ArtWeek Berkshires will occur at multiple venues from October 14 to 23. In North Adams the Eclipse Mill will again host open studios.

"Sordid Lives," Del Shores' comedy drama from three decades ago, is running through Oct. 22 in Ft. Lauderdale's intimate Empire Stage. The piece is funny, timely, and entertaining. Cast members find the humanity beneath the characters' eccentricities.

The 12 looks at the immediate days following the crucifixion of Jesus through the eyes of his Apostles. Scared, uncertain, questioning. How do they stay safe? What should they do? What do they really believe?

Within Wagner’s canon, "Lohengrin" represents the apotheosis of his Romantic period and the launch point for his magnum opus, the four-opera music drama, the Ring Cycle.  As with much of the composer’s output, “Lohengrin” draws from Norse-Germanic mythology with strong fairy tale elements and moral-religious overtones.  The libretto is considered by many to be to be his best plotted.  Its breadth is breathtaking with themes of love, fidelity, trust, belief, misogyny, sacrifice, betrayal, revenge, tribalism, militarism, and more.

At 93 Eric 'Enrico' Lumet lived a long and remarkable life. Brilliant. witty and talented he would belt out arias. Born in Austria and interned in Mussolini's Italy he wrote two books about that childhood experience with his mother. Denied education by the Nazis he was home schooled and tutored. He spoke five languages which he used when he and his wife "Cookie" traveled extensively. He was a much admired member of the Berkshire International Club.

 The Crossing has been named Musical America's 2024 Ensemble of the Year. Musical America's article  states: "The Crossing is one of the most innovative choirs on the planet. Not only are they committed to issues of social justice, but the music they sing is brand spanking new. Under conductor Donald Nally, their performances have increasingly embraced theatrical elements, while their recordings have notched up a staggering three Grammy wins in under 20 years."

There is new a theater in town, have you noticed? Krymov Lab NYC was started in 2022 by the prominent Russian director in exile Dmitry Krymov, with a residency in LaMama Experimental Theatre Club in East Village.

A majority of the works in Mondrian: Foundations are drawn from a gift to the MFA from Maria and Conrad Janis by and through the Janis Living Trust. In addition to 34 paintings, drawings and watercolors by Mondrian—24 of which are on view in the exhibition

The play is set in Iran, covering about 15 years in the lives of five women. It is 1978, as the protests that led to the overthrow of the Shah and the institution of the Islamic Republic of Iran were beginning. It takes through to 1991. (Under the Shah, Iran had been moving toward a more western culture with traditional Islamic clothing for women discouraged and increasing educational and professional opportunities for women.)

The future of classical musical performance in America may well be local. One marker of the trend is the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, New York. They are currently producing Handel's Rondelinda.

In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of its Manton Research Center, the Clark Art Institute presents a richly varied selection of British works on paper acquired over the last fifty years. 50 Years and Forward: British Prints and Drawings Acquisitions opens on November 18, 2023 and is on view through February 11, 2024 in the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery, located in the Manton Research Center.

In this family-oriented opera, Japan has endured an environmental catastrophe that isolates it from the rest of the world. Children are more feeble than the aged. Despite his prognosis, the young Mumei is optimistic and gives cheer to his great-grandfather Yoshiro.

The New Federal Theater is producing a brilliant production of Wesley Brown’s play, Telling Tales Out of School.  A quartet of famous and not-so-famous writers from the Harlem Renaissance, all women, three Black and one white, attend the funeral of Alain Locke. 

A black foundling with a gift for reading the future is raised in a seemingly color-blind community. The people relationships that surround her are sometimes complicated and opaque. And when the niece of the only black man in town arrives, the horizons of the now 18-year old, Bulrusher, expand.

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of its Manton Research Center, the Clark Art Institute presents the opportunity to see a selection of prints, drawings, and photographs acquired between 1973 and 2023. 50 Years and Forward: Works on Paper Acquisitions opens on December 16, 2023 and is on view through March 10, 2024 in the Clark Center. The exhibition features several recent acquisitions as well as other works never previously shown at the Clark.

In 1993, Bradley Pennington, already an accomplished musician and teacher, formed the Boston Bel Canto Opera making it a much-welcomed addition to Greater Boston’s cultural arts community. Its aim — then and now -- is to bring the absolute finest in operatic performances to its audiences.

Private Jones is based on the true story of a young man from a small Welsh town who manages to enlist in the British army during WWI despite a hearing loss.  He may not be able to hear, but he can shoot, becoming a sniper taking out German soldiers from across the trenches.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) and Park Avenue Armory are the two New York venues you can count on to deliver. Arin Arbus’ new take on Waiting for Godot is no exception.

One of America's foremost realist painters, Jeff Weaver, lives and works in Gloucester. His exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum preceded the blockbuster show of Edward and Josephine Hopper. Weaver drew little media and critical attention while the Hoppers put Gloucester on the map. There are apt comparisons. Hopper was more famous and a better artist while Weaver, hands down, is the more skillful painter.

In this fact-based story, a Muslim scholar is captured and enslaved in South Carolina. After various travails, he is purchased by a relatively humane master who encourages his writing and religious thinking, even while arguing that he prays to a false God, believing the Muslim Allah to be different from the Christian God.

The La Jolla Playhouse adaptation of Sinclair Lewis's classic novel Babbitt tells the story of George F. Babbitt, played by Matthew Broderick.  Set in a sleek modern library, the ensemble cast, scattered around the library reading the novel, tells Babbitt’s story. It is. a smash hit.

The Royal Ballet of the United Kingdom, will appear at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival for the first time, as the company’s sole stop in the United States in 2024. To celebrate this milestone, Jacob’s Pillow will for the first time feature daily back-to-back performances from one company in multiple venues, with one program on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage, and another distinct program in the historic indoor Ted Shawn Theatre.

The Women in Classical Music Symposium in Dallas was not acrimonious. No one whined. Instead, the spirit was exploratory. There was some feeling that 'what you heard here should stay here' in Dallas. This was odd because many of the problems that were raised and then discussed were common to men and women across the color and gender spectrum.

The Cape Ann Museum presents its next special exhibition, Above the Fold: The Photographers of the “Gloucester Daily Times,” 1973-2005, featuring a selection of works by photographers shooting for the Times for over three decades. The captivating photographs in this exhibition draw on an important archive of an estimated one million photographs which is a recent acquisition donated to CAM by the North of Boston Media Group. 

The musical gives a peek into the marginalized world of gamblers and performers around Broadway during the Depression. While running floating craps games as a profession, Nathan Detroit has eluded marriage to nightclub singer, Adelaide, for 14 years. Out-of-towner Sky Masterson is an occasional participant in Nathan's games. Needing $1,000, Nathan bets the bet-on-anything Sky that he can't induce a certain woman to go to Havana (Cuba!) with him for dinner. That woman happens to be Sarah, a uniformed member of the Times Square Save-a-Soul Mission, so Nathan feels comfortable with his bet. Well.....