It's Nut's...

by Shelby Wittum

Tuesday December 02, 2008, 2:27 PM

...how long the Grand Rapids Ballet has been performing The Nutcracker, but we all know the season just wouldn't be the same without it.

Thirty-seven years...that's how long the Grand Rapids Ballet has been producing the West Michigan holiday favorite, The Nutcracker. And if thirty-seven years of doing the same thing doesn't make it a tradition, then I'm not sure what does. The same goes for company dancer Nicholas Schultz, who has been performing in the show for about as long as he has been putting on tights.

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A Wonderful Life

by Brent Green

Tuesday December 02, 2008, 2:24 PM

Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
thru December 20. Showtimes: 2 & 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $30--$16. Call 222-4000.

It's been one of those weeks. The newspaper tells me banks are having a hard time making loans and fear a "run." A friend of mine is shipping out to war soon. My kids are great, but it's hard to hear them practice their instruments, let alone help them with homework after long days at work.

Sound familiar?

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The Wild Party

by Katerie Prior

Tuesday December 02, 2008, 2:21 PM

Actors' Theatre
December 4--20 Showtime: 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
Location: Spectrum Theater, 143 Bostwick Ave. NE
Tickets: $22, $8/student rush tickets. Call 234-3946.

Say the words "epic narrative poetry," and you may begin to think back to high school when you read The Odyssey or a college literature course in which you read Beowulf or Le Morte d'Arthur. In either case, you probably would develop the impression narrative poetry deals with mythic heroes.

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The Hour Has Now Come...

by Joanne Bailey

Friday October 24, 2008, 4:15 PM

...as two local theater companies put their own magical touches to one of the Bard's most famous plays, The Tempest.

"...The very minute bids thee open thine ear." So speaks Prospero, the protagonist of Shakespeare's The Tempest, a play performed at Calvin College and a new ballet at the Grand Rapids Ballet Company. In what some have labeled a tragicomedy, Shakespeare's play is a tale of wrongs being righted, families being united, and powers of both good and evil surrendering control to an island's enchanted world. While Calvin Theatre Professor Stephanie Sandberg and the Grand Rapids Ballet's Artistic Director Gordon Peirce Schmidt are both weaving magical sets, the college professor is leaning upon the play's history while the local choreographer is searching to move beyond the classical ballet. Regardless, both productions should reveal the true magicians are not the characters on the stage, but the local experts behind the curtains.

"It's the seventy-fifth anniversary of Calvin College's productions, so I wanted to do Shakespeare," Sandberg said, "and The Tempest deals with the nature of forgiveness and revenge, the struggle of trying to work toward forgiveness. It's beautiful." To focus on this, Sandberg and stage designer Jayme Mellema are putting the play in Calvin's black box theater. With the audience on both sides, the spectators will be continually reminded it's a play, which is one of the themes of The Tempest itself.

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Vinegar Tom

by Joanne Bailey

Friday October 24, 2008, 4:11 PM

Grand Valley State University
November 14--22 Showtimes: 7:30 pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; 2 pm Sunday. Tickets: $12, $10/faculty, students, seniors. Call 331-2300.

A "Vinegar Tom" is usually an animal or imp enslaved by a witch to help her cast spells on people. In Caryl Churchill's play, so named, the imp is the audience, which has been bewitched into accepting the social and sexual oppression of women.

"When we are more willing to accept a woman as a nurse than a doctor because she is more caring or unwilling to let a woman speak because she can't control her emotions, then we are being the witch's familiar, unable to see what is taking place," said Ben Cole, who, this month, directs Grand Valley State University's production of Vinegar Tom.

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Tosca

by Laurie Hekman

Friday October 24, 2008, 4:07 PM

Opera Grand Rapids
November 7 & 8 Showtime: 7:30 pm.
Tickets: $94--$20. Call 451-2741, ext. 3.

It is called the ripple effect, for every action there is a reaction. Maro Cavadadossi simply wanted to protect his friend from vicious Baron Scarpia. Flora Tosca only wanted to rescue her love, Cavadadossi, from torture and certain death. Scarpia wanted Tosca for his very own and willingly would destroy any competition that would prevent it.

