The plays mentioned in this chart and a link to each theater company:

Classic musicals
“On the Town” @ Barrington Stage Company, June 12-July 13, http://barringtonstageco.org/
“Singing in the Rain” @ Mac-Haydn, July 4-21, http://www.machaydntheatre.org/
“Oklahoma” @ Colonial Theater, July 6-20, http://www.berkshiretheatregroup.org/on-our-stages/theatre.html
“Camelot” @ Glimmerglass Festival, July 13-August 23, starring operatic baritone Nathan Gunn!, http://glimmerglass.org/
“Les Miserables” @ Mac-Haydn, July 25-August 4, http://www.machaydntheatre.org/
“Gypsy” @ Mac-Haydn, August 22-September 1, http://www.machaydntheatre.org/ Continue reading →

The PBS World channel, WMHT Ch. 17.3, will broadcast the documentary “War Zone/Comfort” a few times on Memorial Day. The film focuses on female veterans who must deal with poverty, homelessness, joblessness, and psychological and physiological effects of PTSD from military sexual assault and/or combat all within a system that is ill-equipped and, in some cases, unwilling to help.

The documentary follows Shalini Madaras and Joy Kiss in their fight to open the first transitional house for women veterans in Connecticut, despite neighborhood opposition. It also tells the story of four women who are coping with life after the military using interviews and footage that provide a surprising look into the lives of these invisible veterans.

The film airs Monday, May 27 at 4 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm on WMHT Ch. 17.3.

The Palace Theatre in Albany announced today that the May 9 Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show raised $58,000 for the nonprofit Palace Performing Arts Center, which operates the iconic landmark in downtown Albany.

“As a non-profit arts organization, we rely on the enthusiasm of the local community to sustain our growth and success,” said Palace Theatre Executive Director Holly Brown in a  written statement that set the attendance at the event at 1,500 people. “We are delighted by the outpouring of support from our generous community members as we continue to bring interesting and exciting events to the Palace Theatre.”

For the second consecutive year, the Palace said it is on pace to record a surplus.

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Catch the Local Actors Guild of Saratoga’s production of “Of Mice and Men” in its final weekend, at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 8 p.m. Saturday.

The play, based on the classic Steinbeck novella, follows the fates of a pair of down-on-their-luck drifters, George and Lennie.

Tickets cost $15, and the play will be performed at Saratoga Arts Center’s Dee Sarno Theater, 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs.

Call 393-3496 for reservations

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This morning, the Albany Symphony Orchestra took the bus from the Capital Region to New York City to rehearse ahead of tonight’s show, as part of the Spring for Music series.

If you leave right now, you could probably still make it in time to see the ASO perform live at Carnegie Hall (tickets are only $25).

The ASO’s program is John Harbison‘s “Suite from The Great Gatsby” (a New York premiere); George Gershwin‘s Second Rhapsody for piano and orchestra, with Kevin Cole on piano; and Morton Gould‘s Symphony No. 3 (a New York premiere of the original version).

If you can’t make it tonight, you can hear the performance broadcast live on WAMC 90.3 FM.

The Palace Theatre in Albany has announced that The Price is Right Live has added a Friday, June 7, 2013 show for the Palace Theater.

Tickets — priced at $32.75, $42.75 and $52.75 — for the new show go on sale 10 a.m. Monday, April 8, at the Palace Theatre Box Office, ticketmaster.com or (800) 745-3000.

Tickets are still available for the previously announced May 31 show at the Palace Theatre in Albany.

The Price Is Right Live is an interactive stage show that gives contestants pulled from the audience the chance to win appliances, vacations and cars by playing the classic games from the TV game show, including Plinko, Cliffhangers, the Big Wheel and even the fabulous Showcase, all the favorite games are played just like the TV show.

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Tonight, Easter Sunday 2013, brings an interesting nexus of television trends. AMC’s “Walking Dead” Season 3 comes to an end at the same times a the History Channel’s miniseries “The Bible” comes to an end. Which one will get the most viewers? And what does that mean about our culture today?

The distinction couldn’t be more stark:

The story of the “The Bible,” of course, is the story about the presence of God among mortals, and culminates in the promise of glorious after-life in heaven, a defeat of death that is led by the resurrection of Jesus.

The story of “The Walking Dead,” on the other hand, is the story about the presence of mindless evil among mortals, the ever-present struggle against an overwhelming horde of people — including loved ones — who have become so defeated by death that they’ve been reanimated in a perversion of the resurrection so that they don’t seek people to join in a glorious after-life in heaven; rather, they hunger for living flesh and seek to make others like them: endlessly stuck in a state of living dead here on earth.

What’s interesting is that even though “The Walking Dead” consistently ranks as the top cable TV show, with about 11 million viewers, “The Bible” has been ranked No. 2, with about 500,000 fewer viewers.

A recent news report said that Clemson University professor Sarah Lauro has found that zombies become more popular at times of unhappiness, cultural dissatisfaction and economic upheaval. So that could explain the popularity of “The Walking Dead,” but does that explain the almost-equal popularity of what could be seen as a more hopeful story of “The Bible”?

I asked readers on the Albany Times Union Facebook page which they would watch, and people were equally passionate about “The Bible” and “The Walking Dead” (and some were watching both through the magic of DVRs).

Here are some people’s comments:

• Don Rittner said, “The Bible is an attempt to create a tale showing the evolution of humanity striving to find its way to salvation. The Walking Dead shows how society really reacts when presented with its own evil.”
• Rich LaPointe said, “Walking Dead. The Bible is almost as realistic, but a little more far-fetched.”
• Kelley Qua Wallace said, “Not too impressed with the Bible series. Not as good as The Book.”
• Nikki Mcdonnell said, “The Bible. Who the hell likes zombies.”
• Collin Martino said, “Tough call, they both have zombies…”

Though Martino may be joking, and despite Rittner’s astute’s comment, the shows do share a few things. One of them is the Golden Rule of loving they neighbor as thyself, which is one of Jesus’ teachings but it also how audience members judge the humanity (or inhumanity) of “Walking Dead” characters, who either trust and help strangers, or distrust them and leave them to struggle on their own. Or, sometimes, just out and out kill other living people because they are so afraid they have lost their humanity.

The two shows also show, to quote Rittner, “humanity striving to find its way to salvation.” In one, that way is found through God; in the other, through man. For audiences, though, the shared feeling is one of hope beyond the despair of death. So in the TV battle between “The Bible” and “The Walking Dead,” the clear winner is hope.

Of course, Sunday also brings the start of Season 3 of “Game of Thrones,” whose tagline is the rather gloomy, “Winter is coming,” which might through a wrench into that “hope” theory.

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The AP is reporting that a class-action lawsuit is targeting the Met for how it charges admission.

The story begins:

Before visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art can stroll past the Picassos, Renoirs, Rembrandts and other priceless works, they must first deal with the ticket line, the posted $25 adult admission and the meaning of the word in smaller type just beneath it: “recommended.”
Many people, especially foreign tourists, don’t see it, don’t understand it or don’t question it. If they ask, they are told the fee is merely a suggested donation: You can pay what you wish, but you must pay something.
Confusion over what’s required to enter one of the world’s great museums, which draws more than 6 million visitors a year, is at the heart of a class-action lawsuit this month accusing the Met of scheming to defraud the public into believing the fees are required.

What do you think? Have you visited the Met recently? What did you pay?