Kim’s Convenience now at Westport Country Playhouse is adapted from the long running hit Canadian sitcom. It was aired on Netflix. It centers on the patriarch of a Korean family that loves over the shop. His broken English and inventive syntax are part of the humor if you can understand it.

The Clark Art Institute hosts an outdoor concert by Grammy award-winning folk musician Aoife O’Donovan on Tuesday, July 19 at 6 pm on the Clark’s South Lawn near the Reflecting Pool. An Irish-American singer-songwriter, O’Donovan quietly dazzles with intimate songs that feel big and bold.

Auberge du Soleil, Napa Valley’s quintessential adult getaway, and renowned local artist, Gordon Huether, today unveiled “L’Esprit du Soleil” (The Spirit of the Sun), a commissioned multi-panel art piece designed especially for the newly remodeled entrance to the award-winning hotel and its Michelin Star Restaurant.

Most Happy in Concert, now at Williamstown Theatre Festival is not a revival of the 1956 musical Most Happy Fella with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. It's a tear down and deconstruction by director Daniel Fish. He similarly ripped apart Oklahoma which won a Tony award. Let's see if he again cruises Broadway with an even more radical production of a vintage musical.

The opening premise of the fiction is that Janet van de Graaf and Robert Martin, played by the charming and talented pair of Maeve Smith and Stephen Kanaski, are to be married on the day that the musical takes place.  The reality of the show’s evolution is that “The Drowsy Chaperone” began as a spoof of old musicals that was performed at a stag party for a real engaged couple with the same names as the characters in the show.  Got that?

Catching up recently with Sheffield based artist, Stephanie Blumenthal, she commented on having work in the last two annual juried shows of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. They are photographs in the manner of 17th century Dutch still life paintings entailing fast food. I asked her to send images which proved to be intriguing.

This summer, the Cape Ann Museum presents a special exhibition of works by contemporary artist Vincent Castagnacci. Notes from a Quarry will focus on Castagnacci’s drawings and paintings from the mid-2000s to the present, pulling in earlier works that reflect the strong influence Cape Ann has had—and continues to have—on the artist.

Other than an explosive ending the Pulitzer Prize winning Anna In the Tropics proves to be quite tepid as produced by Barrington Stage Company. Set in a Prohibition era cigar factory the lictor is reading Tolstoy to the workers. Themes of infidelity, jealousy and revenge in Anna Karenina weave their way into the plot by playwright Nilo Cruz.

Ian Bostridge is the go-to performer for Franz Schubert's Winterreise. He notes that 'Even as a child I was unnaturally obsessed with love and death, so in that sense I really was born to sing lieder'. This concert is another testament to his natural affinity for the form and for the composer.

Wudang is the center of Daoism in the world, where the early monks went to hide from the Emperor’s soldiers.  The Chinese emperors were fearful that the people would follow the Daoist priests and monks instead of them, and they killed many of them, destroying thousands of temples over the centuries.  

The lavish and expensive-to-produce “Follies” earned 11 Tony nominations and won seven, but was a box office disappointment with barely 500 performances on Broadway.  Yet, the show became a classic.  San Francisco Playhouse has taken on the challenge of producing this massive and demanding project.  The result is a worthy rendition of a great American musical.

Phil Kline is at MASS MoCA next weekend. He says: I'm a bit of an outsider, not part of the "classical" world, or even the more sanctioned wings of the avant-garde. A composer without portfolio. Go hear his work in North Adams, Massachusetts!

It has been a very warm week in Munich, yet a lovely one. Occasionally walking along Maximilian Street in the center of town, a breeze catches up and cools. The Munich State Opera, unquestionably the lead opera company in the world, is holding its annual July Festival, a chance to catch up with interesting productions from the last decade.Concerts too attract.  Munich Regular Jonas Kaufman will return for his first post Covid appearance.

This article extends a photo/word installation at the Berkshire Art Museum, North Adams, MA. The installation can be seen at BAM until October 2022 as part of the exhibition 'Artists of the Thursday Chinese Dinner Group,' where 27 are participating. The museum's primary reason is to show Eric Rudd's oeuvre of sculptures created during 50 years. Both, the permanent and temporary shows are well worth a visit!

Based in London Lolita Chakrabarti is an actress and playwright. An earlier play, Red Velvet, was previously produced by Shakespeare & Company. She returns with a tightly crafted two-hander, Hymn. precisely directed by the masterful Regge Light.

Puccini’s music is beautiful and his notes sit particularly well in the human voice. Music written for the voice, as Puccini did, attracts audiences, especially when it is delivered by a stellar cast. Along with a rich musical mix, deep characterization draws us in.  In the current revival of Otto Schenk production at the Munich State Opera, character is on full display amidst bantering bohemians and the flirtatious Musetta.

The Munich State Opera presents both opera and concerts during their annual July Festival. One star, Marlis Petersen, entranced at the Prinzregent Theater.

Frenchman Paul Dukas’ 1907 opera “Ariane & Bluebeard” possesses compelling music and a libretto rich with symbolism and open to varied interpretation.  Although advocates for the opera included many prominent composers of the day, its success was limited from the outset, and it has failed to find a place in the repertory.  Plausible explanations exist. West Edge Oper, however, presents a scintillating interpretation of the highly worthy opera.

The bio-musical "Hank Williams: Lost Cowboy" is receiving a commendable production by Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. The production runs through July 31. The show tells the story of Williams's life in flashback.

Based on the award-winning 2002 novella by Neil Gaiman, composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Rory Mullarky have crafted an opera that mirrors the creepiness of the novella and the animated film of the same name.  West Edge Opera offers superb voices and orchestra, fine staging, and clever, fanciful costumes in a scintillating production of this enticing work.

Rubenology: The Making of An American Legend focuses on 84-year-old actor Ruben Rabasa. The one-act play recently experienced its world premiere as a co-production between South Florida-based GableStage and Abre Camino Collective. Playwright Vanessa Garcia and Rabasa co-wrote the piece.

“It is my great honor to be the next Artistic Director of Barrington Stage Company. I am deeply inspired by the incredible staff and artists who have made BSC such a vibrant hub for both classics and new work,” said Alan Paul. “I am excited to build on BSC’s legacy as an incubator for new plays and musicals from a broad variety of voices. Musicals are my first love, and I plan to make the advancement of musical theater a cornerstone of my vision. The Berkshires are a magical place for theater, and I look forward to becoming an active member of the community.

Lincoln Center offers venues for the performing arts and concert programs. Is there an audience for what is offered? John Goberman, who founded Live from Lincoln Center, remarked when he left the staff a decade ago, that from his point of view–where the rubber hits the road, there was no audience any longer for classical music. He went on to produce live orchestral accompaniments to films. 

By the end of the show, when we hear “No One Is Alone” and then the reprise of “Children Will Listen,” I challenge anyone to not be moved. The day I saw it, the audience was primed to adore it, with wild applause throughout the show. In many ways, this production deserved it.

Empire Stage in Ft. Lauderdale is giving the new comedy-drama "Educating Asher" a solid world premiere production. The play is about, among other things, coming to terms with loss.