Watch Agent Scully play Blanche in the National Theatre’s Streetcar — then talk about it. London’s National Theatre has been streaming past productions for free on YouTube, and this week’s is a doozy: the Young Vic’s gripping 2014 production of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, with explosive, sexy performances by Gillian Anderson (X-Files, Sex Education) as Blanche; Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, 3:10 to Yuma) as Stanley; and Vanessa Kirby (Princess Margaret in The Crown) as Stella. Watch it anytime before Wed. May 27 at 6 p.m., then join freeFall’s Eric Davis and team for their weekly Zoom discussion. For info, go to freeFall’s Facebook page, where you can also…
Watch freeFall’s video love letter to its audiences. It’s a tribute not only to freeFall fans but to anyone who loves theater. And using an excerpt from Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe as narration (read by Eric Davis) is simply brilliant. “Goosebumps,” indeed.
Visit the Tampa Museum of Art — in person! Yup, museums are opening again. The Tampa Museum of Art re-opens for regular seven-day-a week hours at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 1, following an Art+ Member and sponsors-only weekend. TMA is also participating in Museums for All, a program that allows anyone receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) free admission by showing their EBT card at the museum’s ticketing desk. Full details on safety guidelines, ticket reservations and more at TampaMuseum.org.
Watch “Beauty & the ’Burg Live Live! Around the World” on Fri. May 22. It’s baaaack! Postponed from April 3, Cindy Stovall’s international live streaming variety show will now be broadcast Friday night at 7 p.m. on the Creative Pinellas Facebook page. CP already proved it could accomplish this sort of online entertainment event with its Virtual Arts Festival on Mother’s Day, so I have great faith that Cindy’s show will be a raging success. And with music, song, poetry, staged readings and laughs from a lineup that includes Alex Jones, Becca McCoy, Roxanne Fay, Ned Averill-Snell, Bob Devin Jones, Colleen Cherry, Matthew McGee, Lisa Kirchner, Michelle Dowdy (of Broadway’s Hairspray) and Jordan Stovall aka Wanda Whatever (live from London), how can it miss? Plus, artist Laura Spencer will create a masterpiece during the show that will be auctioned off for charity.
Watch one of Roxanne Faye’s greatest moments ever. She’s our Meryl Streep, so she can do most anything. But her whacked-out yet totally sane monologue/primer on gender in Jobsite’s Hir is Faye at her most dazzling (and funniest). It’s just one of the many goodies on Jobsite Theater’s website.
St. Pete Opera Virtual Gala on Sat. May 23. The St. Petersburg Opera Company’s annual fundraising gala, Bella Voce, is always a good time, with Maestro Mark Sforzini at the helm of a glamorous but not at all stuffy mix of soaring voices, irreverent comic skits and sparkly gowns. So how do you throw such a bash in the middle of a lockdown? Go virtual, of course — with live and recorded entertainment; a “Creative Black Tie” social media challenge; a Parkshore Grill VIP experience; a way to make a $50 donation just by giving $10; a performance by the 1979 U.S. Hula Hoop Champion (yup, that was, and is, Mark Sforzini) and lots more. The theme of this year’s gala is “Vincerò,” a phrase from Turandot’s famous “Nessun Dorma” aria that means “I will be victorious.” Go online at stpeteopera.org Saturday from 7-8 p.m.; call 727-823-2040 for more info.
Reconnect with some of Stageworks’ fabulous females. Stageworks’ online offerings include a melancholy rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by multi-talented Georgia Mallory Guy (playing her own piano accompaniment); a charming Storytime video read in Spanish by Jessy Juliana Minson; a recollection of the company’s award-winning production of The Year of Magical Thinking with Vickie Daignault and Karla Hartley; and more “shenanigans” promised for sometime today.
Tiny Bedtime Plays resume on Sun. May 24. Studio@620’s call-in five-minute telephone plays resume Sunday and continue through Thursday at 7:45 p.m. each night. A rotating cast of professional actors play frogs, birds, a cow and a sleepy sea captain, among others, in whimsical mini-plays by Sheila Cowley meant for kids and their stressed-out grownups. Just call 609-663-5276 each night and listen in (and maybe even sing along).
Have a Long Distance Affair. Miami’s Juggerknot Theatre Company and NYC’s PopUp Theatrics invite you to “observe the world from a balcony in New York, fall in love in London, party in Paris” via Long Distance Affair, intimate 10-minute theatrical encounters performed by 18 theater artists from six cities around the world for one to five audience members at a time. It’s been acclaimed by Huffington Post as “dangerous, thrilling and a fascinating piece of psychological theatre,” and you can sign up for your trip at Juggerknot’s Facebook page.
DONATE! All of the organizations mentioned above — in fact, all of your favorite arts and music venues — need your help to survive. Look for donations info on their websites and give a little or a lot — whatever you can — so that the arts scene we cherish in Tampa Bay will still be around when this health crisis is over.
