Before Broadway musicals were spectacles full of pyrotechnics or made meaningful critiques through a social justice lens or turned popular jukebox hits into extended dance parties, they were pretty, lovely, dreamy, funny escapes for a certain theater-going audience who wanted such things. They were full of big dance numbers and pretty costumes and silly characters who sang songs that made patrons leave the theater humming to themselves, maybe even a little lighter in step.

To be audience to “iLuminate: the most fun you’ll ever have in the dark” is to know you’re in the presence of a gimmick. But as far as gimmicks go, it is pretty fun.

In the opening scene of Farmer’s Alley’s “Beyond the Rainbow: The Judy Garland Musical,” a dead ringer for the icon — ostensibly backstage before her 1961 concert performance at Carnegie Hall — wrings her hands, powders her nose, and anxiously pops pills, washing them down with a martini.

Roger Burleigh has a leading role in every production staged at Farmer’s Alley Theatre, but audience members likely will never see him.

Satin pointe shoes, shimmering tiaras and embroidered tutus may seem like the most fundamental elements in ballet, but to the Grand Rapids Ballet, the art is not just its stereotypical image.

This October, one of the longest-running and farthest-reaching exhibitions to ever take place will end its 25-year run with a stop at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.

With two exhibitions debuting, and another being showcased throughout October, the Grand Rapids Art Museum has quite a lot going on this fall.

It started with cans of tuna, corn and beans. Then Tom Kiefer saw the more touching items — clothing, Bibles, rosaries and family photos — tossed out as trash, and couldn’t let them be.

During the second movement of Aram Khachaturian’s Concerto for Piano, the Grand Rapids Symphony’s audience will hear a sound unfamiliar to many.

Ebony Road Players — Grand Rapids’ self proclaimed black theater — has two important, impactful shows for the community this month, Lines: The Lived Experience of Race and The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.