Arts
by Gina Beavers | Mar 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Channel your inner Streep — or Brosnan — and dance your way to a special screening of the smash hit movie musical Mamma Mia! Don’t worry if you don’t know the words, there will be onscreen lyrics. Come dressed as your favorite character and sing-along!...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
It’s the second day of the High Mud Comedy Fest and you’re invited to MASS MoCA to get in on the fun. Headlined by Mike Birbiglia of This American Life, comedians will spend the late afternoon and evening making funny. At 4 p.m. you can take a...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 14, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Did you know the National Park Service hosts artists-in-residence? I didn’t! But Ben Cosgrove is that guy. Cosgrove is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Methuen whose “work mainly explores the intersection of sound and place.” Which means his...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 12, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Podcast
T.X. Watson, a transgender student at Hampshire College, feels grateful to the academic institution for the level of aid they received. However, upon graduation this spring, T.X. will still have more than $45,000 in debt between student loans and credit card debt for...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 12, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Well, we’re just about half way through March, which means in a couple of weeks being a woman will once again be out of fashion. But you still have time to celebrate Women’s History Month by checking out the Floyd Gallery’s 17th annual Women in...
by Chris Rohmann | Mar 9, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
The artistic nexus of the 1920s known as the Harlem Renaissance or New Negro Movement is remembered as a great flowering of black talent and a golden age in American cultural history. But at least one of its members, looking at it from the inside, saw it quite...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 8, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
There are so many settings in which you can find art exhibitions: Cafes, restaurants, hospitals, hotels, and of course college campuses. UMass Amherst, as a matter of fact, has four galleries under the auspices of the Fine Arts Center. The Student Union Gallery,...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 7, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
The Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival will screen a special director’s cut of Adam Benzine’s 2015 documentary, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah. It took French journalist, philosopher, and filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, 12 years to make his...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Although March has come in like a lion, Smith College’s Lyman Conservatory is the perfect antidote to Western Massachusetts’ gray skies and chilled winds. Head to Smith today and take spring’s glorious promises which include an array of beauties like...
by Chris Rohmann | Mar 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
That wizard of wise foolery known as Avner the Eccentric is back. Avner Eisenberg is a genius of physical comedy and quick-witted clowning whose whimsical website states that “as a kid his passions were snakes and juggling. He wanted to be a doctor, but after a year...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 5, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Lady Bird Takes Flight at Amherst Cinema First time director and actress, Greta Gerwig delivers a brilliant film about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a mother and her teenaged daughter in Sacramento in the early aughts. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson...
by Chris Rohmann | Mar 3, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
As I wrote in this space last year, “So much of what we see and create seems newly topical and timely” since the rise of Trump. “Everything is now filtered through a horrifying new prism, taking on fresh meaning and urgency.” A striking example of the “Trump Effect”...
by Gina Beavers | Mar 2, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
Sam’s Pizzeria and Cafe is nestled in the 200 block on Main Street in downtown Northampton. Like its owner, Sam Harbey, the eatery is down to earth and friendly. “We’ve been here for 11 years in the same spot,” Harbey says sitting in one of the glossy wood benches...
by Gina Beavers, Chris Goudreau, Sarah Heinonen | Mar 2, 2018 | Articles, Arts
And The Kids at the Stone Church // SATURDAY, March 3 Northampton-based indie rock group And the Kids heads to Brattleboro on March 3 to play at the Stone Church, a former All Souls Unitarian Church renovated into a music venue. The band recently released its latest...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Review
There are three exhibitions on display at the Eric Carle Museum this month, but the one that will tug at the book lover’s heartstrings is Eighty Years of Caldecott Books. It’s a collection of first edition Caldecott medal-winning children’s books that date from 1938...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, Arts
Tonight is Arts Night Plus in Amherst from 5-8 p.m. Check out this free monthly cultural event in downtown Amherst. It’s a mixed bag every month but you can look forward to taking in some visual art, a little poetry, maybe a musical performance, or a...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
You know spring is coming when Old Deerfield says it is, and Old Deerfield has spoken. The Old Deerfield Spring Sampler Craft Fair is at the Big E this weekend. The fair features 150 juried artisans in all crafts media, including goodies for garden and Easter-themed...
by Chris Rohmann | Feb 27, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
A troupe of high-spirited performers bound onstage and solicit goofy suggestions for characters and situations from the audience. Then they improvise short, snappy scenes based on those prompts. The comedy flows from the incongruities and the improvisers’ quick wits....
