Mahaiwe Celebrates the Holidays with Films, Concerts
 |
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will host an array of events this holiday season, including Darlene Love's "Love for the Holidays" concert on Friday, Nov. 29, and a cabaret concert celebrating the Great American Songbook and other classics on Saturday, Dec. 28, both at 8 p.m
In honor of Love's live appearance, the Mahaiwe will screen the documentary "20 Feet From Stardom," which focuses on backup singers including Love, on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 7 p.m. Food historian Francine Segan will give a talk about Gilded Age holiday entertaining on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 6:30 p.m. In addition, the theater will screen two Met: Live in HD opera broadcasts and several family-friendly classic movies detailed below.
"We're happy to celebrate this winter with joy and nostalgia — the best parts of the holiday season," said Mahaiwe Executive Director Beryl Jolly.
Love's concert will feature songs from the holiday season performed with her full band and backup singers. Every year since 1986 (with the exception of the writers' strike in 2007), Love has appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" during the last episode of the calendar year to perform her classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." Rolling Stone proclaimed her "one of the greatest singers of all time" and The New York Times declared that her "thunderbolt voice is as embedded in the history of rock and roll as Eric Clapton's guitar or Bob Dylan's lyrics." Love was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Tickets are $30 to $80.
"20 Feet From Stardom" by award-winning director Morgan Neville shines a spotlight on backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21st century. Along with rare archival footage, the film boasts interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger, and Sting. Tickets are free for Mahaiwe members who have purchased Love's concert tickets or $7 (general admission).
World-renowned jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli returns to the Mahaiwe for the third time, this time teaming up with Broadway singer and actress Jessica Molaskey, his wife, and his father, legendary jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. The trio will be joined by Martin Pizzarelli on bass, Konrad Paszkudzi on piano, and Kevin Kanner on drums. Their cabaret show features original interpretations of songs from the Great American Songbook mixed with contemporary classics. Tickets are $25 to $80.
Francine Segan's food lecture series concludes with "Gilded Age Holiday Entertaining," about high tea, cotillions, lawn parties and formal dinners — when even picnics were served on fine china. Segan will also demonstrate how to create 19th-century garnishes; attendees will be able to taste 19th-century tidbits and get recipes of the era. Tickets are $20 to $25. This lecture series is sponsored by Guido's Fresh Marketplace and Salisbury Bank.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters, continues through the holidays with Puccini's Tosca, starring Patricia Racette as the title character and Roberto Alagna as her devoted lover on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 1 p.m. (encore broadcast). Met Music Director James Levine will lead a new production of Verdi's Falstaff, directed by Robert Carsen on Saturday, Dec.14, at 1 p.m. (encore on Sunday, Dec. 22, at 1 p.m.) Tickets are $18 to $25.
Opera expert Scott Eyerly gives an introductory talk about each Met opera at 11 a.m. before the live broadcast. Tickets are $10 per lecture (general admission). Podcastsare available after each opera on the Mahaiwe website.
The Mahaiwe will offer an encore screening of London's National Theatre: Live in HD production of Macbeth directed by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford and starring Kenneth Branagh in his first Shakespeare performance in over a decade on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 to $25.
The longstanding Mahaiwe tradition of screening "The Wizard of Oz" on Thanksgiving is on hiatus this year because Warner Brothers is holding distribution in anticipation of the film's upcoming 75th anniversary. In its place, the Mahaiwe will show Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's classic musical, "Singin' in the Rain" (1952, rated G), starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor, on Saturday, Nov. 30, at 4 p.m.
As a holiday gift to the community, on Sunday, Dec. 22, at 7 p.m., the Mahaiwe will host a free screening of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), starring James Stewart and Donna Reed. Families can also enjoy the animated favorites "Polar Express" (2004, rated G), directed by Robert Zemackis and narrated by Tom Hanks, on Friday, Dec. 27, at 5 p.m. and Classic Cartoons / Looney Tunes Part 2 (1930 to 1969, rated G) on Sunday, Dec. 29, at 4 p.m. Tickets are $7 (general admission).
Purchase movie tickets at the Mahaiwe box office in person to avoid additional online service fees. Movies at the Mahaiwe are sponsored by Don Buchwald & Associates.
The Mahaiwe will also host a wide variety of community events presented by Berkshire Bach Society, Close Encounters With Music, The Yiddish Book Center, and Deborah Zecher.
