Greater Portland Auditions Portland Youth Symphony Orchestras, Instrumental Wind Ensemble, and Youth Choirs, USM School of Music, May 24-27 by reservation, Corthell Concert Hall, USM Gorham Campus, http://bit.ly/1V62j2h, brackett@maine.edu, 780-5003. Exhibits William Janelle, award-winning Maine sculptor, Maine Audubon Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, 20 Gilsland Farm Road, Falmouth, through May. The Community House Painters, featuring 11 area […]

Leave ‘em laughing. That’s the time-tested maxim of comedians, and that’s exactly what Lyric Music Theater is doing by ending its 2015-2016 season with “Spamalot,” the Monty Python musical comedy masterpiece. Lyric’s fine community production runs through May 28 in South Portland. At the antipodal opposite of the emotional spectrum, Portland Ballet closes its season […]

I’m always ready to tsk-tsk when basic rules of restaurant protocol are violated, so I’m coming clean. I was “That Person” last week. Dinner plans with old friends from Las Vegas were thrown into a tailspin when the couple became captivated by the giant boot in Freeport. “Let’s just eat somewhere in town,” George said. […]

Greater Portland Exhibits The Community House Painters, featuring 11 area artists, Merrill Memorial Library, 215 Main St., Yarmouth, to June 24. Film Ongoing PMA Films, Portland Museum of Art, portlandmuseum.org/events/movies for showings, times and ticket prices. Monday 5/16 “Strange and Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island,” presented by Portland Society for Architecture,  at SPACE Gallery, 538 […]

Spring is the season for love, at least according to poets and songwriters, and romance is definitely in the air as The Public Theatre of Lewiston wraps up its season with “Crossing Delancey,” one of most delightful and thoughtful comedies I’ve seen in years. Performances run Thursday through Sunday. Another organization wrapping up this weekend […]

The best and worst of human nature is magnified on Hallmark holidays, and Mother’s Day 2016 was no exception. Like other celebratory occasions when a greeting card costs more than a gallon of milk, a few of my hospitality brothers and sisters reported in. “Why do people use restaurants as a safety net to act […]

Greater Portland Exhibits “Making Faces,“ colossal portraits chock-full of face, Cia cafe, 72 Ocean St., South Portland, through May 15. The Community House Painters, featuring 11 area artists, Merrill Memorial Library, 215 Main St., Yarmouth, to June 24. Friday 5/6 First Annual Regional High School Art Show, opening reception 5-8 p.m. Friday, Casco Bay Artisans […]

Unless it is an upward and onward career decision, and those greener pastures really are greener, leaving a restaurant job is an especially vulnerable move. But, this is the time of year when playing musical restaurants is common. All jobs have considerable pros and cons beyond money pocketed at the end of the day, and […]

Measured by the number of acts and variety of styles, there’s plenty of music coming up. Top billing goes to Portland Ovations’ final adult offering of the 2015-2016 season: Saturday’s peformance of the Ying Quartet with guest cellist Zuill Bailey. Armenian-American pianist-composer Vardan Ovsepian holds forth on Friday at the Portland Conservatory of Music’s Dimensions […]

Greater Portland Auditions Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” (female version), Freeport Players, open auditions for six women and two men 35-65, April 26, 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Freeport Performing Arts Center, 30 Holbrook St., fcponline.org/auditions/. Exhibits Carol Beyna, The Chapel Art Gallery, Congregational Church in Cumberland, 282 Main St., Cumberland Center, through April. “Local Color: Pieces […]