by Gina Beavers | Feb 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Hampshire College invites you to enjoy a few hours of action packed films from the Telluride Mountain Film Festival. Mountainfilm travels year round and worldwide with a selection of its best short films. This year, 13 films are screening at Franklin Patterson Hall...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
As the mighty Shakespeare (or the Martian) might say, “here’s the rub”: Anthony and Rosemary are two clueless, lovelorn neighbors. Anthony’s father Tony and Rosemary’s mother Aoife are locked in a bitter land feud. Rosemary has been...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music
It’s Friday and who wouldn’t want to celebrate the legendary man in black: Johnny Cash. Flathead Rodeo plays an original blend of rockabilly and the music that influenced it. Flathead Radio is: Mistress Miriam on vocals, Theo Aronson on upright bass,...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 22, 2018 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Social media expert, New York Times best-selling author, and pop-critic, Luvvie Ajayi takes the stage at Mount Holyoke College as it continues its celebration of Black History Month. If you’re in the mood for great intelligence, wit, and charm, this is the place to...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 20, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Comedian Kim “Boney” DeShields is funny, except when she’s talking about making people laugh. “It’s an art,” she says matter of factly. “You have to be smart to make people laugh. You have to be well read and knowledgeable about a lot of things. But most of all,...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 20, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
March of the Penguins Just because it’s school vacation doesn’t mean you have to sit at home and play games on your phone all day. Go see the feel good movie March of the Penguins at KidsBestFest at the Academy of Music. It’s a free film festival for...
by Sarah Heinonen | Feb 19, 2018 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
For those people who just can’t wait for Spring to come, there will be a sneak peek from March 3 to 18 at the Botanical Garden of Smith College, 16 College Lane, Northampton. Fields of Flowers: The Annual Spring Bulb Show will be open to all. Right now, the...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 19, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Hidden Figures As Elon Musk’s Space X program soars, NASA’s illustrious history seems a little dull. One way to put back the shine is to see Hidden Figures, the three time Oscar nominated film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae....
by Gina Beavers | Feb 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Liz Longley A subtle Sunday is in order. Go check out Berklee College of Music graduate and award-winning songwriter, Liz Longley. Longley performs at the Iron Horse Music Hall. Some think of Shawn Colvin or Paula Cole when they think of Langley, but recognize she...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Nicholas Ryder Quintet at the Bing Arts Center It’s a good night to check in at the Bing Arts Center and warm up with some cool jazz. Nicholas Ryder Quintet will dig into some songbook standards and tunes by the legendary likes of “Long Tall Dexter”...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Stage
Robin Hood Sherwood Forest never gets old. Since the 15 century, Robin Hood (dressed in Lincoln green) and his lovable merry band have been roving the forest robbing the rich and giving to the poor in swashbuckling heroic style. Throughout film and theater, this...
by Chris Rohmann | Feb 13, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
If, like me, you thought the National Theatre’s production of One Man, Two Guv’nors, either on NT Live or Broadway, was the funniest, wittiest farce you’ve ever seen (with Noises Off a close second), chances are you’ll enjoy Young Marx. It’s on this weekend at Amherst...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 8, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
Bernard “Ben” Banville’s life sounds as if it was an unfettered celebration of creativity. Born in Quebec, for many years Banville made his home in Greenfield. He was a musician, a photographer, and an artist who spent years on the Pioneer Valley artscape...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 8, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Valentines Day, February 14, catch Cardcaptor Sakura: The Sealed Card. Romance and intrigue, Japanese anime style. South Hadley’s Tower Theaters, 19 College Street, South Hadley. 9 p.m. $12.50 in advance; $14 at the door. towertheaters.com. — Gina...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Podcast
Recently, the Advocate wrote about President Donald Trump’s derogatory comments about Africa, Haiti, and El Salvador during an immigration discussion – calling them shithole countries. Now we are pleased to continue the conversation and simultaneously...
by Gina Beavers | Feb 1, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
The great mysteries of the southernmost countries of Pan America lie in the enormity of its territory, its rich history, and the shroud of chaos and human suffering. But Nobel-winning Mexican poet Octavio Paz beautifully sums up the artistic heritage of these nations....
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 31, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
I grew up on Shakespeare and musicals, so what was I to make of Something Rotten!, the hit musical that mercilessly lampoons both? Love it for its origins or hate it for its irreverence? Having missed it on Broadway, where it earned a double handful of Tony...
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 29, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
Constellations, playing at TheaterWorks in Hartford through Feb. 18, looks at love and second chances through a prism of reflecting and refracting fun-house mirrors – or more accurately, through a spectrum of infinite chances. Nick Payne’s two-hander isn’t exactly a...
by Gina Beavers | Jan 30, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
The nondescript building in which Anchor House of Artists is located is misleading. It’s exterior is plain and white, sitting on the very edge of Pleasant Street seconds from the highway. There is no extra signage to alert visitors that they have, indeed,...
