The silhouette profile of Woodie King, Jr. which often shows up in the new documentary in which his life spins out., makes him look like Alfred Hitchcock. In King of Stage by filmmaker Juney Smith, we come to see that he is at least as good a picker of stories as the mystery master.

The New York conference of American Theatre Critics Association ended on Sunday morning with a Stephen Sondheim panel at the nightclub Don't Tell Mama. Moderated by the critic Rick Pender, the actors Len Cariou, Harvey Evans, Pamela Myers, Kurt Peterson and Teri Ralston recalled originating now iconic roles. On every level ATCA saved the best for last,

Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White is a powerful drama of black-white relations in 1918 South Carolina, soulfully directed by Cecile Keenan at the Artistic Home. The 1966 play, written by Alice Childress, a prolific if little-known African-American playwright, has passion and relevance for a modern audience.

The on-stage chemistry between Angela Sauer and Patrick Zeller is literally palpable. Their performances fully engage the audience who become fascinated by the push and pull of playwrightDavid Ives’ characters. References to the origin of the title “Venus in Fur” also enliven the audiences’ fascination with the story.

In his final months theatre critic, Larry Murray, founded Berkshire Theatre Critics Association. In its first annual presenttation of awards "The Berkies" he rallied to enjoy the occasion and to present the first award in his name, for service to the community. We were packed into Mr. Finn's Cabaret last year but last night the event occured before a capacity, attentive audience in the Mark St. Germain Stage of the Pittsfield company. Many more regional companies were nominated and participated in the awards evening. Next year three more companies will be eligible.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao recently concluded a year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary under the concept "Art Changes Everything", inspired by the major changes that the city of Bilbao and its residents have experienced since the Museum's opening on October 19, 1997, while at the same time underscoring the transformational capacity of art. I felt fortunate to be able to visit this cultural treasure during a tour of the Basque region of northern Spain in late September.

Americans who do not live in the bubbling cauldron of New York City, claim to long for a simpler, easier time. When picket fences were white, the mail was delivered regularly, and people's lives echoed the covers of trite magazines sold in supermarket checkout lines. However, New Yorkers know different. That difference was on proud display Saturday night as Alan Gilbert led the second of three programs at the New York Philharmonic dedicated to the music of Leonard Bernstein.

Judy Hagerty Lovett of Gare St. Lazare Ireland has worked for more than two decades to bring the novels of Samuel Beckett to the stage. They are magnificently delivered by Conor Lovett. The Beckett Trilogy, which includes Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable, has its New York premiere in White Light Festival.

The Psalms Experience presented by the White Light Festival of Lincoln Center includes nearly one thousand years of musical settings by 150 different composers. World renowned choirs collaborate to present songs from the Book of Psalms. Each concert has a unifying theme, such as suffering, power, and powerlessness.

To listen to Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and then the raunchy, life-affirming Carmina Burana is heaven. Or hell, if you prefer it. Sometimes Carl Orff, the composer of Carmina Burana does both and it is these moments, like love joined in a soprano's stratasphere, that give particular pleasure.

The creation of new works remains how the art of opera continues, against steep odds and media indifference, to grow and survive. This week, the Metropolitan Opera did their bit by opening Thomas Adès' latest opus: The Exterminating Angel.

The Stanley Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center is a special space. When it is darkened, lights twinkle in the windows and reflections go out into the night. Here Steven Osborne, a consummate pianist, performed Olivier Messiaen's iconic "Vingts Regards sur l'enfant." We swirled in mystery, yearning and the power of faith.

Tao is everywhere. Tucked into the back of a stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, he had the nerve to portray the iconic Glenn Gould in David Lang’s opera ‘loser.’ He is in the bowels of a church for a Crypt Session, and now at Roulette, a venue created to honor Dada and chance music. He is a thrilling artist.

Marcel is being examined and interviewed by a clown evaluator (Houben) to see if he is able to continue his career. Juggling hats, the manipulation of hands and arms, are added to basic, biking, batting, swinging, and swimming. Marcel demonstrates that, if he is no fit as a fiddle, he is facile with his limbs and trunk. No question that he can make us laugh, and cry too.

