The impact of COVID-19 has been horrendous. Half a million lives lost around the world, entire industries shut down, and many businesses having to close their doors for good. The theatre industry has, of course, also been hit hard. With a loss of revenue from ticket sales, and the uncertainty of when theatres will be able to safely re-open, many artists and theatre companies are facing bleak futures.

If there is an “upside” of the pandemic, it’s that there has never been a better time for filmed live theatre content. When theatres were ordered to shutdown, companies and artists around the world flocked to put content online (you can find  a detailed list here). Some companies have even reported that revenue from online streaming has allowed them to at least cover the cost of streamed productions.

The popularity of online theatre content, coupled with the digital release of one the most vaunted musicals of all time, Hamilton, means that many in the industry have been awakened to the exciting possibility of filmed live theatre.

Since the Broadway shutdown began on March 12, hundreds of theatrical productions have been made available online. I know of at least 60 musicals that meet criteria for the database — a stage musical legally filmed in front of a live audience and publicly distributed — and over half of those have already been added to the database. Many productions are released for a limited time, have a limited number of available streams available, or are not well-advertised, and I’m sure there are even more! It’s an exciting, and sometimes overwhelming time for someone trying to keep track of the content!

The wealth of content has meant a rise in streaming services created just for theatre content. Here's a quick look at services providing filmed live musical theatre content. 

BroadwayHD
A leader in filmed live theatre content, BroadwayHD has one of the most extensive musical theatre catalogues available. Current titles include 42nd Street, An American in Paris, Billy Elliot The Musical, Falsettos, Kinky Boots, Miss Saigon, Sunday in the Park with George, The Wind in the Willows and more. During the shutdown, BroadwayHD have been partnering with other organizations such as Playbill, Lincoln Center, and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization to release select titles for free for one-off watch parties.

Broadway On Demand
Despite the title, Broadway on Demand has very little Broadway content. A new initiative I’m excited about though is the Global Spotlight Series showcasing musicals from around the world. The first offering is a South Korean production of Xcalibur, a re-telling of the King Arthur legend by Frank Wildhorn starring K-Pop star DK, Kim Jun Su and Kai.  

Digital Theatre
A pioneer in the industry, the British company Digital Theatre have been streaming live theatre content since 2009. The company also provides a wealth of content for educational institutions. Current musical offerings include Funny Girl starring Sheridan Smith, new British musical Pieces of String, and the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Into the Woods. Other theatre content includes productions from the RSC, Stage Russia, and content from the West End and across the United Kingdom.

Scenesaver
The brainchild of British producer (and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama alum), the new service aims to make content from off-WestEnd and fringe theatres more accessible. All content is available for free, and 100% of any donations are passed onto the artists.

The Shows Must Go On
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s initiative to provide content during the shutdown. New content is released for free each week, and each title is usually available for around 48 hours. Previous musicals include the arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera Live from Royal Albert Hall, and the Australian production of Love Never Dies.

Streaming Musicals
Created by the writer of Daddy Long Legs, this new site is dedicated to musical theatre content. Musicals are available to rent per-show, and profits are shared with the artists. Currently only has a one filmed live musical, an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and several “Soundstage Musicals,” an attempt at a new form that is a hybrid between a film and a stage music

New Musicals
It isn’t only existing works that are getting air time. New musicals are being workshopped and showcased through the pandemic.

The brain-child of director Adam Lenson (who directed Wasted, the new British musical about the Brontë’s), SIGNAL Online is “A global, multi-location, live-stream of songs from new musicals.” Concerts are presented every Tuesday at 2pm GMT, and although they are available to watch for free, donations are strongly encouraged.

For almost 15 years, New York Theatre Barn has been providing a space for new works and emerging artists. Since the beginning of the shutdown, their New Works Series has been streaming online. New content every Wednesday at 7pm ET on YouTube. ​

What will you be watching? Do you know of other theatre-specific streaming services? Drop me an email or follow Filmed Live Musicals on Twitter! 

Can’t wait for Hamilton on July 3? Catch Lin-Manuel’s one-act musical 21 Chump Street. Want a moving musical to commemorate Memorial Day? Try out the Millennium Wales Centre production of Only the Brave. Need something to occupy the kids? Try Chichester Theatre Festival’s production of The Midnight Gang. If you’re feeling literary, you can catch Wasted, a rock musical about the Brontë family, or Emma Rice’s joyous Wise Children. Science more your thing? You can watch Tangram Theatre’s The Element in the Room about Marie Curie. Or perhaps you'd like to celebrate some historic women? Take a look at the new song cycle Passion Project.

