Below is the day-to-day listing of theater that is opening in the month of April* – which includes digital theater, and in-person shows (three on April 2! Another on April 9) in addition to shows that are simultaneously on stage and online (a Mike Daisey monologue on April 2, an Arthur Miller play on April 19.) And there are many new shows that don’t fit under any clear category except “theater.”
The Brooklyn Academy of Music is presenting a piece at the Prospect Park ice-skating rink (debuting April 6); Irish Rep is performing poetry in its lobby window (and also online). Astoria’s drive-in is presenting a hybrid live performer/film, on site/online experience it labels “cinemersive” (April 23 and 30th) “The Wandering” (April 15) is theater by mail — and I do not mean email. (And there is a completely separate ” post theatrical” on April 19)
For every out-there experiment, there are several solid works of digital theater. Online theater has come into its own. Carnegie Hall is offering its first-ever online festival (April 16-30), in collaboration with some 40 other institutions. There is even a virtual Broadway revival (April 2) .
Ok, yes, this is not a normal April in New York theater, when there is a Broadway opening every day until the Tony cut-off date near the end of the month. But neither is it 2020. The theater that is opening this month promises an April that’s different than the past, but in its own way just as exciting.
*A few caveats:
This calendar lists shows only on the day they “open.” Some are live and available only for that one performance. Some are repeated live over several dates. Other shows are available as recordings for four days, or a week, or longer. (I’ll put down how long they’re available, if I know.)
My definition of theater for the purposes of this calendar generally does not extend to variety shows, cast reunions, concerts, galas, panel discussions, documentaries, classes, or interviews — of which there are plenty, many worth checking out. My focus here is on creative storytelling in performance. (I make an occasional exception for a high-profile Netathon,involving many theater artists, or a novel event)
Pre-pandemic, it was relatively easy to put together a monthly calendar of openings, because theaters, companies and producers worked way in advance. Since physical theaters were shut down , many shows are put together at the last minute, sometimes not even announced until the very day of their launch. (And there have been last-minute cancellations too.) So the listings below are just a taste of what to come. (But there’s a good reason to offer a monthly calendar, even if incomplete: The shows (especially the ones in-person) are selling out quickly.
Thursday, April 1
Inside the GPO
Irish Arts Center
3 p.m. ET, available through April 5
£5
A film of the Fishamble theater company’s production of Colin Murphy’s documentary drama about the Easter Rising, the Irish rebellion against the British in 1916 that began over five days during which the rebel leadership occupied the General Post Office in Dublin.
The Garden
Soho Playhouse via Stellar
7 p.m. available through April 4
$25
In this play written and directed by Jesse B Koehler, two storytellers must decide between staying or going, and what to do with the body.
Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Eva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, and Jeffrey Wells, conducted by James Levine. Production by Fabrizio Melano. From October 15, 1988.
Ubu Roix
No Exit Theater Collective
7:30 p.m. through April 4
$5-$50
This new adaptation of the absurdist classic brings the grotesque misadventures of Poland’s second worst monarch to the most revolting video conferencing platform known to man, Zoom.
Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Teheran
Woolly Mammoth
8 p.m. available through April 18
$17.99
A darkly comedic virtual experience about entitlement, consumption, and digital technology through the lens of Iran’s elite. (I saw a production of this at Under the Radar; It requires deft handling of your smart phone to view Instagram posts of rich young Iranians.)
Friday, April 2
Blindness
Daryl Roth Theater
3 p.m. through September 5
In-person production (imported from UK’s Donmar Warehouse) of Jose Saramago’s dystopian novel adapted by Simon Stephens is described as “a socially distanced sound and light experience.”
My Man Kono
Pan Asian Repertory Theater
5 p.m.
Free.Link to register for free
Philip W. Chung’s play is based on the life of Toraichi Kono, who worked as Charlie Chaplin’s personal valet for two decades before being arrested as an enemy spy during the anti-Japanese hysteria of World War II.
What the F*ck Just Happened
Kraine Theater, in person and online
7 p.m. live. available for 24 hours
The latest monologue by Mike Daisey asks “the question we all are asking.”
Massenet’s Werther
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Lisette Oropesa, Sophie Koch, Jonas Kaufmann, and David Bizic, conducted by Alain Altinoglu. Production by Sir Richard Eyre. From March 15, 2013.
