While Zimmerman’s show is obviously meant mostly for laughs, there is at least one lesson to learn: In life, perseverance, thick skin and luck can lead to successes that once seemed impossible.

An important opera by a major composer is set well at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The Met Orchestra under Susanna Mälkki was magnificent. The orchestral score is one of beauty and terror, evoking the sea and the dangers of love. It is the story that provides an arc, and this production missed it entirely, leaving the experience flat.

During the ATCA NY conference Sandy and Gerry Katz saw a bunch of shows on Broadway. She also has terrific travel tips.

The Tony Award winning show,which enjoyed a Broadway run, Million Dollar Quartet, dramatizes a real-life historic jam session between rock stars Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tenn. on Dec. 4, 1956.

Lucas Hnath’s play The Christians at Steppenwolf Theatre challenges the belief systems of its characters on stage as well as those of religious and nonreligious audience members.

Extracted from a recent tour io Chelsea galleries we present a selection of highlights. The artists include Benny Andrews, Alfred Leslie, Mark di Suvero and Carrie Mae Weems.

President Barack Obama officially opened the National Museum of African American History and Culture on September 24, 2016, on the Washington Mall. It is actually the 19th Smithsonian Museum. My daughter Olivia and I got up early on a December day, to stand in line for one of the circa 100 free daily tickets. Otherwise, tickets can be reserved online months in advance. The short text and extensive photo essay convey our experiences.

Babe is a tale about an unprejudiced soul and one we should surely take to heart. Children can learn to sing Jingle Bells with LaLaLa. Will one of the youngsters who was lucky enough to see the film with the NY Phil, one day fall in love with the Saint Saens Symphony and say, That’s Babe’s song?

“See Me, Hear Me: Innovations and Challenges in Projection and Sound Design," moderated by Martha Wade Steketee, was the toipic of a penel during the New York conference of American Theatre Critics Association. A video of the panel may be viewed at the ATCA website.,

In 1973 Carl Chiarenza earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He was the first to write a dissertation on a living photohrapher, Aaron Siskind. While regarded as one of the foremost scholars in the field he has had more that 80 one-person and participated in some 260 group exhibitions since 1957. This is a review of his 2002 monograph Evocations.

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is a documentary-style play set in a courtroom. Lest you think that sounds dry, it isn’t. Jamie Bragg stars as Oscar Wilde. Her performance is nuanced and persuasive as the jaunty Oscar in her every word, look, gesture and posture.

During a meeting of American Theatre Critics Association in New York there was a panel devoted to the development from page to stage of the recently opened, well reviewed musical Dear Evan Hansen

With a book co-written by Chad Hodge and Gordon Greenberg (he is also the director), Holiday Inn, stuffed with 22 Irving Berlin songs, some standards, others resurrected from the dead, is back on the boards again.

Satie is the Paul Klee of composers. The lines may be thin, but they pack weight and feeling. They seem to dance. Louis Durey of Les Six would write that Satie's unique clarity, his horror of hackneyed ways , his love of discovery and risk led to his gleaming contributions to music. According to John Cage, Satie helped break down the barrier between art and life.

Following the critical acclaim and record-breaking attendance of Festival 2016, Jacob’s Pillow Dance announces its 85th Anniversary Season of exciting programming featuring world premieres, commissions, site-specific work, international artists, live music, and Pillow-exclusive engagements. Running June 21-August 27, Festival 2017 marks a notable moment in the history of the organization, with the first season programmed by Jacob’s Pillow Director Pamela Tatge who joined the organization in April of 2016.

Brad and Jennifer Moranz want y'all to have a Holly Jolly Christmas and a Happy New Year. For the past 21 years their Charleston Christmas Special has provided Broadway-quality entertainment with the gusto of holiday happiness.

In three concurrent New York gallery exhibitions- Lisson, Mary Boone and Jeffrey Deitch- the dissident Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, has created poignant and roiling new works. This is a massive project by arguably our greatest living artist.

Three New York galleries- Jeffrey Deitch, Mary Boone and Lisson Gallery- have collaborated to create a massive, museum-level overview of work by the dissident Chinese artist, Ai Weiewi. This is an interview with the artist in a release from Deitch gallery.

Jay Presson Allen’s historical one-man play, “Tru,” which is on stage through Jan. 1 at Palm Beach Dramaworks in a first-rate production, deftly depicts the humanity and resiliency of late celebrity author Truman Capote.

“Beware the Jabberwocky” is on stage at North Miami’s Storycrafter Studio, an intimate nonprofit theater company and arts institution, through Dec. 18.

“Icebergs” is a light, nice, TV sitcom-like play with plenty of laughs. The actors are solid, in their verisimilitude performances, but it’s not like they’re splitting the atom or solving world hunger during this weekend in LA’ Silver Lake District setting

Railroad Street Youth Projects annual culinary arts celebration dinner highlights youth with a work based apprenticeship program in Berkshire county.

“The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” a black comedy written by Martin McDoagh in 1996, and staged on Broadway in 1998, returns in a riveting revival production at the Mark Taper Forum, solidly directed by longtime McDonagh associate Garry Hynes; both veterans of the Druid Theatre in Galway, Ireland, as is the entire cast.

The refreshing new a capella musical, In Transit, evokes commuters not only on the move but in transition. There are poingant thumbnails of eager millenials reaching for the brass ring underground in the naked city.

Mark Morris' The Hard Nut is a Christmas tradition at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It is easy to see why. Morris is true to E.T. A. Hofman's story and also the Tchaikovsky score. Bringing smiles to the audience, punctuated by fear, delight and humor Morris's Nut is terrific.