Theatre
-
George Kelly's Torch-Bearers at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Dylan Baker Plays for Laughs
By: - Aug 01st, 2009During the Monsoon of 2009 we all need a few laughs. Actor/ director Dylan Baker and a superb cast provide a hilarious revival of the 1922 George Kelly comedy about the pratfalls and pretentions of community theatre in "The Torch-Bearers.
-
Dylan Baker at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Adapts and Directs The Torch Bearers by George Kelly
By: - Jul 29th, 2009The actor and director Dylan Baker has a history with the Williamstown Theatre Festival that started in 1983. He returns this season with an adaptation of the 1922 comedy by George Kelly "The Torch Bearers." It was a hit Off Broadway when Baker directed an earlier production. He talked about a life in theatre when not "working at a car wash."
-
Captivating Prisoner of Second Avenue at Berkshire Theatre Festival
Neil Simon's Play Pokes Fun at the Seventies
By: - Jul 26th, 2009It seems impossible, but this play is even funnier today than it was in 1971 when it opened on Broadway. Those of us who were alive to see the birth of the Age of Aquarius sure were a neurotic bunch. Neil Simon turns that age of anxiety into a comedic gold mine.
-
What Is the Cause of Thunder at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Betty Gilpin and Wendie Malick Star in Ersatz Soap
By: - Jul 24th, 2009Noah Haidle was inspired by a line from King Lear to write a spoof of soap operas "What Is the Cause of Thunder?" The play is having its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival starring Betty Gilpin and Wendie Malick directed by Justin Waldman.
-
Sleuth At Barrington Stage Company
A Mystery Hit for the Berkshires
By: - Jul 20th, 2009Barrington Stage Company racks up another hit in its strong 15th season, with the chestnut "Sleuth." a 1970 play by Anthony Shaffer which won a Tony Award as Best Play during its 1,222 performances on Broadway. Charles Shaughnessy and Jeremy Bobb are perfectly matched in a deadly game.
-
Measure for Measure at Shakespeare & Company
This Lunchtime Theatre Lasts Until Tea Time
By: - Jul 19th, 2009Come for lunch, stay for tea. Measure for Measure is brilliantly played by the Apprentice Company as part of the Lunchtime Theatre, and more than a snack, it is the main course.
-
True West at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Sam Shepard's Classic More About Toast Than Cowboys
By: - Jul 17th, 2009If David Mamet is East then Sam Shepard is a paradigm of the West. Together they define the bookends of contemporary American theatre. The Williamstown Theatre Festival has mounted a galvanic production of Shepard's "True West" and its Biblical tale of sibling rivalry.
-
2009 Berkshire Fringe Festival
Lots Going On Through August 17
By: - Jul 15th, 2009Looking for live performances that use biting satire, dripping irony and hot button issues to entertain? You've got a new BFF in the Berkshire Fringe Festival. Each summer a host of new writers, artists and ideas takes over the Daniels Center of Bard College at Simon's Rock for just three weeks.
-
A Madcap Candide at Berkshire Theatre Festival
Leonard Bernstein Musical Sparkles in Stockbridge
By: - Jul 14th, 2009Director Ralph Petillo has blended three major benchmark productions of Candide into a brand new concoction that delights and surprises. A youthful cast whips it up with incredible energy and musicality, using every inch of the Unicorn Theatre in the process.
-
Knickerbocker by Jonathan Marc Sherman
Williamstown Theatre Festival Premiere Struck by Lightning
By: - Jul 10th, 2009Knickerbocker, by Jonathan Marc Sherman, directed by Nicholas Martin, is the first of three world premieres this season on the Nikos Stage of the Willianstown Theatre Festival. It stars Reg Rogers as a fortysomething adolescent being forced to grow up and face the reality of the birth of a son. He agonizes in a series of dialogues conducted in the booth of a Manhattan bistro.
-
The Einstein Project Opens at the Berkshire Theatre Festival
A Fascinating Exploration of an Iconic Figure and His Times
By: - Jul 05th, 2009A fast moving journey into the life of a theorist who came as close to understanding the physical world and the mind of God as anyone. Albert Einstein was larger than life, but even this genius had troubles relating to his wife and children.
-
Children by A.R. Gurney Opens Williamstown Theatre Festival
Judith Light Stars in a Fourth of July Celebration
By: - Jul 03rd, 2009Williams alumnus A.R. Gurney is back for his 9th season at the Williamstown Theatre Festival with a WASPY play "Children" suggested by a John Cheever story. This production begs the question Was John Cheever (1912-1982) the "Chekhov of the Suburbs." Serendipitously this play set in the Fourth of July launches the WTF season on the Fourth. What fun.
-
Berkshire Theatre News - July 2009
Local Theatre Community Thriving, Growing
By: - Jul 01st, 2009In recent years the Berkshires has emerged as a major theatre community. With four professional companies and eight stages it's becoming a force in American theatre. And behind the scenes there is another show going on as well. Read all about it.
