Free to Stream

14 selections · Stage Door Society Editorial

The democratization of culture is one of the great stories of our time. These landmark productions — from major opera houses, ballet companies, and theatre institutions — are available to stream for free. No subscription required, no barriers to entry. Just extraordinary art, waiting for you.

Ballet

The Nutcracker

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky · 1892

On Christmas Eve, young Clara receives a mysterious wooden Nutcracker from her eccentric godfather Drosselmeyer. When the doll comes to life and battles the sinister Mouse King, Clara is transported into an enchanted realm of snow, flowers, and exotic delights. In the magical Land of Sweets, the Nutcracker is revealed as a handsome prince, and Clara is welcomed by the Sugar Plum Fairy in a celebration of wonder and transformation.

Ballet

Swan Lake

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky · 1877

A cursed princess transformed into a white swan by an evil sorcerer can only regain her human form at night. When a noble prince falls passionately in love with her, he vows to break the enchantment—but the sorcerer's seductive daughter, disguised as the swan princess, threatens to destroy their love and seal the curse forever. This timeless tale of devotion, deception, and transcendent beauty remains ballet's most beloved masterpiece.

Opera

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini · 1896

On a freezing Christmas Eve in a Parisian garret, four impoverished bohemians—a poet, painter, philosopher, and musician—navigate love, poverty, and artistic dreams. When the poet Rodolfo meets Mimì, a delicate seamstress from the neighboring apartment, they fall passionately in love, only to be tested by jealousy, circumstance, and Mimì's grave illness. Set against the vibrant backdrop of the Latin Quarter's cafés and streets, this achingly human opera captures the bittersweet beauty of youth, romance, and the cruel indifference of fate.

Opera

Carmen

Georges Bizet · 1875

In Seville, the seductive Romani factory worker Carmen captivates the naïve soldier Don José with her untamable spirit and sensuality, luring him away from his duty and childhood sweetheart Micaëla. As José descends into obsession, Carmen's affections shift to the charismatic bullfighter Escamillo, setting the stage for a tragic confrontation between love, jealousy, and fate. Bizet's masterpiece combines Spanish passion with operatic grandeur, exploring themes of desire and the destructive power of unbridled emotion.

Opera

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · 1791

A young prince embarks on a perilous quest to rescue a maiden from the clutches of darkness, guided by a magical flute and an unlikely bird-catcher companion. As Tamino penetrates the mysteries of an enlightened temple, he discovers that truth and virtue demand trials of fire and water, while the forces of night conspire to reclaim what they have lost. A transcendent fusion of fairy tale enchantment and Enlightenment ideals, where love, wisdom, and brotherhood triumph over chaos and deception.

Opera

The Barber of Seville

Gioachino Rossini · 1816

In sun-drenched Seville, the resourceful barber Figaro becomes the unlikely architect of romance when he aids the lovesick Count Almaviva in his pursuit of the spirited Rosina, ward of the miserly Doctor Bartolo. Through wit, disguise, and audacious scheming, the unlikely conspirators outwit the elderly guardian and his scheming music master, Don Basilio, in a whirlwind of mistaken identities and comic chaos. The opera celebrates the triumph of youth, love, and cunning over age, greed, and propriety—all set to some of the most exuberant and infectious melodies in the operatic canon.

Theatre

Hamlet

William Shakespeare · 1601

The Prince of Denmark, tormented by his father's mysterious death and his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle Claudius, feigns madness while seeking vengeance. When a ghostly apparition reveals that Claudius murdered the old king, Hamlet's quest for justice spirals into tragedy, consuming the Danish court in blood and despair.

Theatre

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare · 1597

Two teenagers from feuding Veronese families—the Montagues and Capulets—meet at a masked ball and fall instantly, desperately in love, defying centuries of familial hatred. In secret, they marry; but a series of tragic miscommunications and violent confrontations between their houses culminates in their deaths, which finally reconciles the warring clans. Shakespeare's masterpiece transforms a tale of star-crossed lovers into an exploration of passion, fate, and the destructive nature of hatred.

Theatre

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Play)

William Shakespeare · 1596

In ancient Athens, two pairs of young lovers flee into an enchanted forest to escape the rigid laws of the city, only to find themselves ensnared in the magical machinations of the fairy realm. When the mischievous Puck administers a love potion at the behest of Oberon, the fairy king, chaos ensues—affections are scrambled, identities are questioned, and a hapless weaver is transformed into an ass. Through enchantment and intervention, true love ultimately prevails, and the mortals awaken to find their hearts aligned with their deepest desires.

Opera

The Marriage of Figaro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · 1786

On his wedding day, the clever valet Figaro discovers that his master, the Count Almaviva, intends to exercise his feudal right to seduce Figaro's bride Susanna. As the Count pursues his designs with cunning and persistence, Figaro and Susanna—aided by the Countess and her page Cherubino—orchestrate an elaborate scheme of disguises and deceptions to outwit the aristocrat. In a night of escalating chaos and mistaken identities, the servants ultimately triumph, exposing the Count's infidelity and forcing him to beg his wife's forgiveness.

Opera

Don Giovanni

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · 1787

Mozart's masterpiece of seduction and damnation follows the libertine Don Giovanni as he pursues conquest across Seville, leaving a trail of betrayed women and vengeful suitors in his wake. When he mockingly invites the statue of a murdered nobleman to dinner, the supernatural reckoning arrives—a darkly comic meditation on desire, honor, and divine retribution that blends comedy with existential terror.

Opera

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi · 1851

At the licentious court of the Duke of Mantua, the Duke's hunchbacked jester Rigoletto mocks the cuckolded husbands of his master's conquests, earning their bitter hatred. When the nobleman Count Monterone curses both the Duke and Rigoletto for seducing his daughter, the jester becomes obsessed with revenge—only to discover that his own innocent daughter Gilda has fallen in love with the very Duke he seeks to destroy. In a tragic denouement, Rigoletto's plot to assassinate the Duke backfires catastrophically, and he is left to mourn the death of his beloved child, the curse fulfilled.

Opera

La traviata

Giuseppe Verdi · 1853

Violetta Valéry, a celebrated Parisian courtesan of wit and independence, encounters the earnest young Alfredo Germont and discovers a love that transcends her gilded but hollow existence. As their passion deepens, Alfredo's father demands she renounce their affair to preserve his family's honor, forcing Violetta into an agonizing choice between personal happiness and societal duty. In a tragic denouement, she sacrifices everything for love, only to find redemption in death.

Opera

Tosca

Giacomo Puccini · 1900

In Puccini's masterpiece of operatic passion and political intrigue, the celebrated soprano Tosca becomes entangled in a deadly game of power when Rome's tyrannical Police Chief Scarpia demands her body in exchange for her lover Cavaradossi's life. Set against the backdrop of Napoleonic Rome, this verismo tragedy unfolds across a church, a palace, and a fortress, culminating in acts of desperation, betrayal, and ultimate sacrifice. A searing exploration of love, corruption, and the price of freedom, Tosca remains one of opera's most visceral and dramatically compelling works.

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