What's Streaming? Hamilton on Disney Plus; Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs

With theaters closed around the country, some companies are making their productions available online. Below, you'll find our weekly update of productions, videos, and other theater-related streaming content from across the US and elsewhere. Some streams are free, while others may charge a fee or request a donation. Either way, you're sure to find something to scratch your theater itch. Theaters may be dark, but the shows go on.

This Weekend

* National Theatre at Home is streaming the Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs (the Whites), beginning Thursday, July 2 at 2pm ET. An African country teeters on the edge of civil war. A society prepares to drive out its colonial present and claim an independent future. Tshembe, returned home from England for his father's funeral, finds himself in the eye of the storm. The production will stream for free for a week. Donations are encouraged. Watch below:

* On Friday, July 3, Lin-Manuel Miranda's blockbuster musical Hamilton will begin streaming on Disney Plus. Winner of 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Grammy Award, Hamilton explores the life of Alexander Hamilton, creator of the United States' financial system and the first Secretary of the Treasury. This filmed version features the original Broadway cast, including Miranda as Hamilton, Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr, Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler, Christopher Jackson as George Washington, Jonathan Groff as King George, Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton, Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds, Okieriete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison, and Anthony Ramos as John Laurens/Philip Hamilton. To find out how to watch, click here.

* Shakespeare @ has launched a new audio play series of Richard II. Presented in three weekly episodes, the company is led by Jamie Ballard in the title role, alongside artists such as Keith Hamilton Cobb, Ashlie Atkinson, and Jonathan Forbes. Click here for more information.

Actor and playwright Eric Ulloa has announced his new podcast, Do You Hear the People Sing?, a theater person's guide to saving democracy. Each episode in this 10-episode limited series will be hosted by Ulloa and released every other week through Election Day. The debut episode, with special guest, Drama Desk Award winner and Global Ambassador for (RED) Javier Muñoz is now available here.

Upcoming

* The Mint Theater Company has announced its Summer Stock Streaming Festival, featuring archival recordings of three past productions. All three productions will be available July 5-19. To learn more, click here.

* The musical The Boy Who Danced on Air, with book and lyrics by Charlie Sohne and music by Tim Rosser, will stream from July 6-19. Tickets cost $15-$35 per household. To purchase and find out more about the show, click here.

* For the first time online, experience an extraordinary evening with Broadway legend Bernadette Peters in concert. The free stream of Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert is set for Friday, July 10 at 8pm ET. While the concert stream is free to all, VIP and sponsorship opportunities also are available that provide exclusive virtual experiences with Peters and recognition during the stream.
To learn more and watch, click here.

The Shows Must Go On! YouTube channel is concluding its first season of shows with a re-stream of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the show that the season began with, this Friday, July 10, at 2pm. The stream will be available for 48 hours. Recorded in 1999, the production features Donny Osmond in the title role. Maria Friedman plays the Narrator, Richard Attenborough plays Jacob, and Joan Collins plays Mrs. Potiphar. The stream is free to watch, but donations are encouraged. To watch, click here.

* Hershey Felder: Beethoven, a live streaming event, features the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, with text by Felder, and is based on the original stage play direction by Joel Zwick. It will stream on Sunday, July 12 at 8pm ET from Florence, Italy. The production will benefit national US theaters and arts organizations. Felder will also donate a portion of the proceeds to the Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, to support the work of Black theater artists. For tickets and more information, click here.

* The We Are Freestyle Love Supreme documentary, originally set to premiere on Hulu on June 5, officially has a new premiere date set. After a statement to postpone the premiere made from the team in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, the documentary will arrive on the streaming platform on July 17.

* Payson Lewis and Jonah Platt will star in an online reading of the new musical Walt and Roy. The virtual performance will be on July 9 at 8pm ET, with all money received from ticket sales being donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway for Racial Justice. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 12, and will be available for purchase here.

* NY Classical Theatre, New York City's all-free off-Broadway Equity theater company, will bring back the entire original cast of its critically acclaimed production of Oscar Wilde's comic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest, for an encore reading on July 16 at 8pm. To learn more and make a free reservation, click here.

* Bedlam will present a live virtual play reading series to raise funds and awareness for the #BlackLivesMatter movement and associated organizations working toward eliminating race-based discrimination. Upcoming readings include Coriolanus by William Shakespeare on Tuesday, July 21; Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw on Tuesday, August 4, and Othello by William Shakespeare on Tuesday, October 13. All proceeds from these readings will go directly to organizations fighting for equity and justice. For a complete list of readings, and for more information on how to donate, click here.

Streaming Channels

* Spike Lee directs a filmed version Antoinette Nwandu's provocative play Pass Over, which tells the story of two young black men (Jon Michael Hill and Julian Parker) dreaming of escape from a racist world. A startling and disturbing riff on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Pass Over now streams on Prime Video. Read our critic's review here.

* In Dominique Morisseau's play Pipeline, a public school teacher (Karen Pittman) must face the trauma of her son (Namir Smallwood) as a young black man when an incident threatens to get him expelled from a prep school. Pipeline streams on BroadwayHD. Read our critic's review here.

* Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee Anna Deavere Smith wrote and stars in Notes From the Field, her solo play in which she probes the lives of students, parents, and teachers caught in the school-to-prison pipeline. The show streams on HBO.

* Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, and Eugene Lee reprise their Broadway roles in American Son, the story of an interracial couple anxiously awaiting word of their son's whereabouts while dealing with a racist cop in a police station. Tony winner Kenny Leon directs. American Son streams on Netflix.

