Patrick Stewart reading daily sonnets on IGTV is amazing, but if that’s not enough classical stagecraft for you, check out Marquee TV. The UK-based streaming platform offers gorgeous videos of dance, opera and theater (well they’re British so it’s theatre) from scores of brilliant venues including the Royal Opera House, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, the Paris Opera, Mariinsky Theatre, and perhaps most impressively, the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Following a Netflix model in which the majority of their content is on the platform already, but more hotly anticipated projects are released on appointed dates, their brand new initiative Every Night is Opening Night will now offer an enhanced slate of productions, including weekly premieres on Saturday evenings, as part of what they’re calling a “virtual season.” As Susannah Simons, editorial director at Marquee TV, puts it, “If the audiences can’t come to the arts, we will bring the arts to the audiences.”
Upcoming Saturday premieres include La Traviata and Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci from The Royal Opera; Swan Lake from The Royal Ballet, Giselle from English National Ballet and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Twelfth Night.
And over at BroadwayHD they are doing the same for American theater — especially musicals. Whether it’s an all-Geffen Playhouse section or stage and screen gems from Gypsy to Les Mis, Oklahoma, The King and I, and even — because of course — the original stage production of Cats (!!!) at the Broadway Classics section, you’d better come prepared to dance around in your pajamas.
Whether you’re into Kinky Boots or As You Like It — both platforms are currently offering a free trial period, Marquee TV for 30 days and BroadwayHD for seven. BYO playbills.
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