Amour
Via Stellar
8 p.m. also April 3 and 4
$20
A virtual revival of this short-lasting 2002 Broadway musical (17 performances) by Michel LeGrand that is set in picturesque Montmartre. Dusoleil (Drew Gehling) is a nerdy civil servant but also a dreamer who discovers that he can walk through walls, which allows him to give bread and jewels to the deserving bourgeoisie. As he gains confidence to win over the beautiful Isabelle (Christiani Pitts) from her unhappy marriage, Dusoleil’s magical approach to life makes the world better for his co-workers and other Parisian locals. Cast also includes such Broadway veterans as Derrick Baskin, Adam Pascal, and Rachel York
An Audience With: Kelsey Lu
The Shed
The classically trained cellist offers a show at the intersection of visual arts, performance, healing activism, and music. It’s sold out, but I include it as the first of The Shed’s in-person performances in the series called An Audience With.. And you see instantly a downside to the reopening from the audience’s point of view that you might not have considered: With greatly reduced seating capacity, the in-person shows are likely to sell out quickly.
Saturday, April 3
Broadway!
NYPopsUp
1 p.m.
The first in-person performance in a Broadway theater since March 11, 2020. Which Broadway theater? Who’s performing? We don’t know, and it’s invitation only. But it’ll be presented live on the NYPopsUp Instagram live account.
Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień, and Ambrogio Maestri, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Production by Bartlett Sher. From October 13, 2012.
Sunday, April 4
L’Orient
Works & Process at Lincoln Center
7:30 p.m.
The first of three newly-commissioned video performances on subsequent Saturdays in April. Lakmé, the lead character in the eponymous 1883 opera by Léo Delibes, as a twenty-first-century woman situated in the chaotic environment of reality television. Today’s Lakmé represents the voice of a modern woman questioning her constrained role in a patriarchal society.
Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Production by Mariusz Treliński. From October 8, 2016.
Monday, April 5
Poetic Reflections: Identity
Irish Rep
The second of three films of poets and actors reading poems from Ireland, the United States, and England, which will be available for free online — and also in the lobby window of the Irish Rep on West 22nd Street in Chelsea.
The Inferno
Abingdon Theater Company
7 p.m.
A free reading of a new play by Chris Sherman about two middle-aged couples on vacation in Florence, Italy during the worst heatwave in 20 years. On the theater’s YouTube channel
Gounod’s Faust
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, and René Pape, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Production by Des McAnuff. From December 10, 2011.”
The Great Khan
San Diego Rep
8:30 p.m. ET
In this play by Michael Gene Sullivan that’s part of the Black Voices series, Genghis Khan shows up to challenge the ideas of two contemporary Black teens, as well as our own
Tuesday, April 6
Influences
BAM at Prospect Park
through April 11
$45
Another return to live, in-person performance: This is dance on ice – specifically Montreal’s skating company Le Patin Libre performing on the ice rink at the LeFrak Center in Prospect Park with the audience in a socially-distant seating arrangement right on the ice.
Efflorescence
La MaMa
7 p.m.
An audio serial of singing and storytelling by the long-time avant-garde theater troupe Talking Band, telling the story of six disparate people who have been living together for a year in an old farmhouse in the Catskills that has been transformed into a safe haven for Vulnerable Expendables. The story has unfolded over seven nights, and is now presented in full.
Verdi’s Rigoletto
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Christiane Eda-Pierre, Isola Jones, Luciano Pavarotti, Louis Quilico, and Ara Berberian, conducted by James Levine. Production by John Dexter. From December 15, 1981.
Wednesday, April 7
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Anna Netrebko, Elena Maximova, Alexey Dolgov, Peter Mattei, and Štefan Kocán, conducted by Robin Ticciati. Production by Deborah Warner. From April 22, 2017.
Thursday, April 8
The Women (2021) [Working Title]
Ars Nova
6 p.m.
$10
What does it mean to be a woman? What are the societal and gender expectations put on women? What are the obstacles? What are the beauty standards? Why is it so commonly through the eyes of men that women are defined? What does sisterhood look like? What happens when you allow women to tell their own stories? show their own truth? share their own light? Actress L Morgan Lee and raja feather kelly ask a group of writers from a variety of backgrounds, identities, and experiences to ponder on this. This is a look in at a rehearsal of the first step in the development of a play, based around these conversations.
