2005 BOSTON BEER SUMMIT. With 200 beers from 50 breweries scattered across North America and Europe, plus food from Rhode Island Quahog Company and Mystic Pizza, this annual quaff-athon is broken up into three five-hour binges over two days — April 15 from 5 to 10 p.m. and April 16 from 1 to 5 and 6 to 10 p.m. — at the Castle at Park Plaza in Boston. Tickets are $25 for each session; for advance tickets, visit www.beersummit.com.

"COLORSTRUCK! BOSTON’S WOMEN OF COLOR IN COMEDY." Comediennes of the African-American (Deb Farrar-Parkman), Iranian-American (Tissa Hami), Filipino/Irish-American (Malissa Hunt), and Irish/Native American/African-American (Coleen Galvin) varieties make rainbow connections to benefit the St. Mark’s Area Main Street district of Dorchester on May 5 at Florian Hall, 55 Hallet Street in Dorchester. Tickets are $30; call (617) 825-3846.

23RD ANNUAL ELLIOT NORTON AWARDS. Boston’s answer to the Tonys honors the year’s best in Boston theater as chosen by the Boston Theater Critics’ Association, with host Joyce Kulhawik and guest of honor Elaine Stritch, on May 23 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street in the Theater District. Tickets are $25 until May 9, $35 thereafter; call (800) 233-3123, or drop in to the Majestic box office.

BORIS GOUDENOW. The centerpiece of the biennial Boston Early Music Festival is the fully staged world premiere of Johann Mattheson’s rediscovered 1710 opera Boris Goudenow. Presented in German and Italian with English supertitles, it runs three hours, with two intermissions, on June 14, 16, 18, and 19 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre (after which it will tour to Tanglewood, Moscow, and St. Petersburg). Tickets, which are $25 to $125, will be scarce; call (617) 661-1812.

PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY. May 20 through 22 at the Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont Street in the Theater District. Tickets are $42 to $60; call (800) 447-7400.