One of the saddest non-health-related fallouts of the coronavirus situation is our inability to gather with friends and family and to be together in large community groups. For those of us who work and perform in arts and theatre, this new era of self-isolation can be devastating on many levels—mentally, financially, socially, and so on.
We connect with others and with the world through the shared experience of creating and witnessing the same story together. Like gathering for sports, Comic Cons, and religious services, theatre is a unifying and healing experience that we’re being denied at the moment.
For those of us missing this togetherness, here are a few ways to engage with the theatre community while you’re stuck at home.
Stars In The House
With Broadway shuttered at least until early June, musician and SiriusXM host Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley created this live-streamed series to support The Actors Fund and its services.
Stars in The House airs twice daily, at 2 pm and 8 pm EST, and features musical performances and conversations with actors and Broadway legends. Described as promoting “music, community, and education,” the show has so far featured Tina Fey, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kristin Chenoweth, Danny DeVito, Chita Rivera, and cast reunions of plays, musicals, and television series, including Young Sheldon, Glee, and Desperate Housewives.
Stars in The House is free to watch but accepts donations to The Actors Fund. In its first four days, Stars in The House raised over $50,000 for the charity organization.
Dive in to the 50+ back episodes and tune in for the new ones: StarsInTheHouse.com, OR on Youtube.
The Metropolitan Opera
The acclaimed Metropolitan Opera in New York City is streaming a different encore presentation from the company’s lavish theatrical Live in HD series every evening! The presentation drops at 7:30 pm eastern each night and is available online until 6:30 the following day. Supplemental materials, interviews, and occasional discussions with production staff are available as well.
The performances are free to stream. Get the weekly schedule here.
#SunshineSongs
Broadway actor Laura Benanti and all-around superwoman popularized this hashtag on Twitter in mid-March to highlight student performers whose shows were cancelled due to the coronavirus school closures.
She asked high school and college students who were unable to perform their spring musicals or senior concerts to submit videos from dress rehearsals or encore at-home performances with this hashtag.
The hashtag took off and soon Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Garner, and Debra Messing, among others, were retweeting and supporting the students.
In a time when so many students are grieving missed milestones and hard work that never culminated in public performance, having the support of Broadway icons and the Internet at large is a beautiful manifestation of the community support theatre thrives on.
Marvel over the young talent on display by scrolling through the hashtag here.
Take A Class!
For those of us who are more participatory, theatre practitioners are offering free seminars and classes online. Why not use this opportunity to learn from the pros?
Playwright Lauren Gunderson (the most produced living playwright) is hosting weekly playwriting classes on Facebook every Wednesday at 3 pm eastern. All of Gunderson’s past lectures and interviews with theatre professionals are available on her Facebook page and Instagram.
If you need to get up and move, try a dance class with Tiler Peck, a professional dancer with the New York City Ballet. Every day at 1 pm eastern on Instagram, Tiler teaches “Turn It Out With Tiler,” a class that’s accessible for nearly all age and experience levels. Her guests have included Misty Copeland, Laura Osnes, and Jennifer Nettles, among others.
Other companies and performers that have promoted recurring or one-time classes include Debbie Allen and La Duca Shoes. Snoop around on Instagram for information about other artists and theatres providing free instruction during this time.
Streaming Full Productions & Movie Musicals
Some regional theatre companies have been able to stream past or current productions online through special partnerships with rights holders, but below are the old reliable streaming services that are here for us in our time of need.
Netflix: A filmed version of the Broadway production of Shrek the Musical is on Netflix, as well as movie musicals such as Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Jersey Boys. Netflix also houses concerts (Barbra Streisand), documentaries (Bathtubs Over Broadway), and the brilliant but short-lived medieval musical sitcom (you heard me) Galavant. Maybe download the Netflix Party extension and pretend you and your friends are in the theatre together.
Hulu: Hulu is home to the brilliant FX series Fosse/Verdon, which is 100% worth watching and rewatching for any Broadway fan. Especially fans of legends Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. Hulu also has the live television production of Jesus Christ Superstar starring John Legend, which (here’s a hot take) was the best TV adaptation of a musical of the whole trend.
Amazon Prime: Watch the Hamilton documentary, One Shot to Broadway, as well as classics like Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Face, and White Christmas.
Disney+: Your favorite Disney classics are here, as well as Encore, a streaming series produced by Kristen Bell. Encore revisits casts of high school musicals many years after their performances and challenges them to revive the show in one week. It’s funny, inspiring, and often heart-breaking to see how these friends have grown and changed and how music and theatre have touched their lives.
BroadwayHD.com: This streaming service is exclusively for theatrical content, but isn’t limited to Broadway. It features BBC Shakespeare adaptations, international and foreign language theatre, ballet, and concerts in additional to traditional plays and musicals. The site is fairly new, so not everything is here, but the collection is constantly growing.
BroadwayWorld’s Instagram
Head on over to BroadwayWorld.com’s official Instagram for a plethora of daily theatre content, including:
Questions for and conversations with fellow fans
Living Room Concerts featuring Broadway actors
Links to 54 Below At Home performances
Recorded interviews with actors and singers
Top Ten Lists
Fan art contests
And much more!
Regional and Local Events
Regional, local, and community theatres around the world are looking for ways to keep their patrons and staff engaged as they’ve been forced to postpone or cancel their spring and summer seasons.
Live-streams of next season announcements are common, as well as readings of new plays by local playwrights that are in their workshops remotely.
Many theatres are also recruiting their core performers for virtual cabarets and performances to use as fundraisers or just to keep spirits up in their local community.
Arts companies and small businesses are struggling right now. Sources have predicted that not all will come out of this financially stable, or even at all.
Google your local theatres to find out what’s happening in your neighborhood and tune in to stay connected. If you have a local arts group that you love (and are financially able), consider throwing a few dollars or some views their way.
This is the best way to ensure that these communities are there for us when we can gather again.
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