The highlights of the cultural weekend in our region include cutting edge dance; blues and gospel; early music; folk music, theater, and what I consider to be one of the greatest rock bands of all time – The Pretenders.
The Pretenders perform their only North American concert this summer at MASS MoCA in North Adams tonight at 8pm. When they first burst on the scene in 1979, the Pretenders combined punk rebellion with New Wave melodicism, in hits including “Brass in Pocket,” “Talk of the Town,” and “Back on the Chain Gang.” Along with fellow rockers including Patti Smith and Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde upended the prevailing stereotype of what it means to be a woman leading a rock and roll band. Chrissie Hynde – who is also famous as an animal rights activist -- will do an artist’s talk about her original paintings on Saturday at 2pm.
At Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Mass., tonight through Sunday, choreographer Caleb Teicher teams with composer Conrad Tao in More Forever, a highly anticipated new work that explores tap, vernacular jazz, and Lindy Hop on a stage filled with a thin layer of sand. The dance takes place on a custom-built sandbox stage and features Tao’s original contemporary score for piano and electronics, performed live. Teicher himself states “[More Forever] is about the passage of time and the relationships we make with other people, the sadness and beauty of watching people come and go in our lives.”
Neo-trad folk-rock group The Mammals bring their unique brand of music to Hancock Shaker Village as part of the Shaker Barn Music concert series on Saturday at 7:30 pm. Lead singer-songwriters Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda will be accompanied by performers on fiddle, banjo, guitar, organ, bass, and drums. The Mammals self-identify as “subversive acoustic traditionalists” or a “party band with a conscience.”
Meanwhile, over at PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., it’s the annual Blues and Gospel weekend curated by and starring the fabulous Rory Block, who this year enticed guitarist Duke Robillard and singer Shemekia Copeland to join in the festivities, which take place tonight through Sunday.
Tonight at 7:30 at Hudson Hall, Aston Magna presents a baroque program of Bach, Pachelbel and Villa Lobos, including Bach's Brandenberg Concerto No. 4, Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue (Zheeg), and Vivaldi's Concerto for sopranino recorder. The program repeats on Saturday at 6pm at St James Place in Great Barrington. Remember, it’s early music, so don’t be late.
In the theaters, Chester Theatre Company presents Martín Zimmerman's "On the Exhale"; Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Mass., presents “Gertrude and Claudius,” a new play by Mark St Germain based on the novel by John Updike, and “Time Flies and Other Comedies” by David Ives; Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., presents “Twelfth Night,” “The Taming of the Shrew” and the Tony Award-nominated drama, “The Children”; Berkshire Theatre Group presents “The Skin of Our Teeth” and “Working: A Musical”; and Williamstown Theatre Festival presents two world premieres: “Grand Horizons” by Bess Wohl and “Tell Me I’m Not Crazy” by Sharyn Rothstein.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of Berkishire Daily and the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com