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More Ways To Keep Theater In Your Life

Breaking News!
I received my absentee/vote by mail ballot for the August 2020 Primary.

Delivered July 2, 2020

Theater News.

With the COVID 19 pandemic still closing theaters from Broadway NYC to Broadway MKE, we theater lovers do have a huge hole in our hearts and minds to fill.

Let's start in agreement on one thing. No experience is close to seeing theater performance in a theater with an audience. We have acclimated ourselves to watching sports on TV, We have learned to accept TV drama in the darkness of our living room or on our phones while riding a bus rumbling down our poorly paved streets. 

However, the magic of theater is sitting in a dark room with others while we witness the talents of men and women who bring the magic with them when they arrive for work.

Given that we have now shed our tears and gnashed our teeth over the necessity of giving this experience up, because of the Virus, we can view theatrical performances that are recorded and then streamed.

Why would we want to do that? The answer to that question is multifaceted. 
Number One: If you can't be with the one you love, love the one your with.
Number Two: If the imagination of human beings permits phone sex then we can watch theater on a screen. Yes, it's not as good, but apparently, it's better than nothing. (I'm told.)
Number Three: Actors and technicians get paid. And birds gotta fly.
Number Four: You won't get stuck in line at the Rep Theater garage after the performance is over. I know a lot of the best discussions about the show you've just seen occur in this situation but you'll substitute a less irritating venue. and be happier.

Locally as I have written about in my column for 
UrbanMilwaukee.com, we have a few options. I suggest visiting From Our Home To Your Home from the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Selections here range from past performances, presentations by individual performers, and online workshops.

American Players is producing with PBS, their Out Of The Woods series. With a new release every Friday, you can sit down in the evening and enjoy a regular date, or you can catch up on PBS and view a play when it's convenient. 

While Netflix or Amazon Prime may have some theater, NYT columnist Elisabeth Vincentelli has found a couple of sites that are more directly orientated to the streamable theater.  (She mentions in particular, Amazon carrying a Lunt and Fontanne performance of The Great Sebastians). 

No doubt, Disney has captured the prize of the century by buying the rights to Hamilton, which began airing on July 3. 

There are alternatives. Vincentelle recommends Marquee TV, Filmed on Stage, and Thespie all of which provide a vast selection of older and more recent productions. By far the richest site for American theater appears to be Broadway HD. Vincentelli calls this site the Netflix of American theater. If you want the Acorn version, she suggests Marquee TV (Linked Above).

If you want the theater experience at home, I suggest the following. 
  • Invite the family to join you in the TV room, sit in rows of chairs, turn off your phones, and have a knowledgable person welcome you to the performance and preview the play. 
  • Do not pop popcorn or eat candy that is for the movies.
  • Unwrap your hard candies in advance. 
  • Hire ushers to seat people in socially distanced seating and wear masks. 
  • If anybody talks during the performance, have one person designated to hit the pause button turn on the lights and have everyone else glare threateningly at the offender. They will be happy they are wearing a mask.

During the performance, take a break, stand in the kitchen, and drink wine while you talk about the play. Do let the kids drink wine with you. This is a teaching moment. So French!

Finish viewing the play and go for a ride in the car so you can discuss the play in ordinary circumstances. Remember to choose a designated driver before the performance. You might even remark about how you didn't miss the traffic in the Milwaukee Rep garage.

Until the lights dim and the players take the stage, au revior.


A Version of Hooper painting in 2020
Jason Adam Katzenstein, The New Yorker July 6 & 13, 2020



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