As I've mentioned here, the National Theatre Live streams a production every Thursday for free, and it runs for a week.  (It was supposed to be just for four plays, and then they extended it for four more.  This is the last one starting today, though they may extend it further, but no word yet.)
 
The new production that begins streaming today for free to run until next Thursday is Shakespeare’s Coriolanus.  I wasn’t absolutely sure I was going to watch – not only am I not dying to see it, one of Shakespeare’s lesser plays, but also it’s three hours long.  But I figured I won’t get many chances to see Corionlanus, and I can always watch over two nights.  And it stars Tom Hiddleston who I like a lot.
 
So I read the synopsis.
 
And I was flabbergasted.  It’s about Trump!! 

(Albeit with more pathos, sympathy and courage...  But at its foundation, Trump nonetheless.)
 
A couple passages from Wikipedia –
 
“The play opens in Rome…. There are riots in progress, after stores of grain were withheld from ordinary citizens. The rioters are particularly angry at Caius Marcius, [Coriolanus] a Roman general whom they blame for the loss of their grain….Marcius is openly contemptuous of the people, and says that the plebeians were not worthy of the grain. 
 
“Faced with this opposition, Coriolanus flies into a rage and rails against the concept of popular rule. He compares allowing plebeians to have power over the patricians to allowing ‘crows to peck the eagles’".
 
There’s a lot more, too.  Including the matter of being a traitor and working for Rome's enemy.
 
Okay, you couldn’t keep me from watching.  Though still perhaps over two nights…

Furthermore, it turns out that this is an acclaimed production, originally done at the Donmar Warehouse in 2014.  A friend of mine who is seriously up on such things not only saw a recent movie of the play that Ralph Fiennes directed and starred in and said it was wonderful (I only saw the trailer, which doesn’t count…but it looked good), but he also wrote me last night, “Hiddleston's performance and this production have entered modern theatrical lore so this will be an extraordinary opportunity.”  

Also in the cast is another actor I like, Mark Gatiss, who viewers here may know best as Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft opposite Benedict Cumberbatch.
 
For those interested, this is the online link here.  However, it can be watched on a Smart TV, too, through the YouTube app, which is how I've watched these streaming productions.  And again, it will run for a week starting today, and for free.  (Though they do make a request for a donation.)
 
And this here is a brief synopsis, not anything in full detail, but it should give you a pretty good idea.

​This is the trailer --

The Goodman Theatre in Chicago has started a series they call "Live@5," where they stream conversations on Fridays in the afternoon.  Yesterdays was between their artistic director Robert Falls and Nathan Lane.
 
(Falls, by the way, is pretty acclaimed in his own right.  He’s been the Goodman’s artistic directors for 25 years, and won a Tony Award for directing a revival of Death of a Salesman that starred Brian Dennehy.)

Here's the hour-and-15-minute conversation.  It's fairly entertaining, as they discuss the theater and fill in the spaces with behind-the-scene stories of people they've worked with.  Lane in particular has several amusing tales of working with George C. Scott, who Falls crossed paths with, as well.  There's also a very good, extended clip of a Goodman production of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh that starred Brian Dennehy and Lane.
 
The sound mix is awful for the first 19 minutes, with Falls being quite loud and Lane very soft.  They adjust it, but not enough.  They finally get it -- if not "right" -- much better about 33 minutes in, after working on it during the Iceman Cometh clip.

Also, I'm having difficulty getting this to start from the beginning.  If it doesn't, just grab the scrollbar and drag it all the way to the left.

MEDIA ALERT #1

There is something new from the Broadway’s Best Shows YouTube Channel that they're calling "Spotlight on Plays.".  They’ve gotten casts together to read plays that will be streamed live one time, and one-time only, on Thursdays – and today is the first one.  They stream live in New York at 8 PM and in Los Angeles at 5 PM.  (That time is not ideal on the West Coast, but there are far-worse things “not ideal”  in the world at the moment.  The play today is a notable one -- David Mamet’s political satire November with John Malkovitch, Patti LupPne and Dylan Baker.  The play opened on Broadway in 2007 and is about a fictional U.S. president in the days leading up to his second election.  When the live-stream ends, the show will not be repeated or be available.  
 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb5QKCN523na2lwqUazKPNA
 
Here’s more about the series which benefits the Actors Fund --

Next up in the series will be Joshua Harmon’s Significant Other on May 14, directed by Trip Cullman and reuniting the play's Broadway original cast of Gideon Glick, John Behlman, Sas Goldberg, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Lindsay Mendez, Luke Smith and Barbara Barrie.
And then A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters, directed by Jerry Zaks, with Bryan Cranston and Sally Field on May 21. The play follows the 50-year correspondence between of two soul mates.

