Barber Shop Chronicles – National Theatre Live – May 14th – May 21st

This play by Inua Ellams was incredibly popular. Barber Shop Chronicles had two sold-out runs at the National Theatre in London and then went on a world tour.

Ellams’ play takes place in six different cities on the same day: Lagos, Nigeria; Johannesburg, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; Kampala, Uganda; Harare, Zimbabwe and London, England.

What unites these locations is the relationship between barbers and their clients. What’s universal about them is they all serve as a safe haven for discussing what’s going on in the world.

This film of a 2018 performance features the original cast: Fisayo Akinade, Hammed Animashaun, Peter Bankolé, Maynard Eziashi, Simon Manyonda, Patrice Naiambana, Cyril Nri, Kwami Odoom, Sule Rimi, Abdul Salis, David Webber and Anthony Welsh. Barber Shop Chronicles was directed by Bijan Sheibani.

The Tempest – Stratford Festival – May 14th – June 4th

The second trilogy of Shakespeare’s plays from Canada’s Stratford Festival kicks off this week with The Tempest. This is the first of three plays in the “Isolation” trilogy that also includes Timon of Athens and Love’s Labour’s Lost.

Propsero (Martha Henry) and her daughter, Miranda (Mamie Zwettler), have been trapped on an island after her brother, Antonio (Graham Abbey), cast them out to sea. Once she was seated on the throne, now Propspero rules in exile over the island’s unique inhabitants. This includes the bizarre and monstrous Caliban (Michael Blake) and a spirit named Ariel (André Morin). With word that Antonio and Alonso, the King of Naples (David Collins) are at sea and not far away, she conjures up her powers to force a confrontation.

Antoni Cimolino directed this production of Shakespeare’s last solely written play.

Martha Argerich/Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – May 15th – May 18th

The collaboration between Carnegie Hall and Medici.tv continues with this Carnegie Hall Fridays concert from 2017. The Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, under the direction of Sir Antonio Pappano, performs. Legendary classical pianist Martha Argerich joins for a performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

The orchestra opens the program with a performance of Verdi’s Sinfonia from Aida. After Argerich’s performance the orchestra continues with a performance of Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome.

Three encores are part of this program. Ravel’s Laideronnette: Impératrice des Pagodes from Ma mère l’oye is performed on one piano with four hands by Argerich and Pappano. It is safe to assume this encore took place immediately after the Prokofiev.

The remaining encores are Valse triste, Op. 44, No. 1 by Sibelius and the Allegro vivace from William Tell by Rossini.

The concert does not require a subscription to Medici.tv.

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming – San Francisco Ballet at Home – May 15th – May 22nd

San Francisco Ballet is making filmed performances available for free streaming each Friday beginning at 3 PM EDT/12 PM PDT. This week’s offering is the 2019 production of Justin Peck’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.

Set to the music of M83 (an electronic music ensemble headed by Anthony Gonzalez), Peck’s work finds the dancers dressed in street clothes and sneakers. Thematically Peck has said that Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is about “how we dream as children, how we dream as young, coming-of-age adults, and how we dream as fully matured adults. I thought that would be an interesting thing to explore through dance.”

Peck, who is the acting Resident Choreographer of New York City Ballet, has created over 40 ballets. He won the Tony Award for his choreography for the 2018 Broadway revival of Carousel. He’s also the choreographer of Steven Spielberg’s upcoming remake of West Side Story.

Pipeline – Lincoln Center Theater in partnership with BroadwayHD – May 15th – May 22nd

Dominique Morriseau’s play, Pipeline, is the second Lincoln Center Theater production to be available for viewing for free on Broadway HD. Last week’s The King and I was the first.

Pipeline refers to the pipeline that finds youth going from public school to to prison, a situation that disproportionately impacts minorities and underprivileged young men.

Morriseau is the writer of the Skeleton Crew, Detroit ’67 and the book for the musical Ain’t Too Proud. She depicts this situation through the eyes of a mother (Karen Pittman) trying her best to stave off what she fears is an inevitable outcome for her teenage son (Namir Smallwood) who is having issues in school. In the process she has to come to terms with her own decisions as a parent and challenge the very same institutions where she’s made her career as a teacher.

The rest of the cast in Pipeline includes Tasha Lawrence, Morocco Omari, Jaime Lincoln Smith and Heather Velazquez. Lileana Blain-Cruz directed this production.

Fridays at Five with Monsieur Perin̩ РSF Jazz РMay 15th

SF Jazz has launched a weekly online series called Fridays at Five. Every Friday afternoon they open up their archives of filmed performance to give happy hour a lift. This week’s performance features Colombian Gypsy jazz ensemble Monsieur Periné. This performance was the opening concert of the 2018 San Francisco Jazz Festival.

Monsieur Periné won the Latin Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2015. They have received six additional Grammy nominations since then. Their albums are Hecho a Mano (2012), Caja de Musica (2015) and Encanto Tropical (2018).

As NPR says in the description of this Tiny Desk Concert, “Words don’t do this band justice. Play the video and discover Monsieur Periné’s magic for yourself.”

