But that’s not all! There are operas both old and new; dance both modern and ballet; vocalists singing standards and show tunes; several jazz concert options; contemporary classical music and witty banter to start your weekend off just right. We have nearly two dozen options for you!

With so many plays available, one of them was destined to be my Top Pick this week. It’s almost as if it had been written in the stars. Topping this week’s list is the Public Theater’s radio play and bilingual version of Shakespeare’s Romeo y Julieta with Juan Castano as Romeo and Lupita Nyong’o as Julieta.

So here are the Four Days of Best Bets: March 19th – March 22nd. The list begins with my Top Pick and is followed by events in the order in which they become available.

*TOP PICK* RADIO PLAY: Romeo y Julieta – Public Theater – Now Available

William Shakespeare’s best-known play is certainly Romeo and Juliet. In this radio play version you’ll get to hone in on exactly what makes this play so riveting: the story and the words. But there’s going to be a difference: this is a bilingual version called Romeo y Julieta.

Director Saheem Ali and Ricardo Pérez González have adapted Alfredo Michel Modenessi’s Spanish-language translation for this audio only production.

Starring as the title characters are Juan Castano as Romeo and Lupita Nyong’o as Julieta. Ivonne Coll plays the Nurse, Hiram Delgado is Tybalt, Irene Sofia Lucia is Mercutio, Julio Monge is Friar Lawrence and Javier Muñoz is Paris.

The rest of the cast includes Carlo Albán, Karina Arroyave, Erick Betancourt, Michael Braugher, Carlos Carrasco, John J. Concado, Guillermo Diaz , Sarah Nina Hayon, Kevin Herrera, Modesto Lacen, Florencia Lozano,  Keren Lugo, Benjamin Luis McCracken, Tony Plana and David Zayas.

The Public is making closed-captioning available in both English and Spanish and are also providing a script to use to follow along for those who might want that. Just be prepared for a tragic story that ends with these words:

“For never was a story more of woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

There is no charge to listen to Romeo y Julieta, but donations are encouraged.

PLAY: The Picture of Dorian Gray – now – March 31st

Oscar Wilde’s classic story of a man who sells his soul in order that his good looks don’t fade gets a contemporary spin in this new version of the story by Henry Filloux-Bennett. This updated approach has Dorian as a social media influencer who doesn’t want to see his fame fade. It’s just as much a Faustian deal here as in Wilde’s original.

Starring in this production are Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), Alfred Enoch (seven of the Harry Potter films), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), Emma McDonald (Hamlet), Russell Tovey (Angels in America) and Stephen Fry (Wilde).

Tickets are £12 which at press time was equal to just under $17. There is a warning that there is strong language and references to mental illness and suicide. The production is recommended for audiences age 16 and higher.

PLAY: Women Without Men – Mint Theater Company – Now – March 21st

This is the first of several plays that New York’s Mint Theater Company has started streaming. Set in Ireland in the 1930s, Hazel Ellis’ play depicts the unmarried teachers at an all-girls school. It is their interactions with one another that reveals petty jealousies and very different personalities.

This production was staged in 2016 and was directed by Jean Thompson. Appearing in Women Without Men are Mary Bacon, Joyce Cohen, Shannon Harrington, Kate Middleton, Aedin Moloney, Alexa Shae Niziak, Kellie Overbey, Dee Pelletier, Beatrice Tulchin, Emily Walton and Amelia White.

There is no fee to watch the play. Registration; however, is required.

PLAY: Katie Roche – Mint Theater Company – Now – March 28th

Also from Mint Theater Company is this 2013 production of Teresa Devey’s 1936 play. Katie Roche tells the story of a servant girl who has big dreams and finds herself torn between two men.

The play had its premiere with Ireland’s Abbey Theatre and made its first appearance in the United States in 1937.

Starring are Margaret Daly, Patrick Fitzgerald, Jon Fletcher, David Friedlander, Jamie Jackson, John O’Creagh, Wrenn Schmidt, Diana Toibin. Jonathan Bank directs.

There is no fee to watch the play. Registration; however, is required.

PLAY: How to Catch Creation – Goodman Theatre – Now – March 28th

Half a century after a young woman’s girlfriend hits her with some very surprising news, four artists are coming to grips with the ramifications of that fateful day. That’s the premise of Christina Anderson’s How to Catch Creation which Chicago’s Goodman Theatre will be streaming on demand for two weeks.

