Tony Award-winner Ari’el Stachel brings Out of Character, his one-man show, to Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre, in Stockbridge, Mass., running today through Saturday, July 26, at 7pm. In his show, Stachel -- who won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in The Band’s Visit -- brings to life a full ensemble of characters from his past, weaving an expansive autobiographical tale of his Yemeni-Jewish mixed ethnicity, mental health struggles, and artistic success. (Tue, Jul 8-Sat, Jul 26)
Trinity Irish Dance Company makes its debut at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Mass., in the Ted Shawn Theatre, today through Sunday, in a program featuring works by Michelle Dorrance, Melinda Sullivan, and Trinity’s founder, Mark Howard. Howard’s uniquely Irish-American company was the birthplace of progressive Irish dance, an innovative movement genre which blends traditional Irish step dance with an engaging interpretation of contemporary world influences. (Thu, Jul 10-Sun, Jul 13)
The 13th annual Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., takes place today through Sunday night, featuring performances by a who’s who of contemporary Yiddish music, including vocalists Eleanor Reissa and Joanne Borts, clarinetist/bandleader Michael Winograd, and culminating with an all-star group performing “The Great Yiddish-American Songbook,” with Frank London’s Yinglish Orchestra & Singers. The festival also includes workshops, dancing, lectures, and conversations with artists. (Thu, Jul 10-Sun, Jul 13)
Choreographer Kyle Marshall brings Femenine -- his evening-length dance piece set to composer Julius Eastman’s (1940-1990) jubilant work of the same title -- to PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., tonight and Saturday at 8pm. The event features music performed live by the BlackBox Ensemble, featuring bells, vibraphone, brass, woodwinds and strings. (Fri-Sat, Jul 11-12)
Singer-songwriter Marc Broussard brings his self-styled “bayou soul” to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight at 8pm. Listeners may hear traces of Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and Allen Toussaint in Broussard’s soulful blend of Delta-flavored funk, blues, R&B, rock, and pop. (Fri, Jul 11)
Juno Award-winning Canadian Inuk singer-songwriter Elisapie brings her blend of pop modernity and tradition, drawing on a deep connection to her territory and her language, Inuktitut, to the Spiegeltent at Bard Summerscape in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Sunday at 6pm. In 2023, Elisapie released the album Inuktitut, consisting of ten Inuktitut-language covers of classic pop and rock songs, including Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” and “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones. (Sun, Jul 13)
Also of note:
Percussionist-bandleader Sunny Jain brings his singular blend of experimental jazz with South Asian influences to the Spiegeltent at Bard Summerscape in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., tonight at 8pm. Jain is perhaps best known as founder of the band Red Baraat, which plays a frenzied fusion of bhangra, hip-hop, jazz, and rock.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks has written Jubilee -- a new adaptation of Scott Joplin’s 1910 ragtime opera Treemonisha -- which will receive a work-in-progress reading at Bard’s Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., today through Sunday.
Western Mass.-based sister duo The Nields bring their organic harmonies and their perceptive, literary compositions couched in a blend of pop, folk, and indie-rock to Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday at 6pm.
Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia will perform works by Bach, Golijov, and other Latin composers at the Darrow School in New Lebanon, N.Y., on Saturday at 7:30pm, as part of the Tannery Pond series presented by Capitol Region Classical.
Early music ensemble Aston Magna performs a program of Music from Thomas Jefferson’s Library, featuring works by composers including Purcell, Mozart, and Weber, at St. James Place in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday at 3pm.
Pop-rock singer Glenn Tillbrook of Squeeze performs at the Assembly in Kingston, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm, followed by South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Sunday at 8pm.
Pianists Jasper Zimmerman and Esteban Castro perform in Berkshire Jazz’s Rising Star concert series at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute’s West Street Theatre in Lenox, Mass., on Tuesday, July 15, at 7:30pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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