Williamstown Theatre Festival

The two time Pulitzer honored translator of Moliere, Richard Wilbur, was present for a reading of The Misanthrope at the Clark Art Institute. The Williamstown Theatre Festival event, sponsored by the Williams Inn, was a benefit for the Williamstown based charity Higher Ground. We discussed the presentation and Moliere with John Douglas Thompson who portrayed Alceste.

Yes, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, as announced today, will open its season on the Main Stage with a perennially witty The Importance of Being Earnest. But no, this comedy will not play on the current mania for all things Downton Abbey. Rather, think Sopranos. Seems some Joisey boys are on the lam in the Berkshires. It will run head to head with Blythe Danner in a new work in the smaller Nikos Stage. The fun begins on June 26.

Three-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara will star in the previously announced musical adaptation of the 2002 film Far From Heaven at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Directed by Michael Grief and featuring a score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie and book by Richard Greenberg, the show will run at the summer theater’s Main Stage from July 19 through 29.

On an unseasonably mild February afternoon, during the off season, we sat with Mass MoCA director, Joe Thompson, for an in depth overview of his 25 years of developing the largest contemporary art museum in North America. In this first installment we discussed the beginnings and mandates for the 17 acre campus and its 650,000 square feet of "developable" space. We spoke on the record for an hour and a half then another hour after that. It is most unusual to spend that much time with a busy museum director.

Faced with a number of personal setbacks that require immediate attention Gail Burns of the site Gail Sez has announced that she will no longer review and document theatre in the Berkshires. In a note to colleagues and theatres she stated that “I will let the information currently up on the site lapse quietly, while behind the scenes I create an archive of my reviews, which will stay up in perpetuity. I know they are of value and interest to some of you, and I want them to stand as an historical record of theatrical activity in this area from 1997-2011. Your names and the art you created should not be forgotten…”

What I do consistently look for, and I think I said this earlier, is what each member of the company brings to the stage, and that goes for designers, actors, directors, musicians, choreographers and anyone else credited with anything for the production. I want to see the best in them and from them always. When I don't, I say so.

Too much TV turns your brain to mush and causes cancer. Which is what I love about it. This week we saw the first episode of Smash. It was awesome. But I just don't understand Luck on HBO. Something about horse races. So, if you like TV as much as I do here's an update.

Berkshire theatre critic reviews for the weekly paper The Advocate. He also posts overnight for his on line site Berkshire Bright Focus. His reviews are also syndicated nationally. He started covering Broadway at the age of fourteen and now in his 60s had been doing it ever since.

Williamstown Theatre Festival announced today a reading of Richard Wilbur’s translation of Moliere’s classic French comedy The Misanthrope, to be held at The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA on Monday, February 27th at 7:00 PM. Proceeds from the event will go to Higher Ground, a new organization formed in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene to address affordable housing and disaster relief issues in the Northern Berkshires.

Widely hailed as one of the best new Broadway plays, Time Stands Still is the story of Sarah and James, a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent, who are reeling after a recent brush with death while on an assignment. Will their relationship of nearly a decade be more threatened by a traditional go at domesticity than the roadside bombs of Baghdad?

A Preview Production of Far From Heaven, a new musical with a book by Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out), an original score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) and directed by Michael Greif (Rent; WTF’s Three Sisters), will play the Main Stage from July 19 – 29, 2012; the World Premiere of Lucy Boyle’s new play The Blue Deep will play the Nikos Stage from July 11 – July 22, 2012, directed by Drama Desk Award-winner Bob Balaban (Gosford Park; WTF’s “Fridays@3”) and featuring Tony Award-winner (and Williamstown veteran) Blythe Danner (“Meet the Parents”; WTF’s The Seagull).

My foxy colleague Larry Murray of Berkshire On Stage caught us napping. He scoops the return of Blythe Danner to Williamstown Theatre Festival.

With Brooks Ashmanskas, currently playing in God of Carnage at The Huntington Theatre, you come to expect the unexpected. Starting with a straight interview it doesn’t take long for the wheels to come off. From there it devolves into a comedic, bar knuckles slug fest. But all in outrageous fun. Read this and weep. Tears of hysterical joy.

