Two UICA exhibitions are celebrating the black experience from different perspectives

WMCAT’s iBall supports and celebrates the organization’s extensive work in the community

As Kahlil Ashanti ended his first performance of Basic Training, the audience’s reaction wasn’t quite what he had been expecting.

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.”

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.

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. 

After a nearly two-year hiatus, Jersey Boys once again hits the road to share the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The Tony- and Grammy-winning musical visits Miller Auditorium this month, bringing New Jersey rock ‘n’ roll all the way to West Michigan. 

“If you want Disney,” said Daina Robins, “you should go to Disney. This isn’t some saccharine fairy tale. This play is truthful.”

While glass is often described as a delicate property, its metamorphic nature allows artists to explore not only fragility and transparency through their work, but also resiliency and strength. Examining the innovative ways glass can be styled is A New State of Matter: Contemporary Glass, Grand Rapids Art Museum’s latest exhibition. 

Two guitar virtuosos who first performed at The Block in Muskegon return to warm up a January weekend and play a lively and recognizable pops program with West Michigan Symphony.