresto. He reunites with Odabella who had assumed he was dead.

Meanwhile Attila has a dream where an old man tells him not to enter Rome. He disregards the advice and marches in. In doing so, he sets off a series of events that will ultimately lead to his death.

This 2012 production marked the return of Atilla to San Francisco Opera after 21 years. Ferruccio Furlanetto sings the title role. Ana Lucrecia García sings Odabella. Diego Torre is Foresto and Quinn Kelsey sings the role of Ezio. Gabriele Lavia directed and Nicola Luisotti conducted.

In looking up reviews of this production, my favorite quote comes from Joshua Kosman writing in the San Francisco Gate. He wrote, “…it was a swift, short onslaught marked by ferocity and thunder. The difference was that only the title character died, and everybody else had a grand time.”

Atilla runs 1 hour and 50 minutes. It will become available at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT and ends on Sunday, October 18th at 11:59 PM PDT/2:59 AM EDT on October 19th.

Speaking Truth to Power – Orpheus Chamber Orchestra – October 17th – October 22nd

Most classical music fans are well-acquainted with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. Fewer are familiar with the subsequent nine pieces that follow which call for soprano, narrator and orchestra.

In Beethoven’s work (inspired by a play by Johann Wolfgang Goethe) he used the story of Lamoral, Count of Egmont, whose execution prior to the start of the Eighty Years’ War inspired a movement that led to Netherlands’ independence.

The composer was using this work as a statement against Napoleon.

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has commissioned a new translation to reflect our present-day world. Egmont was adapted by playwright/translator Philip Boehm.

Joining Orpheus for this performance are Liev Schreiber as the narrator and Karen Slack singing the soprano parts.

Schreiber won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2005 production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. He also starred in the Showtime series Ray Donovan.

Slack made her Metropolitan Opera debut in their 2006 production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. She also sang the role of Emelda Griffith in Terence Blanchard’s Champion at San Francisco Opera. (That production will be streaming next week by SFJAZZ beginning on October 21st.)

The concert was recorded in Beechwood Park in Hillsdale, New Jersey, following social distancing guidelines.

Speaking Truth to Power begins streaming at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on October 17th and remains available through October 22nd. Tickets to watch the performance are $15.

Lizz Wright – Mandolin – October 17th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT $15

I’ve seen singer Lizz Wright several times in concert. From the first time I heard her 2003 record, Salt, I was hooked. She has a beautiful voice and has a unique ability to make each song she sings her own.

Rather inexplicably she has only recorded five other albums since her debut. The most recent was 2017’s Grace. She does appear on No Beginning No End 2 by José James which was released earlier this year.

If you don’t know Lizz Wright, I strongly encourage checking out this concert. If you do, you know how terrific it’ll be.

Ticket are $15.

March – Los Angeles LGBT Center Anita May Rosentein Campus Parking Lot – October 17th – November 15th

Our first live and in-person event (and the reason the title of this column was changed). The venue is the parking lot below the Anita May Rosentein Campus at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Sixteen cars will be admitted per performance. The audio will be broadcast to you through your radio.

The title of this play is March and it was conceived and directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera. The cast has contributed to the writing of the play during exercises and rehearsals.

A pandemic is gripping the world in March. The time could be a quarter century into the future – or not. Three Trans/Gender Non-Confirming women need to find a place where The Military will not find them. Not much is known beyond that. A little mystique never hurt anyone, did it?

The cast of March includes Miss Barbie Q (MJ), Chad Christopher, Matthew Clark, Amir Levi, Marcelino Mendoza, Coretta Monk, and Roland Ruiz.

What makes this so appealing is that Rivera is one of the most interesting and talented writer/directors working in Los Angeles theater. I have no idea what to expect from March, but I have absolutely no doubt that it will be fascinating.

Performances take place only on Saturday and Sunday. There are two performances each night. One at 7:30 PM and one at 9:00 PM. The per car price to attend is $20.

Keala Settle & Seth Rudetsky – October 18th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Anyone who saw The Greatest Showman knows who Keala Settle is. She introduced the song This Is Me to the world in her role as Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady in the film. She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest this week for his conversation/concert show.

If you only know Settle from that film, you’re missing out. She was memorable as Norma Valverde in Hands on a Hardbody. It’s a role that yielded multiple nominations including a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She’s appeared in the musicals Les Misérables, Waitress, Hairspray and South Pacific.

If the Sunday live performance does not work for you, there will be an encore showing of the concert on Monday, October 19th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets for each showing are $25.

That’s the official list of Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th. A few reminders before we go:

Donizetti Week at the Metropolitan Opera concludes this weekend with Maria Stuarda on Friday; Roberto Devereux on Saturday and Don Pasquale on Sunday. You can read our full preview here.

Table Top Shakespeare: At Home has the following plays this weekend: Henry VI, Part 2 on Friday; Henry VI, Part 3 on Saturday and Richard III on Sunday. You can read our preview here.

Part 2 of Evelina Fernández’s A Mexican Trilogy is now streaming from Latino Theater Company. The play is called Hope and will be available through October 22nd. For details read our preview here.

That is my complete list of your Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th. Whatever you choose to watch, I hope you enjoy!

Photo: Aaron Diehl (Photo by Maria Jarzyna/Courtesy AaronDiehl.com)

Update: Center Theatre Group has changed the dates for Luis Alfaro’s trilogy of plays. Though originally announced to start this week, they have been rescheduled to start November 6th. We have removed “Electricidad” from this weekend’s Best Bets.

The post Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The company has begun streaming the first in that trilogy with the remaining plays to be streamed later this month.

The plays document several decades in the life of the Mexican-American Morales family. 

Part 1 of A Mexican Trilogy is called Faith and is available through October 15th. The play begins in Arizona while World War II is raging. Esperanza and Silvestre are raising three daughters. Though the matriarch tries to keep the girls on a short leash, the attention they draw from neighborhood boys, nor the dreams of having a career as singers, can’t be so easily controlled.

Hope, Part 2 becomes available from October 13th – October 22nd. In the second part of the trilogy, Kennedy is in office and the girls are achieving a certain level of success, though not without struggles amongst the trio. At home, their parents are doing so well as their mother, Elena, seeks comfort from a close friend since her husband seems to be absent more and more.