SF Jazz’s Fridays at Five are not free. They require either a monthly fee of $5 or $60 annually to view these concerts. Next week we will have a detailed preview of upcoming Friday at Five concerts.

Leonard Bernstein’s MASS – Great Performances on PBS – May 15th

Jacqueline Onassis commissioned Leonard Bernstein to write a new work for the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Mass is that work and it had its world premiere in 1971.

This performance took place at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Marin Alsop, music curator for the Ravinia Festival 2018-2019 and conductor, music director for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Bernstein’s Mass tells the story of a celebrant who goes from being challenged by members of his congregation to having his own doubts about the role of faith in the world. The work employs a variety of styles including classical, Broadway, jazz, blues, rock, gospel and more. Assisting Bernstein in the creation of Mass was an up-n-coming composer named Stephen Schwartz (Wicked).

Heading the company as The Celebrant is opera singer and Tony Award-winning actor Paulo Szot (South Pacific).

This is one of my personal favorites amongst Bernstein’s compositions. It is a truly powerful and emotional, albeit messy at times, work. As with all PBS Great Performances broadcast, check your local listings for exact times.

WHEW! We’re halfway through your Best Bets at Home: May 15th – 17th.

Impro Theatre – May 15th – May 17th – various times

Impro Theatre is a comedy/improvisation company that takes well-known genres or authors or playwrights and, with the audience’s help, creates completely improvised new works in those styles.

This weekend they are doing two live-streamed performances and will be streaming two archived performances. The schedule is as follows:

May 15th: 8pm PDT – The Main Company’s Chekhov UnScripted LIVE
May 16th: 7pm PDT – The Portal re-broadcast of a 2019 performance from the Impro Studio (this work is in the style of The Twilight Zone)
May 16th: 8pm PDT – The Main Company’s Jane Austen UnScripted LIVE
May 17th: 1pm PDT- The Main Company’s L.A. Noir UnScripted re-broadcast of 2016 performance from Los Angeles’ John Anson Ford Amphitheater

The Capulets and the Montagues – San Francisco Opera – May 16th – May 17th

You obviously know what story this is by its name. As the Capulets and the Montagues were the warring families in Romeo and Juliet. But rather than using Shakespeare’s play as the inspiration, librettist Felice Romani reworked the libretto he had written for another opera based on the star-crossed lovers by Nicola Vaccai entitled Giulietta e Romeo. That opera was based on an 1818 play by Luigi Scevola.

The Capulets and the Montagues was composed by Vincenzo Bellini and had its world premiere in Venice in 1830. It is a two-act opera with a small cast.

Romeo is sung by Joyce DiDonato; Giulietta by Nicole Cabell. Tybalt is sung by Saimir Pirgu. Eric Owens sings the role of Capellio, the father of Giulietta. Ao Li sings the role of Lorenzo, the physician to the Capulets.

This San Francisco Opera production comes from 2012 and was a co-prodution between SF Opera and Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Vincent Broussard directed. Riccardo Frizza conducted.

This is the second opera production made available for streaming by San Francisco Opera. It will become available at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT on Saturday and remain available until 2:59 AM EDT Monday/11:59 PM PDT Sunday.

Jaime, Sheku + Beethoven – May 16th – 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will be streaming a 2016 performance of Beethoven’s Symphony #3 (Eroica) conducted by Thomas Dausgaard. This will be followed by a conversation between LACO’s Music Director, Jaime Martín, and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. If his name isn’t immediately familiar, he performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Following the conversation, Kanneh-Mason will be joined by his sister, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, for a performance of the third and fourth movements of Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19.

This event will conclude with a preview of Derrick Spiva Jr.’s Prisms, Cycles, Leaps Part III: “To Be a Horizon.”

There will be an encore performance of this entire event on Sunday, May 17th at 10 PM EDT/7 PM PDT.

Malpaso Dance Company – May 17th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

This presentation is part of the Los Angeles Music Center’s Inside Look program. This particular event features members of the contemporary Cuban ensemble Malpaso Dance Company. During this streaming event interviews and conversations with Malpaso’s founders and leaders will be combined with a behind-the-scenes look at link between Cuban and American artists. There will also be an exclusive streamed performance of Face the Torrent.

Face the Torrent was commissioned by The Music Center where the work had its world premiere in 2017. Sonya Tayeh choreographed this work for eight dancers.

Laura Bleiberg, writing for the Los Angeles Times, of Face the Torrent. “Tayeh’s premiere took Malpaso to a much darker place, an unspecified inky, secret world of tension, whispers, quivering, fear and lineups. Karen Young’s beige and black costumes and designer Nicole Pearce’s dim lighting pierced by spots suggested dystopia. Ultimately, individuals endured, but oppression never went away.

If you are unable to catch this as it goes out live, it will be available on demand on the Music Center’s website for a limited time afterwards.

Reminder:

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to experience The Encounter by Simon McBurney.

Saturday has the reunion of the original Broadway cast of Grand Hotel at Feinstein’s/Studio 54.

That’s a wrap on your Best Bets at Home: May 15th – 17th

 Main Photo: Paulo Szot and company in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass (Photo by Patrick Gipson/Courtesy of Ravinia Festival)

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