Shakespeare & Company presents Celebrating Jewish Plays, an immersive weekend of staged readings held over the holiday weekend today through Sunday at its Lenox, Mass., campus. Plays include The Price by Arthur Miller, Roz & Ray by Karen Hartman (featuring Tony-nominated actor John Douglas Thompson), Here There Are Blueberries by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, and The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein. Select scenes will be presented from a new theatrical adaptation of the National Jewish Book Award-winning novel The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish. (Fri-Sun, Oct 10-12)
Grammy Award-nominated folk-pop singer-songwriter Leslie Mendelson bookends our region with performances at the Parlor Room in Northampton, Mass., tonight at 7:30pm, and again at the O+ Festival in Kingston, N.Y., on Saturday at 7:30pm. Mendelson’s soulful, inviting vocals and song style have drawn comparisons to everyone from Carly Simon to Carole King to Laura Nyro to Julie London, with the sophisticated melodicism of Burt Bacharach and the pop instincts of Fleetwood Mac. (Fri, Oct 10; Sat, Oct 11)
Tony Award-nominated pop-jazz singer-actress Ann Hampton Callaway will inaugurate the Mahaiwe’s new offshoot venue, the Indigo Room, with a cabaret performance on Saturday at 8pm. Callaway, who is also a pianist, composer, and lyricist, is widely known for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series The Nanny, and for writing songs for Barbra Streisand, who has included Callaway numbers on seven of her albums. Folk-blues storyteller Guy Davis follows Callaway into the Indigo Room on Sunday at 8pm. (Sat, Oct 11; Sun, Oct 12)
The Orchestra Now, under the baton of Leon Botstein, plays a program that spotlights Eastern European works from the late-19th and early-20th centuries at the Bard Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm, and Sunday at 2pm. The works being performed confront cultural struggles resulting from the oppressiveness of the Russian Empire. Creative Resistance to Empire includes works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and others.
The genre-blending group Chuwi brings the sounds of Puerto Rico – featuring a bold mix of plena, indie, and Caribbean rhythms – to Club B10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., on Sunday at 8pm. Hailing from Isabela, this dynamic quartet has quickly built a loyal fan base through their infectious energy, heartfelt lyrics, magnetic live performances, and a headline-making collaboration with Bad Bunny. (Sun, Oct 12)
Also of note:
Compass Trio brings its blend of Indian raga, flamenco, jazz, and deep grooves to Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm.
Legendary avant-garde composer and pianist Anthony Coleman and Albany-based poet and performer Matthew Klane are at Mount Ida Preservation Hall in Troy, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm.
Pianist Joanne Polk performs works by Bach, Amy Beach, Cécile Chaminade, Alberto Ginastera, and David Shenton at Spencertown Academy in Spencertown, N.Y., on Sunday at 3pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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