This is not a reading of the play. Rather it is a capture of their 2019 production directed by Niegel Smith. The cast features Karen Aldridge, Ayanna Bria Bakari, Jasmine Bracey, Bernard Gilbert, Maya Vinice Prentiss and Keith Randolph Smith.

How to Catch Creation runs 2 hours and 15 minutes. There’s no charge to stream the production.

PLAY: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – Broadway on Demand – Now – April 18th

You might think you need to know a lot about the work of Anton Chekhov to appreciate Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. While it certainly helps, it’s absolutely not essential. While the play does take place near a cherry orchard, there is familial conflict about what to do with a cherished home and the three siblings depicted all have names taken from Chekhov’s work, this comedy has proven popular around the world.

Durang had a rather circuitous route to Broadway with this play. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike had its world premiere at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton in 2012. One month after closing there it went off-Broadway to Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre. Two months after closing there it opened on Broadway and ultimately was named the Best Play at the Tony Awards.

One thing this play was able to do was keep its cast intact for all those moves. So the film that Lincoln Center is making available for free on Broadway on Demand features David Hyde Pierce, Billy Magnussen, Kristine Nielsen, and Sigourney Weaver.

I’ve seen this play two times and strongly recommend you allow yourself the time to relax, sit back and enjoy yourself.  In 2014 I interviewed David Hyde Pierce about the play and his direction of it when it played the Mark Taper Forum. You can read that interview here.

OPERA: Breaking the Waves – Los Angeles Opera – March 19th – April 12th

The 1996 Lars von Trier film Breaking the Waves told the dark story of a husband, who is recovering from an accident at work, who encourages his wife to have sex with other men during his recovery. It was a bold film that featured a shattering performance by Emily Watson.

Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek created an opera based on this film. Their work had its world premiere at Opera Philadelphia in 2016.

The work won universal acclaim including these comments by Alex Ross in The New Yorker:

“The opera created a world: it had a tone, a profile. There was an uncommonly strong relationship between libretto and music: the work felt urgent, driven by conviction, essential.”

Los Angeles Opera had scheduled a live production of Breaking the Waves, but the pandemic got in the way. In its place they are making a film of the opera directed by James Darrah available for free streaming (registration is required).

The original cast returns: Kiera Duffy, John Moore, Eve Gigliotti, David Portillo, Zachary James and Marcus DeLoach.

As you might imagine with this subject matter, a word of caution. This production includes explicit language, nudity and sexual content, some of a violent nature. Recommended for mature audiences only.

CONVERSATION: Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network – March 19th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

If you’re going to have an afternoon salon filled with ribald conversation and witty repartee, it helps to have two masters participating. In this week’s edition of Virtual Halston with Julie Halston, she’s got a great guest: playwright/author/screenwriter Paul Rudnick.

His plays include I Hate Hamlet, Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and the upcoming book for the musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada. His screenplays include The Addams Family, The First Wives Club and In and Out.

Actor Peter Bartlett, who received a Drama Desk nomination for his performance in The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, will also be joining.

JAZZ: A Night in New Orleans – Derek Douget – Lobero Theatre – March 19th

When winter turns to spring and Lent is approaching many people immediately think of New Orleans and its grand tradition of Mardi Gras. Even later in spring thoughts turn to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Mardi Gras didn’t happen this year and JazzFest is postponed until the fall.

So what’s a fan of that glorious music supposed to do?

Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara is riding to your rescue this weekend. Saxophonist Derek Douget and his band will bring all that wonderful music into your home beginning Friday evening with A Night in New Orleans.

Joining Douget are Victor Atkins on piano; Ashlin Parker on trumpet; Herlin Riley on drums and vocals; Jason Stewart on bass and Don Vappie on banjo/guitar and vocals.

Tickets are $15, but you’ll have to provide your own beads!

JAZZ: Cindy Blackman Santana and Guests – SFJAZZ – March 19th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM EDT

Drummer Cindy Blackman Santana is well connected. She’s recorded and toured with Joe Henderson, Pharoah Sanders, Joss Stone, Cassandra Wilson and more. She spent many years on the road as the drummer for Lenny Kravitz. She also toured with Santana and in 2010 Carlos Santana proposed to her.

