New City Players in Southeast Florida has mounted a solid production of a live radio play adaptation of the Christmas classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life." The production runs through Dec. 18. The adaptation, while charming and heartwarming, is too similar to the source material.

On a drawing board of mixed media, live at the Blue Building on 44th Street, Art Bath gives New York talent a chance to experiment.  Six times a year, twice in the spring and twice in the fall, Art Bath presents programs in which artists mix and match new and daring forms. These are enchanted evenings. 

“There’s no better way to start the new year off than by making sure that our doors are wide open for our community and for all visitors to the area,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. “We believe that the chance to engage with art is a truly fulfilling and enriching part of life and we want to make sure that everyone has plenty of opportunities to visit the Clark and to get to know us better.”

Death of a Salesman, starring Wendell Pierce, is getting an interesting, if not always successful, revival at the Hudson Theater on W. 44th Street. The revival produced by the Young Vic Theatre originated in London last spring to acclaim.

“I am always amazed at how Cabaret manages to speak to our time, making it one of the most remarkable and resilient works of American musical theatre,” commented Alan Paul. “As the US experiences a rise in acts of virulent anti-Semitism, it seemed an appropriate time for our audiences to revisit this enduring classic. It’s also an opportunity in my first season to celebrate one of the shows that helped establish the legacy of this theatre company.” 

The Arts Vibrancy Index report is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to better understand how the arts and culture sector contributes to a community’s economy and public life. Now in its seventh iteration, the report has helped organizations evaluate where to relocate or focus their operations; provided clarity for funders on how and where to invest; and made it easier than ever for communities to learn how to cultivate arts vibrancy in their area.

Ghosts.  Dancing skeletons.  A giant toothy snake from Hell, like Saturday Night Live’s land shark on steroids. “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.”  When the title character mirthfully tells the audience that this is a play about death, he’s not kidding.  Fortunately, it’s all in good fun, and there is plenty of it in this delightfully camp musical adaptation of the highly successful 1988 comedy-horror film.

Women have often been called witches and other words that rhyme. What insights can we glean today about the trials held in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts? Playwright Sarah Ruhl tackles the question.

"O Christmas Tree," a new holiday play with music, made a triumphant world premiere at South Florida's Thinking Cap Theatre. The playwrights are Thinking Cap's Artistic Director, Nicole Stodard, and Thinking Cap's Managing Director, Bree-Anna Obst. The world premiere marks just the beginning of "O Christmas Tree's" theatrical life.

With the 2022 publication of Gloucester Encounters: Essays on the Cultural History of the City 1623-2023, edited by Martin Ray, we have a kick start launch of a year of commemoration in 2023. Originally planned for six writers it was expanded to 36 by editor Martin Ray. It reads like a pot luck supper with savory chapters as well as many not so. But you won't leave it feeling hungry for Gloucester.  

 Julia Bullock and the American Modern Opera Project brought a new version of John Adams’ and Peter Sellars' El Nino to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, known for its support of the arts and blessing of all animals. This will become a traditional performance.

Around Six years ago, I signed up for the National Geographic Family History DNA Test.  For around $125, I received a Cheek Swab Kit and some paperwork.  I was instructed to reveal nothing more than my Name and Age.  A few weeks later, I received a box which included a Printed Brill Family History based solely on the DNA I presented.  The National Geographic Report let me know that I am Jewish and that my Father’s Family started in the Middle East and traveled to Sicily around a thousand years ago. 

The works in On the Town celebrate city life and community, illuminating a Boston area of the past through the vision of one of its more unique residents. Arnold Trachtman’s paintings tell stories and reveal an artist as deeply invested in his neighborhood as it was in him.  

Gallery NAGA welcomes 2023 with a selection of works by two artists, Cheryl Ann Thomas and Michael F. Rohde, in a feat of interdisciplinary collaboration. This exhibition was first organized by the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona California and curated by Jo Lauria, Adjunct Curator for the American Museum of Ceramic Art and a design historian based in Los Angeles, California. 

Here’s my list of the best Connecticut productions I saw this year. Instead of ranking them, I’ve just listed what I found particularly noteworthy.

Some Like It Hot is fun, tuneful and worth spending Broadway prices to see. Is the musical really an adaptation of the classic slapstick, Billy Wilder comedy?

He’s been making jazz, and nurturing young jazz artists, for more than 50 years, and it’s about time we paid tribute to Mike Schiffer. At the age of 93, he is still playing local gigs. But this time, on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 29 (4pm), he’ll be in the audience with the rest of us lucky jazz followers.

Thursday, January 26, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 27, 1:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 28, 8 p.m. Andris Nelsons leads the world premiere of American composer/guitarist Steven Mackey's Concerto for Curved Space, a BSO co-commission (Thursday and Saturday concerts only). Mackey's style embraces influences ranging from Beethoven to modern rock.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is pleased to announce the first round of recommended awards for fiscal year 2023, with more than $34 million in funding to support the arts nationwide. This is the first of the NEA’s two major grant announcements each fiscal year and includes grants to organizations through the NEA’s Grants for Arts Projects, Challenge America, and Research Awards categories.

In short order, playwright Lynne Kaufman offers enticing insights into two contrasting, important modern poets, and the simple production succeeds through fine acting. This compact but impactful taste of familiarity fully satisfies on its own, while many attendees will want to learn even more about these fragile artists and their robust literary works.

Keith Haring made thousands of unsanctioned chalk drawings in New York City subway stations. Most of them were promptly thrown away or papered over by subway authorities. Only a limited number survive to this day. Seventeen of these historic drawings will be exhibited publicly for the first time at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center

Gloucester 400th Plus is an occasion for research and reflection on all aspects of the history and culture of Cape Ann. in 2022 the Cape Ann Museum hosted a range of panel discussions and lectures. Here is the full program with links to their videos. It is significant that the museum has preserved and made available such a valuable resource.

All the big opera companies have something to learn from the Prototype Festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

In a fast-moving 60 minutes, mime comic Ennio provides cleverly curated cartoon characterizations of celebrities and lip syncs to songs, mostly recorded by the people portrayed. The music is the songbook of our lives (if you’re middle aged or older!), including rock-and-roll, pop of various sorts, and rap.

Thanks to the popularity of the instantly recognizable Great Wave—cited everywhere from book covers and Lego sets to anime and emoji—Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) has become one of the most famous and influential artists in the world. This major exhibition organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), takes a new approach to the work of the versatile master.