Through January 29 the Institute of Contemporary Art is displayng a gallery with 11 totemic ceramic standing figures by Rose B. Simpson. A graduate of RISD she grew up in a culture noted for its distinctive pottery created by her mother, Roxanne Swentzell, her late grandmother, Rina Swentzell and her late great-grandmother, Rose Naranjo.

In every sense Richard Thomas Griffiths OBE (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was a larger than life actor. We subscribe to Acorn through Amazon Prime. It offers a menu of British, Australian and New Zeland programs. Lately we have been binge watching Griffiths in five seasons as chef detective Henry Crabbe in "Pie in the Sky." You might also know him from appearances in Harry Potter films. On stage he won numerous awards including a Tony and Laurence Olivier Award.

Now in its 34th year, the Fall Festival of Shakespeare leads students at 11 high schools in Massachusetts and New York through a language-based exploration of Shakespeare's plays. This work culminates in full-scale productions at their own schools as well as the Main Stage at the Tina Packer Playhouse during a raucous, four-day celebration.

Did you hear the one about the time the Duke of Burgundy Philippe the Bold, outlawed the cultivation of Gamay back in 1385? He claimed it was a "disloyal and bad plant." He reserved his region for the more elegant Pinot Noir. You may wonder why we have such an affection for Gamay at Mezze. We often root for the underdog. 

Ellen Schön’s New Directions Home, her second solo exhibition at Boston Sculptors Gallery, features two discreet series of new ceramic sculpture. Inspired by diverse cultural traditions, Schön employs both ancient and contemporary technologies in her sculptural interpretations.  

“We all come from sort of a traditional background, but then we have different influences that we’re interested in,” explains fiddler and singer Rachel Davis. “Chrissy (Crowley, fiddler) likes to dive into a lot of world music, Darren (mandolin, guitar, banjo, etc.) comes from a kind of Irish theme from playing around a lot. More of the traditional Cape Breton stuff is really what I love, plus all the folk songs, so it’s an interesting mix.”   

The Berlin Philharmonic, inarguably the greatest symphony orchestra in the world, came to New York to show us how much fun music can be.  Their showpiece example, the famously tormented Gustav Mahler. 

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, presents the first exhibition in the Americas dedicated to the art of Michaelina Wautier (1614–1689), a painter from Brussels all but forgotten until the recent rediscovery of her work.

Top honors at the Berkies were Outstanding Musical Production to Barrington Stage Company for their production of A Little Night Music. Barrington Stage shared the Outstanding Play Production award with Bridge Street Theatre, for productions of Waiting for Godot and A Long Day’s Journey Into Night respectively.

Mixed programming for MASS MoCA.

The Cape Ann Museum’s auditorium was packed for a Sunday afternoon book launch. Edited by Martin Ray, Gloucester Encounters: Essays on the Cultural History of the City from 1623-2023, is a compendium of 37 largely community based essays on aspects of Gloucester’s lifestyle, issues and concerns.

All about quarries, ponds and rocks! This article presents a photo and word essay - in the format that I have exhibited at the Eclipse Mill as well as this summer/fall at the Berkshire Art Museum in North Adams, MA.

Before he writes in the morning, Michael Cunningham as always listened to PHilip Glass's music. Serendiptiy brought Glass's score to the Stephen Daldry film based on Cunningham's book, The Hours. He discusses the works with Berkshire Fine Arts.

Whether this is autobiographical or only suggested by Stoppard’s family, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is the brilliant acting and story-telling.

What happens when you combine A Christmas Carol and Sherlock Holmes? You end up with A Sherlock Carol which is returning to off-Broadway. In this version through Sunday, Jan. 1, Holmes is called in by an adult Tiny Time to investigate the death of Scrooge.

Christoph Willibald Gluck’s contributions to opera extend beyond the merits of his individual operas. Like Richard Wagner a century later, Gluck conceived an intellectual framework that changed the opera landscape.

The exhibition, Promenades on Paper: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, includes a selection of eighty-four studies, architectural plans, albums, sketchbooks, prints, and optical devices that expand our understanding of drawing as a tool of documentation and creation in the age of Enlightenment.

Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD) in Southeast Florida is preparing to mount a production of the classic courtroom drama, "Twelve Angry Men." The play's basis is the Academy Award winning 1957 film with the same title. PBD's production will run through Dec. 24 at PBD's intimate venue in West Palm Beach.

New City Players in Southeast Florida has mounted a solid production of a live radio play adaptation of the Christmas classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life." The production runs through Dec. 18. The adaptation, while charming and heartwarming, is too similar to the source material.

On a drawing board of mixed media, live at the Blue Building on 44th Street, Art Bath gives New York talent a chance to experiment.  Six times a year, twice in the spring and twice in the fall, Art Bath presents programs in which artists mix and match new and daring forms. These are enchanted evenings. 

“There’s no better way to start the new year off than by making sure that our doors are wide open for our community and for all visitors to the area,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. “We believe that the chance to engage with art is a truly fulfilling and enriching part of life and we want to make sure that everyone has plenty of opportunities to visit the Clark and to get to know us better.”

Death of a Salesman, starring Wendell Pierce, is getting an interesting, if not always successful, revival at the Hudson Theater on W. 44th Street. The revival produced by the Young Vic Theatre originated in London last spring to acclaim.

“I am always amazed at how Cabaret manages to speak to our time, making it one of the most remarkable and resilient works of American musical theatre,” commented Alan Paul. “As the US experiences a rise in acts of virulent anti-Semitism, it seemed an appropriate time for our audiences to revisit this enduring classic. It’s also an opportunity in my first season to celebrate one of the shows that helped establish the legacy of this theatre company.” 

The Arts Vibrancy Index report is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to better understand how the arts and culture sector contributes to a community’s economy and public life. Now in its seventh iteration, the report has helped organizations evaluate where to relocate or focus their operations; provided clarity for funders on how and where to invest; and made it easier than ever for communities to learn how to cultivate arts vibrancy in their area.

Ghosts.  Dancing skeletons.  A giant toothy snake from Hell, like Saturday Night Live’s land shark on steroids. “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.”  When the title character mirthfully tells the audience that this is a play about death, he’s not kidding.  Fortunately, it’s all in good fun, and there is plenty of it in this delightfully camp musical adaptation of the highly successful 1988 comedy-horror film.