In a performance captured in 1966, Judy Collins stands on an unadorned stage, guitar in hand. Her hair, cut simply, is dark; her dress is white.

The 16th annual RADFest, the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival hosted by Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers, kicked off in downtown Kalamazoo with “Michigan Made Concert”, the first of seven performances offered throughout the weekend celebration of dance that also includes master classes, film screenings, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.

Whatever one might expect from Peter Pan, the Grand Rapids Ballet delivered it—and more—in their tremendous production of this utterly magical contemporary storybook ballet. True to the original 1902 story written by J.M. Barrie about the boy who refuses grow up, it’s a tale particularly suited to being told largely without words and primarily through movement.

Is Dial M For Murder at Farmers Alley Theatre a thriller or a mystery? It’s certainly a very appealing melodrama, as Director D. Terry Williams points out in his program note. 

It begins before it begins. On a stage artfully designed to look like a combination of a Valentine’s Day card, a red-light district, and a boudoir, a well-dressed man emerges, staring out into the audience. Beautiful women in minimal dress bend, gaze, and arch.

At seven, maybe eight, Meghan Distel saw Annie. “I felt this connection to the actors,” she said. “Looking up at that stage, I could see myself.” It kindled in her not only the excitement shared by so many other children who saw that show, but an understanding: she would make theater part of her life.

First staged in October of 1600, Jacopo Peri’s “Euridice” is the oldest surviving opera. Peri, in sympathy with the majority of Florence’s musicians and men of letters, found inspiration in the spare and resonant stories of the ancient world.

Six years and an enormous amount of man hours have gone into the Muskegon Museum of Art expansion, which was completed in late 2024. In February, the museum (which has not shut down in the interim) will usher attendees into its expanded space.

Looking to mix live music with refreshing handcrafted beverages, but not interested in the usual bar open-mic scene? How about looking for an excuse to dust off your old fiddle or flute from high school? In that case, Pux Cider off Fuller and Michigan has just the solution: Drop-In Traditional Irish Music Sessions.

Arts exhibitions and performances have returned in full swing to West Michigan. This season, there’s absolutely no shortage of concerts, symphonies, plays, musicals, ballet, visual arts and beyond.