Amongst this weekend’s options are a pithy hostess talking to Broadway stars; the reading of a play with a star-studded cast; the world premiere of a new work from one of classical music’s fastest-rising composers; two opera performances and so much more.

So let’s get started. Here are your Culture Best Bets at Home: August 21st – August 23rd:

The Black Clown – Harlem Week – August 21st – 4:00 PM EDT/1:00 PM PDT

Every summer the city of New York celebrates everything Harlem. This year’s Harlem Week is taking place mostly online. A real highlight of this year’s festival is the audio streaming of excerpts from The Black Clown.

Davóne Tines, who originated the role of adult Charles in Terence Blanchard‘s opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones, created this work with Michael Schachter and Zack Winokur. It is based on Langston Hughes’ poem of the same name.

The Black Clown had its world premiere at the 2019 Mostly Mozart Festival. The poem, and this adaptation of it, depicts how one man handles oppression in America. It’s a work that utilizes multiple forms including jazz, opera vaudeville, gospel and spirituals.

The cast of The Black Clown includes Davóne Tines, Sumayya Ali, Darius Barnes, Dawn Bless, Jonathan Christopher, LaVon Fisher-Wilson, Lindsey Hailes, Evan Tyrone Martin, Jhardon DiShon Martin, Brandon Michael Nase, Amber Pickens, Jamar Williams and Hailee Kaleem Wright.

In an interview with Ryan Ebright of the New York Times, Tines said, “With The Black Clown, Hughes was tapping into and providing a blueprint for how social justice has happened in the past, how it needed to happen in his time, and how it needs to happen today.”

Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network YouTube Page – August 21st – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

If you think of actress Julie Halston (and you should), you probably think of her as both playwright Charles Busch’s muse and one of his most frequent actors. What you may not know is that she’s also one of the pithiest people hosting a theatre-centric online talk show. It’s called Virtual Halston.

Halston’s show is part of Jim Caruso’s Cast Party Network and it involves the same level of of fun. Halston talks directly to the audience, with Caruso and also with special guests.

This week’s guest are actors Mercedes Ruehl and Michael Urie who played mother and son in the 2017 revival of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy (which for this production was renamed Torch Song). The show transferred to Broadway in 2018 for a sadly much shorter run than this amazing production deserved.

Each week’s Virtual Halston is archived. So feel free to peruse the previous episodes with guests Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon); Colman Domingo (The Scottsboro Boys); Jessica Vosk (Fiddler on the Roof), Mary Testa (Oklahoma); Marilu Henner and so many more.

One word of warning: if you watch one episode you’ll find yourself hours later having watched several. Oh…and bring a cocktail. This is truly a happy hour.

Broadway for Racial Justice Amplified Concert – August 21st – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

As Black Lives Matters protests became more prevalent across the country, it was inevitable that Broadway would get involved. It was also inevitable that racism in theatre was going to get addressed as well.

One new organization launching on September 1st is the Broadway for Racial Justice Emergency Assistance Fund. To raise money for the organization they are putting on an online concert with both Broadway veterans and new performers who are starting to make a name for themselves.

Tony Award winner Patina Miller (Pippin) and Brandon Michael Nase (Cats) serve as hosts. Scheduled to perform are Hailey Kilgore (Once on This Island), Solea Pfeiffer (Hamilton), Shoshana Bean (Wicked), Tony Award-winner Jessie Mueller (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) and Skylar Astin (Spring Awakening and television’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist – which if you haven’t watched, you should).

Joining will be Kalen Allen, Brittany Campbell (Hamilton), Kayla Davion (Tina), Deon’te Goodman (Hamilton), singer/songwriter Sapphire Hart, Morgan James (Motown: The Musical), Andre Malcolm, Arianne Meneses, Joey Rosario, and the band Empty Royalty

Broadway for Racial Justice Amplified streams at 8 PM ET on YouTube. There is no charge to watch the concert, but donations are encouraged.

Andrew Owens Living Room Recital – LA Opera – August 21st – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Tenor Andrew Owens has performed numerous roles in opera all over the world. Amongst the operas in which he’s appeared are Lucia di Lammermoor, Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Fidelio, I due Foscari and Die Zauberflöte.

