You can see Chita Rivera in three different shows during this jam-packed weekend, which also features theater festival offerings, a starry reading of a Pulitzer-winning play; a reunion reading of a cult TV series as well as concerts operas and plays streaming from London, England; Dublin, Ireland; Paris, France; Wuppertal, Germany; San Diego, California; and the Bronx. Rivera will appear at her 88th birthday party; she performed as one of dozens of Broadway stars in the Celebrating America concert (still available); she will be one of more than 80 stars in a concert to save Birdland.
Inauguration Entertainment
You can catch up on the festivities you missed this past week
We The People, The Biden Harris Inauguration Concert
Celebrating America, 90 minute concert, which includes dozens of Broadway stars singing “Season of Love” and “Let The Sunshine In”
Amanda Gorman reading her inaugural poem (accompanied by the text to The Hill We Climb)
Still Streaming
Titon et l’Aurore
Opéra-Comique
Basil Twist, the masterful American puppet artist (Symphonie Fantastique) directs humans (augmented by puppetry) in this opera-ballet from 1753 by Jean-Joseph de Mondonville that follows the tumultuous liaison between Aurora, a young fugitive goddess, and the shepherd Titon, whom nothing and no one seems to be able to stop. It was produced live on stage to an empty house, and is available online free until Monday, April 19 on Medici TV,
Gloria
Vineyard Theater
Viewable through 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.
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
Streaming Theater Festivals
Powers New Voices Festival ends January 24
African Caribbean Mixfest ends January 29
Exponential Festival ends January 31
1st Irish Festival, ends January 31
The Work of Adrienne Kennedy: Inspiration and Influence, through February 28 (my reviews)
Prototype Festival : Modulation and Times3 extended to February 28 (my review of Times3)
Saturday, January 23
Met Stars Live: Piotr Beczala and Sondra Radvanovsky
Metropolitan Opera
1 p.m. Available through February 6
$20
Broadcast live from Germany’s Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal, the tenor and soprano duo will sing from a repertoire that includes Verdi, Giordano, Puccini and Dvorák.
The Approach
St. Ann’s Warehouse
2:15 p.m. ET, live broadcast from Dublin.
$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.
HollywoodLand from Timeless
Play-PerView
7 p.m. Available through January 27
$20-$100. A benefit for Feeding America.
In a definite departure from their usual repertory, Play-PerView presents a reunion reading of a season two episode from the NBC TV series Timeless, featuring new material written specifically for this event and original performers Beau Brians, John Colton, Matthew Downs, James DuMont, Jordan Farris, Chris Gann, Chet Grissom, Ravi Naidu, Josh Randall, and Mari Weiss reprising their roles plus Cory Michael Smith, Shantel VanSanten and Annie Wersching. There will be a moderated discussion afterward and an opportunity for fans to ask their questions
Black Theatre and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theater Company
7 p.m.
A conversation with panelists including Jonathan McCrory artistic director of National Black Theater and Woodie King Jr. founder of New Federal Theater
Where You From? What You Be About?
Casita Maria Center
7 p.m.
Eric Avilés’ autobiographical solo show about growing up on the mean streets of Chicago, presented for free on BronxNet Community Television and on the Center’s Facebook page.
Massenet’s Manon
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 available for 23 hours
A beautiful ingénue with a taste for the finer things makes her way to Paris, where she becomes irresistible to the men around her—including the passionate Chevalier des Grieux, whose all-consuming love for her leads to ruin. The production stars Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano, Carlo Bosi, Artur Rucinski, Brett Polegato and Kwangchul Youn.
The Sleeping Car
Metropolitan Playhouse
8 p.m.
William Dean Howells’ 1883 farce about mistaken identity among a group of unlikely travelling companions, exploring the playwright’s fascination with class, status, and society
Chita Rivera’s Birthday Celebration
Stars in the House
8 p.m.
The performer turns 88, the number of keys on a piano.
Rabbit Hole
The Reading Series
8 p.m.
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jawan M. Jackson and Andrew Barth Feldman, Mary Testa and Lauren Molina star in a reading of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a family reeling after the death of their child
Animal Empire and Yackez Love For The New World Paradigm
Exponential Theater Festival
8:30 and 9 p.m.
