Smooth Sailing: U-M’s "The Little Mermaid"

Fri, 04/14/2017 - 1:30pm by christopherporter

The seaway to true love is full of perils in Disney’s The Little Mermaid but, of course, the young lovers bridge land and sea for a happy ever after. And the magical production of the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Department carries us smoothly along to that expected Disney end.

The Little Mermaid production at the Power Center for the Performing Arts is light, airy, expertly performed and a fine display of how imaginative staging can turn fluff into gold. The production continues 8 p.m. April 14 and 15 and 2 p.m. April 15 and 16.

The Disney version of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale began as a 1989 animated feature that helped turn around a slump in the Disney fortunes. It combined a Broadway-style musical score, improved animation, and the feisty young heroine Ariel to become a big hit and launch a generation of animated box-office magic.

In 2008, Ariel and friends arrived on Broadway with the original score by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman and 10 new songs by Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. The show also had a new expanded book by Doug Wright.

U-M director and choreographer Linda Goodrich has given her production a breezy, uncluttered look with an emphasis squarely on the singing, dancing, and gentle comedy. She has a great cast to work with, student actors with dreams of their own who deliver on a story that has inspired the dreams of young girls for a generation.

Menken’s music is a fine of gumbo of musical styles, from jumping Caribbean rhythms to the strut of the ‘60s girl groups to the traditional lush sounds of Broadway ballads. Musical director Cynthia Kortman Westphal conducts the orchestra smartly from the rousing overture with its sampling of the show’s better-known songs to the final celebratory ending. She has a fine cast of singers to work with and they deliver on the romance, the beat, and the comedy while constantly in motion on land and on sea.

Ariel is the youngest of King Triton’s seven daughters. She is the King’s special favorite because of her ethereal singing voice. But Ariel longs to replace her mermaid fin with legs and walk upon the land. Her desires grow more urgent when she sees a handsome young prince and rescues him from the sea when he falls overboard.

Prince Eric would rather be a sailor than a prince. He loves the rocking motion of a ship, the sea air, and the call to adventure. But he also loves the siren’s voice he hears and the memory of the face of the girl who saved him.

Halli Toland makes a lovely Ariel in her long red tresses and her long green fin. She gives the role warmth, yearning, and a fine singing voice. She also does a lovely swaying dance movement that effectively captures the sway of the sea. She has several fine musical numbers starting with “The World Above” and is especially fine on “If Only.”

Trevor Carr has a dynamic, crystal clear, and perfectly phrased singing voice and the look of a dashing, but not threatening, leading man. His Prince Eric is a solid gentleman with an adventurous spirit. The prince takes a bigger role in the stage show than the movie and has a couple fine solo numbers, “Her Voice” and “One Step Closer.”

It is Liam Allen who gets to take the lead on the show’s two best-known songs, the Caribbean-inflected “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.” He is engaging as King Triton’s aide, court composer, and bandleader Sebastian. He has a Jamaican accent and an island attitude. He does a fine job on his standout songs in which the ensemble joyfully joins in to dance and sing. He also does a funny crab walk and crawl.

The roadblock to true love is Ariel’s wicked Aunt Ursula, a sea witch with serious issues who forces Ariel into a contentious contract. Sarah Lynn Marion brings a big, round voice, and an imposing giant squid presence to her role. She seems to relishes every dastardly moment and the audience eats it up. She is assisted by two electric eels that slither nicely as played by Aidan Ziegler-Hansen and Simon Longnight.

Ariel and Eric have their own allies.

Ariel’s best friend is shy, nervous Flounder. Matthew Kemp slits about in a yellow fish costume, blushing with love for Ariel. But he finds his Frankie Vallee falsetto voice in a romp with Ariel’s sisters on “She’s in Love.” Scuttle is a wisecracking seagull with attitude. Barrett Riggins gives him a definite Jersey vibe and performs an energetic “Positoovity.”

Ariel’s sisters are a jealous and competitive brood but when they sing they are The Supremes times two and a lot of fun as played by Jordyn Norkey, Natalie Duncan, Alyah Scott, McKenzie Kurtz, Isabel Stein, and Leanne Antonio.

Jordan Samuels gives an alternately stern and gentle performance as King Triton.

Eric’s support comes from his upright guardian Grimsby, played with stiff-upper-lip kindness by Elliott Styles.

