Theater

Arts

The Wharton Salon: Bringing Edith Wharton's Works to Life at The Mount

Preview by Bess J.M. Hochstein Longtime Berkshire theater goers fondly reminisce about the days in the late 1970s when Tina Packer and her merry band of thespians took up residence at The Mount, where, in addition to Shakespeare, they performed theatrical adaptations of the work of the estate’s

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Arts

Capitol Steps Puts the Mock Back in Democracy

Review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Whether the debt-ceiling wrangling in Washington has you gnashing your teeth or near tears, take a deep breath—and prepare to laugh it out. The Capitol Steps have returned to Cranwell Resort for their fifth-consecutive summer residency, and our elected representatives have given them

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Arts

Review: "Sylvia" at Berkshire Theatre Fest

When A.R. Gurney's play Sylvia debuted in 1995  at Manhattan Theatre Club with Chalres Kimbrough, Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker, the New York Times critic wrote:  "Not since Abie's Irish Rose has there been a play as critic-proof as Sylvia, at least for

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Arts

Commentary: Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood

by Scott Baldinger In 1966, when asked what he thought of the music of the Beatles, Richard Rodgers churlishly replied, “I find it monotonous…I don’t think there’s anything creative or original about it.  Their music won’t last.”  When told about this, Paul McCartney responded that he

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Arts

Review: "Moonchildren" Shines at BTF

Comedy is so much harder to get right than tragedy: making an audience laugh is more difficult than making them cry. The veteran actress Karen Allen, in her directorial debut at Berkshire Theatre Festival, gave herself a formidable challenge: to resurrect Moonchildren, a 40-year-old comedy about Vietnam era youth culture,

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Arts

Review: "A Streetcar Named Desire" at Williamstown Theatre Festival

A Streetcar Named Desire—the Pulitzer Prize winning 1947 Tennessee Williams play that became the classic 1951 movie with Marlon Brando and Vivian Leigh—dates back to the era when some films were made in Technicolor and others in black-and-white.  Two summer's ago, Barrington Stage offered us an

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Arts

"Spring Awakening" Team Returns to Powerhouse to Workshop a New Musical

by Scott Baldinger If you were in Los Angeles, busy working with Burt Bacharach on a new musical (Some Lovers), having just returned from a project in London (a new version of Alice in Wonderland for the National Theatre), how would you feel about having to be in Poughkeepsie the

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Arts

Review: A Dazzling and Delightful "Guys & Dolls" at Barrington Stage Company

The television series Glee has proven that a passion for Broadway show tunes and 1980s pop songs can be invigorating, sexy and relevant. Week after week, Glee has shown that old-fashioned song-and-dance numbers can be infused with a contemporary sensibility to bridge the generation gaps, appealing to teenagers, their parents

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Arts

StageWorks: An Evening with Celeste Holm

by Betsy Miller Imagine, at 19, making your Broadway debut, then a couple of years later originating the role of Ado Annie in Oklahoma, stopping the show night-after-night with the song, Cain't Say No.  Imagine winning an Oscar for only the third movie you've ever made

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Arts

Nicki Wilson Sees Beyond the Berkshires

The Maids at Pittsfield's New Stage through October 31 Ken De Loreto & Daniel Osman in "The Maids." Photo by Ritch Holben. "Pittsfield doesn't suffer from Berkshire elitism," says Nicki Wilson, who opened the New Stage Performing Arts Center above Richard Stanley&

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Arts

Review: "The Crucible" at Barrington Stage

Now through October 24 Barrington Stage artistic director Julianne Boyd has no fear of plays with dark themes and untrustworthy characters (e.g, her productions of Carousel, Sweeney Todd, A Streetcar Named Desire.) And there is no shortage of blood-chilling fear and moral corruption in Arthur Miller's The

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Arts

Chris Innvar: Barrington Stage's Go-To Guy

Starring in The Crucible through October 24 It's hard to recall that not-so-long-ago Barrington Stage Company was the underdog theater company of the Berkshires. Before moving to its own home in Pittsfield in 2006, it mounted plays and musicals  in the cinder-block-walled auditorium of the Mt. Everett Regional

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