NEW YORK, Feb.

By RHODA KOENIG Theatre STREET SCENE Young Vic LONDON **** Kurt Weill called Street Scene "a Broadway opera", but there aren't too many operas with a wild jitterbug that segues into a slutty blues or a children's chorus who chant, "My father's name is Rockefeller./He shovels diamonds in the cellar." Into his 1947 musical version of Elmer Rice's 1929 play, Weill emptied a cornucopia of influences - Wagner, Puccini, folk song, jazz, operetta, and his predecessors on the Great White Way (predominantly George Gershwin).

By Caleb Chapman, Kerrville Daily Times, Texas Jun. 24--Let's face it. Many senior citizens can't make it on Social Security and retirement income alone. More seniors are choosing to work well past retirement age.

By Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times Apr. 9--The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival marks its fifth anniversary this year, unspooling Saturday through April 20 with 41 features, documentaries and short films.

By The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. Feb. 22--Several events in the coming week, including a series of talks by civil rights activist James Lawson, will conclude Black History Month in the South Sound. WHAT: "Call to Conscience 2008," Black History Month celebration with a health and wellness focus.