Sped-Up Fever Dream: Elevator Repair Service’s stage adaptation of James Joyce's "Ulysses" condenses the epic novel into an epic play

THEATER & DANCE REVIEW

A previous ERS production of Ulysses. Photo courtesy of UMS.

A previous ERS production of Ulysses. Photo courtesy of UMS.

I don’t have a ton of specific fears, but if pressed to name a few, I’d go with snakes, climate change, overdrafting, mass shootings, and the epically baffling big novels of James Joyce.

 

So kudos to the University Musical Society (UMS) for helping me confront that last fear this past Sunday, via the Elevator Repair Service’s stage adaptation of Ulysses, which was at the Power Center in Ann Arbor on October 19-20.

 

The much-studied, fever-dream doorstop of a novel—clocking in at nearly 800 pages—unfolds almost entirely within the confines of June 16th, 1904 (reportedly the date of Joyce’s first sexual encounter with future wife, Nora). Since the book debuted in 1922, Joyce’s life and work have been celebrated annually on June 16th, a day called Bloomsday, named for the character at the center of Ulysses, ad man Leopold Bloom.

Tabloid Tunes: U-M's production of "Bat Boy" is a tragicomedy musical with a high body count

THEATER & DANCE REVIEW

Aaron Syi as the titular character carries a heavy load in U-M's production of Bat Boy.

Aaron Syi as the titular character carries a heavy load in U-M's production of Bat Boy. Photo by Peter Smith.

When a stage musical’s inspired by a campy, 1990s tabloid story about a half-human, half-bat boy who’s discovered in a West Virginia cave—I mean, you just go in expecting a weird show, right?

 

But nothing can truly prepare you for the level of weird achieved by Bat Boy, staged October 10-20 by U-M’s musical theatre department at the Encore Theatre in Dexter.

 

With music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe, and a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, Bat Boy follows the titular character as he’s housed, and socialized by, a local veterinarian’s family. Buttoned-up wife and mother Meredith Parker (Aquila Sol) is the first to emotionally connect with Bat Boy (Aaron Syi), naming him Edgar and teaching him to speak. Teen daughter Shelley Parker (Stephanie Reuning-Scherer) is initially disgusted by Edgar but comes to love him, too, while her father, Dr. Parker (Jamie Martin Mann), jealously watches his emotionally distant wife lavish maternal love upon Edgar. 

 

The show, particularly the first act, has been somewhat streamlined (a good thing) since I first saw it many years ago, but its high body count, black tragicomedy core—think Heathers crossed with a bewildering nature documentary—remains intact. 

The Magical Now: University of Michigan's musical reimagining of "Twelfth Night" explores all the genres

THEATER & DANCE PREVIEW INTERVIEW

Colorful, text-only, 1960s pop-art-style logo for U-M's production of Twelfth Night.

Musical theater has always been inclusive. Sometimes it broadcasts the message, the way Oscar Hammerstein II did in South Pacific: ”You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear.” Mostly, it simply has been a welcoming home for artists, characters, and spectators of different races, religions, sexual orientations, and gender identities.

Now along comes a musical reimagining of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the University of Michigan, which runs for four performances October 10-13 at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Inclusion is a key theme here, and unlike most musicals that we can label—classic American musicals, rock musicals, opera-style musicals, for instance—it includes just about every kind of music and dance style, too.  

The musical begins as the Shakespeare play does. Viola is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and disguises herself as a Cesario, a man, so she can gain employment with Duke Orsino. She falls in love with Orsino, who yearns for Olivia, who in turn loves “Cesario.” 

Director Jessica Bogart says this Twelfth Night is not set in one specific era or locale but “in an imagined city we call ‘the magical now' ... an abstract location that allows characters to discover their true selves and true strengths. The source material itself has this gorgeous exploration of gender and identity.”   

How closely does it follow that source material?

Remodeled Haunted House: Penny Seats' "Usher" renovates Poe's classic tale for the spooky season

THEATER & DANCE PREVIEW INTERVIEW

Penny Seats' Usher rehearsals

The Visitor (Jonathan Davidson) attacks Roderick Usher (David Collins) during rehearsals for Penny Seats' Usher. Photo courtesy of Penny Seats.

The Fall spooky season is always a great time to revisit the macabre stories of Edgar Allan Poe, and this October the Penny Seats Theatre Company brings to life a stage adaptation of one of the author's most haunting tales.

Based loosely on The Fall of the House of Usher, Michigan playwright John Sousanis's Usher finds the last two heirs of a once-great family reunited with an old friend within their crumbling mansion. Penny Seats' production is directed by company Artistic Director Julia Garlotte, and stars Brittany Batell as Madeline Usher, David Collins as Roderick Usher, and Jonathan Davidson as the unnamed Visitor.