In announcing a stunning, star studded program for the 35th season of Shakespeare & Company, now in his third season as artistic director, Tony Simotes provided indicators of what to expect in the future. This summer he will play his aces with former teacher and friend Olympia Dukakis in The Tempest. The company's homegrown star, John Douglas Thompson, returns after a hiatus in a new one man play Satchmo at the Waldorf.

After Hurricane Irene hit and destroyed 300 homes in Williamstown I was among the first responders and I am proud to say that my work recently became incorporated as a non-profit called Higher Ground dedicated to providing ongoing assistance to the flood victims and working long-term on the crucial need for affordable housing in North County.

Few Berkshire based critics see more theatre than Williamstown based Gail Burns. She is know for feisty, passionate over the top reviews. Her on line site GailSez includes not only her own reviews but compiles lists and links to all of the other critics in the region. She also posts press releases and casting calls. It is a massive archive reaching back to 1997. This is the first segment of an extensive dialogue.

It is that time of year when we look back at the highlights and insights of the past season. Take a deep breath and anticipate what lays ahead for 2012. There is much to remember as well as look forward to.

As home to Mass MoCA, MCLA and a growing arts community North Adams is one of the most unique cities in the Commonwealth. There wasn't the same intensity and media coverage of the race this time between incumbent Dick Alcombright who handily defeated opponent Ron Boucher. The 2009 contest against old time pol, John Barrett, III was a bloodbath. To make things interesting Barrett has won a seat on the City Council. Whether he is there to help the city or hurt Alcombright remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

While the primary galleries of the Clark Art Museum will close in November for the final phase of a $145 expansion and renovation it will maintain programming on a limited basis. How that reflects on the norm of 200,000 annual visitors remains to be seen. Reducing the Clark in the mix will have a major impact on cultural tourism in the Northern Berkshires for the next few years. The construction, however, will create 500 temporary jobs with a $9 million economic impact.

Surgery for a brain tumor left the actress Caris Corfman with long term memory but no short term memory. In a struggle to overcome a cornucopia of health and memory issues she developed a one woman play. It is the culmination of a documentary film by Gaylen Ross which will be screened as a part of the Williamstown Film Festival. Her friend and one of the producers, the comedian Lewis Black, discussed Caris, his approach to comedy, and the play One Slight Hitch which was produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival this past summer.

By the end of this second run the riveting new drama The Best of Enemies by Mark St. Germain will have sold some 10,000 tickets which is an all time high for a drama presented by Barrington Stage Company. Critics are unanimous that this was the best new play of the Berkshire season. Don't miss out on this too brief second chance.

Tony Award winner and MacArthur Fellow Mary Zimmerman is directing and adapting Leonard Bernstein's Candide which opens this week at the Huntington TYheatre in Boston. It is her third production of the musical. She has also directed controversial new productions for the Metropolitan Opera which have been broadcast Live in HD. She is soon to announce more work with the Met. We discussed the production of Candide. There will be another interview that focuses on her feisty responses to criticism of her operas and views on the role of critics.

The annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival was a three day slam dunk. There was a superbly balanced program that introduced emerging artists as well as performances by jazz masters. A nice addition this year featured scull sessions with jazz critic and historian Bob Blumenthal. It was everything you would hope for in a great jazz festival. This is part one of our coverage.

There is no question that the first season of artistic director Jenny Gersten has done well at the box office. In a release WTF announces that its sales for August are double what they were in August last year. Overall they are stating attendance at some 44,000. According to the wildly uneven reviews, however, Williamstown Theatre Company has slipped from its once dominant position among the four major Berkshire theatre companies.

During dialolgues with theatre people it is usual to learn that they do not read reviews of their work. Or if they do well after a production has closed. We asked the playwright Mark St. Germain about that and found a rational and compelling response. While his play The Best of Enemies, which returns to Barrington Stage Company from October 6 to 16, got rave reviews he indicated knowing of them indirectly.