Broadway pays a visit to Havana
Do cultural exchange programs work? The documentary “Revolution Rent” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) follows the personal and political dramas surrounding the staging of the 1996 musical in Havana, the first Broadway production play in Cuba in a half-century.
The film follows Andy Senor Jr., who was asked to direct the production. Senor also co-directs the film, along with Victor Patrick Alvarez. Long associated with “Rent,” Senor portrayed Angel, a transvestite character central to the story.
His directing opportunity upsets his mother and other relatives. Refugees from Castro’s regime, they cannot accept collaboration with a government they would like to see overthrown.
“Revolution” also celebrates the 25th anniversary of the musical, an update of Puccini’s “La Boheme” set in the East Village of the 1990s, then a scene of activism and rebellion.
The musical, and its palpable sense of self-importance, were the subject of savage satire in the 2004 marionette epic “Team America: World Police,” created by “South Park” auteurs Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who went on to Broadway success of their own with “The Book of Mormon.”
› Tonight’s episode of “Treehouse Masters: Ultimate Builds” (9 p.m., Animal Planet, TV-PG) blends two prevailing themes of too much basic cable. First, there’s a celebration of disposable income and the equation of lavish spending with “freedom.” Nothing says “somebody has more money than he knows what to do with” like six-figure treehouses. The second is the need to push ever farther into northern latitudes where everything (and practically everyone) is white.
Tonight’s getaway deviates from cable’s love affair with all-things Alaska and takes place in Norway, where a treetop resort affords gorgeous views of the Arctic Circle. Bundle up!
› Swimming finals take place at U.S. Olympic trials (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG). Cord-cutters wondering how they will be able to follow the games should note that beginning on July 24, Peacock will stream four Olympics programs on its free tier. The prime-time series “Tokyo Tonight” (7:30 p.m. to midnight) will offer highlights of the day’s competition and results.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt star as an actor and his stunt double facing a changing film industry in director Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 epic “Once Upon a Time.
› in Hollywood” (6:15 p.m., Starz Encore).
› The New York Mets host the Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball action (7 p.m., ESPN).
› Fred Armisen, Christopher Walken and Carly Simon discover their grandparents’ secrets on
“Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” (8 p.m., PBS, repeat, TV-PG, check local listings).
› A timely repeat of “American Experience” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) presents “The Polio Crusade,” a look at the disease that terrorized America and paralyzed thousands before the development and distribution of the Salk vaccine in the mid-1950s.
› Oprah Winfrey and Sterling K. Brown host OWN Spotlight: “Honoring Our Kings: Celebrating Black Fatherhood” (9 p.m., OWN, TV-PG).