Here is a list of over 30 musicals you can currently watch online (legally!) for free! There truly is a musical for everyone!

Musicals are sorted below by Broadway & West End Composers, off-Broadway & off-West End Beyond London & New York, Musicals in Development/Concert Readings, & Family Friendly.

If you’re able, please consider making a donation to the theatre or company making their content available. As reported by producer Sonia Freedman this week, up to 70% of theatres in the UK risk permanent closure by the end of the year, and things are also looking grim in the US.

Still want MORE musicals?
Use the Filmed Live Musicals database to search for musicals to watch online! 

Cities around the world are banning public gatherings of more than 1000 people. Some places are implementing city-wide lock downs. Broadway has shut down for at least a month. Productions, tours, concerts, and events are being cancelled at a rapid rate, and venues across the globe are closing their doors to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Can the show go on in the face of a worldwide pandemic? 

It seems that with performers wanting to share their talents (check out the delightful thread started by Tony Award winner Laura Benanti encouraging school-age performers to share their songs, #SunshineSongs), and audiences with internet connections sitting at home seeking theatre in a time of crisis, the show indeed must go on, online. 

The Met Opera, always a leader in making digital content available to audiences around the world, has already announced it will provide nightly screenings from its filmed live catalog beginning March 16. 

BroadwayWorld have begun hosting #LivingRoomConcerts, featuring intimate performances by Broadway performers including Jagged Little Pill's Katherine Gallagher, Dear Evan Hansen's Andrew Barth Feldman, and Pretty Woman's Andy Karl and Orfeh.  

As reported on BroadwayWorld, Broadway Licensing have announced that 400 plays from their Playscripts catalog have been specially approved for live-streaming, so watch this space for more new content to be made available in the coming weeks and months. 

To help you find content in the meantime, I've added a new page to the site: Where to Stream Live Theatre Content. It's a wide-ranging list of legal, already existing, companies streaming theatre content to the world. A lot of it is viewable for free, or available at a discount during this unprecedented time. 

And finally, below is a list of upcoming musical theatre livestreams. ​This post will be updated on a rolling basis as new online productions are announced. 

Online with the show! 

Ongoing Streams
​(follow the artist/channel for regular content!) 

The research also shows that audiences can have strong emotional reactions to live theatre on screen. During real-time live broadcasts, audiences have reported feeling a part of the live experience, despite not being physically in the theatre.

Shakespeare scholar Erin Sullivan reiterates this in the newly published Shakespeare and the ‘Live’ Theatre Broadcast Experience, adding that audiences do not even need to be viewing a broadcast in real time in order to be moved by theatre on screen. Watching a live performance on screen, even years after the performance has taken place can still generate an emotional response. Sullivan also discusses how social media has allowed audiences to engage with content in a new way, making “spectatorship visible in a way that has not been previously possible.”

The internet is not only creating new ways of interacting with theatre, recent reports suggest that streamed theatre attracts a younger, and a more culturally, and economically, diverse audience. As columnist Christopher Zara has noted, “streaming media [makes] Broadway more accessible,… ultimately preserving it for the next generation.”

And what about the room where it happens? Is theatre on screen negatively affecting ticket sales in the theatre? The Audience Agency, a British charity aiming to help arts organizations use national data to understand audiences, recently found that there was “a small net increase in arts attendance in areas where there had been a screening.” In an earlier blog post, I took a look at how Broadway ticket sales are affected by filmed live theatre and found that ticket sales were not negatively affected.

In an article comparing the experience of watching Kenneth Brannaugh’s Romeo and Juliet on stage and screen, British theatre critic Peter Bradshaw noted “People watching a football match on TV as opposed to in the stadium can still have a great time – without worrying that it’s inauthentic, or that they have somehow made a wrong or disloyal choice.” While academics Bernadette Cochrane and Francer Bonner believe comparing live theatre to live sport on screen will reduce the “cultural capital” of theatre, the research is showing that live theatre on screen is a viable alternative to being in the room where it happens.

The magic of technology means we can experience theatre magic in a room thousands of miles from where the action is taking place. Will you be in the next room? ​

Musical lovers, we live in a whole new world. Not only can we stream filmed live musicals on demand, we can experience them in 360º.

Well, stand alone numbers, at least for now.

In the past few years, musical theatre producers have started filming production numbers in 360º and releasing them for free on YouTube. Although perhaps best experienced in VR, 360º captures are available to anyone through a regular screen or mobile device.

Let’s take a brief chronological tour of 360º musical theatre captures!

