Below are the listings of theater to see January 19 to 22, which includes a sneak peek at a new musical by Joe Iconis (Be More Chill), two plays by Brian Friel thousands of miles apart, a benefit reunion reading of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Gloria,” and the launch of the Atlantic Theater’s annual African Caribbean Mixfest.
Also check out my schedule of official Inaugural entertainment.
Tuesday, January 19
The Wright Stuff
Playwright Doug Wright interviews five humorists about the intersection of comedy and politics: Andy Borowitz, Aasif Mandvi, Nancy Giles, Paul Rudnick, and Jenny Hagel
African Caribbean Mixfest: Meet the Writers
Atlantic
6 p.m.
The first of seven programs over the month; this a panel discussion.
Gloria
Vineyard Theater
7 p.m. Viewable until January 24
$25
A reading of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ shocking 2015 play (my review) about office workers who share warped ambition and trauma, with the original Vineyard cast: Kyle Beltran, Catherine Combs, Michael Crane, Jennifer Kim, Jeanine Serralles and Ryan Spahn.
Saint Joe
Theater Accident
7 pm
A Zoom reading of a 90-minute monologue by former Time Out critic David Cote about Carpenter Joe, who marries a weird virgin who becomes mysteriously pregnant and he agrees to raise the child as his own
La MaMa Moves Dance Festival
7 p.m.
The first of four nights, this with works by Kevin Augustine and Anabella Lenzu
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Metropolitan Opera
7:30. available for 23 hours
A chilling tragedy based on Sir Walter featured Lucia in opera’s most celebrated mad scene. Anna Netrebko is in the title role
Wednesday, January 20
Faith Healer
Old Vic
2:30 p.m. ET
The Fantastic Francis Hardy (Michael Sheen) travels the most remote corners of Wales, Scotland and Ireland attempting to heal those who wish to be healed. His wife Grace (Indira Varma) and manager Teddy (David Threlfall) complete this nomadic triptych, each with their own telling of the loss, love and struggle of life on the road with a seemingly predestined Faith Healer.
New works: Love in Hate Nation and Experience Marianas
New York Theatre Barn
7 p.m.
Previews of two new musicals, one by Joe Iconis (Be More Chill) set in a 1960s juvie hall, the second by Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief) and Sarah Beth Pfeifer, a wild sapphic rock musical adventure about one woman’s journey to escape an oceanic cult.
La MaMa Moves Dance Festival
7 p.m.
The second of four nights, this with works by Anabella Lenzu and Kari Hoaas
Bellini’s Norma
Metropolitan Opera
7:30. available for 23 hours
A strong-willed priestess is in love with a Roman soldier
Thursday, January 21
The Approach
St. Ann’s Warehouse
2:30 p.m. ET, live broadcast from London.
$25
In Mark Rowe’s enigmatic play, three conversations draw us into the inner lives of Anna, Cora and Denise –Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty and Aisling O’Sullivan. Live again Saturday and Sunday.
Let There Be Love
African Caribbean Mixfest at Atlantic
6 p.m.
In this play by Kwame Kwei-Armah, Alfred, a cantankerous and aging West Indian immigrant living in London, who has managed to alienate all those around him-including his equally headstrong daughter, with whom he rarely sees eye to eye. When an idealistic young Polish caregiver, new to the country, is assigned to look after him, he experiences a powerful reckoning with his past. Starring Marin Ireland, Kevin Mambo & Renika Williams
Verdi’s La Traviata
Metropolitan Opera
7:30. available for 23 hours
Violetta, an elegant courtesan with a heart of gold, chooses true love over the amusements and riches of her glamorous Parisian life, then sacrifices everything for the sake of a young woman she’s never even met.
Friday, January 22
I Used to Love H.E.R. and Abduction
African Caribbean Mixfest at Atlanta
6 p.m.
A double bill. Jasmine Lee-Jones’s solo show “I Used to Love H.E.R.” explores the language of love from 1476 to now. Whitney White‘s two-hander “Abduction” is set in a holding room of a space ship and the conversations inside start to feel frighteningly familiar.
Puccini’s Tosca
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m. available for 23 hours
Taking place in Rome in 1800, the story concerns a fiery yet devoted diva, the painter/revolutionary she loves, and a sadistic police chief determined to crush political rebellion and claim Tosca for himself.
Molly Sweeney
Lantern Theater Company
Available through February 14
This Philadelphia company’s newly filmed performance of Brian Friel’s gentle tale from the shifting perspectives of Molly Sweeney, her husband Frank, and the surgeon who values his skills above his patients.
The Niceties
Forward Theater
Available through February 7
In this Wisconsin theater company’s production of the play by Eleanor Burgess, Zoe, a Black student at a liberal arts college, is called into her white professor’s office to discuss her paper about slavery’s effect on the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about
