Don Calamia
Undoubtedly an excellent night of theater
This season, area theatergoers have been treated to a rather unusual experience: three competing professional productions of the same Tony Award-winning drama. While some industry observers – and even this cranky critic – initially thought that a [...]
Hot flash: 'Menopause' returns Feb. 13
They're back! Those record-shattering menopausal marvels are returning to Detroit's Gem Theatre Feb. 13 for a limited run, and visiting with them during a recent rehearsal break proved why "Menopause The Musical" has been so popular in the Motor [...]
Set derails, professionals shine at MBT
It's not often that a review begins with a lengthy discussion about a set design, a stage manager and a backstage crew, but all three contributed significantly to a rather unusual opening at Meadow Brook Theatre this past Saturday night. If nothing [...]
Theater Events for the period Feb. 21-March 1, 2008
PROFESSIONAL THEATER/OPERA: A Man of No Importance The Oscar Wilde classic gets a modern-day update by writer/director Mike McGettigan. Fevered Egos Entertainment at Planet Ant Theatre, Hamtramck. Thu.-Sun., Feb. 22-March 15. $15. 313-365-4948. [...]
Moving audiences: EncoreMichigan.com
EncoreMichigan.com is now online!Yes, the state's most comprehensive, up-to-date and easy-to-use resource for professional theater news and information is now available totally free of charge 24-hours a day. Our goal, plain and simple, is to help [...]
Not perfect justice, but deathly funny
Remind me never to check my aging self into a place like the Riddle Key Retirement Center and Golf Course. Although it's an obvious fact that most people who move into such places eventually "expire" there, a slew of recent deaths at the Florida [...]
Wine brings out truth at the Purple Rose
Just like the doctor in David MacGregor's sparkling new play "Vino Veritas," I, too, have always believed that nothing good ever comes from drinking anything colored blue. It's a philosophy that has generally proven true over the years, but [...]
Heads: Audience wins at Performance Network
Yes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead – or at least they will be by the end of "Hamlet," from whence British playwright Tom Stoppard borrowed them. But in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" at Performance Network Theatre in Ann Arbor, [...]
2007: A year of excellence - and surprise
Although 2007 was a dark and stormy year for Michigan's shell-shocked economy, the state's struggling professional theater community achieved what our politicians could not: With fluctuating ticket sales and often-significant funding decreases, [...]
A surreal visit: Shakespeare in Dogpatch
"It's just not right," remarked my guest after the opening night performance of "As You Like It" at Detroit's Hilberry Theatre. "Shakespeare with Southern accents just doesn't sound right." Especially some of THOSE Southern accents. Yet despite the [...]
Cirque du Soleil explores the hustle and bustle of urban life
MONTREAL – As a street performer in the late 1970s, Carmen Ruest would often pass the hat to earn enough money to fund that evening's meal. But never in her wildest dreams did the young Canadian dancer ever envision that one day she'd play a pivotal [...]
LGBT and theater communities mourn the death of Jim Posante
ANN ARBOR – Southeast Michigan suffered a shocking loss Jan. 13 with the death of James Hendricks Posante Jr., known throughout his beloved LGBT and theater communities as Jim Posante. A noted educator, director, designer, choreographer and actor, [...]