Mostly Musical Theatre

Why I’m not recommending an Apple Watch for TBI clients (Updated post watchos2)

To start — let me just say that this article talks about why I am NOT recommending an Apple Watch for brain injured clients at my clinic.

For the past week, I had the opportunity to try out an Apple Watch Sports model — not because I want one or will ever use one (I don’t wear watches — didn’t Smartphones do away with wearing watches?).

But that’s not what this is about — I specifically tried out the watch to see if there would be any value-added for my brain injury clients who already use iPhones, iPads, and Androids as their day-to-day notebooks/tools/memory devices.

This, in short is my experience.

Look and Feel:

The watch looks and feels great! I had a 42mm sport model which has a soft polyurethane band (which actually caused a rash on my wrist, so apparently its not for me anyway). Its neither too large nor too small. Mine was space grey with a black band — and it was clear and easy to see the watch face, except in full sunlight – which made it near impossible to read, and if wearing polarized sunglasses completely impossible.

From a hardware/software point of view — the small icons used to open programs are too small. Similarly, whenever prompted to enter your password (which is every time you take it off and put it back on) the keys are too small to accurately hit the numbers easily and often took several tries.

The phone has haptic feedback – that is, a small vibration taps your wrist when you get a notification or an alarm goes off. I set this to the strongest setting and could still barely feel it. I think someone who might be even slightly sense-impaired will feel nothing at all.

Volume for alarms and alerts is very low, even when set to the highest setting. The only sound cues I found that were loud enough were when my phone rang and the watch notified me of the ringing.

The one thing I did very much like was the various watch faces — from simple clock to more complicated information screens and even a Mickey Mouse tapping his foot. For the record, while Mickey looks amazing, you can not tell what time it is between 4 pm and 8 pm because the dancing feet interfere with seeing the clock’s hands.

Setting up the Watch:

Setting up the watch is difficult and it has a long learning curve. It doesn’t work like an iPhone, and requires learning a new set of responses and routines. Most of my clients would not be able to set this up on their own without a therapist helping them. In fact, most of my clients will be so frustrated by the systems required to make it all work that they will stop using the watch within hours and go back to their iPhones and iPads.

Notifications and Alerts:

Some watch faces provide better information than others — the one I found most useful was one called “Modular” in which you could set the time, see your next upcoming appointment, the temperature, and other settings you might choose. The other watch faces were too small for any type of realistic cognitive strategy use.

Dependency on iPhone 5 or 6:

Your new Apple Watch will do NOTHING if you do not have your iPhone 5 or higher in your pocket or within two feet of your watch (i.e in a purse or messenger bag). You really think of the Apple watch as an external display for your iPhone. No iPhone, the only thing that works is your watch — and it does not display any calendar events or anything else without your phone nearby.

Apple states that notifications (i.e. you have a test message, or facebook message, or reminder) should show up on your Apple Watch a second or so before your phone. I found this was not the case and my iPhone always sounded or vibrated in my pocket first, and then I got the haptic tap and alert on my watch.

Responding to them requires tapping on short pre-programmed responses (“yes”, “no”, “I’ll call you later”, “I’m running late” etc) and not practical for brain injury purposes. You can dictate a response with Siri. I found accuracy to be very poor and get much better dictation results from my iPhone.

Software;

Apple’s proprietary software works beautifully out of the box. I did not find a single third-party application (and there are now thousands of them for the Apple Watch) that was not laggy or unreliable.

In general, you load the applications on your iPhone, and a sync process copies the Apple Watch version over to the watch wirelessly. It works well though I found several programs (such as Shazam) that “failed to install” and ended up requiring deleting.

As mentioned above, it is difficult to manage the small icons on the home screen, which I frequently ended up touching the wrong program and opening stuff I didn’t need.

A special selection of “Glances” can be arranged on your phone for quick looks. These are tied to the full version for any type of updates. Example, weather comes into your main app, and a quick “glance” of it can be seen on a special screen with a couple clicks. Again, Apple’s own programs work fine here. Third party software is buggy and unreliable. For example, neither my MLB scores updated, nor radar, nor map updated appropriately, and location services are poor. I was getting Romulus Michigan updates hours after returning to Ann Arbor. By the time the spinning dial finally starts to show your results, I had long pulled out my iPhone and checked my updates there instantly.

Day to Day Use:

I struggled the first few days with the watch — as I said, I hate wearing watches and I had to make a conscious effort to put it on. It took at least a couple days to start feeling comfortable with the different touches, the crown, the buttons. So how did the day to day trial go?

