MUSIC TIP

Day

Nils Frahm

Working his complex electronics/synthensizers sound collages, Berlin visionary Nils Frahm has become a huge name in experimental music and composition. Not to be overlooked in his body of work, though, are his solo piano improvisations. “Day” is the latest effort in that capacity -- a six-song meditation of gossamer melodies, quietly spun and augmented by space, silence and keyboard/pedal attack. This is possibly Frahm’s most minimalist album, one which, on first listen, seems so hushed and subdued that the listener might wonder if he or she has a hearing problem. Repeated exposure to the work, though, means the melodies and textures begin to burble and surface in memorable and dramatic fashion. Fine music for the impending autumn season.

— Rick Koster

STAGE TIP

Ask for the Moon

Terris Theatre, Chester

This is such a silly and yet stupendous musical comedy. The comedy is as ridiculous as you can get — and a belching baby piranha, played by a hand puppet, swimming in a tiny fish bowl is just a tiny example. The lyrics are infused with that humor, too, and the music is sublime. The setup: A widow named Helene (played by a 1940s-style wisecracking, smart-talking Luba Mason) learns that her husband was a bigamist; his first wife is still alive and so would be entitled to the wealth Helene had inherited. Helene unites with her hubby’s nurse (Ali Ewoldt, making a fine art of cheery pertness) to track down and do away with Wife #1. So, no, there’s no moral compass, or moral to the story, here. The two female leads are fabulous (those singing voices!), but Jamison Stern might be the show’s MVP. He plays four different characters — two of whom are twins, a variation on the good twin/evil twin trope — and Stern must spend all the time he’s not onstage changing costumes, wigs and the occasional eye patch. Bravo to Darko Tresnjak, who wrote the book and lyrics for the show and directed, too, and composer Oran Eldor. “Ask for the Moon” is the most fun you’ll have at the theater all summer. It runs through Aug. 11; see goodspeed.org for details.

– Kristina Dorsey

TV TIP

The Lady in the Lake

Apple TV+

There is much value in patience, which I learned many years ago waiting on Santa. More recently — a week ago, in fact — we decided to investigate a seven part series called “The Lady in the Lake.” It’s based on the bestselling novel by Laura Lippman and stars Natalie Portman as an unikely Jewish wannabe investigative reporter and Moses Ingram as a struggling and wrong place/wrong time Black mother in 1960s Baltimore. Each becomes tangentially involved in murders and their lives are slowly drawn together. The first episode, with its obscure and dream-like touches, was almost DOA in the Koster/Jenkins household, but we decided to give it another episode or two. We’re not done yet — but we ARE hooked.

— Rick Koster