Mostly Musical Theatre

Summer 2012 Musical Theater Scorecard – SE Michigan August 21, 2012

So — now that the summer musical theater has pretty much ended in SE Michigan for the year, what was the scorecard?

Best of the Best:

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Croswell Opera House)

Les Miserables Student Edition (Croswell Opera House)

The Last Five Years (K&W Productions, Ann Arbor Musical Theatre Company)

Avenue Q (Croswell Opera House)

Wicked (Tour – Wharton Center)

Memphis (Tour – Wharton Center)

Les Miserables (Tour – Wharton Center)

Second Tier:

Legally Blonde (MSU Theater Department)

Legally Blonde (Centre Stage Jackson)

Legally Blonde (Croswell Opera House)

Fiddler on the Roof (Encore Musical Theater Company)

Nunsense (Encore Musical Theater Company)

Just Plain Bad:

Beauty and the Beast (Non-Equity Tour – Fisher Theater and Stranahan Theater)

All in all, not a bad summer season for local musical theater. The biggest surprise: the reworked Seven Brides at Croswell. The biggest disappointment: the multiple Legally Blondes, none of which lived up to their full potential (although Marlena Hilderley’s Elle at Croswell was sublime). Also, not reviewed but occurring were the many community theater productions around the area, including Annie at Dexter Community Players; the Anniversary Celebration at Chelsea Area Players; and many many others. Onto the fall local and touring season…Current recommendation: Anything Goes tour at Wharton Center — don’t miss buying your tickets now before they are all gone.