Charity, Part 3 will be available from October 20th – October 30th. In this third and final play in the trilogy, the year is 2005. Pope John Paul II is now heading the Catholic Church. The girls are grown up and raising children, but not every marriage is going well. Nor is their mother doing well. She stubbornly clings to life. When their cousin shows up the family is forced to confront the secrets and demons that they have long refused to address.

José Luis Valenzuela directed A Mexican Trilogy. The cast includes Esperanza America, Robert Beltran, Olivia Delgado, Alexis de la Rocha, Evelina Fernández, Sam Golzari, Kenneth Lopez, Sal Lopez, Xavi Moreno, Matias Ponce, Geoffrey Rivas and Lucy Rodriguez. 

Photo: Sam Golzari, Esperanza America, Olivia Delgado Young, Elia Saldana, Julio Macias and Kenneth Lopez in A Mexican Trilogy: Home, Part 2 (Photo by Grettel Cortes Photography/Courtesy Latino Theater Company)

The post Evelina Fernandez’s “A Mexican Trilogy” appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Let’s get started with Best Bets at Home: October 9th – October 11th with a new show from the Geffen Playhouse:

Inside the Box – Geffen Stayhouse – October 8th – January 3rd

Part of the announced scheduled for this year’s season at the Geffen Playhouse included a show called The Enigmatist. It’s a show the New York Times called “An evening of tricks and brainteasers, it’s like a spin class for the frontal lobe, with drinks available.” That show’s creator is David Kwong. If the name sounds familiar it is because he has created crossword puzzles for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

So what can a puzzle master and theater do when a pandemic sweeps in and makes putting on a live show with an audience an impossibility? They think Inside the Box.

Rather, that’s the end result of Kwong figuring his way out of this conundrum. Fresh on the heels of the Geffen’s massively successful show The Present by Helder Guimarães, he and the Geffen Playhouse came up with another live streaming show.

Only twenty-four tickets are available for each performance. After receiving via e-mail a 9-page packet with instructions and some advance work required on your part, Kwong will challenge audiences with a series of games and wordplay, all while offering insight into some of the greatest puzzle-makers of all time.

Tickets, which are a hot commodity, are $75 per household. Or rather I should say, were $75. The initial run sold out immediately as did the extension into January that just went on sale Thursday, October 8.

A Mexican Trilogy: Faith, Part 1 – Latino Theater Company – Now – October 15th

In 2012, Latino Theatre Company produced an epic three-part play by Evelina Fernández that would go on to win the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle’s Ted Schmitt Award for the outstanding world premiere of a new play.

The company has begun streaming the first in that trilogy with the remaining plays to be streamed later this month.

The plays document several decades in the life of the Mexican-American Morales family.

Part 1 of A Mexican Trilogy is called Faith and begins in Arizona while World War II is raging. Esperanza and Silvestre are raising three daughters. Though the matriarch tries to keep the girls on a short leash, the attention they draw from neighborhood boys, nor the dreams of having a career as singers, can’t be so easily controlled.

By the time A Mexican Trilogy is concluded, this story has traveled from the 1940s to 2005.

José Luis Valenzuela directed A Mexican Trilogy. The cast includes Esperanza America, Olivia Delgado, Alexis de la Rocha, Sal Lopez, Xavi Moreno, Matias Ponce, Geoffrey Rivas and Lucy Rodriguez.

Home, Part 2 becomes available from October 13th – October 22nd. Charity, Part 3 will be available from October 20th – October 30th.

She Kills Monsters – Laguna Playhouse – October 9th – October 11th

Acclaimed playwright Qui Nguyen (Vietgone, Revenge Songs) created this version of She Kills Monsters specifically to be seen online. In fact, it is called She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realm.

The play, which is described by the playwright on his website as a Dungeons and Dragons comedy, has not only updated its many references, but has made adjustments so the play can be seen and performed using Zoom and other teleconferencing apps.

She Kills Monsters tells the story of a young girl, Average Agnes, leaving her home after the death of her sister, Tilly. When going through Tilly’s possessions she finds her Dungeons and Dragons notebook. That leads Agnes on an adventure where she learns more about her sister than she ever imagined.

Tickets are per household. General tickets are $20. There is an option for tickets for 16-24 year olds. Whatever the discount price is requires filling out a survey related to mental health issues and awareness of them.

If you are unable to watch She Kills Monsters this weekend, it will also be available October 16th – October 18th. Performances begin at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT on each Friday and continue through 1:00 AM EDT Monday/10:00 PM PDT Sunday.

Los Angeles Dance Festival – October 9th – October 11th

This is the second weekend of this year’s Los Angeles Dance Festival. The programming begins at 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT on Friday and continues through 3:00 AM EDT Monday/12:00 AM PDT. Each show is two hours in length.

The companies participating in this weekend’s programming are  CyberYOGA (fitness and movement), 2DANCECOLLECTIVE, Jana Taylor and Dancers, Ironstone Dance (focused on queer narratives), cyan cian (performance art/dance), Luminario Ballet (Contemporary Ballet), Versastyle (Hip-Hop), Mixed eMotion Theatrix (modern dance), BrockusRED (multi-disciplinary), Danza Floricanto/USA (Mexican folk dance), Lula Washington (contemporary), Ken Morris Project, Kim Hyunsun, Kim Ok, Yoo Gawon. 

The Los Angeles Dance Festival continues for two more weeks. We will include each week’s line-up in the next two upcoming Best Bets at Home.

Tosca – San Francisco Opera – October 10th – October 11th

San Francisco Opera resumes their streaming opera productions with this 2014 production of Giacomo Puccini’s opera.

It is quite likely that Tosca was the first opera to premiere in 1900. Its first performance was on January 14 in Rome. Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name, Tosca‘s libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

The setting for Tosca is Rome in 1800. The Napoleonic wars were raging and political unrest was omnipresent. The opera takes place over the course of slightly less than 24 hours. Floria Tosca is the object of Chief of Police Baron Scarpia’s lust. He uses suspicions that her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, aided a political prisoner who has escaped as an opportunity to get him out of his way which will leave Tosca for himself. After capturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia says that if Tosca doesn’t become his lover, he will have Cavaradossi killed.

