REVIEW: Barrington Stage Company “Joan”

Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, MA

www.barringtonstageco.org

July 31 – August 17, 2025

by Simon Brighenti

 

“How far is too far?” That is a theme that permeates “Joan” presented at the Barrington Stage Company. The titular character is, of course, the pioneering female comic Joan Rivers. 

 

Photo by Scott Smeltzer

This critique includes the word “female” often, for reasons explained shortly. In an effective technique, playwright Daniel Goldstein has the cast of a quartet of actors playing several roles. 

Tessa Auberjonois nails the roles of “older Joan” as well as Joan’s mother Mrs. Molinsky; Elinor Gunn portrays both “younger Joan” and Joan’s daughter Melisa. (Melissa Rivers is Executive Producer). Andrew Borba shines as the mercurial Edgar Rosenberg, Joan’s second husband and the tragic figure most famously associated with the comedian. He also embodies a variety of other parts, including Joan’s father, and Johnny Carson. Rounding out the cast is a versatile Zachary Prince, convincingly portraying several characters vital to the story, ranging from a bellhop to Jimmy Fallon. 

Auberjonois has the nasal intonation and vocal cadences down cold. Gunn presents a calming presence as daughter Melissa as well as a confidently striving young Joan. 

As a female – yes, again that matters as she was one of the first of her gender-comedian growing up in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, Joan had no map to follow, no real mentor from whom to seek guidance. 

Standup comedy was a man’s world at that time and television, still in relative infancy, was also total testosterone territory. She knew she was funny and could write jokes with the best of them -- many of which brought hearty laughter from the nearly full house. But how to get an audience to realize that fact was something she had to figure out as she went along.

As her early years are highlighted on stage, we see Joan’s parents expressing their determination to get Joan married off. The persona that elevated her to being one of the most famous women in the country at one time was one of self-deprecation; her most famous punchlines relate to her purported unattractiveness.

The play effectively exposes at least two levels of the question presented at the outset. How much do you give up in terms of family, relationships, money, and self-respect to get to where you want to be? And, to a lesser extent, how crude can a woman be, how many taboos can she break and not have it backfire. There ARE stretches of vulgarity that could make some more sensitive observers blush; exposing Joan’s raw material. 

There are scenes where Joan and Edgar acknowledge that the people who know “Joan” do not know Joan. The comedianne's story shows her oftentimes as a meal ticket to her so-called friends. Some scenes presented a poignant and revealing side to Joan.

The set is essentially a few tables and chairs, and some neon signs effectively suggest where the business is taking place. The costuming is time and persona appropriate.  

The overall impact of this performance is an enjoyable tour through a life of laughter and persistence, of calculation and compromise, exposing the times of a true comic legend; a life in full. 

REVIEW: Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, "4 Concerts"

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 7, 14, 24 & 28, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

Yiran Zhao, Photo: Hilary Scott

Each summer over 100 young musicians starting their careers, from across and beyond the US, gather for eight weeks at Tanglewood, where, tutored by Boston Symphony Orchestra members and visiting artists, they soon begin to sound as if they’ve been playing together for years. Four recent concerts by 2025’s TMCO confirmed the power of this training model.    

TMC conducting fellows Australian Leonard Weiss and American Yiran Zhao shared leadership duties at these concerts with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons (July 7) and BSO guest conductor Thomas Ades (July 14).

Weiss opened the first concert with an alternately stirring and reflective account of “The High Castle,” the first of six tone poems in Czech composer Bedrich Smetana’s 1874-79 cycle “My Country.” Zhao followed with a colorful and dramatic reading of “The Moldau,” also from “My Country.” Nelsons closed the program with a buoyant rendition of Johannes Brahms’ 1877 second symphony, including a mercurial “Allegro non troppo,” serene “Adagio non troppo,” charming “Allegretto grazioso,” and exuberant “Allegro con spirito” finale.

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As part of Tanglewood’s celebration of French composer Maurice Ravel’s 150th birth anniversary this year, Weiss began the second concert with a sensitive take on the Suite from Ravel’s fanciful 1911 ballet, “Mother Goose.” Zhao led a sweeping second suite from Ravel’s more opulent score of the same year for his ballet “Daphnis and Chloe.” Ades drew laser-focused playing from the TMCO that made Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s 1913 ballet “The Rite of Spring” sound strikingly modern.

The focus of the 2025 Festival of Contemporary Music was on Mexican music, and FCM Director Gabriela Ortiz included many pieces by her teachers, herself, and her students on its five programs. Highlights of the July 24 opening concert were: Ortiz’s eerily evocative “Rio Bravo,” featuring TMC fellows Danielle Romano, mezzo-soprano, and three percussionists “playing” six tuned wine glasses; and her student Diana Syrse’s pop-inflected “My Song,” with Syrse declaiming her own text and 13 assorted instrumentalists led with verve by Zhao.

