While NYC venues are continuing to reopen with live in-person performances, there are still top offerings accessible to theater fans everywhere via the internet. Two picks for the week will make their debuts on Wednesday and Thursday, and then remain available on demand for a limited time thereafter.
As part of its Spotlight on Plays series, Broadway’s Best Shows presents a special livestream reading of John C. Russell’s Stupid Kids, premiering on Wednesday, September 22, at 8 pm, and available on demand to stream for four days only through Saturday, September 25, 6 pm.
Directed By Michael Mayer and starring Broadway luminaries John Clay III (Choir Boy), Lauren Patten (Jagged Little Pill), Ali Stroker (Oklahoma!), and Taylor Trensch (To Kill a Mockingbird), with stage directions by Christian Borle (Something Rotten!), the narrative follows four high-school students from first through eighth period and beyond, struggling with the fears, frustrations, and longings peculiar to youth. Russell turns familiar stereotypes into moving and provocative archetypes of adolescence, whose lingo takes on a lyricism that is both true and revelatory of the hearts and minds of contemporary youth. Tickets are free, but all donations will benefit The Actors Fund.
Host Lizz Winstead (best known as co-creator and head writer of The Daily Show) returns with the latest installment of the Abortion Access Front (AAF) series Do Re #MeToo, an empowering concert of sexist songs reclaimed by righteous feminists. The new 2021 episode, streaming on Thursday, September 23, at 9 pm, features an evening of music and comedy calling out some of the most horribly misogynist lyrics ever written.
Performances by Amanda Palmer and Reb Fountain, Ari Chi, Busy Philipps, Jill Sobule, Joaquina Mertz, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, Marión Raw, Molly Gaebe, Sandra Bernhard, Shonali Bhowmik, and Tina Schlieske will remind viewers how pervasive and negative these familiar tunes and their messages are in defining the role of women in our popular culture. Viewing is free, but donations to benefit AAF are welcome; to register, go online. Access is available for 48 hours after the initial airing.