Jose Maria Condemi directed this production with Riccardo Frizza conducting. Singing the role of Cavaradossi is Brian Jagde. Singing Scarpia is Mark Delavan. But the person making this greatest impact, as it should be in Tosca, is soprano Lianna Haroutounian singing the title role.

Haroutounian made her San Francisco Opera debut with this production. Critics hailed her performance. Joshua Kosman, writing in the San Francisco Gate, said of her performance, “Her rhythmic control is fluent, her low notes robust and full of life, and her stage presence at once charismatic and vulnerable. And yes, the big Act 2 aria, “Vissi d’arte,” was delivered with sympathetic ardor — but Haroutounian’s entire performance surrounding it was so gripping, from moment to moment and scene to scene, that that number was merely one splendor among many.”

Tosca becomes available on Saturday at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT and remains available through 2:59 AM EDT Monday/11:59 PM PDT Sunday. The production runs 2 hours and 2 minutes.

Jessica Vosk: Coco Catch up – Birdland – October 10th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Jessica Vosk has appeared on Broadway in Wicked, The Bridges of Madison County, Finding Neverland and the 2015 revival of Fiddler on the Roof. She’s a stunning singer (listen to her contributions to Georgia Stitt‘s A Quiet Revolution) and she has eclectic taste in music, too.

Her album, Wild and Free, is, in a word, delightful.

It finds her singing songs by Sara Bareilles, The Beatles, Jason Robert Brown, Billy Joel, Elton John, Melanie, Prince, Bonnie Raitt, Sia, Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne.

For her concert from Birdland she will mix songs from the album with songs by Eva Cassidy, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. Joining Vosk are Marissa Rosen and Michael DiLiberto.

Tickets for this show are $23.50.

Hold On to Me Darling – The Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theater in Los Angeles – October 11th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Mark Ruffalo, Michael Cera and Gretchen Mol will perform a staged reading of Hold On to Me Darling by Kenneth Longergan on Sunday as a fundraiser for The Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theater in Los Angeles.

New York’s Atlantic Theater Company gave the premiere of Hold On to Me Darling in 2016. The play tells the story of a successful country/western star, Strings McCrane, who moves back to his hometown in Tennessee after his mother has died. Given the playwright, you know there are going to be complications.

Neil Pepe, who directed the original production, directs this staged reading.

Ben Brantley, writing in the New York Times, said of the play and Lonergan’s writing, “In other words, you might expect Mr. Lonergan to have a natural affinity for obsessive, self-sabotaging people. And so it proves with ‘Darling,’ a poignant comic study of the bad faith and bad behavior of a narcissistic celebrity and those around him.”

Ruffalo appeared in Longeran’s films You Can Count on Me and Margaret. Cera has appeared on Broadway in two Lonergan plays, The Waverly Gathering and This Is Our Youth. Mol appeared in his film Manchester By the Sea.

There are two different tickets available to watch Hold On to Me Darling.

For $10 you will be able to watch the reading and the Q&A that will follow. A $100 ticket will add a signed poster by Ruffalo, entry to the Q&A with private chat and the ability to submit, in advance, a question for the cast, Longergan and Pepe.

Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland – Laguna Playhouse – October 11th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Angela Ingersoll has performed in multiple productions of End of the Rainbow as the famed star of A Star Is Born (1954), The Harvey Girls and, of course, The Wizard of Oz.

This two-hour concert will be performed live from Chicago. Ingersoll will sing many of Garland’s classic songs including “Over the Rainbow,” “The Trolley Song,” “Get Happy,” and “The Man That Got Away.” Immediately following the concert will be a talkback for online viewers.

Tickets are $35 per household.

Beth Leavel with Seth Rudetsky – October 11th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Tony Award-winner Beth Leavel joins Seth Rudetsky for this weekend’s show of conversation and music. Leavel won her Tony Award for her performance as the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone. (A truly wonderful performance!)

She’s also received Tony nominations for Baby It’s You and The Prom. (You know that role is good when the upcoming film version by Ryan Murphy has Meryl Streep in that role. In another role reversal, Leavel will be taking on Streep’s role of Miranda Priestly in the Elton John musical of The Devil Wears Prada.)

All this adds up to what should be a terrific show on Sunday. If that showtime doesn’t work for you, there is an encore presentation of the show on Monday, October 12th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets for either time are $25.

Before we conclude Best Bets at Home: October 9th – October 11th, a few reminders:

This week’s new episode of Sound/Stage from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is called Power to the People! from their series that was forced to end early due to the pandemic. The program includes performances of Jessie Montgomery’s Banner; William Grant Still’s Sorrow from his Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American” and Andra Day performing Rise Up from her 2015 album Cheers to the Fall. Gustavo Dudamel conducts.

Here are reminder’s from this week’s Jazz Stream:

October 9th: Abraham Burton Quartet performs from Smalls; SFJazz’s Fridays at Five this week is a Thelonious Monk Celebration; Theo Croker performs from Blue Note in New York; the Cyrus Chestnut Trio performs from Smoke Jazz and Supper Club

October 10th: Cyrus Chestnut Trio (second concert from Smoke); Chick Corea in a solo performance from his studio

October 11th: Melissa Aldana from Smalls

This weekend’s Table Top Shakespeare: At Home offerings are Henry IV, Part 1 on Friday, Henry IV, Part 2 on Saturday and Henry V on Sunday.

Here are the last three operas by Richard Wagner as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Wagner Week: Siegfried on Friday; Götterdämmerung on Saturday and Parsifal on Sunday.

Wagner fans probably already know that Siegfried and Götterdämmerung are the final two operas in the four-opera Ring Cycle. So your interest in watching these two productions this weekend may be predicated on whether or not you’ve been watching this cycle earlier this week or whether or not you want to revisit the last two operas themselves.

There you have multiple options to keep yourself entertained with Best Bets at Home: October 9th – October 11th. Enjoy yourselves. Enjoy the shows!

