Summertime, and the livin’ is greatly enhanced by a calendar ripe with performances. In a Valley that comes alive with music, theater, and every other incarnation of the arts, it can be tough to know where to turn. We’ve compiled a short list of highlights from the season to come, but with an overabundance of options from which to choose, these are just starting points. Turn over a rock here, and you’ll find a festival, concert, or shindig of some variety, and many of them are top shelf, including two so big and readily found that they’re not included here: the multi-band Green River Fest in July and the late-June Wilco Solid Sound Fest at Mass MoCA (which includes a rare unplugged Wilco performance). It’s a short summer around these parts, so here are some ways to pack the warm days with top-shelf entertainment.
McQueen of Comedy
Comedian/Producer Jesse Adams and musician Tim Oakley of Phantogram teamed up to create the act dubbed McQueen. The show is unlike much of anything else, and is a strange convergence of slideshow, video, impression-based comedy, and music. Adams controls loops via an effects pedal, and gives voice to onscreen talking heads whose mouths move a la bad animation. In “Ginger Corvette,” for instance, the floating heads of Conan O’Brien and Prince Harry show up alongside an orange corvette, and they’re given voice by Adams, who sings and talks his way through weird and funny lyrics culminating in the Prince-esque chorus. This odd audio-visual treat visits the area twice in June.
June 6, 8 p.m. $18, The Garage, 111 South St. (Lobby), Pittsfield, (413) 997-4444, www.berkshiretheatregroup.org.
June 12, 8 p.m. $10, The Parlor Room at Signature Sounds, 32 Masonic St., Northampton, (413) 341-3317.
From the Top
High above the Valley, atop Mount Holyoke, you’ll find the Summit House in Skinner State Park. From there, the views of our end of the world are particularly spectacular. On some days, you can see planes flying below, in the landing pattern for the Northampton airport. This July, the hills indulge their habit of coming alive with music when the Summit House hosts a series of Thursday evening concerts.
On July 9, you can catch Banish Misfortune, and on July 16, the Dan Daniels Band. On July 23, Zoë Darrow and the Fiddleheads take the stage, as does Old Country Road on July 30.
Thursdays July 9-July 30, Summit House, Skinner State Park, Rt. 47, Hadley, www.friendsofmhr.org.
Old School Meets New
Gaga’s the word at Tanglewood in June. In what seems at first blush a particularly strange musical marriage, old-school crooner Tony Bennett combines his swinging take on American standards with the dazzling stage presence of Lady Gaga. See them together, and the frisson soon gives way to a sense that Gaga’s singing ability and versatility (not to mention her wardrobe) are of sufficient depth that she isn’t overshadowed by one of the giants of jazz vocal performance. Alongside her, Bennett seems less like a throwback to an earlier day than an inviting emissary who brings the past to smooth-voiced life. Somehow, the combo works beautifully. This summer, the two bring their high style to Tanglewood.
June 30, 8 p.m., $30-179, Tanglewood, 297 West St., Lenox, bso.org.
A Cinderella Story
New York Theatre Ballet visits the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival this summer to offer Donald Mahler’s Cinderella. It’s a show that should please even the younger set at one hour long, and the unexpected abounds, with dancing clocks and furniture, and a moment of miraculous transformation when Cinderella’s rags become a marvelous gown. Aspiring dancers can also get in on a free, all-ages, all-levels ballet class on June 28. (Call 413-243-9919 to register).
June 24-28, $25-35, $10/kids, Doris Duke Theatre, 358 George Carter Rd., Becket, (413) 243-0745, jacobspillow.org.
Tartans and Tatties
If your idea of a good time is dressing up in a plaid skirt and throwing telephone poles, have we got a fest for you. Of course, we’re not talking an ordinary skirt, but the manlier kilt. And if you can throw a telephone pole, you deserve to wear anything you want. The annual gathering of all things Scottish goes down in July, and it includes a slew of Scottish fun, including Highland dancers, sheep herding, wool spinners, Highland-style athletic games, Celtic music, and, one hopes, haggis or the abovementioned tatties (potatoes).
July 18, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., $5-16, under 6 free, Look Park, 300 North Main St., Florence, (413) 862-8095, glasgowlands.org.
Downtown Sounds
Stearns Square, in the middle of downtown Springfield, will be the scene of many a concert this summer. The acts come from all parts of the musical spectrum: the series begins with jazz singer Jane Monheit (pictured) July 2, and ends with veteran Valley rockers FAT Aug. 27. In between, you’ll find Jon Butcher Axis (July 9), Willie Nile (July 16), Cinderella’s Tom Kiefer (July 23), zydeco accordionist Dwayne Dopsie (July 30), Denny Laine (of Wings and Moody Blues notoriety, Aug. 6), Dana Fuchs (Aug. 20). FAT, it’s worth noting, is the only show at Court Square instead of Stearns.
Thursdays July 2-Aug. 27, 7 p.m., free, Stearns Square (FAT at Court Square), Springfield, springfielddowntown.com.
Greasy No More
The South has it all over the North in the food department — a Texas chicken-fried steak has been known to induce rapturous reveries in diners, and the spectrum of barbecue styles spans the map of the old Confederacy. Unfortunately, the South’s spectacular tastes come courtesy of equally spectacular amounts of fat, sugar, and other buzz-kills. Virginia Willis addresses this problem in her book Lighten Up, Y’all, a successor to her earlier hit Bon Appetit, Y’all.
Y’all can get your share of Chef Willis during her mini-tour of the region. First up, Willis visits the Chef Culinary Conference: Future of Food, Power of the Chef at the UMass Amherst. That event requires a high-priced registration, but just afterward, Willis heads to the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, where she’ll offer a book-signing and cooking demo. In August, she’ll offer a cooking class at Different Drummer’s Kitchen in Northampton.
June 9, 7 p.m., Odyssey Bookshop, Village Commons, 9 College St., South Hadley, (413) 534-7307.
Aug.18, 6:15p.m., Different Drummer’s Kitchen, 34 Bridge St., Northampton, (413) 586-7978, differentdrummerskitchen.com.
Here’s How
Shakespeare & Company is, of course, primarily known for its productions of the Bard. Right now, however, an S&Co stage is filled by the not-so-old stylings of playwright Sarah Treem. The How and the Why, with actors Tod Randolph and Bridget Saracino (pictured), addresses matters of science, family, sex and survival of the fittest. Treem is a writer/producer for television shows The Affair, House of Cards and In Treatment.
Through July 6, Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble St., Lenox, shakespeare.org.
In the Interest Of
Full Disclosure, a new festival, happens in downtown Greenfield June 19-20. The fest features “new theater pieces commissioned to share unique experiences.” Full Disclosure includes works by Lindel Hart, Amy Swisher, John Sheldon, and Joe Dulude II. Each show runs twice nightly at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
June 19-20, various locations, downtown Greenfield (see olddeerfieldproductions.org for more info).
