Have a slight cough and a finely-honed sense of anxiety? Facing two weeks of self-isolation in home lockdown? Worried whether your body can even cope with an entire fortnight away from kick-lines, high Eb belts, and getting charged £10 for a house red? Here are 14 pieces of musical theatre you can watch online for free to calm your theatre cravings, one for each night of your quarantine, writes Ian Bowkett.
YouTube:
Ghost Quartet:
A revival of this spooky, sophisticated, circular show opened London’s new Boulevard Theatre last year. That production was incredible and we miss it every day, but this video – generously uploaded by composer Dave Malloy – features the original Off-Broadway quartet of Brittain Ashford, Gelsey Bell, Brent Arnold and Malloy himself. There is something truly special about watching the brilliant team who developed the show performing it themselves. Turn out the lights, pour yourself a whisky and treat yourself to this on the first night of your isolation. You may find yourself watching it every night for a fortnight. Bonus: after 14 viewings, you might just begin to work out the brilliant but decidedly non-linear plot.
Myth: The Rise and Fall of Orpheus:
The premiere of the Young Vic’s Orfeus: A House Music Opera has sadly been postponed, so what are us mythology-lovers to do? Fortunately, there are a few options to keep us occupied. If the three separate cast recordings of Anaïs Mitchell’s Tony-winning Orpheus epic Hadestown aren’t enough to satiate you, check out this recording of The Other Palace production of Myth: The Rise and Fall of Orpheus, directed by Arlene Phillips. These 100 minutes of Greek gods and great grooves are more than worth a trip to Hades and back, and us lucky mortals need not even leave the house.
Spies Are Forever:
Of course there should be a musical version of James Bond. Why did it take until 2016 and a full Kickstarter campaign to make this happen? This show by the Tin Can Brothers comedy troupe doesn’t have the franchise rights to use the Bond branding, but its winking references and stylistic choices make it clear what world we are in. The show is very well put together and professionally filmed, and is laugh-out-loud funny to boot.
Timpson: The Musical:
Speaking of boots, cobbler chain Timpson is surely the great unifier of the high street, despite what McDonald’s might claim in their adverts. Some people choose to not eat fast food, but all of us need our keys copied and our leather shoes monogrammed. In 2019, the company sponsored Gigglemug Comedy’s musical adaptation of their brand’s history. The result is this delightful and hilarious show, here filmed live at Stockwell Playhouse.
21 Chump Street:
This one is only 15 minutes long, but anybody who has listened to the first song of Hamilton knows that Lin-Manuel Miranda is a master of telling a lot of story in a little time. 21 Chump Street is a musicalised true story about a high school student tricked into dealing drugs by an undercover police officer, featuring fantastic performances by Anthony Ramos, Lindsay Mendez and Miranda himself.
Team Starkid:
To wrap up the YouTube section of this list, Team Starkid’s channel is a treasure trove of professionally-filmed and hugely enjoyable musicals. Their latest musical horror-comedy Black Friday was uploaded just a few weeks ago and is a wonderful satire of retail madness. If you’re a fan of Wizardry then be sure to dig back through their catalogue for the show that made them famous: A Very Potter Musical. It is hilarious and made with a real affection for the original source material.
[Notable mention: Legally Blonde The Musical]
Of course, YouTube has much more musical theatre content, uploaded with various degrees of legality. However, in the interests of breadth, let’s explore what other platforms have to offer…
Facebook:
Eugenius:
Eugenius is a fun and campy new musical about three comic book geeks growing up in the 1980s. It is crammed full of pop culture references and should be the perfect nostalgia hit for anybody in its target age bracket. The show recently enjoyed a successful run at The Other Palace Theatre and this video captures the talented cast at the peak of their powers. Warning: do not play any sort of ‘spot the 80s reference’ drinking game. You will be unconscious before the second number.
