Dave Read

Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular moved to July 3

The Boston Pops has issued an update on its first-ever webcast of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, following the news that the Independence Day Celebration has been moved to July 3, due to the necessary cancellation of the July 4 concert in response to inclement weather predictions.

The first-ever webcast of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, sponsored by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, will stream live on July 3 at 8 p.m. on www.bostonpopsjuly4th.org and www.cbsboston.com, bringing the event to a worldwide audience. Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra will be joined by special guests The Beach Boys, Megan Hilty, and the Boston Children’s Chorus for the July 3 concert. Governor Deval Patrick will narrate a newly commissioned Boston Pops arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner in honor of the national anthem’s 200th anniversary in 2014.

Boston Pops rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture

This year’s Spectacular will keep alive several of the Boston holiday traditions including the Pops’ now classic Independence Day rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, which features real cannons, the live ringing of area church bells, and fireworks. Also on the program is The Stars and Stripes Forever, which includes the ceremonial American flag drop and confetti shot. The Spectacular will be capped off by a magnificent fireworks array that fills the skies above Boston with a stunning exhibition of color and breathtaking pageantry.

2014 A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood

With a bevy of harmonious beauties in tow, and bluesman Keb Mo, Garrison Keillor returned to the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood for the 15th year in a row. This is a case where familiarity breeds competition and comparison. Audience members were heard bragging about being at the 1st Tanglewood show, or having their greeting read by Keillor at last year’s. We even overheard a debate on the lawn over the relative merits of Wailin Jennys, The DiGiallonardo Sisters, each of whom have made several appearances and both today.

Pre-show serenade for Tanglewood picnickers

Longest encore in radio show business

And knowing a late June evening in the Berkshires had to be savored, he stretched the show until every moment of daylight had been exhausted. There’s just a quiet moment on stage when the broadcast ends at 8PM; the applause builds steadily, evincing the audience’s appetite for more, which gets fulfilled, in ample measure. Today, Garrison and company kept the party going until after nine. They improvised an impressive setlist, including such audience favorites and sing along standards as Going to the Chapel, Brown-Eyed Girl, Sweet Caroline, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Honky Tonk Woman, You’ve Got a Friend, and Amazing Grace.

It was a beautiful day in the Berkshires – what they used to call “chamber of commerce” weather; for more, do visit the American Public Media do a great job maintaining audio and video archives of A Prairie Home Companion.

Protected: Public Berkshires images

A Prairie Home Companion turns 40

June 23, 2014 Article by Dave Read

Happy 40th Anniversary Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion, broadcasting the final program of their 39th year on June 28, 2014 at Tanglewood. The Berkshires have been on the show’s itinerary every year since 2000; the July 2, 2006 show, featuring Meryl Streep, was recorded for the PBS series Great Performances.

I got hip to A Prairie Home Companion around 1980, at a time in my life when sitting still indoors with the radio on was the last thing on my mind. Today, that’s my favorite pastime! Whatever it was about the show that got my attention initially is lost to memory; it may have been an ad for the Sidetrack Tap, Bob’s Bank, or Bertha’s Kitty Boutique, or a musical guest, rarely heard on radio, such as Chet Adkins, or Johnny Gimble?

In reporting the News from Lake Wobegon accross the decades, Garrison Keillor relates anecdotes on the denizens of his imagination that are imbued with the same pathos and insight as you’ll find in a great novel.

Never an ardent reader of the comics, nor fan of TV serials, nevertheless I got totally hooked on Buster the Show Dog, the drama that ran from December 1986 to June 1987, with Father Finian and Timmy, the sad rich teenage boy. I was an English teacher then, and would tape shows to replay highlights of for my students.

No show is more memorable than the Feb. 14, 1987 one, which included Keillor’s bombshell announcement that the show would be shutting down later that year. I remember him saying he wanted to return to a life that included Saturdays! Who could begrudge him that? I remember also that show had Bobby McFerrin performing an 8 minute version of The Wizard of Oz – the whole damn movie, not just Over the Rainbow!

Bertha’s Kitty Boutique

Sometime after the show had returned, I got the bright idea to send them an idea for a new product for Bertha’s Kitty Boutique. My creation was Air of the Dog, an aerosol spray of dog scent, to be marketed to “Our lapless friends, persons who don’t care for cats.” Someone from the show wrote back: “cute idea, mister, but we write own own material here.”

In 2000, by which time I was covering Tanglewood here, A Prairie Home Companion began making annual appearances in the Koussevitsky Music Shed. where Keillor had his second date with his wife, an alumnus of the B.U. Tanglewood Institute.

