The play is originally set in Messina, Sicily. Except for retaining the Italian character names, director Robert Currier's delightful "Much Ado" is transported to the bare clapboard, hardscrabble world of the Hatfields and McCoys - the border lands of Kentucky and West Virginia. The set is crude, the costumes are peasant-style, and the language an admixture of Shakespearian eloquence with down home Southern earthiness.

Canada’s great Stratford Festival’s 63rd season also celebrates Canada’s 150th birthday. Its dazzling opening week of stunning productions this year consisted of seven major classic works; the later openings this season will feature new and experimental theater.

In the age of social media everyone is a critic., Some enthusiasts post their "reviews" and images to Twitter and Facebook before curtain calls.That was he elephant in the room as some 80 of the 250 members of American Theatre Critics Association gathered for an annual conference this time in San Francisco. In addition to several days of seeing theatre there were meetings and panel discussions focused on issues and ideas in the profession.

“Constellations”, a poignant drama written by British playwright Nick Payne, is deftly staged by award-winning director Giovanna Sardelli that validates the acting gifts of its two stars: pixie-like Ginnifer Goodwin and handsome leading man Allen Leech (best known for his six year run in the TV blockbuster series “Downton Abbey”, as the family chauffeur).

Samara is one of Wright’s Usonian houses, affordable homes for middle-income families. There are about 60 of these houses in the U.S. and they are smaller and less grand than some of the famous Wright Prairie-style mansions like the Robie house or the Avery Coonley house in Riverside. But they are no less uniquely Wrightian and feature the architect’s special touches in design and functionality.

A new dark comedy, Firemen Are Rarely Necessary shines harsh light on global warming, censorship and corruption in government. Short, pithy scenes and snappy dialogue keep us riveted. A new play by Theo Reyna has biting comedy that awakens us to realities.

Since a debut for Inside Out the free alfresco program Mi\chelle Dorrance and her company have appeared for times at Jacob's Pillow Dance. This time she was a two-week resident in a summit meeting of established and emerging tap dancers. The highlight of this event was an invitation to curate Tireless: A Tap Dance Experience. It introduced us to emerging as well as under-recognized tap performers. They were accompanied by astonishing jazz musicians.

With its own produced concerts and 18 sponsored groups, the BEMF programs music from 9:30 a.m. to midnight, which only the most intrepid music lovers can attend. Your reporter made it to nine, including both operas, in seven days. With the theme of "carnival," there was a lot of outside-the-law music, including some salacious texts, to consider.

Since its debut at the Humana Festival in 2015 The Roommate by Jen Silverman has been widely produced. It has the advantage of being an intimate two-hander. But it is being given a lavish production and marquee players at Williamstown Theatre Festival. With Jane Kaczmarek (Robyn), S. Epatha Merkerson (Sharon) selling tickets in the Berkshires is this a production that may be headed to New York? Significantly Silverman was in town tweaking the script.

Last night rocker Boz Scaggs launched the 2017 popular artists series at Tanglewood. It was a soggy evening in Lenox with some hearty souls huddled under umbrellas on the lawn. The former lead singer of the Steve Miller Band performed a stunning and soulful set of old and new material including highlights with superhits "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle." Former Steely Dan pianist and vocalist, Michael McDonald, opened with a 90 minute set.

Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield has a reputation for mounting an annual blockbuster revival of a vintage musical. It also has an an agenda to present message plays that inspire and inform audiences. In the era of Trump Barrington is presenting Ragtime which seemingly conflates the mandates for entertainment and education. It results in a long evening top heavy with big ideas, multiple characters and confusing subplots.

With the rise of so many platforms of communication in today's world, are we really hearing one another? Children of a Lesser God focuses on truly listening and communicating in the world of the deaf. It portrays a love story between a hearing man and a woman who neither hears nor speaks. Their communication and connection are powerful to see in stellar performances by the lead actors, Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff. The play runs to July 22 at Berkshire Theatre Group in Stockbridge, Mass.

Wilco headlined the fifth Solid Sound festival, a sell out, at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. The band played for two evenings and Jeff tweedy returned on Sunday to play with his son, Spencer, and special friends of the band.

Truly, Ah, Wilderness! and Long Day’s Journey Into Night are companion pieces in many ways, including being set (most likely) in the same house in New London, Connecticut—now known as Monte Cristo Cottage. It's where the O’Neill family spent its summers when actor father James O’Neill took time off from nationwide tours with his production of The Count of Monte Cristo.

What a pleasure it is to see good new plays well-produced. The EnsembleTheatre has done this year after year for 36 seasons and they don't go stale.

For what has evolved into an annual Tanglewood visit the Mark Morris Dance Group presented Lou 100: In Honor of the Divine Mr. Harrison. There were four sections the first of which dated to 1993. The fourth, Numerator, for six male dancers is having its world premiere. The four pieces are set to music by Lou Harrison, a deceased friend and associate of the choreographer, marking the hundredth year since his birth.

Playwright Rhea Leman, a native New Yorker, has lived and worked in Denmark since 1981. Her work concentrates on serious subjects treated in humorous or satiric ways. Her opera, The Rosenbergs, was chosen as best opera of 2015 and her play Gorilla, about the global financial crisis, gained her a nomination for best playwright of 2013.

San Francisco is for lovers as our correspondents Traveling Sandy Katz and her husband Gerry rediscovered. After an absence of decades they were thrilled to be back at the City by the Bay. If you visit now some fifty years after The Summer of Love be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

Building new audiences can be natural if you can get young people to sing, prepare them for concert performance and invite their families to attend. Francisco Nunes, the composer and conductor, does this with his Young People's Choir. They were joined by like groups from other cities to perform music created for them. The evening was a smash hit.

Victor Cordell is a new contributor who will cover theatre and opera in the San Francisco and Bay area. We met at he conference of American Theatre Critics Association in San Francisco. He reviews playwright Kimber Lee's brownsville song (b-side for tray) by Shotgun Players at Ashby Stage in Berkeley, through July 9.

Island City Stage hits practically all the right notes in world premiere production of The Goldberg Variations. The South Florida-based playwright and theater artist Stuart Meltzer's structure uses musical masterworks to illustrate variations in life situations. Humor, pathos and unpredictability are a potent combination in this comic-drama/

Christ Church is a vibrant coastal city rebuilding itself following a major earthquake devastation of six years ago. Contemporary architecture is on the rise, while historic treasures are being restored. Wellington, the capital city, is an urban wonderland with a thriving movie industry, world-class museums, outdoor cafes, an attractive waterfront, and beautiful botanical gardens.

Coming to the American Ballet Theatre’s production of Onegin from a music and opera background, and a literary one as well, the advantages of dance are immediately apparent. This telling of the Onegin story is moving and beautiful to behold.

The early music world comes to Boston every two years for the BEMF. This year its centerpiece opera was Andre Campra's "Le Carnaval de Venise," an opera-ballet, in its American premiere. It also reprised a hilarious pair of intermezzi, one of them the popular "La serva padrona," by Giovanni Pergolesi and Handel's Roman period oratorio "La Resurrezione." A good time was had by all.

OperaRox, a passionate and persuasive group that is promoting new compositions for the human voice, presented the final program in the New York Opera Fest 2017. Clearly this is not the last word for opera.