Arts

Arts

Olympia Dukakis Still Has the "Courage" in Her

Play photos by Enrico SpadaBy Jeremy D. Goodwin When tackling the works of its namesake playwright, Shakespeare & Company puts the text of a play at the forefront but otherwise makes no obeisance to inherited notions about how a given play is "supposed" to be staged. So as

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Arts

Pygmalion at Williamstown: Tis Pity She’s A Short Run

Photos by T Charles EricksonBy Scott Baldinger An impressively scaled neoclassical facade representing the opera house at Covent Garden, painted in a combination of pastel colors with mauve-toile surrounds, is the foreground of the first scene of Williamstown Theatre Festival’s brilliantly fresh and tantalizing production of Pygmalion, where

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Arts

No Witnesses: Karen Allen Goes To Necessary Extremes

All photos by Abby LePageBy Nichole Dupont If you're looking for a light comedy or an offbeat musical to cap off a perfect summer night in the Berkshires, then Extremities (directed by Karen Allen at Berkshire Theatre Group's Unicorn Theatre now through July 27) is not

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Arts

At Vassar: "Pictures of Nothing" Is Really Something

By Robert Burke WarrenMary-Kay Lombino, curator for the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, is confident that visitors to the acclaimed museum are ready for Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art from the Permanent Collection. The show runs from July 12 to September 8, and features nine decades

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Arts

At Shakespeare & Company: Much to Love in This "Labour"

Photos by Kevin SpragueBy Jeremy D. Goodwin Near the top of Shakespeare & Company's stylish, urbane production of Love's Labour’s Lost, a mysterious warrior goddess enters a king's richly appointed study, cueing an enchanting, slow-motion sword fight. (Susan Dibble and Edgar Landa

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Arts

"The Great Gatsby," Sung Beneath the Stars

Photo courtesy of Opera ParallèleBy Robert Burke Warren When The Great Gatsby hit bookstores in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s peers loved it, but critical response was mixed; it sold poorly, and the definitive Jazz Age novel faded into obscurity for two decades, rising again only after WW II. Sadly,

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Arts

Don't Turn Your Face To The Wall

By Nichole Dupont We've all had at least one some time in our lives. Perhaps it was that dour portrait of great grandmother Agnes in her mourning attire, sitting over the mantle. Or worse, an entire stairwell laden with stern faces and eyes that seemed to be judging

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Arts

The Rhinebeck Writers Retreat: A Modern Medici's Gift to the Fabulous Invalid

By Robert Burke Warren Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theatre When it comes to creating art, inspiration is only a fraction of the process. Artists also contend with time constraints, isolation, and financial woes, especially in aggressively capitalist, crowded, notoriously noisy New York City. Musical theater folks have it particularly

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Arts

Theater: "Heroes" (and the Heroes of "On The Town")

By Scott Baldinger As a funny sage once remarked, eighty percent of success is just showing up. In the case of the theater, this comment could be amended to say that, while showing up certainly helps, half of success is picking the right material for the moment. In the last

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Arts

MASS MoCA Welcomes Wilco: Fans Frolic at the Solid Sound Festival 2013

By Robert Burke Warren and Holly George-Warren The hills are alive. The hills of North Adams, Massachusetts, to be precise, where on the weekend of June 21–23, MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary art in the U.S., hosts the third Solid Sound Festival, curated by the

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Arts

The Aston Magna Festival: As the Masters Intended

By Robert Burke Warren Time travel is possible after all. But instead of spaceships or portals, the musicians of the Aston Magna music festival, at Bard for three Fridays in June and two in July, use period instruments to perform Baroque and Classical works as they were played in the

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Arts

Back In The Saddle: Laura Chester Rides Out the Storm of Transition

All photos courtesy of Trafalgar Square BooksBy Nichole DupontLaura Chester does not like to dwell in the past, especially her own. That's why the veteran author and horsewoman decided to write a book about it; to get some of that stuff out. But make no mistake, Riding Barranca,

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