West Michigan's Arts & Entertainment Guide
Review: 'Bright Star' Shines with Intimate Moments and Powerful Music
Written by Marin Heinritz | Monday, 27 June 2022 13:24 |Director Kathy Mulay wanted to bring the homespun bluegrass musical “Bright Star” to Farmers Alley Theatre in Kalamazoo since she saw it debut on Broadway six years ago. Its premiere at the regional theater was slotted for the 2019-2020 season, but was thwarted by the pandemic.
For more than three decades, local nonprofit organization Broadway Grand Rapids has been host to some of the best that New York City’s “great white way” has to offer. Regularly, year after year, musical theater superfans from around West Michigan will venture downtown to head inside the DeVos Performance Hall for some high-production, high-energy entertainment.
Review: Fun, Campy Music Brings New Meaning to ‘Mean Girls’
Written by John Kissane | Wednesday, 22 June 2022 14:32 |Mean Girls was released 18 years ago, in 2004. Children born at the time graduated high school this year, having survived the gauntlet that the film depicts: a gauntlet of pettiness, deception, and casual cruelty.
Spaces for Discovery: Art Along the Lakeshore
Written by Michaela Stock | Monday, 20 June 2022 12:26 |Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, being creative can be an intimidating process. Saugatuck Center for the Arts is working to change this narrative through their latest community exhibition, Spaces for Discovery.
Review: 'Blue-Eyed Hag' is the Perfect Introduction to Shakespeare
Written by John Kissane | Monday, 13 June 2022 16:15 |One of the immutable Laws Of Marketing states that, having written a prequel or sequel, you must declare that it can stand on its own. You can no more disobey it than you can disobey the law of gravity.
Review: 'Figaro' is a Delightfully Charming Farce Full of Fresh Talent
Written by Marin Heinritz | Monday, 13 June 2022 16:03 |When Charles Morey adapted Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais’ 18th Century “The Marriage of Figaro,” best known as a Mozart opera, in 2012, it was a success at least in part for how it reshaped the original farce, a wicked satire of the French aristocracy, to speak to the Occupy Wall Street moment.
In the midst of the pandemic, playwright Jim Lair Beard found himself with two particularly valuable raw materials: energy and time. Rather than use them to bake sourdough bread, as so many of us did, he baked a trio of plays.
Playing My Small Part: Onstage with the Opera
Written by John Kissane | Monday, 06 June 2022 11:28 |Six years ago, I started writing about music, theater and art. I had the sense that a lot was going on in Grand Rapids (I was right about that) and that I could write about it in a compelling way (the jury’s still out). For a while, I hugged the shore, writing mostly about what I knew best, and avoiding deeper waters.
It’s never too late to pick up a new hobby or art form, but it’s still smart to start off with some in-person instruction.
Review: The Beauty of Life Shines in 'Every Brilliant Thing'
Written by Marin Heinritz | Friday, 20 May 2022 18:48 |To live in the present you have to imagine a future that is better than the past. And that is a definition of hope.
