Lenox Garden Club House & Garden Tour
Stockbridge — The Lenox Garden Club will sponsor a “Hidden Treasures of the Berkshires” garden and house tour on Saturday, July 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. rain or shine. The self-guided tour will feature six Stockbridge properties that are rich in history, including a 1789 cottage documented in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens; an 1823 house fronted by a 150-year-old copper beech; and the 1815 farmhouse that Daniel Chester French purchased in 1919, redesigned and gave to his daughter Peggy on her marriage to William Cresson.
Horticultural experts will be available at each property to answer questions about the plants and their cultivation. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 day of tour. A patron ticket is available for $100 and includes lunch at the Stockbridge Golf Club and a self-guided tour of the gardens at Naumkeag. Tickets may be purchased online, at Willowbrook Home in Lenox, Hammertown in Great Barrington, and the Berkshire Botanical Garden Welcome Center in Stockbridge up until the day of the tour.
Any remaining tickets will be $40 each on the day of the tour and available for sale at the old Stockbridge Town Hall next to the First Congregational Church.
–E.E.
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Party in the Park in North Adams
North Adams — Greylock Federal Credit Union and radio stations WUPE-FM and WNAW 1230 AM sponsor the North Adams Party in the Park Thursdays through August 27. Free concerts will entertain the public from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Noel Field behind the Steeplecats baseball diamond. The line-up is as follows:
July 9: Wykyd; July 16: Zarvis Allen Band; July 23: Whiskey City; July 30: Arthur Holmes Blues Band; August 6: Bandit; August 13: T-Bone Daddy; August 20: Loose Change; August 27: Colour 9.
The events are family-friendly and alcoholic beverages are prohibited.
–E.E.
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Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Great Barrington — The Paul Taylor Dance Company will return to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center for its eighth consecutive summer with performances July 9 through July 12. A new component of the company’s Mahaiwe residency this year will be a special family matinee on July 11, with discounted tickets that cost $20 per family and that is specifically designed for young audiences with shorter excerpts of dances and a talkback session after the performance. In addition the Mahaiwe is offering veterans one free ticket each, plus a 25 percent discount on additional tickets to the Thursday and Saturday evening performances that feature the dance titled “Company B.”
The diverse programs will feature Paul Taylor masterworks from various eras, including “Company B” (1991, music by the Andrews Sisters), “Eventide” (1997, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams), “Esplanade” (1975, music by Johann Sebastian Bach), “Diggity” (1978, commissioned score by Donald York), “Piazzolla Caldera” (1997, music by Astor Piazzolla and Jerzy Peterburshsky), and “Promethean Fire” (2002, music by J.S. Bach, orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski).
In this seminal piece of Americana, Paul Taylor recalls WWII and the turbulent 1940s through the hit songs of the Andrews Sisters.
Schedule of Dances
Thursday, July 9 at 8:00 p.m.: “Company B,” “Eventide,” and “Esplanade”
Friday, July 10 at 8:00 p.m.: “Diggity,” “Piazzolla Caldera,” and “Promethean Fire”
Saturday, July 11 at 3:00 p.m.: Family matinee featuring excerpts from “Diggity” and “Company B” plus a talkback session after the performance
Saturday, July 11 at 8:00 p.m.: “Company B,” “Eventide,” and “Esplanade”
Sunday, July 12 at 2:00 p.m.: “Diggity,” “Piazzolla Caldera,” and “Promethean Fire”
Tickets to Paul Taylor Dance Company concerts are $25 to $65 and tickets to the family matinee are just $20 (general admission) per family of up to six people total. Additional family member tickets are $5 each. A limited number of $15 tickets are available for audience members ages 30 and younger to the regular performances. Tickets for the family matinee and the veterans’ free and discount evening tickets are available only through the Mahaiwe box office in person or via (413) 528-0100.
–E.E.
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Magical Realism at St. Francis Gallery
Lee – The St. Francis Gallery presents its summer show, Magical Realism, through August 24. The show features the work of a variety of Berkshire-based painters and the themes of illusion, metaphor, and mystery in a magical light. There will be an opening reception at the gallery on July 11 from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m.
The gallery is open Friday through Monday. For more information call (413) 717-5199.
–E.E.
