Most of us who have studied American history to any degree have encountered the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 as a devastating and pivotal event that led to much-needed, fundamental change in labor laws; however, fewer of us have had the opportunity to witness that tragedy sprung to life as a gripping ballet.
A late film critic once said of the even later director Alfred Hitchcock’s work that, in it, “nothing is ever taken quite seriously.” That’s certainly true.
The stories of Detroit are the stories of America. This is but one of many reasons that places Detroit native Dominique Morisseau’s brilliant “Skeleton Crew” solidly in the canon of classic American plays.
Among the 52 headshots included in the program for stageGR’s production of Matilda (onstage through March 10th) is one that isn’t a headshot at all.
One can’t help but wonder why an exceptionally dark, three-hour-long musical with about half a dozen central characters and a hero without a romance has endured for nearly 40 years with fans old and new alike clamoring for more.
The 15th anniversary Regional Area Dance Festival kickoff performance at Wellspring Theater in Kalamazoo Thursday night featured an eclectic mix of “Michigan Made” dances.
To be audience to “Sleeping Beauty” is to bear witness to history, to be fully immersed in tradition and artistry that goes back more than 400 years. And to be audience to a performance as superb as that staged by Grand Rapids Ballet accompanied by the Grand Rapids Symphony, is to be transformed.
Western Michigan University’s dance program has a national reputation for very good reason. Described as “a hidden gem”, their annual Winter Gala Dance Concert is a reflection of the best of what they can produce in any given year.
Often formulaic, sitcoms continue to be irresistibly palatable to us, largely because of their big characters and the ways in which a problem is always resolved in a satisfying, pithy way.
Aladdin, the musical based on the 1992 animated film (which in turn was based on a story whose origins have been lost to the sands of time), is a cave of wonders.