Photo: Julio Macias, Elia Saldana, Olivia Delgado Young, Xavi Moreno and Esperanza America in A Mexican Trilogy (Photo by Grettel Cortes Photography-Courtesy Latino Theater Company)

The post Best Bets at Home: October 9th – October 11th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Thankfully it appears we will have an even larger number of ways to enjoy culture at home in the weeks and months ahead. This weekend’s best bets include a virtual version of the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, a live-streamed musical from England, a dystopian virtual reality live musical, a concert with two stars of opera and stage and so much more.

Here are your Best Bets at Home: September 25th – September 27th:

From The Ford with Lula Washington Dance Theatre – Now

Cultural Attaché made a big deal about the cancellation of this summer’s Hollywood Bowl season. Lost in the shuffle was the cancellation of the season at The Ford Theatre as well. Much like their colleagues on the other side of the Cahuenga Pass in Los Angeles, they have been presenting some programming on line.

While much of it isn’t programming that we would naturally cover – which does not reflect on its quality at all – this week’s program is a perfect fit.

Los Angeles-based Lula Washington Dance Theatre performed at The Ford in 2018. That performance became available Thursday on The Ford’s Facebook and YouTube pages. The performance (and, in fact, all of the performances they began streaming in August) are available for viewing.

Earlier this year I interviewed Lula Washington as they celebrated their 40th anniversary. You can read that interview here and get more information about this wonderful company.

Monterey Jazz Festival – September 25th – September 27th

Every day this weekend the Monterey Jazz Festival is streaming two-hours of performances by jazz legends. There will be a mix of archived and new performances. The streaming begins each day at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on the festival’s YouTube channel.

The line-up is as follows (and when I last checked there was still a notice that more performances might be added):

Friday, September 25th: Dianne Reeves, Roy Hargrove & RH Factor, Christian Sands (the 2020 and 2021 Monterey Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence), Terri Lyne Carrington – Mosaic Project, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Directed by Gerald Clayton, Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Jamie Cullum and Herbie Hancock.

Saturday, September 26th: Regina Carter, Next Generation Women in Jazz Combo Directed by Katie Thiroux, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Directed by Gerald Clayton, Davina and the Vagabonds, Clint Eastwood in conversation with Tim Jackson, Eastwood at Monterey with Diana Krall & Kenny Barron Trio, Berklee Institute of Jazz & Gender Justice Quintet, Our Native Daughters featuring Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell and a Tribute to Dave Brubeck with Cannery Row Suite featuring Kurt Elling & Roberta Gambarini.

Sunday, September 27th: Sonny Rollins Tribute featuring Jimmy Heath, Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, and Joshua Redman, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, Anat Cohen Tentet, Angela Davis in conversation with Terri Lyne Carrington, Gerald Clayton Quartet, Cooking Demonstration with Lila Downs from her home in Oaxaca, 2012 Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour with musical director Christian McBride and Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals, 2018 Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour with musical director Christian Sands and Cécile McLorin Salvant on vocals and a Tribute to Quincy Jones, “The A&M Years”, featuring Hubert Laws and Valerie Simpson.

There is no charge to watch these programs. Donations are encouraged and will go to the artists performing, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Just Like Us – Latino Theater Company – September 25th – October 4th

Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company continues presenting both archived films of previous productions and readings of new works with a sneak peek of Karen Zacarías’s Just Like Us.

The play depicts the lives for four teenage Latinas. Two girls are undocumented and two are not. As the realities of their separate immigration situations begin to reflect what each girl may or may not be able to accomplish, their friendships get tested.

Zacarías based her play on Helen Thorpe’s best-selling book of the same name. Zacarías (Native Gardens) uses a documentary-style approach to this play.

The cast includes Richard Azurdia, Natalie Camunas, Michelle Castillo, Alicia Coca, Peter Mendoza, Elyse Mirto, Lys Perez, Geoffrey Rivas, Lucy Rodriguez, Kenia Romero and Alexis Santiago. Just Like Us is directed by Fidel Gomez.

While you are at the LATC website (where you can access Just Like Us), you might also notice that Nancy Ma’s Home will be available for viewing. Ma performed her one-person show at LATC last year. The play illuminates Ma’s struggle to accept her own identity when she finds herself torn between her immigrant family’s Chinese Toisan background and her new-found American home.

Miranda: A Steampunk VR Experience – Now – September 26th

In 2013 the first production of Kamala Sankaram’s steampunk opera took place. Seven years later, a new version that takes the work and brings it into the virtual reality world, co-created by Tri-Cities Opera and co-presented by Opera Omaha, is available for free (with advance registration).

Miranda tells the story of three suspects who are on trial for the murder of a wealthy woman. Each of the three defendants will have to testify in order to exonerate themselves. You, the audience, will serve as judge and jury. The entire story takes place in a dystopian feature that appears to be a radical version of our present-day world with steampunk influences.

The performance happens live in real time. Each performer is kept separated in their own motion capture cubicles. Utilizing motion capture gear (think Andy Serkis in the Planet of the Apes remakes) their movement and performances are captured a brought into the 3D virtual environment.

There are three performances each day. The website lays out the various ways you can experience Miranda (you don’t have to have VR gear to do so.)

I honestly don’t know how good this will be, but it is certainly a unique way to bring the performing arts to audiences during the pandemic. The sheer bravado of doing a project this way makes it worthy of inclusion.  

Dances at a Gathering – The Royal Ballet – September 25th – October 24th

Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering was first performed in 1969 by the New York City Ballet. The hour-long work is set to the music of composer Frédéric Chopin.

The Royal Ballet brought the ballet back onto their stages during the 2019-2020 season. It marked the return of this particular Robbins work after an absence of eleven years.

Dances at a Gathering features five couples. The company for this performance includes Luca Acri, Federico Bonelli, William Bracewell, Alexander Campbell, Francesca Hayward, Fumi Kaneko, Laura Morera, Yasmine Naghdi, Marianela Nuñez and Valentino Zucchetti.

Robbins was a five-time Tony Award winner and a two-time Academy Award winner. He’s best known for West Side Story.

The Royal Ballet is charging £3 to view the ballet. That’s just under $4.

