Front Page
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Deirdre of the Sorrows at City Lit Theatre
Irish Drama by John Millington Synge
By: - Sep 13th, 2017John Millington Synge, who is best known for his plays Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea, left an unfinished draft of Deirdre of the Sorrows when he died in 1909. The play was finished by William Butler Yeats and Synge’s fiancée, Molly Allgood.
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Five Candidates for State Rep
Race for First Berkshire District
By: - Sep 12th, 2017Last night at Bounty Fair, a North Adams restaurant, five candidates were given ten minutes. They are running to serve the final year of former Rep. Gail Cariddi, who passed away while in office. Running unopposed the Republican, Christine Canning, spoke first. Drawing lots she was followed by Stephanie Bosley, Lisa Blackmer, Kevin Towle and John Barrett III.
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Barstow Performing Arts Center
By: - Sep 12th, 2017There are several versions of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” that have been performed. Each production company gets to select the version that suits their audiences the best. Director Havely has chosen the “meta-mix” version for Theatre 29. Audiences will be seeing an all-singing and dancing production. No written dialogue. Director Havely is fortunate in that her cast – all twenty-three singer/dancer/performers – are committed, dedicated, and eager to strut their stuff in this format.
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Star Wars Comes to New York Philharmonic
Magical Combination, Fillm and Live Music
By: - Sep 12th, 2017The reason for doing live performances of the Star Wars films goes far beyond their place in popular culture. Each of these films features a magnificent score by John Williams, the Boston-based composer who rose to national prominence with his 1975 score for Jaws.
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Three Artists Out on a Limb
Eclipse Mill Gallery Shows Pendell, Sutro and Vera
By: - Sep 12th, 2017Out on a Limb explores the creative process and how it engenders a final product. The exhibiting artists employ painting, collage, fiber art, and preliminary drawing to embody how new ideas push change. The exhibition at Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams features work by Debi Pendell, Sarah Sutro and Betty Vera. The opening will occur Saturday, September 30, from 6-8pm.
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Conspiracy to Decimate Berkshire Museum
Protests Planned for September 9
By: - Sep 08th, 2017Barring intervention by the Attorney General, at best a long shot, plans to sell 40 works of art with two paintings by Norman Rockwell worth as much as the remaining 38 lots, the fall auctions by Sotheby’s in New York appears to be a done deal .For the second time protestors will picket in front of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield from 10 am to 2 pmon Saturday, September 9. This past week Sotheby’s announced a presale estimate of “thirty pieces of silver.”
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New York City Opera Presents Spirited Spaghetti Western
Kristin Sampson Sings The Girl Minnie
By: - Sep 08th, 2017Puccini loved to compose and after the success of La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and Tosca he was looking for a new story. He wrote that these three operas already bored him. He had also had trouble with the librettists with whom he’d worked on these operas. Luigi Illica, co-librettist, even suggested that he get another composer to collaborate with him. Instead Puccini found new librettists. La Fanciulla del West is the upshot.
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Iceland: Part Three
Wonders of the North and South Coasts
By: - Sep 05th, 2017Traveling from the northern fjords near the Arctic Circle by way of Lake Myvatn to the south coast, Iceland offers breathtaking displays of geological wonders. Craters, hot springs, lava fields, roaring waterfalls, geysers glacial rivers and black sand beaches are all within easy reach. Landscapes of beautiful farmlands and cliffs with seabirds are the added bonus.
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Everything Old Is New Again
David Hockney at Eighty
By: - Sep 05th, 2017Happy Birthday Mr. Hockney: Self Portraits and Photographs at Getty Museum in Los Angeles remains on view through November 26. On the occasion of his 80th birthday there are many incentives to evaluate the British born artist who for many years has resided in Santa Monica. Paintings of his pool are among the most admired of his works that range from self portraits to "joiners" or photo collages.
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Rashomon by Philip Kan Gotanda
Ubuntu Theater Project in Oakland
By: - Sep 04th, 2017Philip Kam Gotanda’s version of Rashomon serves the original well in its shape and dramatic intensity. Director Michael Socrates Moran has engineered a minimalist look and feel that serves the script well. Ubuntu’s clerestory-like, almost-in-the-round theater, with its wooden framing around the stage, gives the appearance of a primitive cage for blood sports.
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Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose
One Man Play by Ed Dixon at Barrington Stage
By: - Sep 04th, 2017There was a brief run, just six performances, of Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose, written and performed by Ed Dixon at Barrington Stage Company. Himself a distinguished character actor, this is a drama about drama, in the telling of a father/ son mentoring relationship with the renowned British born character actor George Rose.
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Quadrophenia at Tanglewood
Pete Townsend’s Rock Opera
By: - Sep 03rd, 2017In 2015 Pete Townsend’s long time musical collaborator Rachel Fuller scored the rock opera for orchestra. They were married in February. It was performed to mostly favorable but mixed reviews with the 90-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the 80 members of the London Oriana Choir. This version was performed last night at Tanglewood with Keith Lockhart conducting the Boston Pops. Opera tenor Alfie Boe, Townsend, and British rocker Billy Idol performed the vocals.
