musicals
'Mamma Mia!' returns to Grand Rapids
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 11-27-2024 under OPINION
Early into "Mamma Mia!," you realize that the show will not be resisted. Not that many will try. But if anyone does (arms crossed, one imagines, perhaps a beret tilted at a disapproving angle), the show will twirl, mug and sing into a...
'Cats' comes to Grand Rapids Civic Theatre's stage
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 11-24-2024 under OPINION
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden, Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed? Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men, Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again!" - T. S. Eliot...
'Urinetown' makes a splash
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 09-09-2024 under OPINION
Some musicals announce their subject right there in the title. "The Phantom of the Opera" has both a phantom and an opera. Imagine going to see "Cats" and seeing no cats! You'd feel cheated. And of course there's "...
"Beautiful" dramatizes Carole King's journey from high school to Carnegie Hall
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 06-09-2024 under OPINION
Released in 1971, Carole King's "Tapestry" was the top-selling album for 15 weeks. It went on to sell over 14 million copies, earn four Grammys and lodge itself in the canon as a defining work of its era. How that came to be and...
In "Disney's Descendants: The Musical," youth choose their own path
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 03-04-2024 under OPINION
In fifteenth century France, a seventeen-year-old girl was sent by the king to a battle—the outcome of which was very much in doubt. She arrived wearing armor and raising her banner high. The king's faith was justified. Rallied by the...
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre Stages Disney's Beauty and the Beast
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 11-27-2023 under OPINION
Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête, released in 1946, was some kind of miracle. It expanded on the 1757 fairy tale of the same name, telling a story both enchanting and, at times, a little scary. In one typically surreal touch, real arms,...
In Funny Girl, Katerina McCrimmon Blazes
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 09-21-2023 under OPINION
Funny Girl (onstage until Sept. 24 via Broadway Grand Rapids) rises or falls on Fanny Brice. Even more so than most musicals, its star is its star — the body around which everything else orbits. If she doesn...
Sweeney Todd Cuts As Sharply As Ever
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 09-13-2023 under OPINION
At first, you don’t see him. You see others, though: the citizens of long-ago London. Horror-struck, they sing operatically of Sweeney Todd, a man they call “the demon barber of Fleet Street.” Todd shaved his customers, yes, shaved...
Pippin Comes Of Age
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 07-13-2023 under OPINION
A woman in the audience turned to her companion and said, not disapprovingly: “It’s borderline nudity!” From the next row over, a man responded: “Have you been to the beach lately?” It’s true: the cast of Pippin (...
Come From Away Tells Heartfelt, Life-Affirming Stories In The Wake Of 9/11
by (John Kissane)
Submitted 11-10-2022 under OPINION
It's a sobering thought: that there are people born after September 11th who are now old enough to drink. The tragedy defined a generation, and not only in the United States. On September 12th, 2001, the main headline of France's Le...