There was a time when every tenor wanted to have a career like Mario Lanza’s. He was a tenor who rose to fame both as a singer and as an actor. He was, at the time of his death in 1959, considered the world’s most famous tenor.

Owens will celebrate Lanza in this Living Room Recital on LA Opera’s website (and their Facebook page). Joining him for the recital will be pianist Chris Reynolds and flautist Jessica Warren.

LA Opera archives these recitals, so if you can’t watch Andrew Owens as it happens, or want to see other recitals, they are available for viewing.

Judgment Day – Barrington Stage Company – August 22nd – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

Berkshire County’s Barrington Stage Company has sent multiple productions from their stage to Broadway. Most famously they held the world premiere of the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A 2013 revival of On the Town also made its way to Manhattan.

This weekend they will have a reading of Rob Ulin’s comedy Judgment Day. Ulin is the co-executive producer of Ramy and has written one episode of the show. He’s also produced and written for The Kids Are Alright, Young Sheldon and The Carmichael Show.

Judgment Day depicts the story of a sleazy lawyer who, after a near-death experience with an angel who threatens to condemn him to hell for all eternity, attempts to redeem himself and his soul.

The reading features an all-star cast: Jason Alexander plays Sammy Campo, the lawyer. Patti LuPone plays the Angel. Santino Fontana plays a priest struggling with his faith. Michael McKean plays the monsignor who oversees Fontana’s character.

Loretta Devine (Dreamgirls), Josh Johnston, Bianca Laverne Jones, Julian Emile Lerner, Justina Machado (One Day at a Time), Carol Mansell, Michael Mastro and Elizabeth Stanley (Jagged Little Pill) are also part of the cast. Matthew Penn directs.

You can watch the performance live on Saturday or you can watch it through August 25th. There is a donation of $35 required to view Judgment Day. Once you have made the donation you will receive a link to the reading.

The Fairy Queen – Glyndebourne – August 23rd – August 30th

Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen had its world premiere in London in 1692. Rather curiously it has an anonymous libretto which was inspired by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

Historians consider The Fairy Queen to have followed in the 16th century tradition of “masques.” A masque was a piece of entertainment meant to serve as both an allegory and to cater to the ego of their patrons. Music, dancing, acting, singing, costumes and stage design were of heightened importance.

This 2009 production at Glyndebourne features a new edition of the score by Bruce Wood and Andrew Pinnock and was directed by Jonathan Kent.

Starring are Lucy Crowe, Carolyn Sampson and Ed Lyon. William Christie leads the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Kate Kellaway, writing for The Guardian, said of this production:

“The first thing to say about Jonathan Kent’s magnificently inventive, entertaining and saucy production is that it is, emphatically, not for purists or for nervous baroque enthusiasts. Anyone hoping for a Fairy Queen of gilded fountains and peaceful forests should steer clear. But for everyone else, this production is a gas, and although more London Palladium than East Sussex pastoral, it is hard to imagine a more brilliantly creative approach to the work.”

Spiva & Hollywood’s Golden Age – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – August 22nd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

LA Chamber Orchestra continues their Summerfest series of safely performed chamber music concerts from the stage of Zipper Hall at the Colburn School. There are two things that make this concert the most interesting one so far from LACO.

The first is the instrumentation. For this concert there are two bassoons (Kenneth Munday and Damian Montano) and two celli (Armen Kasjikian and Giovanna Moraga Clayton).

Most exciting is the concert will serve as the world premiere of Derrick Spiva Jr.‘s Hum. Spiva, who was recently named Artistic Advisor to LACO, is one of our most interesting young composers. He is a prolific composer with commissions from multiple orchestra and performance ensembles.

In addition to Hum, the programs scheduled to include Franz Christoph Neubauer’s Cello Duet No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 10, I. Allegro; Michel Corrette’s Le Phénix; Johann Sebastian’s Bach’s Komm, süsser Tod, BWV 478; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Three Canons; George Gershwin’s Summertime from Porgy and Bess; David Raksin’s Theme from Laura; Charles Gounod’s Marche funèbre d’une marionnette and the Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher song The Rainbow Connection.

