Did you hear the one about the time the Duke of Burgundy Philippe the Bold, outlawed the cultivation of Gamay back in 1385? He claimed it was a "disloyal and bad plant." He reserved his region for the more elegant Pinot Noir. You may wonder why we have such an affection for Gamay at Mezze. We often root for the underdog. 

The downtowns of Pittsfield and Lenox, Massachusetts will be sprawling with live music on the weekend of Nov. 18-20, with the first Berkshires Jazz Fall Sprawl. Artists range from small, local groups to the 17-piece Amherst Jazz Orchestra, and spotlight 16-year-old prodigy Brandon Goldberg, who is making his Berkshires debut that weekend.

Within three months Connecticut theatergoers have seen two excellent productions. In the summer it was produced at Sharon Playhouse. Now ACT-CT in Ridgefield has opened its season with another fine production which runs through Sunday, Nov. 20. Each is well cast, well sung and well directed.

Now in its 34th year, the Fall Festival of Shakespeare leads students at 11 high schools in Massachusetts and New York through a language-based exploration of Shakespeare's plays. This work culminates in full-scale productions at their own schools as well as the Main Stage at the Tina Packer Playhouse during a raucous, four-day celebration.

Dead Center: Chekhov’s First Play has had a jam-packed audience in its run at the Irish Arts Center in New York.  To be sure the city is crammed with actors who play Chekov roles.  This play is a tip to fathoming their secrets.  It is also pure fun for any theater goer.

When the murderer reveals himself and points the gun at his next victim, I expect to feel some fear. Unfortunately, in the stylish but misguided Hartford Stage production of The Mousetrap (running through Sunday, Nov. 6), not only didn’t I feel fear, I had no sense that the intended victim felt fear.

In every sense Richard Thomas Griffiths OBE (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was a larger than life actor. We subscribe to Acorn through Amazon Prime. It offers a menu of British, Australian and New Zeland programs. Lately we have been binge watching Griffiths in five seasons as chef detective Henry Crabbe in "Pie in the Sky." You might also know him from appearances in Harry Potter films. On stage he won numerous awards including a Tony and Laurence Olivier Award.

We The Innumerable is an opera created by the Iranian/American composer Niloufar Nourbakhash with libretto by Lisa Flanagan. Sara Jobin, who is committed to works which bring about peace and global understanding, conducted. National Sawdust staged. The opera tells the story of a woman who protects the truth at all costs It is set during protests in Iran after a contested election in 2009. It echoes today’s protests.

Through January 29 the Institute of Contemporary Art is displayng a gallery with 11 totemic ceramic standing figures by Rose B. Simpson. A graduate of RISD she grew up in a culture noted for its distinctive pottery created by her mother, Roxanne Swentzell, her late grandmother, Rina Swentzell and her late great-grandmother, Rose Naranjo.

Murder!  Mystery!  Mayhem! are the order of the day (er – night) as Center Rep takes on the classic trapped-in-a-scary-mansion who-dunnit?  Did the butler do it?  In a play that relies on style rather than gravitas, Director Nancy Carlin pulls all the right strings to make for a fluffy and entertaining ninety minutes.

This is a big show for TheaterWorks Hartford with a cast of nine and a band of seven. Under Rob Ruggiero’s sure hand, it comes together to create a thought-provoking and moving play.

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley is presented in honor of  Shakespeare & Company Costume Director Govane Lohbauer, and in memory of actor, teacher, and weapons master Bob Lohbauer,who passed away in September 2022.

Upcoming at the Williams College '62 Center are theater and dance performances. THEATRE: A LOVE STORY By Caridad Svichm directed by Emmanuelle Delpech and Pachedu (F)ALL Ensembles.

In response to these difficult times, artist Justin Freed, former owner and programmer of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, has created An Evening of Jazz and Healing with live music, photography, drawings, projection and film.

In 1929 Erich Maria Remarque published the controversial anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front. It follows the tale of Paul and his classmates who enlisted to fight for the Fatherland. One by one they died until Paul, the last, is killed by a sniper in the final minutes before Armistice. Just a year later Hollywood released the classic film which won two Oscars. Now available on Netflix is an epic, cinematic, gruesome remake by the German director Edward Berger. The spectacular retelling is disrespectful in selecting some and discarding many of the plot points and metaphors of a literary masterpiece.

Alice Denison refers to this large body of work as her Pangloss series and they are rooted in her interest in ornately rendered plants and flowers.  At once dreamlike and mysterious with a tangle of floating flora, they are now beginning to allude to a real place—it’s as if the tapestry has been lifted to reveal a distant landscape.     

During the Depression years Mitchell Siporin found relief and commissions through the mural program of the WPA. In 1939 he traveled to Mexico and drew inspiration from the muralists. Recently discovered negatives from that trip led to an exhibitiion by his daughter Rachel Siporin at Bowery Gallery in New York. Siporin founded the studio program at Brandeis University.

If you think spending an evening with Hamlet at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is not your best choice for a fun experience, think again. This production is a hoot.  Pure pleasure.

Curator Susan Erony presented a talk about Schlemm's career and impact on Cape Ann and throughout the world of watercolor artists, followed by remembrances from family and friends. The exhibition is now available online as a silent auction.

The impresario Andrew Ousley is deeply in touch with audience needs in the 21st century. In selecting dramatic and unusual settings for concerts which range from the most formal performances of classical music’s iconic and ineffably beautiful Goldberg Variations to a completely improvised concert, he helps a new audience open their ears and hearts, and more traditional concert goers to hear works anew. 

The Wick Theatre in Boca Raton has mounted an impressive production of the rarely-produced musical, "Milk and Honey." The production runs through Nov. 6. "Milk and Honey" takes place in early 1960's Israel. The plot focuses on a lover affair, set against the backdrop of Israel trying to gain recognition as an independent nation.

Director Bundy and René Augesen and Dan Donohue as Martha and George, manage to convey that these two people – as dysfunctional as their relationship may be – truly and deeply love each other.  In other productions this often  gets lost in the fighting, obscenities, insults and lies that they hurl at each other. Because of this, the play in this production ends on a more optimistic note.

As usual, General Director and Conductor José-Luis Moskovich marshals a fine orchestra and production.  Of course, the party scenes in particular require special attention, and director Igor Vieira ensures their grandeur.

Known as the nation’s foremost label launched by an orchestra and devoted exclusively to new music, Grammy Award-winning BMOP/sound announced the world premiere recording of the revised version of Anthony Davis’s seminal opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

We can often overlook any deeper meaning when seeing a comedic play, but this one actually has a lot to say.  It honors selfless mothers; urges the courage to say and do the right things before it is too late; advocates following our dreams; pillories slavish devotion to status symbols; and asks us to better understand those who are near to us.