Theatre
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After the Revolution at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Premiere of Amy Herzog’s Riveting Marxist Play
By: - Jul 23rd, 2010A family of Marxist activists is thrown into turmoil when in 1999 it was revealed that its patriarch was among 349 identified through decoded wartime messages to have been collaborators and spies for the Soviet Union. Emma has founded an organization named for her disgraced grandfather. This is the background for the superb play After the Revolution by Amy Herzog in its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. It is by far the best new play of a rich and diverse Berkshire season.
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Pool Boy at Barrington Stage Company
Musical Premiere Drowns in Pittsfield
By: - Jul 22nd, 2010The much anticipated world premiere of a musical Pool Boy by Nikos Tsakalakos and Janet Allard ended up drowning at Barrington Stage. It is slated for intensive care and an extreme makeover if it hopes to have legs beyond this ambitious, zesty but messy production in Pittsfield. With a lot of work there may yet be life after this D.O.A. debut.
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Aspenlieder Returns in Bad Dates
Hit Show at Shakespeare & Company to Sept. 12
By: - Jul 21st, 2010Elizabeth Aspenlieder who won an Elliot Norton Award for Best Solo Performanceâ€"returns this summer for a special , limited run in a freshly re-imagined production directed by Eric Tucker (Women of Will this season , Pinter’s Mirror 2009). Haley Walker. The show that set the Berkshires astir in 2009â€"and nettarismatic heroine of Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates , possesses a sharp wit and an unsinkable determination to pursue the promise of new love , even while providing for her daughter.
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Guardsman at Berkshire Theatre Festival
Smiles for a Summer Night
By: - Jul 20th, 2010Just for laughs the Berkshire Theatre Festival is presenting Ferenc Molnar's hilarious period comedy The Guardsman. It stars the husband and wife team of Jayne Atkinson and Michael Gill playing a pair of actors. After six months of marriage he hopes to test her in a mock seduction by a smarmy Russian Prince.
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Six Degrees of Separation at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Introducing Ato Essandoh
By: - Jul 16th, 2010The 1993 film, based on John Guare's 1990 play Six Degrees of Separtation made a star of Will Smith in the role of the hustler and con artist Paul. Based on the stunning and witty performance of Ato Essandoh we again witness an emerging star in the riveting role. Essandoh, who impersonates the son of Sidney Poitier to gain access to the homes and resources of wealthy New Yorkers, is the invaluable glue that holds together an otherwise uneven production at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Seeing Essandoh as Paul assures potential bragging rights for years to come.
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Damn Yankees at The Mac Haydn Theatre
Whatever Lola Wants in Chatham, New York
By: - Jul 16th, 2010Yes those Damn Yankees. The perennial favorite of musical theatre will be staged at the Mac Haydn Theatre in Chatham New York from July 22 to August 1. Watch the pinstripes give their all in the pennant race. What fun.
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John Douglas Thompson Plays a Hunch
Richard III Reconfigured at Shakespeare & Company
By: - Jul 13th, 2010For the past two seasons John Douglas Thompson captivated Berkshire audiences as Othello. He returns as Richard III at Shakespeare & Co. He has received rave reviews for off Broadway appearances this year as The Emperor Jones and with Dianne Wiest in The Forest. Increasingly critics regard Thompson as among the finest Shakespearean actors of his generation. Richard III has been given an extreme makeover in Lenox.
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Beckett's Endgame at Berkshire Theatre Festival
Trashing Randy Harrison
By: - Jul 12th, 2010A regular of the Berkshire Theatre Festival company, the brilliant Randy Harrison, has ended up in a trash can as Nagg in Samuel Beckett's wrenching and demanding Endgame. This is a flawless production with a stunning cast of Mark Corkins, as Hamm, David Chandler, Clov, and Tanya Dougherty. While one of the best offerings of the season this play is not for the weak and feeble. Consult a physician before seeing this harrowing play.
