Most of the world’s great stages, museums and galleries are closed to help flatten the curve of the Covid-19 pandemic, stripping them of visitors. More importantly, depriving us all of access to arts & culture at a time when we all could use the calming, restorative power of art.
Arts venues and artists near and far are coming up with innovative ways to bring their collections and performances to the people. These innovative times are a great way for all of us to access some of the world’s great venues and one of a kind performances.
Here’s a sampling of some performances that normally require an international flight ticket for us Vancouverites to view:
Shakespeare’s Globe: Every two weeks The Globe Theatre is releasing a Globe Player film. Hamlet (2018) was last streamed, and Romeo & Juliet (2009) is now available until May 3, 2020. Streams are free but donations are welcomed.
The Show Must Go On: Each Friday, Andrew Lloyd Webber is releasing one of his full-length, hit musicals. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Phantom of the Opera have been streamed so far. Each stream is available for 48 hours.
National Theatre London: Great Britain’s national theatre brings one of its plays from stage to screen every Thursday, streaming for one week. Presently, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island is streaming until Thursday, followed by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Lincoln Centre at Home: New York’s renowned centre for performing arts has made a great collection of works available from lunchtime performance by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, to #ConcertforKids, performances by New York City Ballet and more.
Metropolitan Opera: Get your fill of opera with Nightly Opera Streams from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, a new opera streams every night along with supplementary content including behind the scenes, synopsis and more.
Stratford Festival On Film: Starting April 23rd, Canada’s famed Stratford Festival launches a Free Film Festival, each Thursday a film of one of its Shakespeare performances will be added to YouTube available for streaming for three weeks.
Sydney Opera House: The iconic Sydney Harbour venue has introduced a digital season, bringing archival footage, live broadcasts and premiers of its arts & culture programming online each week.
In addition to these free online venues, the subscription services Netflix, Amazon Prime and BroadwayHD have a great catalogue of Broadway and West End productions available.