The concert is scheduled to run 40 minutes. It will be archived on LACO’s website for later viewing.

Rachel Bay Jones and Seth Rudetsky – August 23rd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Rachel Bay Jones may not be the best-known Broadway star, but for anyone who saw her originate the role of Heidi Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, you know exactly why she received a Tony Award for her performance.

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest this week in his series of conversations and performance with Broadway luminaries.

Amongst her other Broadway shows are Pippin, Hair, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Off-Broadway she appeared in First Daughter Suite at the Public Theatre and, of course, the sold-out pre-Broadway run of Dear Evan Hansen.

As with all Seth Rudetsky concerts, there will be an encore streaming on Monday, August 24th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets for either time are $25.

That’s this week’s Best Bets: August 21st – August 23rd. You know I have some reminders for you, too:

For those in the Los Angeles area, PBS SoCal will air In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, August 21st at 8:00 PM PDT. This first episode is Hecho en Mexico.

Fridays at Five from SFJazz features a concert by Grammy Award-winning singer Dianne Reeves.

The operas available from the Metropolitan Opera this weekend are Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra on Friday, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia on Saturday and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel on Sunday.

Legendary drummer Andrew Cyrille performs from the stage at the Village Vanguard on Friday and Saturday.

That’s it for Best Bets: August 21st – August 23rd. Enjoy your weekend.

Photo: Jotham Annan in The Fairy Queen (©Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Photo by Richard Hubert Smith)

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: August 21st – August 23rd appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

On Thursday, July 16th, Broadway Barks will take place at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT and can be watched on Broadway.com’s Facebook page.

This year marks the 22nd annual event. Each event features celebrities and shelter pets that are available for adoption. This year, with the pandemic, animals and celebrities are being paired up within the safety of their homes.

Peters and her colleagues have assembled a great line-up of talent:

Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Betty Buckley, Danny Burstein, Michael Cerveris, Kristin Chenoweth, Victoria Clark, Alan Cumming, Ted Danson, Ariana DeBose, Raúl Esparza, Gloria Estefan, Sutton Foster, Victor Garber, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Joel Grey, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal, Julie Halston, Jon Hamm, Emmylou Harris, Sean Hayes, Hugh Jackman, Andy Karl, Nathan Lane, Laura Linney, Rebecca Luker, Audra McDonald, Malcolm McDowell, Laurie Metcalf, Bette Midler, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rita Moreno, Bebe Neuwirth, Alex Newell, Kelli O’Hara, Orfeh, Mandy Patinkin, Randy Rainbow, Andrew Rannells, John Stamos, Mary Steenburgen, Will Swenson, Michael Urie, Nia Vardalos, Adrienne Warren and Vanessa Williams. 

32 different shelters will participate both in providing dogs and cats available for adoption and in receiving money raised during the event. There is no cost to join Broadway Barks online, but donations are encouraged.

Every year Broadway Barks is a hugely successful pet adoption event. Over the twenty-two years it has taken place they have been able to place approximately 85% of the animals. That means if you fall in love with one of the dogs or cats you see online, you better act quickly!

During Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert, Michael Urie talked about how passionate Peters is in rescuing animals. He said that she regularly goes to shelters that have a “kill policy” (meaning that animals will be euthanized after a certain amount of time has passed) and takes them to shelters that do not have the same policy.

She and co-founder Mary Tyler Moore found a way to take their passion for our four-legged friends and add their celebrity to help animals find homes.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway.com are producing the event. Paul Wontorek, who produced the recent Buyer and Cellar and Take Me to the World events, produces for Broadway.com

Photo: Bernadette Peters at the 2018 Broadway Barks events (Photo by Emilio Madrid for Broadway.com/Courtesy of Broadway.com)

The post Broadway Barks Online appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

On November 9, 2009, Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters held a concert at the Minskoff Theatre in New York. The concert was a fundraiser for two organizations near and dear to her heart: Broadway Barks and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. That performance, Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert, will be streamed this Friday, July 10th, at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on Broadway Cares’ Facebook page and YouTube channels. It will also be streamed on Playbill.com and iHeartRadioBroadway.com.

