Mostly Musical Theatre

I’ve been waiting to see MJ the musical ever since the day Broadway in Detroit announced it was on their season, and it does not disappoint. It’s easy to pick apart the sparse script, and the family-sanctioned musical whitewashes any attempts to dig deeper into Michael Jackson’s turmoil other than glancing reference to his father’s abusive approach, and a few references to him needing medication to cope with stress, anxiety, and apparently post-dad PTSD. But that is not what this show is about. It’s a spectacle musical that won 4 Tonys in 2022 (for Lead Actor, Best Choreography, Best Lighting, and Best Sound Design) and all of that is on display in this production.

Michael is played by three actors at three ages, Young Michael (Josiah Benson), young adult Michael (Erik Hamilton), and older Micheal – MJ (Jamaal Fields-Green). All three are outstanding. The entire cast is top-notch and the choreography and direction by Christopher Wheeldon (An American in Paris) is incredible. The audience went wild with every production number from “Beat It” to “Thriller” and everything in between. Don’t expect a move by move recreation of Michael Jackson’s numbers (except for the performance at the Motown:25 event where he introduced the world to the moonwalk); Rather, Wheeldon uses existing material as a starting point and then creates his own masterworks of musical dance numbers throughout. And those numbers are spectacular.

Of course it all resonates differently here in Motown – and the musically smart audience was with the show every step of the way. MJ continues at the Fisher Theater through November 3rd, and it is Highly Recommended.

The Broadway tour of Some Like it Hot has landed at the Fisher Theater for two weeks and it is a high-flying energy-filled musical theater treat. 

It is not worth another review praising the musical, fresh off Broadway with a handful of Tony Awards to boot, except to say that I love standard book musicals, and this is one terrific story-driven musical absolutely crammed with jazz-era songs and spectacular dances brought to you by director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw with music by Scott WIttman and Marc Shaiman (Hairspray, Catch Me if you Can) and book by Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin based on the MGM movie. 

The entire cast is exceptional, and I laughed heartily throughout the evening. Told in standard scene-song-scene-song style with great big musical numbers that are heavy on tap, the format is broken only once and it is brilliant – Nicholaw’s dance-infused chase scene in the penultimate scene is simply brilliant stagework. 

I loved this entire show from top to bottom and you will too. It was criticized a bit on Broadway for it’s “woke” approach to the story — but I don’t think there is anything unusually woke about it – this is a different time than the 1959 Billy WIlder film, and I like to think of the ending as course-correction rather than wokeness. This ending simply couldn’t have existed in a slapstick movie on a screen in 1959. 

Very Highly Recommended.

Some Like it Hot continues at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre through October 13th. Tickets at BroadwayInDetroit.com

For the first time in its long history, The Croswell Opera House opened a stunning production of Masteroff, Kander, and Ebb’s musical Cabaret last night, and it left me (and most of the audience) speechless.

Stunning because Erica Wyman Abrahamson’s direction is spot on perfect, informed by intimate knowledge of every line and every emotional note in the musical.

Stunning because David Blackburn’s Emcee guides you every step of the way from early decadence to later tragedy and it’s a perfect transition from his hilarious firepole New Year’s Eve countdown to his simply hair-raising “I Don’t Care Much”. 

Stunning because the Kit Kat Girls and Boys never miss a beat in their many songs and smaller parts. Chris Stack brings a deceptive warmth and cozy comfortness to his Ernst as he heads toward the big reveal at the end of Act One and speaks to the modern day “cabaret” of politicians. Kyler Mattoon is great as Fraulein Kost with sailors floating in and out of her rented room at night and an underlying pro-Nazi sentiment steaming ever under the surface. Leah Fox is haunting as Sonja, who also provides live accordian accompaniment throughout the evening. Listen for the train whistle sounds during the final moments. Chills.

Stunning because you’ll never find a better pairing than real-life husband and wife Jared and Julia Hoffert as Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider, just trying to live as normal Germans on the cusp of Nazi Berlin. The ultimate decision boils over in Julia’s “What Would You Do?” as do the emotions. Their acting and vocal skills are superb.

Stunning because Matthew Porter is the most appealing Cliff Bradshaw I’ve experienced in dozens of productions of Cabaret that I have seen, and because of the great chemistry with terrific Love Ruddell as Sally Bowles who shatters the roof with “Cabaret” and “Maybe This Time”. 

