If you perform theater or comedy in Grand Rapids and don’t know Eirann Betka, you may be missing out.
The 30-year-old child at heart has a full schedule by choice, working as the outreach specialist at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, director of Comedy Outlet Mondays, and as a comedian and actress at Funny Girls.
To playwright Scott Phillips, life is meant to be funny, even when it doesn’t seem like it.
While recent improvements did little to directly change the attendee experience for shows at DeVos Performance Hall, they helped usher in a record-setting season for Broadway Grand Rapids.
That’s because the $350,000 in behind-the-scenes renovations approved two years ago made it possible for Broadway Grand Rapids to lure in bigger shows. The first of those larger performances, “Phantom of the Opera,” played its sold-out, 16-show run over two weeks in May.
With summer in full swing, the air-conditioned confines of a local theatre house makes for an artsy escape from the humid heat. Check out some productions happening this month and mark your calendar.
Shortly after rising Motown star Little Stevie Wonder found stardom in 1963, he discovered early on that hitting the textbooks was just as important as hitting the stage.
Amidst a string of now classic R&B singles, a teenage Wonder was enrolled at the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing. While he graduated from the now defunct school in 1968, Wonder would pen some of his biggest hits while earning his diploma.
ONCE is the epitome of a true complex romance, as a Dublin street musician, debating on giving up his singing dreams, meets a beautiful young woman who takes strong interest in his haunting love songs. As the chemistry between them grows, his music soars to powerful new heights, but their unlikely connection turns out to be much deeper and more complicated than expected.
Ah, yes, the glory days. Life as a high-school teen was all about cliques, young love, pimple-ridden faces and the drive to fit in with the snide popular kids at any cost. Sounds abysmal, doesn’t it? Film director Michael Lehmann dramatized this confused chunk of life in the black-comedy tale of Heathers.
Since its genesis in 1980, the Actors’ Theatre in Grand Rapids has not only spotlighted local talent, it’s also used its productions to highlight timely, crucial topics. Past Actors’ Theatre productions include: The Stories of Gay Christians, Angels in America, Corpus Christi and Intimate Apparel — each show is selected in hopes of raising dialogues in the community.
Kinky Boots seems to have it all. It’s got Broadway dazzle with a modern edge, joyous drag queens and outrageous footwear — it also champions a message of hope and acceptance.
The production, a six-time Tony Award-winner, centers on protagonist Charlie Price as he inherits a floundering shoe factory after his father’s death. The cause seems hopeless until Charlie runs into drag queen Lola and her glamorous backup troupe, the Angels. The queens introduce Charlie to the niche market of drag boots and create a fabulous new line.
Strangers to opera might say it’s about singing, but anyone who has actually watched one will tell you it’s about so much more. The piercingly high notes and booming bass tones take audiences on a journey — both to a specific time and place and to the particular emotions of individuals.
© 2018 Revue and Revue Holding Company