This Month’s Featured Article

Above: Tony-nominated Kate Baldwin and John Scherer in The Prom (2024, Sharon Playhouse), Directed by Carl Andress. Photo by Aly Morrissey.

“Give my regards to Broadway” … and a pile of money, too. It’s been quite a year for shows playing on the Great White Way. With the arrival of Othello starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal – a show that got lukewarm reviews, at best – that was quickly surpassed in box office revenue and very positive reviews by George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck, the season was off to a roaring start. 

With prices creeping perilously close to $1,000 per ticket, it may have been the roar of the ATMs. Recognizable stars certainly had something to do with the draw, further enhanced by Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk headlining the latest revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham starring in The Queen of Versailles, and Idina Menzel “swinging and singing” in Redwood.

It’s summertime – find your straw hat

Clearly one of the many benefits of summer in the Hudson Valley, the Litchfield Hills, and the Berkshires is the abundance of live performances of music, dance, and vibrant theater.  When one layers in the affordability of participation in this summer spectacular, one can hardly wait for the season to begin and the calendar settings to be locked down.

The trusted venues for first-class performance have wasted no time in announcing schedules that will require some careful planning to not miss any of the approaching remarkable performances. Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA, the Berkshire Theatre Group with venues in Pittsfield and Stockbridge, MA; Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, MA; the Sharon Playhouse in Connecticut; the Mac-Haydn in Chatham, NY; and music stalwarts Tanglewood in Stockbridge, MA, and Music Mountain in Falls Village, CT; all boast energetic, rewarding schedules.

Setting the trap

The Mousetrap, a time-tested classic by Agatha Christie, is so popular that performances will bookend the summer season. Berkshire Theatre Group will stage the play on its Colonial Theatre stage in Pittsfield from July 24 through August 17. Should you miss that opportunity, Sharon Playhouse will offer its own rendition from September 26 through October 5.

With stages in two Massachusetts communities, BTG celebrates the luxury of running shows simultaneously. The season announced for The Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge is both diverse and very compelling. The Tony Award winning drama The Elephant Man, based on the life story of Joseph Merrick, whose physical deformities made him the target of ridicule and exploitation, will eloquently present a story of beauty and kindness from May 28 to June 15. If laughter is more the expectation of an evening in the theater, Out of Character written and performed by Ari’el Stachel will run from June 30 through July 26.

Masters of the stage

From August 7 through 30, the Unicorn’s Larry Vaber Stage will be the setting for a truly exceptional event. Academy Award-nominee and Emmy winner Renee Taylor will star in the celebration of life, love, and loss, Dying Is No Excuse. The play presents the true story of her partnership in life with the late actor Joe Bologna. Directing this thoroughly engaging story is none other than Elaine May, award-winning actor, director, and screenwriter, who not only can claim a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and a BAFTA Award, but also an Honorary Academy Award for her directing and writing talents.

Mastery is on full display throughout Lenox’s Shakespeare & Company offerings of new, traditional and classical stage presentations. From the world premiere of The Victim by Lawrence Goodman through simultaneous productions of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and the Bard’s The Taming of the Shrew in August, artistic director Allyn Burrows has managed to place a grand production of Romeo and Juliet on the Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheatre stage from July 12 to August 10. Multiple stages from intimate to grand give the professional company venues that always seem perfectly fitted to stellar performances.

Music, maestro

Musicals have long been the staple at Sharon Playhouse, and the 2025 summer season will be no exception. Million Dollar Quartet, the celebration of a legendary recording session at Sun Studios in Memphis that brought together  Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins will be on stage from June 20 through July 6. The Olsen Stage will then be transformed to allow for the presentation of Annie from July 26 through August 10, replete with tempting sing along classics like “Easy Street” and “Tomorrow.”

