Contemporary composers scramble for relevant subject matter. Opera companies overlook repertoire which is excellent and seldom staged. As the 100th anniversary of Hans Werner Hene's birth approaches in 2026, his work, produced in timeless fashion, offers fresh opportunities. Frankfurt Oper shows the way.

When composing this opera, Richard Wagner was obsessed with love fanned by his infatuation for the married poet Mathilde Wesendonck and death driven by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. The two existential forces are melded in the opera's thematic thrust "liebestod" (love-death), which is also the dominant leitmotif in the music. While the orchestral score soars, the dramatic action is grounded, yet it remains a pioneer of modern music.

Hudson Hall in the Hudson Hall Opera House will present No Cowards in Our Band, an intertwined stage piece that combines nine spirituals with the reciting of original text by Frederick Douglass. In this drama,  an aging and contemplative Frederick Douglass (1818-1895). considers the social, economic, and political ramifications of slavery and the Civil War and their impact on the future of the United States. 

During the 80 minutes or so, we hear 11 songs. Most are duets between the two characters – Jessie and Lana. Jessie and Lana are fictionalized versions of Falconer and Wilde and their story. From the first meeting, when Lana goes to a bar and meets the older Jessie through a courtship of sorts, the birth of their son, and Jessie’s departure on a US tour with a band, where they are the backup/opening act.

The tradition of Baba Yaga, an old haggard witch, exists in many Slavic cultures. Playwright Kat Sandler integrates witchcraft themes into a comic detective mystery with three actors playing 14 parts.

Part 2 - Perestroika provides closure on many of the relationships and issues raised in Part 1 - Millennium Approaches. Thematically, it invokes the need for change in order to go forward and thrive, rejecting the resistant bastions of vested interest - entrenched religions and conservative politics.

Tony Kushner's award-winning two-part classic centering on homosexuality and AIDS during the epidemic in the 1980s is given a magnificent production by Oakland Theater Project with taut direction and exceptional acting. Fiction that is anchored in reality with one real historical figure, also drifts into fantasy. Its powerful treatment finds corollaries in today's world.

A funny and touching co-production of the comedy-drama Steel Magnolias produces tears, laughter. The mounting in Ft. Lauderdale runs through Oct. 20. Art Buzz Theatrics and Florida Theatrical Events are the co-producers.

The first act seemed to drag – this was the result of the overly slow development of the story by the playwright Kenneth Jones and the pacing by director Todd L. Underwood. The pacing needed to be picked up

Pembroke Pines Theatre of the Performing Arts stages "Putting it Together." The show is a Sondheim revue featuring many of the late great lyricist/composer's works. The production runs through Oct. 20 in Pembroke Pines, near Ft. Lauderdale.

Upon initial exposure the work of Richard Criddle and Joanna Klain could not be more different,. With further contemplation, however, there are many commonalities. They share an experimental and adventurous approach to materials, in her case collaged paintings, and in his assembled sculptures from found objects. Both artists evoke narrative in their work. Her's are inspired by dreams and night mares while his entail the darkest of humor.

In her candid memoir, Pow! Right in the Eye!—recently translated into English—Weill described herself as having a "difficult personality." She wasn’t wrong. Her sharp tongue and uncompromising attitude were well known. Picasso biographer John Richardson even described her as a "peppery, homely Jewish spinster with spectacles thick as goldfish bowls." Yet it was her fiery personality and unrivaled intuition for spotting talent that made her a key figure.

Pedro Almodovar will receive the 2025 Chaplin Award at Lincoln Center next spring.  Some say he cannot make a bad movie. Certainly the painterly frames of each scene in his new film,The Room Next Door, are worthy of inclusion in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum and MOMA.  Is their purpose, in this film, to distance us in time from the subject of the film, euthanasia?

Sean Baker, who wrote and directed Anora, a Main Slate film at the Film at  Lincoln Center’s New York Film Festival, pleaded at Cannes where he won the Palme d’Or in the spring, for compassion and support for sex workers. He does not see his film as mainstream, but you may if you give it a try.  It is moving, fun, surprising and, yes, sympathetic.

Created in close dialogue with the Andrews-Humphrey Family Foundation, Trouble combines Benny Andrews’ (1930–2006) extensive archive with a selection of his paintings and works on paper to reflect the fullness of the artist’s practice, life, and advocacy, and the ways they are intertwined.

The La Jolla Playhouse presented the West Coast premiere of playwright Eboni Smith’s Primary Trust, winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for drama.  Thirty-eight-year-old Kenneth, played by Caleb Eberhardt, lives in Cranberry, NY, a small town a short ride from Rochester.  Kenneth’s small town consists of the usual bowling alley, a few banks, a church, and a smattering of small family-owned businesses.  His single mom died when he was ten which led to a life growing up in foster homes

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Organized against the backdrop of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Power of the People: Art and Democracy at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents diverse perspectives on democracy through 175 works of art that include ceramics, coins, inscriptions, paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs, posters, and fashion

Regarded as the most popular of McPherson's, plays a generation on The Weir is being given an intimate, lively production, directed by Eric Hill. Its trope, locals gathered in a small pub in a remote village verges on a cliché of Irish culture. The one act play conflates copious amounts of “small” shots of whiskey accompanied by pints of Harp or Guinness. As we snidely learn the real men drink stout.

Robert Downey Jr.. is everything you could hope for and more in this New York stage debut as the title character in Ayad Akhtar’s McNeal.  Downey started his career playing a dog in Pound directed by his father.  Familiar to filmgoers, his physical presence on stage at the Lincoln Center Theater combines his casual warmth with an edge demanded by a role in which his character may well have precipitated a suicide.

An orphan Marie was adopted by a French army regiment as an infant. She promised to marry only a member of the regiment but falls in love with an outsider. Complications ensue as she learns that she was born to a marquise and is spirited away to live a noble life and have an arranged marriage within her new station. But this is a comedy. Do you really think that's going to happen?

Earle Montrose Pilgrim (1923-1976) was an artist, jewelry maker, and experimental filmmaker. His role in the advanced art of Provincetown remains unheralded. With his wife Lily they resided in the back of their jewelry shop at 393 Commercial street. They invited artists like Lester Johnson and Alan Kaprow to show their work. After 1954 their shop housed Sun Gallery.

The most iconic Daoist temple on Wudang Mountain is the Golden Summit Temple, situated atop the highest peak, Jade Emperor Peak. This temple is dedicated to the Jade Emperor, a supreme deity in Daoist mythology, and is a symbol of the mountain’s spiritual significance. The temple’s architecture is awe-inspiring, with intricate carvings, colorful murals, and a grand main hall housing a colossal statue of the Jade Emperor.

The annual Fall Jazz Sprawl is a week of free and ticketed jazz events throughout Berkshire County. The series includes some events that were organized by Berkshires Jazz, as well as others that were planned and sponsored by the venues presenting the artists. The series concludes with a headline concert featuring the Grace Kelly Quartet plus a string section augmented by the Kids 4 Harmony advanced ensemble.

Early on in his role as artistic director, Alan Paul, saw Primary Trust at its off Broadway premiere. He booked it for Barrington before it won a Pulitzer Prize. The production at Barrington Stage couldn’t be more timely. Not surprisingly this deliciously intimate drama is well on its way to a sold out run.