Gotta Get Gone

We can’t think of too many things folkier than a “friendly, informal Pick’n’ & Sing’n’ Gather’n’ family folk festival,” which is exactly what Gotta Get Gon is billed as. For 38 years, the festival has been bringing folkies together for a weekend of concerts, workshops, dances, potluck dinners, campfires, and community. And this year is no different.

The three-day festival at Saratoga County Fairgrounds kicks off on Friday with some “pick’n’ & sing’n’,” a potluck dinner, and a “new generation of folk” concert featuring Jean Rohe, Citizen Genet, and Hannah Rosen. Other featured performers at the weekend festival include Marc Bernier, Liza Comstable, and the Woods Tea Company (pictured).

Saturday and Sunday are packed with workshops, concerts, informal music gatherings and social events. Saturday night wraps up with a family country dance, featuring music by the Notorious String Band. Sunday’s after-dark a capella sing has become a Gotta Get Gon tradition.

The Saratoga County Fairground gates (Prospect Street, Ballston Spa) open at 3 PM on Friday (May 23), and the fairgrounds will remain open all weekend for campers who want to folk out into the wee hours. Weekend passes, which include camping, are $38, $19 for students ages 12-21, and free for children under 12. Day passes are available for $20, $10 for students. Evening-only passes are $5 per night. For more info, call 882-6809 or visit www.pickingandsinging.org.

The Ladies Man

The folks at Shakespeare & Company, who, according to the Boston Globe, “continue to be one of the best troupes in Massachusetts,” kick off their 31st summer season of “Conjuration and Mighty Magic” with a contemporary French farce, The Ladies Man.

Loosely based on two works by prodigious 19th-century French playwright George Feydeau, this 2007 adaptation of classic bell epoch farce follows the bumbling adventures of a physician who returns home through the parlor window one morning, hoping his absence has gone unnoticed by his young wife. To complicate the matter: Enter a too-persistent suitor, her muscle-bound husband, a pestering patient, and a fearsome mother-in-law. Add a flurry of slamming doors, and a parade of unfortunate coincidences, and you have all the makings of a rollicking farce.

According to director Kevin Coleman, “Any farce requires a series of doors, to enable unexpected coincidences and undesired rendezvous. But it’s also about the complicated maze of high society and expectations these characters have to weave through to find happiness. I think all of us know that sometimes your best plans get slammed right in your face.”

The Ladies Man opens at Shakespeare & Company’s Founder’s Theatre (70 Kemble St., Lenox, Mass.) on Friday (May 23) at 8 PM. Tickets range from $30 to $60. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call (413) 637-1199.

Close Encounters With Music

“Musical fireworks, passion, vertiginous speed, and laughter through tears,” as expressed in works inspired by the music of the Roma people of Eastern Europe, are what is promised for the Mahaiwe stage this weekend. What is the occasion? Close Encounters With Music is closing out this year’s season in the Berkshires on Saturday evening, with the program Gypsy!

There will be music by Haydn, Ravel, Brahms and Vittorio Monti, performed by cellist Yahuda Hanani, pianist Emma Tahmiziàn, violinist Vadim Gluzman and violist Michael Klotz. Mezzo-soprano (and ubiquitous local favorite) Lucille Beer will join these players to sing the “Habañara” from Bizet’s Carmen.

Gypsy! will be presented by CEWM on Saturday (May 24) at 6 PM at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (14 Castle St., Great Barrington). Tickets are $40. For more info, call the box office at (413) 528-0100 or visit www.mahai we.org.