Theatre
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Satchmo at the Waldorf at Shakespeare & Company
John Douglas Thompson Solos in Terry Teachout Play
By: - Aug 25th, 2012In 1964 Louis Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts with the hit "Hello Dolly." It was a compelling answer to a New York Times critic who pronounced him washed up. The bug eyed, grimacing, clowning, handkerchief waving Satchmo relaunched a career as the first super star in jazz. . The superb Terry Teachout play, Satchmo at the Waldorf, starring John Douglas Thompson, catches him after the gig in his dressing room just months before he died in 1971.
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39 Steps at Shakespeare & Company
Hichcock Inspired Drama Sept. 22 to Nov. 4
By: - Aug 24th, 2012An ingenious thriller, the ultimate murder mystery, The 39 Steps has it all. Shakespeare & Company opens the 2012-2013 Fall & Winter season with this hilarious adaptation of John Buchan’s novel, which also draws inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film. Featuring a seasoned ensemble including Elizabeth Aspenlieder (Bad Dates), Jason Asprey (Parasite Drag), David Joseph (The Tempest), and Josh Aaron McCabe (Hound of the Baskervilles), The 39 Steps offers an intriguing, sidesplitting evening or afternoon at the theatre. The 39 Steps runs from September 22 through November 4 in S&Co.’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.
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Homer’s Illiad at La Jolla Playhouse
A Spellbinding Triumph!
By: - Aug 22nd, 2012The La Jolla Playhouse (LJP) was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. A remarkable play based on Homer’s ancient epic “The Illiad†has just opened. The Playhouse has created twenty-two productions over the years that have transferred to Broadway, earning thirty-five Tony Awards in the process. In the last few years their transfer productions have captured four Best Musical or Best Play Tony Awards; the last in 2008 with “Memphis.â€
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Williamstown Theatre Festival Drew 41,000
58Th Season Closes for Renowned Festival
By: - Aug 20th, 2012Williamstown Theatre Festival supported the Berkshires community by bringing nearly 41,000 audience members from 44 states and 6 countries while they attended the work of 401 members of the WTF Company including staff, apprentices, and artists!
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Cause of Failure at NY Fringe Festival
FullStop Collective Production
By: - Aug 20th, 2012"Cause of Failure" which ends this week at the New York Fringe Festival provides a multifaceted exploration of the impact of a woman's long term battle with congestive heart failure on those around her seen through the eye's of her daughter
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Brace Yourself by David Epstein
World Premiere for Berkshire Theatre Group
By: - Aug 19th, 2012The Berkshire Theatre Group is presenting the world premiere of Brace Yourself a family comedy set on Fire Island by David Epstein. In the face of an approaching hurricane Sunny (Jill Eikenberry) is planning the mega wedding that her daughter Nina (Tara Franklin) really doesn't want. While the comedy delighted the audience I found it as breezy as that storm that rode out to sea.
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Bradley Cooper's Elephant Man
Broadway for the Fall 2014
By: - Aug 17th, 2012During a film premiere in Bradley Cooper was heard to say “We’re going to try to do it on Broadway next fall. We’re going to try to nail it down and do a limited run.†That was told to someone who told someone. It went viral on Facebook. That was originally slated for 2013. Now it has been moved forward to Fall 2014. The play was produced by Williamstown Theatre Festival under artistic director Jenny Gersten who has resigned but has programmed the 2014 season.
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Alfred Molina in Red at Mark Taper Forum
Tony Winning Play Transfers to LA
By: - Aug 16th, 2012We welcome California based theatre critic, Jack Lyons, as a contributor to Berkshire Fine Arts. He reposts this report from Desert Local News on Alfred Molina who initiated the role of Mark Rothko in "Red" on Broadway. The play won a Tony Award and has been widely staged by regional theaters. This production at Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles is notable for featuring the phenomenal Molina in a stunning performance.
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God of Carnage at San Diego's Old Globe
Yasmina Reza Comedy in Hilarious Production
By: - Aug 16th, 2012Our California based theatre correspondent, Jack Lyons, compares the mid career Yasmina Reza to the master Neil Simon. Her Broadway hit is having a successful production at The Old Globe. He writes that " This quartette of performers doesn’t have to take a back seat to any ensemble that has previously performed the play."
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Shakespeare & Company Reports Boffo Box Office
Sales Up 23% From This Time Last Year
By: - Aug 14th, 2012As Shakespeare & Company continues to celebrate its 35th Season of "Rebellion and Revolution" in the Berkshires, Artistic Director Tony Simotes and Managing Director Nicholas J. Puma, Jr. are pleased to announce that on Monday, August 6, the Company surpassed $1 million in ticket sales for the 2012-2013 performance season, the earliest date the Company has reached that figure in its 35 year history. This feat also puts the Company 22.5% ahead of its box office totals from last year’s performance season at this time.
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See How They Run at Barrington Stage Company
Vintage British Farce by Philip King
By: - Aug 13th, 2012Barrington Stage ends the Mainstage summer season with a vintage, 1943, British farce See How They Run. From beginning to hilarious end we never stopped laughing. This is a delightfully silly evening of theatre.
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Paris Commune at ArtsEmerson
Season Open Septrember 20
By: - Aug 13th, 2012ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage opens with the world premiere of The Civilians’ Paris Commune, a musical play that centers on a two month period in France during the Industrial Revolution, when workers take control of Paris in a popular uprising. Performances take place September 20 – 23, 2013 at The Paramount Center Mainstage (559 Washington Street in Boston’s Theatre District).
