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5.29.11
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5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller



5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
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5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
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5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
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5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF



5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend



6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....



5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak



5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
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5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy





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[MUSIC REVIEW] Ann Hampton Callaway and Duke Ellington Orchestra, Mahaiwe Theatre

9.17.06
review by SETH ROGOVOY of BERKSHIRE LIVING and WAMC NORTHEAST PUBLIC RADIO

(Great Barrington, Mass., September 17. 2006) -- With its vintage marquee fully restored and installed just days before, the newly renovated Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, threw itself a gala party on Saturday night that will long be remembered by all who attended.

On a picture perfect evening, attendees congregated around the corner from the theater under a tent for cocktails and appetizers before the Berkshire Highlander bagpipers led the crowd on a traffic-stopping parade across Main Street, where the participants and merely curious gathered to await the moment when the marquee lights would be turned on once and for all, signifying yet another milestone in the revival of these century-old gem of a theater.

Once the switched was pulled and the lights were twinkling like a sky full of stars, the crowd broke out in cheers and headed inside for the evening’s main attraction: September Songs, a concert featuring Broadway musical star Ann Hampton Callaway and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Led by trumpeter Barrie Lee Hall Jr., the Orchestra warmed up the glittering crowd exactly with what one would expect: a selection of Ellington's best-known hits, including “Satin Doll,” “Take the A-Train,” and “Mood Indigo.” While few of the players in the group probably ever knew or played under the legendary bandleader himself, the group sounded terrific, as much a tribute to the theater's marvelous acoustics as it was to the musicians themselves.

Unfortunately, not the same thing can be said for Ann Hampton Callaway's brief and somewhat erratic program. Apparently never having played with or rehearsed with this band before, the singer and the musicians seemed to have a hard time coordinating the rhythms and dynamics needed to put across such well known standards as “Blue Moon” and “Lover Come Back to Me” and lesser fare from Callaway's new album, “Blues in the Night.” Once or twice she had to stop the band in order to get them to play at the right tempo or even the right song, and the rapport between diva and orchestra could most charitably be described as frosty.

Callaway boasts an enormous vocal instrument in terms of range and volume, which was both her saving grace and her undoing. On the one hand, given the lack of coordination with the orchestra, she might have been easily drowned out, but with her huge voice Callaway is a one-woman orchestra herself, and she seemingly never met a crescendo she didn't like. While in her choice of repertoire and in her stage patter she paid tribute to classic jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and Billie Holiday, her own style owed more to the over-the-top, go-for-broke pop styles favored by contemporary singers like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

No one could argue with Callaway's virtuosity on ballads like “In a Sentimental Mood,” which showed off her wide range and deep, luscious tone. One could just have hoped for a little more subtely, a little more dynamics, and perhaps a lot more feeling for the material itself, which Callaway seemed to present merely as notes to be sung rather than as songs to be interpreted. Perhaps hers is a skill best appreciated in a more intimate, cabaret setting.

Nevertheless, the evening was an unqualified success, as partygoers continued on to a lovely post-concert dinner at the Berkshire South Regional Community Center where good food, drink, and conversation was accompanied by some of the Berkshires own best jazz talent in a quartet led by jazz trumpeter and bandleader Jeff Stevens.








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