Romantics Anonymous – The Wallis – September 26th – 4:00 PM EDT/1:00 PM PDT

For the past few years Emma Rice and Kneehigh have brought their innovative productions of The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk and Brief Encounter to the stage at The Wallis in Beverly Hills.

This year Rice was scheduled to return to the United States with a tour of The Wise Children, Bristol Old Vic and Plush Theatricals Production of the musical Romantics Anonymous, but that was not to be.

Romantics Anonymous is based on the 2010 film Les Émotifs Anonymes. It tells the story of two people who make chocolate and are navigating their way through the world in very different ways. Angélique, who pours her heart and soul into her chocolates, is part of a support group helping her get a better grip on her life. Jean-René listens to self-help tapes while trying to keep his floundering chocolate factory afloat. They are both very emotional people and, of course, fall in love.

The musical was written by Michael Kooman (music) and Christopher Dimond (lyrics). Rice wrote the book.

Lyn Gardner, writing for The Guardian, said of the show, “Romantics Anonymous is a multifaceted gem, chock-full of love, generosity and joy…”

Ever resourceful, Rice and the entire team have taken a unique approach to making their show available. The entire cast and crew have been in quarantine and will be performing the show live at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre on Saturday. The Wallis is one of six companies to host the United States performance.

Romantics Anonymous stars Marc Antolin, Carly Bawden, Me’sha Bryan, Philip Cox, Omari Douglas, Harry Hepple, Sandra Marvin, Laura Jane Matthewson and Gareth Snook.

The cost to watch the show is £21 which is just under $27 (as of the exchange rate on 9/24 when this was written). Romantics Anonymous will only be streamed live on this one date. There will be, however, an audio described version and a closed caption version available on Monday, September 28th at 11:00 AM and 11:30 AM respectively.

A Time to Sing: An Evening with Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams – The Kennedy Center – September 26th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Opera singer Renée Fleming and Tony Award-nominated actress Vanessa Williams team up for this new concert filmed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The women will share the stage and perform songs written by Harold Arlen, Benjamin Britten, Antonín Dvořák, Joni Mitchell, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Stephen Sondheim, Sting and more. There will also be the world premiere of Diva by Andrew Lippa.

Tickets to watch the concert are $15 and will allow access to view A Time to Sing through the rest of 2020.

Open Fist Theatre Company’s 30th Anniversary Virtual Gala – September 26th – 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT

For any theatre company to last thirty years is quite an accomplishment. Los Angeles-based Open Fist Theatre is celebrating that accomplishment with a virtual gala and online auction on Saturday night.

Joining the company during this one-hour event will be Shoshana Bean (Broadway’s Waitress), Jason Paige (For the Record shows) and Ty Taylor (lead singer of Vintage Trouble.)

Since their inception in 1990, Open Fist Theatre Company has produced multiple award-winning productions including Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage, The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union and DeLEARious.

There is no cost to watch the gala. Donations are, of course, encouraged. There are also VIP tickets for a virtual cocktail hour that runs in the 60 minutes prior to the gala’s start. Those tickets are $100.

Those are my choices for your Best Bets at Home: September 25th – September 27th. As usual, I have some reminders for you.

Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new series Sound/Stage launches today on their website. This week’s program is called Love in the Time of Covid and features performances by the orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. Guests include mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and actress María Valverde. Works by Peter Liberson, George Walker and Gustav Mahler will be performed.

This weekend’s Table Top Shakespeare: At Home will have performances of King John on Friday, Titus Andronicus on Saturday and Much Ado About Nothing on Sunday.

Here are this weekend’s listings from this week’s Jazz Stream:

The Nicole Glover Quartet performs live from Smalls on September 25th.

Fridays at Five from SFJAZZ streams at 2014 concert: John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme 50th Anniversary Celebration on September 25th.

The Kenny Barron Trio live at the Village Vanguard streams on September 25th and September 26th.

Ramsey Lewis performs live on September 26th.

The Marcus Strickland Trio live at Blue Note streams on September 26th.

Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussain and Julian Lage perform live from Healdsburg Jazz Festival on September 26th.

This weekend’s operas from the Metropolitan Opera’s Puccini Week are Tosca on Friday, Turandot on Saturday and La Bohème  on Sunday.

That is a lot of options for this weekend’s Best Bets at Home: September 25th – September 27th. Continue to check back at Cultural Attaché for our weekly suggestions to satisfy your desires to see the performing arts.

Main photo: The company of Romantics Anonymous (Photo by Steve Tanner/Courtesy The Wallis)

The post Best Bets at Home: September 25th – September 27th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Let’s get to it. Here are your Best Bets at Home: September 18th – September 20th.

Carmen – Royal Opera House – September 18th – October 17th

Georges Bizet’s most popular opera gets presented with a new perspective in this 2018 Royal Opera House production directed by Barrie Kosky. He is perhaps best-known for his innovative production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute which has been performed all over the world. LA Opera in Los Angeles has performed his production three times…so far.

Georges Bizet collaborated with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy on this immensely popular opera. It was based on Propser Mérimée’s novella of the same name. 

When Carmen was first performed in Paris in 1875 it was considered both shocking and scandalous. 

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.

In Kosky’s production, Carmen (sung by Anna Goryachova) is front and center. The opera is told from her point-of-view. There is a narrator and the production uses music Bizet eliminated from the opera’s earliest performances.

In an interview with the New York Times Kosky said, “Everyone assumes Carmen is what people are used to. A big Spanish spectacle: loud, huge orchestra, huge chorus. Lots of Spain…The piece is not a Spanish opera. It’s a French opera, from the first note. Actually it’s not even a French opera, it’s an operetta that turns into an opera in the fourth act.

“This is the mistake that people make. They assume that it’s a doom-laden story of a Gypsy with black curly hair and gold earrings, and a story of love and sex and whatever. Well, it turns into that, but for the first two thirds of the evening, it’s sunlight, it’s joy, it’s naughtiness, it’s irony. I keep saying to the cast, ‘You’re in an operetta. You are not in ‘le grand opéra.’”

This production of Carmen will be available for one month and does have a fee of £3 (which is equivalent to approximately $4).