John Cullum: An Accidental Star
Vineyard, Goodspeed, Irish Rep
7 p.m. On demand through April 22
An 80-minute intimate evening of stories and songs spanning 91-year-old John Cullum’s illustrious career, from his 1960 debut in Camelot and Tony Award-winning performances in Shenandoah and On the Twentieth Century, to his starring roles in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Urinetown and The Scottsboro Boys
Ute Lemper: Rendezvous With Marlene
York Theatre
7 p.m.
$20
When Marlene Dietrich phoned a young singer out of the blue, the icon stayed on the line for an unforgettable three hours. 30 years later Broadway and West End star Ute Lemper reveals all in her 5-star critically acclaimed show
Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by James Levine. Production by Piero Faggioni. From April 7, 1984.
Please Welcome Our Guest
Manhattan Theatre Club
7:30 p.m. Available through April 11
Liza Birkenmeier, a playwright without a personality, gives you a personality assessment. With the help of a surprise guest star and an experimental survey, maybe she’ll guide you toward a better understanding of your unique self.
Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous
Spotlight on Plays via Stellar
8 p.m. Available through April 12
$15 (if purchased after 4/6)
Sisters Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen play (respectively) a grande dame of the stage, and her friend and director in this comedy by Pearl Cleage
Friday, April 9
Disenchanted!
Stream.Theatre
2:30 p.m. ET Also April 10 and 11
£18
A new musical comedy about a band of not-so-merry princesses, keen to rewrite their tales as old as time. Jodie Steele as Snow White, Sophie Isaacs as Cinderella, Allie Daniel as Sleeping Beauty, Grace Mouat as Pocahontas, Millie O’Connell as The Little Mermaid, Courtney Bowman as Princess Badroulbadour, Natalie Chua as Hau Mulan, Shanay Holmes as The Princess Who Kissed The Frog, Aisha Jawando as Belle and Jenny O’Leary as Rapunzel.
Artifact: A Listening and Viewing Party
Ars Nova
6 p.m.
$10
A group of artists respond to a work-in-progress (Album and Opera) written and composed by Emily Wells and directed by raja feather kelly.
Shostakovich’s The Nose
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Andrey Popov, Alexander Lewis, and Paulo Szot, conducted by Pavel Smelkov. Production by William Kentridge. From October 26, 2013.
SOCIAL! the social distance dance club
Park Avenue Armory
To April 22
$45
This in-person “ new interactive and experiential movement piece” aonceived by Steven Hoggett, Christine Jones and David Byrneinvites participants to the Armory’s Drill Hall to move in their own socially distanced spotlights. Participants will be able to move to an instructional voice over by Byrne and a playlist curated by Byrne, Hoggett, and Jones and mixed live by New York City DJ Natasha Diggs.
Saturday, April 10
Babette in Retreat
Play-PerView
7 p.m. available through April 14
$10
Babette was one of the most famous courtesans of her day, but now at 50, she has decided to retire to her country house, wanting to live in isolation, with only her beloved maid Charlotte for company. But one by one those closest to her all come to the cottage wanting for something. Justin Sayre combines wit and slapstick in this new work, featuring Becca Blackwell, Nathan Lee Graham, Randy Harrison, Bradford Louryk and Mary Testa
Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Anna Netrebko, Roberto Alagna, Nathan Gunn, and Robert Lloyd, conducted by Plácido Domingo. Production by Guy Joosten. From December 15, 2007.
Sunday, April 11
Cabaret in Captivity
Untitled Theater Company No. 61
5 p.m. also April 18
A live, in-person performance outdoors on Morningside Ave, between 114th Street and 115th Streets. The program includes songs and sketches written in Terezin/Theresienstad. Terezin was located an hour away from Prague, and during World War II it served as both an internment camp and a way station for the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Full of satire, bitter humor, and hope, these pieces demonstrate how art became a vital survival technique for the inmates.
Ladies of Hip-Hop: Black Dancing Bodies Project × Intergenerational Knowledge Transfer
Works & Process at Lincoln Center
7:30 p.m.
This intersectional video project captures the knowledge, beauty, and power of Black female street dancers aged 18 to 60.
Verdi’s Luisa Miller
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Olesya Petrova, Piotr Beczała, Plácido Domingo, Alexander Vinogradov, and Dmitry Belosselskiy, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Production by Elijah Moshinsky. From April 14, 2018.
Monday, April 12
Arms and the Man
American Conservatory Theater
through April 18
In this play by George Bernard Shaw directed by Colman Domingo, it is Bulgaria in 1885, and circumstances find young heiress Raina deciding between her war hero fiancé and a fleeing enemy soldier-for-hire whom she shelters.