On July 28, Zhao and Weiss led the TMCO in mesmerizing works by Gabriella Smith and Ellen Reid. BSO conductor Thomas Wilkins closed the FCM with two powerful works by Ortiz, her “Altar of the Wind” (with sensational solos by Mexican flutist Alejandro Escuer) and “Hominum: Concerto for Orchestra.” These young musicians sounded completely at home playing this often technically demanding and wildly imaginative music.

TMCO concerts continue through August 18.

Review: Great Barrington Public Theater, "The Best Medicine"

Great Barrington Public Theater, Great Barrington, MA

www.GreatBarringtonPublicTheater.org

through August 17, 2025

by Suzanne Wells

The Great Barrington Public Theater closes its summer season with the world premiere of “The Best Medicine,” a thought-provoking one-woman play exploring the emotional labyrinth of caregiving amid a loved one’s terminal diagnosis. Written by Robin Gerber and directed by Matthew Penn, the 80-minute production ambitiously navigates themes of denial, acceptance, self-doubt, frustration, self-care, love, and joy.

Caroline Aaron

Caroline Aaron, best known for her role in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” plays Rachel, an independent woman thrust into the role of caretaker. In an effort to process her overwhelming circumstances, Rachel enrolls in a stand-up comedy class. While the concept is full of potential, Aaron’s performance was uneven and, at times, difficult to engage with. Her slow shuffle across the stage may have been intended to reflect Rachel’s age, but it often disrupted the tempo. A wardrobe issue—a distracting gap between shirt buttons—further pulled attention from the dialogue. Moments intended to land with humor were occasionally buried or underplayed. Emotionally, the portrayal leaned toward flat, which made the more dramatic peaks feel abrupt and disconnected.  That said, Aaron conveyed Rachel’s personal flaws and inner conflicts with striking honesty.

Deeply dependent upon Monk Schane-Lydon’s soundscape and the audience’s imagination,  Juliana von Haubrich’s minimalist set design, a handful of props—a few chairs, two suitcases, a microphone, and a rolling whiteboard, effectively transformed the stage into a doctor’s office, an airplane, a classroom, a living room, a taxi, and even a circus.

“The Best Medicine” offers a raw, sincere look at the realities of caregiving resonating with those who have lived that experience, as well as those anticipating their futures. Still, this production demands a high level of imaginative engagement from the audience and lacks emotional depth.  It raises the question: is the theater the ideal medium for this story’s full impact?

REVIEW: BSO Chamber Players/Cho

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org/tanglewood

July 10 & 16, 2025

by Michael J. Moran

Each summer Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall hosts world-class artists in many genres from across the globe. Two recent concerts showcased the variety of attractions in this intimate venue.

BSO Chamber Players

The July 10 all-American program by the BSO Chamber Players (mostly members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) opened with four short pieces by living composers Jessie Montgomery and BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon. Lorna McGhee was agile in Simon’s “move it,” for solo flute, and Blaise Dejardin, vibrant in Simon’s “between worlds,” for solo cello. Three Shaker Songs, gorgeously sung by Tanglewood Music Center vocal fellows Eden Bartholomew, soprano; and Danielle Romano, mezzo-soprano; preceded the Suite from Aaron Copland’s ballet “Appalachian Spring,” which famously quotes another Shaker song, “Simple Gifts,” in its original 13-instrument version. BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Handler led.     

Seeing-Jin Cho

Six days later, rising Korean-born pianist Seong-Jin Cho accomplished the rare feat of performing the complete solo piano music by Maurice Ravel, whose 150th birth anniversary Tanglewood is celebrating this summer. The evening was a marathon not only for Cho but for the audience, as the program ran for three hours, with two intermissions. Three days earlier, Cho played both of Ravel’s piano concertos in the same concert with the BSO, a similar rare tre
at.

Hearing the solo pieces in chronological sequence gave listeners a clear sense both of Ravel’s development as a composer over a quarter century and of the startlingly different sounds he could draw from the piano. The ideal player of this music needs a delicate touch, infinite flexibility, and almost superhuman stamina, all qualities which Cho demonstrated in abundance. Numerous highlights included: a graceful “Pavane for a Dead Princess”; a sparkling “Water Games”; a kaleidoscopic five-part “Mirrors”; a haunting three-movement “Treasurer of the Night”; an exuberant set of “Noble and Sentimental Waltzes”; and a poignant tribute to World War I victims, “Couperin’s Tomb”.      