Stunning because the set by Doug Miller, the Lighting by Crosby Slupe, the Sound by Karl Kasischke, the musical direction by Todd Schreiber, the choreography by Dom Glover, the Stage Management by Connor Raymond, and the costumes by Alexandria Szczotka are all perfect and work together to create a world of show business that is falling apart at the seams when the club lighting changes and you can see the runs in stockings and just slightly frumpy clothing in daylight. It’s brilliant work.

Stunning because we all know where the show is heading and when it gets there it still hits like a ton of bricks with lots of crying in the audience. I was surprised at how many people around me admitted they have never seen the musical nor the movie and by the audible gasps and audience reactions to some of the occurances on stage. Of course the 1998 version of the show (best known as the “Alan Cumming” version) is far darker than the 1966 original.  It includes lots of adult content and while it is a great musical for teenagers on up, I would absolutely leave the kids at home. Not for them…yet.

And stunning because the incredible audiences at Croswell continue to suprise me with their open hearts and open minds. Except for a few older couples I saw leave at intermission (look, clearly the show isn’t for everyone with its references to politics, sexual diversity, and other adult themes and language) everyone sat rapt and thoroughly engrossed in what they were watching with an instantaneous standing ovation at the conclusion.

Bravo to Erica, the cast, the onstage orchestra, the entire creative team, and crew for an evening of unforgettable musical theater. This is what it’s about. This is what makes theater the love of my life, and as a bit of Musical Theater 101, this is one of those shows you should make an effort to go see, because it shook up the musical theater world in 1966, and it continues to do so today, as if it were written yesterday and we’re seeing it for the first time. That’s the magic of what live stage performances can do. And that is stunning.

Highest Recommendation.

Cabaret continues at the Croswell Opera House through September 22nd, and tickets are available at croswell.org or by calling 517-264-SHOW. Note that tickets are ONLY sold by Croswell and they do not use any third party resellers or ticket sites. Buy ONLY directly through Croswell. 

  “New World Comin’” opened at the Encore Musical Theatre Company in Dexter last night, and I can’t write a review. Because the show isn’t ready for reviewing. But that’s a good thing, because the show is a work in progress which is presenting its first staged workshop with an audience and there is a specific goal in mind: see what audiences think. What do they like? What do they not like? What works, what doesn’t work? This is so that future workshop stagings will change based on what the creative team sees.

     That being said, this is a tuneful (mostly) musical about three women making a trek from Minnesota to NYC to go to a singing audition in the 60’s and it is filled with some well-known (and a handful of not well known) 60’s girl’s songs. The show looks fantastic on Sarah Tanner’s deceptively simple (though not) set, featuring Anne Donevan’s stage-crammed-with-props, a six-person cast that are all good, and a small-scale 3-person band under the direction of musical director/orchestrator/arranger Seth Farber. Written by Dayle Ann Hunt (Christmas Caroled), Directed by Terry Berliner and produced by New York-based Judith Manocherian and Joseph Romano (Brooklyn Heights Productions).

     So instead of a review of the show, what I offer are likes and dislikes, and a few random observations. I love workshops. At Encore, they can range from the near-Broadway-ready “Into the Wild” to earlier works in progress. Count this in the latter category.

     What I loved: The set and movement design of the show. Some of the songs. The cast overall. Mariah Colby in specific. 

     What I liked: the overall story and direction the show is heading (it’s not ready). The clever use of car-like movable platforms. The lighting. 

     What I did not like: Overall, too much is crammed into the 1:50 runtime of the show. Storylines develop then disappear, or don’t need to be there at all. The songs are generally well-integrated into the storyline but don’t always match the action. Some songs and scenes can be entirely cut. I am sure the creative team are well aware of these situations, but you have to “freeze” a show at some point for performance and then see what you get.

     I also did not like some of the arrangements (sorry Mr Farber) and the overall pacing of the show is slow. Cut 15 minutes, get rid of the intermission, and speed up the tempos and much of that can be solved. Some of the songs lost their melody line, and I don’t think that was the performers fault since their harmonies throughout are very good – “Downtown” for example does’t have the vibrant melody line and is somewhat dulled. “Make Your Own Kind of Music” is too slow and doesn’t have the peppy upbeat sound we all know (and which was recently very front-and-center in Ryan Reynolds “Free Guy”). The entire “Colour my World” sequence needs work and judicious cuts.