Paradise Lost, part 1: The Fall of Lucifer
Red Bull Theater
7 p.m. Available through April 16
An adaptation of John Milton’s epic poem. This is part 1. Part 2 debuts on April 26.
Massenet’s Cendrillon
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Kathleen Kim, Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe, and Laurent Naouri, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Production by Laurent Pelly. From April 28, 2018.
Arts for Autism
via Stellar
7:30 p.m.
Virtual fundraising concert led by Kelli O’Hara
Period Piece
8 p.m.
$20
In this first of a series of three shows, twelve performers, including Beth Leavel, Julie Halston and Mandy Moore tell their stories about menstruation.
Tuesday, April 13
Shadow/Land
Public Theater
7 p.m.
An audio play by Erika Dickerson-Despenza set amid the ongoing devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Ruth coaxes her mother, Magalee, to sell Shadowland, the family business and New Orleans’s first air-conditioned dancehall and hotel for Black people. But as Hurricane Katrina begins her ruin, Ruth is forced to wrestle with all that she’s ready to let go. This is the first installment of the playwright’s projected 10-play cycle revolving around Katrina. (Another play in the cycle is [hieroglyph]
Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta / Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczała in Iolanta, and Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko in Bluebeard’s Castle, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Production by Mariusz Treliński. From February 14, 2015.
Wednesday, April 14
The Lorax
Old Vic
3 p.m. ET Available through April 17
£10-£40
A stage adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s story of te Lorax’s magical battle to save his beloved truffula trees and the whole of Paradise Valley from the go-getting Once-ler. This is the latest of the UK theater’s “in camera” production, meaning the performers are streamed live on stage without an in-person audience.
Myths and Hymns 3
Master Voices
6:30 p.m. Available through June 30
The third part of Adam Guettel’s theatrical song cycle, Love, explores the possibility of finding fulfillment through relationships with others. Hero and Leanderevokes the sounds of the roiling waves that stand in the way of the lovers’ union, and ultimately prove their ruin. Come to Jesusintertwines the story of a young couple’s dissolution because of an unwanted pregnancy with the haunting hymn text of the title, and the chapter ends with the wistfully humorous and self-involved How Can I Lose You?
A More Perfect Union
Arena
7 p.m.
Rona Siddiqui’s new music piece about the different phases of the emotional life cycle of a relationship, such as bargaining and acceptance. This is the third of three newly commissioned filmed musicals in the Arena Riff series.
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Golda Schultz, Kathryn Lewek, Charles Castronovo, Markus Werba, and René Pape, conducted by James Levine. Production by Julie Taymor. From October 14, 2017.
Thursday, April 15
Dough
New Ohio Theater
6 p.m.
A fast-paced choral text that goes through the different stages of life from childhood to middle age, tracing its relationship to money.
The Wandering
Through May 15
This is theater by mail (United States Postal Service!) Each of the four episodes that make up The Wandering contains a short film, an interactive object, an online experience, and an opportunity to connect with other audience members. Participants follow “The Wanderer,” an enigmatic character ostensibly based on the composer Franz Schubert that is played by Jeremy Weiss
Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Judith Blegen, Frederica von Stade, Jean Kraft, Rosalind Elias, and Michael Devlin, conducted by Thomas Fulton. Production by Nathaniel Merrill. From December 25, 1982.
Weightless
WP Theater
8 p.m. Available through May 30
Inspired by a tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, this theatrical concert film by The Kilbanes tells the tale of two deeply devoted sisters, Procne and Philomela, separated by circumstance, who must travel across worlds and make devastating sacrifices in order to reunite
Tell The Story: Celebrating Assassins
Classic Stage
8 p.m.
A star-studded array of theater legends for performances and conversations exploring the legacy of the timely American musical, Assassins, with appearances by the musical’s creators Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman
Friday, April 16
Voices of Hope
Carnegie Hall
Through April 30
The concert hall’s first-ever online festival will offer more than 100 events—including programming from over 40 leading cultural and academic institutions across New York City—focusing on the life-affirming power of music and the arts during times of crisis. Free nightly live-stream performances presented by Carnegie Hall include Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, Kronos Quartet, Ute Lemper, Jason Moran, Jordi Savall, the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Dvořák’s Rusalka
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Kristine Opolais, Katarina Dalayman, Jamie Barton, Brandon Jovanovich, and Eric Owens, conducted by Sir Mark Elder. Production by Mary Zimmerman. From February 25, 2017.
