Don Calamia
A few minutes with Syesha Mercado of 'Dreamgirls'
From second-runner up in the seventh season of "American Idol" to the lead role in the national tour of "Dreamgirls," 23-year-old Syesha Mercado is, herself, living a dream. Yet the down-to-earth actress and singer doesn't take her meteoric success [...]
A few minutes with Nicolas Dromard of 'Mary Poppins'
Nicolas Dromard stars as Bert in "Mary Poppins" at the Detroit Opera House through Jan. 2, 2011. Photo: Courtesy of Broadway in Detroit On Dec. 16, one of the world's most famous nannies swoops into Detroit when Mary Poppins lands at the Detroit [...]
Actors paint a sweet comedy in Ferndale
Independent producer SweetLove Productions returns to The Ringwald with its second annual Christmas comedy, "F$$$ the Holidays: A Seasonal Retail Story." And while it would have been understandable to come back with a sequel to last year's Wilde [...]
Go Comedy!'s third year begins with plenty of holiday laughs
The Go Comedy! original holiday production "Best Damn Holiday Show" delivers a sleigh full of laughs and guffaws spoofing everything from the holidays to the women of Bethlehem (Christa Coulter, Suzie Jacokes, Anne Faba). Photo: SMyers While the [...]
The alienated have landed at The Ringwald
Jamie Warrow (center) is crowded by Joel Mitchell, Jon Ager and Leah Smith in Harry Kondoleon's "Christmas on Mars" The Ringwald Theatre. Photo: Colleen Scribner Anyone walking into The Ringwald Theatre expecting "Christmas on Mars" to be a frothy, [...]
The Gem serves up a sweet holiday treat
The Gem Theatre presents "Plaid Tidings" through Dec. 31. Photo: Courtesy of The Gem Theatre To be totally honest, the last place I wanted to be on a recent Thursday night was sitting in a dark theater. It had nothing to do with the show I was there [...]
Timeless love blossoms at the Pot & Box
In the warm embrace of a lover, hours can seem like minutes, and a night of lovemaking can pass by in mere moments. So when Good Samaritan Anibal de la Luna (Samer Ajluni) picks up a rain-drenched and very pregnant hitchhiker, the following two [...]
Murder, mystery & Moriarity in Eastpointe
Sherlock Holmes, Prof. Moriarity and friends come together for a unique dinner at Broadway Onstage in Eastpointe. Photo: Dennis Wickline Productions, Inc. A decades-long battle of wits between two of the most brilliant minds in 19th century England [...]
An American classic in downtown Detroit
Eric W. Maher as Brick and Alan Madlane as Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Photo: Matrix Theatre Company For a playwright working in the mid 1950s, Tennessee Williams tackled a controversial issue in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that likely shocked [...]
Dracula' bites (but in a very fun way!)
To call Meadow Brook Theatre's season-opening production of "Dracula, A Rock Opera" a monstrous undertaking is both an understatement and a bad pun. But only moments into the show – as a stagecoach comes rolling onto the stage thanks to a [...]
The Encore's 'Damn Yankees' has heart
In an era of angst-filled, opera-like musicals, it's a treat to occasionally revisit a once-popular, Tony Award-winning classic that hearkens back to simpler times – an era when "love conquers all" is enough of a moral to satisfy theatergoers who [...]
Blackbird wrestles with love and marriage
Jamie Weeder and Steven O'Brien in "Women in Love" at the Blackbird Theatre. Photo: Barton Bund Unlike the characters in the Blackbird Theatre's current production of "Women in Love" who beat around the bush and often don't say what they really [...]