Sam Hamashima gets to ham it up and show his knife skills as the fish loving Chef Louis.

The scenic design by J. Branson and lighting by Janak Jha are simple but effective in portraying the sea and seaside setting. Simple props and bits of scenic rock or ropes and ship’s wheel are all that is needed to set a scene. The costumes by George Bacon are funny and eye-popping. The shadow puppets, balloon puppets by designer Sarah Norton work excellently.

This is a show with a built-in audience and this production should make Ariel’s fans burst with positoovity.

Hugh Gallagher has written theater and film reviews over a 40-year newspaper career and was most recently managing editor of the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in suburban Detroit.

Tickets have been selling briskly for this production and an extra matinee was added. For ticket information, call 734-764-2538 or go online to tickets.music.umich.edu or in person at The League Ticket Office in the Michigan League Building at Fletcher and North University. Read our preview of "The Little Mermaid" here.

A Model Modern Pirate Musical: UMGASS's "The Pirates of Penzance"

Fri, 04/14/2017 - 7:30am by eli

The University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society (UMGASS) hits the stage at the Mendelssohn Theater again this weekend with what must be their umpteenth production of The Pirates of Penzance. Pirates is far and away Gilbert & Sullivan's best-known work, well-represented in popular culture, as demonstrated by Muppets, Animaniacs, Kevin Kline, and even a complete production in Yiddish.

UMGASS takes Pirates seriously, which is to say, not seriously at all, delivering a delightful community production, loaded with talent and laughs, that stays true to the original work without casting it in amber.

Amanda Marie Xydis shines as Mabel. New to UMGASS but not to Ann Arbor, her performance in a very challenging role is amazing, especially when she delivers the most demanding passages of "Poor Wand'ring One" with both the virtuosity they require and the ridiculousness they deserve. Somebody get her a 7-foot-tall talking carrot!

Christopher Kendall returns as Frederic, with a very solid vocal performance and plenty of mugging in a role that's often played too earnestly. He can hold his own against Xydis and is particularly wonderful in "When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold," with Marcus Peterson as a booming Pirate King, and Jaime Sharp as a suitably-transformed Pirate Ruth.

Choreography is always a safe place for modern Gilbert & Sullivan productions to stretch their wings a bit, and the creative team made many excellent choices that amplify the comedic moments and get laughs on their own, showcasing both the talent in the chorus and how much fun everyone is having.

UMGASS always shines in the pit, and this is no exception; the quality of the orchestra is simply outstanding under the direction of muppet-like conductor Ezra Donner, even if they did take "Modern Major General" just a smidge too fast. Matthew Grace as Major General Stanley kept the appropriate stiff upper lip throughout and delivers some of the show's best asides along the way.

The whole production is just a must for Gilbert & Sullivan fans or the operetta-curious, and UMGASS can be counted on as always to offer a lovely evening at the Mendelssohn. Don't miss this Rollicking production - this weekend only!

Eli Neiburger is Deputy Director of the Ann Arbor District Library and had no business being cast as Ralph Rackstraw in high school. Love levels all ranks, but it does not level them as much as that.

UMGASS's "The Pirates of Penzance" continues April 14, 15, and 16 at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. Tickets are available online, or at the Mendelssohn Box Office.

The Great Eight: Banff Mountain Film Festival at the Michigan Theater

Wed, 04/12/2017 - 2:20pm by christopherporter

It’s been over 20 years since the Banff Mountain Film Festival launched its “world tour,” bringing various films from the competition to over 40 countries and hundreds of cities around the world. Ann Arbor has been lucky enough to be a stop on the tour for more than a decade.

The film festival, which takes place at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada each fall, features short films and documentaries about outdoor recreation of all sorts. Eight of the best films from the festival were shown at the Michigan Theater this past Tuesday evening.

This year’s selections offered a refreshing dose of unusual sports and unique humor. The festival opened with Metronomic, a 5-minute film from France about a team of “flying musicians.” The stuntmen swing off of tight-ropes and parachute off of cliffs, all while playing their respective instruments. Most amazing was the drummer, Freddy Montigny, who flew with his entire drum set.

