Growing up, singer Diane Penning recalls two experiences that made the excitement of the holidays come alive in her house: The arrival of the Sears Roebuck Christmas catalog, and listening to holiday records like the Firestone Tires Longines Symphonette albums.

The lights go dark. From underneath the stage comes a mermaid, or rather a silhouette of a mermaid, swimming up — blue, silky curtains reflecting water behind her. The music is subtle, but moody. At that moment, the audience knows they’re in for a performance.

In its 38 years rooted in Kalamazoo as Michigan’s preeminent modern dance company, Wellspring Cori Terry & Dancers has featured different company members, collaborated with various musicians and other dancers and choreographers, and otherwise found ways to change it all up just enough to keep its audiences engaged without compromising Cori Terry’s fundamental style and vision for the company.

One of the more amazing aspects of a classical piano concert is to see the artist play entirely from memory.

On Friday, November 9, two dozen souls braved the weather and went to Dog Story Theater, where they warmed themselves with Pigeon Creek’s production of As You Like It, Shakespeare’s coziest and most accommodating comedy.

The homegrown episodic play series “eLLe: New Positions,” the sixth season opener for Queer Theatre Kalamazoo, transforms the basement space of downtown Kalamazoo’s First Baptist Church into “the most wonderful play party in West Michigan."

Nora slammed the door on her husband and three children more than 140 years ago when she walked out of her married life in Henrik Ibsen’s proto-feminist masterpiece “A Doll’s House.” But now she’s back in Lucas Hnath’s critically-acclaimed and Tony Award-winning “A Doll’s House, Part 2” to answer and raise further questions in a tremendously moving yet remarkably unadorned production of the 2017 play at Farmers Alley Theatre in Kalamazoo.

A showcase of solos, marimba and tuba concertos put the spotlight on a host of West Michigan Symphony musicians during this season’s second masterworks concert.

With every Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra performance he conducts, Daniel Brier attempts to transport the audience to another realm.

Once one of the elder statesmen of Grand Rapids’ art scene, Armand Merizon continued to paint as his vision failed him, calling on instinct and experience as he put brush to canvas.