I got to watch the dress rehearsal for the 2001 show, which afforded me the opportunity to have confirmed the genius of Keillor and the brilliance of the progrm. Can you imagine showing up late in the week at some venue or another, assembling a disparate cast of musical artists to be integrated with the house band and acting company, and then being ready by 6 PM Saturday to go live with 120 seamless minutes of material that flat-out entertains millions strong women, good-looking men, and above average children? Phew!

I chatted with Russ Ringsak, the show’s truck driver, who also is responsible for much of the local information that Keillor uses when he talks about whatever place the show is coming from. Arriving before everybody else, Ringsak has time to visit local establishments and get a feel for the place’s ambience.

My favorite local bit was the skit they did in 2001 re-visiting the legendary 1850 picnic on Monument Mountain where Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne met and began their important literary friendship. As related by Keillor, the party included Emily Dickinson, who would have been a teenager at the time, because “nobody said she wasn’t there!”

The chief value of A Prairie Home Companion for me is that not only does it make the suspension of disbelief easy, but it presents an alternate universe where I feel not only welcome but also satisfied with being troubled by frets and woes that are within the ken of an ordinary schmoe to deal with. It’s the version of life that God had in mind when we first were fitted-out with appetites – like wanting a little more of this and that – a little more time with someone or other, maybe, but not so much that anybody gets hurt. Or hurt too bad or for too long, anyway.

Pre-show serenade to after-party

The 2 hour show heard on the radio gets augmented at Tanglewood (maybe elsewhere, too) by a 10-15 minute pre-show serendae among the Shed audience and picnicers on the Lawn, and then an encore that sometimes goes on so long it feels like another show. You can see examples of both on our Youtube channel.

George Shearing tribute at Berkshire Gateway Jazz

Article by Dave Read

The 3rd Annual Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend, scheduled for various venues in Lee, MA June 5-8,2014, features The Sounds of Shearing, paying the music of former Lee resident Sir George Shearing. Sounds of Shearing is led by Charlie Shoemake on vibraphone, a member of one of Shearing’s Quintets, and includes Joe Bagg on piano; Ron Anthony, guitar; Luther Hughes, bass; and Bill Goodwin, drums. Concert is Fri. June 6 at 8pm, First Congregational Church; tickets are $20 advance; $25 at the door. Tickets & info.

Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend is ponsored by Berkshire Gateway Preservation, Inc., in collaboration with Berkshires Jazz, Inc.

The Sounds of Shearing starts its first-ever northeast tour in the town where Sir George spent his summers for 10 years (in fact, the band will be staying at the very residence where Shearing stayed, the home of Dee Dee Fraser). Sir George Shearing was one of the most beloved and honored jazz pianists of all time. His widow Ellie will introduce the band via video.

Sonny and Perley Thursday June 5

The festival opens on Thursday, June 5 with the exciting duo of Sonny Daye and Perley Rousseau. After a successful performance at last year’s event, Sonny & Perley return by popular demand. The duo achieves a rare musical symbiosis, having spent the last several years developing and perfecting their unique blend of jazz, bossa nova, American songbook standards, and international cabaret, which has become their musical signature. (Spectrum Playhouse, 8pm, $15 advance seating, $20 at the door). Tickets & info.

New Black Eagle Jazz Band, Saturday June 7

The June 7 concert marks the return of the New Black Eagle Jazz Band to the Berkshires after a five-year hiatus. Perhaps the country’s most renowned exponent of traditional jazz, this seven-piece band has delighted audiences all over the world for more than 30 years, with their huge and eclectic repertoire of jazz from the 1920s and 30s. (First Congregational Church; $20 in advance; $25 at the door).

The Black Eagles have a mature mastery of this great American music, from Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton to early Duke Ellington to Cole Porter; from blues to rags to popular songs of the era. In fact, the New York Times’ John Wilson wrote that the Black Eagles are “so far ahead of other traditional bands…there is scarcely any basis for comparison.”

Williamstown Theatre Festival 2014 schedule

Article by Dave Read

Williamstown Theatre Festival will open their 60th annicersary season on July 2, 2014 with June Moon, by Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman. Directed by Jessica Stone, June Moon runs through July 13, and will be followed by Living on Love, July 16 – July 26, 2014, which features soprano and Super Bowl star Renée Fleming. The final production of the 2014 Mainstage season is The Visit, July 31 – August 17, 2014, with the venerable Chita Rivera making her Williamstown Theatre Festival debut.

Updated April 19, 2014: Casting and special events for the 2014 Summer Season at Williamstown. On the Main Stage: Nate Corddry, Holley Fain, Christopher Fitzgerald and Nancy Opel join the cast of June Moon, directed by Jessica Stone, July 2- 13; Justin Long joins Renee Fleming in the World Premiere of Living on Love, July 16 – 26, and Judy Kuhn, Howard McGillin, Roger Rees, and more join Chita Rivera in The Visit, July 31 – August 17.