Available for a Limited Time

* Raúl Esparza and Samira Wiley star in a live-streamed production of Molière's Tartuffe, directed by Lucie Tiberghein. The broadcast will be available through Sunday, July 12, on Molière in the Park's YouTube channel. Viewing is free. Reserve a spot here.

* PBS will offer a stream of Anna Deavere Smith's drama Twilight: Los Angeles through August 7. Filmed by Marc Levin in 2001, Smith stars in a solo show that explores the aftermath of the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. To watch, click here.

* Geffen Playhouse has extended The Present, its world-premiere live, virtual, and interactive theatrical experience written and performed by master illusionist, storyteller, and Geffen alum Helder Guimarães. The show will now run May 7-October 10. A mystery package will be sent to you inside a USPS Priority Mail box before the show, so you must purchase tickets at least seven days in advance. To purchase tickets, click here.

* The world premiere of The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, written by Darren Murphy specifically for digital media in reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, premiered on Wednesday, May 27 at 6pm ET and will remain online through October 2020. For more information, click here.

* The Actors Fund and People magazine is streaming the 2015 benefit concert of Bombshell, the musical within the short-lived television drama Smash. Watch it here:

* Tony-winning dancer Scott Wise has launched the new Wise Conversations talk show series, benefiting Fineline Theatre Arts, in New Milford, Connecticut. Future conversations will take place on Saturdays at 4pm and Wednesdays at 7pm. Recommended donation is $10 for students and $20 for adults. For more information, visit Fineline's Facebook page.

Always Available

Girl From the North Country has released two new videos featuring the company of the Broadway musical. Filmed during quarantine, "Pressing On" features the entire company of the musical, and "Make You Feel My Love" features stars Jeannette Bayardelle and Austin Scott in a reimagined duet that does not appear in the show.

Watch the videos below:

* La MaMa E.T.C., in partnership with CultureHub, has announced the public launch of LiveLab, a free, open-source performance and video collaboration software built by artists for artists. LiveLab is a new tool that empowers artists and arts presenters to meet, create, rehearse, and ultimately produce multi-location performances from virtually anywhere in the world. For more information, click here.

* To celebrate Pride this wyear, members of the Hadestown cast got together for a Pride roundtable. Listen in as Timothy Hughes, T. Oliver Reid, Jessie Shelton, Anthony Chatmon, Ahmad Simmons, Tom Kirdahy, and Cherie B. Tay discuss what Pride means to them. Watch the video here:

Alex Newell and the Sounds of Zamar came together for a moving rendition of "I Know Where I've Been," from Hairspray. AIDS Walk New York posted the video on its YouTube channel after postponing its "Live at Home" event "in response to the murder of George Floyd, the systemic racism it reflects, the ongoing police abuses, and in solidarity with Black Lives Matter." Hairspray co-writer Marc Shaiman lent his keyboard to the rousing tribute. Watch Newell and the Sounds of Zamar here:

* Geraldine Inoa's Scraps chronicles how the family and friends of a black teenager shot by a white police officer struggle to cope in the aftermath. The Matrix Theatre Company has made its production available here.

* The global family of Rent paid tribute to the frontline heroes of New York City. Watch their rendition of "No Day But Today" here:

* Theater producer and playwright David Lan has a conversation with longtime artistic collaborator Stephen Daldry celebrating Lan's new memoir, As If By Chance: Journeys, Theatres, Lives. The conversation, a part of BAM's ongoing series of digital programs Love from BAM, can be seen here.

* More than 70 cast members from various international productions of Maury Yeston and Peter Stone's musical Titanic have gathered to record a socially distant version of the ballad "We'll Meet Tomorrow." Watch it below:

* Idina Menzel and Ben Platt perform "A Whole New World" from Disney's Aladdin as part of "The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II." Watch the video below:

* In celebration of our nation's healthcare workers and 2020 Year of the Nurse, the Resilient Project released their "Resilient" video.

* Wicked celebrates first responders on the front lines of the public health crisis with a video featuring stars Lindsay Pearce (Elphaba) and Ginna Claire Mason (Glinda) singing the anthem "For Good."

* Brandon Victor Dixon performed a powerful ballad inspired by the Netherlands Carillon, the bell tower at Arlington Cemetery, on May 23 for '''Fleet Week Follies''. Will Swenson and Audra McDonald introduced him. Watch his performance here:

* Composer Charles Strouse, the last surviving writer of the musical Annie, has tried to help bolster optimism by recording a video of himself performing the show's beloved anthem, "Tomorrow."

* From their homes in Ireland, the UK, the United States, Canada, Spain, Australia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as those dancers who have swapped their dancing shoes for scrubs, the Riverdance cast have come together while being apart to say thank you to all frontline and essential workers, as well as the people at home who continue to do their part in the fight against COVID-19.

* Six fans from across the globe joined the cast for a special performance in isolation.

* Abrons Arts Center has made all of its performance documentation public on its Vimeo page, alongside contact and donation information for the artists whose work you are viewing.

* TriviaMania co-host and Broadway star Ellyn Marie Marsh has teamed up with Patrick Hinds for a brand-new true-crime podcast Obsessed With: Disappeared, which will recap episodes of Investigation Discovery Channel's hit series "Disappeared" in a comedic and witty tone, with perpetrators always the butt of the joke. It will be available May 27.