But those aren’t the friends or guests that are part of this weekend’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJAZZ. She has recent Oscar-nominated composer/musician Terence Blanchard (Da 5 Bloods), guitarist Bill Frisell, the Kronos Quartet, saxophonist Joe Lovano and members of the SFJAZZ Collective joining for this concert from 2017.

There will be an encore presentation of this concert on Saturday, March 20th at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT. Tickets are available with a monthly digital membership ($5) or an annual membership ($60).

OPERA: Renée Fleming Live from the Met – PBS (check local listings) – March 19th from 2021

If you are a regular reader of Cultural Attaché you know that Renée Fleming is one of the most beloved sopranos in opera. Whether seen and heard in productions or recitals, she is regularly a fan favorite.

PBS is airing a recital Fleming gave from Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. last August.

The program includes works by George Frideric Handel, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Jules Massenet, Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss. Robert Ainsley serves as her accompanist.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Andrew Rannells Live from Lincoln Center – PBS (check local listings) – March 19th from 2018

In December of 2017 Andrew Rannells performed in The Appel Room at Lincoln Center. The concert was filmed and first broadcast on PBS in 2018. The show returns to PBS this weekend.

Rannells is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance in The Book of Mormon and for his appearance on the HBO series Girls. He was recently seen as Whizzer in Falsettos (his second Tony Award nomination) and in Ryan Murphy’s stage production and the subsequent film of The Boys in the Band.

This is a fun concert that shows the boy can sing more than just show tunes! Fans will want to check it out.

BALLET: The Red Shoes – Ahmanson Theatre – March 19th – March 21st $10

As part of their continuing Digital Series and their relationship with Matthew Bourne, Center Theatre Group and the Ahmanson Theatre are offering up a filmed performance of Bourne’s ballet The Red Shoes.

The ballet is inspired by the Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger film from 1948 (which in itself was inspired by a story by Hans Christian Anderson).

Bourne uses the music of legendary film composer Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane, Psycho) for this ballet.

Ashley Shaw stars as a ballerina torn between her love for the composer who wrote her a ballet and the impresario who runs the ballet company and controls her career.

There will be five opportunities to stream The Red Shoes. Friday, March 19th at 8:00 PM PDT/11:00 PM EDT; Saturday March 20th at 5:00 PM PDT/8:00 EDT and 8:00 PM PDT/11:00 PM PDT and Sunday, March 21st at 1:00 PM PDT/4:00 PM EDT and 5:00 PM PDT/8:00 PM EDT.

Tickets are $10. This program will not be available for streaming outside the United States.

OPERA: Siegfried – San Francisco Opera – March 20th – March 21st

Conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles; starring Daniel Brenna, Greer Grimsley, Iréne Theorin, Ronnita Miller and David Cangelosi. This revival of Francesa Zambello’s 2011 production is from the 2017-2018 season.

This third opera in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen had its premiere in Bayreuth in 1876 where it was seen at the first-ever performance of The Ring Cycle.

The title character is front and center in the third opera in the Ring Cycle. He matures throughout the opera via the choices he makes. He encounters an enigmatic Wanderer, but doesn’t know this is Wotan in disguise. When Siegfried is able to reassemble pieces of Siegmund’s sword (Siegmund is his father) he uses it to kill Fafner who has the responsibility of protecting the gold that was stolen from the Rhinemadiens in Das Rheingold. He also comes into possession of the ring. But what will he do with it and how will that impact his pre-destined love for Brunnhilde?

Lisa Hirsch, writing for the San Francisco Classical Voice, said of the production:

“…perhaps the greatest strength of the production remains: a splendidly staged and remarkably sympathetic Siegfried that flew by. In 2011, part of its charm was the surprisingly sweet Siegfried of Jay Hunter Morris, a handsome man with a beautiful voice. With the young heroic tenor Daniel Brenna stepping into the role this year, some of the sweetness and charm is lost to a more conventionally brash portrayal of the character. Still, the opera really did come off as a scherzo, a comparatively light moment in the Ring despite the deaths of Mime and Fafner. The encounters between the Wanderer and Mime, Alberich, Erda, and Siegfried retain their tremendous emotional power and depth.”

VOCALS: Songs from the Heart – Ute Lemper – March 20th – 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT

Whether in concert halls, recording albums or gracing the stage of a musical, Ute Lemper has easily become of our most passionate and accomplished performers.

