Theater guide

What's playing and where

Posted

KEY 

AECT = All-of-us Express Children’s Theatre, allofusexpress.org, (517) 333-2580 ext. 0.
IE = Ixion Ensemble, ixionensemble.com, (517) 775-4246.
LCC = Lansing Community College Theater, lcc.edu/showinfo, (517) 483-1488.
MMFT = Mid Michigan Family Theatre, mmft.net, (517) 339-2145.
MSU = Michigan State University Theatre, theatre.msu.edu, (800) WHARTON.
PC = Peppermint Creek Theatre Co., peppermintcreek.org, (517) 927-3016.
RT = Riverwalk Theatre, riverwalktheatre.com, (517) 482-5700.
SDT = Starlight Dinner Theatre, starlightdinnertheatre.com, (517) 243-6040.
WC = The Wharton Center, whartoncenter.com, (800) WHARTON.
WT = Williamston Theatre, williamstontheatre.com, (517) 655-7469.

All titles and dates are subject to change. Please call the theaters or visit their websites for updates and ticket prices. 


September

“Spring Awakening” (RT): Teenagers navigate the twists and turns of sexuality in this Tony Award-winning rock musical. Sept. 13-23.  

“Vigil” (LCC): Emmy Award-winner and Lansing native Timothy Busfield directs and stars in this dark comedy. Sept. 14-23.  

“Three Sisters/Anton In Show Business” (MSU): Anton Chekhov’s classic is paired with a modern comic tale of three actresses prepping to appear in a staging of the play. Sept. 19-30.  

“Boom” (WT): Offbeat comedy about a lone scientist with plans to ensure the survival of mankind in anticipation of a doomsday event. Sept. 20-Oct. 21.  


October

“Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson” (PC): The seventh president is reimagined as an emo rock star in this Tony Award-nominated musical. Oct. 4-13.  

“Slasher” (LCC): The set of a low-budget horror film becomes the scene of a real series of murders in this dark comedy. Oct. 5-13.  

“James and the Giant Peach” (MSU): Roald Dahl’s fantastical journey is brought to life using puppetry. Oct. 12-21.  

“Anything Goes” (WC): Classic musical depicts the zany antics aboard an ocean liner. Oct. 16-21.  

“Advise And Consent” (RT): A Stages of the Law series entry detailing the machinations and manipulations behind a Senate confirmation hearing. Oct. 18-28.  

“Steel Magnolias” (SDT): Tough-but-tender Southern women bond over life’s misadventures in a small-town beauty shop. Oct. 19-27.  

“The Giver” (MMFT): Adaptation of a Newbery Award-winning dystopian children’s novel. October 19-28.  

“The Diviners” (RT): A charismatic preacher and a gifted young boy struggle with their faith in a Depression-era farming community. Dates TBA. 


November

“Little Women” (AECT): The Louisa May Alcott favorite follows the March sisters’ emotional journey to womanhood. Nov. 2-10.  

“Ragtime” (LCC): Fictional characters mix it up with real-life 20th century historical figures in this Tony Award-winning musical.  Nov. 2-11.  

“Good People” (PC): A single Boston mother struggles to stay afloat in an unforgiving economy.  Nov. 8-17.  

“Measure For Measure” (MSU): Shakespeare’s lesser-known satire centering on the travails of a neophyte nun. Nov. 9-21.  

“Ebenezer” (WT): Fifteen years after the events of “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge is reunited with “Tiny” Tim Cratchit. Nov. 15-Dec. 23. 

“The No-Hole Holiday” (RT): Family musical about the rivalry between Halloween and Christmas. Nov. 23-Dec. 2.  

“Topdog/Underdog” (IE): Two African-American brothers struggle to find their way out of poverty in this Pulitzer-Prize-winning drama.  Dates and location TBA. 


December

“War Horse” (WC): Acclaimed drama of a young man’s World War I-era journey to recover his beloved horse. Dec. 5-9.  

“Titus Andronicus” (LCC): Shakespeare’s bloody take on the last days of the Roman Empire. Dec. 7-9.  