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 24, 2018 | Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
You wouldn’t think a library would be a likely setting for high drama, but here we are with two playing at once. In Hartford, Sharon Washington is telling the story of her girlhood, when she lived, not virtually but literally, in a library. And in West Springfield,...
by Gina Beavers | Jan 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
Walking into the genteel Von Auersperg Gallery, one is reminded that Western Massachusetts is truly a bastion for visual arts venues. One is also reminded of how many choose to host phlegmatic collections of New England landscapes rather than those that may court...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, News
Henry Rollins embodies the punk ethos in more ways than one — he’s well known for his role as vocalist for 1980s hardcore punk band, Black Flag, and he’s also an actor, orator, photographer, writer, television and radio host, as well as a comedian. Rollins is stopping...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Get Out With Staff Picks
Lilith of the Valley: Fierce Femmes of the 413 // SATURDAY The official after-party for the Pioneer Valley Women’s March this year being held in Northampton, brings even more woman power to close out the day. A night of music and activism will continue to pump through...
by Jack Brown | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Film, Newsletter
Few artists have captured the public’s fancy like Vincent Van Gogh. His richly textured landscapes, interiors, and portraits, built up with a painterly impasto as inviting as a rich ganache, seem to grow in popularity with every passing year. And while the calendar...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
In this time of long-overdue comeuppance for sexual harassment and assault, I approached my annual reckoning of gender equity in theater with fresh eyes. Nationwide, women continue to be devalued and underrepresented in almost all areas of theatrical creation, on and...
by Jennifer Levesque | Dec 11, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Uncategorized, Valley Show Girl
About a month ago, Valley musician Nate Martel came into the Advocate office to drop off his debut solo album “Short Stay.” Being a fan of his role in rock group, Outer Stylie, I was pumped to get the CD into my car as soon as I left work. And that I did. Recorded at...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 7, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
“Bedlam” is an apt moniker for the ever-adventurous theater company going by that name. Their whirlwind adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility recently wowed New York (and comes to Cambridge beginning this weekend – see below). Now they’re back on sort-of...
by Letters to the editor | Dec 4, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Letters from our Readers, News
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Perhaps surprisingly, the Brits do American musicals really well. The National Theatre, in particular, has a long history of reinvigorating Broadway classics. The theater’s extensive relationship with Stephen Sondheim’s works continues with its current hit production...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble, rooted in the Valley for over two decades, is spreading its limbs. Long the area’s prime site for physical-theater training and performance that explores the reaches of expression through voice and movement, the company has lately...
by Chris Goudreau and Meg Bantle | Nov 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter
The Pioneer Valley is home not only to a bountiful music scene, but to dozens of open mics where artistic communities blossom. Open mics are places where the generational lines between artists blur while they’re jamming out to a bluesy ballad or talking about their...
by Lena Wilson | Nov 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Stream Queen
Dearest streamers, as the year draws to a close and we start to gather with our families (chosen or otherwise), it’s customary to take stock of how our lives have changed in the past 365 days. To say that the entertainment industry and all its iterations have changed...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 14, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Though it harks back more than 100 years, Jack Fry’s Einstein! shuns the usual retrospective approach to solo shows portraying celebrities. This one is both timeless and time-stamped. The title character appears to us “from the beyond,” complaining about the popular...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 8, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Note: An earlier version of this article contained several errors. They have now been corrected. In 1999, Time magazine named its pick for “the song of the century.” That song was “Strange Fruit,” perhaps an odd choice from the songbook of the era that gave birth to...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Nov 6, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Film, Music, News, Newsletter
Ted Neeley is not the second coming of Jesus Christ. But he does play one in the extremely popular show and accompanying 1973 movie Jesus Christ Superstar. The show went from being protested in the streets to one of the biggest Broadway sensations, touring around the...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 5, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
The current world-premiere production at Hartford Stage (through Nov. 12) is “based on a true story,” according to the publicity, which is otherwise unforthcoming about its real-life inspiration. No matter. The premise for Sarah Gancher’s Seder is dramatic enough to...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
As artists, how can one watch the millions of refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, not to mention countries in Africa and Asia, and not want to address this issue? That question provoked the latest handmade production from Sandglass Theater, the world-class...
by Steve Musal | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Art flourishes in uncertain times. From the critical poetry of World War I and the post World War II Beat Generation to the innovative music of the Beatles and the Stones and beyond, during and after strife, creative types will make art. They rush to prove Jonathan...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Stage, Stagestruck
“Once upon a time / There was a boy or a girl / Who ran far away from home …” But this is no fairy tale. Runaways, which opens this week at UMass, is a grown-up musical about homeless children — kids who have fled from home and are living on the street....
by Advocate Staff | Oct 23, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Staff Picks
A Haunted Evening at Gateway City Arts // SATURDAY The weekend before Halloween is usually when all the fun happens. The Valley is full of events going on, and this just happens to be one of them. There will be many treats in store. Halloween-inspired cocktails and...
by Lena Wilson | Oct 23, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Film, Newsletter, Stream Queen
The leaves are changing, there’s a chill in the air, and every cafe has restocked their pumpkin spice syrup. Fall is finally here, and if you’re interested in movies, that means two things: nearby Oscar season means there are finally some good films in theatres again,...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 19, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
The timing was kind of perfect. Last week, just as the U.S. men’s soccer team was being eliminated from qualifying for next year’s World Cup, Hartford’s TheaterWorks was opening The Wolves, an energetic if puzzling play about women’s soccer. Make that girls’ soccer....