Showing Up
The Civilians
7:30 p.m.
A free live streamed evening of music and performance inspired by photographer Accra Shepp’s portraits of Black Lives Matter activists, featuring Rashaan Carter, Jacinth Greywoode & Rebecca Hart; Jaime Lozano; and Katie Madison & Jarrett Murray.
The Black Beginning
Ars Nova
7 p.m.
$10
Acabaret featuring Black queer artists and performers who creatively respond to the concept of “The Black Beginning” — whether on historical developments of the arts, identity formation, the origin of the universe, etc.
Planet of the Grapes
10 p.m. through May 15
$25
Peter Michael Marino’s compact homage to the 1968 classic Charlton Heston/Rod Serling primate film is faithfully reimagined
Saturday, April 17
Puccini’s Turandot
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Eva Marton, Leona Mitchell, Plácido Domingo, and Paul Plishka, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 4, 1987.
Sunday, April 18
iHeartDance NYC
11 a.m., 1, 3 and 5 p.m.
Online and on the roof of the Empire Hotel, a fundraiser for dancers featuring some stars as tap dynamo Ayodele Casel, Broadway performers Robbie Fairchild and Chris Jarosz, Christopher Grant and Spartak Hoxha of the New York City Ballet
The Bird of the Ghetto
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
2 p.m. Available until April 22.
A virtual reading of Chava Rosenfarb’s play that chronicles the attempted Vilna Ghetto uprising and the tragic story of Jewish resistance leader Itsik Vitenberg, commander of the United Partisan Organization. This is the first time that the play will be performed in Yiddish, the language in which it was written (with English subtitles.)
A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time
Works & Process at Lincoln Center
7:30 p.m.
Jamar Roberts, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s first resident choreographer, highlights a new work and discusses the creative process with composer David Watson
Rossini’s La Cenerentola
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m., available for 23 hours
Starring Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Pietro Spagnoli, Alessandro Corbelli, and Luca Pisaroni, conducted by Fabio Luisi. Production by Cesare Lievi. From May 10, 2014
Monday, April 19
I Can’t Remember Anything
Food for Thought Productions
2:00 p.m.
Arthur Miller’s play revolving around a widow, her husband’s best friend and her inability to remember much of the past. Live At Theatre 80 St. Marks and simultaneously streamed via Zoom.
The Tragedy of Katerina Ismailova
Carnegie Hall
5 p.m.
Part of the Voices of Hope free series, the story behind Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. (see 8 p.m.)
Dream/Home
New Georges via Post Theatrical
$35
After completing a simple questionnaire, audience members will receive a package containing a map of someone else’s world, several intriguing objects, and a guide to how to use the map to explore their own home and environment. By superimposing a different landscape on top of your own, you might begin to look at the ordinary world just a bit differently.
Poetic Reflections: Writing from Love
Irish Rep
7 p.m. through May 2
The third of three films of poets and actors reading poems from Ireland, the United States, and England, which will be available for free online, and also in the lobby window of the Irish Rep on West 22nd Street in Chelsea.This collection of eight films features W.B. Yeats’ beloved “When You Are Old,” a rare translation by Lady Gregory of “The Heart of the Wood,” and contemporary works by FeliSpeaks, Nithy Kasa, Seán Hewitt, and Dagogo Hart.
Wagner’s Lohengrin
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Wagner’s lush, Romantic tale of a holy knight and the maiden who loves him
Starring Eva Marton, Leonie Rysanek, Peter Hofmann, Leif Roar, and John Macurdy, conducted by James Levine. Production by August Everding. From January 10, 1986.
Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Carnegie Hall
8 p.m. available through May 31
The Amsterdam’s Dutch National Opera’s production of this opera in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth
Period Piece
8 p.m.
$20
In this second of a series of three shows, twelve new performers tell their stories about menstruation.
Tuesday, April 20
The Charm of Impossibilities
Carnegie Hall
3 p.m. Available through May 31
As part of Voices of Hope, the story of how as a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany. Olivier Messiaen, against all odds, was able to compose and premiere his masterful Quartet for the End of Time. (Check out the quartet at 7 p.m.)
Quartet for the End of Time
Carnegie Hall
7 p.m.
