“Mahalia, A Gospel Musical” is so much more than a biographical musical about the great Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel. Full of the gorgeous church hymns and old spirituals she sang with her tremendously soulful and powerful voice, it does, indeed, tell the story of her rise to fame in the 20th Century. But in so doing, it also elucidates a crucial piece of American history.
Cari Scholtens and Jil Farheart look pretty much the same: they’re both tall, lean brunettes. But Farheart has a scar on her cheek. And while Scholtens owns a plastic sword and axe, Farheart’s sword and axe are necessarily steel; she’s a bounty hunter, and uses them when she has to. In a world of dark cults, vicious monsters, and the ever-present threat of violence, “when she has to” is pretty often.
When John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer and Tony Award winning drama “Doubt: A Parable” came out amid the first of Catholic priest sex abuse revelations 15 years ago, it was powerful and shocking.
In the final moments of Grand Rapids Ballet’s MOVEMEDIA: Handmade, dancers onstage transform into an underwater human merry go round. With linked arms, an outer circle moves clockwise, while an inner circle moves in the opposite direction in Nicolas Blanc’s world premiere “Aquatic Hypoxia.”
For 20 years, Mamma Mia! has been unavailable to local theater companies. But the time has come for troupes like Grand Rapids Civic Theatre to bring the hit musical to the stage with showstopping tunes, creative sets and lots of talent.
Schools and libraries go hand-in-hand, both containing and spreading knowledge far and wide. Whether it’s a university or an elementary school, the library is the well of information students can dip into at any time. The same goes for Oscar Tuazon’s Water School, coming to Michigan State University’s Broad Art Museum.
When artist Tanya Tice couldn’t find a piece of art to hang above her couch in her price range, she went out to the store, bought some canvas and paint and “went to town.”
Accomplished Michigan author and illustrator Patricia Polacco was once a little girl, Trisha, who saw jumbled words on the page and struggled with reading in school.
Joey DeFrancesco, a third-generation jazz musician, has been perfecting his unique blend of jazz, soul and blues for more than 40 years. Born in Philadelphia, DeFrancesco got his start on the organ at age four and began playing shows at five when his dad, “Papa” John DeFrancesco, invited him to sit in on sets.
Under the baton of Anne Harrigan, the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra will take the audience at W.K. Kellogg Auditorium to Bald Mountain, the Pines of Rome and beyond with the Walt Disney classic Fantasia.
For Jake and Pete Twitchell, it’s the 10-year anniversary of their father’s tragic death in a 1952 mining accident. The Pickaway Coal Company’s South Mountain in rural West Virginia — locally nicknamed “The Burnt Part” — is where the death of those four miners occurred, three of whom left behind children.
It’s four songs into Anastasia before audiences are really introduced to Anya (Lila Coogan) the show’s female lead. Up until that point, a lot of years go by, and quickly too, jumping from 1906 to 1917 to our final destination, 1927.
The Gilmore Keyboard Festival welcomed Russian piano virtuoso Nikita Mndoyants to the Wellspring Theater in Kalamazoo on Sunday evening for the third installment of its Rising Stars series. Rising Stars offers an opportunity to see small recitals from up-and-coming artists in the world of classical piano, and 29-year-old Mndoyants performed for a full house clearly eager to enjoy his talents in such an intimate setting.