     But man, I loved seeing a new show. Yeah, it’s a work in progress. Yeah, it needs work as it progresses. But that is exactly what workshops are about. YOU as audience member get to step into the role of observing critic. You won’t be bored. You will probably talk about what you liked and didn’t like on the way home. And that is what makes a musical theater company vibrant and thrilling. (Oh, there were no bar codes on moon pies in the 60’s). 

     Do I recommend it? YES! But keep in mind this isn’t a well-polished “show” even if the wrappings look fantastic. It’s a workshop. And it’s fun to participate in that right in our backyard. I directed a workshop of author Dayle Ann Hunt’s Christmas Caroled some years back and it was so much fun! Music changed, scripts were changed even in between performances! FUN! And seeing a new show from the other side is also fun. Go check it out and see how new shows are put together and how difficult the whole thing is. The next time audiences see this show it will look very different. Because of workshops like this one.

     “New World Comin’ a 60’s Musical” runs through September 22nd at the Encore Musical Theatre Company, 7714 Ann Arbor Street, Dexter, MI — tickets at theencoretheatre.org or 734-268-6200.     Photo courtesy The Encore Theatre. 

You don’t have to travel to the Stratford Festival to see an incredible professional production of Something Rotten – you only need go as far as Pinckney to have one of the most fun nights of your summer. But note: If you plan on attending, there are a handful of tickets left for tonight (8/31/24) and September 6th, otherwise the entire run of Something Rotten at the Dio is sold out through October 6th.

Written by movie writers/producers/songwriters brothers Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run anyone?) and the smartest person in England when it comes to history John O’Farrell, Something Rotten is the current show-du-jour nationwide. (It’s regional release came during the pandemic, then was pulled for a tour that didn’t happen, and is now available again for production). 

The production at The Dio is everything you expect from this silly, hilarious, tuneful musical that was nominated for ten 2015 Tony Awards and won one (Christian Borle as Shakespeare). They celebrated with the greatest ad in NYTimes history: 

Bottom brothers NIgel and Nick are a losing pair of brothers trying to compete writing plays during the reign of William Shakespeare (treated here like a rock star). This leads to a series of misbegotten attempts to outdo him via a sooth sayer who gets things only kind of right (though much of what he does get right is the funniest material in the show). The musical climaxes with a “Producers” style show-within-a-show tribute that mashes up Hamlet with, well, I’ll leave the rest to the viewer.

Steve DeBruyne directs and plays Nick Bottom, and he is outstanding in both roles. The direction is fluid and tight, and his Nick is a hapless but well-meaning hoofer-and-singer featured in several big numbers. Jordan Hayes-Devloo is terrific as bashful but talented brother Nigel Bottom. Maddie Ringvelski steals every scene she is in as Nigel’s love interest Portia, played with such hyper intensity that when she finally passes out at a party you’ll be relieved that she gets to rest for a few minutes in a chair. Brava. 

Elizabeth Jaffe is just right as Nick’s perfect wife Bea, whether she is singing about being his Right Hand Man, or “disguised” as a man (such a clever writing convention by the authors, matching the types of things Shakespeare himself used to do). Griffin Krausse plays the Bard with all the bravado you might expect, and is especially funny when he goes into diguise to try to steal back his own future ideas (never mind, just go with it.) Dan Morrison is great as Quaker Brother Jeremiah, Keith Kalinowski made me laugh all night long as Shylock, and Richard Payton is larger than life as Nostradamus, the sooth sayer (fortune teller). The entire rest of the ensemble is superb and vocally stunning (Alexander Cousins, Cordell Smith, Aurora Renee, Xavier Sarabia, Antonio Vettraino, Hannah Thomas, Autumn SIerra, Donovan Leary, Lily Gechter, and Brendan Martin.)

Lisa Merte’s musical direction brings out clear choral tones and good diction; Michelle Marzejon-Green has created the largest dance numbers seen on the Dio stage, heavy on very good tap, Set, Lighting and Sound Design by Matt Tomich is pitch perfect for this production – and there’s a big surprise in store with his deceptively simple set as we reach the third act. Costumes by Norma Polk are bright, colorful and sometimes gorgeous. Eileen Obradovich does her usual excellent work with the massive number of props in the show. 

I can’t say enough good things about this production. From a delicious Shakespearean England themed dinner, to one of the funniest shows you are likely to see in a long long time, it’s a perfect evening (or afternoon) of theater as a true art, written by some very smart people.

