Don Calamia
A basket of campy delights at The Ringwald
There's a line in the first act of "The Bad Seed" at Ferndale's Ringwald Theatre that pretty much sums up the entire production. Trying to ferret out the truth behind her eight-year-old son's sudden, bizarre death while on a school picnic, a tipsy [...]
A big hand for 'Kong' at Meadow Brook
In an era of bad economic news, job losses and a housing crash, it should come as no surprise that people are searching for – and need – a really good laugh. And that's exactly what Meadow Brook Theatre delivers with the Michigan premiere of "Kong's [...]
Collaboration shines at Williamston Theatre
In "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds," a young girl conducts a school science experiment to test the impact of radiation on tender, young seeds. However, that's not the only radioactivity in the youngster's life. And as the [...]
Fact and fiction of 'Star Trek' celebrated at Detroit Science Center
DETROIT – "Star Trek" fans will soon have the opportunity to boldly go where few have gone before – on to the bridge of the original U.S.S. Enterprise, which lands at the Detroit Science Center this weekend as part of "Star Trek The Exhibition." The [...]
Williams, Mekka monkey around at Meadow Brook
For seven seasons they brought laughter into the homes of millions as Shirley Feeney and Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa. Now, a quarter-century later, Shirley Williams and Eddie Mekka are reunited – but this time, on the stage at Meadow Brook Theatre [...]
Holiday dreams come true at Planet Ant
I'm a sucker for a laugh-filled, non-traditional holiday comedy, and that's exactly what director Pete Jacokes and his merry band of elfin writers/improvisers deliver late nights this month in "O'Holy S#!t: A Christmas Tale" at Hamtramck's Planet [...]
A very different Xmas show at Planet Ant
Few theaters in Southeast Michigan have done more in recent years to encourage, develop and stage new works by local up-and-coming artists than Hamtramck's Planet Ant Theatre. Many – if not most – have come from the fertile imaginations of the [...]
Tasty holiday morsels at The Second City
Driving home from "The Second City's Dysfunctional Holiday Revue" this past Friday night, I couldn't help but compare it to an Oreo cookie. Why? Because the sweet, tasty stuff was stuck between a very hit-or-miss opening sequence and a surprisingly [...]
Missing the point: New play inspires misunderstanding at Performance Network
ANN ARBOR – Misperceptions and a misunderstanding of the term "inspired by" are apparently behind a bubbling undercurrent of anger directed towards a comedy at Performance Network Theatre that some believe bathes a recently deceased local theater [...]
Getting naked with David Leddick
Nude photographer David Leddick's October-released book, "The Nude Male: 21st Century Visions," examines society's ever-changing attitude toward the naked male form. Here, in an e-mail interview with him, Leddick examines the advancement of the art [...]
Trouble is all relative in 'Geoffrey & Jeffrey'
Every long-term, committed couple experiences periods of doubt about their relationship – where one feels unappreciated or ignored, or the romantic fires have been inexplicably extinguished. But can even the most loving and dedicated pair survive [...]
Now serving all-star laughs at Go Comedy!
Metro Detroit got a whole lot funnier Nov. 12 with the opening of Go Comedy! Improv Theater in fabulous downtown Ferndale. Filling the gap left by the closure of Ann Arbor's Improv Inferno and The Second City's decision to close its resident [...]