New York Times

Saratoga Performing Arts Center has announced the 2010 summer season of The Philadelphia Orchestra presented by HSBC Bank USA, N.A., August 4 – 21. Led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Charles Dutoit, the three-week program of classical and contemporary masterpieces includes major works by Stravinsky, Beethoven, and Brahms, a special guest appearance by Alec Baldwin who will narrate Prokofiev's classic Peter and the Wolf, a "Farewell Concert" with Charles Dutoit and Chantal Juillet, renowned soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang and Garrick Ohlsson and "Cirque de la Symphonie.

Rainy Mondays are perfect for taking in a movie. The non profit Images in Williamstown will screen controversial director Roman's Polanski's latest The Ghost Writer starting on Friday, March 26. There will be a one night screening of Who Does She Think She Is and panel with women artists on Monday, April 5.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center will present the 33rd annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival on June 26 and 27. Highlights include Gladys Knight, jazz singer Al Jarreau & the George Duke Trio, blues icon Taj Mahal, guitarist Al Di Meola and pianists Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal. There will be more than 20 performances over the weekend.

The low key, scaled back, modest and manageable Whitney Biennial 2010 curated by Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari has been dubbed the Obama Biennial. He is even on the cover. The Whitney has used this occasion to reflect on its history and critical reception since the series started in 1932. It begs questions about its mandate, the status of American art, and its relationship to a former partner, the Museum of Modern Art.

Berkshire Theatre Festival's 2010 season features one world premiere, two musicals, and multiple classics from the theatrical canon. Critically-acclaimed directors David Auburn, Anders Cato, Kyle Fabel, Wes Grantom, Eric Hill, John Rando, and E. Gray Simons III will be charged with bringing this season of theatre that matters to life. Among the actors appearing this year in Stockbridge are Jayne Atkinson, David Chandler, Jeremy Davidson, Richard Easton, Michel Gill, and Randy Harrison.

In what has become a season ending Labor Day Weekend event the 2010 Tanglewood Jazz Frestival will wail in Lenox on Saturday and Sunday, September 4 & 5. John Pizzarelli, his Dad, Bucky, and wife Jessica Molaskey will kick it off at 2 pm with a live broadcast of their popular "Radio Deluxe." Perhaps like last year, Kurt Elling will fall by to scat with John. He is featured that night.

The 2009 Off Broadway hit Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist. Artistic director Peter DuBois brings it to Boston's Huntington Thatre from March 5 through April 4. It was named to Best of 2009 lists by the NY Times and other publications. It is a wickedly funny black comedy about a group of 30 somethings.

Joe Finnegan, a former Wall Street floor trader, who evokes the heart-throb, Don, in TV's Mad Men, moved his family four years ago to Williamstown. He hooked up with boyhood friend Steve Lawson to become President of his Williamstown Film Festival. We talked with Finnegan about gearing up for his first season as General Manager of the prestigious but challenged Williamstown Theatre Festival.

On September 21, 2007, in Federal District Court in Springfield, Judge Michael A. Posner ruled that Mass MoCA had not violated the artist Christoph Buchel according to the 1990 Visual Arts Rights Act. Now a Federal Appelate Court has found that the claim of copyright infringement against the museum has merit and should be heard by a federal jury. Tension mounts as the artist will indeed have his day in court.

Highlights of the 2010 Festival include the U.S. debut of The Göteborg Ballet of Sweden; three world premieres co-commissioned by Jacob's Pillow from diverse young choreographers Kyle Abraham, Monica Bill Barnes, and Camille A. Brown; U.S. premieres from Spain, India, Thailand, and Israel; and celebrated favorites including contemporary ballet company Trey McIntyre Project, the men-on-pointe offerings of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and the ever-popular Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

Last year, for the first time, Shakespeare & Company mounted a winter production. The one woman show "Bad Dates" was a hit for Elizabeth Aspenlieder which won her Boston's Norton Award when she the took the show to Lowell. She is now in rehearsal, directed by Tina Packer, as the lead in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" which opens January 29 and runs through March 21. We dropped by for a rehearsal and to catch up on S&Co.'s ongoing efforts to pay down a $10 million debt.

