The arts online - Week of may 17-23

For One Knight Only 
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This looks like a must for fans of the British theatre. Knights and Dames - Dame Judy Dench, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Maggie Smith, hosted by Sir Kenneth Branagh. Just talking, not acting, but we know they're pretty good talkers.

With luck, they’ll share stories about their careers, inspirations, and their time in show business, and they’ve all been in the ‘business’ a long time so there should be some good jokes and a lot of fun, as well as a window into their vast experience.
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All proceeds go to the Royal Theatrical Fund and partner organisation, the Fleabag Support Fund, so it’s a good cause. May 21-23 at 7pm BST, and then on demand May 28–31. £25 

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Alastair Macaulay’s online dance series
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City Center’s series of online dance-coaching sessions, curated by Alastair Macaulay, former Chief Dance Critic of the New York Times, resumes with a focus on male dancers from a range of genres, coming from four continents and the UK. The first episode – they’re each available free for nine days - will be released on May 18 and will feature Ib Andersen (Danish leading dancer/choreographer, a favourite of George Balanchine who created many roles for him at NY City Ballet) coaching Calvin Royal 111 (Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theater) in Balanchine’s Apollo.

These are fascinating sessions for ballet lovers, isolating and emphasising the finer points of ballet’s painstaking technique as the dancers strive for perfection. Sometimes it’s just the tiniest adjustment of foot placement by an inch or two, but it matters.

Dance films and computer programmes notwithstanding, this is the way ballet has always been taught, passed on directly from dancer to dancer, in person, with corrections immediately offered and just as immediately, incorporated. Only now it’s possible to do it online.
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For those less familiar with ballet, you should know that Macaulay has gathered the very best current and former dancers as coaches for this series, to work one-on-one with younger performers now at the top of their game. There are more sessions to be released by City Center on May 25, June 1, June 8, and June 15.

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The Callaway Sisters: Side by Side
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I happen to know that Liz Callaway and her sister Ann Hampton Callaway (who have both been nominated for Tony Awards for big Broadway shows) are very close and loving. Getting together, though, isn’t easy, especially during a pandemic, because Ann lives in Arizona and Liz in New York. It’s therefore something of a red letter day for cabaret fans when they not only get together but sing together. Liz is making the journey across the US this month so they can livestream a concert from Ann’s piano in Tucson, Arizona.
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Their solo vocal styles are quite different so I’m always impressed by how perfectly Ann’s deep jazz-tinged vocals and Liz’s clear-bell Broadway soprano blend when performing together. One of the best duo shows I ever saw was their Sibling Revelry and they’re promising that Side by Side will include some of that show and some surprises, along with some of the most beloved songs of Broadway, pop and jazz. Pic by Darren Bell.
The live stream concert is May 23 at 7pm ET, 12midnight BST, and then available to watch on demand until May 31. $25

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Anton Chekhov – Michael Pennington 
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“I don’t like the theatre, I can’t stand the actors.”
Guess who said that? Only one of the greatest playwrights ever to walk the earth. I’ve often thought it was a good thing Anton Chekhov was also a doctor so he knew he could always give it all up and go back to medicine if the actors annoyed him too much, although he did manage to marry one. He gave up writing plays after the failure of his first, The Seagull,  and was tempted back by meeting the director Konstantin Stanislavsky, who promptly directed it in a better production at his Moscow Art Theatre. If he hadn’t, neither that play nor any of the subsequent masterpieces – The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, etc - might ever have been written.

The celebrated actor (four-time Olivier Award nominee) has been celebrating Chekhov around the world since 1984 and it’s coming home to roost at Jermyn Street Theatre this week. Michael Pennington’s Anton Chekhov takes the form of an evening spent in the company of the Russian writer towards the end of his life. In it he reminisces about his life, his times and work; he tells stories, speaks about the theatre and engages deeply and humorously with his English audience.
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This is part of Jermyn St Theatre's Footprints Festival so there's a certain amount of faffing to navigate the website but stay with it. It's worth it. It helps to know that it's in Band B.  May 21/22 £15

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Breathe: The Musical
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The best artists have always reacted to what was around them and so it was inevitable after the shock and destruction of the past year that Covid-19 would generate multiple works of art and they’re beginning to emerge now. One of the most intriguing is Breathe , a musical told in five interlocking suites, each by a different songwriting team.

Breathe follows five couples grappling with the virus’s impact on their lives, families, society, relationships, and health. Written by novelist Jodi Picoult and playwright Timothy Allen Macdonald, with songs by some of New York’s top songwriters, the show is directed by Jeff Calhoun.
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Breathe has attracted a spectacular Broadway musical theatre cast that includes Tony Award-winners Kelli O’Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell, Patti Murin, Colin Donnell, Denée Benton, Rubén J. Carbajal, Matt Doyle, Max Clayton, Daniel Yearwood, T. Oliver Reid and Josh Davis. On demand from May 14 until July 2. $25

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The Sisters Rosensweig – Spotlight on Plays
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Three very different sisters reunite after a lengthy separation and discover humanity, respect, and love in this serious comedy about sisterhood. 
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Wendy Wasserstein's excellent play is starring Jason Alexander, John Behlmann, Lisa Edelstein, Kathryn Hahn, Kathryn Newton, Tracee Chimo Pallero, Chris Perfetti and James Urbaniak.
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I’ve always loved this play and delight in the opportunity to see it again, albeit in this pandemic-style version, as an online reading.
May 20 at 8PM ET and will then be available on demand until May 24. $12

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Met Opera – Unhinged Mad Scenes
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I love the Met’s title for this week’s free opera streams – Unhinged Mad Scenes. I do like a nice mad scene. So you know what’s coming – Lucia, of course, but also a rare male unravelling – Placido Domingo at his best as Germann in Tchaikowsky’s The Queen of Spades, then there’s Anna Netrebko’s celebrated descent into madness as Elvira in I Puritani, and various other portrayals of lunacy, some more bonkers than others, although I particularly admire Elza van den Heever’s jealous rage as Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo which threatens to, but doesn’t actually, cause steam to rise from the top of her head. Lovely.

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In Pieces
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This prize-winning musical film with an excellent cast had a brief airing pre-pandemic at Lincoln Center and is now back for a longer run. In Pieces, written by Joey Contreras and directed by Louis Rayneau, was recently awarded the New York Movie Award for Best Director, and Best Original Song.
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The premise is that our love lives are constantly in pieces.  Shifting in and out of feeling fully complete. But you never know how a single spark one day can unlock a new you, so we make a choice at the crossroad, we say yes to the coffee date, and wherever that leads, we learn to embrace the journey.
Available on demand 14 – 28 May. £10 

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​Gay as They Say – Mark Nadler
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Did you ever listen to a song written by one of the great lyricists and hear a phrase that made you say, “Did I just hear what I think I heard?” In this fun and tuneful show, Mark Nadler explores the theory that Cole Porter, Noël Coward, Larry Hart and Billy Strayhorn meant what you think they meant when they wrote provocative, gay-sounding phrases in their lyrics.

Mark Nadler is an internationally acclaimed singer, pianist, tap-dancer and comedian. He is the recipient of the 2015 Broadway World Editor’s Choice Award for Entertainer of the Year.
 
His off-Broadway hit, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, won the 2013 Nightlife Award and he has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and two Broadway World Awards.
Free livestream  May 21 and 22 at 11 ET and May 23 at 6 ET

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