Well, I mostly found myself using the Apple Watch as a Watch — what time is it? That was always instantaneous. — PASS

I loaded my Delta boarding pass on my phone and it copied to my Apple Watch, It worked well in Detroit — though it was awkward to turn my wrist upside down to get it to read in the scanner. It didn’t work at all at the other end — the scanner at the opposite airport required you to put your boarding pass UNDER it and there was insufficient room to put your wrist let alone wrist with watch under it. I ended up pulling out my iPhone and using the boarding pass on that. — FAIL

Sunny day — FAIL

Sunny day while wearing polarized sunglasses — COMPLETE FAIL

Movie Theater — SUPER FAIL…..every time you move your wrist in the movie theater the lighted watch face brightens — annoying to me so much I ended up taking the watch off and putting it in my pocket because if it was annoying me, I know it was annoying my neighbors.

The only way to turn off the volume when at a movie or anywhere else is to put it in Airplane Mode. It is supposed to mimic what you have set on your iPhone but I found that was not reliable when a phone call rang through on the watch while everything else had been silenced on the phone. Too many settings that need to be adjusted for a typical user.

Glances — Partial Fail, partial pass. Flicking my wrist to see the updated Tigers Scores should have been a no-brainer (25 years ago there were already digital watches that updated MLB scores in real time). Instead, it was so laggy that if I wanted to see it instantly I needed to check my iPhone — FAIL….but checking upcoming appointments on the glances worked just fine – PASS.

Note — no notes on the Apple Watch. You can’t just pick it up and use Siri to dictate yourself a note because notes don’t exist on the Apple Watch — FAIL

Coolness factor — PASS….people seemed genuinely interested in seeing the watch, checking it out, and trying it on. Here’s the rub — once they tried mine on, I had to open it with my password.

Apple Pay — PASS — and maybe one day this might be the watch’s redeeming factor — Apple Pay worked like a charm at the very few places that accept Apple Pay. Because it is so hard to organize and use your passes though, I would recommend you add no more than one single default credit card to your Apple Pay queue on the watch.

Conclusion:

The Apple Watch is not ready for prime time, and quite frankly, I am not sure why I would personally ever use the watch. But I can very clearly state that for cognitive rehabilitation purposes, the watch will not be usable by the average client because of its difficulty in set-up, steep learning curve for learning usage routines that are DIFFERENT than those used on the iPhone and iPad, and its unreliability is application usage. It is also too quiet when notifications and alarms go off, and haptic feedback is not strong enough. In short, it doesn’t work to “nag you” with memory cues the way an iPhone or iPad does.

It is, however, a gorgeous watch by itself. And for that, you don’t need an electronic gizmo that needs charging every single night.

UPDATE September 21, 2015:

The watchOS 2 arrived today. After a (long and error-filled) installation process, I find that the new OS adds nothing to the day to day functionality of the watch for Brain Injury cognitive strategy purposes. I continue to not recommend the watch as a cognitive strategy.

Challenging and interesting “Women and Wallace” at Ann Arbor Civic Theater (Review)

Director Jared Hoffert has directed a challenging and interesting production of Jonathan Marc Sherman’s one-act play “Women and Wallace” at Ann Arbor Civic Theater.

Told in roughly chronological order, the play follows Wallace, whose mother commits suicide, on his journey to adulthood (it starts with him at 6 years old in 1975, and ends with him at 18 as a college freshman in 1987). Along the way we meet his mother, grandmother, childhood girlfriends, adult girlfriends, and a psychiatrist.

Every cast member of this production is strong, starting with Elijah Cox as Wallace who delivers nuance well, but is also good at the broader comedy of the piece. The women in his life are played by Amanda Burch, Lisa Gavan, Stephanie Laurinec. Megan Shiplett, Candace Ostrander, Madison Fyke, Sophia Saks, and Lauren Goyer — each getting their moment to shine, and turning in very good performances.

Hoffert directs at a leisurely pace that is appropriate to the dramedy — this isn’t a trip that is going anywhere fast, and issues raised will clearly last into Wallace’s future long beyond the show’s end. It is simply staged with movable cubes and props as necessary. He also incorporates a fantastic blend of music — and listen for a particularly hilarious musical interlude after Wallace’s dalliance with an “older woman”.

