Daphne, a one act opera, is more tone poem than drama. Each character has a signature in notes. Particularly Daphne, Apollo and Leukippos are shaped and defined by Strauss. Strauss' new librettist Joseph Gregor finally produced a satisfactory text with a lot of help from Strauss' friends. Daphne was Pauline, Strauss' wife, favorite. A noted soprano in her own right, Pauline recognized the extraordinary musical character Strauss created for sopranos. Regine Hangler took full advantage.

Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash is a jukebox musical with no plot to speak of. It is playing at the Mercury Theatre in Chicago through August

Faye Butler describes herself as an actor who sings, not a singer who acts. She's a theater and musical star in Chicago and nationally and has won many awards and honors for her work. She currently plays the cleaning lady, Cassandra, who knows the source of her name only too well, in the current Goodman Theatre production, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. I interviewed her about that role and her other stage and cabaret work. She let me in on a few secrets about her voice, her vocal practices -- and her dreams. (Also see our review of the play.)

In a bold move Berkshire Theatre Group has collaborated with New Neighborhood and a world premiere of its very first production. I Saw My Neighbor On the Train and I Didn’t Even Smile by the brilliant young British playwright, Suzanne Heathcote, is the must see show of the Berkshire season.

Mom married under one condition. That after their internships and residencies the young doctors would return to Boston and her family. Josephine and James Flynn were shocked that their daughter married an Italian even though he was a surgeon. Dad eased into it with pipes on the porch.

Known for her recent role as Billie Holiday, multiple Tony award winning actress and singer, Audra Mcdonald takes center stage at Tanglewood on July 19.

The premise of choreographer Alonzo King is to base his company in the training and disciple of classical dance with a bold move into post modern dissolution of traditional gender hierarchies. Listening to Bach we are surprised to see very different choreography that extends to the present the innovations of the neo classicism of George Ballanchine.

Given the all star casting a number of shows during Mandy Greenfield's first season as artistic director of Williamstown Theatre Festival have sold out. This is particularly true for the smaller Nikos Stage where Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner Cynthia Nixon is featured in the three-hander Kinship by Carey Perloff, directed by Jo Bonney. In an example of gender reversal, the apparent point of this play, a woman in power, a successful editor, mentors a rookie reporter and risks career and family in an obsession that turns as dark as the fate of the Greek queen Phèdre. Perloff was directing a production of the Racine classic when it inspired her to write this play.

Welser-Möst hid behind Tristan and Iseult in Vienna and Salome at Carnegie, two terrific opera productions he conducted. The continuity of the performance he draws from the elegant Cleveland Orchestra, weaving together an unusual whole, swoops the listener into the entire work without a breath, but with infinite attention to dynamic detail. It is a remarkable and uplifting experience to hear orchestral works as Welser-Möst designs them. Orchestra members are willing and more than up to the exciting task.

The oldest of seven children from an immigrant family in Brooklyn Dad was the first to attend college. With a pharmacy degree he worked three jobs to help support the family. He left home to focus on the goal of becoming a surgeon.

Sample hundreds of wines paired with gourmet food at Tanglewood's 10th Wine & Food Classic on August 13th-16th.

At the crossroads of East and West on The Baltic Sea, Latvia offers a vast cultural heritage. Riga, the largest of the Baltic capitals, has a charming Old Town with medieval and baroque architecture and is also considered the capital of Europe's Art Nouveau style with over 800 buildings. Ligatne and Cesis are both small towns within Gauja National Park with historic and natural treasures of their own.

When is sound music? When is noise music? These are questions asked by Yarn/Wire, a quartet of two pianists and two percussionists. We are reminded first and foremost that the piano is a percussion instrument. The excitement begins with this idea and floats out...forever.

On August 20, 2012 Wynton Marsalis shared an appearance at Tanglewood with bass player Christian McBride. Last night he returned to Ozawa Hall with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. This superb group of New York based musicians presented a program of traditional big band music from the 1930s and 1940s in the first half and works by members of the orchestra, including Marsalis, in the second.

Amazingly you can take a gondola trip through the glorious Venetian an upscale resort hotel in Vegas. There is no need for an expensive trip to Italy when you can toss in gambling for a casino weekend here in the USA.

On Monday nights a group of artists meet for dinner and gossip at Sushi House. Great food and margaritas served by Joy with just that. In the busy summer season there's a lot to talk about. Eric Rudd had hosted his annual Beach Party on Eagle Street. Fun stuff, news of exhibitions, projects and book launches. Then it got real dark.

Brilliant Adventures, the grim and grimly funny new Steep Theatre production, was written by Alistair McDowall and directed by Robin Witt. It was first performed in Manchester in 2011 and won the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.

The terrific husband and wife team of Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat star in a revival of the 1950s musical Bells are Ringing. It brings star power to the Colonial in Pittsfield to July 26.

Roger Rees, who has died following a medical procedure in May, had a long association with the Williamstown Theatre Festival. The renowned Tony winning actor/ director first came to Williamstown as an actor. From 2004 to 2007 he was the artistic director of WTF. He returned last summer for a revival of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit which is currently on Broadway starring Chita Rivera.

Nederlands Dans Theater was founded in 1959 and with some 600 works in its portfolio has been one of the most influential global companies. In 1978 a younger second company was formed and this is its first week in Becket since 2007.

Ice skating on the eve of turning 76 has its treacheries. But also the joy of teaching to the toddlers potential future Bruins.

A harbor city on the Baltic Sea, Klaipeda is the gateway to the Curonian Spit, a picturesque strip of sand between the sea and the Curonian lagoon, lined with fishing villages and resorts. The beaches attract amber hunters; the hills beckon with folk sculptures. The strip is also home to a variety of birds such as the grey heron and cormorants.

The newly opened (February 2015) Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art in Daytona Beach features a collection of 2,600 Florida themed oil and watercolor paintings, some dating back to the early 1800s, which recount the state’s cultural, geographic and natural history.

Heavyweight bass-baritone Bryn Terfel wows the audience at Ozawa Hall

The only difference between the Boston Irish Flynn and Kennedy clans is that the Kennedys made more money selling bootleg booze. Three of four Flynn children graduated from college. Two went on to careers in medicine and one in law. Uncle Arthur sat on the Federal bench. The Kennedys , of course, knew some success in politics.