This year marks Garlotte's first season as artistic director of Penny Seats, though she has previously worked with the company as an actor and sound designer. Staging Usher, as with the other Penny Seats performances for 2024, was selected by previous artistic director Joseph Zettelmaier, though Garlotte was in conversation with him throughout the decision-making process. "We both decided that it would be a cool addition to the season," Garlotte says. Zettelmaier had seen Usher during its original run in 2007, and Michigan playwright John Sousanis rewrote the script for Penny Seats. 

"We had some stuff we wanted fleshed out and questions answered," Garlotte says, "and he was willing to take another stab at it. So we have a really great script."

As to what appeals to her about Usher, Garlotte says she is "always a sucker for drama and tragedy, which is a strange thing to say when sometimes the state of the world calls for something a little more light-hearted."

Martial Arts: The witty and interactive "Fight Night" offers viewers self-reflection through surveys and elections

THEATER & DANCE REVIEW

A previous production of Fight Night. Image shows host Angelo Tijssens in a suit in front of two contestants on the stage.

Emcee and co-writer Angelo Tijssens addresses the crowd at a previous production of Fight Night. Photo by Michiel Devijver.

Remember when voting was fun?

Frankly, I didn’t, either—until I settled into my Power Center seat on Wednesday night to see Belgian theater company Ontroerend Goed’s Fight Night, presented by the University Musical Society.

Before the show, in the lobby, ushers distributed tiny digital voting machines (attached to neckstraps) to each audience member, and the first two people we saw on stage were two tech guys who man laptops that report, on two raised screens, vote tallies throughout the evening.

And there were many.

But to warm us up, wry emcee (and Fight Night co-writer) Angelo Tijssens, dressed in a neutral plaid suit, cajoled us into participating in some basic surveys, both to get us comfortable working the devices and to provide crucial intel to the evening’s five “candidates.”

For what office, exactly? It’s never clear, and it doesn’t matter. Pretty immediately, we’re asked to choose a candidate with no information. By default, then, we must select our initial champion by way of our own racial, gender, and body/age biases, or by our mindful resistance to those biases.

See? Right from the get-go, things get tricky.

Starry Eyes: Encore Theatre’s "New World Comin’" chronicles a crew chasing their musical dreams in the Big Apple

THEATER & DANCE REVIEW

The cast of Encore Theatre's New World Coming posing in 1960s costume in front of an old VW van.

The New World Comin' cast keeps it groovy: Mariah Colby, Shaun White, Kira Whitehead, Charly Dannis, Gabriella Palminteri, and David Moan. Photo courtesy of The Encore Theatre.

Like many versions of the American Dream, the “pack your bags and move to New York City to become a star” variety is profoundly hard to achieve—and Encore Theatre’s world premiere production of the musical New World Comin’ takes those challenges seriously.

Written by Dayle Ann Hunt, and set in the turbulent late '60s and early '70s, New World Comin’ focuses on a trio of young women who decide to leave Moosetown, Minnesota, to compete in a music contest in New York. Mickey (Charly Dannis), the leader of the Carlettes, helps out at her widowed dad’s (David Moan) gas station but feels extra motivated to try because her mom once left her own singing career behind to raise Mickey. Sharon (Kira Whitehead), tired of dealing with her small town’s racism, is the most anxious to leave and start a new chapter; and Bonnie Lou (Gabriella Palminteri) is torn, both because she genuinely likes Moosetown, and because Eddie (Shaun White), her mechanic boyfriend, is getting more serious about their relationship.

Drawing from the era’s catalog of pop songs (sung by Petula Clark, Cass Elliot, Lesley Gore, etc.), New World Comin’ chronicles the women’s complicated, hard journey not just from Moosetown to New York City, but from youth into self-directed adulthood.

Tony Award winner David Lindsay-Abaire's "Fuddy Meers" is a surreal comedy with a dark edge

THEATER & DANCE REVIEW

PTD Productions' Fuddy Mears

Jacob Williams-Justin as Millet and Kara Williams as Claire in PTD Productions' Fuddy Mears. Photo by Paul Demy.

Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire received two 2023 Tony Awards and won rave reviews for his musical adaptation of his play Kimberly Akimbo. In 2007 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Rabbit Hole.

Director Gary Lehman is taking audiences back to a much earlier Lindsay-Abaire play, but one that combines humor with a dark undertone. PTD Productions in Ypsilanti is presenting Fuddy Meers through August 24 at the River Arts Center in Ypsilanti.

