Well, winter has arrived here in California, only two weeks after it finally stopped being above ninety degrees every day. I'm thrilled for the return of sweater weather, naturally, but I do wish it had been slightly more gradual. Last month, I was fighting to keep the house below eighty degrees. Now it's sixty inside when we get up, which will feel closer to normal after a few weeks, but it's rough right now. Every year, I challenge myself to make it to Thanksgiving before turning on the furnace. I don't think I'm going to make it this year. Tiny is still too young to understand that she needs to keep the blankets on her body if she wants to stay warm, and fleece footie jammies can only do so much. We're turning the heat on tonight, but we've been utilizing the "I Just Really Like Baking and Hot Beverages and Ironing!" method of coping for the past few days.
This weekend, if it were a normal year, we would be doing the final setups and rehearsals at the Cow Palace for Dickens Fair. It's a dull ache to think of all the friends I won't be seeing this year, all the work that is set aside for next year, all the shows that have to wait for next time. I'm doing my best to take advantage of the break, though, and absorb some theatre through streaming services. Naturally, there's some good stuff to be had through the big guys, like Amazon, Netflix, and Disney+. It's worth considering some other spots, too.
BroadwayHD runs about $100 a year, and offers recorded Broadway and West End shows, as well as Shakespeare from the Stratford Festival and a selection of movies based on Broadway plays and musicals. It's a pretty decent selection, although some of the recordings were previously seen on PBS, so they will feel familiar.
Broadway On Demand is a subscription service with a free section. A lot of the free section is what I have been calling "Broadway Lifestyle" shows, like book clubs and cocktail hours, as well as interviews about the creative process. They also offer old and new performances from various theatres around the country. I haven't explored this service as much, and am still deciding whether or not to subscribe, as we have way too many entertainment options right now.
The PBS app was recommended to me by my sister a few months ago, and it is fantastic. It offers not only performances via Great Performances, Live from Lincoln Center, and Great Performances at the Met, but also all the other fabulous stuff we all watch on PBS, like Masterpiece and American Masters and such. You can also search the archives for local shows from all over the United States, so I watched my home teams compete on High School Bowl from Upper Michigan, as well as picking up a few episodes of Check, Please! from our local. There's mountains of free programming, but you'll hit the point eventually that you'll want the Passport option, which is a benefit of donating to your local PBS station. For my local, it was $60, which gives me the Passport for the year, plus the nice feeling of supporting the good work of public broadcasting.
Check out your favorite local theatres, too. Many are doing special virtual shows and cabarets to keep the artists going and to keep the lights on, as well as special presentations of previous productions from before the shutdowns. The rentals of the shows are often between 24 and 36 hours, giving you a chance to watch at your leisure or watch it again for your favorite bits. I highly recommend watching them on surround sound, so you can pretend that you're part of an audience again. I miss laughing in a group.
See some theatre today. I hope we can gather safely soon.
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