Additional productions will be announced shortly.


MEDIA ALERT #2

And the other Media Alert for today is a reminder that the new National Theatre Live production begins today and will stream for a week.  The play today is It’s Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo.  This is the online link, though as I said, it can be watched on a Smart TV via the YouTube app or browswer app.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWc6_aCTqI0
 
By the way, so that you can plan ahead, related to this the National Theatre Live productions were only scheduled through today.  But they just announced it will continue with four more, for the time being -- all premiering on a Thursday and streaming for a week..  Not all are Must Sees for me, though they all look interesting –
 

• Barber Shop Chronicles - a never-before-seen archive recording of Inua Ellams’ smash-hit play, about the places where banter is barbed, and the truth is telling.
• A Streetcar Named Desire - Gillian Anderson and Vanessa Kirby play Blanche and Stella in the Young Vic production of Tennessee Williams' American classic.
• This House - James Graham’s timely, biting and funny portrait of British Politics in the 1970s.
• Coriolanus - Tom Hiddleston plays the title role in the Donmar Warehouse's production of Shakespeare’s searing political tragedy

 

I've been mentioning that the wonderful National Theatre Live has been streaming productions from their archives for free every Thursday that will stay active for a week.  

I thought it worth mentioning the new one that is streaming now, as of 2 PM ET.  I've actually written about this in the past.  It's their adaptation of Frankenstein that stars good friends Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller (who like Cumberbatch also played 'Sherlock Holmes' in the CBS series Elementary).  And it's directed by Danny Boyle who directed Slumdog Millionaire, Yesterday, and Trainspotting, among others.  But what stood out most about this production is that every other night Cumberbatch and Miller switched playing the roles of the Doctor and the Creature.

What they will be doing for this streaming is that the version with Cumberbatch as the Creature (and Miller as the Doctor) begins streaming today for a week -- and the version that features Miller as the Creature (and Cumberbatch as the Doctor) will start streaming tomorrow (Friday) for a week, so you can see both, if you're so inclined.

I saw the production with Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature and Cumberbatch as the Doctor.  It's wonderfully done, vibrant and very interesting.  But -- the adaptation takes a few liberties with the original story I didn't care for.

Anyway, here's the link to the NT Live streaming page, where you can find both versions.  Know that while you can watch this online, if you have a Smart TV you can watch the production that way through a YouTube app or via the NT Live YouTube page in a browser.

And this is the trailer for the original production itself.  You'll notice that it edits both actors back-and-forth in the two roles.

Just a reminder for what I wrote the other day here about the National Theatre Live program streaming a new production every Thursday for free over the next month, at least.  Each show will be available for one week from the day it starts streaming.

You can read more about it here.

And the best news, as I noted, is that they are starting today with one of my favorite, the hilarious farce, One Man, Two Guvnors, starring James Corden, a role for which he won the Tony Award as Best Actor when the play came to Broadway.

It's live now and will be available for the next week.  Highly recommended.  Don't miss it.

This is the  link to watch.  A box may pop up asking if you want to subscribe, and then you'll see the embedded YouTube play to click on.  Don't forget to make it full screen.

For the past few years, I've written here about the wonderful National Theatre Live.  The short version is that it's a program that streams live productions of the National Theatre in England to movie houses around the world.  (They're live in certain areas, but for the most part, because of time differences, the shows are time -- and often, date -- delayed.)

Well, because theaters are closed down these days, the National Theatre Live series announced that they will be streaming "family friendly" productions from their archives online for free every Thursday for the next month at least.  (It may continue.)  Shows will begin at 7 PM UK time, though they don't have to be streamed at home that particular Thursday, but each will be available from its starting date.

You can get access to it all and with more information here.

Better still, as readers of these pages know, one of the shows they did is something I've repeatedly raved about and admonished people to go see when National Theatre Live has repeated -- One Man, Two Guvnors. It's absolutely wonderful, a hilarious farce, and when it subsequently played on Broadway, the star James Corden won the Tony Award as Best Actor.  Well...here's the good news:  One Man, Two Guvnors is going to be the first production they stream for free, starting this coming Thursday.