In October 2015, School of Rock released a first-of-its-kind promotional 360º video which attracted over 1 million views within 3 days. A month later, Disney released its own 360º video of the opening number from The Lion King, which was filmed in front of a live audience.

In the lead up to the 2016 Tony Awards, CBS released a 360º video of the Hamilton cast preparing for the ceremony.

In November 2016, The New York Times launched “The Daily 360,” a daily series of 360º videos as a way of providing readers with a “new way to experience” journalism. The series capitalized on the success of the newspaper’s 2015 launch of NYT VR, an app for viewing specially created VR content. Broadway themed videos have included rehearsal footage from Cirque du Soleil’s Broadway show Paramour, the chance to descend in Glinda’s bubble from Wicked, and “last looks” at Amelie and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.

Never afraid to use new technology to promote his shows, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera released a video of the Broadway cast experiencing scenes from the show in VR in August 2017.

In September 2017, Dear Evan Hansen released a 360º video celebrating fans of the show, though the video did not include footage from the musical. Carnegie Hall also jumped in on the 360º action with the release of “Cool” from a new production of West Side Story directed by Marin Alsop.

Since September 2017, NBC Nightly News has been releasing 360º clips from Broadway musicals including Come From Away, Anastasia, The Band’s Visit, School of Rock, Once on This Island, and Waitress.

To celebrate Wicked’s 10th anniversary in London in December 2017, TimeOut London released a 360º video featuring backstage footage from the Apollo Theatre.

In June 2018, Disney released another 360º video, this time featuring “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin. The video features bonus content activated by turning “over, sideways, and under” as you scroll around.

It might be a little while until we can experience 360º captures of full-length musicals, but in the meantime, let’s hope more more producers allow us to take virtual spins through musical worlds.

We live in exciting times. There are now multiple companies offering what is essentially Netflix for theatre. While we still can’t stream currently-running Broadway or West End shows, there is plenty of filmed live content out there for us to (legally) get our theatre fix! 

Here, in alphabetical order, are companies providing online streaming of filmed live musicals content. All subscription prices are in America dollars, except for Digital Theatre which is listed in British pounds. ​

Amazon
Search "live musicals" on AmazonPrime, and you can find many filmed live musical titles including Spongebob, Newsies, and RENT: Filmed Live on Broadway. 

Subscription Cost: Varies - some are included with an AmazonPrime subscription, some are available to rent or buy
Where to Watch: www.amazon.com

​BroadwayHD 
Founded in 2015 by Broadway producers Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley, BroadwayHD aims to provide “the best of Broadway and beyond!” The service currently has over 50 filmed live musicals in the catalogue, with content from Broadway, off-Broadway, the West End, and regional American performances. Other content includes documentaries, plays, Cirque du Soleil, theatre in languages other than English, and concerts. Some titles can also be accessed through an Amazon Prime subscription. 

Subscription Cost: $8.99 per month or $99.99 for 1 year 
Free Trial: 7 days 
Where to Watch: www.broadwayhd.com

Cennariam 
Founded in 2014 by Brazilian producer Harry Fernandes, Cennariam offers “Performing arts from around the world in high definition for you to watch anytime, from anywhere.” The site currently has 10 musicals on offer, and claims to be adding new content every week. Titles include Dangerous Liasions, Debussy Alone on Stage, and Tanguera, the Argentine Musical. Most musicals are in languages other than English with subtitles. In addition to musical theatre, Cennariam offers circus, comedy, concerts, dance, documentary, drama, interviews, and opera. 

Subscription Cost: US$9.97 per month or $95.64 for 1 year 
Free Trial: 10 days 
Where to Watch: www.cennarium.com. Some productions are also available on Amazon Prime in the US. ​

Digital Theatre 
Founded in 2009 by British entrepreneurs Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw, Digital Theatre is a leader in providing on-demand theatre content. The site currently has 5 filmed live musicals, including the Regent’s Park Open Air production of Into the Wood, two in-development Perfect Pitch productions, and a new musical, Pieces of String. Other theatre content includes productions from the RSC, and Stage Russia, and content from the West End and across the United Kingdom.

Subscription Cost: £9.99 a month, or rent individual productions for £7.99 
Free Trial Offer: not available 
Where to Watch: www.digitaltheatre.com ​

Kanopy
Founded in 2007 by Australian entrepreneur Olivia Humphrey, Kanopy partners with universities and public libraries to provide free movie streaming. There are over 30 movie musicals currently available through the site, though no filmed live musicals. In addition to a wide range of cinema titles (including 400 titles from the Criterion Collection), there is plenty of theatre content, including Shakespeare, Chekhov, and productions from Stage Russia. 

