ANN ARBOR, Mich. – When I was a kid, a hardcover copy of Love Story – now being staged by Ann Arbor Musical Theatre Works – peeked out from my parents’ living room bookshelves. Being a voracious reader (and a budding junior romantic), I asked my mom if I could read it. She said yes, and I gobbled it up, feeling like I’d been handed a ticket to the world of adults. And indeed, the slim volume was packed-to-bursting with family drama, romance, humor, sex, and tragedy, which is probably why it had previously been such a huge hit in 1970, both as a novel and a film.

Erich Segal’s iconic story focuses on a love affair between Harvard hockey player Oliver Barrett IV (Kevin Kaminski) and a baker’s daughter studying piano at Radcliffe, Jenny Cavilleri (Colby Cesaro). Oliver’s wealthy father (Jared Hoffert) doesn’t approve of the match, so when the pair decide to marry, Oliver is disinherited, leaving the couple to financially fend for themselves. Jenny works as a teacher while Oliver attends law school, and when a lucrative law career in Manhattan beckons, it seems the couple’s sacrifices have paid off. When they can’t seem to get pregnant, though, Jenny’s blood test reveals that she has a serious illness and limited time.

I would have said “spoiler alert,” but the musical – with a book and lyrics by Stephen Clark, and music and additional lyrics by Howard Goodall – begins at Jenny’s funeral. The show’s creators obviously assumed that many will come already knowing how the story ends, so they frame it instead as an opportunity to focus on how these characters reach this point. READ THE REST HERE

Organizing 50 people to be part of a show is never easy. But organizing 50 comedians?

“It’s cuckoo,” said Shelly Smith, who programs and hosts Ann Arbor’s 50 First Jokes show at The Ark, happening Tuesday, January 3 at 7:30 p.m. “It’s completely ridiculous.”

But that’s part of the fun, of course.

The show was the brainchild of comedian John F. O’Donnell, whom Smith met as part of the Ann Arbor comedy scene in the early 2000s. When O’Donnell moved back to New York more than a decade ago, he had the idea to gather comedians in Brooklyn to deliver their first new joke of the year.

“The first show was not exactly super-organized,” said Smith.

Now, though, 50 First Jokes has taken root in 10 different cities across the country, and three years ago, at O’Donnell’s urging, Smith brought the annual tradition to Ann Arbor. The show combines comedians of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels — from headliners to those now earning their stripes — and seats 25 at a time on stage, where they have a maximum of two minutes to lay their first joke of 2017 on the crowd. READ THE REST HERE

Mounting new musicals that haven’t been locally staged before is quickly becoming Ron Baumanis’ calling card.

“It’s one of the things I love to do,” Baumanis said.

In January 2015, for example, Baumanis directed an Ann Arbor Civic Theatre production of the stage musical Bonnie & Clyde,” which won over audiences so much that Baumanis went on to stage the same musical at Dexter’s Encore Theatre and Wyandotte’s Downriver Actors Guild. Now, Baumanis’ company, Ann Arbor Musical Theater Works, will present the regional premiere of the stage musical adaptation of Love Story at Ann Arbor’s Children’s Creative Center from January 5-15.

Based on the 1970 bestselling novel by Erich Segal — with a book by Stephen Clark, music by Howard Goodall, and lyrics by Stephen Clark and Goodall — Love Story tells the story of a young man (Oliver) from a wealthy East Coast family who falls in love with a poor young pianist (Jenny) of Italian descent. Against his father’s wishes, Oliver marries Jenny, so then he must find his way in the world without his family’s wealth. He goes to law school while Jenny works as a teacher, but when bad news arrives, both Oliver and Jenny have no choice but to alter their plans for the future. READ THE REST HERE

With Barb Chaffer Authier in WEMU’s studio.

This month, on WEMU’s Art & Soul segment, Lisa and I chatted with Barb Chaffer Authier from The Ark about the upcoming Folk Fest, as well as 50 First Jokes and Crossroads Ceili. We also talked about other upcoming local cultural events, including the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s annual Mozart Birthday Bash, author Colson Whitehead’s upcoming visit to U-M, the Purple Rose Theatre’s new world premiere production of Brian Letscher’s “Smart Love,” and the unique dance piece “Idiot-syncrasy,” presented by UMS. Click the link to listen to our entire 8 minute segment.

DETROIT, Mich. – One reason for the enduring success of the 1983 movie A Christmas Story – recently adapted for the stage as a musical with a Tony-nominated book by Joseph Robinette and Tony-nominated music and lyrics by U-M grad songwriting team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul – is the way it frankly acknowledges how a child’s powerlessness often butts up against his earnest dreams.

 For what can a 9-year-old boy do when he desperately wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, but his only path to getting one involves convincing the adults in his life, or Santa, that he should get one? Sure, he can try to make his case; but when everyone reflexively dismisses his desire, saying, “You’ll shoot your eye out,” the boy turns to the only means left to him: manipulation. And when that doesn’t work, an eruption of frustrated, childish, physical anger seems inevitable.

