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Rogovoy Report 9/3/21

The cultural highlights for our region this weekend include some much-needed comedy, Broadway, classical, jazz, modern opera, folk music … plus a whole lot more.

It’s a good weekend for those who like to laugh. Tonight at 6pm at the Mount in Lenox, Mass., bestselling novelist and record seven-time Moth GrandSLAM champion Matthew Dicks presents an evening of personal storytelling and improv centered on the theme of "Transformation." Matthew will be telling hilarious and heartfelt stories of parenting mishaps. classroom calamities, life-and-death struggles, and disastrous decisions all leading to hope and perhaps a little redemption.

And then on Saturday night at MASS MoCA in North Adams at 8pm, standup comedian Alex Edelman holds forth with his unique brand of comedy that garnered him the Best Newcomer Award at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the first American to be so honored with since Arj Barker won in 1997. Edelman’s comedy includes tales from his Orthodox Jewish upbringing, meeting the Duke of Cambridge, and crashing a party for white supremacists.

The Knights Orchestra perform a free outdoor concert Saturday at 4pm at the Clark in Williamstown, featuring a new arrangement of traditional Norwegian folk music as well as Edvard Grieg's “Holberg Suite, Op. 4” along with works by Anna Clyne and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The concert is being staged in conjunction with the Clark’s Visions of Norway exhibition.

Folk music icon Tom Rush brings down the curtain on the summer season at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington tonight at 8pm. Rush helped shape the folk revival in the 1960s , recording early versions of songs by such then-unknowns as Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, James Taylor and others.

American-German cellist Julian Müller performs a concert of music for solo cello at the Garage at Chatham, N.Y., on Saturday at 6pm. The program will be anchored by music from Bach’s solo cello suites as well as modern classics including David Wilde’s “The Cellist of Sarajevo.”

The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to the Mahaiwe Theater in Great Barrington for the 14th time, performing three works: “A Field of Grass,” “Brandenburgs,” and its signature work, “Aureole.”

The Joe Rose Jazz Ensemble, a kind of Berkshire all-stars of jazz, perform on Saturday at 5pm at Chesterwood in Stockbridge. Players include Daniel Broad on bass, Charlie Tokarz on woodwinds, and Soren Smedvig on trumpet.

The curtain comes down on the Colonial Concert Series: Featuring Broadway Favorites

Outside Under The Big Tent at The Colonial Theatre Parking Lot in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday night at 7pm with Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award-winner Rachel Bay Jones. Best known for originating the role of “Heidi Hansen” in the Original Broadway Cast of the musical "Dear Evan Hansen," Jones will share songs and stories that have shaped her life and career, including numbers by Stephen Schwartz, David Yazbeck, and Pasek & Paul among others.

As part of PS21's Modern Opera Fest, Composer and vocalist Kate Soper brings "Ipsa Dixit," a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in music, to the venue in Chatham, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm. “Ipsa Dixit" is a theatrical chamber opera for soprano, flute, violin, and percussion, exploring the intersection of music, language, and meaning. The opera blends elements of monodrama, Greek theater, and screwball comedy, and the work’s six movements draw on texts by thinkers including Aristotle, Plato, Freud, Wittgenstein, Jenny Holtzer, and Lydia Davis.

Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.