A split bill. In the first, a musical by Yuejia Low, animals take up arms against humans, after a sheriff accidentally runs over a beloved deer on a highway. In the second, Yackez leads the audience in a virtual mashup of ritual sound experimentation and community theater.
An Evening with the San Diego Black Artist Collective
Old Globe
10 p.m. ET
The evening, part of the eighth annual Powers New Voices Festival, presents works by Tanika Baptiste, Dea Hurston, Joy Yvonne Jones, Tamara McMillian, Milena (Sellers) Phillips, and Ruff Yeager, as well as an adaptation of Rich Soublet II’s Black Presence photo docuseries.
Sunday, January 24
Saving Birdland Benefit Concert
7 p.m
Three weeks after the marathon concert to save West Bank Cafe, the same producer is trying it again for another entertainment venue, this one a legendary jazz club that has had its ups and downs since 1949, opening and closing twice, before moving to its current location on West 44th Street in 1996. Now it’s in danger of closing again, so the fundraiser will feature appearances and performances from the following:
Clive Davis, Monty Alexander, Lucy Arnaz, Iain Armitage, Colleen Ballinger, Erich Bergen, Terence Blanchard, Stephanie J Block, Matthew Broderick, Scott Bradlee, Brenda Braxton, Ken Burns, Gunhild Carling & Her Darlings, Ron Carter, Jim Caruso, Peter Cincotti, Emmett Cohen Trio, George Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Elvis Costello, Jeff Daniels, Diana DeGarmo, Aisha De Haas, Natalie Douglas, Michelle Dowdy, Christine Ebersole, Kurt Elling, Kevin Eubanks, Giancarlo Esposito, Whoopi Goldberg, Mandy Gonzalez, Tim Guinee, Amanda Green, Julie Halston, John Heginbotham, Sara Hickman, Perez Hilton, Clint Holmes, Sunny Holiday, Demetia Hopkins-Green, Joe Iconis and Family, Sheila Jordan, Stacey Kent, Tory Kittles, Amy Hillner Larsen, Warren Leight, Amanda Lopez, Melissa Leo, Norm Lewis, Tzi Ma, Manhattan Transfer, Wynton Marsalis, Lauren Marcus, Karen Mason, Marilyn Maye, Audra McDonald, Jane Monheit, Susie Mosher, Anson Mount, Bebe Nuewirth, Leslie Odom, Jr., Arturo O’Farrill Quintet, Mandy Patinkin, Christine Pedi, Wendell Pierce, John Pizzarelli, Martha Plimpton, Randy Rainbow, Chita Rivera, Justin “Squigs” Robertson, Mercedes Ruehl, Catherine Russell, Victoria Shaw, Tom Seals, Dee Snyder, Billy Stritch, Veronica Swift, Mary Testa, Steve Tyrell, Lillias White, Frank Wildhorn, Steve Wilson, Amra-Faye Wright, Ace Young, Karen Ziemba, Glenn Zaleski
and remarks from President Bill Clinton.
How To Wake Up
Exponential
7 p.m.
Tessa Barlow-Ochshorn and her ensemble present scrambled eggs and poetry, and lessons on how to start the day in happiness, in kindness.
Wagner’s Die Walküre
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m. available for 23 hours
The second installment of the Ring cycle, Die Walküre is the most popular and most self-contained episode in the epic tetralogy. It combines the mythical machinations of gods and demigods with the deeply human love story of the brave hero Siegmund and the dignified Sieglinde, whose passion is undiminished even when they discover that they are long-lost brother and sister, separated at birth. The production stars Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel and Hans-Peter König
Under a Baseball Sky
Old Globe
10 p.m. ET
As part of this San Diego theater’s eighth annual Powers New Voices Festival,playwright José Cruz González tells a story about baseball’s deep roots in the Mexican American community. When troublemaker Teo is assigned to clean up a vacant lot belonging to the elderly Elí O’Reilly, these two unlikely friends form a bond forged in history and America’s pastime