The language use in the script is remarkable, with Sherman’s keen ear for conversation, and even unspoken moments are important here. You might like Wallace. You might despise him. But you won’t soon forget him, nor the women in his life.

You have two more opportunities to see Women and Wallace — tonight at 8:00 and tomorrow at 2:00 at Ann Arbor Civic Theatre’s Studio Theatre — 322 West Ann Street. Tickets are available at the door.

Practically Perfect “Mary Poppins” at Croswell Opera House (review)

I’ll come back to that “practically” in a bit — but what a night of theatre Croswell Opera House has put together in the Disney musical “Mary Poppins”. Seen on Friday night of the final week of performances (the remainder are all sold out), I was so glad I had the opportunity to spend what felt like “old home week” (with the sheer number of friends onstage and in the audience and working all over the theater!) at Croswell last night. And it sure made me feel proud of being a part of one of the most exciting theaters anywhere.

Leah Fox, starring as Mary, was astonishing — vocals, timing, appearance, stage presence, and poise while flying!…and yes, there is lots of flying on two separate tracks and it looks great.

Steve Antalek made for a terrific Mr. Banks, and Michelle Force a fine Mrs Banks (both parts are fleshed out for the stage musical from the film, and the second act storyline revolves around them). Kyle Sell plays a delightful (if a bit too young) singing, dancing, prat-falling Bert. “Step in Time” was simply spectacular. Chloe Danley and Cole Carrico made for a wonderful child-star pair as Jane and Michael Banks. Mary Rumman is awesome good as evil Mrs Andrews.

All secondary characters were strong, displayed super singing/acting/dancing talent, and even the youngest of them never dropped character. The ensemble was strong and sounded great in their many numbers.

In what has to be the biggest, most colorful, and most technologically challenging musical Croswell has ever mounted, the massive sets and gorgeous costumes never overwhelmed the very human performances onstage (as they did at times in the West End and Broadway productions). Kudos to director Julianne Dolan, Musical Director Butch Marshall, Choreographer Sarah Nowak (I did mention “Step in Time”, right?), Technical Director Keith Holloway, Costume Designer-extraordinaire Susan Eversden, Lighting Designer Tiff Crutchfield, and Stage Manager Jacqueline Adams for making it all work like clockwork.

A few quibbles that kept the show from being perfect (although to beat a dead horse, it was “practically” so)…some of the sound, in particular the opening of Act One was muffled and hard to hear over the orchestra…there were some odd stage effects that didn’t quite work: a swirling light effect in one instance, a bed that “magically appeared” but which the entire house right audience had already seen being pushed on later in that same scene. And there were entirely too many people onstage during both “Jolly Holiday” and “Supercalifragilistic” which detracted from the more highly-skilled dancers that were upstaged by, in one instance, children playing leap-frog, and in another by too many people crowded into a park shop. (For the record, the Broadway cast was comprised of 40 adults and two children while this current production is comprised of 23 adults and 19 children, which in my mind is probably about 15 children too many). That, of course, is a personal opinion of mine, as it didn’t seem to effect the audience reaction (many of whom were clearly there to see brothers, sisters, and cousins and ran up and down the theater aisles and/or had to go to the bathroom when their loved-ones were not onstage). Not to be “that guy”, but I am very much “that guy”.

I can not fathom the budget that this production has — clearly at least 20 times what the other similar theaters around SE Michigan can allocate to this type of production — and it all shows…from the stunning sets, to the astonishing costumes, to the (very expensive) flight equipment, and to every detail that has been paid to make Mary Poppins one of the most spectacular non-professional productions you are likely to see anywhere. And I mean anywhere, let alone right here in our own backyard.

Mary Poppins continues through June 28th at Croswell Opera House. Remaining performances are sold out. Check with the box office for returns/singles.

Michigan Shakespeare Festival 2015 — Ready to go!

Hello fellow Shakespeare lovers! You know me as the owner/reviewer of my blog — A2View.com…but I wear other hats as well…I own and work as a neuropsychologist at BrainTrainers Brain Injury Day Program…I direct (coming up: Bonnie & Clyde for Encore Musical Theatre Company)…I perform (this summer as Mr. Simmons in Memphis the musical at Croswell Opera House)…

But today I am writing as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Michigan Shakespeare Festival.

When I first moved to Michigan from NYC, I came across this small outdoor theatre festival in Jackson, Michigan that performed outstanding Shakespeare productions in the park — and from the first show I saw I was hooked. The Festival has since grown tremendously in scope and nature, has for many years been located indoors in state-of-the-art, air-conditioned, bug-free splendor, and has continued to present remarkable theatre for five weeks every summer.