If you simply can’t get enough of the heartwarming story of a girl and her dog, then Annie will also be on the boards at the Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY, from August 7–17. With its usual formidable schedule of musicals throughout the summer, the Mac-Haydn will begin the season with A Grand Night for Singing, the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, followed by Guys and Dolls, A Bronx Tale, Jesus Christ Superstar and, following Daddy Warbucks and company, Jimmy Buffet’s Escape to Margaritaville.

With a vibrant connection between the stage and film adaptations, Hannah Corneau who appeared as Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked will bring her directing insight to Rhinebeck’s Center for the Performing Arts as The Wizard of Oz occupies the stage with performances scheduled from June 6 to 29. The production draws on the adaptation by the Royal Shakespeare Company of L. Frank Baum’s original story buoyed by memorable music – “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!”

Concerts of a lifetime

As residents, transients, and “summer people” have come to expect, Tanglewood  is offering up a truly robust schedule of classical and popular programs. The appearance of James Taylor during the Fourth of July holiday has become an annual tradition and, ahead of the creation of a Broadway-bound work featuring his music, he’ll fill the 5,100 seats of The Shed both July 2 and 3. If seating inside is sold out, an ample lawn with convenient video screens and space for 15,000 devoted fans awaits the more casual viewer.  

The contemporary performances bookend the summer offerings of the Boston Pops and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Nas, Jon Batiste, Emmylou Harris, Graham Nash, Lynyrd Skynrd, Bonnie Raitt, and John Legend will all fill the seats and populate the lawn. Classical music fans will be rewarded with appearances by Emmanual Ax; Yo-Yo Ma, who who will join the BSO for three appearances in August; and conductors Andris Nelson, Keith Lockhart, and John Williams.

With a more intimate venue, Music Mountain will present Sunday afternoon concerts including piano performances by virtuoso Misha Dichter in June and the venue’s own creative/managing director Oscar Espina Ruiz performing with the Cuarteto Lantinamericano in late August. Saturday afternoon jazz concerts will also fill out its 94th summer schedule.

On your toes

When Jacob’s Pillow opens its season on June 25, it will begin a summer season filled with stunning performances, anticipated premieres, and a variety of educational programs. Located in Becket, MA, “the Pillow” has spent the off-season completely redoing the Doris Duke Theatre as it joins the Ted Shawn Theatre and the outdoor Henry J. Leir Theatre in presenting an impressive array of international dance companies and soloists. In what has become a tradition, the season will climax with the residency of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from August 20–24.

Not to be overlooked

Since schedules are often updated by venues that present one-night only shows, many of them of great interest, checking websites for updates and added performances is a good use of time between morning cups of coffee. The Ulster Performing Arts Center and the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, NY, have a number of kid-friendly programs this summer and a captivating concert with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Brandy Clark coming in August.

Stissing Center for Arts and Culture in Pine Plains, NY, is also catering to the younger crowd with David Engel Pirate School during the day on June 14, then turning over the stage to adult fare that evening with RoundTop Burlesque Review. For fans of Celtic music, Nova Scotian sisters Casie and Maggie will perform on June 19.

Finally, the Daniels Art Center at Bard College, Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA, again hosts the Great Barrington Public Theater, an ambitious project that brings new plays together with local theater professionals in a vibrant venue. The theater is intimate, the ticket prices are most reasonable, and the quality of the performances is first rate. Their season begins on June 5 with How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos followed with Madame Mozart, The Lacrimosa in July and The Best Medicine for August.

Measure twice, cut once

While that may be great advice when the incidental carpentry project crops up, it’s also a model for making sure that anticipation isn’t displaced with disappointment this summer. Each of the venues listed has a very active website that carefully curates the schedule; offers brief summaries of the play, the musical, or dance offerings; and indicates the directors, choreographers, stars, etc. Conveniently, as you might expect, there is also the ready opportunity to securely purchase tickets.  

You’ll notice that the prices of an imaginative evening in a local theater will not resemble current Broadway ticket fare, meaning that you could enjoy an entire summer of remarkable, weekly performances for less than the price of one night in the Big City.

In the immortal words of Irving Berlin, “There’s no business like show business!”