Next was a film about canine sports, Dog Power, that covered much more than dog sledding. Focusing on the lasting relationships that form between athletes and their dogs in dog-powered sports, the film showed canicross (running with dogs), bikjoring (biking with dogs), skijoring (skiing behind a team of dogs), and various distances and team sizes of sled-dog racing. It was fascinating to learn about the breeding and care that goes into making dogs into athletes. One racer emphasized that the dogs are just as important a part of the team as the human. Banff Film Festival’s films often focus on skiing and snowboarding, climbing or mountain biking, so it was exciting and heartwarming to see a film like Dog Power.

Another feel-good film from the show was Four Mums in a Boat, the amazing story of four middle-aged British mothers who decide to compete in a race rowing a boat across the Atlantic Ocean. They all met one another while dropping their kids off at school, and took up rowing on the local river. After learning about the 3,000-mile race across the Atlantic, one of the mothers convinced the other three to sign up for it with her. The film showcases the trials and tribulations that the women undergo as they spend almost 70 days (20 more than planned) rowing across the ocean. From a loss of power (meaning they had to spend 10 hours a day hand-pumping ocean water through a filter to make it potable) and a broken rudder to rowing into Hurricane Alex, the women demonstrate admirable strength, endurance, and determination, and a great deal of humor.

Young Guns is a 30-minute film about two young rock climbers, was also a crowd-favorite. Kai Lightner was 15 years old when the film was made and Ashima Shiraishi was just 14. The two are gaining worldwide notoriety as the film opens, winning national championships and beating climbers much older than them. Friends both at the climbing gym and outside of it, they spend their spring break traveling together with their families to Norway, where extra challenging rocks put their skills to the test. Their quiet maturity and amazing climbing skills had the audience gasping with delight, especially when Shiraishi becomes both the youngest person ever and the first woman to climb a V15 boulder in Japan at the film’s conclusion.

Other films shown on Tuesday were Being Hear, a brief film about the importance of listening to nature, The Perfect Flight, a five-minute film about falconry, The Super Salmon, about the fight by many Alaskans to protect the Susitna River from being dammed, and Danny MacAskill’s Wee Day Out, a charming, amusing film about one man’s day mountain biking through rural Ireland. Banff Mountain Film Festival, which is locally sponsored by U-M’s Recreational Sports association, Moosejaw, and Bivouac, is a special treat each year. The films offer viewers the chance to see aspects of outdoor sports and life that often aren’t captured at the Olympics or other major televised sporting events, and the unique perspective that each filmmaker brings to his or her work casts each movie in a different emotional light. This year’s distinctiveness, with its focus on sports like falconry, rowing, and canicross, made for an extra special experience. Luckily for anyone who missed the festival -- or for anyone who is excited to see more outdoor films -- Banff Mountain Film Festival will be back in 2018.

Elizabeth Pearce is a Library Technician at the Ann Arbor District Library.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival world tour stops in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Theater every April.

Two U-M exhibitions examine the battle for equality on campus

Wed, 04/12/2017 - 7:00am by christopherporter

Two local art exhibits highlight equality on University of Michigan’s campus: one focuses on two particular campus buildings while the other looks at the students and campus as a whole.

"Constructing Gender: The Origins of Michigan's Union and League" at UMMA

You’ve driven by them dozens of times: the Michigan Union and the Michigan League. You know that inside these iconic campus buildings are study rooms, eateries, visitor suites. But did you know they were originally envisioned as being separate facilities for male and female students?

The UMMA exhibit “Constructing Gender: The Origins of Michigan’s Union and League” highlights the fascinating -- and very gendered -- beginnings of these structures. Early planners intended the entire university to be gender segregated. President Marion Burton said in 1921, “[M]en’s interests will center south and west of campus … while new buildings for women will go to the north of campus” and these buildings were no exception. The Union (opened in in 1919) was intended for men while the League (opened in 1929) was to be the domain of women. To raise funds for the buildings, fundraisers pitched the League as “The House That Jill Would Build” while the Union used the slogan, “What 2,000 Michigan men go after they are certain to get.”

The very entries to the buildings were planned differently to accommodate the societal norms at the time. Because unescorted women were not allowed through the front doors of the Michigan Union, a guard stood post to ensure that women entered through a side door. This practice only ended 61 years ago when women were finally allowed entry via the front door. Interestingly, it was not the last space in the Union to prohibit women; the billiard room did not allow females until 1968.

The interiors were also designed based on gender. Architects Irving Pond and Allen Pond indicated that since men enjoy themselves with and without women, only “minimum of accommodation” for women would be made at the Union. Conversely, since “women … find their enjoyment greatly enhanced by the presence of men or boys,” the maximum possible accommodations for men would be made in the League.

