Interdisciplinary artist Samantha Shay brings Life in this House is Over, an original dance-theatre piece about the social awkwardness of grief, to PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., tonight and Saturday at 8pm. The work, having its U.S. premiere at PS21, was inspired by the writing of Anton Chekhov and takes place in a tragicomic world at a funeral and wake. The large-scale performance combines theater, music, and dance, colliding into each other in unexpected ways. (Fri-Sat, Aug 15-16)
Multiple Grammy Award-winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth returns to the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., on Saturday at 8pm, to explore new sounds and expand their adventurous repertoire. Frequent collaborator William Brittelle joins the group to workshop Millennium Rift, a new immersive multimedia song cycle with a soundscape that emerges from Roomful of Teeth’s otherworldly vocals and various 1980s-inspired sonic elements. (Sun, Aug 16)
Creole music royalty C.J. Chenier will deliver his soulful vocals along with his virtuoso accordion-driven blend of rock, zydeco and blues at Opus 40 in Saugerties, N.Y., on Sunday at 7pm. CJ is the son of the legendary Clifton Chenier, who invented the style of music we know today as zydeco and who was the first Creole musician to be recognized with a Grammy Award. Raised in this indigenous American culture with its own distinctive language, cuisine, and music, C.J. Chenier was hand-picked by Paul Simon for his 1990 Rhythm of the Saints album and toured with Simon for his “Born at the Right Time Tour.” C.J. has also played with the likes of John Mayall, Gin Blossoms, Ray Parker, Jr., Jimmie Vaughan, Sonny Landreth, and Buckwheat Zydeco. (Sun, Aug 17)
Also of note:
Electro-pop duo Home Body -- Western Massachusetts’s answer to Eurythmics -- brings its moody sounds and multimedia manipulations to Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Mass., on Saturday at 8pm.
Svetlana and the New York Collective (a.k.a. Delancey Five) headlines the fourth annual Bousquet Jazz Festival at Bousquet Mountain in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday from 4pm to 9pm. Other performers include Rob Putnam’s Good Vibes Organ Trio, Michael Benedict and Bopitude, and the Peggy Stern Trio.
On the heels of the release of her latest album, Dylanology (Live), Joan Osborne will sing from the Bob Dylan songbook at the Colony in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday at 4pm.
Cult favorite Freedy Johnston brings his rootsy, original folk-rock to Tourists in North Adams, Mass., on Sunday at 8pm.
Singer-songwriter Iris Dement brings her original country-folk sounds to Assembly in Kingston, N.Y., on Sunday at 7:30pm.
You can do some time travel back to the 1980s at SPAC in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Sunday at 7:30pm, when Billy Idol shares the bill with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
The Callisto Quartet, joined by bassoonist Peter Kolkay, will perform works by Joan Tower and Haydn’s “Emperor” Quartet at Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, N.Y., on Sunday at 4pm.
The life and work of Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist William Finn – whose best known musicals include Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee -- will be celebrated at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Mass., on Tuesday, August 19, at 8pm. The event will showcase selections from Finn’s own work as well as songs by a new generation of musical-theater writers mentored by Finn through BSC’s Musical Theatre Lab, which he co-founded in 2006.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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