Subscription Cost: free with a library card
Free Trial: n/a 
Where to Watch: www.kanopy.com  (To find theatre content, go to Browse: The Arts: Performing Arts: Theatre Performance) ​

Stage 
Founded by Rich Affannato, Stage offers a range of theatrical content in the form of original series, interviews, and documentaries. 

Subscription Cost: $47.88 annual subscription, or $4.99 per month. Use code GETWELLSOON for 50% off (valid until Broadway re-opens!). 
Free Trial: 7 day trial
Where to Watch: www.watchstage.com/ ​

If you’re a student, check if your institution has access to the platforms below to gain access to more streamable theatre content!

Alexander Street
A plethora of resources from around the world including scripts, performance videos, and design archives. The site also provides access to some BroadwayHD content.

Digital Theatre + 
Digital Theatre for educational institutions includes lesson planning and behind-the-scenes content and interviews. ​

Know of other (legal) streaming sites? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter, or on Facebook! 

The recent cinema livestreams and releases of filmed live musicals An American in Paris and Everybody's Talking About Jamie show how live musicals are increasingly going to the movies. This week, we're taking a look at some of the new technology being rolled out in cinemas around the world that provide exciting possibilities for the future of filmed live musicals and the cinema-going experience. 

4D
4D cinema, also known as immersive cinema, is considered by some as the new frontier of the cinema going experience. With its motion-enabled seats, water spray, lighting effects, scented air, wind machines, and even bubbles and snow, 4D is no longer just for theme parks, it’s coming to a local cinema near you!

First commercially developed in the 1980s, 4D cinemas are now in operation around the world. At the time of writing, there are approximately 40 4D theatres in operation in the United States. Tickets cost around $30, and the admissions guidelines read like an amusement park ride warning — “If you are pregnant, elderly, physically or mentally sensitive or have any of the following health conditions, you should not use a 4DX auditorium: high blood pressure, heart conditions, allergies, neck or back conditions or epilepsy.”

Over 100 films have been viewable in 4D, with the vast majority of films falling into the blockbuster, action movie, and animation categories. Titles have included Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Avengers, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and, most recently, The Incredibles 2.

Can 4D be effective for other film genres? More importantly for Filmed Live Musicals, could this technology be applied to the filmed live theatre experience? Could we somehow re-create the smell of theatre in which a musical was filmed, or the strong perfume worn by an audience member? Would bursts of air be felt when an actor walks past us on the screen? Would we feel a spray of water to mimic the sweat of a dancer during a tap routine? `

North American theatre chain Regal Movies describes their 4DX theatres as the “Absolute Cinema Experience” that makes you feel like you’re “in the movie” (my emphasis), but reviews suggest 4D cinema is not all it’s cracked up to be. Several critics have described attending 4D cinema as akin to riding a bad rollercoaster, and that the attempts to make the experience “immersive” only serve to bring the viewer out of the film.

Do you think 4D cinema will catch on?

​Moviebills
An exciting new technology that is more likely to be compatible with filmed live musicals are Moviebills. Developed by US cinema compamyRegal Entertainment Group, and launched in April 2018, Moviebills comprise of a 28-page print magazine, phone app, and website, which provide users with print and augmented reality (AR) content including interviews, bonus footage, behind-the-scenes info, and more.

Looks super cool right? Moviebills are only available for select blockbuster movies, and only in Regal Cinemas.

I’m hoping other companies, and perhaps even live theatres, will want to jump in on this fun innovation. New York City's Classic Stage Company only offered digital programs for their recent production of Carmen Jones, and the UK's National Theatre provides digital programs through their Backstage app for a small fee (only available in the UK). ​

On Demand Cinema
With so many entertainment options available to audiences at home, the cinema industry has been working hard to lure customers back into the theatres. An interesting new development in this endeavor is on-demand movie theaters. 

In 2013, Australian distributor Leap Frog Films launched Demand Film, a service that books film screenings of niche films in cinemas based on audience demand. Users request a movie, and Demand Film organizes a screening. The user must sell a minimum number of tickets for the screening to go ahead, and once the minimum is met, the user can make money from the ticket sales. Demand Film is currently available in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, Germany, Canada, and the United States.
​
Chinese online entertainment service iQiyi announced in May the launch of Yuke movie theatres. The cinemas are like mini movie theatres, with 2-10 comfy seats and a large screen. Users select content from the extensive iQiyi library and watch it in a Yuke cinema, at the time and location of their choosing.