Knives in Hens is an ineffably moving theatre piece, a three-hander which depicts the struggles of a putatively ignorant farm girl who lives in indeterminate space and time. Her movement toward growth is specified in her wish to name the world she sees about her.

Since the late 1960s I have curated and written about the work of the Cambridge based, activist and artist, Arhold Trachtman. A few of us- scholars, curators and critics- share a convicition that he is on the short list of most significant Boston artists of his generation. Given the highly charged and passionate focus of the work it has been in general too hot to handle for mainstream museums and curators. He has a staunch champion in Marjorie Kaye, the emeritus founder of Galatea Gallery, who co cuated the current exhiition with the artist's daughter Maxima Baudissin.

Damnation of Faust turned out to be one of Berlioz' most popular compositions. It was the first work in which he wrote the libretto himself. Berlioz loved Virgil, Shakespeare, and Goethe above all. He could not entrust the words of these authors to anyone else. In Damnation, we have a great presentation of the Faust story. The Boston Symphony, Tanglewood chorus and thrilling soloists brought Berlioz safely to heaven and hell.

A new staging of Our Town emphasizes Miami's diversity. A mult-cultural, multi-racial cast speaks English, Spanish and Creole in new, different but faithful version of Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town. Talented cast ensures classic Wilder play remains touching, yet unsentimental

New York City Opera's production of Tobias Picker's latest opera, Dolores Claiborne, honors the composer in a riveting theatrical presentation. Oliver Sacks explored the musical brain in his Musicophilia. The connection between the two hemispheres of the brain is enlarged demonstrably in talented musicians. So too a section of the hippocampus. Picker, who began composing at four, was studied by Sacks. Whether or not his brain reflects musicality because he started playing and composing early, or because he was born with this ability, remains to be answered. What is clear in Dolores Claiborne, as produced by NYCO, is how great his talent for opera is.

Upcoming events at the Colonial include, The Airplane Family & Friends with Live Dead ‘69 (10/27), $10 Music Garage: Subtleties (11/9), Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Touring Company (11/11), $5 Comedy Garage: Rojo Perez (at the Garage in the Colonial Theatre lobby 11/16), Ain't Wastin' Time: A Berkshire Tribute to Gregg Allman with Rev Tor's Steal Your Peach Band & Friends (11/30) and A Christmas Carol (12/9 through 12/22).

The civil rights pioneers Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass had roots in Rochester which is mounting a world premiere about them by Mat Smart. This is the best dramatic treatment thus far to deal with their achievements and close relationship.

During our visit to the Cape Cod Museum of Art we viewed several special exhibitions: Salvatore Del Deo: A Storied History, extended through October 28, Discovering Cape Cod’s Museum Treasures, through November 26, and Judith Shahn Selections: A Tribute to Thomas Linxweiler through November 12. We met with Dr. Edith Tonelli who has been director for the past four years. She provided an overview of the museum and plans moving forward. We also learned why the museum and adjacent Cape Playhouse prove to have been uniquely moving experiences.

Now 92, the first generation Italian born artist, Salvatore Del Deo, settled in Provincetown in the post war 1940s. To pay for paint he did all the usual odd jobs. On summer he shippied out on a scallop boat. That experience richly informs a poignant triptych “Homage to the Patricia Marie” which was a part of his retrospective Salvatore Del Deo: A Storied History at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis. Famously he teamed up with another starving artist, Ciro Cozzi, to co found the legendary restaurant Ciro's and Sals. He later started his own Sal's Place.

Lighting-heavy production of Tarzan still benefits from 'less-is-more' approach. South Florida theater company show marked by strong acting, singing, acrobatics . Musical's themes are illuminated by the director.

“A Tale of Two Cities”, published in 1859, was one of the finest novels of its day and now, 200 years later it appears on the stage of Pasadena’s classic theatre company, A Noise Within, as a bold, new, dramatic production from the pen of journeyman writer and play adaptor Mike Poulton.