Deborah Cox is a Grammy Award nominee and R&B powerhouse, and a distinguished national touring artist. To put it simply: She’s a pretty big deal. Unfortunately, she’s also a human who gets sick (or at least that’s what the woman seated next to me heard), and wasn’t able to perform during opening night of The Bodyguard: The Musical at Wharton Center in Lansing. Cue the understudy, Jasmin Richardson.

It has been roughly 180 years since Frederic Chopin composed his piano etudes. In proficient hands, these brief musical exercises sound as fresh and poignant as the time when Chopin first created them. On the fingertips of a fearless and imaginative master, they become individual masterpieces in their own right.

The Grand Rapids Ballet’s 2017-2018 season opener, From Russia With Love, offers a soaring sampling of some of the greatest classical dance in the Russian style, and it was performed with a passion and grace that can only be interpreted as coming from the fire of love central to all great artists’ work. The love exchange evident in the Peter Martin Wege Theatre is profound; the loop from tradition to dancer to audience member is infinite and deeply satisfying.

A family simply trying to make ends meet is at the center of “Detroit ‘67,” a drama written by Dominique Morisseau and being performed by Grand Rapids’ Ebony Road Players. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Detroit riots, and the community came out to see a show that strongly reflected the Motown era and, in many ways, eerily mirrored today’s society as well.

“Gypsy” is beloved as the pinnacle of mid-20th century musicals, and despite the increasing distance from the era of vaudeville, remains relevant for its complex female characters and depiction of the tumultuous nature of the mother-daughter relationship, a theme that will never die, as well as its enduring numbers (music by Jule Styne with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), such as “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Let Me Entertain You,” that have become standards.

The night was magical at Civic Theatre as the Grand Rapids theater community came together to celebrate the Grand Awards, a local, annual event that awards outstanding actors and shows in the city.

Visceral Dance Chicago’s company name could be perceived as intending to mean felt in the gut, or instinctive. One can’t help but walk away from a performance feeling the profound sense that this company’s work is all that and more.

Can anyone argue that there isn’t evil in this world? Where it comes from and how it moves through us are perhaps questions worth asking, but regardless of the answers, we all must carry on and make meaning of our lives despite the impossible task of making sense of the evil and darkness that surrounds us — and perhaps is perpetrated by us.

Fifty years ago, racial tension was at an all-time high and people were starting to get fed up with the government and police system (sound familiar?). Riots erupted in Detroit and lasted nearly four days, killing 43 people and injuring more than 1,000.

This month, The Witches of Eastwick will grace a college campus for the first time ever.