The cultural highlights in our region in coming days include yet another living legend of Broadway – this region is downright lousy with them come summer – a legendary indie rock band; a new political comic drama based an old Shakespeare play; and a landmark anniversary for one of the region’s premiere contemporary art galleries.
Newly reunited 1990s indie-rock legends Luna brings its whispery vocals, pop melodies, weaving electric guitar riffs, and chugging bass lines to MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday at 8pm, ushering in the summer season at the sprawling cultural laboratory. Described by Rolling Stone as “the best band you’ve never heard of,” Luna, along with bands like the Feelies and Yo La Tengo, was a key player in the early-1990s revival of the New York sound patented by the Velvet Underground in the 1960s. Indeed, the band opened concerts for that legendary outfit’s brief 1993 European reunion tour. The group itself only just reunited last year after a decade apart, and fans of Dean Wareham’s melodies and meandering guitar lines are celebrating throughout the land, as well as in the Berkshires.
“The Taming,” a politically charged comedy written by award-winning playwright Lauren Gunderson, gets its regional premiere at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox beginning tonight and running through July 30. Directed by Nicole Ricciardi, the 90-minute play, inspired by Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” exposes America’s overheated political rhetoric – really? Overheated political rhetoric? What could that mean? - through the passions of three slightly insane women who just might be revolutionary geniuses. Talk about from the headlines to the theater stage….
Broadway veteran and award-winning actress Leslie Kritzer brings her cabaret act, “Leslie’s Back!,” to Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield on Sunday at 9pm and again on Monday at 8pm. Kritzer’s show includes stories of her life on and off Broadway, plus show tunes, of course. Kritzer will be accompanied by her husband, Vadim Feichtner, on piano.
And over in Hudson, Carrie Haddad Gallery celebrates the anniversary of its opening on Warren Street a quarter century ago with a 25th Anniversary Exhibition featuring works by Leigh Palmer, Dale Goffigon, Ginny Fox, and Leon Smith. Carrie Haddad was a pioneer of the arts-fueled revival of Hudson, N.Y., when she was the first to open an art gallery in 1991, when other than antiques shops, the downtown was otherwise desolate. Carrie stuck it out for many lean years, and helped pave the way for the explosion of interest that Hudson has finally enjoyed in the last decade or so. A reception for the artists and for the gallery will be held on Saturday from 6 to 8pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of Berkishire Daily and the Rogovoy Report, available online at rogovoyreport.com
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