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Initially the Berkshire Museum disclosed plans to sell two paintings by Norman Rockwell but declined to reveal the other works. Under intensive media scrutiny and concerns from the community the museum has posted responses to frequently asked questions on the website and has released the full list of deaccessioned works. The lot has a pre auction estmate of $50 million toward a goal to "reboot" with $20 milion in renovation and $40 million for endowment. The remaining $10 millions will be raised apart from the sale of works of art.

Its always a treat when a package of wines arrive unannounced. When you open the box with the help of your mailman, the situation heightens, as you will see in this article.

A fine cast and crew captures the darkness and the comic in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street The lead actor creates a sympathetic Sweeney, even if we abhor the character's actions. The unease of Sweeney Todd's world eerily mirrors our own.

Rossini stopped writing operas at the age of 37. He did not compose again for decades. When he was able to move back to Paris, and build a country home in Passy with his second wife, he took up his composer’s pen again. To the end of his life, he composed over 200 works which he gave the umbrella title Sins of Old Age. He was touching up the Petite Messe Solennelle when he died in 1868.

Alla Nazirova was a theater and film original, who came to the US and stormed Broadway Leaving for Hollywood, she became Tinseltown's highest paid talent. She was Queen of Sapphic Los Angeles and that cost her. Now she is brought to life by Romy Nordlinger at 59E59 Theaters.

Leaving our thinking caps at home there was no heavy lifting in the delicious British farce, Taking Steps, by the redoubtable Alan Ayckbourn. At last count he has written 77 plays. After the knockout job that director, Sam Buntrock, and a truly gifted cast did with this one, one hopes that over time Barrington will produce the other 76.

In 1958 the one act play Zoo Story launched the career of playwright Edward Albee. In 2004 he added a first act. That version , retitled At Home at the Zoo (Zoo Story), is being produced by Berkshire Theatre Group on its intimate Unicorn stage in Stockbridge.

Works by Stephen Hannock are in global museum collections. His Oxbow painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be included in a survey of Hudson River artist Thomas Cole. Hannock's mate Sting will also be involved in the project. When he created paintings for his friend's hometown of Newscastle the studies were shown at the Berkshire Museum. He gave one of the studies to the museum to honor philanthropist Nancy Fitzgerald. The fact of that work and the entire fine arts collection of the museum is unknown. We talked at length with the Berkshire based global artist about the impact of the museum's strategy to sell its fine arts collection with a radical makeover as an interactive educational museum for history and science.

When the Berkshire Museum announced plans to focus on science and history there was initial euphoria. To reach a goal of $60 millon, $20 for renoivation, and $40 million for endowment it will sell 40 works of art including two paintings by Norman Rockwell which the artist gave to the museum and his Berkshire neighbors. In so doing it violates deaccession restrictions for art museums. In a shuffle Van Shields, the director of BM, has stated that he does not run an art musuem and is not bound by ethical guidelines. That may change as coverage evolves from local to national news.

The Eclipse Mill Gallery, in North Adams, is featuring a special exhibition of unique drinking vessels "I'll Drink to That." It opens with a reception for the artists on Friday, August 4, from 6 to 8pm. It remains on view, Thursday to Sunday, from 10 am through 5pm, through August 27. Some 25 renowned potters from coast to coast will display their work.

Picking up this series after some time, we are continuing with reports about our travels in North America. We flew to San Francisco to attend a theater conference and to discover the city once again, followed by visits to Muir Woods and California’s wine country. There will be other sketches drawn from different locations and events. Here my personal photo-perspective of the Golden Gate Bridge, arguably the most famous bridge in the USA.

In N'est Pas Le Minuit by Compagnie XY, a group of acrobats whose physical feats demands cooperation and trust. They take that spirit and make it into a global miniature.

Speech and Debate is a 2007 play by Tony winner Stephen Karam (The Humans). Since then there have been more than a hundred productions. It is being refreshed at Barrington Stage. It focuses on the bonding of three high school misfits. The awkward and insecure Howie (Austin Davidson) came out when he was nine. The uptight, preppy Solomon (Ben Getz) is a closeted wannabe investigative reporter. Diwata (Betsy Hogg) is a plain Jane, nerdy teen, passed over by the drama club, who wants to be a star. This makeover of a popular play slogs along until coming alive when the amazing Hogg takes the bit in her mouth and races hell for leather to a remarkable finish. Fasten your seat belts.

Finding Mona Lisa is a fun-filled, quick-paced play with colorful characters. Six actors skillfully portray multiple roles in new Michael McKeever historically-based drama. The new play about the world's most famous painting produces plenty of laughs.

In “At the Old Place”, the story, set in rural Richmond, Virginia, centers around Angie (Heidi Armbruster) who is trying to come to grips with any guilt and closure that occurs following the death of her mother and the unrequited issues that linger and eventually fall to her for resolution. One unfinished piece of business that takes her back is the sale of her mother’s house.

The bouncy, Vaudeville-influenced opening number "The Four Immigrants" theme sets the early tone of the hope for success in the new land. The men struggle, as most immigrants will, but then the first major setback occurs, San Francisco's 1906 earthquake.

Hir is a family story, a chaotic kitchen-sink story. Playwright Taylor Mac describes it as absurd realism, with a simple plot: The prodigal son returns home from the war and finds nothing is as it was when he left. Isaac (Tyler Olwin) has been away for three years, working on a mortuary crew in Afghanistan.

Cordelia Steep’s U.S. premiere of Lela and Co. is set in some unnamed wartorn region of the world—perhaps central Europe. It’s Lela’s story, beginning with her birth, when she learns that a woman’s role is “to sing the songs, the early songs and the late songs, the songs of sleeping and the songs of mourning.

Armagnac has finally been recognized as the up and coming brandy. Its only taken 700 years to be recognized in the 21st century. At one time it was Louis XIV's favorite.

Syrians are spreading across the world as civil war rages on in their country. We who greet, house and share our countries with them are curious about the country from which they have come and what it feel like to live there during this period of torture and destruction. The theater of Syria helps us understand what prompts exodus.

San Frncisco based travel writer, Susan Cohn, is known for ferreting out unusual destinations in rural America. Her stories always have an off the beaten trail exotic, down home flavor. This time she reports on the Richard Petty Museum in North Carolina. Parked on the property are dozens of iconic vehicles that made three generations of the Petty family dominant winners in the popular NASCAR circuit. This is a must see destination for fans of the popular sport. Enjoy this tale of life in the fast lane.

Outre's production depicts a future-- and even a present -- in which surveillance is becoming more prevalent. Actors fare better after intermission in Outre Theatre Company's 1984. Interrogation scene not as graphic as what audiences are reportedly witnessing on Broadway.

Since BC, the land that is now Cantina Tramin in Italy has been likened to gold. Rare and important for centuries, the wines produced from this small terroir exceed others and is much like Burgundy which is considered the best wine growing terrain in the world.

In recent years the Paul Taylor Dance Company has regularly appeared at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington. It has been a decade since the company performed at Jacob's Pillow. For its 85th season the company was lured bac k for its 16th time. Add one more when in 1954, as a dancer, Taylor made his Pllow debut with Pearl Lang's Company. On this occasion the program featured three iconic works.

In its smaller Nikos Stage the Williamstown Theatre Festival features another, homegrown, world premiere. Last summer playwright Harrison David Rivers was a fellow at the renowned festival. The play that he was developing Where Storms Are Born is being produced this season. Again there is a focus on diversity and plot points hinged on gay characters, There is risk taking in this strategy wih bold and progressive but unresolved results.