Best virtual theatre you've seen this year?

[aces25]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 11:15am

After a year of virtual theatre, what is the best you've seen? What has used the form well? 

[John Adams]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 12:08pm

For me, it was "Buyer and Cellar".
I still think about that production and how (IMO) changing the venue and setting to an online format created interesting nuances that couldn't have been (or be) produced in a live theater.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 12:18pm

For me, it was National Theatre Live’s production of Les Blanca. I had seen the play around 1970, and did not remember it with particular fondness. The production itself was outstanding and the play itself was much better than I remembered.

I almost felt like I was in a theatre as I watched it.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 6:50pm

Honestly, the Ratatouille musical was better put together than it had any right to be.

[LexiGirl]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 6:54pm

I really loved “A Christmas Carol” that the Old Vic put on in December. I had missed it on Broadway in Dec. 2019 because my traveling companion didn’t want to go. So I promised myself I’d go see it when it came back to Broadway for Christmas 2020, annnddd... that of course didn’t happen. So I’m glad I got to see a live virtual performance of it from London, and I’m even more determined to see it in person when it does come back. Of all the virtual performances I forced my husband to watch, that was the only one he truly enjoyed and wanted to see again.

[AllThatJazz2]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 9:20pm

Buyer and Cellar was wonderful...my roommate and I enjoyed that immensely. The other two that really stuck with me were Faith Healer and A Christmas Carol, both put on by the Old Vic. Found both very moving and entertaining and made great use of the livestream virtual format. 

One of the biggest things for me with these productions was that my grandmother was able to watch them with me. We had gotten tickets to A Christmas Carol for her birthday at the regional theater about fifteen minutes from our home, but it ended up canceled due to COVID like everything else. My grandmother is 92 and despite being in great shape mentally, she has physical ailments that leave her unable to really travel anymore, and most theater is not accessible for her these days. When that production was canceled we were all incredibly disappointed, because there are so few chances for her to be able to enjoy something like that.

To be able to share in the experience of theater with her with the virtual Old Vic productions, ones she'd normally never have an opportunity to see in person, was one of the few silver linings to come out of this pandemic for me. She was completely enraptured by the performances.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 10:02pm

Hands down for me, it was the reading of “Lips Together Teeth Apart” from last April. God, I can’t believe it was almost a year ago!

[hicaesar]

Posted: 3/17/21 at 11:32pm

I loved Rattatouile the musical and I've also really enjoyed Andrew Barth Feldman's "Broadway Who Dunnit" murder mysteries. The ones with Rob Mcclure were insanely good and the latest one with Michael Parks deserves to be made into a movie. (It would be an improv "Best of Show" type of movie but a movie none the less!). 

[Pashacar]

Posted: 3/18/21 at 12:32pm

Easily the HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING readings. In addition to the original cast and director, they brought the designers on to create lighting and a soundscape that set the mood nearly as well as in the theater. It was chilling and wonderful.

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/18/21 at 12:41pm

Buyer and Cellar and the Sondheim birthday celebration.

[NameGreg]

Posted: 3/18/21 at 1:17pm

I loved the Michael Arden Jefferson Mays Christmas Carol production.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/18/21 at 3:28pm

I liked Sunset Boulevard. I missed the Old Vic Christmas Carol. I would have liked to see that one.

[stoptheworld38]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 12:10am

My local theatre company in Vermont (where I was volunteering pre-pandemic) did a virtual production of Songs For A New World back in November/December which was absolutely phenomenal and very moving. Many of the scenes were reworked/set in a new way to reflect what was/is going on in the world, and it was really powerful. All the lyrics remained the same, but for example, in the flagmaker scene, instead of showing someone sewing an American flag, they had a woman sewing a face mask - in the very same costume shop where I spent many hours in the earlier weeks of last year. I was completely blown away (and at several times honestly moved to tears) by how well the entire show was done - both from a performance standpoint as well as a technical standpoint.

[Pashacar]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 10:38am

stoptheworld38 said: "My local theatre company in Vermont (where I was volunteering pre-pandemic) did a virtual production of Songs For A New World back in November/December which was absolutely phenomenal and very moving. Many of the scenes were reworked/set in a new way to reflect what was/is going on in the world, and it was really powerful. All the lyrics remained the same, but for example, in the flagmaker scene, instead of showing someone sewing an American flag, they had a woman sewing a face mask - in the very same costume shop where I spent many hours in the earlier weeks of last year. I was completely blown away (and at several times honestly moved to tears) by how well the entire show was done - both from a performance standpoint as well as a technical standpoint."

This sounds great. Is it still available anywhere?

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 10:57am

"Significant Other." The Actors Fund reunited the original cast in May 2020 for a virtual production. It worked very well in the Zoom format and I wish it was still available to watch.

Richard Nelson's "Apple Family" plays at the Studio Theatre were interesting as well.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 12:05pm

Ratatouille, the selections from Angels in America, and the star-studded Sondheim birthday celebration from last spring.

[DrewJoseph]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 2:05pm

I absolutely loved Old Vics A Christmas Carol! Really felt like live theatre which I missed so much. Beautiful production and cant wait to see it live someday.

[Pashacar]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 4:40pm

MrsSallyAdams said: ""Significant Other." The Actors Fund reunited the original cast in May 2020 for a virtual production. It worked very well in the Zoom format and I wish it was still available to watch."

Agree! I'd forgotten about this. Really made the case for what a strong movie it could be.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 6:03pm

The Out of the Box Theatrics' The Last Five Years with Nasia Thomas and Nicholas Edwards, directed by Jason Michael Webb (Choir Boy), still streaming through next week. 

Nasia Thomas Sings "Still Hurting" From Immersive Virtual The Last Five Years

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 6:53pm

I saw/met Nasia when she was doing Beautiful, and she sounds fantastic from this minute-long preview.

Of note: the violinist seen in this video is Orlando Wells, the concertmaster of Nasia's last B'way show, Ain't Too Proud, and the cellist is Sterling Elliott, a current Juilliard undergrad who has performed with several symphonies and philharmonics already.

Updated On: 3/19/21 at 06:53 PM

[lachri5]

Posted: 3/19/21 at 8:13pm

I Am Sending You the Sacred Face by Heather Christian was the most creative and best new musical I've seen in the past year. In terms of plays, I loved Heroes of the Fourth Turning and the Gloria readings. Full productions streamed in the past year, Kings of War directed by Ivo van Hove was epic, Shook from Southwark Playhouse in London was unexpectedly moving. Honorable mention: Will Blum's Floyd Collins.