The exhibit features photos of the Union’s swimming pool (which both genders could swim in albeit at different times), of formal dances including the Interfraternity Ball of 1939 and 1934’s Slide Rule Dance, various stages of construction of the buildings, and students of both genders enjoying the many amenities of both the League and the Union.

"The Student Experience: Flappers, Mappers, and the Fight for Equality on Campus" at the Hatcher Graduate Library

Times have changed on the campus of the University of Michigan, but as this exhibit at the Hatcher Graduate Library demonstrates, students are students irrespective of the day and age. One thing that has definitely remained the same is that students will find ways to entertain themselves. Back in the “flapper” days of the 1920s and earlier, students organized events by their class. Women organized the Sophomore Circus (later called the Sophomore Cabaret), featuring themes such as “Winter Wonderland.” After World War II, men were included in the event which they then called the Soph Show. Not to be outdone, the junior class sponsored the J-Hop. Originally called the Society Hop back in the 1870s, the event evolved to be a significant event on campus. By 1913, it encompassed several days of concerts, parties, and a big Saturday night dance. The women in the junior class produced an annual play called, fittingly, the Junior Girls’ Play. These financially successful productions helped support the building of the Michigan League. Freshmen were not left out of the fun as they had their Freshmen Pageant and Picnic every April. After a picnic supper at sunset, the students paraded in a Lantern Night procession. Women provided the pageantry by dancing in the trees above Palmer Field.

To help students navigate an increasingly larger campus in 1926, artist Gertrude Strickler drew a map called "Down in Ann Arbor Town." (Like the Junior Girls’ Play, these proceeds also benefitted the Michigan League.) The pictorial style of the map emphasized story over actual geography and scale. While they were not meant to be used to literally find a place, the maps offered an imaginative glimpse into the goings-on at the U.

Years later traditional maps were produced by women like Marie Tharp and Helen Hornbeck Tanner. These offerings comprise the second part of this exhibit. A native of Ypsilanti, Tharp answered the early 1940s call recruiting women to the geology department at the University of Michigan. Later at Columbia University, Tharp and her partner Bruce Heezen, mapped the topography of the ocean floor. At the time the two began their work, women were not allowed on research vessels; therefore, Heezen got the data and Tharp drew the maps. Tharp’s struggles to be accepted into and taken seriously by this male dominated profession cannot be overstated. Her work essentially confirmed the theory of continental drift, at the time a controversial idea. Nevertheless, her own partner dismissed her observation as “girl talk” and refused to believe her theories for over a year.

The work of historian and historical geographer Helen Hornbeck Tanner is also highlighted in the exhibit. Her 1987 tome Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History remains the gold standard for the subject. Hornbeck Tanner strongly advocated for women, indigenous peoples, and for equality. To this end, she created the Susan K. Power and Helen Hornbeck Tanner Fellowship at the Newberry Library.

But the fight for equality did not begin or end with Hornbeck Tanner’s work. The mere thought of allowing women into the prestigious university led the 1958 Board of Regents to fuss that to do so would be a “very dangerous experience,” a “doubtful experiment,” “certain to be ruinous to the young ladies” who attended and “disastrous to the Institution.” And thus is the introduction to the third section of the exhibit: the struggle by so many for the equal rights automatically afforded to a select few.

While women and minorities have come a long way, it was not without a struggle. Early female and minority students and their accomplishments highlight part of the exhibit. Posters and pictures include the formation of the Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Action Movement, the Graduate Employees Organization, teach-ins, the John Sinclair rally, and the many protests and rallies that accompanied these demands for basic rights. While this display eventually ends, the struggle does not and this exhibit serves as a timely reminder of where we were, where we are, and where we can go.

Patti Smith is a special education teacher and writer who lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and cats.

"Constructing Gender: The Origins of Michigan's Union and League" is on display until May 7 at UMMA. Women can even walk through the museum's front doors to view it!

"The Student Experience: Flappers, Mappers, and the Fight for Equality on Campus" is on display until May 12 at the Hatcher Graduate Library.

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #633

Tue, 04/11/2017 - 12:00pm by christopherporter

An April 2017 LibraryReads, Kate Eberlen's engaging debut Miss You * brings to mind One Day by David Nicholls, where two souls that are meant to be, crisscross each other for years without connecting, after a chance meeting as 18 year-olds.

