Thursday, March 30, 2017 at 7:30PM

General Admission: $25; Five College and 17 & Under: $10; Five College Faculty & Staff: Please call the Box Office

Witness the unique tradition of Japanese Kuruma Ningyo (cart puppets) in this story of two wandering travelers along the great highway from Tokyo to Kyoto, whose paths intersect time and space. Created by American puppeteer Tom Lee and Japanese Master Puppeteer Koryu Nishikawa V, this work fuses traditional Kuruma Ningyo puppetry, video projection and live music to explore themes of life and death, and how traditions are passed on.

Thursday, March 23, 2017 7:30pm

General Admission: $45, $40, $20; Five College, GCC and 17 & Under: $20, $15, $10

7 Doigts invites you into their kitchen for this multi-sensory marvel. Cuisine and Confessions colorfully displays that life happens in the kitchen and that storytelling can happen through food. In this show, the audience’s most visceral senses are heightened by high-flying, eye-popping acrobatics, elaborate choreography, and pulsating music coupled with visuals of mixing batter, baking cookies, and sprinkling oregano. So sit back, “feed your eyes and mouth – and make sure you don’t try any of this at home,” cheers Time Out (Paris).

 

Monday, March 27, 2017 at 8:00p.m., Sweeney Concert Hall, Smith College

Free Admission

One of improvised music’s most in-demand guitarists, Mary Halvorson has been active in New York since 2002. Critics have called her “a singular talent” (JazzTimes), “one of the most exciting and original guitarists in jazz – or otherwise” (Wall Street Journal), and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Village Voice). The Philadelphia City Paper adds, “Halvorson has been steadily reshaping the sound of jazz guitar in recent years with her elastic, sometimes-fluid, sometimes-shredding, wholly unique style.”

A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD

Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.
Fine Arts Center Concert Hall

Music by Robert Reale  Book and Lyrics by Willie Reale Based on the books by Arnold Lobel Originally presented on Broadway by Bob Boyett, Adrianne Lobel, Michael Gardner, Lawrence Horowitz and Roy Furman  World Premiere at The Children’s Theatre Company Minneapolis, Minnesota

A hit on Broadway and nominated for 3 TONY Awards, this whimsical musical follows two great friends — the cheerful, popular Frog and the curmudgeonly Toad — through four, fun-filled seasons,  From meeting new friends, planting a garden, sledding in winter and learning life lessons along the way,  A Year With Frog And Toad tells the story of a friendship that endures and weathers all seasons.

Ages: Pre K – Grade 5
Running time: 60 minutes

Sunday, March 5, 2017 at 7:00p.m., Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College

Free Admission

A highlight of New York’s 2016 Winter Jazzfest was the debut of the OGJB Quartet. Barry Altschul, a one-time drummer of Cir-cle (with Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Anthony Braxton), is still a force of nature behind the drum kit at 73. Lake, also 73 and a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet, is as expressive and probing on his instrument as ever. Fonda, at 61, and Haynes, at 55, are the youngsters of this adventurous group.

ELLIS, ISLAND OF DREAMS

Friday, March 3, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.
Fine Arts Center Concert Hall

Book and Lyrics by Debra Clinton, Music and Additional Lyrics by Jason Marks

Ellis Island was the entry point to the land of dreams for countless immigrants from 1892 to 1954. Follow the story of a family’s trials, heartbreak, and triumphs in this brand new musical production that reestablishes the understanding that we are all truly a nation of immigrants.

Ages: Grades 3 – 5
Running time: 55 minutes