The classic depression era tale Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is being given a compelling production by Threshold Repertory Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina.

Thomas Merton observed that the meditation exercises in the Buddhist tradition in many ways were more refined and subtle than those of Christianity and sought to integrate them into the monastic tradition of the Church without changing the importance of Christian notions of salvation. At a moment when his drift toward Eastern thought was picking up speed he died accidentally from electrocution due to bad wiring in a Thai hotel.

This is a strong, sweet production but it’s not clear to me why it is remounted just 2.5 years after the last identical production. If you missed it before, do see it now. The Glass Menagerie runs 2.5 hours with one intermission; the Hypocrites production continues through March 6 .

A collection of 11 short plays by Neil LaBute is now being staged at the theater in Buena Park. Each play has its own cast and directors. Amazingly, in this 4.5 total hours of theater over two separate shows, there’s not a dog in the pack. Each play is sharp and memorable.

American Buffalo is David Mamet's story of one day in the life of three Chicago hustlers who try to run a home burglary to get at a rich man’s coin collection. (The buffalo nickel is an often prized version of an early 5-cent piece.) Donny (Richard Cotovsky, a founding member of Mary-Arrchie and its artistic director, is the usually calm, business-focused owner of Don’s Resale Shop. Bobby (Rudy Galvan) is his gopher, and Teach (Stephen Walker) is a neighbor, an angry, emotionally needy man.

On a recent visit to Tereceira Island in the Azores, we discovered an amazing, local, restaurant run by Jose Costa.

Company XIV has a World Premiere of adults-only Snow White at the Minetta Lane Theatre in NYC -- the third offering in a season of rowdy entertainment by Austin McCormick and the multi-talented cast.

Toiling for years off-Broadway, John Patrick Shanley has now zoomed to the top tier of much-in-demand playwrights and screenwriters. His latest theatrical effort is the romantic comedy “Outside Mullingar”, which takes place in rural Ireland.

The Williamstown Theatre Festival season, running from June 28 – August 21, 2016, begins on the Main Stage with a production of Tennessee Williams’ Tony Award-winning play The Rose Tattoo (June 28 – July 17) directed by Obie Award winner Trip Cullman and featuring Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei; continues with the world premiere of Boo Killebrew’s comedy Romance Novels For Dummies (July 20– July 31), directed by Tony Award nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel; and closes with the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Wendy Wasserstein’s An American Daughter (August 3 – August 21), directed by Evan Cabnet.

It seems just yesterday that Placido Domingo marched into General Manager Peter Gelb’s office and told him that he must keep the great soprano Sondra Radvanovsky on the Metropolitan Opera roster. Gelb could not say no. And so we have this season Donizetti’s Queens with Radvanovsky singing Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Elizabeth.

Puppets in the collage-inspired work of Eric Carle engage in story-telling on Broadway. Three actors tell four of Carle's stories in the magical tones of familiar classics, the audience is incanting phrases like, "but he was still hungry." The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Art and its literacy programs in Amherst benefit from this production of Jonathan Rockefeller's charming puppetry.

Orpheus’ performers clearly come to an agreement before they come onto stage, leaderless. This form gives the music a chance to implode and explode in the hands of gifted individuals coming together.

Charlotte Moore has directed The Burial at Thebes to make it not only timely, but even more important, present. Each character is etched individually and then brought together with loved ones and adversaries, incidental characters and crucial ones. The chorus has disappeared, its lines and messages now humanized in individuals. This tale is about people and the gods are hardly considered.

On January 27, 2016, New York Philharmonic Chairman Oscar S. Schafer and President Matthew VanBesien announced that conductor Jaap van Zweden will become the Orchestra’s next Music Director, beginning in 2018–19. It will be the orchestra’s 177th season. Mr. van Zweden will serve as Music Director Designate in the 2017–18 season.

Old world charm has been restored to Quinta Do Martelo by Gilberto Vieira and his staff of workers at this Terceira Island gem. A four star restaurant serving organic food, all grown on the farm, highlights dishes from a bygone era. The guesthouse rooms evoke a different era.

Kayla Ferguson and Reggie D. White reprise their roles from the Merrimack Repertory Theatre as two teenagers seemingly randomly throw together to complete a class project. But Lauren Gunderson's "I & You" is actually about far weightier things -- life, death, the connectedness of all human beings -- all brought home in a riveting finale that had audiences gasping in surprise. Directed by Sean Daniels, "I & You" is having a limited run at 59E59 Theaters from January 15 - February 28.

Artifact is one of those recordings that warrants repeated listening. Each time I listen to the CD, there is something new to marvel at, especially the organic, full and clean masterful guitar tones. Add the masterful song writing with actual melodies that stick out in each song and you have an album that stands out and sticks in one's brain.

On a frozen Minnesota lake, the ice is beginning to melt as is Salvador Dali's Melting Watch paintings. It’s the end of the fishing season, and two men are out on the ice angling for answers to life’s larger questions. TONY and Olivier Award-winning Mark Rylance, who co-wrote the play with the American poet Louis Jenkins is spectacular. Based on Jenkins' prose poems, it is a Waiting for Godot on ice. It deserves to be a contemporary classic.

Craving adventure theatre critic Fast Eddy Rubin was thrilled by blizzard of 2016, one for the record books. Scheduled for a matinee he and a neighbor trudged up town. Only to find all of Broadway including restaurants shut down. Imagine if you had those precious seats to Hamilton? Stomping about our ersatz Sargent Preston of the Yukon stumbled onto one of the few theatres where the show went on. Mush you huskies. He just loved Restless at the intimate St. Luke's Theatre.

The human voice is an instrument we all carry. Fewer than five percent of people are tone deaf and some experts consider the condition correctable. We all can experience the joy of singing together. Live singing is like nothing else under the sun. Stephanie Blythe makes the case with joy and conviction at a Carnegie Hall concert.

From Little Rock, we traveled to Fort Smith which is located on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. Fort Smith was established in 1817 on the banks of the Arkansas River. Wild West history is celebrated in Fort Smith. During the Civil War, the North met the South here and there was lots of blood shed.

If affordability and accessibility are what you’re looking for in a vacation, Chicago Southland fits the bill. With the Metro area’s quick connection to downtown Chicago, the Southland boasts plentiful commuter rail and interstate connections to make travel throughout the region quick and easy for big city proximity.

The world premiere production of Joseph Vass’ comedy/mystery “Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Great Nome Gold Rush”, may be a mouthful to say but it’s easy to enjoy; so are the songs and music written and composed by Vass for the production, who is also a musician and is one of the driving forces behind the Klezmer music movement in the country.

Tickets for the 2016 Tanglewood go on sale Sunday, January 24th. A diverse schedule of entertainers for the June 19th-September 1st season includes the return of Tanglewood conductor Seiji Ozawa, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and local favorite,James Taylor.

Marilyn Horne is a wonderful, detailed teacher and it is a privilege to be in her presence. Clearly the singers in her master class were able to incorporate her apt suggestions. Is revelation the reason audiences respond to a great master class? With Horne, the answer is yes.