“North Pole Radio Hour” (MMFT): Santa takes the stage in this riff on a ‘40s-style radio show. Dec. 7-16.  


January

“August: Osage County” (RT): Darkly comic tale of an Oklahoma family with some serious skeletons in the closet. Jan. 10-20. 

“Billy Elliot: the Musical” (WC): A British youth trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes in this Tony Award-winning musical. Jan. 15-20.  

“End Days” (WT): Comic and poignant story of a 16-year-old girl navigating the pressures of love, loss and family.  Jan. 24-Feb. 24.  

“In The Heights” (PC): Tony Award-winning musical depicting a Dominican-American neighborhood in New York City. Jan. 24-Feb. 2.  


February

“U.P” (MSU): A Los Angeles man seeks life’s answers in the Upper Peninsula. Feb. 5-10. 

“Princess and the Pea/Rapunzel” (AECT): A pair of classic fairy tales is brought to life onstage in this double-bill. Feb. 8-16.  

“Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy” (WC): Musical adaptation about a zany lounge singer hiding out in a convent. Feb. 12-17.  

“Sleuth” (RT): Deadly mind games ensue when a mystery writer seeks revenge on his wife’s lover in this classic thriller. Feb. 14-24.  

“Oliver Twist” (MMFT): An orphan falls in with unsavory characters in this adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic.  Feb. 15-24.  

“The Lady Victory" (MSU): A group of teens grapple with issues of duty and family in a Catholic home for girls. Feb. 21-27.


March

“The Curious Savage” (SDT): An eccentric widow tries to outwit her greedy stepchildren in this warmhearted family tale. Mar. 8-16.  

“The 39 Steps” (RT): Hitchcock meets Monty Python in this spy farce. Mar. 14-24.  

“Compulsion, or The House Behind” (PC): Puppetry is used to enhance the story of a man’s obsession to bring “The Diary of Anne Frank” to America. Mar. 21-30.  

“Shirley Valentine” (WT): A working-class housewife finds her worldview transformed after taking a trip abroad.  Mar. 21-April 21.


April

“Yankee Tavern” (RT):  A post-9/11 New York bar is the setting for a couple’s unsettling encounter with a conspiracy theorist. Dates TBA.

“American Idiot” (WC):  Green Day’s punk opera concept album is brought to life in this Tony Award-winning musical. Apr. 9-11. 

“Catch Me If You Can” (WC): Musical adaptation of Spielberg’s film about the exploits of a slippery con artist. Apr. 16-21.  

“The Beatles Slept Here” (AECT): Whimsical children’s comedy inspired by the Fab Four. Performance will be held at Riverwalk Theatre. Apr. 19-28.  

“Funny Girl” (MSU): Legendary musical about the poignant transformation of famed comedienne Fanny Brice into a star. Apr. 19-27. 


May

“8” (PC):  A one-night-only staged reading about the legal battle over California’s Proposition 8, which sought to deny marriage rights to same-sex couples. May 10.  

“The Fox on the Fairway” (SDT):  A tribute to British farces featuring the stuffy denizens of a private country club. May 10-18.  

“10:53” (WT):  A woman takes refuge in a waiting room during a family medical crisis. May 16-June 16.  

“My Favorite Year” (RT): Musical about the comic collision between a television variety show writer and a faded matinee idol in the 1950s. May 30-June 9.  

“The Beauty Queen of Leenane” (RT): Black comedy about a spinster taking care of her manipulative mother. Dates TBA.  

“Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens” (IE): Ribald sci-fi disco opera set in a bar at the end of space. Dates and location TBA.


June

“A Walk in the Woods” (MMFT): Legendary characters cross paths in this fractured fairy tale. June 14-23.  


July

“Next To Normal” (PC): Acclaimed rock musical about a family struggling with mental illness. July 11-20.  

“Tuna Does Vegas” (WT): The finale of the “Tuna Trilogy” finds the eccentric residents of a small Texas town on a madcap excursion to Las Vegas. July 11-Aug. 18.  

“Aladdin and His Wonderful, Magical Lamp” (AECT): The titular character teams with a magical genie to fight evil in this musical fantasy. July 26-Aug. 3.

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