For each of their actions, a drop in the pond is made with ripples carrying the story of opera's most dramatic operas to its dynamic and ultimately tragic end.

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Cine-Matic

by Janine Phan

Friday October 24, 2008, 4:00 PM

Surf's Up

Nope, they're not from California; they're from Michigan and they have a passion to surf the Great Lakes no matter the season.

Yes, you can surf in the Great Lakes. For WYCE's part in Wednesdays at Wealthy, the broadcast station helped put together a special night of "eco-entertainment" for those interested in surfing, the environment, or just a fun and enlightening evening of film and music. A screening of the film Unsalted will be followed by a performance from Grand Rapids's own surf-garage band The Concussions, November 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Koning-Micro Cinema inside Wealthy Theatre. Unsalted focuses on Great Lakes surfers and their experiences conquering the sometimes frigid waves.

A Grand Haven native, filmmaker and surfer Vince Deur will be there to present his film that appreciates--from surfers' perspectives--the lakes we call great. He will introduce the film, and also take a look at his latest action-packed project, Eco-Warrior, chronicling the extreme dedication of the Save the Waves Coalition, which took him to places such as Spain and Chile.

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Sexual Perversity in Chicago

by Joanne N. Baiely

Thursday October 02, 2008, 9:09 AM

Grand Valley State University's Performance Studio Series
October 31--November 2. Showtime: 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday, 2 pm Sunday.
Tickets: $6. Call 331-2300.

It could be taking place at any apartment or housing unit on any campus, such as Grand Valley State University; that's what brought the attention of student director Lauren Gregory to Sexual Perversity in Chicago, a one-act play by David Mamet which later became the basis of the 1986 film About Last Night with Demi Moore and Rob Lowe.

"It really spoke to me as a college student at Grand Valley," Gregory said, adding she selected the play to make her directorial debut because she believed her peers also would relate well to the story of office manager Danny and commercial illustrator Deborah and their meddling confidants Bernard and Joan.

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Bunnicula

by Joanne N. Bailey

Thursday October 02, 2008, 9:05 AM

Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
October 17--26. Showtime: 7:30 pm Wednesday--Friday, 2 pm Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets: $22. Call 222-4000.

It's a dark and stormy night when the cute little bunny, nicknamed Bunnicula, arrives at the Monroe family home. Soon afterward, strange things start to happen, such as vegetables being drained of their juices with only two little fang marks left behind.

Who hasn't heard of James Howe's book Bunnicula? OK, honestly, well, me for starters until I found out about the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre's October presentation, and I'm in good company because Jennifer Hunter admits she, too, had never heard of the children's story until asked to direct it. "My husband couldn't believe it," Hunter said with a laugh.

However, after reading the script, she discovered it to be a great cross-generational opportunity with both parents and children wanting to see their favorite story come to life.

"We're going to really spoof the horror movies with the organ underscoring and lightening," Hunter said, adding it will all be done in a fun way so as not to make the hourlong show too scary. And keeping it light will be family pets Harvey and Chester singing and dancing as they try to figure out just what Bunnicula is.

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Nail Biting

by Janine Phan

Thursday October 02, 2008, 8:57 AM

It's going to be one wild ride as the Thriller! Chiller! Film Festival returns to Wealthy Theatre.

Some advice to local filmmakers: "You are not your film; it's just one more thing in life that you've done. But putting it out there the right way takes being criticized without beating up your ego." This is according to Anthony Griffin, one of the founders of the Thriller! Chiller! Film Festival, happening this year in Grand Rapids October 23--26.

Griffin calls the festival "the right way" to find an appreciative audience. As founders of the festival, Griffin, the creator of UnSAFE Film Office, and his friends Keith Golinski and Chris Randall, who run the local Fulvew Productions, are busy preparing for its third year. To Griffin, festivals started to seem like a "franchise thing," and he and his comrades wanted to focus on a different genre (anything that gives viewers a thrill or a chill, perhaps?) "I said, 'Let's not define ourselves by what others aren't doing; let's just do our own thing and see how it turns out,'" Griffin confided candidly. The first two Chillers were minimal in the crowd-attracting category, he said. They've "changed up the formula, but we're aware that inconsistency can hurt us."

