Theater graduate student Jay Burns picked a winning combination by staging relationship-oriented "Crimes of the Heart" in the Auditorium's intimate Arena Theatre. Playwright Beth Henley's grown-up sibling rivalry of the three McGrath sisters, Lenny, Meg and Babe, is perfectly placed in the middle of an audience, whose members sit on all four sides of the action.
Detroit - There's something strangely intriguing about the Utah-based band The Used. On a night that should have deterred most fans, a seemingly endless line abided for more than an hour outside the State Theatre on Sunday in the vigorous downpour of a cold November night. Hundreds eagerly waited to see a band that's striking the music scene with a scorching blend of crashing rhythms, majestic melodies, undisguised lyrics and kinetic vocals. The far too pretty venue, with its historically bewitching charisma of crimson reds and subdued yellows, a cathedral ceiling and numerous pillars, was quickly engulfed in inky blackness as the bluster of happy fans erupted.
Early Thursday evening, the meditative sand mandala that took four Tibetan Buddhist monks almost a week to create was destroyed at Kresge Art Museum.A crowd of onlookers watched as the mandala was dismantled, a process that is meant to symbolize the impermanence of life."This light, this house, this tree is changing," said monk group leader Alais Thupten Tsondu, known as Venerable Tashi.
It might have seemed tedious as required reading in high school, but the MSU Department of Theatre captures the true comedy in William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The play, after all, is meant to be entertainment, impressing audiences with its themes of ardent young love, undermining parental authority and pompous attention-grabbing. The Shakespearean text flourishes under the capable hands of director Marcus Olson, bringing the centuries-old script to vibrant life in Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre.
Dominique White came to Breslin Center to see her future husband Friday night. “Bow Wow is so fine!” said White, a 15-year-old Charlotte High School sophomore.
The never-ending movie battle between sex and plot comes to a head in Brian De Palma’s “Femme Fatale” - but the result has sex walking all over this film’s plot, leaving the audience to wonder what it is about. Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) is a jewel thief who targets model Veronica (Rie Rasmussen) for her gold and diamond bra, which by the way, couldn’t have been designed with comfort in mind. When Laure takes off with the diamonds, she leaves her partners (Eriq Ebouaney and Edouard Montoute) behind to take the blame.
For an evening that combines a serious operetta with a variety of popular musical theater tunes, head to the MSU Opera Theatre and MSU Philharmonic Orchestra’s production of “Trouble in Tahiti” followed by musical revue “Bernstein on Broadway.” “Trouble in Tahiti” is based around a 1950s married couple, Sam and Dinah.
Wharton Center will host a concert celebrating the Delta Blues tradition at 8 p.m. today in the Great Hall. Billed as a “jam session not to be missed,” “Front Porch Blues” will feature Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop, Corey Harris, Henry Butler and Deborah Coleman. The musicians will perform blues classics as well as their own tunes on instruments ranging from harmonica to guitar and piano.
Sunday evening in the intimate confines of the Auditorium’s Arena Theatre, six students will present a play about the intensity of sibling relationships and the crimes families perpetrate on those they claim to love the most. In “Crimes of the Heart,” Beth Henley tells the story of the three McGrath sisters in Hazlehurst, Miss.
If the word “opera” conjures up thoughts of warbling sopranos and unintelligible arias, think again.
For being an educational tool starring a Flint man asking simple questions, it could just be the best film of the year. Michael Moore bases his latest film, “Bowling for Columbine,” on one question: Why did Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold go on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., more than three years ago? The answer will scare you. The answer is, no one knows.
Friday • The Creole Gallery, 1218 Turner St. in Lansing, presents guitarist Laurence Gruber at 8 p.m.
The premiere of “8 Mile,” the story of Jimmy Smith Jr.’s (Eminem) escape from a dead-end life in Detroit, attempts to deliver a performance Michigan natives Jeff Daniels (Chelsea), Michael Moore (Flint) and - to a lesser extent - Steven Seagal (Lansing) have attempted in the past. Mo Nasor, manager of Celebration Cinema, 200 E.
Aspiring singers and songwriters will be able to learn from the fearlessly timeless aptitude of Vance Gilbert at the Creole Gallery, 1218 Turner St.
David Gray practically came out of nowhere in 2000 with an album that’s sold more than 2 million copies in the United States due to the overnight smash hit “Babylon,” which seized the airwaves and drifted into the ears of countless listeners. But surprise, surprise, it was actually the Irish artist’s fifth album.
The cast of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” calls itself a family. Each performer and crew member could go on for days about the energy and affection among people in the show and the familylike atmosphere that makes night after night of rehearsal more fun than work. “Every night we watch it and laugh at each other,” theater sophomore Nathaniel Nose said.
Another hard rock band has emerged from the smoldering heat of the California music scene. And you might think to yourself, “Here we go again, another Incubus-sounding rip-off.” The truth is, Trapt almost signed with Immortal Records, but was dropped because it didn’t sound enough like Incubus, even though the label is kicking itself right now. What’s the deal with Incubus, anyway?
I can’t think of anything worse than listening to Dave Matthews Band. I know I’m going to get plenty of hate mail for saying this (and might lose some friends who are die-hard fans), but DMB is one of the most - if not the most - overrated bands of the recent past. Each of its albums constantly cycle one another with the same theme.
Events • The MSU Spanish Club will show the film “Solas” as part of its semester long Romance Language Film series at 5:30 p.m.
A six-person comedy about a mischievous chain letter, Sean Grennan’s “Luck!” premieres today in the form of a staged reading at the BoarsHead Theater. Grennan, a longtime Chicago actor and playwright, won an honorable mention award for “Luck!” from the National Writer’s Association’s Playwriting Contest.