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Jenny Gersten Part Two
Discussing Her Second Season at WTF
By: - Aug 13th, 2012In the second part of a dialogue with Jenny Gersten we compared and contrasted her uneven first season with the smooth sailing of her second one. While the first season drew mixed reviews and controversy its ambition proved to be a magnet for major artists wanting to work at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. The success of this star studded season is a sanguine harbinger of more to come.
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Jenny Gersten Wraps Second Season at WTF
Nurtured on the Mother's Milk of Producing
By: - Aug 12th, 2012During a post mortem of her second season as artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival we discussed producing as inheriting the family business. Her earliest memories go back to two when she saw Two Gentleman of Verona, at the Public Theatre where her father, Bernard, worked until he was fired by Joe Papp in 1978. As a toddler, her Mom brought her on stage while taking a bow at Jacob's Pillow. In the first of this two part report we discuss a portrait of the artist as a young producer.
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Barrington Stage Company Calendar
Events August Thorugh October 13
By: - Aug 11th, 2012While the official high season ends on Labor Day Barrington Stage will remain busy through the fall shoulder season. Highlights include the return of Dr. Ruth and the much anticipated production of Lord of the Flies.
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WHADDAHBLOODCLOT!!! by Katori Hall
World Premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival
By: - Aug 10th, 2012There are about 60 documented cases of Foreign Language Syndrome. The first occurred in 1941 when a Norwegian woman, during the Nazi occupation, suddenly spoke with a German accent. One may imagine the complications. In Katori Hall's new comedy, as the result of a stroke, a New York society woman wakes up with a Jamaican accent. Oh my.
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Lyric Stage Announces Season
Mikado Opens September 9
By: - Aug 08th, 2012Lyric Stage in Boston announces its season for 2012-2013. The Mikado opens on September 9 with the perennial music of Gilbert and Sullivan. Another musical, On the Town by Leonard Bernstein closes Lyric on June 8. Sandwiched in between is a heady mix of drama and comedy.
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Edith a Premiere by Kelley Masterson in Stockbridge
From First Lady to Madam President
By: - Aug 05th, 2012When Woodrow Wilson was recovering from a stroke by denying access to his bedroom and failing to publicly announce his condition, his wife, Edith, for a crucial period of six weeks was virtually President of the United States. This new play by Kelly Masterson conflates 75% fact and 25% fiction to present a benign, revisionist take on a love story with global implications.
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Rethinking Turgenev’s A Month in the Country at Williamstown
New Concept and Translation Directed by Richard Nelson
By: - Aug 03rd, 2012The mid 1850s play A Month in the Country by Ivan Turgenev influenced Chekhov, who convinced Stanislavsky to produce it. Literally, lost in translation, the masterpiece of modernism has rarely been produced. Not just for awkward scripts but for a misunderstanding of the main character Natalya. While mostly played by women in their fifties, as Richard Nelson discovered, Turgeney intended her as 29. A radical production with a new translation by Nelson, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is the third and final Main Stage presentation of the summer long Williamstown Theatre Festival.
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Vicky Vodrey's Thank You Notes
Forbidden Mix at Mid-Manhattan International Theater Festival
By: - Jul 31st, 2012Vicky Vodrey is well worth a look in this production. She combines wit and feeling in a raucous take on the effect of the afterlife on the living. This is a romp through letter after letter the now-dead Angela has left behind to direct her funeral. A million dollars is at stake here.
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The North Pool By Rajiv Joseph
East Coast Premiere at Barrington Stage
By: - Jul 30th, 2012Rajiv Joseph is best know for the Broadway production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. The play, a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, starred Robin Williams as the Tiger. Barrington Stage is presenting the East Coast premiere of his two person, one act play The North Pool.
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Diva Olympia Dukakis as Prospera in The Tempest
A Clash of the Titans through August 19
By: - Jul 28th, 2012There are two versions of Shakespeare's enigmatic, evocative, surreal last play on stage at Shakespeare & Company through August 19. There is The Tempest as played for laughs by director Tony Simotes and then the imperious, autocratic Tempest as performed by the legendary Olympia Dukakis. It is a raucous highlight of a stunning season of theatre in the Berkshires.
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Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson in Elephant Man
Opens on Broadway October 18
By: - Jul 27th, 2012Elephant Man with Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson sold out its too brief run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Now, be still dear heart, the intact production transfers to Broadway and the Booth Theatre in October for a limited run of thirteen weeks. Not that long ago Cooper was declared the sexiest man on the planet. Here amazingly he portrays one of the most deformed of his era the renowned John Merrick. This is the WTF review.
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Dr. Ruth Returns September 19 to Barrington Stage
Changes for a New Play by Mark St. Germain
By: - Jul 24th, 2012The premiere of Dr. Ruth, All the Way sold out its 36 performances at Barrington Stage's smaller St. Germain Stage. The theater in the former VFW Hall, now owned by Barrington, was named for the company's resident playwright and author of Dr. Ruth, Mark St. Germain. The one woman show stars Debra Jo Rupp. There will be changes and fine tuning for the run from September 18 through October 7.
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WAM Theatre Premieres The Old Mezzo
October Production Paired with Shout Out Loud
By: - Jul 23rd, 2012WAM Theatre is delighted to announce that the beneficiary for the October World Premiere production of Susan Dworkin’s ‘The Old Mezzo’ will be Berkshire based Shout Out Loud Productions, a non-profit run by Jeanet Ingalls that takes action to address sexual trafficking. In keeping with WAM Theatre’s double philanthropic mission, Shout Out Loud will receive up to 25% of the box office proceeds from ‘The Old Mezzo’.
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