Could we one day get a group of friends together at our local cinema and watch a Broadway or West End show?

Whether or not these technologies take off, one thing is clear: these new innovations are making more and more content available to us in ever more exciting ways. I'll be checking out the filmed live London production of An American in Paris at the cinema in a few weeks. Follow on Twitter for updates! 

​With the introduction of sound on film, cinema underwent an identity crisis. What to call these new fan-dangled talking pictures? In 1928, film trade newspaper Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World led a campaign to try and come up with a new name. Common labels included “talkies,” “soundies,” “lispies,” “synchronized pictures,” and “audible pictures.” Suggestions ranged from “audien,” “cinelog,” and “dramaphone,” to “pictovox,” “viewvoice,” and, my personal favorite, “vivavox.”

For the purposes of this site, I define a filmed live musical as a stage musical that has been legally captured and distributed to the public. The deeper question I would like to look at today is, what is the final product that is distributed? Is it theatre? Is it cinema?

Filmed live musicals are distributed and advertised under different names, including “filmed live theatre,” “live cinema,” “transmission,” “HD transmission,” “cine-cast,” and “live capture.” Makers and distributors of filmed live theatre, including The National Theatre and Digital Theatre, describe filmed live theatre as a hybrid of theatre and cinema.

“Filmed live” can be a confusing label. How do we distinguish between a musical that is broadcast live, and an encore screening of that live broadcast? Is it still “live” if the screening takes place months, or even years, after the actual event? 

I would love to find a new name for filmed live theatre that reflects this hybridity.

Several studies show that audiences see attending filmed theatre at the cinema as an equally authentic way to experience live performance as going to the theatre. Recent studies also suggest that audiences have more emotional responses to filmed live theatre than they do in the actual theatre.

As evidenced by the success of National Theatre Live, Met Opera Live, the growth of theatre streaming services like Digital Theatre, and BroadwayHD, and the persistence of bootlegs, audiences are craving filmed live theatre content. We need to clearly define filmed live theatre, and label it, to make it accessible and searchable.

For now, “filmed live musicals” is the term I’m going with (hence the name of the site!), but I think it would be fun to come up with other terms that help filmed live musicals reach new audiences.

What do you think? Share your suggestions on the Facebook page or on Twitter!

When you consider the hundreds of musicals that have been nominated over the course of the Tony Awards’ 72 year history, it is easy to see that very few Tony Award nominated and winning musicals have been legally filmed live for public consumption. 

Broadway is an immensely influentially and highly coveted corner of the musical theatre world. Despite this, Broadway is inaccessible to millions of people around the world due to cost and, importantly, geography. This year’s Tony Awards broadcast worked to include some of those Broadway lovers around the world with the initiative #TonyDreaming. On Twitter, I wrote that filmed live musicals are an amazing way to help fuel the dreams of aspiring thespians.

What better way to reach out to millions of theatre lovers, aspiring actors, technicians, writers, and directors than by making legally filmed high quality captures of Broadway shows available to those people? Yes, the New York Public Library Theatre on Film and Tape Archive exists, but it is only available to people who live in New York, and each capture is only available to view once. 

We have come to expect cast recordings as normal for Broadway shows, I dream of the day when filmed live recordings are also a standard occurrence. As I looked at in a previous post, filmed live releases of Broadway shows do not negatively affect ticket sales. It doesn’t mean a filmed live recording needs to be released on opening night, or that every single musical should be recorded, but there is a hunger for Broadway, and we need a better solution to combat bootlegs. 

Of the 25 filmed live Broadway shows currently in the database, 20 are available to view, either in the cinema, on DVD, or online. As shown below, you can use the database to search for musicals and learn more about where to watch them.

​The great thing about filmed live musicals is that they are not limited to Broadway. Several Broadway productions have been filmed whilst on tour, such as the original production of Sweeney Todd or more recently, Disney’s stage version of Newsies. The database has plenty of musicals such as An American in Paris, Billy Elliot, and The Phantom of the Opera which have played on Broadway, but have been staged elsewhere and filmed live for public consumption.

From this year’s Tony batch, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Live from Lincoln Center will film the gorgeous revival of My Fair Lady, and the capture of Once on This Island’s Tony Awards performance demonstrates that theatre in the round is ready to be filmed live. With Daddy Long Legs producer Ken Davenport at the helm, perhaps we will have another Tony Award winning revival to view on screen. Given that all the nominations for Best Musical were all based on movies, we can hope that filmed live musical versions of those musicals will also be possibilities.

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and winners, and let’s hope we will see more of them filmed live and available on a screen near us soon! ​​​