Very highest recommendation.

Something Rotten runs at the Dio through October 6th. For very limited remaining tickets order online at DioTheatre.com or best call (immediately) (517) 672-6009

First, stop reading, go to croswell.org and get Newsies tickets while there are still tickets left, then return here and continue reading.

Do you have your tickets? OK – proceed. 

On rare occasion absolutely everything lines up the right way to create one of the best shows you have seen in ages. That is exactly what is happening right now at The Croswell Opera House with their production of Disney’s Newsies, which is in a word incredible.

Start with outstanding direction by Debra Calabrese that keeps the action flowing and always focused. Add the best choreography you could imagine from Jodi Hissong and strong vocal direction by Wynne Marsh (with a great orchestra conducted by Raymond Novak). Stir in a cast of dreams – every cast member is pitch perfect and in-step throughout. Pick your favorite Newsie and follow them for the evening – the many dances they are in, the perfect attention to period detail, the tap number, the athletic movement. Yeah. Perfection. Finally, put it all on Marty Flake’s set (Broadway designer Tobin Ost served as consultant) and the show looks and feels professional top to bottom.

Kevin Ludwig turns in a strong, powerful Jack Kelly with vocals that are to die for. A junior at University of Michigan’s Musical Theatre Program, keep an eye on him and see everything he is in while still here locally. Next stop, Broadway.

Elise Brown plays his novice-writer-romantic-interest with melodic clear diction in her tricky numbers and you actually find yourself rooting for these two to hit it off — when they do, the air is electric. Oh, and both leads sing, act, dance, and tap. Yeah, so there is that.

Other strong newsie performances are turned in by Ben Bascuk as Crutchie, Will DuPois as Davey and Olivia Grzebik as Les. You will have your favorites, and rest assured they all sing and dance with aplomb. The kids have the audience in the palm of their hands from their very first number, and by the time the taps come out in “King of New York” your hearts too. 

The adult roles are also outstanding here — Phil Skeldon is spot-on as Joseph Pulitzer, Eboné Waweru is delightful as chanteuse Medda, John Lamb plays a liekable Teddy Roosevelt.

The basic storyline involves the newsboys who deliver Pulitzer’s paper in NYC. When he hikes the price the newsies must pay per paper they sell, a strike is on. Katherine is a young writer who picks up the story, gets it on the front page, falls in love with Jack, and with some twists and turns the plot thickens and the battle is on. The large production numbers are told in dance throughout the show – and Hissong has given then striking masculine athletic movements that mix ballet, modern dance, and gymnastics. 

Therein also lies a conundrum – it’s a Disney show, so its family friendly right? That means I can bring the wee ones, right? NO – both the movie on which it is based and the musical are not written for young children. It’s adult fare that your 12 and ups will absolutely love, but leave the tiny ones at home — most won’t understand any of the politics, won’t be interested in the love story, and will squirm and wiggle throughout. If your child can’t sit still for two hours plus in their seat, then they are not old enough for Newsies. 

Normally, when slight technical glitches appear, they usually appear on opening night – and that happened here with glitchy mics and a phantom mic-sound eminating several times during the evening (good luck trying to figure out which one of the 40+ body mics has gone rogue!) And lighting, while generally fine, is insuffient in scenes played on the second level – during a lovely scene between Jack and Katherine, there is shadow on faces, but things look great when they spot them for their song. Just put a spot on them for the entire scene. It gets lost at the back of the stage on the second level.

I can’t emphasize enough the talent that is involved in this show. When Croswell announced their season, Newsies was the show that of course struck every young actor’s fancy. When it came to auditions, Newsies was the show that drew the young folks in droves. The best of the best are on stage here. 15 universities are represented in this group of young singer/dancers and a dozen high schools as well. 

Newsies is musical theater at its finest. It won Tony awards for Best Choreography and Best Score, and was nominated for 6 others. I loved Newsies on Broadway (more than any other show that season), I loved it on tour, I loved it when Fathom movies showed the stage production at movie theaters, and later loved it on Broadway HD. And I loved it at Croswell last night and give it my highest recommendation – not to be missed.

Photo courtesy The Croswell Opera House.

Newsies continues at The Croswell Opera House in Adrian, MI through August 18th, tickets at croswell.org or 517-264-SHOW only — Croswell does not use any third party sellers — do not be swindled through other outlets.