This year, the Festival is expanding to include three weeks in Canton, MI as well! We know that many of our audience members travel to Jackson from the SE Michigan area, and now we are pleased to be in our own backyard, centrally located in Canton. We don’t ever plan to leave Jackson, but its an exciting expansion into Wayne county which is more convenient for Detroiters and Ann Arborites.

The Michigan Shakespeare Festival is a professional Actors Equity Association-LORT theatre festival, featuring all-professional actors, artistic staff, and technicians. Everyone gets paid a living wage — except for us Board Members of course.

Because the Festival maintains high artistic professional standards that result in top quality productions utilizing artists of the highest caliber, it is no wonder that the company is the most award-winning theatre in the state, garnering not only local but national acclaim. Reviews called last season’s productions “Outstanding” (MLive), “You may never again see this play done so well” (Encore Michigan), “Remarkably relevant” (Examiner), “Four out of Four stars” (Detroit Free Press), and “Exquisite…gorgeous…perfect” (Jackson Citizen Patriot). BroadwayWorld named last season’s production of Hamlet the Best Shakespearean Production of 2014.

The Michigan Shakespeare Festival has also been named the “Official Shakespeare Festival” by the State of Michigan.

If you have never attended — you should. Its kind of a big deal. Come see why the shows win all those Wilde Awards every year. If you have, then you already know that the festival regularly gets visitors from all over Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Chicago, and Canada…its destination theater year after year.

This July 9- August 16, 2015 the Festival will offer William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and both parts of Henry IV, along with Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals, at both venues — in Jackson and in Canton. Tickets are now on-sale.

Jackson performances are July 9 – 19 at Jackson College in the Boughman Theatre…and Canton performances are July 29 – August 16 at Village Theatre…the complete schedule for every night is at michiganshakespearefestival.com

Tickets are available at all sorts of price points — with special reduced preview performances, and other deals. Group sales are also available.

But as you know, (and this that part of the post where owning your own blog comes in handy once a year), ticket sales make up a very small proportion of the monies required to keep a professional theater company up and running. We depend on our sponsors, theatre patrons, and you to make it all happen summer after summer. We’re not talking outdoor-theatre-in-the-park anymore —- we’re talking something that rivals every other professional Shakespeare Festival company nationwide (and that other big festival in Ontario).

If you can, won’t you please take a moment to remember the Michigan Shakespeare Festival with a donation or sponsorship? It’s easy. Just make out a check to the Michigan Shakespeare Festival and mail it to the address below, or call the phone number, or donate online. There are all sorts of sponsorship packages available — from program ads to sponsoring almost every aspect of the shows and festival itself. What a great way to get your name affiliated with something pretty cool and hip. I’m proud to say that my company BrainTrainers is a sponsor of the Festival as well.

We’ll thank you, we’ll applaud you, we’ll salute you with another season of awesome Shakespeare. And you’ll know that you made the difference.

Thanks in advance — hope to see you at our shows this summer!

Ronald P. Baumanis

MSF Board of Directors, Vice Chair

The Michigan Shakespeare Festival

215 W. Michigan Ave.

Jackson, MI 49201

517-998-3673

www.MichiganShakespeareFestival.com

Croswell Opera House announces 6.2 Million Capital Campaign

Calling it a transformative project that will build a strong future for performing arts in the region, the Croswell Opera House in Adrian announced a $6.2 million capital campaign on Friday night.

Emory Schmidt, president of the Croswell’s board of trustees, unveiled the plans in front of about 250 supporters who had gathered for the theater’s annual fundraising gala. The Croswell has raised about $2.2 million, putting the project at just over one-third of its goal, and Friday night marked the kickoff of the public phase of the campaign.

“These are the plans that will put the Croswell on a strong footing for the next 150 years,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said the plans focus on three main goals: enhancing the patron experience, upgrading the Croswell’s infrastructure to modern standards, and increasing the Croswell’s sustainability by expanding the kinds of programming it can offer.

