Larry Murray News

For this classic musical, Barrington Stage went big - and it pays off in a rollicking, ribald KISS ME, KATE with top notch singing, dancing, and saging. Cole Porter's musical gets a great cast that does his music proud, while not mining the genius of Bella and Samuel Spewack's book for every possible laugh.

As the summer days near, BroadwayWorld rounded up our worldwide community - from Australia to Spain, California and beyond! - to bring you our top picks for the best of summer theater in each of our main markets! Looking for the best of the summer venue and production offerings in your area? Let's hear from a sampling of the BroadwayWorld experts!

No rural area has as many summer stages as the Berkshires of Massachusetts whose offerings overflow its borders.

A wild ride from start to finish, THE OTHER PLACE gives Marg Helgenberger a juicy role for her return to the stage.

It's a role that can be a tour-de-force and Marg Helgenberger starts in the Berkshires at Barrington Stage Company in the hopes the production will find its way to the West Coast. Christopher Innvar directs.

Unlike 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' there is no simple lesson to be drawn from Clybourne Park, only the realization that racial reconciliation in America still has a long way to go.

Anything is sweeter than this mother and daughter story.

With this production of Much Ado About Nothing, Barrington Stage enters the ranks of Berkshire theatre companies that have proven their expertise with the most successful, and challenging, of all playwrights.

In MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, Olympia Dukakis delivers a searing performance in its title role. Dukakis is more than just a masterful actor, she delivers a Mother Courage who is strong, sassy and simply astonishing in her complexity. The entire ensemble of sixteen actors raises the reputation of Shakespeare & Company - already renowned for its lush, intelligible renditions of the Bard's greatest works - to new heights.

One of America's most popular plays for summer theatres, SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR offers a light alternative in this summer in the Berkshires which is better known for serious classics, new musicals and cutting edge new plays.

In one of the most unusual musical stories since Sweeney Todd, we enter into the world of transgendered people living in the rural south and the lives they lead in a hostile environment. With country and bluegrass music the difficulties and challenges of becoming who you are is explored with both brutal honesty and tender understanding.

The book was a hit when published years ago, and THE CHOSEN on stage is no less wonderful in this adaptation written and directed by Aaron Posner. With a first rate cast at Barrington Stage, this tale of two fathers and their sons is both gripping theatre and food for thought.

At Shakespeare & Company the fusion of a classical concert with a dramatic story explores the relationship between Tchaikovsky and Mrs. von Meck. Much -though not all- is revealed in this story about the composer vis his letters, his music and the intertwining of theatre, music and dance.

Those who love theatre that is fresh and new are finding their surprises at the nine year old Berkshrie Fringe.

Heather Lind as Eliza and Robert Sean Leonard as Professor Higgins shine in this five act play that is George Bernard Shaw's most popular.

With Kate Burton as 'mother' the Williamstown Theatre Festival stages a fluid though viscous Hapgood, Tom Stoppard's complicated send up of James Bond, spy stories and particle physics.

The timeless musical OKLAHOMA! is on stage again in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

Christmas is never easy, even if you are King. With three sons and continually plotting wife, there is no rest for the mighty.

It may be an economy sized production, but it fills the bill as one of the funniest musical comedies ever conceived. Williamstown Theatre Festival goes all out to deliver a full course of music, theatre and dance for this venerable joyride.