The play, first produced in 1964 with a three-month Broadway run, is a time-warp visit to 1960s Greenwich Village. Lorraine Hansberry was concerned with the political issues and activism of the day, issues that still resonate: Political corruption, racism, homophobia, poverty and privilege.

If the audience at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Au-Rene Theater was any indication, people pull for King not just because of her music. They want to see her succeed in this bio-musical. She comes across as an ambitious, yet humble, talented, yet insecure underdog.

Part of the appeal of Will Eno’s play is the variety of emotions it elicits and how sympathetically he’s written “The Realistic Joneses". Eno also doesn’t offer any easy answers. But in the end, you’ll leave the theater feeling you’re not alone in harboring questions about your existence and fears about the fragility of life and the uncertainty surrounding it. Thinking Cap Theatre is “committed to presenting high-quality, thought-provoking theatre to South Florida theatre audiences.”

Languedoc is a large wine producing region in southern France. Each year, in the village of Montpeyroux, a wine festival takes place. Jugglers, musicians and locals flood the street for this daylong celebration.

The House of Blue Leaves has sweet, poignant and tragic moments, but it’s mostly two-and-a-quarter hours of retro nonsense, reminding us or showing us what the world was like 50 years ago.

Little Women is Mark Adamo's first opera, and its spirited presentation of the Marsh family of Concord captures perfectly the struggle of a young woman to move from the warmth and support of her family home into the world of a woman. Simone de Beauvoir loved this book, as has the feminist community. Little Women seemed a perfect choice for Mannes, and composer Adamo, taking bows and hugging the cast, seemed to agree.

The Actors' Theatre of South Carolina presented The Dayporch at Threshold Repertory Theatre in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. This delightful Southern-style dark comedy could only have been written by a Southern belle who lived among Southerners.

Donizetti wrote this opera on an unusually tight schedule. Whether its differences from his other work are deliberate or accidental we will never know. The catchy arias we associate with the composer are missing, but the music is still delightful. Eve Queler introduced the opera in 1974 and reprised it at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater. A remarkable evening.

Guatemala is a wonderland of spectacular natural beauty and local color. Spread on a broad plain surrounded by hills, the capital Guatemala City is a bustling metropolis adorned by both colonial decor and modernity. Lake Atitlan ringed with towering volcanoes and quaint villages is the heart of the Mayan world with unique customs, folklore, and traditions of many color.

If you missed Octoberfest, you will have a second chance this Saturday, May 7th. Berkshire Country Day School will hold its annual Mocktoberfest fundraiser at 6:45pm. Auction items include photographer, Gregory Crewdson's artist proof and a trip to attend Octoberfest in Munich.

As anticipated Hamilton threatens to run the table in 2016 Tony Awards. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom both of Hamilon are running head to head for top honor as leading man in a musical. In the Best Play Revival category it's a coin toss between two Arthur Miller plays both directed by Ivo Van Hove who is nominated once for both plays. But a production of Eugene O'Neill's epic Long Day's Journey Into Night is in the running. There will be lot of politicking for the honors between now and June.

August: Osage County was long at three and a half hours. But Nathan Allen in partnership with Chris Matthews test the endurance of audiences with The Hammer Trinity in a single day with two meal breaks. It takes endurance to hang in for nine and a half hours but proves to be worth the time and patience for a production that is evocative and richly inventive. Those who hang in to the finish are proud to sport stickers that proclaim "I Got Hammered."

The Utah Symphony under Thierry Fischer gave an exciting and moving evening of music in celebration of their 75th anniversary. The Utah Symphony Orchestra was built by promoting 20th century American and European music. This priority was established by Maurice Abravael, the conductor who led the orchestra for 30 years. He retired to work at Tanglewood for another 10 years.

In a musical adaptation, especially of a story as popular as “Bridges,” one desires to judge immediately whether the music and lyrics enhance the romantic tale. In this case it mostly does, deepening mood and enhancing characters’ feelings and emotions. This musical premiered at Williamstown Theatre Festival before a Broadway run. This touring production was reviewed at Raymond F. Kravis Center For the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Toast comes with its most recent British cast. Set in a bread factory around 1972, this is a guy world and a factory world. In the US both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are reminding us of the value of this kind of work.

In the contemporary art world bigger is better. Presiding over the complex ever more decadent global art world is mega dealer Larry Gagosian. As king of the heap he makes no apology for catering to the whims and vulgarian taste of one-percenters. The benefit to the general public is that they can enjoy his museum-level gallery exhibitions free of charge. Critics may debate the quality of the work on display but their opinions have long since been marginalized by those who write the checks. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Highlights of Festival 2016 include a world premiere engagement And Still You Must Swing created by tap dance powerhouses Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels Smith; former New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy Whelan and choreographer Brian Brooks in an evening of new duets and solos, accompanied by eminent string quartet Brooklyn Rider and titled Some of a Thousand Words; rare U.S. appearances by France-based Compagnie Hervé KOUBI and South Korea-based contemporary ensemble Bereishit Dance Company; the powerful all-male company Che Malambo of Argentina; and the return of the eminent Seattle-based company Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Kelli O'Hara can sport a delightful, rich opera voice and Victoria Clark, looking like a combination of Lynn Redgrave and Camilla Parker Bowles camps it up as a Sorceress bent on doing evil. A new prologue by Michael John LaChiusa has chorus members collapsing and hints of history being made.

CV Repertory Theatre founding artistic director Ron Celona was taken with playwright Amy Herzog’s dramedy “4000 Miles” the minute he read it. “… it offered humor, heart, and thought-provoking topics that most of us can relate to in life.” he says. Celona felt it would be a good fit for his Rancho Mirage audiences and a great way to end CV REP’s 2015/2016 season. He was right on all accounts.

Persée and Andromède by Ibert and L'Enfant et Sortilèges by Ravel with a brilliant libretto by Colette, her only opera, are staged by the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater. This school's productions are among New York's finest. The singing is of professional calibre. The productions are considered from sets to costumes to a first-rate orchestral accompaniment. Year after year you can count on MSM for an evening of operatic pleasure.

“The Outgoing Tide”, insightfully written by Bruce Graham and intelligently directed by Dezart Performs co-founder Michael Shaw, is blessed with a cast of three seasoned professional actors who have graced your movie and television screens over the years and who know their way around a poignant, relevant, and deeply emotional play when they find themselves in one.

The second article begins with our Family Reunion on Easter Monday, which nearly 40 people from 11 families attended. What a festive affair and the three hour brunch just flew by. The meeting ended with a new official family photo. ~ For the remainder of our week we explored the city again, downtown Hamburg, where we kids grew up. Even then, the city was a wonderful playground.

Jeff Talbott explores the race issue from an angle not often explored in the theater: infighting among minority groups as to which has been subject to more discrimination, hate and suffering. Forget about racial harmony between white and black people for a moment; if members of minority groups can’t get along and stand with each other in solidarity against hate and bias, how will the race issue ever go away, Talbott challenges us to consider.

The BSO seems to love working with its new music director Andris Nelsons, who was ending his second season with this concert, which, BTW, featured his glamorous wife, Kristine Opolais, as the soprano soloist. In addition to the Tchaikovsky, the program included Debussy's "La Mer," Ravel's "La Valse" and Dutilleux's "Metaboles."

Lisa Wright-Matthews and Wayne Miller as ersatz Clintons give us the first couple past and future?