Major changes that audience members will notice include:

New men’s, women’s and family restrooms on both the main floor and the mezzanine level, roughly doubling the amount of restroom space available to patrons and cutting down on long lines.
Improved accessibility for patrons with disabilities, which will be achieved by widening doors and installing an elevator from the main floor to the mezzanine level for easier balcony access.
Improved lighting positions and acoustics in the auditorium.
An expanded and renovated Heritage Room, which will be extended out to the windows overlooking Maumee Street and will become a small performance venue and lounge area.
A new “black box” performance space, which will double as a rehearsal room and provide space for smaller shows that don’t necessarily make sense to stage in a large auditorium.

The Croswell is working with the Michigan State Historical Preservation Office to keep all of the plans in line with the historic character of the 149-year-old building.

The plans have been drawn up with the assistance of Quinn Evans Architects, an Ann Arbor-based firm with extensive experience in historic theater renovations. The general contractor is Krieghoff-Lenawee Co. of Adrian.

Jere Righter, artistic director of the Croswell, said everything that happens at the theater — including the campaign announced Friday night — is “a labor of love.” From the very beginning, she said, the community and the Croswell have always been there for each other.

“I think about the late ’60s, when this community banded together to save the Croswell from destruction,” Righter said. “So many people pitched in. And they didn’t just donate money. They scrubbed the floors, they painted the theater, they hauled load after load of trash to the dump. It was a lot of work. And they did it because of their love for the Croswell and their pride in a job well done.

“That’s what this capital campaign is all about,” she said. “It’s about love for the Croswell, it’s about love for our community, and it’s about building something that we can continue to be proud of for many, many years to come.”

For more information about the Croswell’s capital campaign and the planned renovations, call 517-263-6868 or visit campaignforthecroswell.org.

Remarkable performances in “Rent” — Ann Arbor Civic Theatre

Jonathan Larson’s RENT was presented this past weekend by Ann Arbor Civic Theater at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Whatever your thoughts are on the show itself (people either love it or hate it), the production featured a remarkable cast of performers, well directed by Glenn Bugala and choreographed by Kat Walsh with excellent musical direction by Tyler Driskill.

Dominic Seipenko performed a spot-on Mark Cohen, never failing to miss both acting and singing notes – he was the heart of this production and well done.

Also extraordinarily good was Lauren Norris as Maureen, matched nicely by Kate Papachristou as Joanne. Norris soared in her numbers, and performed one of the funniest “Leap of Faith”s I think I have ever seen (and I have seen this show way too many times).

Chris Joseph turned in a great performance of Angel, filled with heart and soul. He had the audience eating out of his hand. Similarly excellent were Nickolas Brown as Collins, Paul Clark as Benny, and the entire ensemble who play the other interchangeable roles.

Several performances were not as strong, and vocals suffered — although at times it was hard to tell if that was due to the performers or the muffled sound — the larger the numbers, the worse the sound got. La Vie Boheme worked in solo snippets but was incomprehensible (unless you already knew all the lyrics) once multiple parts were miked.

Bugala’s directorial choices were clever and worked well in this production — in particular a sequence set in the subway during “Santa Fe” (why do both Newsies and Bohemians think that the cesspit that is Sante Fe is a desirable place to go?)

Congratulations to everyone involved with Rent at Ann Arbor Civic Theater. Great to see edgier material alive and well in our local theaters.

Encore’s “South Pacific” Steps it up a Notch (Review)

Of all the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, The Sound of Music and South Pacific are my favorites. The former is as fresh as the day it was written. The latter has seen better days. But there is no doubting that Encore Musical Theatre Company’s production (seen in preview) is beautiful and well-done…in fact, it steps up the quality of larger-scale shows at Encore by not just one, but many notches.

Nellie Forbush goes about meeting Emile, crowing about it in song, then washing him out of her hair, then falling for him, then breaking up, then waiting for him to return from a secret mission…and well, that is about the gist of it.

Marlene Inman is an excellent Nellie, who with her classical vocal training matches Stephen West’s Emile throughout the evening without ever becoming overshadowed by him. Whether she is singing about being a cockeyed optimist, or joyously expounding that she’s in love with a wonderful guy, Marlene is a wonder.

Stephen West plays Emile de Becque pretty much as you would expect — proud ex-Frenchman, honest to a fault, and a little off his head in love. His voice soars in the intimate Encore space.

Bloody Mary is played by a very fine Gayle Martin. Her performance is spot-on perfect. Matthew Brennen is simply marvelous as Luther Billis — in song, dance, and acting — its a great performance from a terrific performer. He had the sold-out preview audience eating out of his hand.