New York Philharmonic principal players Carter Brey and Anthony McGill are joined by pianist Inon Barnatan and former New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert for a nuanced and heart-wrenching performance of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, inspired by texts from the Book of Revelation.
Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Shortly before the end of his tragically abbreviated life, Mozart turned to the antiquated style of opera seria—with its acrobatic feats of singing and plots taken from Classical history or mythology—for his final operatic project, an ancient Roman story of desire, betrayal, murder, and public unrest
Starring Lucy Crowe, Barbara Frittoli, Elina Garanča, Kate Lindsey, Giuseppe Filianoti, and Oren Gradus, conducted by Harry Bicket. Production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. From December 1, 2012.
Metamorphosis
Carnegie Hall
8 p.m. Available through May 31
As part of Carnegie Hall’s Voices of Hope series, Third Coast Percussion joins forces with the groundbreaking choreography of Movement Art Is (co-founded by Lil Buck and Jon Boogz) for an intimate program—including two works co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall—that explores the duality of human nature. Through Metamorphosis, they collaboratively illustrate universal themes cast through the experiential lens of young Black men growing up in America today
Wednesday, April 21
Two Sisters and a Piano
New Normal Rep
Available through May 23
$25
In Nilo Cruz’s play which he directs, two sisters are under house arrest in Cuba in 1991, when a lieutenant, whom they view as their enemy, is drawn to them. Starring Jimmy Smith, Florencia Lozano and Daphne Rubin-Vega and Gary Perez, both of whom were in the original 2000 production at the Public Theater,
Mine
Dixon Place
7:30 p.m. Available through April 24
Shayna Strype’s in-person and online puppet-cast ecofeminist tragicomedy investigating our relationship to our stuff, our earth, and ourselves
The In Between of Fullness
New York Theatre Workshop
7 p.m.
multimedia meditation on race and racism created and performed by the People’s Theatre Project‘s Luna Ensemble, which is entirely made up of emerging immigrant artists ages 17 to 24.
Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
A Gold Rush–era mining camp—the perfect place for a sweet-talkin’ bandit to fall for a gun-totin’ bar owner
Starring Deborah Voigt, Marcello Giordani, and Lucio Gallo, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Production by Giancarlo Del Monaco. From January 8, 2011.
Thursday, April 22
A Letter to Harvey Milk
7 p.m. through April 25
The original 2018 Off-Broadway cast reunites for this play set in San Francisco in 1986. What could Harry, an amiable but lonely retired kosher butcher, have in common with Barbara, his young lesbian writing teacher at the senior center? Is it enough to bridge the divide? When Harry fulfills a writing assignment to compose a letter to someone from his past who’s dead, he writes not to his late wife Frannie but Harvey Milk, the first openly gay political leader in California.
The Royale
Lincoln Center
7 p.m. Available through May 16
In its Private Reels series (videos of past productions), a play about Black boxer Jay “The Sport” Jackson, directed by Rachel Chavkin, written by Marco Ramirez, starring Khris Davis, (my review of The Royale) .
I See You and You See Me
Queens Theatre
7 p.m.
Harris Doran’s features stories from across the entire Queens community in the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak, performed by some dozen actors.
The Woman’s Party , episode 1
Clubbed Thumb
The first of three 30-minute episodes, which were filmed over the course of four weeks remotely from each actor’s home. The play takes place 27 years after the ratification of women’s suffrage, when the Equal Rights Amendment was poised for passage. We meet ten impressive women, veterans of the original battle, roughly organized in two opposing sides: one representing strategic, sometimes brutally single-minded focus on passing the ERA, the other seeking a broader mandate, to include other issues, other voices.
Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
a 14th-century Doge of Genoa, beset on all sides, juggling political adversaries bent on murder with his love for his long-lost daughter Amelia. In addition to Boccanegra’s searing internal conflict between public duty and private grief, the story offers cloak-and-dagger intrigue, passionate young love, and noble sacrifice
Starring Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Vasile Moldoveanu, Sherrill Milnes, and Paul Plishka, conducted by James Levine. Production by Tito Capobianco. From December 29, 1984.
An Evening of Short Plays
Carnegie Hall
8 p.m.
$10
Part of the Voices of Hope festival. In Ty Defoe’s Miss Longhouse, three friends compete in a pageant as they are stretched to their limits and learn important life lessons. In Montana Adams’s Husk—a retelling of the Haudenosaunee corn husk doll story—a woman struggles with her own self-image in comparison to today’s European-centric ideal of beauty. In Jen Oliveras’s Birthday Brunch, events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic flips Tiffany’s life into a wheel of housing instability and confusion, turning a Saturday morning ceremony with the women of her tribe into the unexpected.
