What’s happening (digitally) in the arts world

ELTON JOHN Hey, remember how the Rocket Man was on a three-year farewell world tour? Yep, that got paused along with everything else. But he’s releasing vintage shows on YouTube, and this week’s is a doozy — a 2000 Madison Square Garden bash with special guests including Mary J. Blige, Kiki Dee, and Billy Joel. www.youtube.com/eltonjohn

DIET CIG The fuzzy pop band released album number two, “Do You Wonder About Me,” as the pandemic peaked in their East Coast home — a rough time for a promotional tour, to say the least. They’ll be playing songs from that and old favorites in this Noonchorus show. Proceeds support NIVA and the Okra Project. July 31, 8 p.m. https://noonchorus.com/diet-cig/

ZOË MADONNA

Classical

EMMANUEL MUSIC Best known for its Bach cantatas, this protean collective is now reprising its imaginative “Late Night” series, featuring four new programs curated and performed by core members of its ensemble. This summer’s virtual edition begins this week with violinist Rose Drucker and violist Daniel Doña performing folk-inflected duos by Bartok and Martinu as well as a work by Marco Adrián Ramos based on Mayan mythology. That concert was streamed July 30 on Facebook Live and will be posted July 31 at www.emmanuelmusic.org. And the series continues Aug. 6 with soprano Sarah Moyer and pianist Timothy Steele performing Barber’s rhapsodically beautiful (and seasonally appropriate) “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.”

JEREMY EICHLER

ARTS

Theater

A KIDS PLAY ABOUT RACISM The virtual premiere of Khalia Davis’s theatrical adaptation of Jelani Memory’s “A Kids Book About Racism,’' directed by Davis. The production is the result of a collaboration by 41 organizations across the country that are members of Theatres for Young Audiences, including Boston’s Wheelock Family Theatre and The Gottabees. Aug. 1-2. Broadway On Demand. Free. broadwayondemand.com/signup On Aug. 2 at 4 p.m., Wheelock Family Theatre will host a free post-show reflection, moderated by New Repertory Theatre artistic director Michael J. Bobbitt, at www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org/a-kids-play-about-racism-2020/

THE TEMPEST Having been forced by the pandemic to postpone this summer’s planned production of “The Tempest’' until next summer, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company will livestream a script-in-hand performance by the cast. That cast now includes Miguel Cervantes (”Hamilton’' in Chicago and on Broadway) as Ariel, as well as Maurice Emmanuel Parent and Siobhan Juanita Brown. They will join the previously announced John Douglas Thompson (as Prospero), Fred Sullivan Jr., Remo Airaldi, Nora Eschenheimer, John Kuntz, Nael Nacer, Richard Noble, and Michael Underhill. Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. on Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed via www.commshakes.org. Free but with a “suggested donation’' of $20 to benefit next year’s rescheduled production of “The Tempest’' on the Common. Separate recordings that will include captioning, audio descriptions, and ASL interpretation of the live performance will be available on the CSC website on Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. Both the recording of the live performance and the ASL-interpreted performance will be available on the CSC YouTube channel until Aug. 10 at 7 p.m.

STICK FLY A reading of Lydia R. Diamond’s fine play about the tensions that ensue and the secrets that are spilled in an affluent Black family when a pair of brothers bring home their respective girlfriends for a family weekend on Martha’s Vineyard. “Stick Fly’' was presented in 2010 at the Huntington Theatre Company, in 2011 on Broadway, and last year at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury by the Madison Park Development Corp. This reading of “Stick Fly’' is part of Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley’s “Stars in the House’' series in support of the Actors Fund. Starting Aug. 1 at 2 p.m. and available online until 2 p.m. on Aug. 5 at www.starsinthehouse.com and on the Stars in the House YouTube channel.

DON AUCOIN

Dance

VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL: DIGITAL EDITION Over the next eight days, the Colorado festival is launching eight free virtual programs of new and archival material embracing ballet, modern traditions, tap, street dance styles, flamenco, and more. Dancer/creators range from edgy innovators Michelle Dorrance and Lil Buck to ballerina superstars Wendy Whelan and Heather Watts. The Aug. 4 program is a must-see. It includes Boston Ballet dancers joining with members of New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater in a 2018 work by Justin Peck, as well as a premiere created especially for the virtual festival by Bobbi Jene Smith. Daily releases will stay online through Aug. 15 on Vail Dance Festival’s YouTube and Facebook channels.

KAREN CAMPBELL

Visual Arts

IN THE STUDIO Since April, Very, the gallery run by painter John Guthrie, has been posting images, videos, and notes by artists about what they’re making now. It’s a vivid mix, from the angular tags of graffiti writer TenseOne on the walls of a former mental hospital to the digitally distorted images John Axon takes of his own body. There’s an intimacy to the artists’ revelation about process and the impact of working in these strange times. www.galleryvery.com

CATE McQUAID

EVENTS

Comedy

JIMMY TINGLE’S 2020 VISION Tingle has reworked his one-man show for Zoom with clips of his show at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre from February plus new stuff on the pandemic and politics, with Q&A and after party. To benefit Massachusetts Peace Action. July 31, 7:30 p.m. $30 or pay what you can. www.jimmytingle.com

VIRTUAL GAS Rob Crean used to host this every Friday at Great Scott, and now it’s truly an online-only show. This week features Katie McCarthy and Alan Richardson, and a staged reading of a pilot by Gary Petersen starring Petersen, McCarthy, Richardson, and Jenny Zigrino. July 31, 7:30 p.m. Free. www.facebook.com/andersoncomedy

COMEDY JUICE: THE BEST OF NOWHERE COMEDY This roundup of regulars at the virtual Nowhere Comedy Club includes a couple of comedians, Emma Willman and Dwayne Perkins, who spent their formative years in the Boston scene. With Kelsey Cook and Jarret Berenstein, hosted by Jen Saunderson. Aug. 6, 9 p.m. $10-$30. www.nowherecomedyclub.com

NICK A. ZAINO III

Family

WATERCOLOR SALT PAINTING The craft store Michael’s lets kids get crafty at its Camp Creativity virtual summer camp each day. Friday’s activity encourages families to dive into their artistic side by painting their own watercolor creations with the help of an instructor via Zoom. The first 100 participants to register on the website will be admitted to the class. July 31, 4 p.m., free. www.michaels.com

ANIMAL SNACK TIME Staff members at the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture will feed the marine-tank animals in front of the camera for all to see. The institution encourages families to grab their own snack and then spend 30 minutes on Zoom where they can watch what and how a spider crab, sea star, and more eat every day. Registration is required. Aug. 4, 2 p.m., free. www.hmsc.harvard.edu

NIGHT SKIES It’s time for all the amateur astronomers out there to get their questions answered. Chief astronomer Derrick Pitts from Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute plans to log onto Facebook Live next Thursday night to teach kids how to stargaze — without a telescope — and answer families’ questions about the cosmos. Aug. 6, 7:45 p.m., free. www.facebook.com/thefranklininstitute

DITI KOHLI