P/REVIEW: View From The Sofa 14

This week’s offerings are as varied and eclectic as ever. Pride Month is celebrated with a string of offerings from New York under the banner Pride Plays. Organised by actor/director Michael Uris, in partnership with Playbill the festival has an extensive livestream line-up.

On Sunday evening 28 June Urie will host a Pride Spectacular Concert – see Playbill Pride Plays for details of performances, readings and workshops.

Gwendoline Christie plays Titania in the Bridge Theatre’s immersive production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Nicholas Hytner as this week’s NT @ home YouTube offering, from Thursday night, 25 June for a week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Punzss5sHto

The Shows Must Go On takes us to the hills with the Sound of Music , starring  Grammie megastar Carrie Underwood and True Blood star Stephen Moyer in a 2013 NBC television special. It’s available below for 48 hours from Friday evening 26 June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F96i5dcFhZA

YouTube is worth searching for little gems – I found two by accident this week. There’s a behind the scenes glimpse at the set for Broadway’s production of Wicked in a series called Artrageous provided via PBS in the USA. It’s 8 minutes of fascination. Watch it here

And if you are a modern realist art fan, there’s a terrific biography of the giant that is Edward Hopper , called The Blank Canvas. It’s revealing about his strange domestic life and the influences he absorbed from among other sources the film noir genre. His final painting Two Comedians is one of the most haunting creations I’ve seen.

Cats in Quarantine is a tribute to the late great choreographer Gillian Lynne and includes over 300 performers from various casts of the Lloyd Webber hit. Again it’s on YouTube here

Sebastian Faulk’s masterpiece Birdsong is online in a new production by The Original Theatre Company . It commemorates the 104th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. It’s available for a fee for 72 hours in the UK only from 1 July. Birdsongonline.co.uk

The gem on our doorstep Glyndebourne is holding a season of outdoor operas and concerts from mid-July . The first is Offenbach’s one-act opera Mesdames de la Halle. The shows will be on Glyndebourne’s lawns with households grouped together. See glyndebourne.com

Don’t forget if you watch a “free” show to make a donation. Even with pubs  now about to open, as well as cinemas and outdoor venues, it’s unlikely theatres will open their doors this year and many are in dire financial straits.

Happy sofa-ing. !