If one doesn’t like farces, it’s not for you, but otherwise it’s a joy  The story centers on a total dimwit who gets hired to work for a thug – he then gets an even better offer to work for the thug’s rival.  He takes both jobs, but can’t tell either one of them.  And from there, the story spins out of total control.
 
Here's a one-minute clip from the show --

Here's how TimeOut in London describes the program.  It's largely the same information as I noted above, though with a bit more detail --

"As numerous theatrical institutions across the world have opened up their archives in response to increasing lockdown restrictions, all eyes have remained on one organisation: the National Theatre in London, which has the greatest archive of cinema-quality recordings of stage plays of any theatre on the planet, thanks to its formidable NT Live programme. It’s designed to beam productions from the NT into cinemas across the country, but there are of course no cinemas in operation at present. So the NT is switching to its YouTube channel. From April 2, under the banner of National Theatre at Home, every Thursday (7pm GMT/2pm EST) will see a new National Theatre play released – free to watch for one week – along with bonus content including cast and creative Q&As and post-stream talks.

"There’s a definite emphasis on family-friendly good cheer for the line-up so far, which kicks off with a big hitter: Richard Bean’s beloved farce ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’, starring a pre-chat-show-days James Corden. Over the next few weeks you can expect a string of family-friendly titles, though naturally there will be those hoping for some of the real NT Live blockbusters, notably ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Frankenstein’ starring Benedict Cumberbatch and ‘Coriolanus’ starring Tom Hiddleston."

This is odd, but fascinating.  Most people probably won't watch it, but it's worth knowing about.

The Goodman Theatre in Chicago is one of the legendary regional theater companies in the United States, even winning a Tony Award for that.  Because of the coronavirus, they -- like other theaters -- have closed down for the time being.  But the Goodman announced something unexpected yesterday -- they said that would would stream one of the recent, acclaimed productions online.

The show is 2666, directed and co-written by their artistic director Robert Falls, who won a Tony Award in 1998 for directing a revival of Death of a Salesman.  This production is very long -- divided into five parts, running about six hours.  I assume was done over two nights.  This is how they describe the play --​

This epic stage adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s internationally acclaimed novel is now available online for free, unlimited streaming.

A soaring adaptation of Chilean-born author Roberto Bolaño’s masterpiece, 2666 begins with a group of hapless European academics hot on the trail of an elusive author—a search that leads them into the dark heart of a Mexican border city where the murders of hundreds of women remain unsolved. This story gives way to a surprising, panoramic portrait of the 20th century that spans more than 100 years and jumps from Spain to Mexico to Germany and beyond, illuminating the power of literature to reflect and transform the world. An unflinching look at the nature of evil, 2666 is an ambitious new work unlike any other theatrical experience.

In 2014, Sting wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical The Last Ship.  The show received two Tony nominations for Best Score and Best Orchestrations, though only ran 105 performances.  Sting himself briefly appeared in a short run during the Broadway production, and then also appeared in the show after the book was rewritten and it had a run in England.

A heads-up to people who live in Los Angeles.  The musical is coming to the Ahmanson Theatre in January, 2020 for a month.  But that's not the heads-up.  It's that Sting will be appearing in the show here, and is scheduled to be in all performances, including matinees.  I certainly hope that's the case, since I just got tickets for the matinee.

After premiering in Los Angeles, the show currently plans to tour to San Francisco, Washington D.C., St. Paul and Detroit.  Other cities for the tour are yet to be named.  Sting is scheduled to stay with the tour and appear in all performances.  No other cast has been announced yet, though I suspect that one name is all that's needed as a selling point...

To quote the producers, he story "is set in the English seaside town of Wallsend, a close-knit community where life has always revolved around the local shipyard and the hardworking men construct magnificent vessels with tremendous pride. But Gideon Fletcher dreams of a different future. He sets out to travel the world, leaving his life and his love behind. When Gideon returns home many years later, he finds the shipyard's future in grave danger and his childhood sweetheart engaged to someone else. This love triangle ignites just as the men and women of Wallsend take their future into their own hands and build a towering representation of the shared dream that defines their existence. And in the end Gideon comes to understand that he had indeed left behind more than he could have ever imagined."

You can find a link to tickets in Los Angeles here.

And here's a trailer for the show during its U.K. run.