A New Nutcracker
As Christmastime makes its annual approach, many an audience braces itself for a vigorous regime of Nutcracker watching. Those who’ve grown a touch tired of Tchaikovsky’s ballet have a different choice this year, courtesy of Greenfield’s Celtic Heels Performance Company, who’ll put a bit of the Irish craic (a good time) into the old chestnut via The Celtic Nutcracker.
In place of ballet, Irish dance takes the fore. The music arrives via the traditional Celtic playing of Adam Sweet and Celtic Fingers. The storyline also gets a makeover, with the heroine dreaming of enchanted toys, then traveling to Tir Na Nog, the land of eternal youth. There, she’s entertained by many flavors of Celtic dance, including Scottish, Manx, Welsh, Galician and Breton styles. Sugarplum fairies may, sources say, be supplanted by leprechauns.
Dec. 13, 2 and 7 p.m., $11-20, Bowker Auditorium, UMass Amherst, celticnutcracker.com.
Brattleboro Ski Battle
Brattleboro’s Harris Hill hosts its annual President’s Day Weekend ski jumping competition this winter on Feb. 14 and 15. Named for Brattleboro’s Fred Harris — who founded both the Brattleboro Outing Club and the legendary Dartmouth Outing Club — the ski jump has hosted regional and national championship competitions 18 times since 1923, when it first served as the site of the National Ski Jumping Championships. Last year’s event featured 40 skiers from the U.S., Canada, and Europe traveling at 60 mph as they soared more than 300 feet through the air, and this year’s competition promises much of the same. Live music, good food, and a beer tent promise to reduce the tension a bit.
Feb. 14-15, Harris Hill Ski Jump, Cedar Street, Brattleboro, (877) VT-SOUTH, harrishillskijump.com.
Winter Wonderland, Valley-style
By the time you reach the massive candles marking the exit of Bright Nights, you may have had your fill of lights for a while, and you may need a top-up for the hot chocolate. Still — by then it’s clear why the drive-through holiday light extravaganza has persisted for 20 years. Bright Nights is a slow carnival ride through (if you’ve timed it right) a white-clad wonderland. One tableau after another sails into view, with thousands of lights gleaming on newly luminous snow. It’s like being in a postcard from a distant era. The massive annual undertaking accomplishes that thing the holidays seem to always call for — it blends nostalgia, charm, and beauty, marking the season as a time set apart.
Through Jan. 4, $18-21, Forest Park, Sumner Avenue, Springfield, brightnights.org.
Bibliothecaphilia
What defines a library? What is our societal relationship with this institution of books and knowledge that straddles private and public spaces? And in this age of library apps and eBooks, does the physical — not to mention philosophical — space offered by the library remain relevant?
Bibliothecaphilia, a new exhibit coming to Mass MoCA this winter, explores the institution of the library and features works by artists Meg Hitchcock, Susan Hefuna, Dan Peterman, Jena Priebe, Jon Gitelson, and Clayton Cubitt (whose work is pictured).
Opens Jan. 24, Mass MoCA, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams, (413) 664-4481, massmoca.org.
Hometown Rock
When it comes to Springfield rock bands, a few names loom particularly large. Among them is All That Remains, a band that’s turned out its metal-tinged rock since 1998 and done well on the national stage. They’re currently riding high with a new single, “No Knock,” and an album called The Order of Things, scheduled for a February release. On Dec. 19, the crew comes home to play a show with regional up-and-comers Hope Lies Within, City of Homes, Sakara, and Crossing Rubicon in an event dubbed the Lazer 99.3 Annual Hometown Throwdown.
Dec. 19, 7 p.m., $19.93/advance, $25/door, Pearl Street Nightclub, 10 Pearl St., Northampton, (413) 586-8686.
Spirits of Christmas Past
Two Christmas traditions are celebrated on three area stages this month. The Berkshire Theatre Group and Old Deerfield Productions present separate versions of A Christmas Carol, Dickens’ beloved story of the mean old miser scared out of his misanthropic ways by three midnight spirits. And Shakespeare & Company gives that classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life an old-time-radio treatment. Though the former is set in Victorian London and the latter in a 1946 New York sound studio, both take place on life-changing Christmas Eves and carry similar messages of community and caring.
A Christmas Carol: Academy of Music, 274 Main St., Northampton, Dec. 18-21, $7-$30, (413) 584-9032, academyofmusictheatre.com.
A Christmas Carol: Colonial Theatre, 111 South St., Pittsfield, Dec. 14-22, $27-$37, (413) 997-4444, berkshiretheatregroup.org.
It’s a Wonderful Life: Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble St., Lenox, weekends Dec. 5-28, $10-$60, (413) 637-3353, shakespeare.org.
A Cold Winter’s Night
Pothole Pictures shows the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night this Friday and Saturday. Each screening is preceded by live music at 7 p.m., half an hour before the film.
Dec. 5-6, 7:30 p.m. $6/adult; $4/children, Memorial Hall, 51 Bridge Street, Shelburne Falls, (413) 625-3052.
From Brazil
Brazilian dance troupe Grupo Corpo, established in 1975, offers a dazzling mix of physicality and prowess. The group is decidedly Brazilian in flavor, taking turns toward jazz one minute, ballet the next, then pirouetting to music from Brazil’s European roots — the piece Sem Mim pays homage to a Portuguese song cycle by medieval troubadour Martin Codax in which maidens pine for their loves gone to sea.
Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m., $10-42, Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, UMass-Amherst, (413) 545-2511, fac.umass.edu.