When the appreciative audience, most of whom stayed until the end, appeared to want an encore, Cho, whose energy never seemed to flag, politely closed the piano lid after several bows, as if to give Ravel the last word. “Recital Series” continues through August 14.

Preview: Norman Rockwell Museum, "I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders"

Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA

www.nrm.org

through October 26, 2025

Shera Cohen

Marionettes-from-Hidden-Wonders

Walter Wick, an artist with a euphonious name from Hartford, CT is someone who many museumgoers should have heard of. Perhaps, those who frequent toy, books & hobby stores will recognize the name. After all, Wick has been an extremely successful artist for 50 years.

Norman Rockwell Museum’s annual summer/fall exhibit usually outdoes the prior year’s display. Cliché, but true. Wick’s name and work were new to me. I was glad that I corrected this unknown missing piece in my knowledge of art.

Filling 5 or 6 connecting rooms in the museum, visitors couldn’t help but smile…a lot. On display were gigantic photographs usually alongside equally large 3D storybook settings, creating entire villages all in miniature.  

I’m not sure who enjoyed the exhibit more – kids or adults. Actually, I must “vote” with the older visitors seeing images of 1950’s and 60’s life in small vignettes. Heard were so many saying, “I remember that.”

The exhibition is organized by themes, including Miniature Worlds; Floor Games; Craft-Built Worlds; Optical Illusions; I SPY Games; Puzzle Challenges, Wonders of Science; Connecticut Woods; and Curiosity Shop. A picture book of each category is sold in the gift shop.

The whimsical world of Walter Wick has fascinated people of all ages since 1991, when his first children’s book series I SPY found its way onto the bookshelves of millions of homes. The success of Wick’s books has established him as one of the most celebrated photographic illustrators of all time.

Wick began his career as a landscape photographer before becoming enamored with the technical aspects of studio photography. Wick found his niche in studying perception of space and time especially with the use of mirrors.

Wick’s I SPY: A Book of Picture Riddles resulted in the publication of more than 26 children’s books. His Can You See What I See series resembles an intricate, imaginative, and innovative version of Where’s Waldo; yet this is real art, not just a game.

My two favorite artworks were “Curiosity Shop” and “Pirate Doubloons”. Greeting visitors in the first hallway are hundreds of tiny toys from many generations, stuffed into what ‘ol-timers knew as the Curiosity Shop. The pirate boardwalk, while a bit more modern, was a step into a “Pirates of the Caribbean” gift shop/café – but again, every element was so small that it must have been torture and/or great fun for the artist to assemble and place each piece exactly where intended.

It was easy to spend at least a half-hour looking at each, even though dozens more story villages were around nearly every corner of the museum’s first floor. 

Yes, I had to purchase one of the colorful coffee-table books; a gift for my nearly 3-year-old nephew. But I’m not sure if I will only share it with Allen.  

Personal Thoughts: Tanglewood, Top Dozen Reminders & Rules

My Top Dozen Reminders & Rules

by Shera Cohen

(N) = nighttime rules only

1. Parking: Arrive early, always follow the traffic guides in their green vests, do what they tell you to do, you’ll be fine. Remember where you park. Each lot has a name,; i.e. Birchwood, Maple.

2. Rain: Bound to happen at some point. Those seated in the shed will be fine. If seated on the lawn, be prepared with an umbrella, tarp for your belongings, hoodie raincoat. The concert will NOT stop except for power outages and/or danger.

3. Smells: Perfume, cologne, hairspray, or scented soaps are mosquito magnets. However, each year Tanglewood seems to have more and more means to get rid these pests. (N)

4. Clothing, part 1: Wear light-colored clothing. Again, colors like red, purple, deep yellow make mosquitoes happy. (N)

5. Clothing, part 2: Bugs again! Wear long pants. Do not wear capris or bell-bottoms. The plan is to pull your socks up over the bottom of your pants, barring invitations to all bugs and a possible wet lawn. (N)

6.  Restrooms: There are two, either end of the Shed, lots of stalls. However, the problem may be finding your way back to your lawn seats especially after nightfall. Shed seats are fine because there are many volunteer ushers to help. (N)

7. Darkness: Bring flashlights or put your cell phone on shine. For a concert that starts at 8pm, it’s of course dark by 10pm. (N)

8. Golfcarts: Yes, there are some, but only for those with special needs. On occasion, when the audience is exiting, there may be some helpful young drivers who are eager to please walkers carrying lots of stuff.

