Expressionist Expressions: Brass Tacks Ensemble revives Eugene O’Neill’s "The Hairy Ape"

Thu, 08/02/2018 - 10:00am by christopherporter

When someone “gets down to brass tacks,” they’re focusing on the essentials -- and this is precisely what an Ann Arbor-based theater troupe, The Brass Tacks Ensemble, aims to do.

Theatre Nova's Michigan Playwrights Festival looks for the seeds of a great play

Mon, 07/23/2018 - 9:52am by christopherporter

“Sometimes a play calls out for a staged reading,” said Carla Milarch, Theatre Nova’s founding artistic director.

This is precisely why the Ann Arbor-based company -- which specializes in producing new work and is located in the Yellow Barn on Huron St. -- is hosting its Michigan Playwrights Festival for a third year.

Encore Theatre's production of "West Side Story" is unnervingly timely

Tue, 06/26/2018 - 12:45pm by christopherporter

Not all that long ago, West Side Story seemed kind of quaint.

We’d all watch this classic, 1950s stage musical twist on Romeo and Juliet, built on the talent of four iconic artists (Jerome Robbins, concept; Arthur Laurents, book; Leonard Bernstein, music; Stephen Sondheim, lyrics), and think, “So many of the characters in this story are openly, unapologetically racist and anti-immigrant! I’m so glad we’ve evolved from this.”

West Park Monster: Penny Seats' "Gravedigger" begins the outdoor season with a frank retelling

Tue, 06/19/2018 - 11:45pm by christopherporter

Penny Seats Theatre Company’s two-show 2018 summer season -- cheekily called "Hail to the Victors" -- consists of two different takes on Mary Shelley’s classic horror story. Next month, PSTC will present Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan’s stage musical adaptation of Brooks’ 1974 film comedy Young Frankenstein, but the company first kicked things off this past weekend with a two-hour production of Joseph Zettelmaier’s The Gravedigger, directed by Julia Glander and Lauren M. London.

Dual Struggles: Encore Theatre's "Big Fish" puts up a good fight

Tue, 05/01/2018 - 9:30am by christopherporter

A colleague of mine once observed that when you ask people about their mothers, you tend to hear stories and fond memories, but when you ask people about their fathers, tears flow within minutes. 

Out of the Ether: Nancy And Beth conjure musical beauty from the fifth dimension

Fri, 04/20/2018 - 9:30am by christopherporter

Most of us know Megan Mullally as boozy, unapologetically solipsistic Karen Walker on Will & Grace, and also perhaps as Parks & Recreation star Nick Offerman’s real-life partner, but not as a former dancer and Broadway performer. 

This is likely why you’d be surprised to learn that Mullally, in recent years, has teamed up with another multi-talented artist, Stephanie Hunt (who played lesbian bass-player Devin on Friday Night Lights), to form a music duo called Nancy And Beth, which will perform at The Ark on Monday, April 23. 

"Gruesome Playground Injuries" continues Kickshaw's dedication to challenging theater

Mon, 04/16/2018 - 12:45pm by christopherporter

Fittingly, Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries, now being staged by Kickshaw Theatre at Ann Arbor’s trustArt Studios, starts in a parochial school’s infirmary, where a deep, lasting friendship takes root between a girl and a boy who recognize in each other a common compulsion toward self-destruction.

Theater for the People: U-M's "Me and My Girl" is a rollicking populist musical comedy

Wed, 04/11/2018 - 11:00am by christopherporter

It feels a bit like director/choreographer Linda Goodrich, a professor in U-M’s musical theater department, has long had a date with destiny regarding the 1937 British musical Me and My Girl.

EMU's production of “Detroit ’67” brings the past into the present

Thu, 04/05/2018 - 12:00pm by christopherporter

Historical events, when presented as a series of statistics and dates, have far less impact on us than they do when integrated into a human story. 

U-M's "Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches” mines complex humor & heartbreak

Mon, 04/02/2018 - 10:30am by christopherporter

It’s amazing how, when a brilliant script is masterfully executed, three and a half hours can seem to pass in the blink of an eye.