Showstoppers:
The Showstoppers troupe are used to thinking on their feet. Until a few days ago they were improvising a new musical on stage every single night, and doing so with wit, sophistication and even proper rhymes. When theatres were forced to cancel performances recently the stars were already at the theatre and in costume, so decided to improvise a show live on Facebook. The above video captures this wonderful gift they gave to us theatre fans.
The Wind in the Willows:
If some of the above videos have been a little too low-quality for your home cinema setup: never fear. The rest of the shows on this list are all professionally filmed and look and sound incredible. Firstly, the producers behind this 2017 Julian Fellowes/Stiles and Drewe collaboration have made this entire production of The Wind in the Willows available for free on their website. If you’re longing for some of that spectacular theatre magic found only in the West End’s biggest productions, you will not be disappointed. Dim the lights, switch off your mobile phone, and escape to Toad Hall for an evening.
Met Opera:
New York’s world-renowned Met Opera is offering free streams of some of its biggest productions during this time of lockdown. All are professionally filmed and look completely stunning, and of course feature the very best of classical music’s performers. On top of this, you can get a seven-day free trial of their streaming service, allowing you to choose your favourite shows from their illustrious history and watch at your leisure.
Vimeo:
We’re Gonna Die:
This 2011 Joe’s Pub show by Young Jean Lee floats somewhere between stand-up philosophy and pop concert. Lee, backed by the indie-rock grooves of the band Future Wife, pushes herself to the very edge of her comfort zone in We’re Gonna Die. She tackles the roles of both maudlin monologuist and rock ’n’ roll frontwoman with charm and is an engaging presence throughout. This show runs under an hour, but manages to reveal at least one deep truth in that time: life may be hard, but art – and particularly pop music – can make it a little more manageable.
BroadwayHD:
BroadwayHD.com is another company offering a seven-day free trial. They have a wonderful selection of shows so do explore beyond what is listed here.
Kinky Boots:
Kinky Boots is the international hit musical adaptation of the 2005 Northampton-based film. Retelling the true story of a shoe factory that began to manufacture boots for drag performers, this show features a fantastic pop score by Cyndi Lauper and stellar performances by the entire cast. Sure, RuPaul’s Drag Race is in the middle of its latest season right now, but one can never have too many drag queens doing jump-splits on one’s television, surely?
Jerry Springer: the Opera:
This show by comedy masters Richard Thompson and Stewart Lee caused outrage and tabloid consternation when first broadcast by the BBC in 2005. As with most targets of Daily Mail moral grandstanding, it all seems relatively tame 15 years later. However, though the shock value might have diminished, Jerry Springer: the Opera’s hilarious jokes and commitment to its own mad world are as riotously entertaining as ever.
42nd Street:
Shows don’t get any more musical theatre than 42nd Street! Featuring some of the most iconic dance numbers in the history of the medium, this show is beautifully captured here in all of its spectacular glory. If this show doesn’t transport you away from the real world for a couple of hours, nothing will.
Bonus:
If you are already subscribed to some streaming services then you have a few more options available to you. Netflix has 2016’s Emmy Award-winning Grease Live, plus a wide range of movie musicals such as West Side Story and La La Land.
On NOW TV you can find the 25th anniversary gala performance of Miss Saigon, alongside a great selection of live opera.
Amazon Prime Video has the 1986 production of Barnum starring Michael Crawford, as well as Cirque du Soleil’s World’s Away and many movie adaptations of classic shows. There is also the option to rent or buy digital downloads of pretty much anything you could want.
If you do have a bit of cash to spare, then also consider Digital Theatre for the excellent 2010 Open Air Regent’s Park production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, as well as Sheridan Smith’s award-winning 2017 performance in Funny Girl, among others.
Hopefully this is enough to keep even the most devoted theatre fan pacified during two weeks of isolation. If you can afford it, please consider donating the £10 you would have spent on an interval wine while attending a live show on one of the many organisations doing sterling work to help those in the creative industries during this difficult time (some such organisations are highlighted HERE). Happy virtual theatregoing, everybody!
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.