That wide range of material she handles will be on display in Songs from the Heart on Saturday. The concert will be streaming from Europe and includes songs from the musicals Cabaret and Chicago; from The Threepenny Opera; songs made famous by Édith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich, a song Lemper composed and also a song by Joni Mitchell.

I’ve seen her in multiple concert performances and also in the Broadway revival of Chicago. She’s absolutely amazing.

Joining Lemper for this concert will be Vana Gierig on piano; Tim Ouimette on trumpet; Matt Parrish on bass and Todd Turkish on drums and percussion.

Ticket are $24.99 and allow for 48 hours of access.

JAZZ: Jeremy Pelt Quintet – Vermont Jazz Center – March 20th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

You’re probably asking yourself how often will I recommend a performance by Jeremy Pelt? As long as he keeps putting out great music like Griot – This Is Important! I will do so as long as possible.

This concert from the Vermont Jazz Center will focus exclusively on music from this new album.

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

There is no charge to stream the concert; however donations are encouraged.

ONE PERSON PLAY: Anyone But Me – IAMA Theatre Company – March 21st – April 18th

Sheila Carrasco’s Anyone But Me is the first of two one-person shows by Latinx-American women that Los Angeles’ IAMA Theatre Company will start streaming this weekend. Carrasco stars in this show in which she depicts multiple women struggling to define themselves and realizing that where they are is not where they want to be.

Anyone But Me is directed by Margaux Susi.

Tickets start at $15 (based on your ability to donate to IAMA).

ONE PERSON PLAY: The Oxy Complex – IAMA Theatre Company – March 21st – April 18th

The second play, The Oxy Complex, is written and performed by Anna LaMadrid. The play is set in the not-too-distant future – specifically the 500th day of quarantine. They Oxy of the title is not Oxycontin (source of opioid addictions), but rather Oxytocin.

What is oxytocin? It is defined by Medical News Today as:

“…a neurotransmitter and a hormone that is produced in the hypothalamus. From there, it is transported to and secreted by the pituitary gland, at the base of the brain.

“It plays a role in the female reproductive functions, from sexual activity to childbirth and breast feeding.”

So what is LaMadrid exploring in her show? All the things a woman might miss while being quarantined for so long. There is a reason, after all, that Oxytocin is called the “love hormone.”

Michelle Bossy directs. Tickets begin at $15 (based on your ability to donate).

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Bang on a Can Marathon Live Online – March 21st – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

For their spring live online marathon, Bang on a Can is showcasing performances from New York and Berlin.

Here’s the line-up:

3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Daniel Bernard Roumain Why Did They Kill Sandra Bland? performed by Arlen Hlusko; Arnold Dreyblatt; Mazz Swift and Rohan Chander △ or THE TRAGEDY OF HIKKOMORI LOVELESS from FINAL//FANTASY performed by Vicky Chow

4:00 PM EDT/1:00 PM PDT

Kristina Wolfe Listening to the Wind performed by Molly Barth; Miya Masaoka; Aeryn Santillan disconnect. performed by Ken Thomson and Adam Cuthbert

5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

Ken Thomson Birds and Ambulances performed by Robert Black; Tomeka Reid Lamenting G.F., A.A., B.T., T.M. performed by Vicky Chow; Steve Reich Vermont Counterpoint performed by Claire Chase; Christina Wheeler and Molly Joyce Purity performed by David Cossin

6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Tyshawn Sorey; Jeffrey Brooks Santuario performed by Mark Stewart; Moor Mother and Bill Frisell

BROADWAY VOCALS: Jackie Hoffman – March 21st – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Jackie Hoffman in the original companies of Hairspray and Xanadu on Broadway. She’s always a joy to watch. Sadly I didn’t get a chance to see her in The Addams Family, On the Town or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

But you’ll get to see what makes Hoffman such a delightful and witty performer on Sunday.

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest as part of his Concert Series. I can only imagine what stories she’ll have to tell and what songs she’ll choose to sing. We can all find out either in the live broadcast or in the encore showing (also on Sunday) at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

Tickets are $25.

DANCE: Uncharted Territory: Dancers in Isolation – Eryc Taylor Dance – Premieres March 21st – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Eryc Taylor has conceived a new work born out of the crisis that has hit us all in the last year. This work, Uncharted Territory: Dancers in Isolation, was created via Zoom, and focuses on New York City dancers.