Peters was last seen on Broadway in the revival of Hello, Dolly! She received Tony Awards for her performances in the 1999 revival of Annie Get Your Gun and in 1986’s Song and Dance. She received Tony nominations for her performances in Gypsy, The Goodbye Girl, Sunday in the Park with George, Mack and Mabel and On the Town.

The concert will features songs from her stage career and other Broadway material. You can expect music by Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jule Styne and more. Richard Jay-Alexander directed the live event and the music director was Marvin Laird.

Special guests who appeared at the concert include her good friend and co-founder of Broadway Barks, the late Mary Tyler Moore. Broadway Barks was founded in 1988 as an organization to find homes for shelter animals.

Joining Peters for this “watch party” will be actor Michael Urie. The two will discuss Peters’ career prior to the start of the concert.

The only other way to have seen this performance is to have been one of the ticket holders in 2009. Since the Minskoff Theatre has a capacity of 1,621, that means only a very few were able to see Peters at this concert.

You don’t need to pay to watch this one-time-only streaming. However, donations are encouraged. There are also sponsorship opportunities for those who want to do even more for BC/EFA.

I’ve seen Peters both in concert and in multiple musicals. You won’t want to miss this if you are a fan of her or this music.

Photo of Bernadette Peters courtesy of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

The post Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert – UPDATED appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

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

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

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

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

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

Jeremy Herrin directed This House.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Allegiance was directed by Stafford Arima.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Niv Ashkenazi: Violins of Hope – The Soraya Facebook Page – April 17th – 7 PM EDT/4PM PDT

Violins of Hope is a program celebrating the recovery and restoration of over 60 stringed instruments from the Holocaust. They were restored by Amnon Weinstein, and his son, Avshalom, in Tel Aviv.

The Soraya had scheduled several events around the Violins of Hope, but those have been postponed due to the pandemic. While they have been rescheduled for early 2021, Niv Ashkenazi will give a concert on one of those violins on Friday.

Ashkenazi is the only musician in North America who has been loaned one of these precious instruments. He recently released an album entitled, appropriately enough, Niv Ashkenazi: The Violins of Hope.

For this live streaming event, Ashkenazi will perform the “Theme from Schindler’s List” by John Williams, “The Chassid” by Julius Chajes, an improvisation on Ernest Bloch’s “Baal Shem, II. Nigun” and George Perlman’s “Dance of the Rebbitzen.”

Prior to the performance, The Soraya’s Executive Director Thor Steingraber will conduct a conversation with Ashkenazi about Violins of Hope and his recording.

Celebrating 25 Magical Years of Disney on Broadway – BroadwayWorld – April 17th – 7 PM EDT/4 PM PDT

Last November, Disney celebrated a quarter century of musicals on Broadway with a concert at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York. The event was a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

That concert, which featured veteran cast members from Disney’s many shows, is being streamed as an additional fundraiser for BC/EFA, but this time for their Covid-19 Emergency Assistance Fund. There is no charge to watch the show, but they are asking for donations.

As you probably know, Disney has had many a blockbuster musical on Broadway. Their shows include Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, AIDA and Frozen.

Amongst the performers at this concert are Sierra Boggess, Norm Lewis and Sherie Renee Scott from The Little Mermaid, Christian Borle and Ashley Brown from Mary Poppins, Kerry Butler and Susan Egan from Beauty and the Beast, Merle Dandrige, Mandy Gonzalez and Adam Pascal from AIDA, James Monroe Iglehart, Adam Jacobs and Michael James Scott from Aladdin plus a reunion of cast members from Newsies.

Additional participants include Gavin Creel (Hello, Dolly!), Whoopi Goldberg (the original film version of The Lion King), Ashley Park (Mean Girls) and more.

Soft Power Listening Party – Public Theater NY YouTube Channel – April 17th – 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT

When Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang’s musical-within-a-play Soft Power played the Ahmanson Theatre in 2018 it proved to be a wholly unique way of telling a story through both a play and a musical. I loved it.

