Don’t sit there all isolated with nothing to do. Join the gang and go online to find quite a wide slate of world-class entertainment. In fact, there are so many offerings, after a while, you may long for some quiet time. So head to your computer, open up your calendar app and make some notes, because you won’t want to miss any of these. And, thanks to the world community of artists and arts providers who want to help the whole world heal, many of these offerings are free.
The Royal National Theatre in London has begun streaming on YouTube some of its more celebrated productions. It begins with the slapstick comedy “One Man, Two Guvnors,” starring James Corden, who won a 2012 Tony Award for his portrayal of a man working for two employers. It’s based on Goldoni’s commedia dell-arte farce, “Servant of Two Masters.” Don’t let its provenance sentence deter you from watching. This is silly stuff through and through, stuff that theater critic Ben Brantley called “ideal escapism for anxious times.” That will stream through April 8. April also includes “Jane Eyre” beginning April 9, “Treasure Island” begins April 16 and “Twelfth Night” begins April 23. Each production will be available to stream 2 p.m. Thursdays and be available for seven days. Go to YouTube.com and search for National Theatre.
And as long as you’ve been bitten by the online theater bug, consider BroadwayHD, which is offering a seven-day free trial. Just think how many shows you could watch in that amount of time before you have to sign up for a membership, which costs $8.99 a month or $99.99 a year, by the way. The offerings are pretty substantial. There are Broadway musicals, comedies and dramas; classics (read: Shakespeare); foreign theater; documentaries and more. Head to the “Must See” category and catch Sir Patrick Stewart in “Macbeth,” or see George Hearn and Angela Lansbury in “Sweeney Todd.” If you never saw Lincoln Center’s amazing updated version of “An American in Paris,” now’s your chance. There is just so much to keep you and your whole family well entertained. Visit BroadwayHD.com.
The Metropolitan Opera is into its third week of free Nightly Opera Streams. Unless you are a devoted Met fan, you’ve missed the entire epic, four-part Wagner Ring Cycle. So don’t miss this week. It begins Thursday, April 2, with Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” then follows Friday, April 3, with Penny Woolcock’s celebrated new production of Bizet’s “Les Pecheurs de Perle.” On Saturday, April 4, you can watch Verdi’s “Macbeth” and then Sunday, April 5, Bellini’s “Norma.” These are all encore presentations of the Met’s “Live in HD” series. They will be available 7:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. the following day. You can find them on MetOpera.org or on demand on Apple, Amazon, Roku devices and Samsung Smart TVs.
The Royal Opera House is offering free programs of select online broadcasts on their Facebook and YouTube channels. Here’s this week’s schedule: “Acis and Galatea,” 2 p.m. Friday, April 3. They are calling this series of free broadcasts “From Our House to Your House.” Go to YouTube.com and search for Royal Opera House.
If you want to delight the little ones, and perhaps the child inside you as well, then head over to Amazon and rent “SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical.” The cost is $9.99. This is the “perfect time” to watch this, wrote Diep Tran on Broadway.com’s Broadway Buzz. “It’s about optimism in the face of possible destruction … if you’re wondering how to get through this trying time, Bikini Bottom has the answers, and you don’t have to be a fan of the cartoon to understand it.”
Closer to home, the Community Church of Vero Beach will hold a Lenten Livestream with “Spring and All,” a presentation of classic poetry of the Lenten season. It begins 11 a.m. Thursday, April 2, at http://livestream.com/account/14662093 or go to CCOVB.org and click onto Ministries and then, on the drop down menu, click onto “Music and Fine Arts.”
And if you just want to let your mind wander far from your own four walls, the Sea Turtles Conservancy suggests family time via webcams at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. You get to peek into watery habitats and more. There are quite a few web cameras including that showing dolphin, otters, pelicans and sea turtles. Go to SeeWinter.com, go to the top of the homepage and click onto the webcams.