The company features Nicole Baker, Chris Bell, Taylor Ennen, AJ Guevara, Eryc Taylor and Alex Tenreiro Theis. Each dancer choreographed their own work. The film is revealed in five separate segments which explore themes of death, mental instability, paranoia, sexual frustration and stillness.

The music was composed by Daniel Tobias.

There is no charge to watch the premiere, though donations are encouraged. Uncharted Territory will remain available online through March 28th.

PLAY: Yours Unfaithfully – Mint Theater Company – March 22nd – May 16th

Though written in 1933, Miles Malleson’s Yours Unfaithfully remained unperformed until Mint Theatre Company produced the show in late 2016.

It seems strange that a story about a married couple exploring an open relationship came from 1933. The all-too-virtuous husband (Max von Essen) is a writer seemingly unable to get inspired. His wife (Elisabeth Gray) runs a progressive school. She suggests opening up their relationship.

Alexis Soloski, in her review for the New York Times, said:

“Under the polished direction of Jonathan Bank, and in the hands of a fine team of designers, its arguments remain provocative, while its structure feels familiar, its tone decorous. Maybe that only makes it more unusual. It’s a bit like a sex farce with real sorrow instead of slammed doors, and something like a drawing room comedy with moral conundrums peeking out beneath the cushions. It is often very funny; it is also very nearly a tragedy.

There is no fee to watch the play. Registration; however, is required.

BROADWAY AND JAZZ VOCALS: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – March 22nd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Jim Caruso celebrates 50 episodes of Pajama Cast Party with this Monday’s edition. Which makes the absence of his usual venue for his weekly in-person Cast Party, Birdland, all that more palpable.

But this is a party and the show will celebrate turning 50. Joining this week are singer/songwriter Ben Clark, Broadway/pop singer Joshua Colley (Les Misérables), singer/artist Jared Wayne Gladly, Broadway’s Jason Kravits (Relatively Speaking), Brazilian singer/songwriter Denise Reis and Braodway’s Dee Roscioli (Fiddler on the Roof).

That’s this weekend’s Four Days of Best Bets: March 19th – March 21st. But a few reminders before we go:

Los Angeles Philharmonic releases a new Sound/Stage episode entitled A Pan-American Musical Feast with special guest Chef José Andrés. The episode features performances of works by Tania León; Paul Desenne and Aaron Copland. For details on this episode and the whole series please go here.

The 92nd Street Y is still streaming last weekend’s performance by violinist Gil Shaham with The Knights. You can read details about their entire series here. Check out my recent interview with Shaham here.

The Metropolitan Opera concludes their Viewer’s Choice week with a 2006-2007 season production of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia on Friday; a production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin from the same season (and strongly recommended) and a production of Handel’s Agrippina from the 2019-2020 season on Sunday (also recommended). You can see details and clips from all three productions here.

On Monday the Met begins a weeklong celebration of Myths and Legends with a production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice from the 2008-2009 season. We’ll have full details on Monday with our preview of the the week’s full line-up.

I trust you’ll find something amongst the Four Days of Best Bets: March 19th – March 22nd to keep you entertained! Have a great weekend.

Photo: Artwork of the balcony scene from Romeo y Julieta by Erick Davila (Courtesy The Public Theater)

Correction: The name of Eryc Taylor Dance program is Uncharted Territory and not Unchartered Territory as we originally listed. Cultural Attaché has corrected the post above and regrets the error.

The post Four Days of Best Bets: March 19th – March 22nd 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)

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There is a full Ring Cycle this week, but it is a different series of productions than ran in March. My favorite opera opens the week: Tristan und Isolde.

If you are not familiar with Wagner’s works, and even if you are, it is worth noting that with one exception, these are not short evenings. But they do offer truly astonishing music that rewards your investment of time.

Each production becomes available at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT on the Metropolitan Opera website. Every opera remains available for 23 hours. They are heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and recently announced the cancellation of the full 2020-2021 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this column earlier enough on October 5th, you might still have time to catch the 2016-2017 season production of Idomeneo that concludes last week’s Mozart Week. 

Here is the line-up for Week 30 at the Met:

Monday, October 5 – Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

Conducted by Simon Rattle; starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin and René Pape. This Mariusz Trelinski production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed on March 23rd.

Richard Wagner wrote the music and the libretto for Tristan and Isolde. Gottfried von Strassburg’s novel, Tristan, from the 12th century, serves as his inspiration. The opera had its world premiere in Munich in 1865.