Dashing Lt Joseph Cable is played by Sebastian Gerstner in a straight-forward honest performance, and Liat is well performed by Teola Lutsker. That their love story is left to languish can be blamed on writers Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan who had no idea that the catalyst of a relationship 70 years down the road will not be “marry or face a bleak future” — the same can be said of Emile and Nellie of course, and it is.

The entire supporting cast is excellent — though multiple times in the show, it cries out for a much much larger ensemble. The troup deployment at the end is particularly weak with such a small cast. It looks a bit more like they are heading off to some R&R rather than facing war on the next island over…But that is a minor point here — the cast is well utilized, and both the men and the women deliver in song and acting. There isn’t a weak cast member in the bunch.

Daniel C Walker’s set is functional and colorful — moreso than many past Encore endeavors, and I solute that!…a bright sunny island setting, and a moody colorful Bali Ha’i make for a happy me. I am certain that the one unfortunate cloud in the background will be repainted before tonight.

Matthew Brennan’s choreography works well without ever feeling forced, and Sharon Larkey Urick’s costumes are period-gorgeous. The 7-piece orchestra sounds superb, and the sound design for the show is terrific. (The show was musically directed by R MacKenzie Lewis, and Brian Rose serves as conductor).

Director Carla Milarch keeps everything rolling along on schedule…Act I with it’s song after song…Act II with it’s war-story and no original songs for the last 40 minutes (another 70-year old criticism of the show). It all plays out as expected, and histrionics are kept to a minimum (which is great, cause I’ve seen plenty of productions of South Pacific ruined by screaming Liat’s and overwrought military personnel). She uses a gentle touch here, and it works well in the intimate space. The show is long and clocks in at 2:45 with intermission, though that was standard for the day when written.

The sole letdown is not the production, nor the cast, nor the beautiful things going on here — its just that the world has changed so much that what happens on stage in this story just doesn’t “matter” anymore — it has a dated script that insists that love and marriage are vital, and without marriage a woman is nothing and alone in the world. I think we all know that isn’t true now — as it wasn’t then — but there it is. And that basic storyline is very exposed when its 9 feet away from the audience. The show’s political message (look quickly, it comes and goes in a 1-minute-40-second song in act II “You’ve Got to be carefully taught”) is handled adeptly here, but the message barely resonates. (The song was so controversial in the 50’s that it caused a national debate about what songs are appropriate for the theatre stage). The story of interracial marriage is dated, especially as it drives the entire storyline and was the entire raison d’etre for the musical in the first place.

Still, this is an excellent production of South Pacific and you should make efforts to see it. Nostalgia for us oldsters…something new for the youngsters, even if it no longer carries much emotional heft…and beautiful performances all around make for the best “large scale” musical in Encore’s history to date.

South Pacific continues through July 3 and tickets are selling very very fast. Get yours now before the performance you want is sold out. TheEncoretheatre.org or 734-268-6200

Croswell Opera House’s “Great Big Night” Fundraiser

Dinner, drinks and dancing — and, of course, a show — are on deck for the Great Big Night, the Croswell Opera House’s annual benefit gala.
“This is our only big fundraiser, and every year it just keeps getting bigger and better,” said Jere Righter, artistic director of the downtown Adrian theater. “It’s going to be a magical show and a magical evening.”

The event will take place on Friday, June 12, which is opening night for the Croswell’s production of “Mary Poppins.” The evening begins at 5:30 with dinner and an open bar under a tent behind the Croswell and Adrian City Hall, and curtain time for “Mary Poppins” will be 8:30 p.m. The show will be followed by an afterparty under the tent with hors d’oeuvres, desserts, music, dancing and a cash bar.

The preshow event will also include a special announcement of some of the Croswell’s plans for the future.

“This will be very exciting for our supporters because we’ll be rolling out the details of how we’re going to secure the Croswell’s future and build an even better program than we have today,” Righter said.

The preshow dinner will also include performances by longtime Croswell favorites Shonn Wiley, Eric Parker, Kyrie Bristle and others.

This year’s event is co-chaired by Brittanie Kuhr and Susie Kapnick.

Tickets for the Great Big Night are $125 per person, which includes the dinner, the afterparty and tickets for the show. Guests are asked to reserve their tickets by June 5 by calling 517-264-7469.

For any individual or business who would like to make an additional show of support for the Great Big Night and the Croswell, a limited number of table sponsorships are available for $2,000. These include tickets for eight people to the entire event, including premium seating for the show, and recognition as a table sponsor.