Set in a small Indiana town in 1940, in the snowy weeks leading up to Christmas, A Christmas Story was originally inspired by the writings of storyteller and radio personality Jean Shepherd. Though Ralphie (Austin Molinaro) anchors the narrative, A Christmas Story is, more broadly, a comedic tale of family dynamics, as well as an exploration of the world kids inhabit when adults aren’t around. There are bullies, needy little brothers, misinformation, and “triple-dog dares” to contend with daily. Meanwhile, at home, Ralphie’s blustery “Old Man” (Christopher Swan) and dutiful mother (Susannah Jones) square off over an “award” that Ralphie’s father has won in a contest: a lamp that looks like a woman’s leg, sheathed in a fishnet stocking that Ralphie’s dad insists on placing at the house’s front window. READ THE REST HERE

We know our alumni work in every profession, but only recently did we learn just how many graduates are making a name for themselves in the fashion industry—thanks to some truly innovative business models.

On this page, we highlight a few success stories and showcase some of their products. To add just another fun U-M layer, we invited staff from the Alumni Association (and some of their extremely well-behaved children) to model the clothing and accessories. We then captured them on campus at some of our favorite spots. (Guess where if you can!) READ THE REST HERE

Pontiac’s Strand Theatre — which will  reopen its doors next month as the Flagstar Strand Theatre for the Performing Arts, following a $20-million renovation — has assumed many identities since its construction in 1921.

It started out as a 1,200-seat vaudeville theater, but with the arrival of  talking pictures, it became one of eight cinemas in downtown Pontiac. From 1963 to 1966, the theater was called the Forum and specialized in art-house fare, and from 1967 through 1981, it was known as the Campus Theater and showed adult films until it was shut down by a police raid.

In 1986, the City of Pontiac bought the shuttered building, which underwent $2 million in renovations. Its only subsequent use came when when Detroit’s Attic Theatre company relocated to the former Strand between 1992 and 1994. READ THE REST HERE

Nationally known film critic Owen Gleiberman appeared in his hometown — specifically, the University of Michigan’s Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery — on the evening of December 7 to talk about his book, Movie Freak: My Life Watching Movies.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Ann Arbor plays a key supporting role in Gleiberman’s story. Gleiberman moved to Treetown with his family when he was about five, and he grew up during the ’60s and ’70s — which happened to be the heyday for U-M’s campus film societies. Gleiberman wrote about film while a student at Pioneer High, and he continued to do so for The Michigan Daily as a college student.

“I don’t know if i would have ever wanted to become a film critic, or a film buff, or everything this book is about if it hadn’t been for Ann Arbor, and the way this place kind of nurtured me,” Gleiberman said before reading a passage from his book on Wednesday night.

But in addition to chronicling his descent into movie madness, Movie Freak also, Gleiberman noted, turned out to be a kind of valentine to analog culture. READ THE REST HERE

Nearly 10 years after the 2006 closure of the Improv Inferno club on Ann Arbor’s Main Street, Shelly Smith says a recent push to bring improv comedy back to Ann Arbor at least partly “came down to gas money.”

After Improv Inferno’s rent reportedly doubled, forcing the club’s closure, Smith regularly drove from her Ann Arbor home to Ferndale’s Go! Comedy and Hamtramck’s Planet Ant Theatre to hone her craft. As recently as two years ago, those venues were among the only regional options left for improv students and performers, especially after Second City Detroit (originally located in downtown Detroit before making the move to Novi in 2005) also closed its doors for good in 2009.

So Smith had a personal stake in helping to resurrect the improv scene in Washtenaw County when she first approached the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre (A2CT) about forming improv troupes in 2013. The company wasn’t ready to take on a new project at that time, though, so Smith pounded the pavement around Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, seeking potential homes for a new, homegrown troupe. She held auditions and put together a small group, which put on a few shows but ultimately disbanded for lack of a permanent home.

“I approached several venues that were dark on most nights, and I just kept thinking, ‘So you don’t want to make any money and liven this place up? You’d rather have it just sit here empty on most nights?'” Smith says. “Some places told me they’d let me use the space for $200 an hour. But we didn’t need any special lighting or sound. We just needed a certain amount of square footage and some chairs.” READ THE REST HERE

Olivia Hernandez and Sebastian Gerstner in Encore Theatre’s “Mary Poppins.” (Photo by Michele Anliker)

Wait – did you feel that?

Wind’s in the east, mist coming in, like something is brewing, ‘bout to begin …

In case you don’t recognize these lyrics, they’re sung in anticipation of the arrival of the magical English nanny Mary Poppins, who recently came in for a landing at Dexter’s Encore Theatre.

The stage musical adaptation of “Mary Poppins” – with a book by “Downton Abbey” scribe Julian Fellowes, and new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drew, alongside many of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman’s memorable songs from the 1964 Disney film version – draws from both P.L. Travers’ original book series and the Oscar-nominated movie.

In Edwardian London, young Jane (Olivia Goosman) and Michael Banks (Emmanuel Morgan) are working through a series nannies, thanks to their pranks and a penchant for running off. Their emotionally distant father, banker George Banks (Daniel A. Helmer), convinces himself that his wife Winifred (Ally Kaufman) is simply not hiring nannies who are sturdy and strict enough for the job; but before he can even place an advertisement, Mary Poppins (Olivia Hernandez) mysteriously appears, insinuating herself into the family’s life before anyone can figure out what’s happening.

The children have magical adventures with Mary and her chimney sweep friend, Bert (Sebastian Gerstner); but when George is suspended from his job, his past comes to haunt not only him but his children as well, forcing George to re-assess his priorities and choices. Continue reading →