It is a bit of oversimplifying to say that the story in Tristan und Isolde is about two lovers whose passion for each other is so strong, it can only truly thrive in the afterlife. But frankly, in a nutshell, that’s the essential premise. But don’t be mistaken, this is pure drama and glorious music.

Anyone who saw Nina Stemme in Richard Strauss’s Elektra that streamed on April 20th and August 31st know how fully-committed she is to the characters she sings. Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, hailed her performance here. “Her Isolde is just as outstanding. Her voice has enormous carrying power without any forcing. Gleaming, focused top notes slice through the orchestra. As Isolde went through swings of thwarted fury, yearning and despair, Ms. Stemme altered the colorings of her sound, from steely rawness to melting warmth. And it is not often you hear a Wagnerian soprano who takes care to sing with rhythmic fidelity and crisp diction.”

Tuesday, October 6 – Wagner’s Tannhäuser

Conducted by James Levine; starring Eva-Marie Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Johan Botha, Peter Mattei and Gunther Groissböck. This revival of Otto Schenk’s 1977 production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed on March 29th.

Composer and librettist Richard Wagner combined two German legends for this opera that had its debut in Dresden in 1845. The first legend is that of the 13th century poet and minstrel singer, Tannhäuser, about whom little is known beyond his poetry. The other is the Wartburg Song Contest, a contest amongst minstrel singers in Wartburg, a castle that overlooks the German town of Eisenach.

In the opera the title character spends time with the gods, particularly Venus, and back in the real world where his lover Elizabeth has been waiting for him. A song contest is announced to win Elizabeth’s hand. Will Tannhäuser do the right thing to win Elizabeth or will his flirtation with Venus undermine his desires?

In his review for the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini raved about Botha in the title role. “This valuable artist is a reminder that singing comes first in opera. Mr. Botha has an awkwardly hefty physique and is no actor. It didn’t matter. His voice conveyed youthful yearning and, when Tannhäuser goes through a spiritual crisis, despair and confusion.”

Botha passed away in 2016.

Wednesday, October 7 – Wagner’s Das Rheingold

Conducted by James, Levine; starring Christa Ludwig, Siegfried Jerusalem, James Morris and Ekkehard Wlaschiha. This revival of Otto Schenk’s 1987 production is from the 1989-1990 season.

This is the first in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (also known as The Ring Cycle). As with all four of these operas, Wagner wrote the music and the libretto. Das Rheingold had its world premiere in 1869 in Munich. It was premiered as a stand-alone opera. The first performance of the entire cycle was at Bayreuth in 1876.

Alberich is a dwarf who renounces love in his successful effort to take gold from the Rhinemaidens and have possession of a ring bestowing power to the wearer. With this one action, he sets in motion the storyline that runs through all four operas in the Ring Cycle. Fafner and Fasolt are the giants who built Valhalla. The long-suffering Wotan is introduced here as are the challenges the gods face in repaying the architects of Valhalla. When the ring is stolen from Alberich he puts a curse on it and on anyone who takes possession of it.

Allan Kozinn, writing for the New York Times, said of this production: “The Met’s production, by Otto Schenk, with sets by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen and costumes by Rolf Langenfass, has been controversial largely for being noncontroversial. At a time when other companies, particularly in Europe, are favoring updated stagings that show the cycle’s universal themes in different lights, the Met is playing the works by Wagner’s rules, presenting the tale in a naturalistic, primordial setting.”

Thursday, October 8 – Wagner’s Die Walküre

Conducted by James Levine; starring Hildegard Behrens, Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, Gary Lakes, James Morris and Kurt Moll. This revival of Otto Schenk’s 1986 production is from the 1988-1989 season.

This is the second opera in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. It had its premiere as a stand-alone opera in 1870 in Munich.

The son of the god Wotan is a fugitive named Siegmund. When he finds himself taking refuge at Sieglinde’s house, the two fall passionately in love. But Sieglinde is married and in order for her and Siegmund to be together Siegmund must defeat her husband in a battle to the death.