The show was reworked and opened at The Public Theater in New York and that cast recored the show. Soft Power was just made available on Ghostlight Records in the digital and streaming formats.

To celebrate the release, some of the cast and the creators of the show are holding a listening party on The Public Theater’s YouTube channel. They are also raising funds for both The Public Theater and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The Phantom of the Opera – The Show Must Go On YouTube Page – April 17th – beginning at 2 PM EDT/11 AM PDT for 48 hours

Andrew Lloyd Webber continues to make performances of his musicals available for 48 hours with this version of his blockbuster musical The Phantom of the Opera.

This production stars Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, Sierra Boggess as Cristine Daaé and Hadley Fraser Raoul. Nick Morris and Laurence Connor directed this 25th Anniversary performance at the Royal Albert Hall.

Attaca Quartet performs Caroline Shaw’s Orange – The Greene Space YouTube Page

If you aren’t familiar with composer Caroline Shaw, this is a great opportunity to get introduced to her work. Orange, performed here by the Attaca Quartet, is one of Shaw’s highly-acclaimed works. Their recording of Orange won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Musical/Small Ensemble Performance.

Shaw is the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Partita for 8 Voices.

This performance comes from a 2019 performance at WNYC/WQXR’s The Greene Space.

TCM Classic Film Festival: Special Home Edition – Turner Classic Movies – Now – April 20th

The annual TCM Classic Film Festival had to be canceled due to the ongoing crisis. However, they have moved the festival from Hollywood to your living room. For fans of theatre and jazz there are a few options worth checking out (whether you have never seen them or want a chance to revisit them!) Note that some are not showing at convenient times (unless you are an insomniac) so set your DVR.

Grey Gardens – April 18th 1:30 AM EDT/April 17th 10:30 PM PDT

This is the documentary that inspired the Tony Award-winning musical. The Maysles Brothers (Albert and David) made an utterly compelling film about Jackie Kennedy’s aunt, Edith Bouvier Beale (79) and cousin, Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale (56). They live in a completely rundown mansion on Long Island with no running water that is filled with multiple animals including numbers cats and raccoons in the attic.

The Man with the Golden Arm – April 18th 6:00 AM EDT/3:00 AM PDT

This 1955 film by Otto Preminger makes our list because Elmer Bernstein’s score is so driven by jazz. Not the first film to use jazz as the style of a film score, but certainly one of the best.

Frank Sinatra stars as an ex-junkie who returns home after half-a-year in prison. While in prison he not only got clean, but learned to play drums. Upon his return he has to face the real world and whether or not he has fully recovered from his heroin addiction.

Both Sinatra and Bernstein were Oscar-nominated for their work on this film. Another reason to check out the film is Saul Bass’s amazing title sequence.

Mame – April 19th 3:30 PM EDT/12:30 PM PDT

This is the classic Rosalind Russell film from 1958 that is truly essential viewing. Mame tells the same story as Jerry Herman’s musical (and the subsequent disaster of a film of that musical with Lucille Ball), but Russell’s performance here is superb. Fans of the musical will want to check out this film. In our troubled times perhaps we can all take some sage advice from our dear Auntie Mame.

Singin’ in the Rain – April 19th 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

One of Hollywood’s best musicals ever and recently on the list of best films to watch during the pandemic. Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds star. Watch this film and you’ll be singing “Good Morning” on Monday.

Victor, Victoria – April 20th 3:30 AM EDT/12:30 AM PDT

Blake Edwards’s 1982 film musical was, of course, the basis for the Broadway musical. Julie Andrews stars as a woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman, who becomes a singing sensation in Paris. But she has to maintain the disguise just as she falls in love with a gangster played by James Garner.

The film also stars a phenomenal Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren and Alex Karras.

The songs were written by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse.

The Verdi Chorus: The Force of Destiny – The Verdi Chorus Website and Facebook Page – April 18th – 10:30 PM EDT/ 7:30 PM PDT

Forced to cancel their planned April 18th concert, The Verdi Chorus is going to stream their first online concert: The Force of Destiny. This was their 2018 concert that featured selections from Verdi’s La forza del destino, Nabucco and La Traviata. It also included music from Strauss’s Die Fledermaus.