Tess and (An)Gus first met in a dim church in Florence and bumped into each other on the Ponte Vecchio while on holiday, before heading off to university in London.

Gus would read medicine, fulfilling the family wish. Tess never made it to university. Her mother's untimely death and the brute of a father meant she would stay home and raise her special-need younger sister, Hope.

Over the course of the next 16 years, as they individually fumbled through failed romances and marriage, balancing family and professional demands, the two narrowly missed one another several more times - while queuing up at Selfridge's one Christmas Eve; at a posh country wedding; at a frenzy Stones' concert where Gus, now a physician, attended to an unconscious Tess.

"Eberlen, who has written historical fiction and chick lit under the name Imogen Parker, excels in creating realistic characters whom readers will adore—including Tess’ unusual sister, Hope; Tess’ sassy best friend, Dolly; and Gus’ impulsive college pal, Nash. Eberlen also shines at keeping the story moving through 16 years of friendship, purpose, and love. Swoon-worthy." (Booklist)

Will appeal to fans of Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes.

* = Starred review

Related:
➥ Fabulous Fiction Firsts, full archive

"The Bridges of Madison County" makes its Michigan debut at The Dio Theatre

Mon, 04/10/2017 - 1:55pm by christopherporter

The stage musical adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County, now making its Michigan premiere at Pinckney’s Dio Theatre, ends its first act with a moment that feels like a key catching in a lock -- and in that instant, you feel each person in the audience make a choice: they’re either checking out or they’re all in.

Why? Because the show’s story, set in Iowa in 1965, focuses on a lonely, middle-aged, Italian former war bride (Francesca, played by Marlene Inman) who, while her husband and two teenage children are away for a few days at the Indiana State Fair, finds herself irresistibly drawn into a love affair with an itinerant National Geographic photographer (Robert, played by Jon McHatton) who’s in town to shoot pictures of the local covered bridges.

Often, tales of adultery stack the deck by making the absent spouse abusive or coarse or deceitful, thereby subtly justifying the betrayal and making it easy to sympathize with the partner who strays. But Bridges, perhaps fittingly, takes the more challenging road less traveled, making Francesca’s husband Bud (Andrew Gorney) a decent, upstanding guy who’s simply not particularly engaged or romantic. After nearly 20 years of marriage, this hardly seems a unique or punishable offense.

So how you respond when Francesca leads Robert into the bed she normally shares with Bud -- which inevitably feels a little extra back-stabby -- will depend on the reach of your empathy for her situation. Francesca must ultimately choose between her own happiness and her family’s, and while some audience members may feel she only has herself to blame, others will think, “If someone suddenly makes you feel awake and alive, in the midst of sleepwalking through life, it can’t be easy to push that away and simply say ‘no.’”

Toss double standard considerations into the mix -- namely, do we reflexively judge women more harshly than men for pursuing pleasure and happiness at the expense of others? -- and you’ve got a meaty show that’s likely to both polarize audiences and launch some meaningful conversations.

But the two-and-a-half-hour show also presents theater companies with entirely different kinds of staging challenges. Based on the 1992 bestselling novel by Robert James Waller, with a book by Marsha Norman ('night, Mother) and a Tony-winning score by Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years), Bridges requires some significant set changes. Scenic designer Matt Tomich, who also designed the show’s lovely lighting and sound, ambitiously aims to transport us into Francesca’s country home and to one of the covered bridges -- not to mention the state fair, a bar, a field, and the binocular-wielding neighbor’s house. Tomich achieves some of the shifts by way of tall, enormous set pieces that are rotated and used as screens for projections, or moved apart to allow for the quick, on-stage, skeletal construction of a bridge. The show’s set changes, particularly in the first act, are complex, and sometimes noisily distracting (inevitably so), but the end result is that we’re more palpably a part of the landscape of Francesca’s world.

Inman, as Francesca, more than delivers on Brown’s soaring, operatic score. (Indeed, for all the reasons mentioned above, Bridges has more than a whiff of opera about it, both musically and plot-wise.) But even more importantly, Inman conveys Brown’s lyrics with the stunning emotional clarity necessary to really understand the changes happening within Francesca. Leading man McHatton is exactly the sensitive-but-super-masculine, handsome, vocal powerhouse needed for the role of Robert (though being a smidge young for the part gave the affair more of a “cougar” vibe). And Dan Morrison and Carrie Jay Sayer, as Francesca’s neighbor Charlie and his nosey wife Marge, charmingly offer up a seemingly happier model of marriage while also injecting some laughs into the show. But Sayer’s biggest dramatic moment to shine arrives near the show’s end when she quietly opts for compassion over judgment.