This production marked the first time Jessye Norman sang the role of Sieglinde at the Met. In his review for the New York Times, Donal Henahan wrote of her performance, “Miss Norman, assuming her role for the first time at the Metropolitan, sang both richly and sensitively and entered into the character with the ease and skill of a veteran Wagnerian. Miss Behrens, never the most powerful of Brunnhildes vocally, had to finesse the music at times, but as in the past made an irresistible Valkyrie, the most ebullient of a particularly bouncy band of female warriors. As usual, some vocal struggle had to be overlooked in a performance that was a triumph of will, dramatic instinct and musicality. Miss Ludwig, in her best current voice in the crucial dialogue with Wotan, actually made a many-dimensional, sympathetic figure of the henpecking goddess.”

Friday, October 9 – Wagner’s Siegfried

Conducted by James Levine; starring Hildegard Behrens, Siegfried Jerusalem and James Morris. This Otto Schenk production is from the 1989-1990 season.

This third opera in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen had its premiere in Bayreuth in 1876 where it was seen at the first-ever performance of The Ring Cycle.

The title character is front and center in the third opera in the Ring Cycle. He matures throughout the opera via the choices he makes. He encounters an enigmatic Wanderer, but doesn’t know this is Wotan in disguise. When Siegfried is able to reassemble pieces of Siegmund’s sword (Siegmund is his father) he uses it to kill Fafner who has the responsibility of protecting the gold that was stolen from the Rhinemadiens in Das Rheingold. He also comes into possession of the ring. But what will he do with it and how will that impact his pre-destined love for Brunnhilde?

Whatever concerns Donal Henahan had about Hildegard Behrens in Die Walküre, his fellow critic at the New York Times, Bernard Holland, had a different perspective about her performance in Siegfried. “Yet Siegfried fully came to life with the appearance of Hildegard Behrens in Act III. She was a touching Brunnhilde, incorporating in a very different context Mr. Zednik’s earlier virtues. Miss Behrens’s big, gleaming soprano embraced this huge hall as if it were a space of much smaller dimensions. In her presence alone, she also has the powers of projection that convey exuberance and passion and make them seem intimate.”

Saturday, October 10 – Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Conducted by James Levine; starring Hildegard Behrens, Christa Ludwig, Siegfried Jerusalem and Matti Salminen. This Otto Schenk production is from the 1989-1990 season.

The final opera in Der Ring des Nibelungen had its world premiere in 1876 in Bayreuth as part of the first-ever performance of The Ring Cycle.

Alberich’s curse placed on the ring and its owners comes to haunt the characters in this final opera in the Ring Cycle. Siegfried, having fallen in love with Brunnhilde, is convinced to consume a potion that renders him without memory. That lack of remembering finds him proposing to another woman, Gutrune. Her brother consents as long as Siegfried will allow him to marry Brunnhilde. The ring changes hands and with Alberich’s son, Hagen, manipulating the action, ruin comes to all, including the gods whose glory has come to an end leaving Valhalla in flames.

In his review for the New York Times, John Rockwell was particularly impressed with Siegfried Jerusalem, who was singing his first Siegfried in Götterdämmerung at the Met in this production. “For while Mr. Jerusalem is no heroic tenor in the Lauritz Melchior mold, he could be the best Siegfried since Wolfgang Windgassen. His voice may not be huge, but it is big enough. And his soft singing is really lovely: even toward the end on Saturday, the lyrical passages sounded controlled and warm. He sings with unusual sensitivity to the word, the musical phrase and the dramatic situation…”

Sunday, October 11 – Wagner’s Parsifal

Conducted by Daniele Gatti; starring Katarina Dalayman, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei and René Pape. This François Girard production is from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed on April 9th.

Richard Wagner was inspired by Wolfram von Eschenbach’s poem about the knight Percival who was in search of the Holy Grail and served at King Arthur’s Round Table. Parsifal was the composer’s last completed opera. It had its world premiere in Bayreuth in 1882. Wagner wrote both the music and the libretto.

Young Parsifal is woefully unaware of right or wrong. He has no concept of sin nor redemption. Raised by his mother, he’s unfamiliar with the ways of the world. He meets one of the Knights of the Grail and is given the opportunity to see the Holy Grail. While at the Castle, he hears King Amfortas, crying in pain. Though Amfortas was given a life of immortality by the Grail, his pain comes from a wound inflicted by Klingsor who took the Holy Spear from the King. Parsifal makes it his mission to return the Spear and destroy Klingsor and his kingdom in order so that the King’s suffering can end.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review, praised Kaufmann’s performance as the title character. “At 43 Mr. Kaufmann is in his glory, equally adept in German, Italian and French repertory. Handsome and limber, he is a natural onstage. The baritonal colorings of his sound, his clarion top notes, the blend of virility and tenderness in his singing, his refined musicianship — all these strengths come together in his distinctive Parsifal.”