WTF’s 60th season will also include Just Call Me Nikos on July 7. It will be a star-studded tribute to one-time WTF artistic director Nikos Psacharopoulos, featuring Festival veterans Dylan Baker, Kate Burton, Olympia Dukakis. On July 21, there will be an evening of comedy with Lewis Black, and the outdoor Free Theatre production of Robin Hood directed by Stella Powell-Jones will run July 16 – 19; July 22 – 25, 2014, at Poker Flats Field at 7:30 PM.
By Larry Blamire; Directed by Stella Powell-Jones

LATE-NIGHT CABARET SERIES

Goodrich Hall at 10:30 PM, $25;
July 10 – 12;
July 24 – 26;
August 7 – 9, 2014

WTF family, both established and emerging, sing, dance, and surprise you in these intimate and unforgettable evenings. Cabarets are held in Goodrich Hall, just a few blocks from the Main and Nikos Stages. WTF donors receive first access to these limited seating events.

WTF Mainstage – June Moon, July 2 – July 13, 2014

By Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman;
Directed by Jessica Stone

Earnest and gullible young lyricist Fred Stevens boards a train in Schenectady bound for New York City, determined to make a name for himself in the thriving Tin Pan Alley scene. However, the life he’s imagined is rife with seductive distractions — namely dames — that threaten to derail his dream of penning the next big ditty. Both bitterly funny and deliciously literate, legendary humorists Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman celebrate and skewer the perishable pop of yesteryear.

The cast of June Moon includes Nate Corddry (‘Fred’), Holley Fain (‘Eileen’), Christopher Fitzgerald (‘Benny Fox’), Kate MacCluggage (‘Lucille’), Nancy Opel (‘Goldie’) and David Turner (‘Maxie’).

WTF Mainstage – Living on Love, July 16 – July 26, 2014

By Joe DiPietro and Garson Kanin
Based on the play Peccadillo by Garson Kanin;
Directed by Kathleen Marshall
With Renée Fleming

Soprano Renée Fleming, who sang the national anthem at this year’s Super Bowl, takes the WTF stage as celebrated diva Rachel DeAngelis. When her husband, the fiery and egomaniacal Maestro Vito DeAngelis, becomes enamored with the lovely young lady hired to ghostwrite his long-delayed autobiography, Rachel retaliates by hiring her very own – and very handsome – ghostwriter to chronicle her life as an opera star. As the young writers try to keep themselves out of the story while churning out chapters, the high-energy – and high-maintenance – power duet threatens to fall out of tune for good. A sparkling new comedy from two-time Joe DiPietro, adapted from a work by Garson Kanin and directed by Kathleen Marshall.

Blake Hammond (‘Bruce’), Justin Long (‘Robert Samson’), and Scott Robertson (‘Eric’) will all join Ms. Fleming in the World Premiere of Living on Love.

WTF Mainstage – The Visit, July 31 – August 17, 2014

Book by Terrence McNally;
Music by John Kander;
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Choreographed by Graciela Daniele;
Directed by John Doyle;
With Chita Rivera.

In her Festival debut, Broadway legend Chita Rivera embodies Claire Zachanassian, the oft-widowed richest woman in the world, who returns to the hardship-stricken town of her birth. The locals pray that her wealth will bring them a new lease on life, but the carefully plotted renewal she offers carries a dreadful price. Tony Award-winning director John Doyle helms this incendiary musical – one of the last collaborations between the incomparable John Kander and Fred Ebb, with a book by Tony Award winner Terrence McNally and choreography by Graciela Daniele.

In addition to Ms. Rivera, the cast of The Visit will include Matthew Deming (‘Lewis Perch’), David Garrison (‘Peter Dummermut’), Judy Kuhn (‘Matilde’), Howard McGillin (‘Frederich Kuhn’) Nancy Opel (‘Annie Dummermut’) and Roger Rees (‘Anton’).

Williamstown Theatre Festival tickets and Box office contacts

Special Discount Ticket Bundles are available for purchase until March 14, 2014 at www.wtfestival.org. Single tickets for the 2014 Williamstown Theatre Festival season will be available in April through the WTF website (www.wtfestival.org) and by mail order using WTF’s season brochure (call 413 597 3400 to join the mailing list). The WTF Box Office will open on June 3rd at which point tickets may be purchased online, by phone, or in person at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.

1000 Main St. – Rt. 2
Williamstown, MA 01267
Box office – 413-597-3400
web: wtfestival.org

Williamstown Theatre Festival driving directions

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