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News & Previews
'Elvis Lives' at the Macomb Center Feb. 10
The Macomb Center for the Performing Arts is pleased to announce the just-added theatrical concert experience "Elvis Lives, "The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Event," to its 2011-2012 season. On Stage Touring, LLC, in association with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., capitalizing on the rave reviews of its initial debut as "The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Tour" in 2010, has enhanced the production to capture the imaginations and interests of all types of fans including Broadway, concert and Elvis aficionados. The nationwide tour kicked off Jan. 14 and lands at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Continue..
Michigan native returns to play 'Richard III' for MSF
David Turrentine, a Michigan native and staple of Chicago classical theater, will return to Michigan this summer for Michigan Shakespeare Festival's 2012 season. He will head the cast of "Richard III" as the machiavellan 15th century monarch, and will also play the majordomo, Boyet, in "Love's Labour's Lost" and the gentlemanly Colonel Pickering in "Pygmalion."
Pickering grew up in Milford and graduated at the top of his class from Milford High School where he was both an Eagle Scout and president of the National Honor Society. He happily tells of taking his first drama class because a girl he liked signed up first, which lead to playing Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Lucentio in "The Taming of the Shrew." Continue..
Go Comedy! goes 'Wireless' in February and March
Go Comedy! Improv Theater will add the new original comedy "Wirelessless" to its weekly schedule beginning Thursday, Feb. 2 and host two performances of "The Double Date Stand Up Show" Feb. 9 & 10. In addition, the theater will host special Valentine's themed presentations of the "Go Comedy! All Star Showdown" on Saturday, Feb. 11. Tickets for Go Comedy! performances ($5-$20) are on sale now. Continue..
'Red Night' fundraiser at the Detroit Rep
On Saturday, Feb. 11, the Detroit Repertory Theatre welcomes the public to an evening of drama, romance, champagne and live jazz at the board of trustees' annual "Red Night" benefit beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 each and include the powerful and critically acclaimed play "Burying the Bones," unlimited champagne, fun door prizes, the "Best Dressed in Red" and "Patron of the Year" Awards, and live jazz. "Sweetheart Packages" are also available. Call 313-868-1347 for "Red Night" reservations and information. Continue..
Revised schedule for The New Theatre Project
Never afraid of the adjective "new," The New Theatre Project has made exciting changes to the latter half of Season 2: Revelation. With tremendous response to this season's call for script submissions, TNTP has extended the Spring New Work Series over two months to feature one-night-only, highly fresh staged readings, some receiving their first public outing. Continue..
Score with "Elmo's Super Heroes" and Super Sunday Savings!
No matter what team you cheer for in the big game next weekend, everyone attending Sesame Street Live "Elmo's Super Heroes" at the Fox Theatre is a big winner with "Super Sunday Savings," where all seats are 50-percent off for all performances on Sunday, Feb. 5 (10:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.). Super Sunday Savings exclude Sunny Seats and is not valid on previously purchased tickets. Continue..
New theater coming to Brighton
Livingston County residents Steve DeBruyne and Matt Tomich have a plan to bring Michigan's newest live professional theater company to the city of Brighton. The Dionysus Theatre will open in Brighton on March 1 with a two show pre-season that will be followed by its first full season of shows. Continue..
Follow us - and 'like us' - on Facebook!
Did you know that EncoreMichigan.com is on Facebook? So if you're a Facebook user, why not find us and follow us on Facebook? By clicking the "like" button at the top of the page, you'll become one of the hundreds of our friends who receive instantaneous notification when our reviews (and those of the New Monitor) are posted online, or when there's breaking professional theater news you need to know! Continue..
UPCOMING AUDITIONS, JOB OPPORTUNITIES & CLASSES:
Click the link below for a list of Equity, non-Equity, film & video auditions, industry job openings and industry-related classes and workshops throughout the state. Updated 1/27/12 Continue..
Subscribe to our e-newsletter and take advantage of special ticket offers
Are you a subscriber of EncoreMichigan.com's FREE, twice-weekly e-newsletter, Curtain's Up? If not, you don't know what you're missing – including special discount ticket offers from many of the state's professional theaters made only to readers of Curtain's Up! So how can you subscribe? Click "continue" for full details! Continue..
MORE STORIES, NEWS BRIEFS & PREVIEWS:
Other Voices - News & Previews (posted 2/4/12)
Other Voices - News & Previews (posted 2/2/12)
Other Voices - News & Previews (posted 1/30/12)
Other Voices - News & Previews (posted 1/26/12)
Reviews
'Dogman's Last Stand' is a howl
By John Quinn
The savvy gardener will tell you that a little bovine excrement makes for a fertile field. I don't know what kind of fertilizer playwright Rick Cleveland used to enrich his imagination before turning out his 1985 charmer, "Dogman's Last Stand," but from the amount of male bovine excrement thrown around in this play, I might hazard a guess. I am happy to report the "green-thumbers" are right on the mark – Cleveland has reaped a bountiful harvest of entertainment. Continue..
Walk a mile in 'Dead Man's Shoes'
By Michael H. Margolin
A deeply twisted comedy by Joseph Zettelmaier has just opened at Williamston Theatre, and it steals your heart – after breaking your ankles, punching you in the gut and puncturing your lungs. "Dead Man's Shoes" is about two men of the West – our true, native West – who start out together, cell by cell and cheek by jowl in a lockup run by Sheriff J.B. Anthony. Soon, they are out and on a picaresque adventure, a search for revenge by Injun Bill Picote, a lean, black-hatted, handsome outlaw and his new sidekick, a frump nicknamed Froggy. Continue..
Mamet's 'Race' a sobering commentary on ethics and morals
By John Quinn
In troubled times, society needs prophets to set it back on track. Jeremiah saw a nation sliding into idolatry and preached a return to principles of absolute justice and morality. The idols go by different names these days, but worship of pride, fame, wealth, and especially power remain a blot on the common culture. Playwright David Mamet is an unlikely candidate for modern prophet but his powerful jeremiads are the cautionary tales of our times. Continue..
Full disclosure: 'Addams Family' is sweet fun at Wharton Center
By Donald V. Calamia
Yes, they're still creepy and kooky and all together ooky – and we wouldn't want Charles Addams' loveable family of eccentrics any other way. And that's exactly what Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice and Andrew Lippa deliver in their new musical comedy, "The Addams Family." Continue..
OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS:
Romantic Fools - Stormfield Theatre (posted 2/2/12)
The Addams Family - Wharton Center (posted 2/2/12)
A Stone Carver - The Purple Rose Theatre Company (updated 2/4/12)
The Tim Machine - Go Comedy! Improv Theater (posted 1/27/12)
The Love List - Tipping Point Theatre (posted 1/26/12)
Burying the Bones - Detroit Repertory Theatre (updated 1/27/12)
Frank Langella's Cyrano - Hilberry Theatre (updated 2/2/12)
Million Dollar Quartet - Wharton Center, DeVos Performance Hall & Fisher Theatre (updated 2/2/12)
God of Carnage - The Jewish Ensemble Theatre Company & Performance Network Theatre (updated 1/26/12)
The Cripple of Inishmaan - Hilberry Theatre (posted 12/8/11)