If you watch all seven of these productions, you will have completed a true opera marathon. Next week is an all-Donizetti week.

Enjoy the Wagner and enjoy your week.

Photo: A scene from Das Rheingold. (Photo by Beatriz Schiller/Courtesy Met Opera)

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This marks the tenth anniversary of LA Opera’s first Ring Cycle – thus the audio only streaming of their production. You will be able to find this at LA Opera’s website and also on their Facebook page.

The Ring Cycle is comprised of four operas that tell one continuous story. The operas are:

Das Rheingold – begins at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

Die Walküre – begins at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT

Siegfried – begins at 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Götterdämmerung – begins at 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT

Fans of The Lord of the Rings will find this story somewhat familiar.

Wotan, King of the Gods, steals a magic ring from Alberich, a draw. He, in turn, has the ring stolen from him by two giants. Wotan spends a lot of time in these operas trying to get the ring back.

Siegfried, who is Wotan’s grandson, ultimately gets the ring back. Brünnhilde, who is revealed to be Wotan’s daughter, also happens to be Siegfried’s lover.

To get more details about each individual opera you can clip on the opera title and it will take you to thorough synopses written by LA Opera’s Mark Lyons.

Each opera will be complemented by supertitles and photos from the production.

In addition to the music itself, LA Opera will intersperse commentary and interviews with several of the participants in their production. This includes Morris Robinson (who sang the role of the giant Fasolt in Das Rheingold; Ronnita Miller (who sang the roles of Rhinemaiden Flosshilde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung and Schwertleite, daughter of Wotan, in Die Walküre), Resident Conductor Grant Gershon and Jeff Kleeman who was the Technical Director for the Ring Cycle.

James Conlon, who conducted all the performances and Christopher Koelsch, President and CEO of LA Opera, will launch the 15-hour marathon.

In revised notes Conlon wrote about the Ring Cycle for this marathon (and published on LA Opera’s website), he says of this gargantuan piece:

“This poetic, four-movement, symphonic music drama, this colossus of Western civilization, ends not with the false idolatry of Wotan’s godly pomp, but with Wagner’s vision of spiritual transformation. An epic myth, conceived in a spirit of revolutionary activism, has, in the course of time, transformed itself. Through Wagner’s years of reflection, resignation and philosophical metamorphosis, that myth, culminates in a message of cosmic redemption.”

All photos of LA Opera’s Ring Cycle by Monika Rittershaus/Courtesy of LA Opera

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Here is this week’s programming available at MetOpera.org for 23 hours starting at 7:30 PM (ET) each night.

Monday, March 23 – Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

Conducted by Simon Rattle, starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape. Transmitted live on October 8, 2016.

Tuesday, March 24 – Wagner’s Das Rheingold

Conducted by James Levine, starring Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel, Dwayne Croft, Bryn Terfel, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König. Transmitted live on October 9, 2010.

Wednesday, March 25 – Wagner’s Die Walküre

Conducted by James Levine, starring Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, and Hans-Peter König. Transmitted live on May 14, 2011.

Thursday, March 26 – Wagner’s Siegfried

Conducted by Fabio Luisi, starring Deborah Voigt, Hunter Morris, Gerhard Siegel, Bryn Terfel, and Eric Owens. Transmitted live on November 5, 2011.

Friday, March 27 – Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Conducted by Fabio Luisi, starring Deborah Voigt, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Waltraud Meier, Jay Hunter Morris, Iain Paterson, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König. Transmitted live on February 11, 2012.

Saturday, March 28 – Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Conducted by James Levine, starring Annette Dasch, Johan Botha, Paul Appleby, and Michael Volle. Transmitted live on December 13, 2014.

Sunday, March 29 – Wagner’s Tannhäuser

Conducted by James Levine, starring Eva-Marie Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Johan Botha, Peter Mattei, and Gunther Groissböck. Transmitted live on October 31, 2015.

Check back here at Cultural Attaché for next week’s line-up which has one of my favorite Metropolitan Opera productions ever!

Photo of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center by Jonathan Tichler/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera

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