Humorous online show from Philadelphia: Thursdays at 6 pm, here.
Many of us have been bingeing on the new online offerings for education, entertainment, or simply communicating.
But not everyone has time to check things out. In the beginning, I was sending lots of online links meant for kids. But as John pointed out, two working parents teaching themselves to home-school might not have the bandwidth even to click and see if the links were actually cool.
They are definitely busy. I’ve been busy, but I do have time to try links for my own entertainment and to pass along a few to friends.
As I mentioned yesterday, a took an online seminar on TikTok. It was presented by First Draft, an organization that offers resources for journalists and has a focus on spotting and countering fake news. The webinar was way above my level, but it got me interested in learning more about TikTok. I do like social media.
Meanwhile, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, theater-going is pretty much shut down. But I saw a very good 20-minute play by David Mamet and his actress wife Rebecca Pidgeon at the Great Barrington Public Theater site “Bear Tales: Six Feet Together,” here. The play is about the famed, hard-drinking journalist Dorothy Kilgallen (1913-1965) and promotes a theory about the Lindbergh baby that was completely new to me. For more of Great Barrington Public Theater’s “Bear Tales,” click here.
I moonlighted for many years as a theater reviewer, and I reviewed the Boston Theater Marathon for New York-based TheaterMania.com a number of times. So I was interested to see how scores of 10-minute Theater Marathon plays would be handled in the pandemic. Turns out, the Boston Playwrights Theater decided to Zoom one new play at a time. What is nice is that you can enjoy extra features after watching the play: discussions among the playwright, the actors, the director, and more. Each person is, of course, at home. Catch new plays at noon until May 18, here.
Nancy Greenaway, the poet I know from New Shoreham, alerted me to an online reading organized by Connecticut’s Arts Café Mystic and scheduled for the last day of National Poetry Month. I watched that, too.
There was a lot of variety, and it was kind of fun to see what indoor or outdoor home settings the readers had chosen for a backdrop. Some people read classic favorites from the canon, some read their own poems. I got a kick out of a poem by Stephen Dobyns about an old man who heard his dog suggesting fun things to do that they once used to do. The suggestions seemed to dead-end. Finally the dog suggested that they go back in the house and make a big sandwich. We leave the old man looking in the fridge “for answers.”
Dobyns has been a college professor and a mystery writer as well as a poet. I heard him once in person and got the message that he really didn’t like to mix his poetry side with his novel-writing side, but I sure did love his entertaining Charlie Bradshaw/ Saratoga detective series.
You can listen to the poetry reading here. Click on “In This Together.”
For entertainment on Thursdays at 6 pm, you might like “I Put on Pants for This,” by Philadephia-based comedy troupe 1812 productions. My husband and I found plenty of laughs in the episode about comedians Mae West, Sophie Tucker, and Moms Mabley. Go here here to access the 1812 productions.
For those who like Sondheim’s music — and many people do — there’s a YouTube tribute from an astonishing number of stars, including Sutton Foster, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal, Patti LuPone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Audra McDonald, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Randy Rainbow, Meryl Streep, and Raúl Esparza.
The video is more than two hours, though. I watched it in chunks, here. It’s also a fundraiser for ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty).
I’ll wrap up today by mentioning an amazing collection of 175,336 photographs you can access for free at the Library of Congress, here. It’s from the period of the Great Depression (Dorothea Lange, anyone?) and is labeled “Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information.” It’s a beautiful reminder that when artists are out of work, a certain kind of government will pay them to document hard times.
Take Me to the World: Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
I’ll have to check out the plays and the comedy. Thanks for sharing these links!
I would love to know what you think. The sites that keep rotating their material I can’t be sure are always good, but the people behind the work seem great.
Nancy adds this from John Sutherland, President of The Arts Cafe Mystic, on the website: “The Arts Cafe Mystic has enjoyed a special relationship with the Town of Groton for many years. Groton Municipal Television (GMTV) has supported us by editing video footage, archiving our presentations on its YouTube page, and sharing our events regularly on GMTV for many years. Obviously, COVID-19 has forced us to suspend our Spring series; this was especially unfortunate since April was National Poetry Month! However, Lisa Starr, our Artistic Director, came up with an alternative and persuaded over 30 people to record short videos of themselves reciting either their own poetry or verses by a favorite poet with additional musical interludes. We collected all of these pieces on Dropbox, and Shawn Greeley and Liam O’Do,’ which was launched on GMTV on April 30.” See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtmDW8GdUfo“
Thanks for all the links. So many good things to watch. Speaking of which…have you watched the National Theatre’s production of “Frankenstein” with Benedict Cumberbatch and and Jonny Lee Miller. Worth seeing. And there are two versions. Cumberbatch and Miller switch between roles of the doctor and the monster. It’s available on Youtube. There’s a new production every two weeks or so.
Wonderful. Will check it out tonight!