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Dreamland

by Laurie Hekman

Wednesday September 03, 2008, 2:05 PM

Get ready Grand Rapids as Shakespeare goes Bollywood at this year's GVSU festival.

The main stage theater production for Grand Valley State University's fifteenth annual Shakespeare Festival is one of Shakespeare's most well-known and commonly performed plays titled A Midsummer Night's Dream. But the performance promises to be anything but ordinary.

"So I was thinking about...the play, and I was thinking about togas, and I was thinking about the fantasy element of the play, which is what I'm really attracted to," said Karen Libman, director of the play. "And somebody said, 'You should look at Bollywood stuff.' And I thought, you know, this works great."

The "Bollywood" term is a nickname given to the Indian film industry. It's a play on the name of the city of Hollywood, meshed with the name of one of India's largest cities, Bombay.
The films are known for their explosive color, singing, and dancing. They're also known for their classic storyline of boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, and boy and girl struggle for family approval.

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Back on the Big Screen

by Edwin Carpenter

Wednesday September 03, 2008, 1:59 PM

Familiar favorites return to Grand Rapids through a series that celebrates the classics.

Retired local film critic John Douglas continues to bring his passion for film to local audiences via his "Celebrating the Classics" series in conjunction with Celebration! Cinema. The series is a hit and continues to grow in attendance. It's not difficult to see why since for $2.50, a patron can see a classic film on the big screen.

The now defunct Showcase Cinemas had a classic film series some years ago, and this was instrumental in Douglas becoming involved in the present incarnation of showcasing classic films.

"It was a factor," he said during a recent phone interview. "I had reviewed a lot of the films when they were shown over there [Showcase], and there was some nostalgia, and I wondered why there weren't more of these.

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Well

by Mark Hensch

Wednesday September 03, 2008, 1:55 PM

Actors' Theatre
September 25-27 and October 2-4 Showtime: 8 p.m. Tickets: $22. Call 234-3946.

Illness comes in many forms. Physically speaking, sickness could be the lingering peskiness of a cold or the life-threatening assault of tuberculosis. Metaphorically, illness could represent a character flaw, a failing of one's mind, or a harmful defect of a society.

Well, a 2004 play by Lansing native Lisa Kron, tackles all these afflictions in its multi layered narrative. Perhaps more importantly than that, Well illuminates not just the maladies of life but their cures, too. Now, after a Tony Award-nominated Broadway run in 2006, Kron's play of vital life lessons is coming to Grand Rapids.

"Health is one of the biggest concerns in our lives," said Director Fred Sebulske. "This play is an invitation to think about many big issues."

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The Who's Tommy

by Mark Hensch

Wednesday September 03, 2008, 1:48 PM

Circle Theatre
September 18 - October 4 Showtime: 8pm Wednesay--Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $25. Call 456-6656.

In 1969 the term "rock opera" entered the musical lexicon courtesy of The Who. Before its sprawling double-disc album Tommy, no artist had held such lofty goals for a record. Now, nearly forty years after Tommy's initial release, the Grand Rapids Circle Theatre will rock audiences with one of modern music's most recognizable epics.

"The Who, like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, have written so many timeless songs," said Matthew Tepper, who will play Tommy's protagonist Tommy Walker. "This is great rock music and truly exciting songs."

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1776

by Laurie Hekman

Wednesday September 03, 2008, 1:45 PM

Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
September 12--28 Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $30--$16. Call 222-4000.

When Sherman Edwards, a history teacher and pop-song composer, developed lyrics and libretto for a musical based on the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it was his intention to reach beyond the larger-than-life depictions and show the human side of these men who would dare turn against their country. "I wanted to show [the founding fathers] at their outermost limits," Edwards recounted. "These men were the cream of their colonies...They disagreed and fought with each other. But they understood commitment, and though they fought, they fought affirmatively."

Some forty years later, Grand Rapids Civic Theatre Associate Director Penny Notter views Edwards's 1776 just as revelant as when first presented in 1969, perhaps even more so, given this is an election year. "It's always good for people to go back and look at the beginning," she said. "We lose sight of that."

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