Sleep with Angels – Latino Theater Company – September 18th – September 27th

In their continuing series of archived plays and readings of new works, Latino Theater Company is offering a sneak peek of Sleep with Angels. Written by Evelina Fernández, the play is scheduled to have its world premiere with the company next year.

A mysterious woman named Juana shows up on Molly’s doorstep. She arrives just as Molly is in need of someone to watch her children now that she’s separated from her husband.

The kids are charmed by Juana, but who is she?

Sleep with Angels is directed by José Luis Valenzuela. The cast features Aileen Alfaro, Esperanza America, Sandino Gonzalez-Flores, Sal Lopez, Xavi Moreno, Robert Revell, Lucy Rodriguez and Elia Saldana.

The first opportunity to watch Sleep with Angels is at 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT on Friday, September 18th. The reading will be available through September 27th.

While at Latino Theater Company’s website you’ll also notice that a film of their 2010 production of La Victima is also available. This was the company’s first show and it starred the late Lupe Ontiveras. La Victima will be available for viewing through September 24th.

Now Hear This “Haydn: King of Strings” – PBS Great Performances – September 18th (check local listings)

The work of composer Franz Joseph Haydn is explored in this one-hour show on PBS’s Great Performances. In particular, host Scott Yoo will explore the role folk music from Austria, Hungary and Scotland played in informing the composer’s composition of his Emperor Quartet. Haydn is considered the father of the string quartet having written 68 of them.

Amongst his guests are violinist Geoff Nuttall and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

Jack DeJohnette/Don Byron/Matt Garrison – Shapeshifter Lab – September 19th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

Simply put, Jack DeJohnette is one of the most important drummers in the history of jazz. His collaborations have included recordings and performances with John Abercrombie, Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Keith Jarrett, Charles Lloyd and John Scofield. And that’s just a few of a very extensive list of credits.

On Saturday he will be performing live from home with bassist Matthew Garrison and clarinetist Don Byron.

Garrison, the son of John Coltrane bassist Jimmy Garrison, has recorded and performed with a broad range of artists that spans from Betty Carter to Whitney Houston; The Gil Evans Orchestra to Paul Simon and Tito Puente to Joni Mitchell.

Byron is a musician, teacher and composer. His range of musical styles vacillates from jazz to klezmer and includes composing for films and for such ensembles as the Kronos Quartet.

Tickets to watch this performance require a minimum donation of $20. The performance will remain available for three days after the live stream on Saturday.

Anna Karenina – Broadway on Demand – September 19th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Not all musicals are happy. Case in point is this Russian musical by Roman Ignatyev and librettist Yully Kim. Based on Leo Tolstoy’s tragic love story between Anna Karenina and military officer Alexey Vronsky. The musical is set in the late 19th century amongst Russian nobility.

Ekaterina Guseva plays Anna and Sergey Lee plays Alexey. Alina Chevik directs and choreography is by Irina Korneeva.

The musical is sung in Russian with English subtitles.

This production was filmed in front of a live audience in 2018. The pay-per-view price is $5.99. Anna Karenina will also be available for two days afterwards to rent for the same amount.

Miss Saigon (another not-happy musical) had a helicopter land on stage. I’m sure the train required for Anna Karenina will make that accomplishment seem terribly outdated.

A Marvellous Party – Broadway on Demand – September 20th – 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT

I’ll Leave It To You marked the first time playwright/actor Noël Coward had a play of his performed in London’s West End. He also appeared in the show. I’ll Leave It To You opened at the New Theatre on July 21, 1920 and ran for 37 performances. The rest, as they say, is history.

Coward went on to write such plays as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit.

In 2006 the New Theatre was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre.

To celebrate this centenary, The Noël Coward Foundation is presenting an all-star event called A Marvellous Party. His words and music will be performed (in either self-recorded performances at home or performances filmed following Covid-19 guidelines) by Kate Burton, Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Montego Glover, Derek Jacobi, Josh James, Cush Jumbo, Robert Lindsay, Kristine Nielsen, Bebe Neuwirth, Julian Ovenden, Patricia Routledge, Kate Royal, Emma Thompson, Giles Terera, Indira Varma and Lia Williams.

A Marvellous Party will remain available on demand for two weeks (or a fortnight as Coward might say.)

There is no charge to watch the show, but you will need to register to do so. Donations to Acting for Others and The Actors Fund are encouraged.

Judy Kuhn with Seth Rudetsky – September 20th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

In this week’s Seth Rudetsky concert series, four-time Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn joins for conversation and song. Kuhn originated the role of Helen Bechdel in Fun Home (one of her Tony nominations). Her other nominations came for her performances in Les Misérables (as Cosette); Chess (as Florence) and the 1993 revival of She Loves Me (as Amalia Balash).

She also memorably played Fosca in the Classic Stage Company’s 2013 production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Passion.

There will be an encore presentation of this show on Monday, September 21st at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. The show will also be available for pay-per-view viewing next week. Tickets for all viewings are $25.

Erasing Borders Dance Festival – Indo-American Arts Council – September 20th – September 27th

The multitude of dances found in India are celebrated in the Erasing Borders Dance Festival. This is the 12th year of the festival and, for obvious reasons, this year the festival is online. Each program can be found on the Indo-American Arts Council’s Facebook page (link in the title).

