‘Macbeth’
This Saturday, the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series is presenting a matinee of the house’s acclaimed new production of Verdi’s “Macbeth” in cinemas around the world. “With two thoroughly committed stars as Macbeth and his Lady, and a conductor with a penchant for high-octane drama,” The New York Times wrote in a review of opening night, “the show lent fresh tension and heart-stopping insight to a popular opera and its even more popular source material.” The baritone Quinn Kelsey and the soprano Lise Davidsen play the murderous couple, and they alone are worth the price of admission.
‘Rent, 30th Anniversary Concert’
Stream it at the League of Live Stream Theater.
It’s been a big year for fans of “Rent” as Jonathan Larson’s musical celebrates the 30th anniversary of its Off Broadway premiere at New York Theater Workshop, before it quickly transferred to Broadway and ran there until 2008. Idina Menzel wasn’t at a reunion held at The Festival in Kingston, N.Y., in August, but she is on the lineup for the concert at the Richard Rodgers Theater on Oct. 26 — along with a string of original cast members like Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp and Daphne Rubin-Vega, and alums including Renée Elise Goldsberry, Ephraim Sykes and Aaron Tveit. The director Michael Greif returns to watch over this benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. If you can’t make it to the show, it will livestream for $30, so you can laugh and cry and sing “Another Day” as full-throatedly as you want at home.
A Billy Crystal double bill
With his new Broadway show, “860,” currently in previews, Billy Crystal mines an autobiographical vein — the solo was inspired by the loss of his Los Angeles home in the Palisades fire. The stage memoir isn’t new to Crystal, who revisited his Long Island childhood in the solo “700 Sundays,” which you can stream as an HBO special. Also available for streaming on BroadwayHD is “Mr. Saturday Night: A New Musical Comedy,” a capture of the stage adaptation of his 1992 movie, with Crystal reprising his role as Buddy Young, an abrasive and not necessarily lovable comedian.
From the Wilma Theater and beyond
The excellent Wilma Theater in Philadelphia has just begun a streaming initiative for some of its shows as well as those by other companies. First out of the gate is DJ Hills’s “Horsegirl & Cowdaddy” (through Nov. 1), about being queer and trans in rural Pennsylvania, and produced by the Wilma and Soho Rep. Next up is the City Theater musical “In Clay” (Oct. 20-Nov. 8), inspired by the French ceramist Marie-Berthe Cazin. Rounding out this first batch is Azuka Theater’s “#Charlottesville” (Nov. 5-19), a solo in which Priyanka Shetty retraces the violent clashes that happened at a far-right rally between marchers and counterprotesters in 2017. (Note that viewers can rent single shows or a package with all three.)
‘Much Ado About Nothing’
Beatrice and Benedick may well be Shakespeare’s wittiest lovers, and their verbal jousts make this play an enduring delight. With Hayley Atwell and Tom Hiddleston starring this season in a Broadway production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” directed by Jamie Lloyd, you can get in the mood by watching a few different takes on this beloved comedy. The Kenneth Branagh film from 1993 (free on Tubi) is faithful to the play and stars Branagh and Emma Thompson at the top of their game. They’re both equally at ease not just with the verse and the comedy, but with the tonal changes.
For an adaptation that preserves the play’s essence if not its letter, head to Prime Video for the terrific, very funny take from the BBC anthology “ShakespeaRe-Told” (2006). Sarah Parish and Damian Lewis portray bickering anchors at a Wessex TV station, and Billie Piper turns up as the weather reporter Hero. And even the most Bard-averse teens might be ready to embrace the unabashed rom-com version of the play with the 2023 film “Anyone but You” (available on Hulu), with Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney as the photogenic Ben and Bea.
Celebrate the spooky season
What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a singing flesh-eating plant? We are, of course, talking about the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” whose latest revival is still going strong Off Broadway, and whose film adaptation starring Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene, from 1986, is now streaming in HBO Max. Note that this is the watered-down theatrical ending; if you want the more subversive director’s cut, it’s available for purchase on Prime Video.
In a similar parodic vein is “Night of the Living Dead Live,” a capture of which is streaming on Broadway HD. George A. Romero’s classic film redefined the zombie genre in 1968, and the stage version takes matters in a decidedly goofy direction with the addition of a “what if?” section, which ponders what the outcome would be if, say, women were in charge.
The post ‘Macbeth’ and More Theater to Stream This October appeared first on New York Times.
