Nine Iranian born women composers presented their work in the inaugural concert of their new organization, Iranian Women Composers Association. Is there anything that characterizes this music as Iranian contemporary classical as distinguished from contemporary classical music? Tuning often gives a middle Eastern feel, with harmonies of the region. Classical forms are used. Sometimes the work is an impression. Romantic notes and counterpoint are abundant.

The Metropolitan Opera's revival of its 2001 production of Luisa Miller looks backwards and forwards at once. It features Placido Domingo singing the latest in a line of Verdi baritone roles that the aging tenor has used to extend his already distinguished career. (It was also supposed to re-unite the singer with James Levine, but the conductor's firing due to repeated accusations of sexual misconduct by multiple parties spoiled that happy event.) It looks forward in that its two leads, Piotr Beczala and Sondra Yoncheva, represent the cutting edge of a new generation of opera singers that are having their well-deserved moment in the spotlight.

In The Wolves, Sarah DeLappe has written a play about a group of high school girls on a soccer league team that can satisfy theater goers of many ilks. It triggers waves of laughter and perhaps some amazement and embarrassment to those who haven’t peeked behind the curtains of young girls’ social behavior.

Is Bertolt Brecht the playwright for the Trump era? We will argue that he should be so designated. Round Heads is more a pageant than a play; there are few plot intricacies and little character development.

The Radicalization of Rolfe shines a spotlight on The Sound of Music's minor characters. Andrew Bergh's intriguing, suspenseful and humorous play imagines what supporting characters might have been doing or saying when they're not part of the main action. The world premier production at Island City Stage achieves mixed results

A big box sits on the stage at 59E59 Theaters before the show begins. Has an Amazon drone has delivered it before the audience is admitted? Curtain time and the door of the box swings open to reveal a band, playing their hearts out in familiar klezmer style, impassioned and soulful. A sign reads, Halifax, Nova Scotia. A boat load of immigrants has landed, with all the hopes of a new life threaded into the notes of song.

The story lines of Iron Shoes are simple and somewhat predictable with feminist tropes. However, they are delivered with great enthusiasm and charm and provide delightful entertainment as good fairy tales should.

It’s only a few months before the 26th anniversary of the first American appearance of Edward Albee’s masterpiece, Three Tall Women, yet we’ve seen surprisingly few revivals. Certainly those who love Albee’s plays can rejoice at this masterful new version with the legendary actress Glenda Jackson.

After two near fatal car crashes Patsy Cline confided in friends that she sensed her number was up. She drew up a will on TWA stationary and gave away personal possessions. That was not unusual as she was notably generous to family, friends and emerging women performers. A month later, at 30, she was dead in a plane crash. At Milwaukeee Rep in the two hander Always Patsy Cline we had a vivid evening of her unique and stunning music.

We sit through 60 minutes of ambiguity and tension—about what? When "hang" by DebbieTucker Reed finally reveals (almost reveals) its essential point in the final 25 minutes, we are caught up in the conversation among three people in a small room. It is devastating–and maddening. It is the final production in Remy Bumppo’s 21st season for which the theme is “21: Truth Be Told.”

Shooter, a new play by Sam Graber is on stage at TheaterLab in New York. Perhaps it takes a woman like director Katrin Hilbe to mount this for maximum effect. On the face of it, the play is about a young man who plots to take out as many school students as possible with his assault rifle.

In a world premiere, One House Over, by Catherine Trieschman, an undocumented Mexican couple are hired as live in care providers for a divorced woman and her elderly father. There are comic elements in this tragedy of living under the constant threat of deportation. Camila and Rafael have lived in the States all of their adult lives but she longs to go home to the family she has never known.

Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier is his most beloved opera. Strauss fused rigorous compositional technique, catchy waltzes and superb vocal writing to a charming, sentimental libretto by his longtime collaborator Hugo von Hoffmannsthal. On Thursday night, the Bayerische Staatsoper brought this opera to the stage of Carnegie Hall under the baton of its boss Kirill Petrenko. This was the opera company's first concert performance at the New York venue in its long history.

Until The Flood can be seen at the Milwaukee Rep until April 22nd. Dael Orlandersmith wrote a performance piece in response to the Ferguson shooting and riots. How will a community like Ferguson heal?

The Effect is a penetrating look at research practice as realized through the vivid experiences of real people who may unwittingly subvert the process of unveiling truth. The veteran cast sizzles – Joe Estlack and Ayelet Firstenberg as the subjects and Susi Damilano and Robert Parsons as the researchers.

Yerma inspired by Frederico Garcia Lorca, written and directed by Simon Stone, is produced in a glass house poised in the middle of the Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armory. It is a transfixing work. Billie Piper’s Olivier-winning performance is justly celebrated. All the cast members contribute to the wrenching drama.

The landscape, particularly as inspired by visionary experiences with the indigenous people of Colombia, have long been key to the large paintings of Rick Harlow. In the past couple of years, taking off from the radical technique of Jackson Pollock, nature has been a more subliminal signifier in dripped and spattered abstract paintings. During a studio visit we discussed the dozen paintings to be included in "Landscape of Energy" at the Eclipse Mill Gallery. It will be his first Berkshire solo show.

In Michael Golamco’s Cowboy vs. Samurai, Travis replaces Cyrano (de Bergerac), and being Asian replaces suffering from an imposing proboscis. But there is more than just the romancing to this clever play. Pear Theatre’s mounting of this production is both highly entertaining and touching. It is also full of jabbing reminders that much work is yet to be done on the discrimination front.

Brahms and Tchaikovsky would have been thrilled to hear their music interpreted by Kirill Petrenko, making his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Petrenko selected two difficult pieces by the composers, pieces that have gone out of fashion in the concert hall. He makes a compelling case for both of them.

Suzan-Lori Parks has woven a story of a slave during the Civil War and the Greek Odyssey into a compelling story. She is well known to Connecticut theater goers. Several of her plays have been staged at Yale Rep, including the Pulitzer-prize winning Topdog/Underdog, The American Play and Venus.

Prurience. Maybe we should linger on the title of a docu-play running at the Wright Restaurant in the Guggenheim Museum. A group consisting of planted actors with written roles and an audience who have bought tickets expecting to participate in a porn addiction recovery session, are directed by the work’s creator, Christopher Green. This gentle psychodrama had a sold out run on London’s South Bend. The idea is a hoot.

From March 23 to 25 Milwaukee Repertorty Theatre hosted a conference Intersections Summit. It was convened to address equity, identity and inclusion through diversity and community outreach. In a letter to ATCA president, Bill Hirschman, managing director, Chad Bauman, who hosted us said in part "All in all, nearly 200 theater professionals from 80+ organizations from 30+ states attended including ATCA, TCG, funders such as the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and journalists from media outlets such as The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune. More than 50 engagement leaders presented sessions and several of which were live streamed via our Facebook page as well as Howlround."

Germany is up in arms! She is against the right wing tendencies among the population in general, and she is against the political party, AFD (Alternative For Germany), in particular. Of course, the Gorki, as an openly politically engaged theater, has lots to say on the subject.

The arrival of The English Concert at Carnegie Hall is an event that creates excitement in New York. This year, since many people have been induced to listen to Baroque music sung by the world’s most exciting countertenor on Broadway in Farinelli and the King, interest is heightened. Carnegie Hall was packed.

Memphis: The Musical is a big-hearted, bold show about the power of the human spirit and music to bring about change. A thrilling and touching regional production is underway in Ft. Lauderdale. An electric cast with impressive acting and dancing skills beautifully sings the soul-stirring music of Memphis.