-
A Revolutionary Hamlet Returns to Shakespeare & Company
Clashing Characters Whip Up a Perfect Storm on Stage
By: - Jun 28th, 2009The intensity of this production is so overwhelming it's hard to believe that it's been trimmed by an hour for modern audiences. Despite the simple setting and smaller cast Shakespeare & Company's Hamlet has more heart and guts than most. If you didn't see this groundbreaking Hamlet last time 'round it's time to get thee to Lenox.
-
Carousel Spins into Pittsfield
Triumphant Hit for Barrington Stage Company
By: - Jun 22nd, 2009The Main Stage season for Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield always starts with a musical. Artistic director, Julianne Boyd, has produced a winner in the old chestnut and certain hit the 1945 "Carousel" by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Be still dear heart.
-
Not So Random Thoughts about Harold Pinter
Pinter's Mirror at Shakespeare & Company
By: - Jun 21st, 2009Harold Pinter's - "Pinter's Mirror" is presented with riveting performances by Shakespear & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. It is one play in two acts and three unique pieces: A Slight Ache - Family Voices - and Victoria Station.
-
Broadway by the Year at Berkshire Theatre Festival
A Joyful Look Back at the Hit Songs of 1930 and 1964
By: - Jun 21st, 2009We all know that Broadway shows of the past reflected the times in which they were created, but were often wrong about the direction of things. In 1930 the songs were still upbeat and in 1964 they were still had happy endings. Turns out Stephen Sondheim was way ahead of his time.
-
Pinter's Mirror at Shakespeare & Company
Agony and Ecstasy of Three One Act Plays
By: - Jun 20th, 2009The nonsensical patter between Edward and Flora in Pinter's "A Slight Ache" recalls the tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, arguing over carrots and turnips in Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." Here the futile, absurdist desperation is acted out in a seemingly bucolic but actually barren and desperate English cottage garden, over tea, during the gorgeous longest day of the year. Not. How Pinteresque.
-
Theatre Returns to The Mount
Edith Wharton's Xingu August 20-23
By: - Jun 19th, 2009Until its move to the Lenox campus Shakespeare & Company for many years presented its productions at the historic home of writer Edith Wharton The Mount in Lenox. From August 20-23 The Wharton Salon in partnership with The Mount will stage her comedy Xingu adapted from a short story by Dennis Krausnick.
-
An Older and Wiser Hamlet Returns to Shakespeare & Company
Time Changes Everything Says Director Eleanor Holdridge
By: - Jun 19th, 2009Shakespeare's great play Hamlet is one anyone can understand and learn from. Even Presidents and Kings. This immensely popular version of the classic play began in Lenox, traveled the country, and returns for a Summer long run.
-
Golda's Balcony with Annette Miller
Shakespeare & Company Completes Its Diva Series Trilogy
By: - Jun 18th, 2009William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker" won a Tony Award for Best Play in 1959. But Gibson's "Golda" folded after a few performances in 1977. It was reworked as a one woman play "Golda's Balcony" with a premiere at Shakespeare & Company in 2002. Annette Miller won the Norton Award for that performance. She is back in Lenox, with original director, Daniel Gidron, as one third of the sensational Diva Series at S&Co.
-
Freud's Last Session at Barrington Stage Company
Freud Spars With C.S. Lewis About God, Sex, Suicide
By: - Jun 15th, 2009In a classic meeting of the minds, two titans of the Twentieth Century, Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis debate timeless issues that still resonate today.
-
Colonial Cabaret Opens With Mandy Patinkin
A Sensational Start to a New Series
By: - Jun 14th, 2009In a great addition to the Summer's offerings, a rewarding evening with singer-actor Mandy Patinkin paves the way for monthly cabaret performances at the Colonial.
-
Penelope Kreitzer in The Actors Rehearse the Story of Charlotte Salomon
Second Play in the Diva Series at Shakespeare & Company
By: - Jun 11th, 2009Before Charlotte Salomon (1917-1943)and her husband were murdered at Aushwitz, in the South of France, where she had fled from Germany she created 769 works on paper comprising a picture play "Life? or Theatre? A play with music." Attempts to mount the play in Israel resulted in the disaster and conflict that is conveyed in the one woman performance of "The Actors Rehearse the Story of Charlotte Salomon" stunningly performed by Penelope Kreitzer.
-
The Producers a Smash Hit at Pittsfield's Colonial Theatre
First Rate Production from Cohoes Delivers the Goods
By: - Jun 05th, 2009Last night the near-sellout audience in the Colonial howled with laughter and gasped with delight as scene after scene of merry mayhem unfolded. As the company of The Producers took their first bows in the Berkshires, the audience stood and literally cheered this modest but clever company from Cohoes, New York. It was a moment, and a show, to remember.
<< Previous Next >>