March 2012 – Mostly Musical Theatre

Beauty and the Beast (NETworks non-Equity tour) Review

It is the rare non-Equity tour that I review here. but NETworks production of Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST has landed at the Stranahan Theater in Toledo, and this same company will be at the Fisher Theater in Detroit next week. The show is charming, but overall this is a mixed-bag production. Note that thisContinue reading “Beauty and the Beast (NETworks non-Equity tour) Review”

Superb cast in Encore’s GODSPELL (review)

GODSPELL arrived at the Encore Musical Theatre Company in Dexter last night, and it is a tribute to director Dan Cooney and his superb cast and musicians that this production ranks right up there among the best, and in some ways superior to the current Broadway production. This is an earthy revival of the showContinue reading “Superb cast in Encore’s GODSPELL (review)”

Newsies, Ghost, Evita, and Once musicals on Broadway (Review)

Ah — Winter/Spring in NYC — 75 degrees in mid-march, and some hot shows heating up the Great White Way as well…Let me preface this by saying that only ONCE has officially opened — NEWSIES (opening next week), GHOST, and EVITA are still in previews. That being said, these shows aren’t going to change significantlyContinue reading “Newsies, Ghost, Evita, and Once musicals on Broadway (Review)”

“Bring It On, the musical” tour (review), Chicago

BRING IT ON, the new musical now on tour across North America aiming for Broadway is, in short. a very good musical waiting for a great musical to emerge. Seen at a Saturday Matinee at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace (the closest the show is coming to the area), the musical is none-the-less a standing-ovation, sold-out-house hitContinue reading ““Bring It On, the musical” tour (review), Chicago”

Season’s first must-see musical: Grey Gardens at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre

Ann Arbor has its first must-see musical of the season — and it is brought to you by way of Ann Arbor Civic Theatre and their production of GREY GARDENS at the Arthur Miller Theater at the University of Michigan. In a mesmerizing star-turn as Edith Beale/Little Edie Kathy Waugh turns on the charm andContinue reading “Season’s first must-see musical: Grey Gardens at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre”