Generally, I’m not a big fan of revues – stage shows that gather together the songs or dances of a single artist – but you know what I am a fan of? Documentaries about creative types.

And Sondheim on Sondheim, now being staged by Dexter’s Encore Musical Theatre, is a unique kind of hybrid (conceived by James Lapine) that doesn’t simply let Stephen Sondheim’s songs speak for themselves, but instead intersperses film clips of the man talking about his process; the evolution of his career; and his life. And this makes all the difference.

Encore’s production, directed by Dan Cooney, features 8 cast members who perform the songs (plus music director Tyler Driskill, who plays a grand piano at center stage): Peter Crist, Leah Fox, Daniel A. Helmer, Lauren Norris, Kelsey Pohl, Thalia Schramm, Jim Walke, and Adam Woolsey. Dressed by costume designer Sharon Larckey Urick in what my family calls “dressy casual” – jewel toned dresses for the women, neutral-color suits with colorful button-down shirts for the men – various configurations of performers appear on stage to perform Sondheim’s songs, usually on the heels of a video clip of Sondheim talking about his work on a particular show, or part of his personal history.  READ THE REST HERE

Before a special, packed, “Direct from Sundance” screening of The Lobster got underway on Thursday, February 3, at the Michigan Theater, Executive Director/CEO Russ Collins appeared on stage with Sundance Film Festival programmer Hussain Currimbhoy.

By way of introducing The Lobster, which won the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Currimbhoy said, “This one has a certain sense of humor and sense of irony, and it addresses structures that control us and stop us from being ourselves. … (The film’s) absurd, but we figured this was the town that brought us Madonna and Iggy Pop, so you can handle absurd, right?”

Filmed in Ireland, and directed by Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster tells the story of a newly dumped husband (Colin Farrell, sporting glasses, a moustache, and extra weight) who must now go to a hotel to try and find another partner. He has 45 days to do so, or he will be turned into an animal of his choosing. (His brother, now a dog, accompanies him.) At this hotel, masturbation is forbidden; hotel staffers, as part of their duties, bring guests to arousal without orgasm; and potential partners must share a trait. Consequently, one widower hotel guest with a limp (Ben Whishaw) regularly bangs his face against things to make his nose bleed, in order to match with a nosebleed-prone woman; and Farrell’s character pretends to be callous to match with the hotel’s longest-surviving guest, who has earned her extended stay by successfully shooting down the escaped, off-the-grid “Loners” that live as a tribe in the wilderness.

When Farrell’s ruse is revealed, he flees and joins the Loners, who allow masturbation but forbid romantic coupling of any kind, punishable by mutilation. Yet it’s in this setting, of course, that Farrell finds love with another short-sighted person, played by Rachel Weisz. The two develop a secret language of gestures, but when the loners’ sadistic leader (played by Lea Seydoux) figures out what’s happening, she metes out a cruel bit of justice, leaving Farrell with an excruciatingly painful choice. READ THE REST HERE

Sebastian Gerstner stars in the one-person comedy “Chesapeake” at Theatre Nova.

One year ago, actor Sebastian Gerstner earned rave reviews, laughs, and a Wilde Award nomination for his role in Theatre Nova’s inaugural, one-man production “Buyer and Cellar,” so perhaps it won’t surprise you to learn that Gerstner will be bringing multiple characters to life again on TN’s stage by way Lee Blessing’s “Chesapeake.”

But experience doesn’t necessarily make the task of carrying an entire show on his shoulders easier.

“(Gerstner) told me that every day now, he’s writing in his journal, ‘Never agree to do a one-man show again,’” said director Dan Walker (who also directed “Buyer”) with a laugh. “The memorization is so intense. But he’s so good at it.”

“Chesepeake” – inspired by Senator Jesse Helms’ 1989 campaign against the National Endowment for the Arts – premiered in New York in 1999, in a production starring Mark Linn-Baker (of “Perfect Strangers” fame). Since then, Blessing has revamped the script, which focuses on Kerr, a bisexual performance artist from the South who’s fled to New York. A conservative politician from Kerr’s home state uses both his dog, Lucky, and Kerr’s edgy work to attack the NEA in a campaign commercial – and the ad helps him win the Senate seat. For revenge, Kerr plans an elaborate heist to dognap Lucky, but this leads him down a path he could never have expected to travel. Continue reading →

In regard to bestselling author/journalist Mitch Albom’s new musical comedy stage farce, Hockey: The Musical, the puck will drop mid-May.

And if you haven’t heard about this new project, you’re not alone. “I haven’t really talked to anyone about it,” said Albom. “But when we listed for auditions – it’s hard to keep something quiet once you do that.”

Indeed. But what will the show be about – beyond, you know, hockey? “In a nutshell, it’s about what happens when the universe, or God, decides there are too many sports in the world, so one has to go,” Albom said. “Hockey has been chosen to be eliminated from the world, but a fan comes forth and begs and says, ‘No, not hockey! Please, please not hockey!’ The deal is, if he can find 5 pure souls to explain why hockey shouldn’t be eliminated, heaven will relent and choose another sport.” READ THE REST HERE

Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company production of “Straight White Men.” Photo by Brian Medina

Before Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company’s “Straight White Men” – presented in Ann Arbor this past weekend by University Musical Society – got underway on Friday, eardrum-pounding hiphop music filled the Mendelssohn Theater.

This was so antithetical to the usual staid, hushed atmosphere of a theater before showtime that I winced and rolled my eyes, as I sometimes do when a young white guy drives by in a car that’s vibrating with bass and expletive-packed lyrics.

Oh. Right. This play is about those guys.

But while you might guess, from the title, that Lee’s drama mocks or berates this demographic, it is instead a sympathetic, moving, and surprisingly naturalistic – particularly if you saw Lee’s “Untitled Feminist Show” last week at Ann Arbor’s Power Center – family drama about ambition and masculinity. Continue reading →

No, “The Electric Baby” isn’t the name of a new band; it’s the first full production to be staged by Kickshaw Theatre – a new, Ann Arbor-based professional company.

Written by Stefanie Zadravec, “Baby” tells the darkly comic, fantastical story of six people whose lives collide following a tragic car crash, and a mysterious, glowing infant that might lead them all to find love, strength, and forgiveness.

“I never saw a production of it,” said director and Kickshaw co-founder Lynn Lammers. (“Baby” had its world premiere in Pittsburgh in 2012.) “I just came upon it through a deep, deep, deep dive of looking for plays that are theatrical, and tell diverse stories, and are written by a playwright who maybe deserves to have her day in the sun, but hasn’t yet. … And I thought that, as our first full production, this would say something about what Kickshaw is about, and what it’s going to be.” READ THE REST HERE