Joining the Verdi Chorus are Shana Blake Hill, soprano, Karin Mushegain, mezzo-soprano, Alex Boyer, tenor and baritone Ben Lowe.

Treasure Island – National Theatre Live’s YouTube Page – Now – April 23rd

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel has been given a couple twists for this 2014 stage version. First of all, Jim, is played by actress Patsy Ferran. There is music and songs by Dan Jones with additional songs by John Tams.

But the reviews were extraordinary. Arthur Darvill (of Dr. Who) plays Long John Silver. Polly Findlay directed the play. Tim van Someren directed the film. Treasure Island runs 1 hour 50 minutes.

Buyer and Cellar – Broadway.Com – April 19th – 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT

Actor Michael Urie has performed Jonathan Tolin’s Buyer and Cellar countless times. It’s a perfect role for him as the man who attends to Barbra Streisand’s personal shopping mall in her Malibu home. Of course, this isn’t a true story, but what if it was?

On Sunday Urie will perform the show from his own home as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Covid-19 Emergency Assitance Fund. The performance will stream on Broadway.Com.

This is a thoroughly entertaining show and well worth your time.

***Don’t forget there is also Madama Butterfly on April 17th, Adriana Lecouvreur on April 18th and Der Rosenkavalier on April 19th – each available for 23 hours beginning at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT at the Metropolitan Opera’s website.

Another reminder that WNET is making five different Great Performances available. For details you can go here.

Photo: The company of Treasure Island (Photo by Johan Persson/Courtesy of National Theatre Live)

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

In Buyer & Cellar, Urie plays Alex More, a young man who has recently been fired from his day job at Disneyland; he ends up running the underground mall where Streisand stores all the possessions she can’t fit into her Malibu home. It’s a lonely job with no one to talk to—until Barbra finally appears.

The show opened in March 2013 at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York before transferring to the Barrow Street Playhouse a few months later. Urie, who estimates he has performed the play more than 420 times, won the 2013 Drama Desk Award for outstanding solo performance.

“I’m not afraid of it anymore,” he says. “When I started, it was very scary. Even though I still get nervous that I’ll forget something or my mind will go completely blank, my muscle memory knows the play so well my brain can miss a beat and my body won’t.”

Urie, who spent two years shooting Ugly Betty in Los Angeles before that show’s relocation to New York, is glad to be bringing Buyer & Cellar to the City of Angels. “We spend 100 minutes watching someone at the very top of show biz and someone towards the bottom. That to me is L.A. When you don’t have a job in showbiz and you look at every billboard and every nice car and you can see without leaving the house what you’re missing. Everybody is a part of that.”

During the show’s lengthy run, Urie has discovered what it takes to keep a show going. “I never did a play for this long before, and I never imagined that I could. I have definitely learned that I’m capable of more than I thought I was in terms of stamina and freshness. There is something special about knowing the material and the characters as well as I do. I find things in ways I never knew were possible. It shows that I can be happy/sad, funny/serious, gay/straight, male/female all in one little play.”

Though he has appeared on Broadway (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) and off-Broadway (The Cherry Orchard and Angels in America), Urie finds different challenges with the one-man format. “There’s isolation,” he observes. “You don’t have the emotional net of the other artists. The stamina and responsibility that one has to tell the whole story and not forget any piece of it, I’m responsible for that. Which is a different experience than being one cog in the wheel. Here I’m the wheel. The audience is my new co-star every night.”

One person who hasn’t been in the audience is Streisand. Perhaps she’ll never see the show. But what if she invited Urie to her home? “I would go and I would be gracious and thrilled and just in awe of her. Jon Tolins, who wrote the play, has always maintained that we appreciate her and respect her and treat her lovingly. I would love to meet her and thank her. Look at what she’s doing for my career.  I owe her. Plus, I might get some new tidbits.”

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

The post One is the Loneliest Number for Michael Urie—Until Barbra Shows Up appeared first on Cultural Attaché.