Colonial Theatre

Kenny Rogers will serenade audiences with country classics and contemporaries at The Colonial Theatre on September 27 at 8pm. Rogers' Greatest Hits album has sold over 24 million copies worldwide to date. He is the Recording Industry Association of America's eighth best selling male artist of all time with one Diamond album, 19 Platinum albums and 31 Gold albums.

An ingenious thriller, the ultimate murder mystery, The 39 Steps has it all. Shakespeare & Company opens the 2012-2013 Fall & Winter season with this hilarious adaptation of John Buchan’s novel, which also draws inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film. Featuring a seasoned ensemble including Elizabeth Aspenlieder (Bad Dates), Jason Asprey (Parasite Drag), David Joseph (The Tempest), and Josh Aaron McCabe (Hound of the Baskervilles), The 39 Steps offers an intriguing, sidesplitting evening or afternoon at the theatre. The 39 Steps runs from September 22 through November 4 in S&Co.’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.

In 1976 the team of Marvin Hamlish, music and Edward Kleban, lyrics won the 1976 Tony Award for the score of A Chorus Line. Currently that show is a hit for the Colonial Theatre. On the Unicorn Theatre stage of Berkshire Theatre Group is a vest pocket, thrifty production of the musical A Class Act, assembled posthumously, which focuses on the neurotic life and failed ambitions of Kleban. It fleshes out the history of a gifted and enigmatic theatrical genius. The shows are best seen in tandem.

With the deft direction of Eric Hill, and the fabulous choreography of Gerry McIntyre, Berkshire Theatre Group is staging a terrific production of Michael Bennett's ground breaking, 1975 musical , A Chorus Line. This is the thrilling Berkshire summer sensation we've all been waiting for. Don't miss this one.

QWAN (Quality Without a Name) presents SWAN!!! and NOTES!!! at Berkshire Theatre Group’s The Colonial Theatre on August 20 at 7:30pm featuring Christian Coulson, Jack Ferver, Jenn Harris, Randy Harrison, Phillip Taratula and Matthew Wilkas

While not exactly an overhaul, Mark Volpe appears to be tweaking the programming at Tanglewood. Sticking with the mantra of Tanglewood as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra means facing the reality or an eroding, senior audience. The annual season ending Tanglewood Jazz Festival has been scrapped replaced by booking A list jazz artists Wynton Marsalis and Christain McBride in Ozawa Hall and Pops in the Shed for a boldy revamped Labor Day weekend. And that's not all.

As it closes in on a half century of presenting exceptional classical music to New England, the Monadnock Music Festival is already beginning a new era with the announcement of its 2012 season.

Berkshire Theatre Group seeks child and adult actors, musicians, backstage crew, technical support, usher staff and parent volunteers to participate in its upcoming community production of the musical Oliver!, book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart, based on Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. The production will be directed by Travis G. Daly.

The recently released CD Blue Moon is being hailed by critics as among the best of a recording career that started in 1955. With an amazing rhythm section of Herlin Riley, drums, Manolo Badrena, percussion, and Reginald Veal, bass the iconic jazz pianist performed at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield. They are about to embark for Italy to launch a European tour in support of the critically acclaimed new album.

Berkshire Theatre Group announces programming for Summer 2012. BTG’s Summer of 2012 boasts a full assortment of theatrical productions, concerts, comedy, Friday Series play readings, Musical Mondays, Made in the Berkshires and more.

Travis Tritt, will appear at The Colonial on March 10 at 8pm. With up and comer Lyndsey Highlander as a special guest, this evening of country music will delight audiences with wonderful stories, beloved country music and a rare, personal atmosphere.

Founded in 1975, BeauSoleil released its first album in 1977 and became one of the most well-known bands performing traditional and original music rooted in the folk tunes of the creole and Cajun people of Louisiana. BeauSoleil tours extensively in the U.S. and internationally.

In announcing a stunning, star studded program for the 35th season of Shakespeare & Company, now in his third season as artistic director, Tony Simotes provided indicators of what to expect in the future. This summer he will play his aces with former teacher and friend Olympia Dukakis in The Tempest. The company's homegrown star, John Douglas Thompson, returns after a hiatus in a new one man play Satchmo at the Waldorf.

Few Berkshire based critics see more theatre than Williamstown based Gail Burns. She is know for feisty, passionate over the top reviews. Her on line site GailSez includes not only her own reviews but compiles lists and links to all of the other critics in the region. She also posts press releases and casting calls. It is a massive archive reaching back to 1997. This is the first segment of an extensive dialogue.

It is that time of year when we look back at the highlights and insights of the past season. Take a deep breath and anticipate what lays ahead for 2012. There is much to remember as well as look forward to.

For the second season this summer there will be head to head musicals in Pittsfield. Berkshire Theatre Group has announced that A Chorus Line will be presented at the Colonial Theatre. While a few blocks away Barrington Stage will feature Fiddler on the Roof. Both theatre companies have yet to announce their complete summer season of plays and performances.

The announcement of the closing of Storefront Artist Project after a decade in Pittsfield is just the tip of the iceberg. It is widely feared that a new mayor, Daniel Bianchi, will reverse the positive impact of the transition from abandoned manufacturing to an arts and tourism based economy. Theaters, galleries, artists, the Berkshire Museum and the restaurants that spin off of them are waiting for the other shoe to drop.

James Taylor and members of his family will appear on stage at the Colonial Theatre is a celebrity update of the annual holiday event. A Christmas Carol will have a limited run of eleven performances from December 17–30 at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. An annual production that previously was performed at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, it is a community production that sees friends and neighbors come together – this year for the first time on the Colonial stage.

It was five years ago to the day when the prodigy alto player Grace Kelly first performed with alto master Phil Woods on stage at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. As a part of the 7th Annual Pittsfield City Jazz Festival the performance was recorded for future release on CD. The evening just blew our socks off.

A day by day calendar of selected cultural events from concerts, musicals, plays, and films in Boston and Cambridge.

The annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival was a three day slam dunk. There was a superbly balanced program that introduced emerging artists as well as performances by jazz masters. A nice addition this year featured scull sessions with jazz critic and historian Bob Blumenthal. It was everything you would hope for in a great jazz festival. This is part one of our coverage.

There is no question that the first season of artistic director Jenny Gersten has done well at the box office. In a release WTF announces that its sales for August are double what they were in August last year. Overall they are stating attendance at some 44,000. According to the wildly uneven reviews, however, Williamstown Theatre Company has slipped from its once dominant position among the four major Berkshire theatre companies.

Seniors were out in force to support one of their own, Tommy Tune, who brought his retrospective Steps in Time to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. With a sparing light touch the nine time Tony winner sang and danced his way down memory lane.

On the Fitzpatrick Main Stage of Berkshire Theatre Group In the Mood, a sophisticated, urbane comedy by Kathleen Clark, is enjoying a slick and elegantly produced world premiere. It runs in Stockbridge through August 13.

Kate Maguire is now half way through her first summer season as the Artistic Director and CEO of Berkshire Theatre Group. Since last November she presided over the merger of her Berkshire Theatre Festival with the Colonial Theatre. There was risk taking when Maguire mounted a brief run of Tommy starring Randy Harrison at the Colonial. We asked what she learned from the experience and how that impacts future planning for making the two theatres and three stages function as a combined entity. Her answers may surprise you.