The Clark Art Institute recently added three new paintings to its permanent collection, enhancing its holdings of works by women artists. The paintings, two by Marguerite Gérard and one by Evelyn De Morgan, are the first by either artist to enter the Clark’s collection.

Cicely Carew, Venetia Dale, and Yu-Wen Wu have been named the recipients of the 2023 James and Audrey Foster Prize Exhibition. Their exhibition at the ICA, on view August 24–January 2, will encompass a wide range of media—from sculpture and installation to time-based media and works on paper.

The flamboyant bon vivant Noël Coward excelled in many aspects of the performing arts, but he is best remembered today as a playwright who exposed the foibles of English society in several between-the-wars, comedy-of-manners plays.  The last of these was “Blithe Spirit.”  Many of us, having seen the movie and perhaps productions of the play as well, may wish to pass on seeing this war horse once again.  That would be a mistake.  City Lights has produced a sparkling rendition that hits the mark on every measure.

Composer Allen Shearer and librettist Claudia Stevens's “Prospero’s Island” borrows from the “The Tempest.” But they have moved it a significant measure from the source material. In addition to lyrics in modern American-English vernacular interspersed with poetic accents, a plot update and revision gives the material more contemporary relevance while altering the moral profile of the main character. The result is a riveting chronicle of moral corruption followed by a quest for redemption that is accompanied by equally compelling music, calling on diverse idioms. Although the narrative arc is clearly dramatic, the creators frequently punctuate the proceedings with humorous interludes.

Born to immigrant parents, Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toossi looks at a part of a global industry that has derived from the ubiquitous nature of English – teaching English to non-native speakers.  Calling upon her own heritage to generate a narrative, her incisive dramedy “English” won both the Lucille Lortel and Obie awards for best new play in 2022.

Richard Strauss preferred to spell the title of his most popular opera: Der Rosencavalier.  Although the opera began with conversations between librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Count Kessler, a diplomat, scholar and director of the Cranach-Presse in Weimar, the opera is very much Strauss’s.  Kessler promised Hofmannsthal that he could pay for his children’s education with the proceeds from productions.  That he did. 

In 1923 Edward Hopper spent his second summer in Gloucester. He met and later married the artist Josephine Nivison. That summer he painted several pictures and created a number of water colors. They worked side by side. A century later, on the occasion of Gloucester 400 Plus their work will be on view at the Cape Ann Museum.

The Huntington announces its complete lineup for the 23/24 season, featuring an eclectic mix of 7 highly acclaimed shows by a wide variety of diverse artists, the first full season completely programmed by new Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco. 

As part of a rolling world premiere, Refuge is running at Theatre Lab in Boca Raton, Fl. in an intense and believable production through April 23. The production features music, magical realism, and puppets. Refuge is about the migration crisis, but does not deal with politics. Rather, it is a piece brimming with humanity.

In their respective practices, Sue Williamson (b. 1941) and Lebohang Kganye (b. 1990) incorporate oral histories into films, photographs, installations, and textiles to consider how the stories our elders tell us shape family narratives and personal identities. Implicitly and explicitly addressing legacies of racial violence and social injustice, their work offers a cross-generational dialogue on history, memory, and the power of self-narration.

Bill and Nancy have been married for 50 years, and on the surface, they have been happy, or at least content.  But when they dispassionately announce their decision to divorce to their visiting adult sons, Brian and Ben, the boys are flabbergasted.  As expected, they have questions like “What happened?” but worse, they have answers, like “We can fix this,” as if the breakup could be within their control.  And when they finally realize that it could actually happen, it’s “Why couldn’t you get divorced when we finished school, like normal people?”

Endgame livestreamed from the Irish Rep. Samuel Beckett’s Endgame enjoyed a must-see run at the Irish Repertory Theatre.  Starring Bill Irwin, the clown and Beckett aficionado, as Clov and John Douglas Thompson as Hamm, here uncharacteristically for Thompson, the “insider.”  He is bound to a wheelchair, blind and dependent on painkillers, yet the clear force of the moment. Clov lurches around him

Barrington Stage Company (BSC) announces that Broadway’s master songman, Mandy Patinkin, accompanied by Adam Ben-David on piano, will bring his newest theatre concert Mandy Patinkin in Concert: BEING ALIVE, to the Boyd-Quinson Stage for one night only on Tuesday, June 27.

De Montebello, who was formerly Executive Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has repeatedly refused to address staff concerns about health and safety for both staff and the collection itself.  

If Parade doesn’t win the Tony Award for the outstanding revival of a musical, the producers should demand a recount.

It was great to see an audience laughing and enjoying themselves at The Legend of Georgia McBride now at Ivoryton Playhouse through Sunday, April 30.

Ft. Lauderdale-based New City Players presents a production of "Cry Old Kingdom." The piece, set during 1960's Haiti, deals with many themes and topics, including art, revolution, and what hope for a better future can look like.

In the heart of Cape Ann, with its boulders and cellar holes, Dogtown Common stokes the cauldron of witchcraft and early New England mythology. Dogtown Common by Percy MacKaye, adapted and directed by Peter Littlefield will be performed at the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts, Rockport, Ma.

The simple storyline centers on Natasha, betrothed to Prince Andrey, who has been sent to fight against Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.  But when she visits Moscow, Natasha is taken with womanizer Anatole, and decides to abandon Andrey for the more glamorous option.  Things don’t go as planned. The end.

A decade ago, Andris Nelsons was conducting Tchaikovsky at the Metropolitan Opera, when the Boston Symphony arrived in town and their conductor, James Levine, fell ill.  Nelsons stepped in and the rest is history.  Shostakovich is the Russian composer Nelsons has adopted as his own.  Rachmaninoff, whose Second Symphony was on the program on Monday night, may not be as close a soulmate for the young Latvian conductor, but new music is. He introduced Thierry Escaich's latest work.

The old Freighthouse has been converted into a nightclub in downtown Ypsilanti. A lifetime resident of Ypsilanti,  guitarist and jazz composer John E. Lawrence has been in residence for a week.  The final evening is a concert, sold out, with hopefuls hovering at the door.

Lynn Nottage's drama, "Sweat" serves as a cautionary play about what can happen when unrestrained, explosive emotions flow during especially tense, sensitive times. Main Street Players in Miami Lakes, a professional, nonprofit company, is presenting a stellar production through May 14. "Sweat" takes place during the turbulent 2000s in a blue-collar community in Pennsylvania.

Four women writers of the Harlem Renaissance meet in "Telling Tales Out of School" by Wesley Brown, directed by Woodie King, Jr.

When booking our trip, we didn't know of Feria, a one-week celebration of community and Seville's history with livestock markets and flamenco that began in 1846. But when our new friend Carlos invited us to join him in going to the fair, we jumped on it. Feria takes place one week in April each year on 25 urban blocks that lie mostly barren except for preparation and celebration of Feria. Imagine the value of the property designated for this one event!

Versatile theater artist Ronnie Larsen's new musical, "One More Yesterday," is running through May 14 in a fine professional world premiere production. "One More Yesterday" is an upbeat show about an aging live theater performer yearning for the spotlight one more time. "One More Yesterday" is a layered show covering many themes.