Colonial Theatre

In 2000, after some 30 years as a founding member, Dickey Betts was fired from the Allman Brothers Band. He now tours fronting Great Southern which played at the sold out Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. It was a great night of country blues.

When General Electric moved out in the late 1980s, with 10,000 lost jobs, Pittsfield fell on hard times. The recovery started in 2003 when the new Mayor, James M. Ruberto, mandated that arts and culture would be a focus for economic development. Megan Whilden disussed how she joined the team in 2005 and the remarkable progress since then that has reshaped the city as a cultural destination.

Here's your weekly guide to the top events happening in and around the Berkshires with more than a dozen exciting and fascinating offerings for you to choose from.

Tony and Emmy Award-winner Mandy Patinkin has an extensive list of theatre credits that include Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater. He won a Tony Award for his 1980 Broadway debut as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and was again nominated in 1984 for his starring role in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Sunday in the Park With George. He returned to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden (1991). He will perform in Pittsfield for a one nighter at the Colonial Theatre on June 13.

For a night of country cookin with a bluesy twang check out Dickey Betts in a one nighter at the Colonial Theatre on May 20. They'll be goose stepping down the aisle from June 4 through 8 when The Producers hits the boards in Pittsfield.

A hundred years have passed since Frank Wedekind wrote the most censored play in history. To this day Boston has never seen it performed as originally written. Now two Spring Awakenings will open within 12 days of each other, the uncut original play, and the popular musical based on the play. David Miller who is directing the play at Zeitgeist Stage spills the beans in a candid interview .

In a gutsy move, Pittsfield's Colonial Theatre has greatly expanded both the number and kind of programs it will offer in the coming year. 46 different groups will present 60 performances in a dozen categories, including comedy, musicals, family events and cabaret singers.

It appears that as it reaches its 25th Anniversary, there could be a funeral instead of a celebration for the Berkshire Opera Company. Its fate will be decided at a crucial board meeting in the near future.

Happily, midwinter in the Berkshires is anything but quiet. In fact, that's when many of our resident cultural institutions do their best work. A survey of what's coming up between now and Spring.

The beginning of winter is marked by theatre, music and dance throughout the world, but perhaps nowhere is it more heartfelt than here in the Berkshires. This Thanksgiving let us give thanks to our arts community and then get out and enjoy their offerings. Your guide awaits.

The Berkshire Hills are very much alive this fall. Choose from the ridiculous or the sublime, from the Ballet Trockaderos with men in tutus and on pointe to the arrival of Irina Brook at Shakespeare & Company to wrest a play from Oscar Wilde's book, The Canterville Ghost. For a complete change of pace, the Cirque du Soleil is coming to Amherst and Boston.

A perfect storm of cool, rainy weather, $4 a gallon gas, and a lousy economy caused the coining of a new term "Staycation" during the summer of 2008. While clearly an off year Berkshire arts and tourism held their own largely through its range of world class offerings.

At the Colonial Theatre, under the baton of Kathleen Kelly, the principal singers and orchestra of the Berkshire Opera honored every note of Mozart's classic opera while the staging by Gregory Keller brought the story and action into the 21st Century. Mozart would have loved the sense of playfulness that surrounded his glorious music.

Berkshire residents are reveling in an amazing array of area arts offerings. Our monthly Preview serves to help guide your choices with helpful facts, insider details and handy links. The only mistake would be to procrastinate. Nothing gold can stay.

Part Two of our report on saving money while enjoying the Berkshire's many performing arts attractions. Theater, music and dance are available at a discount, sometimes even Free!

Not only does I Am My Own Wife launch the season for the Barrington Stage Company this is also the first productionn in its new Second Stage in downtown Pittsfield. This is the first of three reports on a remarkable peformance by Vince Gatton.

Berkshire residents and visitors are about to enjoy the earliest and most promising arts season in years. We pick the best of the early music, theater, dance and gallery offerings, from Memorial Day to the end of June 2008.

Every Third Thursday of the month there is a celebration in downtown Pittsfield, in the heart of the Berkshires.

Theater, music and dance performances are sprouting up everywhere. Here's a head's up on the most promising. After a hard winter, it's nice to see the Berkshires bloom with life again.

Negotiations for the Contemporary Artists Center to develop a permanent home in the former Notre Dame church property in North Adams ended in acrimony and finger pointing. It is a serious loss and set back for an emerging but struggling arts community.

After eleven years and some 125 performances the Berkshire based group Earth Angels have disbanded. Choreographer Lisa Avery provides an insider's overview of the group and its final curtain.

The array of holiday treats taking place in the Berkshires has grown, and is more eclectic than ever.

This huge presentation of Mexican culture overflowed even the large Colonial stage and rewarded its sell-out audience with a two hour fiesta for the senses. Yet most of the local restaurants were closed. It was Sunday.

An eclectic array of possibilities makes this the richest Fall arts season yet.

In addition to a gallery in Lenox, primarily focused on ceramic art, Leslie Ferrin has just opened a large new space in Pittsfield. Is this further evidence of the development of the Northern Berkshire city as a viable arts center?