Each program becomes available at 8:30 PM EDT/5:30 PM PDT. The line-up is as follows:

Sunday, September 20th: Shambhu Nath Karmakar/Ashpara Care Club (Purulia Chhau)
Monday, September 2st: Neha Mondal Chakravarty (Kalakshetra Bharatanatyam) and Krishnakshi Kashyap (Sattriya)
Tuesday, September 22nd: Ganesh Vasudeva (Bharatanatyam)
Wednesday, September 23rd: Divyaa Unni (Bharatanatyam) and Arun Mathai (Bharatanatyam)
Thursday, September 24th: Sandhya Raju (Kuchipudi)
Friday, September 25th: Damir Tasmagambetov (Kalakshetra Bharatanatyam) and Barkha Patel (Contemporary Kathak)
Saturday, September 26th: Mesma Belsaré (Shilpa Natana)
Sunday, September 27th: Vishwakiran Nambi (Contemporary) and workshops by Nahid Siddiqui (Sufi Kathak)

Those are my selections for your Best Bets at Home: September 18th – September 20th. Before we go, a few reminders:

Los Angeles area audiences can watch In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on PBS SoCal on September 18th at 8:00 PM. This week’s show is Musica Sin Fronteras and features performances from Café Tacvba, Columbian singer/songwriter Carlos Vives, Florida’s Siudy Garrido Flamenco Dance Theatre all in performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

New to our listings is Table Top Shakespeare: At Home. These unique presentations of Shakespeare’s plays got launched on Thursday. This weekend’s performances (which are all free to watch) are Perciles on Friday; The Merchant of Venice on Saturday and A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Sunday. All performances are live at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Some reminders from this week’s Jazz Stream:

Fridays at Five from SFJAZZ offers a 2017 concert by jazz legend Wayne Shorter.

The Bill Frisell Trio performs Friday from New York’s Blue Note.

Pianist Bill Charlap and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis perform from the Village Vanguard on Friday and Saturday.

The Ehud Asherie Trio performs from Smalls on Saturday.

Trumpeter Keyon Harrold performs from Blue Note on Saturday.

For opera fans, here are reminders of this week’s programming from the Metropolitan Opera:

This week’s Bel Canto series concludes with Bellini’s I Puritani on Friday; Donizetti’s L’Elisir de Amore on Saturday and Bellini’s Norma on Sunday.

Eclectic right? Those are your Best Bets at Home: September 18th – September 20th. Let me know what you watched and what you thought in our comments section. Enjoy your weekend!

Main photo: Anna Goryachova and ensemble in “Carmen” (©2017 ROH/Photo by Bill Cooper)

The post Best Bets at Home: September 18th – September 20th 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.

Your options this weekend have something for everyone. Classical music fans have four different concerts to watch. Opera fans have two different productions available. Fans of plays have a couple options. Three different Broadway stars have concerts this weekend. You can attend a high-end karaoke with music and stage stars in your pajamas. Jazz fans have an all-star concert. Finally, Broadway says goodbye to one of the most public victims of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here are your Best Bets at Home: September 4th – September 7th:

Pacific Symphony’s Summer Replay – Pacific Symphony – Various Dates through October 24th

Orange County’s Pacific Symphony has a series of filmed concerts available on their website for free viewing. You have to sign up to watch them, but classical music fans have three concerts available now with a forth becoming available on Thursday, September 10th. They are:

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 performed on September 16, 2017 conducted by Carl. St. Clair (available through September 12th)

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 performed on May 20, 2017 by pianist Orli Shaham. Conducted by Carl St. Clair (available through September 26th)

Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique performed on February 7, 2020 conducted by Carl. St. Clair (available through October 10th)

On September 10th the Virtual Tchaikovsky Spectacular will become available through October 24th. The program features works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture complete with live cannons and fireworks.

The Last Angry Brown Hat – Latino Theater Company – September 4th – September 13th

Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company will offer a reading of the play The Last Angry Brown Hat by Alfredo Ramos. The play depicts the reunion of four friends who, in the 1960s, were members of a Chicago civil rights organization named the Brown Berets. When they come together for a friend’s funeral, they try to reconcile the angry young men they once were with the more mature men they have become.

The cast features Robert Beltran, Mike Gomez, Sal Lopez and Geoffrey Rivas. The Last Angry Brown Man is directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela.

While you are at the LATC website, you might notice that two other plays are available for streaming: an online reading of Alberto Barboza’s August 29th (through September 6th) and an archival film of Jose Luis Valenzuela’s La Olla (through September 10th).

Eleanor – Barrington Stage Company – September 4th – September 5th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

Tony Award-winning actress Harriet Harris, who won the award for her performance in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, will take on legendary first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in this new play by Mark St. Germain (Freud’s Last Session).

In this one-person show, Roosevelt offers her perspective on her unlikely journey from her relatively mundane upbringing to becoming the wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Her life has been subject to endless speculation on multiple levels.

How St. Germain distills this fascinating woman into his play should be quite interesting.

This production was originally meant to be performed live at Barrington Stage Company this weekend. Director Henry Stram filmed the play without an audience. Barrington Stage Company is making the play available for streaming for the price of $15.

Kate Baldwin in Concert – Broadway Relief Project – September 5th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

New York’s Broadway Relief Project offers three great things in our current pandemic. The first is a live performance with a socially-distanced audience and artist; the second is a fundraiser for worthy causes and the last is the ability to livestream the performance. The concerts take place at Open Jar Studios.

On Saturday, Kate Baldwin will perform as a fundraiser for Active Minds, a non-profit addressing the issue of mental health.

Baldwin is a two-time Tony Award nominee for her delightful performances in the 2009 revival of Finian’s Rainbow and the 2017 revival of Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler.

Not all livestream concerts in this series are free, but Kate Baldwin’s does appear to be without a fee to watch. Of course, donations are encouraged.

Rossini’s Sonatas – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – September 5th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

The fifth and final concert in Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Summerfest series features the works of composer Gioachino Rossini. The works being performed are his String Sonata No. 3 in C Major and the String Sonata No. 6 in D Major.

Spearheading this concert is Principal Bass player David Grossman. He is joined for the Rossini by Carrie Kennedy and Joel Pargman on violin and Andrew Shulman on cello.

The concert will conclude with Grossman performing improvisations on the Fats Waller song Honeysuckle Rose.

If you are unable to watch the stream of this performance at it scheduled time, the performance will be available for later viewing on LACO’s website.

Jazz Musicians UNITE Against Racism Concert – Just Jazz Television Network – September 5th – 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT

Eleven very different jazz artists have come together for the second Jazz Musicians UNITE Against Racism livestream concert on Saturday night. Singer Dwight Trible and producer/journalist LeRoy Downs will host the three-hour event.

The artists participating are pianist/composer Billy Childs, singer Carmen Lundy, percussionist Munyungo Jackson, singer Tierney Sutton, saxophonist Bob Sheppard, percussionist/drummer Jonathan Pinson, drummer/composer Christian Euman, pianist Jamael Dean, bass player Dave Robaire, pianist Tamir Hendelman and bassist/composer Jonathan Richards.

Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda – Great Performances at the Met on PBS – September 6th (check local listings)

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Elza van den Heever, Joyce DiDonato and Matthew Polenzani. This David McVicar production is from the 2012-2013 season.

If you follow our weekly updates of the Metropolitan Opera streaming schedule, this is the same production the Met streamed on April 28th

Mary, Queen of Scots, is the central figure in this opera written by Gaetano Donizetti that had its world premiere in 1835 at La Scala in Milan. The libretto by Guiseppe Bardari, was based on Friedrich von Schiller’s play, Mary Stuart, from 1800. The opera is part of the composer’s Tudor Trilogy along with Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux.

The opera depicts the bitter rivalry that existed between Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I.

Of DiDonato’s performance in the title role, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times said, “Ms. DiDonato’s performance will be pointed to as a model of singing in which all components of the art form — technique, sound, color, nuance, diction — come together in service to expression and eloquence.”

Nick Cordero Memorial – BroadwayonDemand.com – September 6th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

We all followed the horrible story of Broadway performer Nick Cordero and his battle with Covid. Through Instagram updates from his wife, Amanda Kloots, we were all rooting for him to pull through. Sadly he passed away on July 5th.

Friends, family and fellow performers are coming together on Sunday to celebrate Cordero’s life with a memorial that will be streamed for free. The tribute will include performances by some of the many people with whom he shared the stage in such musicals as A Bronx Tale, Bullets Over Broadway, Waitress, and Rock of Ages. Expect photos, videos and memories as part of the memorial.

Thee is no charge to watch Nick Cordero’s memorial. You do need to create an account on Broadway on Demand. The event also serves as a fundraiser for the Save the Music Foundation. Donations can be made by texting CORDERO to 41444.

Brandon Victor Dixon in Concert – Broadway Relief Project – September 6th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

As part of the same series as Kate Baldwin’s concert, Brandon Victor Dixon, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Judas in 2018’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live on Concert, will take to the Open Jar Studios stage in support of WeAre.Org. They are an organization that utilizes artists and the arts to further awareness of our shared humanity and responsibilities.

As anyone who saw Jesus Christ Superstar knows, Dixon is a powerful performer. His Broadway credits include The Color Purple, Motown: The Musical; Hamilton and Shuffle Along, Or the Making of a Musical Sensation and All that Followed. He also appeared off-Broadway in the enormously moving Kander and Ebb musical, The Scottsboro Boys.

There is a $5 fee for watching this livestream.

Karen Olivo with Seth Rudetsky – September 6th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Karen Olivo made her Broadway debut in the musical Rent. She then originated the roles of Faith in the musical Brooklyn and Vanessa in the musical In the Heights. She won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Anita in the 2009 revival of West Side Story. She was on Broadway in the role of Satine in the musical Moulin Rouge! when Broadway closed due to the pandemic.

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest this week for his conversation/concert series. Sunday’s show will be live. If you cannot watch it then there will be an encore showing of the concert on September 7th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets to either showing are $25.

Massenet’s Manon – Metropolitan Opera – September 7th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

Since we’re including Monday due to the holiday, here is the first reveal of one of the operas to be found in this week’s celebration of French operas. (For the full line-up, check back on Monday.)

Conducted by Fabio Luisi, starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, and Paulo Szot. This is the Laurent Pelly production from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that previously streamed on May 24th.

A young woman from a small town has an intense desire to lavish herself with all the riches and pleasures life has to offer her. Sounds like a story that could be written today.

Massenet’s opera was composed in 1883 and had its world premiere in January of 1884 in Paris. The libretto is by  Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille. They based the opera on the 1731 Abbé Prévost novel, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut.

There is always one main reason why this opera gets produced and the same reason that audiences love it. The soprano title role. In this production, Anna Netrebko sings Manon.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, made all of this abundantly clear in his review of this production and singled Netrebko out for praise. 

“The best parts of Massenet’s score are its inspired arias, especially for Manon. In places Ms. Netrebko’s low-range singing had an earthy, almost breathy quality that seemed Russian in character. But when she needed to, she sang melting phrases with silken legato and shimmering beauty, especially her poignant performance of ‘Adieu, notre petite table’ in Act II. Though she does not have perfect coloratura technique, she ably dispatches the roulades and runs, folding them deftly into extended melodic phrases. And she can send top notes soaring.”

Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – September 7th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

We’ve written several times about Jim Caruso’s Cast Party. The show is an institution in New York and takes place at Birdland. Like many a show, Cast Party is now online and the dress code is truly comfortable: pajamas.

If you aren’t familiar, Cast Party finds performers from Broadway, jazz, popular song and more showing up to talk and perform.

This Monday’s guests include Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) who will be joined by his Michael to offer the world premiere of a new song; Derek Klena (Jagged Little Pill); Australian musical theatre star Stephen Mahy (Jekyll and Hyde) and Broadway veteran Terry Burell (The Threepenny Opera).

There is no charge to watch Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party.

That’s it for your Best Bets at Home: September 4th – September 7th. But as always, we have some reminders for you:

Los Angeles area audiences can catch In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on September 4th on PBS SoCal at 8:00 PM PDT. This week’s concert celebrates jazz performances.

Speaking of jazz, here are reminders from this week’s Jazz Stream:

Detroit Jazz Festival streams all weekend from September 4th – September 7th

Kenny Werner Trio Live at Smalls on September 4th

Dee Dee Bridgewater’s SFJazz Concert from 2017 is featured on September 4 as part of their Fridays at Five series

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s 2020 concert from New York’s Blue Note is streaming on September 4th

Melissa Aldana Quartet performs Live at Smalls on September 5th.

Reminders from this week’s Metropolitan Opera productions:

The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess streams on Friday and Saturday, September 4th and 5th.

Thomas Adés’s The Tempest streams on Sunday, September 6th.

That is our complete list of Best Bets at Home: September 4th – September 7th.

I hope you have a safe, happy and wonderful holiday weekend.

Photo: Nick Cordero (Courtesy of Broadway on Demand)

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