Cultural Highlights, March 5-11, 2010
Just a few years back, Grace Potter and her band, the Nocturnals, made frequent appearances at the late, much-lamented Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, where they slowly built an audience over time that numbered in the dozens – big for Helsinki, but not for show biz.In just these past few years, however, Potter and her group have skyrocketed to the point that they’ve opened concerts for big-name acts like The Black Crowes and the Dave Matthews Band, and are now headlining shows in large theaters such as MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center, where they’ll perform next Thursday at 8.
The group gained widespread popularity on the jam-band circuit, and will be releasing its third album this spring, so concertgoers can probably look forward to hearing new material as well as the group’s soulful favorites.
413.662.2111
The Williams Jazz Ensemble’s winter concert on Saturday at 8 in Chapin Hall features saxophonist/composer Don Braden, who has performed with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Betty Carter, Freddie Hubbard and Roy Haynes. The concert is free.
413.597.3146
A touring production of The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan stops at the Colonial in Pittsfield on Saturday for two performances, at 3 and 8. The comedic operetta about a Japanese prince who will do just about anything to win the hand of the national executioner’s daughter is a thinly veiled, much-beloved satire about British politics and institutions. Set in the story-book Japanese village of Titipu and featuring such favorite songs as “A Wand’ring Minstrel,” “Three Little Maids from School” and “Tit Willow,” The Mikado is arguably the most popular operetta ever written, and features favorite Gilbert and Sullivan characters such as Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo, and Ko-Ko.
413.997.4444
Les Liaisons Dangereuses continues its two-month run at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. The production of Christopher Hampton’s wickedly entertaining story of love, indulgence, betrayal and corruption, is carried on the estimable shoulders of Elizabeth Aspenlieder and Josh McCabe. As one has come to expect from Shakespeare & Company, the set by Carl Sprague and costumes by Govane Lohbauer receive almost equal billing to the work of the ensemble of actors. Curtain times are 7pm on Fridays and Saturdays (plus 2pm matinees every Saturday) and 2pm on Sundays.
413.637.3353
The Irish Rovers return to the Colonial next Thursday, March 11, at 7:30. Despite the groups name, the Irish Rovers are actually Canadian and got their start in California during the folk music boom of the 1960s. The group in its current lineup continues to spread the gospel of traditional Irish vocal music as well as novelty tunes such as “The Unicorn” and “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”413.997.4444
www.TheColonialTheatre.org
On Sunday at 2, the Berkshire Botanical Garden presents A Sisters Celebration. featuring Nancy Fitzpatrick, owner of the Red Lion Inn; acclaimed gardener Margaret Roach, and writer and teacher Marion Roach Smith, founders of The Sister Project; and Jan Freeman, poet and director of Paris Press, reading stories and poetry from Sisters: An Anthology, with a special preview of the Roach sisters’ new prose collaboration.
Margaret Roach is an author, editor, and media consultant. Formerly the editorial director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she is now president of Margaret Roach Inc. She writes a series of blogs about gardening, including awaytogarden.com, and The Sister Project, which she co-founded, and is collaborating on a book with her sister, Marion.
Marion Roach Smith is the author of The Roots of Desire: The Myth, Meaning and Sexual Power of Red Hair, Dead Reckoning, and Another Name for Madness. Formerly a staff writer for the New York Times, she is a commentator for “All Things Considered” and co-founder of The Sister Project.
Nancy Fitzpatrick is a stalwart supporter of culture and arts in the Berkshires. Owner of the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, she is actively involved with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mass MOCA, and chair of the Berkshire Creative Economy Council.
Jan Freeman is a poet and director of Paris Press, based in Ashfield, Mass., in the foothills of the Berkshires. She is one of the editors of Sisters: An Anthology and the author of Simon Says, Hyena, Autumn Sequence, and a new manuscript, Blue Structure.
Sisters: An Anthology includes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that capture the unique and profound relationship between sisters. Writers include Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Edwidge Danticat, Alice Walker, Joan Baez, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Mary Karr, Grace Paley, Wendy Wasserstein, Maxine Kumin, Rita Dove, Dorothy Parker, M.F.K. Fisher, and many other well-known and emerging writers. Visit http://www.parispress.org and sistersananthology.blogspot.com for more information about SISTERS.
Free
413.298.3926
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