In his first season as artistic director Alan Paul has selected the 1995 play by Pearl Cleage. Set during the Harlem Renaissance its a good but not great play given a flawed production directed by Candis C. Jones for Barrington Stage Company.

The Law Of The Heart, an ancient scroll, speaks of the Three Treasures:  The Way, The Teacher, and The Scripture. Each plays an important role along the spiritual path we walk.

Julianne Boyd, the founding artistic director of Barrington Stage Company, retired last year. Unburdened by administrative responsibilities, she has been lured back to direct a dark, moody masterpiece, Faith Healer by Brian Friel (1929-2015) the greatest Irish playwright of his Generation. For this triumphant return she cherry picked a dream team trio of Christopher Innvar (Frank), the faith healer, Gretchen Eglof his long abused wife Grace, and Mark Dold as the whimsical roadie Teddy.

Tippet Rise Art Center welcomes musicians and concertgoers for its eighth concert season, beginning August 18 and running through September 17. With more than 15 indoor and outdoor performances planned over five weekends, the season features a wide range of repertoire performed by artists who can be young trailblazers or legendary musicians. A highlight of this summer’s season is the debut of the new Wander series, which moves musicians and audiences between different works of art installed at the art center

This fall, beginning after Labor Day, I will be offering a new course entitled "Living a Daoist Life In Today's World."  The course will be 20 classes long and will include study of the Dao de Ching, The Law Of The Heart, and The 49 Barriers To Spiritual Growth.

Perhaps, it’s not accidental that 'Complexions' followed the 'Hip Hop Festival.'The performance started with an excerpt of 'Hissy Fits, 2006,' to ongoing very loud percussion, sounding like drum beats to, as per program, J.S. Bach music. And the music mostly continued at a high decimal, just like hip hop.

Entering Goodspeed’s Terris Theater in Chester to see Here You Come Again, you view a cluttered living space with decorations for multiple holidays, a disco ball, things hanging from the ceiling, etc. Is this a hoarding situation?

Once the show actually began, I was engaged.  While it is just making its Broadway debut, Here Lies Love, with concept, music, and lyrics by David Byrne, music by Fatboy Slim, and additional music by Tom Gandey and Jose Luis Pardo, began as a concept album in 2010. From there, it ran at off-Broadway’s Public Theater (2013, 2014-15) and London (2014-15), both times garnering multiple awards.

For PIXEL, by Compagnie Käfig, today based near Lyon, France, ten male Hip Hop dancers, French style, a woman contortionist, a roller-skater, small robots carrying tiny lights, and a huge metal hoop shared and interacted on stage with highly sophisticated projections, music, and sounds.

Leave it to the brilliant impresario Andrew Ousley and his music series, Death of Classical,  to bring us an incredible and surprising evening of John Cage music. Before Cage moved on to the concepts of indeterminacy and chance, he composed more conventionally arced works for the prepared piano, in which screws were systematically and specifically applied to some strings in a grand piano, Cage clearly began in one place and ended up in another.  Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano is a deliberate whole. 

Hats are an integral part of the African-American woman's church attendance. Playwright Regina Taylor celebrates not only hats but the women that wear them - their fortitude, their triumphs, and their tragedies. Animated vignettes and a gospel dominated song book provide for a rousing entertainment.

Hall Space presents Ellen Shattuck PIerce "Taking Place." It's a lively exhibition of relief and hand colored laser prints.

Horrors! Guess who's coming to dinner. Gomez and Morticia's daughter Wednesday has fallen in love and wants to marry a "normal" young man. She has even invited him and his family over for a meal. What can be done to stop such a fearsome turn of events?

One Cambodian-American sister has married a Christian pastor and has remained in Dallas, where the mother had resettled the family. The younger sister had moved to New York City, rejecting some of the family's values, but reconnecting with Buddhism. When their mother dies, the sisters face conflicts that extend well beyond dealing with death rites.

I like to attend an event without reading the build-up. This gives me a chance to respond viscerally. Every event at the Park Avenue Armory is tasteful. Pierre Audi, the artistic director, provides this. He is unique in New York.

Set in Lagos in the ‘90s, the story centers on a young woman who hopes to break into show business by responding to an open audition for the lead in a movie. Many universal issues arise, but with the addition of West African context and characters.

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra is returning to Bellows Falls on Sunday, November 5, with a special matinee at the Bellows Falls Opera House. The performance is part of the VSO’s 2023 “Made in Vermont Series;” shows highlighting guest artists from the Green Mountain State’s vibrant indie, folk, and rock scene. 

In a new, non-equity national tour of Annie, the titular character shines bright. Cast is comprised of performers at the top of their game. The Ft. Lauderdale run continues through Oct. 22, before the show heads to Orlando.

Wim Wenders new film, "The Tokyo Toilet," had its New York premiere at the New York Film Festival in Lincoln Center in New York. A Tokyo toilet cleaner, Hirayama, is played brilliantly and subtly by Yakusho Koji. Hirayama steps out of his small Tokyo home and looks up at the sky.  Another perfect day begins. Now. Not Next. These phrases pepper the film often. 

The Defiant Requiem Foundation, has a signature concert performance of the Verdi Requiem, as it was performed in the Terezin concentration camp over and over again. The original chorus changed constantly as members were transferred to Auschwitz.

On its third release, I Palchi 2021 follows the path of research created by the Inama family: constantly improving in order to pursue ever more ambitious goals, in search of the highest purity of fruit.

Historians and biographers do not agree that Lizzie, in fact, did commit the murders. They point to her uncle as having motive and opportunity, plus the fact that her father was not well-loved in the town.

Joyce Di Donato offered three master classes at Carnegie Hall. Di Donato discussed something she learned during that long-ago City Opera performance of "Dead Man Walking." You have to leave space for the listeners to enter the music. This space is created by not answering all the questions the listening ear may have. That is something for all of us to think about – particularly people committed to the long-range success of classical music.

In Connecticut, we have seen Long Wharf Theatre vacate its longtime home in New Haven; with no home, it is presenting what shows it does in a variety of mostly smaller venues.

If Jane Austen is a favorite author and you have watched and enjoyed every film and TV production of Pride and Prejudice, you might think the current production at Hartford Stage would be a delight. BUT for many of you, me included, it isn’t.