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Samuel J. and K. by Mat Smart
Williamstown Theatre Festival to July 16
By: - Jul 09th, 2010The father of Samuel J. abandoned him when he was four. His mother adopted Samuel K. who was abandoned by his parents in Cameroon when he was three. They are brothers. Or are they is the theme of a provocative play by Mat Smart having its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
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Yazmina Reza's Art at Barrington Stage Company
July 22 to August 8
By: - Jul 07th, 2010Compared to Sweeney Todd the second production of the season at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield is as different as black and white. Well, more white on white actually. The Tony Award winning play by Yazmina Reza, Art, focuses on the divisive responses of two friends to a collector's acquisition of a minimalist painting. The evening of theater brings out the worst in everyone. To the amused delight of audiences.
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A Thousand Clowns in Pittsfield
New Stage Theatre Company July 15 to August 1
By: - Jul 06th, 2010The New Stage Company above Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield is presenting A Thousand Clowns by Herb Gardner from July 15 to August 1. A Thousand Clowns is the hilarious and touching Tony Award winning play that was later adapted into an Academy Award winning film starring Jason Robards. It is the story of an unemployed television writer trying to adapt his cantankerous worldview in order to find work and retain custody of his 12-year-old nephew.
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Richard III at Shakespeare & Company
Starring John Douglas Thompson
By: - Jul 06th, 2010An all-star troupe of Shakespeare & Company talent comes together this summer for an unforgettable rendering of Shakespeare’s gripping Richard III. In the whirligig of its ambitious plots, the beauty of its language, and the chilling magnetism of its haunting central figure, Richard III has proved an irresistible lure for over 400 years. This indelible interpretation, featuring OBIE and L ucille L ortel Award-winning actor John Douglas Thompson (title role in Othello 2008 & 2009), was conceived by Artistic Director Tony Simotes and directed by Jonathan Croy with assistance from Malcolm Ingram. Richard III runs July 2 through September 5,
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The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown
Relationship Drawn Out at Berkshire Theatre Festival
By: - Jun 27th, 2010The conceit of The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown is that the couple Cathy (Julie Reiber) and Jamie (Paul Anthony Stewart) follow separate time lines through their relationship and marriage that terminates in a bitter divorce. He is an author with no life experience other than his own bathos and she is an aspiring actress with meager talent. We found little to care about this train wreck of a relationship. If that's your cup of tea walk don't run to Berkshire Theatre Festival.
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Winter's Tale for Summer Fun
Opens July 15 at Shakespeare & Company
By: - Jun 27th, 2010The Winter’s Tale illuminates Founders’ Theatre this summer as Director Kevin G. Coleman unleashes Shakespeare’s theatrical mastery and verbal powers at their greatest height. The production features the return of long-time Company actor Jonathan Epstein as Leontes, King of Sicilia, and Elizabeth Aspenlieder as Hermione, his Queen, and a cast of 17 other seasoned Company actors and newcomers.
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It’s Jewdy’s Show: My Life as a Sitcom
Judy Gold Stands Up at Williamstown Theatre Festival
By: - Jun 25th, 2010So, what's a nice Jewish, six foot three inch, Lesbian, mother of two doing in the Berkshires? Standup at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Who would believe it? Trying to get enough money for an apartment with two bathrooms so her kids stop like pissing in the sink already. This Jewdy, yeah, she spells it Jewdy, is such a comic. Like the Borscht Belt, only gay. And in Williamstown where the rich goyim live. That's funny.
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Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd a Slice and Dice
Cadaver Pies Served Hot at Barrington Stage
By: - Jun 24th, 2010Sweeney Todd, the masterpiece of the now 80-year-old genius, and Williams grad, Stephen Sondheim, is given a state of the art, Broadway level production at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield. With no compromise on artistic integrity this is stunning musical theatre in an intimate setting. We enjoy signifiying, titubating performances and magnificent music up close and personal at a fraction of Broadway ticket prices. This is Berkshire theatre at its finest.
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Patrick Meyer’s K2 a Cliffhanger
At Berkshire Theatre Festival to July 3
By: - Jun 20th, 2010One in four climbers never make it off K2 the second tallest and most challenging mountain in the world. The 1983 play by Patrick Meyer K2 is given a riveting performance providing a spectacular and spell binding launch for the 82nd season of the venerable Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Mass. The play is sure to be a smash hit sellout during its all too brief run through July 2.