Presented by the American Indian Community House as part of the American Indian Community House 52nd Anniversary Indigenous Arts Gala,
Friday, April 23
Clu-eth
Radial Park
Described as “live, immersive audio entertainment” you can choose to experience the show at Radial Park, a drive-in at Astoria, or listen to it on your computer
The play resets the story to 1606 England as though Shakespeare had originally penned the cult classic murder-comedy based on a popular board game.
Philip Glass’s Satyagraha
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
The second installment of Philip Glass’s Portrait Trilogy of operas based on the lives of important historical figures—which began with Einstein on the Beach and concluded with Akhnaten—Satyagraha is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his ideology of achieving change through peaceful protest and civil disobedienc
Starring Rachelle Durkin, Richard Croft, Kim Josephson, and Alfred Walker, conducted by Dante Anzolini. Production by Phelim McDermott. From November 19, 2011.
Saturday, April 24
Ady
Carnegie Hall
6 p.m.
$10
A young Navajo woman, Adrienne, finds a 1937 photograph of a Black Caribbean dancer, Ady, that is her mirror image. This opens the door to a moment before WWII when the surrealist movement was blooming in France….and from there to her own mother’s suicide back home on the reservation.
Part of Voices of Hope, the play is presented by the American Indian Community House as part of the American Indian Community House 52nd Anniversary Indigenous Arts Gala.
Beethoven’s Fidelio
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Beethoven’s only complete opera. Leonore, whose husband Florestan has been taken as a political prisoner, disguises herself as a man named Fidelio and finds work at the prison where she believes Florestan is being held. She ultimately saves him from execution, and the work ends with a rousing celebration of liberty and marital love.
Starring Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, Falk Struckmann, and René Pape, conducted by James Levine. Production by Jürgen Flimm. From October 28, 2000.
Bertha The Sewing Machine Girl Part 2
Metropolitan Playhouse
8 p.m.
Charles Foster’s 1906 melodrama about a girl trying to survive what we now call a toxic work environment. Part 1, which debuted last week, is still available on the company’s YouTube channel
Sunday, April 25
The Dead Man
Carnegie Hall
7 p.m.
Part of the Voices of Hope festival: After its Yiddish-language world premiere nearly a century ago, audiences are now able to hear Sholem Asch’s haunting WWI play as a radio drama in its first-ever complete English translation by Caraid O’Brien. The story takes place in the rubble of a decimated synagogue in Poland directly after the war. Surviving members of the Jewish community gather together to decide how to rebuild their lives. Free. RSVP required.
Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Shocking story of a group of Carmelite nuns during the French Reign of Terror
Starring Isabel Leonard, Adrianne Pieczonka, and Karita Mattila, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Production by John Dexter. From May 11, 2019.
The Gett
Play-PerView
Tovah Feldshuh stars in this play by Liba Vaynberg described as a Jewish myth about divorce and how we salvage and recover meaning through profound loss and ancient ritual
Monday, April 26
Brother Brother
New York Theatre Workshop
7 p.m. available through July 25
$10
André de Shields stars in audio drama by Aleshea Harris (Is God Is, What to Send Up When It Goes Down) about two songwriting siblings traveling Appalachia by bicycle on their way to make it big in Tennessee waylaid by a man in a maroon suit, forcing them to confront their past.
Paradise Lost, part 2: Adam and Eve
Red Bull Theater
7 p.m. Available through April 30
An adaptation of John Milton’s epic poem. This is part 2. (Part 1 streamed from April 12-16)
A Mother’s Rite
Carnegie Hall
7 p.m. Available through May 31
Part of the Voices of Hope festival, Courtney Celeste Spears (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater) performs a solo set to Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring, exploring one mother’s journey through stages of grief after being thrust into the spotlight by way of her son’s murder by police. Choreographed by Jeremy McQueen and developed in collaboration with librettist Angelica Chéri.
Puccini’s La Bohème
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Susanna Phillips, Michael Fabiano, Lucas Meachem, and Matthew Rose, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From February 24, 2018.
Period Piece
8 p.m.
$20
In this third of a series of three shows, twelve new performers tell their stories about menstruation.