Brian Buckner directed the show’s music; the soloists are consistently terrific, and the swelling ensemble numbers (despite occasional, minor imbalances) achieve goosebump-status more than once. The show itself has some flaws: the opening number, “To Build a Home,” feels overly busy, so it’s hard to zero in on the information we need and thus get settled into the story; Brown uses a song performed by Robert’s remembered ex-wife, Marian (Madison Merlanti), as a device to advance time during Robert and Francesca’s first shared dinner together -- and while I understand its theatrical function, and the song (“Another Life”) is lovely, the set-up nonetheless feels awkward; and finally, after all the movement of the first act, the second act feels physically stagnant, as the lovers sing to each other in Francesca’s kitchen for some time.

Generally, though, director Steve DeBruyne’s efforts to bring this big, sweeping show to life on the Dio’s stage -- and the wildly talented team he’s assembled for that purpose -- result in a powerful evening of musical theater. (For those who may not know, the Dio serves dinner before each performance and some actors from the show work as servers -- which offers a great chance to chat with them and ask questions.) DeBruyne notes in the show’s program that he aimed to build the show’s world around Francesca, and this vision is beautifully realized in numerous ways.

But as I mentioned before, your personal inclination to either condemn or empathize with Francesca will, in the end, determine your willingness to cross these heartwrenching Bridges with her.

Jenn McKee is a former staff arts reporter for The Ann Arbor News, where she primarily covered theater and film events, and also wrote general features and occasional articles on books and music.

"The Bridges of Madison County" runs through May 21 at The Dio, 177 E. Main St., Pinckney. For times and reservations, visit diotheatre.com or call 517-672-6009.

Hail to the Catholepistemiad Michigania: 200 years of U-M at “True Blue!”

Mon, 04/10/2017 - 8:00am by christopherporter

Saturday evening’s sold-out, star-studded True Blue! A Tribute to Michigan event at Hill Auditorium, celebrating U-M’s bicentennial, began like Michigan football games do: with the sonorous voice of Carl Grapentine.

But instead of introducing the Michigan Marching Band, Grapentine introduced two of the evening’s emcees, Glee star Darren Criss (’09) and Grimm star Jacqueline Toboni (’14), who welcomed musical theater majors to the stage to perform a special version of “The Victors,” arranged by A.J. Holmes (’11); and theater majors, who delivered a rap about U-M’s founding and growth -- wherein we learned that the school was originally called Catholepistemiad -- or University -- of Michigania. (Thankfully, the name didn’t stick. Imagine spelling that in the stadium.)

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #632

Tue, 04/04/2017 - 6:00am by christopherporter

Author Caite Dolan-Leach's clever title for her debut Dead Letters * references the obvious, but also its alternate definition.

Graduate student Ava Antipova made her way home to upstate New York when news of her estranged twin Zelda's death reached her in Paris. They have not spoken for 2 years after a bitter betrayal.

Arriving at Seneca Lake where the family's failing vineyard Silenus, was located, Ava immediately stepped into caring for their ailing mother and estranged father who long ago, abandoned them for a sunnier vineyard, wealthier wife, and a younger family in California. Almost immediately, even before the Police suspected foul play, Ava began receiving cryptic emails and social media messages from Zelda.

Arranged in 26 chapters, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet and recounting the games the twins played as children, Zelda led Ava on a scavenger hunt, delivering "a lock-room mystery with flavors of Perec", which as it became increasingly obvious, was also a taunt for the Edgar Allan Poe scholar (subject of Ava's dissertation) and the OuLiPo Movement - writers obsessed with mysteries and literary games.

"In this, her startling debut novel, Dolan-Leach nimbly entwines the clever mystery of Agatha Christie, the wit of Dorothy Parker, and the inebriated Gothic of Eugene O’Neill." (Kirkus Reviews)

For readers who enjoyed Sister by Rosamund Lupton, and The Widow by Fiona Barton.