The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington announces a schedule of events and performances from now through August. Highlights include the sold out Live in HD broadcasts from the Met. Tony winner, Patti LuPone, jazz masters McCoy Tyner and Bucky Pizzarelli are among the highlights. As well as appearances by the Paul Taylor and Alvin Ailey dance companies.

Edge, Method Machine's production of a play about Sylvia Plath, Wednesday, January 27, at 7:30 p.m. at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Gallery 51 at 51 Main Street, North Adams. Under the direction of David Henderson, Edge features Marcy J. Savastano in the role of Sylvia Plath, the poet and author most famous for the novel The Bell Jar.

Obie winner John Douglas Thompson will return this summer to star as "Richard III" at Shakespeare & Company. Tina Packer will direct "The Taster" a new play by Joan Ackerman. And Elizabeth Aspenlieder will star in "A Winter's Tale."

While on a tight deadline to complete the installation of "Gravity Is a Force to Be Reckoned With" in the vast Building Five at Mass MoCA Inigo Manglano-Ovalle took a break to discuss his work. He will simultaneously show "Juggernaut" at the Williams College Museum of Art. A Williams alumnus class of '83 in 2005 he received the college's Bicentennial Medal.

David Esbjornson was Arthur Miller's director of choice late in life, staging the premieres of his last two plays. He will bring Miller's classic "All My Sons" to the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston through February 7.

Imagine the Great Gatsby deconstructed as Gatz by Elevator Repair Service. This itchy glitchy production will be directed by John Collins opening at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge runs through February 7.

As reliable as Black Friday and White Christmas, holiday offerings in the Berkshires once again take center stage. From "A Christmas Carol" at the Berkshire Theatre Festival to "The Nutcracker" at the Colonial Theatre, with a Christmas Oratorio and British Panto tucked away here and there, the holidays are upon us.

The publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, of the controversial book "Open" by Andre Agassi, as told to and in collaboration with J. R. Moehringer, claims that it is not about tennis. Instead it is being hyped on 60 Minutes and in the media as "A Book for the Ages." Really? Perhaps it will one day be placed in the drawers of motel rooms along with that Other inspirational book. Or not.

The American Repertory Theatre will present Best of Both Worlds. written by Randy Weiner, music by Diedre Murray, and directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus. Bursting with the sounds of R&B and gospel, Best of Both Worlds is a soulful re-envisioning of The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare's timeless story of heartbreak and redemption. Clap your hands, jump out of your seat, and feel the power of love with this holiday treat for all ages. It runs from November 21 through January 3.

Although there were funds to continue the non profit, Inkberry, which was founded in 2001, it could not afford to pay for staff to run its programs. That fell to a small group that no longer are able to maintain the organization. It is a significant loss for the Berkshire community.

The overall Tanglewood attendance was up some 20,000 last summer. But subtract the 61,198 for the five day sellout of James Taylor and Friends and Tanglewood would have been down some 40,000 with an overall loss even greater than the $3 to 4 million reported by the Berkshire Eagle. Will there be any surprises when the coming season is announced on November 20?

John Douglas Thompson is familiar to Berkshire audience for his sensational performances in Othello and the Dreamer Examines His Pillow this past season at Shakespeare & Company. His portrayal of The Emperor Jones has been met with rave reviews and sold out shows at New York's Irish Repertory Theater. The hit show has moved to the larger Soho Playhouse through January 31.

The old line print media, The Berkshire Eagle, the North Adams Transcript, and the Boston Globe were dead wrong in their unflinching support of Mayor John Barrett. At 26 years he was the longest running mayor in the history of the Commonwealth. Yesterday some 60% of the 52% of registered voters in North Adams supported Mayor Elect Dick Alcombright.

Monica Bill Barnes will be in residence October 18-25, Kyle Abraham arrives November 15-21, and Camille A. Brown in the spring of 2010, April 18-25. Each Creative Development Residency includes housing and unlimited studio use for the artists and their dancers, and concludes with an invitation-only, work-in-progress showing during which artists receive valuable creative feedback from audience members.