Escape from New York, But Not From Its Artists

Some places are frankly too New York-ified. The city of Pittsfield, Mass., a one-time industrial hub set in the middle of the Berkshires, is not one of them. But it is benefiting from some New York dazzle.

Artist Maggie Mailer, a daughter of Norman, has settled on Wendell Ave. and brought other artists to work in what was vacant retail space on the main drag. Restaurants and bars that are easily up to New York standards have also arrived: Brix Wine Bar, Spice, Trattoria Rustica.

Cultural institutions are an essential part of the economic makeover. Last summer, the Colonial Theater reopened after a $20 million renovation, and on a sold-out night — such as when James Taylor plays there later this summer — nearly 900 people fill the sidewalks.

Every small town needs its Broadway equivalent, and it came to Pittsfield two years ago, when Barrington Stage Company purchased a former vaudeville theater and house on Union St. for $800,000. In quick fashion, the company, led by artistic director Julianne Boyd, restored the house and the theater for just under $5 million.

On Saturday at the company’s fund-raising gala, the 520-seat theater was full for a critically acclaimed production of “West Side Story.” New York was as present in the house as it was on stage.

“I’ve never seen so many New Yorkers in Pittsfield,” a patron, Jerry Zukowski, whose son Gregg runs a fleet of pedicabs in Manhattan, said at the post-performance supper held upstairs from the restaurant Spice.

Those New Yorkers included actors in the production, among them Chris Peluso (Tony), Julie Craig (Maria), and Jacqueline Colmer (Anita), and people who were up for the weekend or the summer, such as the real estate broker in charge of residential sales at the Plaza Hotel, Rosita Sarnoff, and a partner in Kentshire Jewelry, Marcie Imberman.

Perhaps the most buzzed-about guest at the event was the Tony-award-winning composer of “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” William Finn, whose production originated at Barrington Stage Company. As the company’s Musical Theater Lab Artistic Director, Mr. Finn, who owns a home in Pittsfield, is producing the work of unknown talents rather than doing work of his own.

“There’s an enormous amount of great people writing, and I want to help them,” Mr. Finn said. “

Pittsfield seems like the right place to do it. “This is such a congenial place,” Mr. Finn said. “The pressure is off here.”

A Promise in East Harlem

The Four Seasons Restaurant is a long way from the Vito Marcantonio School in East Harlem, but its principal, Rebekah Marler-Mitchell, looked unfazed when she arrived there Wednesday to accept a $100,000 check from the America’s Promise Alliance.

The award recognized the arts and literacy programs Ms. Marler-Mitchell has brought to the school. Her company included presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush; the organization’s founding chairman, General Colin Powell; and philanthropists Catherine and Donald Marron, and Mortimer Zuckerman.

The VIPs Who Hit the Pillow

Too much pillow talk in yesterday’s column (that is, the length of the article) led to the omission of the most important photograph from the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival gala, one featuring its stars: the executive director of the festival, Ella Baff; Governor Patrick of Massachusetts and his wife, Diane; the chairman of the festival, Neil Chrisman, and the co-chairwomen of the gala’s Diamond Committee, Adrienne Vittadini and Candace Beinecke.

Ms. Baff captured the spirit of the photo — and the event — when she addressed gala guests in the packed-to-capacity Ted Shawn Theater: “What’s most fulfilling in this moment is that we’re here sharing it together.”

agordon@nysun.com