It begins before it begins. On a stage artfully designed to look like a combination of a Valentine’s Day card, a red-light district, and a boudoir, a well-dressed man emerges, staring out into the audience. Beautiful women in minimal dress bend, gaze, and arch.

• DeVos Performance Hall
• Broadway Grand Rapids
• theatre reviews
• Theater

At seven, maybe eight, Meghan Distel saw Annie. “I felt this connection to the actors,” she said. “Looking up at that stage, I could see myself.” It kindled in her not only the excitement shared by so many other children who saw that show, but an understanding: she would make theater part of her life.

• theatre
• Broadway Grand Rapids
• Web Exclusive
• Performing Arts
• Meghan Distel

First staged in October of 1600, Jacopo Peri’s “Euridice” is the oldest surviving opera. Peri, in sympathy with the majority of Florence’s musicians and men of letters, found inspiration in the spare and resonant stories of the ancient world.

• opera
• Grand Rapids Opera
• Eurydice

Six years and an enormous amount of man hours have gone into the Muskegon Museum of Art expansion, which was completed in late 2024. In February, the museum (which has not shut down in the interim) will usher attendees into its expanded space.

• visual art
• Muskegon
• muskegon museum of art

Looking to mix live music with refreshing handcrafted beverages, but not interested in the usual bar open-mic scene? How about looking for an excuse to dust off your old fiddle or flute from high school? In that case, Pux Cider off Fuller and Michigan has just the solution: Drop-In Traditional Irish Music Sessions.

• local music
• arts
• Traditional music
• Irish music

Arts exhibitions and performances have returned in full swing to West Michigan. This season, there’s absolutely no shortage of concerts, symphonies, plays, musicals, ballet, visual arts and beyond. 

• arts

Arts exhibitions and performances have returned in full swing to West Michigan. This season, there’s absolutely no shortage of concerts, symphonies, plays, musicals, ballet, visual arts and beyond. 

• arts
• arts calendar

Since its premiere in December 1892, The Nutcracker has become a holiday staple, as closely associated with Christmas as are poinsettias, silver tinsel, and mistletoe. Who could forget the clockwork movements of the doll, or the battle with the Mouse King, or the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy? Or, for that matter, the directionally-challenged stripper who winds up at a wild holiday party?

• Ballet
• Holidays
• Deos Ballet
• The Nutcracker

There is just no stopping Mamma Mia!, the Swedish pop sensation ABBA’s jukebox musical, one of the longest-running shows on both the West End and Broadway that’s been produced the world over, in about 20 languages, since 1999, has a film adaptation and sequel, and until the end of time will find an audience of all ages screaming with delight.

• Broadway
• theatre reviews

What’s old is new again just in time for Christmas at Farmers Alley Theatre. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol may have been adapted so many times that every person you know has their own favorite version; and you may think there’s no need for any other iteration of this beloved tale. However, the play currently in production at Farmers Alley Theatre in Kalamazoo may convince you otherwise. 

• Farmers Alley Theatre
• theatre reviews
• Holidays
• A Christmas Carol