Monthly Archives: August 2011

The BSO and a stellar cast of soloists deliver a superb performance of the opera Porgy and Bess

Tanglewood, Friday, August 26 The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, an opera in three acts by George Gershwin, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward, Ira Gershwin The Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bramwell Tovey and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus conducted by John Oliver … Continue reading

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Gil Shaham and Morgan Freeman illuminate Film Night at Tanglewood

Film Night at Tanglewood

August 20, 2011

Reviewed by Lesley Ann Beck

[LENOX, Mass.] Tanglewood was a marvelous place to be last Saturday evening, from the very pleasant late summer weather to John William’s highly entertaining Film Night performance with the Boston Pops Orchestra. While Williams and the Pops are reason enough to venture to the Shed on an August night, Saturday’s performance also boasted two wonderful guests: actor Morgan Freeman and violinist Gil Shaham. Freeman’s narration of a William Faulkner story was pure pleasure to hear and Shaham’s beautiful playing added depth and poignancy to the score of Schindler’s List.
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Barrington Stage presents The Game, an elegant, treacherous musical

The Game

A Barrington Stage Company presentation of a musical in two acts

Book and lyrics by Amy Powers and David Topchik; music by Megan Cavallari

Directed by Julianne Boyd

Music direction by Darren Cohen

Choreography by Daniel Pelzig

Cast in order of appearance:

Sarah Stevens as Cecile

Christianne Tisdale as Madame de Volanges

Rachel York as Marquise de Merteuil

Graham Rowat as Vicomte de Valmont

Amy Decker as Madame de Tourvel

Chris Peluso as Danceny

Joy Franz as Madame de Rosemonde

Taylor Anderson, Michael Hewitt, Stephen Horst, Analisa Leaming, Hannah Richter, Amanda Salvatore, and Michael Wessels as Ensemble

Reviewed by Lesley Ann Beck

The Game, a musical based on the eighteenth-century epistolary novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, is a rich, elegant evocation of the excesses rife in the French aristocracy in the years before the French Revolution: the Marquise de Merteuil and her former lover the Vicomte de Valmont plot, manipulate, and scheme, but do it in sumptuous surroundings, within the framework of courtly etiquette, however duplicitous. Barrington Stage Company first presented the world premiere of The Game in 2003, and this summer’s gorgeously appointed, fascinating new production, skillfully directed by Julianne Boyd, does not disappoint.
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