* = starred review

Related:
➥ Fabulous Fiction Firsts, full archive

Carving Out a Niche: Marian Short's "Cakeasaurus: Scenes From a Picture Book"

Mon, 04/03/2017 - 7:00am by christopherporter

Cakeasaurus, the gleefully cake-thieving, sweet-sneaking monster brainchild of Ann Arbor printmaker/storyteller Marian Short, will be lurking on the walls and in the halls of the Taubman Health Center's North Lobby from now until June 11, 2017. Cakeasaurus: Scenes From a Picture Book is curated by Gifts of Art, a program designed to bring art and music to patients, visitors and staff in the University of Michigan Health System.

Amusingly paired with this series of Cakeasaurus prints are the sweet yet dangerous-looking glass confections of Janet Kelman. A combination of pate de verre, slumped and sheet glass, the sugary looking cupcakes and gateaux look delicious, but engender feelings of both attraction and dismay at the thought of biting into one of these glossy but inedible desserts. Cakeasaurus beware!

The (mostly) wood block prints in Cakeasaurus: Scenes From a Picture Book describe the exploits of the cake-stealing monster through its 8-year development from inception into what Short hopes will soon become a children’s book. They track the artist’s process as she refines, rethinks, and develops the story visually and narratively. Short is generous and humorous in her explanations of her creative process and thoughtfully provides several large explanatory prints, visually satisfying in their own right, to accompany the smaller artworks.

Nefarious yet oddly relatable (who doesn't harbor a bit of cake monster within?) Short’s Cakeasaurus steals and eats cake after luscious cake in a town very much like our own, experiencing along the way not one moment of remorse. His depredations alarm residents who institute a neighborhood cake watch to no avail, until the monster is caught in the act late one night by brave young birthday boy Quimby. The intrepid 5-year-old shows the thief the error of his ways and points him in a better direction. The story suggests that while adults may be well-meaning, the reform of Cakeasaurus calls for the resourcefulness of a plucky and wise young hero.

"The interplay of text and image in my work reflects my lifelong enthusiasm for picture books," said Short. The artist, a native of Philadelphia, is a graduate of Hampshire College in Massachusetts, where she studied creative writing and literature. She discovered wood-block printing after moving to the Midwest when she took a course at the Ann Arbor Art Center in 1999. She was immediately drawn to the possibilities inherent in combining text and image on the page, though the idea of creating books didn’t occur to her immediately. She also found she enjoyed the concrete physical nature of the carving process, which was so different from her desk job at the time, at Borders Books.

Short describes her creative process as one in which “some little creature comes along that has a thought attached and it just springs into my head.” From there, she works to create a composition on paper, which she finds to be the most creatively taxing aspect of the process. When she is satisfied with the layout, she transfers it to a woodblock for cutting. She maintains that the carving process itself is deeply satisfying and relaxing. She adds that she is able to pick up a block and work productively for short periods at a time, a schedule made necessary by her other current job as the mother of a two-year-old daughter.

Fans of Marian Short’s fanciful creatures will soon have yet another reason to rejoice. The Ann Arbor District Library has acquired seven of her prints, which will soon be available to the Ann Arbor Public Library’s patrons through AADL’s Art Print collection. The prints feature a variety of compositions (not all of which are Cakeasaurus-related). Short also deals in star-gazing llamas, sinister geese, and bandit raccoons, all of whom are represented in the recently acquired collection.

The AADL Art Print collection, which is comprised of over 700 professionally framed posters, prints, and fine-art reproductions, has been in existence for over 20 years and is located at the downtown branch, but library patrons can browse for pictures online and pick them up at their local branch. Up to three artworks can be checked out at a time for eight weeks. The print loans cannot be renewed in consecutive weeks, but if library members find they want Marian Short’s various creatures of imagination permanently, her reasonably priced prints can be purchased through Etsy.

K.A. Letts is an artist and art blogger. She has shown her work regionally and nationally and in 2015 won the Toledo Federation of Art Societies Purchase Award while participating in the TAAE95 Exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art. You can find more of her work at RustbeltArts.com.

For more information about Gifts of Art, visit http://www.med.umich.edu/goa/.

Purple Rose’s Vino Veritas finds humor and pain in the middle class

Sat, 04/01/2017 - 12:36pm by amy

The Purple Rose Theatre has made its mark as an outstanding professional theater company with smart, contemporary comedies with a sting.