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Mount Stages Wharton's Summer
Her Hot Ethan Runs August 18-29
By: - Jun 19th, 2010Tickets go on sale Monday, June 21, for Edith Wharton’s bittersweet coming-of-age story, performed by the Wharton Salon August 18-29 at The Mount. Following last summer’s sold-out run of “Xingu,†The Mount is pleased to welcome the Wharton Salon back this season for Summer, adapted by Dennis Krausnick and directed by the Salon’s founder, Catherine Taylor-Williams. The play, based on the 1917 novella Wharton fondly called her “hot Ethan,†is the story of a young woman who loses herself in the passion of a summer love affair.
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Cirque du Soleil opens
Dance, Theatre and Art Reinvented for the Circus
By: - Jun 17th, 2010OvO from Cirque du Soleil combines elements of circus, dance and music into an all-encompassing theatrical experience. Ir is a show that allows you to enter a teeming world of insects that is both gorgeous and highly artistic, and full of jaw dropping circus acts. They have begun a four week run in Hartford before moving on to Boston and DC.
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The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez
Boffo at Barrington Stage Company Through June 17
By: - Jun 10th, 2010Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield has launched its season with a sell out, smash hit production of the Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez. There are just a few seats available for the run which ends on June 17. Just when the Main Stage starts the Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd. The hit Whipping Man must give way on Stage Two for a two week run of last year's hit Freud's last Session. The play which premiered with Barrington is having a tuneup prior to opening Off Broadway this summer. Let the games begin.
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Shakespeare & Company Fall/ Winter
Diverse Schedule Planned
By: - Jun 08th, 2010The Fall/ Winter schedule for Shakespeare & Company will includeThe Real Inspector Hound , The Annual Fall Gala , As You L ike It , The Fall Festival of Shakespeare , The Santaland Diaries , The Mystery of Irma Vep , Shakespeare and the L anguage that Shaped a World , and rounding out the season , Hamlet (The Company’s New England Tour of Shakespeare) will come home for a limited run.
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Yasmina Reza's Art on June 24
The Portsmouth Museum of Art and New Hampshire Theatre Project Collaborate
By: - Jun 08th, 2010The Portsmouth Museum of Art and New Hampshire Theatre Project have forged a collaboration to present a reading of the award-winning play ‘Art’ by Yasmina Reza on Thursday, June 24th at 7:00 pm. The play, a witty comment on the human condition, has been referred to as a ‘comic gem’ by the Boston Globe.
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Mengelberg and Mahler at Shakespeare & Company
Daniel Klein Play June 11 to September 10
By: - Jun 07th, 2010Mahler is an unseen but fully-present character in Mengelberg and Mahler. He is Mengelberg’s cherished friend, his inspiration, his conscience, and ultimately his spiritual salvation. Mahler’s musicâ€"parts of his 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Symphonies, plus "Wenn dein Mütterlein" from the Kindertotenliederâ€"is a full partner in this production. These musical portions do much more than set the scene: they are essential to Mengelberg’s understanding of his own life.
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Johnny Baseball Hits Grand Slam At American Repertory Theatre
Myth, History and Love At Fenway Park
By: - Jun 02nd, 2010Johnny Baseball is the ART's world premiere musical about the Red Sox. It traces the origin of the Curse of the Bambino to a collision of three souls: Johnny O’Brien, a right-hander on the 1919 BoSox, his idol, Babe Ruth and Daisy Wyatt, a beautiful African-American blues singer. These three are the reason for the Curse and the secret to its end in 2004. Johnny Baseball hits a commentary on American social history into a clever and spirited musical homer. This is a spectacular hit, a four bagger that should not only reach Landsdowne Street but bounce on to Broadway as well.
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Prelude To A Kiss at Huntington Theatre
Magical Realism As Contemporary Couple
By: - May 25th, 2010The play starts with a whirlwind romance. Then a storybook wedding with a strange kiss for the bride that suddenly changes everything. Playwright Craig Lucas (The Light in the Piazza, Longtime Companion) explores the enduring power of love and the nature of commitment in this awkward but life-affirming comedy directed by Artistic Director Peter DuBois.
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