If you go

What: The Croswell’s Great Big Night
Where: The Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian
When: Friday, June 12, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Admission: $125 per person, which includes the dinner program, the afterparty, and tickets to “Mary Poppins.”
More info: 517-264-7469

Into the Woods at Croswell Opera House (review)

Hard to believe that Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” is 28 years old, right? I saw that original production in NYC 28 years ago several times while I was in grad school, and I’ve probably seen 40 productions in between. And none of them has been as picture perfect a copy of the original Broadway production as the current sublime Croswell Opera House offering.

Eric Parker directs with an assured hand and there isn’t a single wrong note in the production — from Leo Babcock’s beautiful set — to Tiff Crutchfield’s lighting, Dave Rains’s Musical Direction, and Kailey Osgood-McAuliffe’s costumes.

The ensemble cast is excellent — as it should be with a cast consisting of a virtual who’s who of local musical theater. Every cast member gets their moment to shine. Particularly good are Mark DiPietro as the Narrator/Mysterious Man, Natalie Kissinger as the Witch, and Jarrod Alexander and Patrick Wallace as the Princes. But every single cast member is terrific.

The too-long-as-it-is show includes the additional “Our Little World” added for the London production post-Broadway. The 17-piece orchestra sounds lush and full. The sound design is impeccable – you can hear every single word of the marvelous lyrics.

In short, it is hard to tell the difference between Croswell’s offering and a Broadway tour that rolled through town and set up shop in Adrian. And that is a great thing as far as I’m concerned and another impressive notch in Eric Parker’s directorial belt.

Highly Recommended.

Into the Woods continues at the Croswell Opera House through May 17th. Tickets at Croswell.org or 517-264-show

Thoroughly Gorgeous “Millie” at The Village Players (Review)

The first thing I did after seeing The Village Players in Birmingham’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie” was get online and order more tickets for another performance. Its that great. Then I sent text messages to friends to tell them how wonderful this production is. And then I had a very very long drive home from way up there in Birmingham…so you should get online right now and order your tickets before there aren’t any left.

Kudos to director Kevin Lee Branshaw, Choreographer Valerie Mould, and Musical Director (and conductor of offstage orchestra) Dennis Penney for getting everything right with this production.

Then, head directly to the cast list and send bouquets to the stellar leads of this production: in particular, Kimberly Elliott as Millie sings, acts, and tap dances the heck out of her numbers and looks fantastic doing so in some of the prettiest costumes this side of the Hudson…and Sterling Orlowski who allows his Jimmy Smith to grow from likeable to lovable over the course of the evening. His numbers with Elliott sizzle.

But so does everything else. The supporting players are superb from top to bottom, and the all-singing all-dancing all-costume-changing ensemble is too…be that prat-falling and mischief-making (Beverly J. Dickinson as Mrs Meers), singing to the rafters (Noelle Perrin as Dorothy), satirizing matinee-idol B-leads (Jason Bowen as Trevor Graydon) or tap-dancing their hearts out (more intricate for the leads, a bit more simplified for the ensemble).

A cadre of what looks to be about 7000 people did the costumes for the show — and it shows. Every major ensemble number has matching clothing of different colors (one of the things some local theaters around here can take a lesson from), be that blues and purples to black-and-whites later, and all out color-palettes later in the show. Red plays an important role here. So does Blue. And so does Yellow. Bravo. I can’t imagine the budget involved here. (For the record, it’s not an inexpensive show to produce).

The orchestra sounds terrific, and its mixed well with the singers. Which is fortunate, because I need to assign minus points for the sound folks who couldn’t get control of body mics that kept dropping out…fortunately, those effected were loud enough that you could hear them without their mics when that happened. Still it was an annoyance that very much marred the otherwise superior quality of this production.

Seeing the show for the first time in a decade (I saw it in NYC with Sutton Foster in the lead — uncannily channeled by Ms Elliott in this production, and then a few years later on tour) it reminded me of why Millie won 6 Tony Awards in 2002, including Best Musical. Without a single pop/rock chord or rhythm in the entire score, its a throwback to classic musicals — but with a modern sensibility thrown in. And its a breath of fresh air in a time when pop rock scores rule Broadway.

So for now, Millie rules Woodward. And you should absolutely not miss it — even if it takes you an hour to get there from Ann Arbor….

Highest Recommendation.

Thoroughly Modern Millie continues at The Village Players through May 24th. Tickets at birminghamvillageplayers.com