West Michigan's Arts & Entertainment Guide
Review: With 'Eternal Desire,' GR Ballet transcends the expected
Written by Marin Heinritz | Saturday, 15 February 2020 16:47 |The sold-out opening night crowd at Grand Rapids Ballet’s “Eternal Desire” received so much more than the grace and beauty of classical ballet that extols the virtues of romantic love more overtly than perhaps any other art form.
Review: 'The Cake' is a delightful dive into life's tough choices
Written by Marin Heinritz | Sunday, 09 February 2020 13:46 |Among the seemingly infinite heartbreaking (for liberals) news stories since the last presidential election was the 2018 Supreme Court decision in favor of a Colorado baker who refused on religious grounds to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.
Review: ‘Les Misérables’ remains one of the greatest shows to ever grace the stage
Written by Marin Heinritz | Friday, 31 January 2020 13:44 |Thirty five years after its West End premier, it remains clear why Les Misérables is the second-longest running musical in the world and continues to attract swarms of fans on a new, transformed national tour. Its run at Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo is a hit.
At Farmers Alley Theatre, a Christian baker decides whether same-sex couples people can have her cake
A thoughtful, inspired rendition of ‘My Fair Lady’ is coming to Wharton Center
‘Basic Training’ is a profound one-man tour de force
Written by Dana Casadei | Friday, 24 January 2020 15:23 |As Kahlil Ashanti ended his first performance of Basic Training, the audience’s reaction wasn’t quite what he had been expecting.
Review: ‘Hamilton’ in Grand Rapids goes above and beyond expectations
Written by John Kissane | Friday, 24 January 2020 10:02 |In a New Yorker profile published soon after the Public Theater’s premiere of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda discussed early theatrical influences, including Les Miserables, Cats and Phantom of the Opera. Of the latter, he said, “I saw Phantom and I was like, ‘Oh, shit!’ Because it’s about an ugly songwriter who wants to impose his will on the world. I related to that.”
Review: ‘Tick, Tick … Boom!’ explosively explores the time bomb of life
Written by Marin Heinritz | Monday, 13 January 2020 13:47 |The Kalamazoo Civic’s production of “Tick, Tick . . . Boom!” is a blast from the past, a rocking homage to Generation X through one artist’s fear of turning 30 — entailing fears of failure, commitment, selling out, death. You know, the little things.
Laughing Through the Tears: Actors' Theatre's 'Mary Jane' is highly emotional, yet decidedly unsentimental
Written by John Kissane | Friday, 27 December 2019 09:00 |“If you want Disney,” said Daina Robins, “you should go to Disney. This isn’t some saccharine fairy tale. This play is truthful.”
New Desires: GR Civic brings a timeless Tennessee Williams classic back to the stage
Written by John Kissane | Friday, 27 December 2019 13:57 |Late in the year 1992, a theatrical group in Springfield put on a show called Oh, Streetcar! The show, a musical version of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, opened with a warning about New Orleans (“If you want to go to Hell, you should take a trip/To the Sodom and Gomorrah of the Mississippi”) and ended with a rousing, upbeat number about the kindness of strangers.
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