At the center of Fuddy Meers is Claire. Every morning Claire wakes she doesn’t know who she is, where she is, and how she got that way. A man who claims to be her husband explains the situation to Claire. The husband and her rebellious teenage son help fill in some of the gaps and tell that she will learn a lot during the day but lose all again at night. 

While the husband takes a shower, a masked man with a limp, a deformed ear, and part of a pair of handcuffs rushes to Claire’s bedroom and tells her that he’s her brother and is taking her to her mother’s house.

Paranormal Paradise: "Silvertongues" audio drama offers a devilishly good time

THEATER & DANCE INTERVIEW

Josie Eli Herman and Michael Alan Herman sitting on stools and looking away from the camera.

Josie Eli Herman and Michael Alan Herman, co-creators of Silvertongues. Photo courtesy of the artists.

When you’ve created a new, twisty, sci-fi fictional podcast with a mystery at its center, how do you provide enough info to draw in listeners, but not so much that you spoil its surprises?

That was the question facing Michael Alan Herman and Josie Eli Herman, the Ann Arbor-based co-creators (and married couple) behind the just-launched podcast Silvertongues.

While emphasizing the adventure-blockbuster vibe of the show, Michael explained, “It’s about two people who discover a paranormal conspiracy on this tropical island, and that conspiracy blurs the lines between truth and lies.”

“A big theme in the show is this idea of emotional homelessness,” Josie said. “This idea that you don’t even feel at home in yourself. … That’s just something, post-pandemic, we’ve noticed is, a lot of people … having this feeling of, ‘I don’t know what to do with my life, or who I am.’ … That’s something that the characters feel in the show, and there’s a supernatural reason for that, but I think, at a human level, a lot of people can relate to that.”

Noteworthy Moments: Dexter multi-instrumentalist Brad Phillips on his work with Patti LuPone, University of Michigan, and his daughter

MUSIC THEATER & DANCE INTERVIEW

Alyson Phillips stands behind her father Brad Phillips.

Brad Phillips with his daughter, Alyson Phillips. Photo by Hope Shangle.

It’s a bittersweet time in Brad Phillips’ life.

“My daughter Alyson is off to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts next month, and I’ve been weeping big dad tears on and off all summer,” said the Dexter singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

Alyson is a singer, and she’ll join her dad for a special show at The Ark on August 8 along with bandmates Chris DuPont, Drew De Four, Brennan Andes, Keith Billik, and Mike Shea.

Brad has also been busy as a lecturer at the University of Michigan, a resident artist at The Purple Rose Theatre Company, touring with actress and singer Patti LuPone, and featuring on her new album, A Life in Notes, playing violin, mandolin, guitar, octave mandolin, and U-bass.

“Patti is an icon and it’s no accident. She’s a legend for a reason and to be on stage with her in front of her adoring fans is electric,” Phillips said. “Summer has been both chaotic, emotional, and wonderful all at the same time! It’s been a big year around here.”

To learn more, I spoke with Phillips about his work and tour with Patti LuPone and his family’s artistic accomplishments.

Theatre Nova co-founder Carla Milarch has hopped through every level of theatrical life

THEATER & DANCE PREVIEW INTERVIEW

Carla Milarch in a black Theatre Nova T-shirt.

Photo courtesy of Carla Milarch.

When Ann Arbor audiences think about Carla Milarch—co-founder of Theatre Nova and former artistic/executive director of the Performance Network Theatre (PNT)—they may recall a performance she gave, a production she directed, a theater she ran, or more recently, a play she wrote.

Chances are, they will not imagine her changing a litter box—for rabbits.

Milarch and her husband, actor/director Phil Powers, share a home on Ann Arbor’s West side with their son, William Tyrone Powers, a senior at Skyline High, and four rabbits. The family had tried adopting kittens, but William broke out in hives, and they had to give them up. They tested him for dog allergies. No dice.

Now there are rabbits—four of them.

”Rabbits are misunderstood pets,” says Milarch, who at first kept them in cages. Now they are free to roam the house. She finds them similar to other pets: like cats, they sometimes want to be left alone (and can be litter-trained); like dogs, they sometimes demand attention. Sometimes high maintenance, one rabbit with poor balance required a ramp to get onto the bed and watch TV with her. Milarch built one. 

As it happens, Milarch was trying to create an environmentally friendly landscape for her home and was studying permaculture, a mix of urban planning, gardening, and homesteading, when the pet crisis occurred. Rabbits made a lot of sense. “We grow things in a regenerative way, using compost. I like being outside a lot. It must be in my blood,” she reflects. “I grew up on a farm.”

Not that she wanted to spend her life on the farm.