9. Wheelchairs: You should bring your own, although Tanglewood has some. CALL AHEAD for rules, costs, and scheduling. Again, more helpful teens/20somethings appear for direct door to shed and return service. 

 
10. Food: 4 options. BYOFood, purchase at the nice and huge cafeteria, a combination, or neither. Because the cafeteria is not open for rehearsals, most people bring picnic lunches or return home. Concerts usually end around 12noon – 1pm; perfect time for lunch. No eating in the shed except water and maybe a crunchy bar. There are many picnic tables, benches, beer garden tables, and the pristine lawn to serve as a table.

11. Kids: For me, it is one of my favorite things on the planet to see little kids at Tanglewood. Somehow, even when they aren’t listening to the exceptional musicians and composers’ pieces, I think that by osmosis, the kids seep up the notes. Then there’s the flip side, at least for me. I have an unnatural fear of frisbees. Kids play on the lawn, mostly away from others. 

12. Personal Phone Calls: Oftentimes, novice concertgoers think that since the venue is a large tent-like bandshell, that this is somewhat like being outside and okay to use cell phones. Lawn seating, as well, is NOT an invitation to call anyone.

Personal thoughts: Tanglewood’s Open Rehearsals

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org

Summer, 2025

by Shera Cohen

Rehearsal v. Concert

Regular Tanglewood visitors are aware that programs are scheduled every Saturday morning; these are orchestra rehearsals for the next day’s concert. Take out your calendars, write these dates down, and try to get to Tanglewood just once this summer. I ask no more.

The scheduled conductor and guest soloists take the stage along with the full Boston Symphony Orchestra. There’s only one noticeable change between the two days’ concerts; it’s casual Saturday as everyone wears summer pastels and shorts, and dress-up Sunday when the musicians wear the traditional classical music “uniforms”. As for the audience, whatever fits and is cool.

Is the rehearsal the exact program at the next day’s “real concert”? Sometimes, but not often. Some can be 2+ hours of start, stop, over, and over, as the conductor talks to various sections of the orchestra, making suggestions on how to perform with perfection. I fully trust the conductor’s decisions. Anything the BSO does is perfect in my book.

Most times, the rehearsal plays straight through until the end of each piece. Only then are segments extrapolated and rehearsed again. To have such a keen ear, I am amazed by the talents of conductors. 

For me, rehearsals are learning experiences in one of the most beautiful settings in this country. Prior to attending, I usually don’t pay attention to who’s performing, which composer, etc. Melding the sounds of classical music with the sights, smells, and touch of Tanglewood as a backdrop, just can’t get better on any Saturday morning.

Tanglewood: Rehearsal: Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2

Camille Saint-Saens

The rehearsal program on July 26 included “La Calaca,” a contemporary work by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz; one of Beethoven’s well-known compositions, Pastoral Symphony No. 6; and Camille Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, highlighting Lang Lang. Resident artistic director and conductor Andris Nelsons held the baton.

In the span of time it takes to perform only one composition, pianist Lang Lang (whose name I had only heard of) jumped to the Top Ten of My Favorite Musicians of All Time List”. 

I often enjoy sitting on the Tanglewood lawn in order to hear a somewhat different sound than when seated in the Shed. This was not the time!

Large monitors at stage left and right as well as outside the building project the soloist at his or her instrument. Up close, the audience can see the sticks against the drumhead, the bow along the violin strings, and fingers on the piano.

In Lang’s case, his skills exuded from his ten fingers, fists, arms, and entire torso. This man has to be seen, not just heard. It’s no surprise that numerous articles call Lang “superstar” and “rock-like musician”.

Learning piano at age 2 in China, and playing “The Nutcracker” publicly at age 5, Lang remembered that his first years of studying were like playing with a toy in his hands. Yet, the piano wasn’t as easy as his violinist father expected it to be. When Lang turned 9, his piano teacher fired him as a student. Mr. Lang was also sharp to criticize his son. “That was very, very difficult for me. I thought my piano career is over,” said Lang.

Jump ahead 8-years, Lang had a solid plan; to play with the biggest orchestra in America. “But in reality, I always play as a sub, waiting for somebody to get sick. You have to be ready all the time, because the opportunity comes in very fast. And if you catch it in the right way, you are in a game,” remembered Lang.

Andris Nelsons

His opening came with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia Festival, subbing for pianist Andre Watts.

Lang is comfortable on all stages throughout the world; from small groups of children to his largest audience of millions at the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

This is a musician who plays fast with energy on full-power, exaggeration, and arms flailing. It seems he might bounce off the bench. He loves the piano, it’s obvious. Those of us listening at this particular rehearsal, love him.

Note: Quotes paraphrased from Lang’s interview on NPR