The Matchmaker
American Conservatory Theater
9 p.m. ET through May 2
The play by Thornton Wilder that was adapted into the musical Helly, Dolly.
Tuesday, April 27
The Line
Public Theater
through June 21
An encore presentation of last year’s play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen from firsthand interviews with New York City medical first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. (My review)
The Oedipus Project at Nobel Prize Summit
Theater of War Productions
3:30 p.m.
A starry cast including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Frankie Faison and David Strathairn reads scenes from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King on Zoom as a catalyst for powerful, constructive, global conversations about climate change, ecological disaster, and environmental justice.
Little Gems
Irish Rep
7 p.m.
Three generations of North Dublin women find themselves suddenly facing the unexpected in Elaine Murphy’s play.
Lehár’s The Merry Widow
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Starring Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Alek Shrader, and Sir Thomas Allen, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Production by Susan Stroman. From January 17, 2015.
Black Feminist Video Game
The Civilians
8 p.m. Through May 9
$10
Darrel Alejandro Holnes’ play is a mashup of live performance, video game design, and online interaction. Jonas, a teenager with autism, and his friend Sabine find their path through an old 2-D video game called “Black Feminist Video Game.” He finds he must confront his own misperceptions of the women in his (real) life, or risk losing not only the game but also his first chance at love
Wednesday, April 28
Giordano’s Andrea Chénier
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Starring Maria Guleghina, Wendy White, Stephanie Blythe, Luciano Pavarotti, and Juan Pons, conducted by James Levine. Production by Nicolas Joël. From October 15, 1996.
Thursday, April 29
Red Rainbow
Waterwell
7 p.m.
$5
Two teens during the pandemic are transported to a world that affords them both the chance to overcome the past and step into the future in this play by Azure D. Osborne-Lee commissioned by Waterwell specifically for the student actors at Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS), a public school in Manhattan.
All The Different Ways That Commodore Matthew Perry Could Have Died Before Opening Japan But Didn’t
Theater in Quarantine
7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Joshua Gelb performs in his closet once again for an ambitious new play, this time by Julia Izumi that imagines that U.S. naval officer Perry had not forced Japan to “open” to the West in the 1850s.
Massenet’s Manon
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Starring Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano, Artur Ruciński, and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Maurizio Benini. Production by Laurent Pelly. From October 26, 2019.
The Baltimore Waltz
Spotlight on Plays via Stellar
8 pm available until May 3
$15
A reading of Paula Vogel’s 1992 play directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz. The play takes place in a hospital room in Baltimore, Maryland, where Carl has a terminal illness, and his sister Anna is imagining the trip to Europe that the two never took
Please Do Not Touch The Indians
Carnegie Hall
8 p.m. Available through May 31
$10
An exploration into race, history, loss, and cultural appropriation through the conversations between two wooden Indians sitting on a bench in front of a gift shop as they have their picture taken by time-traveling tourists. Presented as part of the Voices of Hope festival by the American Indian Community House as part of the American Indian Community House 52nd Anniversary Indigenous Arts Gala.
The Woman’s Party , episode 2
Clubbed Thumb
This is the second of three 30-minute episodes, which were filmed over the course of four weeks remotely from each actor’s home The Woman’s Party takes place 27 years after the ratification of women’s suffrage, when the Equal Rights Amendment was poised for passage. We meet ten impressive women, veterans of the original battle, roughly organized in two opposing sides: one representing strategic, sometimes brutally single-minded focus on passing the ERA, the other seeking a broader mandate, to include other issues, other voices.
The Waves in Quarantine
Berkeley Rep
9 p.m. ET through May 28
This unusual theater piece with music conceived by Raúl Esparza and Lisa Peterson is dubbed “a theatrical experiment in 6 movements,” sparked by a stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, a novel that explores the inner life of six friends. Free, requiring RSVP.
Friday, April 30
Verdi’s La Traviata
Metropolitan Opera
7:30 p.m available for 23 hours
Starring Ileana Cotrubas, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by James Levine. Production by Colin Graham. From March 28, 1981
Beyond the Veil
Radial Park
Described as “live, immersive audio entertainment” you can choose to experience the show at Radial Park, a drive-in at Astoria, or listen to it on your computer. Quentin Earl Darrington and Montego glover star in this play about a small town doctor, wracked with grief, who recounts the strange tale of another grieving family in his care, and their joint decision to seek the aid of a Spiritualist medium to help them “lift the veil” between the worlds of the living and the dead