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Frank Gehry to Design Northern Berkshire Museum
Bilbao Effect Anticipated for North Adams
By: - Sep 02nd, 2017In May the world's foremost architect, Frank Gehry, signed on to design The Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum in North Adams. It is one of 11 projects being developed by visionary museum director Thomas Krens. There is a daunting sticker price of some $300 miliion for construction anticipated to start as early as June, 2018.
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Noni Stapleton at 59E59 Theater
Turn de Force One Woman Quartet
By: - Sep 01st, 2017Noni Stapleton is a mesmerizing artist. Her writing gifts launch the characterization of a quartet of characters at 59E59 Theaters. Stapleton plays three humans and a charming, and then not so charming cow. You can't take your eyes off her.
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Robert O’Hara’s Barbecue
Chicago's Strawdog Theatre
By: - Aug 31st, 2017Robert O’Hara’s Barbecue is not a treatise on meat-grilling. It’s a satire that roasts our attitudes about race, class and money. It’s a funny, biting family story with a twisty, turny plot that never stops surprising you.
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Diana Ross Brought Motown to Tanglewood
A Musical Retrospective from Supremes to Disco
By: - Aug 31st, 2017Making her first Tanglewood appearance in decades the 73-year-old diva, Miss Diana Ross (as she insists on being addressed), had them dancing in the aisles. It was an evening of greatest hits her own as well as covers. With no opening act it proved to be an early evening in Lenox ending before 9 PM.
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Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Douglas Morrisson Theatre
By: - Aug 30th, 2017The play is set in 1941 and to an extent is time-bound. Older patrons and history buffs might better understand some references to Judith Anderson, 'Hellzapoppin', and Teddy Roosevelt's life. More so, a running gag in the script suggests that the menacing Jonathan looks a lot like Boris Karloff. The original Broadway production had a distinct advantage on this point as Karloff was cast as Jonathan.
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Sting at Tanglewood
On Tour for Release of 57th and 9th
By: - Aug 30th, 2017In every sense it was a cool evening in the Shed as British rock star, Sting, brought his tour in support of the album 57th and 9th to Tanglewood. They have been on the road since last February.
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Gloucester Writers Center
Return to Forever
By: - Aug 29th, 2017Last summer Astrid and I were residents at the Gloucester Writers Center. Introduced by musician, filmmaker, hipster, Henry Ferrini, we returned for a reading and launch of Gloucester Poems: Nugents of Rockport at Gloucester Writers Center. The poet and boyhood friend, Geoffrey Movius, shared the program.
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MAGMA Opens in Gloucester
Dance Program of Sarah Slifer Swift
By: - Aug 29th, 2017To launch Sareah Slifer Swft's Movement Art Gloucester MA (MAGMA) there were popup performances as well as card triks by her adolescent son Seamus. It was a fun way to christen a great space for dance and the performing arts.
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Brigsby Bear Directed by Dave McCary,
A Sweet Indie Film
By: - Aug 29th, 2017If you missed the movingly sweet indie film “Brigsby Bear,” you are not alone. My theater cancelled their scheduled weekend showings after a negligible audience for its opening Friday, though they did allow it a 4:00 p.m. showing the following Monday and Wednesday afternoons before sending it on its way.
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Step by Amanda Lipitz
Award Winning Documentary Film
By: - Aug 29th, 2017If there are antidotes to Charlottesville, one may be “Step,” the new documentary from Amanda Lipitz that won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Inspirational Filmmaking at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 2017 AFI Docs festival. The film tells the remarkable story of the step team at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW). The school opened its doors to sixth graders in 2009. In the spring of 2016, its inaugural class was preparing to graduate.
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The Sunshine Boys in The Sunshine State
Neil Simon Comedy at Margate's Stage Door Theater
By: - Aug 28th, 2017Neil Simon's one-liners are a refreshing change-of-pace to unsettling plays in the era of Trump. Actors nail comic timing in Broward Stage Door Theater's production of The Sunshine Boys. Director and cast don't forget the pathos in the Neil Simon's play
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Out of the Mouths of Babes
Israel Horovitz Play at Gloucester Stage
By: - Aug 28th, 2017Forty years ago playwright Israel Horovitz was a founder of Gloucester stage which has produced many of his 70 plus plays. Many have Gloucester settings but the latest Out of the Mouths of Babes is a part of a Parisian trilogy with one more to go. It was produced last summer at Cherry Lane in Manhattan. It is having its New England premiere in Gloucester and debuts in London this fall.
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Madama Butterfly Returns to Metropolitan Opera
A Great Love Story
By: - Aug 28th, 2017It's one of the greatest love stories of the operatic canon. It's a sharp commentary on American imperialism and the uncaring treatment of "natives" by white people. It's both. It's brilliant. It's Butterfly.
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