So it’s appropriate that the Chelsea theater founded by Jeff Daniels would mark its 100th presentation with a new production of Detroit playwright David MacGregor’s Vino Veritas, which had its world premiere at the Purple Rose in 2008. It is a fine example of the plays that the company has premiered over the years. It’s contemporary, witty, fast-paced but also biting, brutally honest, and perceptive about the worries and frustrations of middle-class Americans.

Vino Veritas is set in “an upper middle class living room” on Halloween night. As the play opens a couple are waiting for their neighbors to come for a drink before they all head off for their annual appearance at a costume party.

The couple has recently returned from a trip to Peru. This was a rare adventure for the two studio photographers who had once been daring photojournalists. It was, it seems, an attempt to re-spark a troubled relationship. While there, the wife is given a bottle of wine made from the skin of blue dart tree frogs. The wine is alleged to be a truth serum.

The wife wants to share the wine with their neighbors; the husband is horrified by the idea. The madness ensues when the wine flows.

This is a funny set up for a series of revelations, comic, upsetting, and sometimes dark. But MacGregor’s sharp wit, his feel for contemporary culture, and his sympathy for the characters he’s created make this an excellent example of the kind of theater the Purple Rose presents so effortlessly.

Director Rhiannon Ragland makes that living room atmosphere so real that the audience might feel like voyeurs looking in on their neighbors. The banter flies with precise timing but is never about jokes. Underlying the humor is the story of two couples and how they handle the truth. Ragland gives proper balance to the funny and the sad.

In a press release, MacGregor summarizes the play’s intent, “Do you really want the truth or do you only want the truth you want to hear? And how many of your friendships and relationships would survive if other people knew what was really on your mind?”

What’s on Lauren’s mind is that her perfect life with a husband and two children lacks the adventure she once knew. The husband, whose courage she loved, is now a bit of a goof who’d rather joke than deal with the undercurrent of unhappiness in their relationship.

Kate Thomsen’s performance as Lauren is front and center. She is deeply into the character. She has a bit of underlying melancholy while trading witticisms with her mate or playing word games with her neighbors. Thomsen’s timing is precise, her movements natural, and when the emotions finally go deep, she makes the most of it. This is a great performance.

David Bendena is her equal as Phil, a man who tries to be happy-go-lucky even when he knows things aren’t right. Phil is a natural charmer, a nerd for trivia, a lover of pop culture and fast foods and Halloween humor. He’s a regular guy and Bendena is so comfortable embodying this facade that we are taken up when he lets the facade down. He then reveals a depth of understanding of a man afraid of opening up for fear of losing what he may have already lost.

The neighbors are a bit older and at first seem well settled, but there are clues. Uptight doctor Ridley and his wife Claire are ready for the party. But Ridley is dressed in his labcoat; Claire is elaborately decked out as Queen Elizabeth I. Ridley is a stiff, a fuss-budget, and doesn’t want to test the waters. Claire, like Lauren, is yearning for something else.

Aphrodite Nikolovski is hilarious as Claire, the broadest comic role in the show. As the truth serum works its wonders, Claire lets loose as she’s been wanting to do for ages. Nikolovski takes some wonderful manic turns on everything from a devastating take on Winnie-the-Pooh and all the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood to a raging declaration of sexual fervor. It’s a giddy role that moves from sedate to manic to, well, sedated.

Alex Leydenfrost has the thankless role of being the supposed rational center. He’s the soft-spoken party pooper Ridley. Leydenfrost gets his turn at both self-righteous indignation and dishonest moralizing, but the character lacks the nuance of the other roles.

The set design by Sarah Pearline is another of those meticulously detailed Purple Rose environments. Look about the sleek but casual great room and see the telling details of what Phil and Lauren value in their lives. The set works especially well for the deeply real production Ragland has created.

Patrons of the Purple Rose will lift a glass of less powerful wine to Jeff Daniels and Artistic Director Guy Sanville in wishing them 100 more productions that offer provocative and entertaining perspectives on our lives and the world we live in.

Hugh Gallagher has written theater and film reviews over a 40-year newspaper career and was most recently managing editor of the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in suburban Detroit.

Vino Veritas continues at The Purple Rose Theater, 137 Park Street, Chelsea, Wednesdays through Sundays to May 27. Tickets range from $20.50 to $46 with special discounts for students, seniors, teachers, members of the military, and groups. For information or to make reservations, call 734-433-7673 or go online to http://www.purplerosetheatre.org.